Evacuation (17 page)

“A try? A try? I know the soldiers there did a survey of the area. I don’t think they knew we lived so close. They never came around to talk to the neighbors, let me tell you. Not once. So either they knew we were there and didn’t care to introduce themselves, or they didn’t know. I wasn’t going to risk what might happen if they found us.”

“So you killed them all,” Spade said.

Now Jason got to his feet. “We didn’t kill any of them!”

“We’re leaving,” Spade said.

I wanted to bury my son. I took Allison’s hand, giving it a quick squeeze. Things were not going well. We were all on alert. I know I was. I wanted to be sure everyone else was, too.

“Leaving? Going where? You’re in the middle of nowhere, soldier. This place, our home, it’s your best chance to last through the winter. We’ve got everything you could want. Leaving would be foolish. An argument, no, a simple disagreement and you’re just going to up and leave? That’s ridiculous,” Jason said, and sat back down. He motioned for Jeremy to do the same.

“I still want an apology for what you said about our father,” Jeremy said.

“Well, you’re not getting one, fuckface,” Spade said.

“Name calling, really? Is that what we’re resorting to, name calling?” Jason said. “Jeremy, sit down. We need to work past this. Everyone is tense. It’s okay. It’s expected.”

“On behalf of my friends and I, thank you for your hospitality, but after I fetch you some squirrels, and chop a little extra wood for you, we’re leaving.” Spade kept both hands on the table.
The fingers of both hands. Reminded me of the way a gunslinger stood, hands by the gun handles, ready to draw if necessary.

“You want to leave, really? It’s so bad is it? A few things, then,” Jason said. “Everyone should tell me for themselves whether they want to stay or not. I know you think this is the army, but here, I don’t think you call all the shots. I think--”

“You want to ask each one of them, you go right ahead,” Spade said. “Ask.”

Jason looked around the table. “You all have eaten two wonderful meals, thanks to Jeremy. Thank you, Jeremy.”

“Welcome.”

“You all slept in warm beds in nice rooms and in a safe log cabin. No reason any of that will ever change.
Ever. We work together, we unite as a family, and this little log cabin in the mountains is as good a fortress as the White House -- which, by the way, I hear did not fare well during this apocalypse. So I ask you, each of you, who would like to stay?”

I had to look around. I needed to see expressions on faces.

Dave and Sues both shook their heads. No.

Erway and Palmeri said no, too.

Allison, Charlene and I said no.

Crystal looked undecided.

“Ms. Sutton?” Jason said.

“I’m not sure,” she said.

I wanted to lash out, call her a traitor, but was she? The Terrigino’s made me nervous, apprehensive. They were crazy, no doubt. Weren’t we
all
a little crazy at this point?

Jason nodded. “So, soldier, not everyone wants to leave.”

Spade just looked down, clearly disappointed with Crystal. “We’re leaving, all of us.”

“Except Ms. Sutton,” Jason said.

“No. Including Ms. Sutton,” Spade said.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I didn’t want to use the spot by the tree that Jason suggested, out of spite, or principle. However, he’d been right. It was an ideal location.
Peaceful. So it was where we dug, but on the opposite side of the tree, not facing the log cabin.

With our weapons against the tree, we took turns shoveling dirt. The ground was cold and hard. All the rain that had fallen had made the ground rock hard now. Chipping away with a pickaxe helped. The work was laborious, but no one complained.

Cash was wrapped in a tarp, just feet away from where we dug. After each shovelful, I couldn’t help but look at him. The idea of putting my son into the earth was haunting. Nightmares would plague my sleep forever.

Burying a child was something no one should ever have to do. My heart was broken.
Shattered.

We’d cleared roughly four feet in a couple of hours. Despite gardening gloves, my palms were blistered and raw.

Charlene and I gently lifted Cash. She held his legs and I had the shoulders. We placed him into the hole, stood around it, and stared in.

Allison held my hand and laid her head on my chest.

We were all crying and sniffing.

It was time to say something, but I had no words. My emotions ran rampant inside me. I wasn’t sure I could speak, or if whatever I chose to say would even be coherent, or make sense. “I’m going to miss you, little buddy. I miss you.”

Charlene sobbed, her shoulders shaking. I pulled her in tightly and held her close.

“When you were born,” I said. “I brought your sister in to meet you. You were just a tiny thing in your mom’s arms. We didn’t want your sister to be jealous. Your mom bought a couple of Barbie dolls and had them in her hospital bag. So, when Charlene and I came in to say hello, your mom gave Char the dolls, and said, ‘Your brother got these for you.’ Charlene took those dolls, and just looked at you like you were the greatest kid in the world and she said. . . Do you remember what you said, Char?”

She ran a sleeve under her nose. “I looked at him and I said, ‘Thank you, brother.’”

“Yep, that’s what you said. I’ll never forget that,” I said.

“What are we going to do without him, Daddy?” Charlene knelt by the grave. “I don’t want to just leave him here. Out here. All alone.”

“I don’t either.”

We were silent while we filled the dirt back into the hole. I tried my best not to think about what it was we were actually doing. As we patted down the earth, I saw Spade and Jeremy approach the side of the log cabin.

Dave and the others had spent a better part of the morning loading the zombies killed from the bedroom window last night onto a wheelbarrow and moving them far off the Terrigino property. To where, I hadn’t a clue.

“Listen, I have a bad feeling about how things are going to go down. I want both of you ready and on alert at all times. Got it?” I said.

They nodded. We grabbed up our weapons and carried the shovels back to the cabin.

Jason was out on the front porch smoking a cigarette.

I didn’t know he had those. I wanted one.
A pack. A carton. I’d settle for one.

“It’s nearly four. We all worked through lunch so we’ll have an early dinner. I’ve got mashed potatoes. They’re from a box, but with enough butter and salt, you’ll never know the difference,” Jason said.

“Thank you, but no thank you,” Spade said.

“Still have your heart set on leaving?”

An early dinner did sound good. It would be dark soon, I thought. Almost had to shake my head to clear away the thoughts.

“We are. We’ll just make sure we have our things and we’ll be going.”

Erway, Palmeri, and Crystal came out of the cabin.

I didn’t see Dave or Sues. I checked the woods, but saw nothing.

“Okay, but I must tell you. In order for you to leave, there are two things you need to know.” Jason smiled.

I hated that smile.

Spade took an aggressive stance. “Yeah? And what’s that?”

“The weapons.
They’re ours, not yours, so you can’t have them. We’ll be wanting those back,” he said.

All I could think was,
oh shit!

Spade snickered, as if he thought Jason was telling a joke.
“And the other thing?”

“Aside from Crystal staying with us, so are the other women.”

“W-what?” That last comment even caught Spade off guard.

“It’s the end of the world. It has to restart somehow, by someone. Better people like us--survivalists, than the likes of you. The women, they’re staying.”

“My daughter’s fourteen,” I said, as if it mattered, like there was any chance in hell I’d leave my kid here.

Spade took a step toward Jason.

I saw it before it happened and was helpless to do anything.

Jeremy raised his gun and shot Spade in the back of the head. Spade fell forward in a heap with arms splayed out, blood and brain spilling from the cracked bowl that was his shattered skull.

“No!” I yelled. “Are you out of your fucking--”

I spread my arms wide, pushing Allison and Charlene behind me as Jeremy pointed his gun at me.

Jeremy’s chest exploded like his heart ruptured. He dropped his gun and clapped both hands over his heart, falling to his knees.

I hadn’t heard a shot. I didn’t know what had just--

The upstairs window.

The barrel of a rifle protruded.

Jason was screaming and he started to run for his brother. Palmeri reached for him, tugged on his sleeve. It probably saved his live. Another shot sent a chunk of dirt and crisp leaves into the air. Looking up, Jason now knew where Dave and Sues were.

Like a cheetah, he spun around and ran for the house.

Erway tried to stop him. He pushed her aside, pulled his gun, fired as he ran into the house, and slammed the front door.

“He’s inside,” I said, looking up at the window. “He’s in the house!”

“Crystal’s been shot,” Palmeri said. She knelt beside the woman.

“How’s it look,” Allison said, running over to them.

I was at the front door, throwing my shoulder into it. Steel. As Jason promised, there was no way to knock it open. At the window, with the shutters open for the day, I used the shovel like a baseball bat and smashed the glass.

“The shot’s to the stomach,” Erway said. She had blood dripping from her lip, and nose. She tore a piece of Crystal’s shirt at the bullet hole, exposing the gut wound. The blood bubbled and pooled on her belly. With a gentle swipe of her hand, Erway cleared most of the blood off.

I used the shovel blade as if I was ringing a triangle, and knocked all the shards of loose and protruding glass from the frame before I climbed in through the bay window headfirst. Jason saw and fired at me.

Heat burned my skin on my right shoulder. I fell back out. “Dave, he’s in the house!”

“Daddy!” Charlene left Allison’s side and ran to mine. She looked at my shoulder. Copying Erway, she dug her fingers into the clothing hole, and pulled the material apart. I tried to look.

“I don’t think it went in. A graze,” I said. Sure felt like it went in. If a graze hurt like this, as if my skin was on fire, I couldn’t imagine what getting shot actually felt like.

Cash had been shot.

“You look okay,” she said.

“All this shooting, it’s going to be like ringing a dinner bell for the zombies. Keep an eye on everything. Don’t let them sneak up on us,” I said.

Charlene stood up, held out her hand and pulled me to my feet.

I was more cautious this time, and looked through the open window. I hoisted myself up and into the log cabin. I removed the machete from the sheath over my back. I stood still, listening, my eyes looking everywhere. Jason knew Dave was upstairs. Would he have gone right up after them? Did he think he’d killed me?

The stairs were right in front of me.

The urge to yell out for Dave and Sues was so strong that I almost had to bite my tongue to keep quiet. I took a few small steps toward the staircase. The silence was maddening.

Through the smashed out window, though, I could hear Erway and Palmeri working on Crystal, each one barking out different things.

They needed supplies to save that woman.

I knew where the medical supplies were.
In that room with all the weapons.

We needed to stop Jason first. He was the threat. Then we could concentrate on helping Crystal. It was the only thing I could come up with that sounded remotely rational.

I put a foot on the first step.

It squeaked.

The bedroom door, behind which my son died, flew open.

Jason came out of the room holding a lit, oil filled lantern. He flung it across the room. The beveled glass shattered. The oil splashed out onto everything, and fire quickly followed.

The sofa and carpet caught first, then the curtains next.

In that instant, Jason was on me, knocking me back against the wall.

Flames crackled. I heard Charlene outside screaming for me.

Jason punched me in the solar plexus causing air to rush out of my lungs. Gasping, I tried my hardest to fill them with air. The man didn’t stop, didn’t let up.

His fists were like rocks. It felt like ribs were snapping with each blow delivered.

I knew what the man thought. There was no way he was going to win, kill us all. His plan had failed, and because of it, his brother was dead, so he had nothing to lose at this point. He would destroy the cabin, and go down fighting.

Jeremy would have said, “It’s what our father would have wanted.”

I closed my eyes and ignored the pain in my chest. I used my head like a fist and broke Jason’s nose with my forehead. The crunch of bone was satisfying.

His eyes watered, and he backed a step away from me. It was all the time and room I needed.

I noticed the brass knuckles on his fist, fucking bastard. I stepped into my punch, used all my weight, and drove my elbow into his face. He went down. “Dave!”

I stomped on his back with my foot, then kicked him across his already bloodied face. It knocked him out. “Dave!”

I heard them upstairs.

Dave and Sues were at the top of the stairs. “We were trying to get out the window. We didn’t know you were in here.”

“Come on, get out. We have to get out!”

They came down the stairs.

Sues jumped over Jason’s body. “Dave,” she said, as she unlocked and pulled open the front door.

The flames were everywhere. The heat was more intense than I could ever have imagined. I saw orange and black flames roll up across the ceiling, like spilled fluid, except upside down.

Dave pulled on my arm.

“Let’s hit the weapons room. We need more,” I said.

“Fast,” Dave said. He didn’t call me crazy or stupid, he just ran toward that room.

Inside, he grabbed for guns and ammo.

I took an armful of sheathed machetes and swords. I grabbed a few hunting knives. I knew these were going to be our weapons on the road. Ammo was always bound to run out. “Let’s go. Let’s --”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Jason said. He looked like a monster with his swollen and bruised face. At this point, it was more purple and black than white. He stood right at the door. Smoke began to fill the room. There were no windows in this…closet space. Just weapons and enough ammo to make the entire cabin explode. “None of us are.”

Jason had a gun, and he had his finger inside the trigger.

“Let them out of there!” That was Palmeri’s voice.

I don’t think Jason expected anyone to enter the burning cabin. Bet he thought shooting us would be too lenient, and us burning to death was a far better punishment.

Jason flinched, but didn’t turn around.

“Drop the gun, or I’ll shoot you in the mother-fucking back, Terrigino,” Palmeri said. “You know what? I have no time for this.”

Jason dropped his gun.

Palmeri opened fire. Shots into his back propelled through his body and out his chest and stomach. His body jerked and twisted as he fell forward, hitting the table in the center of the room.

Dave and I finished picking up what we needed. Palmeri grabbed a few things, too. Then we ran back through to the main room. Fire ate at the walls. Smoke darkened the room to almost zero visibility.

We were never going to get out.

“Get low,” Palmeri said.

Dave and I dropped to our knees. Crawling was nearly impossible with all of the weapons in tow. I did my best to move forward without relinquishing the machetes and swords. It was not easy and moving was slow.

Too slow.

The wood creaked above us. The ceiling was weakening. We needed to get out. Fast.