Ground Zero (3 page)

Yeah, she was in serious shit. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t a kid anymore. She had just acted like one, or at least partially, and she was going to hear about it. Thankfully her mother was going to be a lot more concerned about their safety. Cam had learned her lesson about going off half-cocked, at least, even if nothing too bad had come of it for the moment. She had no idea how things would pan out later on. This whole thing could turn out to be a huge mistake on her part. One she wouldn’t be making again.

“Go back and tell Chuck to bring the truck to the end of the road here,” Gilles was saying to her. Cam nodded, relieved that Brian wasn’t going to be trusted to just leave the property. They would take him home and make sure of it. He would have to walk back again if he chose to do anything, which would give them some time to figure out what to do.

As Cameron walked away, she was also grateful that she wasn’t going to have to continue to sit there with Brian. She could no longer look him in the eye, and felt like shit for having killed his son. She couldn’t even say she was sorry, without admitting her guilt.

When she finally broke into the clearing, Cam was extremely irritated to find Billy standing there, waiting to see what was going on. For the moment, however, she ignored him. She had more important things to worry about. Since Chuck was standing there with him, she didn’t have to go looking, and was able to give him Gilles’ message right away. Chuck didn’t say anything. He just turned and headed for the main house to grab the keys.

“You okay, Cam?”

“I’m fine, Billy. It’s being handled,” she said, resenting the fact that she felt like she had to answer to him. For the sake of peace and harmony, in the house that she and her mother shared with him and his dad, she had to be nice, but that sort of obligation always made her cranky. He’d obviously been paying attention while she explained things to Chuck, however, because he couldn’t seem to resist talking about it, even though her tone should have been enough to warn him to leave it alone.

“Do you think he knows it was you? Is he going to be a problem for us, do you think?”

“He gave every indication that he assumed it was me, yes, but as for whether or not he’s going to be a problem, how the fuck should I know? He said he wasn’t planning to do anything about it, but he could easily be lying. Or he could change his mind later. Neither of us confirmed his suspicions, but the fact that neither of us tried to lie and say he was wrong means he’s going to assume he’s right. That whole ‘silence is taken as assent’ kind of deal, or whatever the hell the saying is.”

“Okay, so maybe we should assume he’s going to come after you then,” Billy continued worriedly.

“I’m already assuming that, Billy. I’m not stupid,” she snapped, but when he gave her a look that made it clear her actions would indicate otherwise, she rolled her eyes.

“Okay, fine. I was stupid to go out there on my own, and I’m sure my mother isn’t going to be happy about it. I won’t be doing it again, but I really don’t feel like talking about this right now,” she said, her tone daring him to keep it up.

“Just try and remember next time that we’re all at risk when you do stuff like that. And we care what happens to you, too.” So saying, Billy turned and walked away.

“Aargh!” Her snarl was for her own benefit, as she stormed back to the house. Cam was already pissed at herself. Not just for making a mistake, but for taking things out on Billy. He really hadn’t done anything wrong. Except maybe the comment about caring what happened to her. She did
not
need to hear that kind of shit from him. His hero-worship after she’d killed Gerry and kept his dad from getting killed was bad enough. That was just embarrassing. Him crushing on her was pissing her off.

She didn’t share Billy’s interest in any way. If she had she’d have made the usual goo-goo eyes at him that people did when they were flirting. She’d be trying to spend time with him, instead of trying to avoid him. To be fair, he wasn’t overbearing about it, and he was perfectly willing to be friendly toward her even if Cameron wasn’t attracted to him. He didn’t even try to pull that stupid ‘friend zone’ bullshit with her, where a woman’s only worth was in whether or not she was willing to sleep with a guy.

Then again, Billy was having to fend off Katherine and her overt attempts to catch his eye. In his case, however, the girl was far too young. Five years’ difference when the girl was fourteen was way too much. She was still a kid, even if she didn’t think so herself. Never mind the fact that Chuck would probably string him up by his testicles for going near her.

If Cam had felt any chemistry toward Billy, at all, she might have gone for it. Even before the world had gone to shit, her sex life had been sporadic at best, and now it was completely non-existent. She didn’t think there was much hope of that improving, but if Gerry’s dad was still alive, maybe other people were, too.

Cam certainly didn’t want to sleep with Billy just to get laid. He wanted more than that, and she’d only end up hurting him. She wasn’t the kind of person who could easily live with herself after using someone for sex. A trait she’d obviously inherited from her mother. She had no hang-ups about the act itself, but one-night stands weren’t something either of the Thane women went after. There had to be more to it than that.

She hung her bow on its rack, and stripped off the glove. Her jacket and the arm protector came off next. She would have removed the jacket to practice her archery, hence the need for the arm protector, but there hadn’t been a chance to get in any practice. Cam let out another sigh of frustration. At least the numbness wasn’t seeping back as quickly as she’d feared. The anger that had propelled her out the door was mostly gone, replaced by simple irritation.

Since the purpose of her treks around the property were to check for trespassers the sensors might miss, the day hadn’t exactly been wasted. The odds were against there being someone else stepping onto their land in the same day. Being in the middle of nowhere had its advantages, after all. She decided against going back out for her planned perimeter walk.

The cold sweat from the earlier adrenaline spike was making her shiver, and she felt kind of gross, so Cam decided another shower was in order. Then she could go over and see Kirk and Leigh, and tell them about the events of the afternoon. She could use the radio, but she was in the mood to hang out and maybe play some video games for the first time in ages.

Her mother would want to talk to her when she got back, but that probably wouldn’t be for hours yet, and she was in no mood to wait around. Even the thought of doing so had her feeling resentful. No, that conversation would have to wait.

Cam showered and changed, then headed out through the greenhouse area at the back of the house once again. She wanted to avoid running into anyone who might want to talk to her about what had happened. A few minutes later she was stomping across the bridge they had built just before winter, which allowed them to cross directly back and forth between the two properties, without using the roads. It was wide and strong enough to support driving a truck over, in case they needed to move large items in addition to people.

Even now, during a time that should have been the coldest part of winter, there was very little snow, and the ice on the river was merely a thin crust. Cam thought of the stories her mother used to tell her about the neck-deep snow she’d played in as a child. Cameron had never experienced snow that deep. She’d grown up in the city, in an area that was below most of the Canadian border. They’d had high heat and humidity every summer, and very little winter to speak of. It wasn’t unusual to have no snow for Christmas, and things had only grown warmer as she’d gotten older.

Now, even further north, at most Cameron had seen about six inches of snow. And it hadn’t lasted very long either. A few days earlier she’d heard her mother say something about the winter wheat coming up soon. They’d planted it in the fall after their vegetables had finished for the season, so they would have something to use for flour by spring. Once they harvested that, they would be putting in vegetable gardens again, and growing more fodder for the animals.

Cam kicked at a two-inch crusty blob of snow that marred the otherwise bare path leading away from the bridge. The only reason it hadn’t melted was because of the shelter of the evergreens above her head. Things stayed pretty dark and cold under the gigantic pines. The sudden shade had her shivering a bit, so she picked up the pace. Another ten minutes would see her at the cabin, and she was really looking forward to relaxing with her friends. She had almost lost them seven months earlier. The experience had reminded her to value them, and she hadn’t been spending enough time with them.

Kirk and Leigh had nearly been trapped in the city when the grid began to collapse. They were living in Oakville at the time. Unbeknownst to her and her mother, their car was in the garage when Cam messaged them to get up to the farm, waiting to have its timing chain replaced. When Cam told her mother that they wouldn’t be able to make it, her mother suggested they rent a car instead. She would have paid for the rental, even, but that hadn’t been necessary. It turned out their car was a lease anyway, so they just left it there for the leasing company to reclaim.

Just as she reached the porch steps, Cam got a nasty surprise. Apparently Billy had headed directly here after he’d spoken to her. She could hear him talking to Kirk on the other side of the house where they’d set up a target to practice their archery. Kirk and Leigh had taken lessons with her and her mother, and they had their own equipment. It sounded like Billy was learning to use it. Well, that was just great. Here she’d been hoping to get away from everyone, and now she was going to have to put up with Billy instead of being able to chill.

Maybe her day could have gone a whole lot worse, considering the whole thing with Gerry’s father, but at the moment it felt like a disaster. She already felt bitchy and miserable, looking for a way to decompress, and Billy’s presence meant she was going to have to clamp a lid back down on her emotions. Granted, it was really the first time since August that she’d even had normal emotions, so she should probably be grateful. A few weeks earlier she’d been completely numb, but her mother’s big revelation had jarred something loose inside her.

Cam took a deep breath. She needed to think before she came face to face with Billy. And she needed to calm her temper. She could really use a punching bag right about now, and as much as she might wish Billy could stand in lieu of one, it wasn’t something she could do. So she let her mind wander, and thought about whether or not she could make one of her own. She started to think about its construction, and having to use dirt rather than sand. Their shopping spree at the sewing shop before all the stores had closed meant they had whatever materials she might need, but she wasn’t sure if the thread they had was strong enough. She was in the middle of wondering if she could use paracord instead, when Billy walked around the corner, startling her from her thoughts.

“Hey Cam!”

“Jesus Billy. You scared the crap out of me!”

“I didn’t mean to. You must have been in the middle of some pretty deep thoughts if you didn’t see me coming,” he said with a tentative smile.

“Nothing important, or philosophically deep. Just pondering how I might be able to make a punching bag,” she responded.

“Uh, okay.” His tone was leery, as if it had occurred to him that she might have considered him for the role, which made Cam chuckle.

“Hey, if I’m making one, you don’t have to worry that you’ll end up with any bruises. I’ll take out my frustrations on inanimate objects. Anyway, was Kirk teaching you to use his bow?”

“Yeah. I’ve been coming here for a while now. I guess you didn’t notice.”

“I haven’t been noticing anything anyone does, Billy. Don’t take it personally. I have a lot on my mind. Speaking of which, I just came over here to spend some time with my friends so I can zone out for a bit. Don’t take that personally either. I just really need some time and space right now to relax.”

“I was heading back to the house to get Gowan anyway. I can’t bring him here when I’m firing arrows at a target. He might get hurt, or he might bump me so that someone else gets hurt, you know?”

Cameron just nodded at him. The Doberman her mother had rescued, along with a bunch of ferrets, had attached himself to Billy. They were fast friends now, but like a lot of dogs he was a little too enthusiastic sometimes.

Billy left her to her thoughts finally, and Cam walked cautiously around the end of the house, rather than going up on the porch to the door. She took a quick look to see if Kirk was firing at the target, but when she saw him yanking arrows out of it to replace in his quiver, she relaxed and walked toward him, smiling as she spoke.

“Dude, have I got some crazy shit to tell you!”

3 ~ Finders Keepers

“There are a hell of a lot more people alive than I’ve been expecting,” Mac said, worried that it might impact their safety at the farm. Some of the people had come running outside when they’d heard a vehicle driving past, while at other homes curtains were wrenched aside so they could look out to see what was going on.

“You make it sound like it’s a bad thing,” Neil replied.

“It might be. If they’re desperate, and there are enough of them, it could be a very bad thing.”

“If they survived the winter, they have their own food stores, and they’re probably going to be putting in gardens again very soon. You don’t really want people to die out completely, do you?”

“They have just as much right to survive as we do, but they may not have what they need to put in new gardens. A lot of people bought new seeds and seedlings every year, in order to start up their gardens. Most don’t know how to save their seeds, and most seeds were engineered so people couldn’t get seeds from fruits and veggies anyway. Not to mention the fact that if any of these people know who you are, and where your cabin is, there’s a good chance they’ll try to get to your place to help themselves to a working vehicle. In addition to our food,” she said.

“Leaving the farm was a risk. We both knew that. I can’t guarantee those people we passed don’t know who I am, but none of them seemed familiar to me, and we’re already pretty far away from the cabin. It’s a very long walk. All we can do is wait and see. In the meantime, could you try to concentrate on the job at hand, honey? I’d like to get these panels off the roof before one of us falls twenty feet,” he said rather curtly.

“Sorry,” she muttered, irritated by his tone even if he did have a point.

“It’s a damn good thing we brought two ladders, cowboy, because these panels are heavy. It’s definitely going to take the both of us to get them down,” she finished, her breath coming out in a woofing sound when she momentarily took the weight so Neil could get positioned properly on his ladder. Once he had, he took the weight so she could do the same. Between them they guided the PV panel to the ground, a step at a time.

“We should have brought some rope. Are we taking all of these?” Neil asked.

“We probably should, though I’m not feeling really enthusiastic about it right this second,” she replied, as she stood on the ground and stared up at the eavestrough far above their heads.

“Well, let’s get the next one, and we’ll take it as it comes,” Neil decided.

It took them two hours, with a number of breaks just to be on the safe side. By the time they were done, Mackenzie’s arms and legs were trembling. Each panel had taken them fifteen minutes, but now they had eight of them on the ground, ready to be put in the truck.

“Maybe we should have gone for the mattresses first. That would have been better cushioning than the blankets we brought with us,” Mac said with some concern.

“Not much we can do about it now,” Neil said, shrugging. “Whoever’s driving will just have to be careful, and we’ll head straight from here to the furniture store by the Pentecostal church. We can take a look for marine batteries on our way to the library instead. Probably a bunch where the boats are docked by the town bridge. I’m not sure what you hope to find in the library, though. You’re talking about some fairly obscure technology. Most people didn’t know about it before the grid collapsed, so I can’t see the library in Huntsville having any books on it. Hell, you’ll be lucky if they have a book explaining solar energy.”

“Oh, I know. I don’t really expect to find anything, but even having books on diesel engines will be a big help to me,” Mac replied. “I only really understand gasoline engines. When someone starts talking about glow plugs, I’m lost. The only reason I know it’s possible to convert to using vegetable oil, is because of some stuff they had on the news about it years ago. Besides, I still need the books on boating and sailing. I was thinking they might have a section with marine maps, too, seeing as there are so many lakes and waterways around here.”

She tilted her head to the left, stretching out her neck, and then to the right. She was already tired and sore, and wasn’t looking forward to hauling boxes of books out of the library, but it had occurred to her that she’d like to conserve some of those books. Anything to do with medicine, food preservation, agriculture, science, or technology could turn out to be a big help to them, and she loved books just for their own sake. She hated to think of them being left to rot.

They arrived at the furniture store without incident. First they stacked four queen-size mattresses inside Neil’s large horse trailer, and stowed the photovoltaic panels between. They added a couple of twin mattresses on top, and it wasn’t until they had finished standing up the remaining four twin-size mattresses in the trailer, that trouble came calling.

The shuffling gait had the unwelcome thought of zombies popping into her brain, but she shook her head to clear it. This was nothing more than severe malnutrition. At his first, nearly incoherent words, however, she felt the first flicker of fear and disgust. Neil stilled for a second, but then began to circle around to the driver’s side of the truck.

“Eat you,” the disheveled stranger said, his voice a harsh, gasping sound. Apparently he hadn’t been talking a lot lately, or someone had tried to strangle him at some point.

“Dude,” Mac began, while backing up. “You’re not gonna eat me. You might be starving, but I can give you some food. Real food, not human. We carry emergency packs with us.”

“No. Eat you.”

The light of madness in his eyes made her think further conversation was probably pointless, but she needed to try. She really didn’t want to have to hurt the guy, though killing him might be a mercy. He’d obviously taken in more than he could handle, and it sounded as though part of what he’d taken in was human flesh. She understood survival, but he seemed to prefer eating humans to regular food sources now.

“You’re
not
going to eat me, or anyone else. I can give you real food, but I’m not letting you gnaw on me no matter how hungry you are. If you try, I’m going to have to hurt you. You don’t want that, do you?”

Her hand was on the grip of her gun when he lunged jerkily toward her, his halting steps slowing to a stop when he saw her brandishing the weapon. He was apparently sane enough not to directly challenge a bullet. At least not by himself. It wasn’t until she began sidling toward the passenger door of the truck that she saw the others.

“Neil,” she said softly.

“I see them,” he responded just as quietly. “We need to go. Now.” So saying, he pulled open his door. Mackenzie continued to brandish the Glock 22, giving Neil time to get the truck started and in gear.

“Mac! Get in the fucking truck!”

She wasn’t arguing. Her pulse racing, she leapt in. He was pulling away from the warehouse-like store before she’d even closed her door. When the door-latch clunked into place, she yanked at her seatbelt, causing it to jam on her first attempt.

“For fuck’s sake,” she snarled, forcing herself to pull the belt slowly the second time. Patience wasn’t one of her virtues at the best of times, and with panic added to the mix she wanted to scream at the belt mechanism.

“Okay. So
that
just happened,” Mac said breathlessly, as she settled back against her seat with her heart still fluttering. Neil let out a chuckle at her choice of words.

“Yup. It sure did. You still want to head to the electronics store in the mall?” Neil glanced at her as he waited for her response. Mackenzie took a moment to consider the issue.

“Cameron’s right. We need those cameras. Our security has gaps. And, after seeing those freaks, I like being vulnerable to outsiders even less than I did before,” Mackenzie replied. She shuddered and wondered how long it would be before she felt like eating again. She considered herself a pragmatic sort, and knew she was just as likely to resort to cannibalism as anyone, if her survival were at stake. But she was pretty sure she’d never start
preferring
that to other food sources.

“Well, at least they weren’t moaning about brains,” Neil quipped. Mackenzie snorted. It probably wasn’t the least bit funny, but she’d always been the sort to think of strange things as an adventure rather than a frustration.

“Probably the closest thing humanity will ever come to actual zombies, I suppose. I’ve never been a big believer in zombie apocalypses. Then again, there were those bath salt drugs that had people trying to eat other people while they were high on them. We’ve done some pretty nasty stuff to ourselves as a species.”

“Well, zombies aside, how do you want to do the mall thing? I’d prefer to go in together, and stay in visual contact, rather than one of us outside waiting with the truck. Especially after seeing that bunch. I’m not too keen on either of us running into a group like that while we’re alone. What do you think?”

“I think you’re right,” Mac said. “It’s a different set-up from the library, with outside doors everywhere, despite most being the employees-only kind. Just too many ways in and out for a person outside to know what’s going on. So, we go in together. I think with the library we can both go in to make sure it’s empty, and then you can stay with the truck since I know what I’m looking for. Good thing we brought the headlamps, though. Both those places are going to be pitch black inside. What do you want to bet the glass doors at the mall will already be broken?”

“Nothin’ doin’. I’m keeping my money. There’s no way that place wasn’t raided for food, what with the grocery store being attached. It has its own set of doors if I remember correctly, but there would’ve been other items worth looting in the main part of the mall. Thankfully security cameras wouldn’t have been high on anyone’s looting wish-list, but that’s assuming the local stores even carried them for sale. I’m betting most of the people were dead within the first month in town, with the exception of those who considered other people a food source.”

Mac didn’t respond. She hated to think of all the people that had once lived in Huntsville. It had been a beautiful town. Too damn crowded in the summer with all the tourists, or terrorists as she and her friends had called them, but beautiful all the same. Well, at least there were no crowds now, and tourism was a thing of the past. Aesthetically-speaking, Huntsville could still be considered beautiful. Just really empty, with a lot of long, brown grass no one had been able to cut at the end of the previous summer, which had withered during the winter months.

The sadness crept up on her. It wasn’t until that moment that she’d realized how much of the beauty of the town had come from the people living there, peacefully enjoying small-town life. Since she’d spent such a large portion of her life avoiding people as much as possible, the sentiment caught her completely off guard.

“Why is it that it’s only now, when people are either dead or crazy, that I’m starting to think they weren’t so bad after all? I guess I’m like everyone in that respect, not appreciating something until it’s too late. It’s not just that, though. There’s a rhythm that’s missing in the world now. Kind of like someone blowing air across the top of an empty bottle, rather than a whole band playing. I think we were
supposed
to be a part of this world, but we went too far with it, and now we’re not playing the part we should have played,” she finished softly.

“Honey, that’s just what humans do. We overreach. And it’s not just with bad things, either. Even when we’re doing something for a good cause we overreach, like with activism. People would go too far with it, alienating others who might have been a help to their cause. Humans just aren’t that reasonable or rational, and we sure as hell don’t think ahead very much about the consequences of our actions. Or inactions,” he added ruefully.

“Ain’t that the truth. At any rate, you were right not to bet against me. Looks like both big sets of doors are broken. It’s a good thing, too. I want to make as little noise as possible. Hopefully the sound of the truck hasn’t caught anyone’s attention. Thankfully that furniture store is such a long way from the mall.”

Neil pulled up to the doors and turned off the motor, while Mac looked up at the big signs over what used to be Zellers, before the large department-store chain had gone belly-up. Walmart moving into Canada had certainly had an impact on their bottom line.

“I always wondered what they put in here after Zellers crapped out. It’s not easy finding big-name stores to take over those giant leases. Target took over some of the stores in the cities, I know, but then they pulled out of Canada. I’m surprised to see Winners and SportChek here, though. There aren’t even a lot of Winners stores down in the bigger cities.” Winners was a clothing store that sold new, but discounted, name-brand stuff. She’d seen cashmere for a fraction of the cost in some of them, but their stock wasn’t consistent. Neil just shrugged.

“I was just thinking it was too bad they’d only have summer stock,” he said. “Not that it’s getting all that cold these days. We sure as hell don’t need down parkas anymore.”

“Well, we’ve got everything we need for clothing anyway, and that’s not what we’re here for. I mean, if you see something in the electronics store that you think will be useful, by all means grab it, but I don’t want to be spending time looking into the other stores.”