Innocence Lost (6 page)

              They all sat around the kitchen table, unsure where to start. Alec could see the uncertainty in everyone’s faces and that somehow put him more at ease.

Around the table were Jack, Trevor, Freddie, and Malcolm. This was their self-appointed “council”. Jack and Malcolm had been the ones to push for a council to oversee the development of their new little community. Alec had to admit he didn’t really understand the reason they needed a council but if it made everyone feel more at ease he would go along with it.

“First off,” Jack started and cleared his throat, “I want to thank you all for agreeing to be a part of this council. You may not realize it yet but by accepting this you are going to hear nothing but ridiculous complaints followed up by demands that cannot be met.”

“That sounds fun.” Trevor said.

“But,” Jack continued, “You will be able to help steer our settlement towards great things.”

Alec noticed that Freddie looked the most uncomfortable of all of them. The man was from Centralia but had originally been part of the group that had killed Alec’s brother and father. With that said Freddie had not hesitated to show Alec where those people were and helped with removing them. Alec didn’t trust him 100% but he didn’t really trust anyone, except for maybe Trevor.

“We’ve made great progress in the last couple of months thanks to Freddie and the men that Whitford let us borrow.”

Alec couldn’t dispute that either. The once wide open fields around the property had been fenced off into several lots. Some of the fencing they managed to scavenge from other properties but the majority had been created by hand. In one of those fenced off lots were a dozen cows, or as Malcolm said a dozen head of cattle. Their intention was to also pick up a few of the now wild horses around the area but that was easier said than done. Jack and a few of the others had been leaving food for a nearby herd hoping to gain their trust, but to date nothing had come of it.

“Speaking of which, Freddie, how much longer do you think Whitford will be able to spare the men?” Trevor asked.

Freddie had been fidgeting with a pencil and placed it to the side and put his hands in his lap. “Uh, I’m not really sure. We have some maintenance work that needs to be done but we have plenty of time. Uh, I’ll take a ride and talk to him soon to find out.”

“That brings up another issue,” Malcolm sighed, “Clive.”

Nobody said anything but everyone knew exactly what he was talking about.

Clive was one of the men who had come along to help and the man was beginning to create more problems than he was solving. Freddie said that Clive showed up in Centralia during the time that Alec was out searching for his sister. The man was in his late twenties, had side burns that nearly ran down his entire face, and didn’t seem to have a single trait that anyone could appreciate. He was crass, rude, and seemed to be constantly trying to start fights with any and every one. His only redeeming quality was that he was a hard worker.

“What did he do now?” Freddie asked.

“The same thing he has been doing since he got here, stirring up shit.” Malcolm spat out.

Freddie ran his hand through his hair. “I can try to have him head back to Centralia to help out there. I don’t know if he’ll listen though, him and Whitford have been at each other’s throats lately, well always.”

Alec’s interactions with the man had been few and far between. He knew the man was head strong and full of unwanted opinions, but he knew how to get things done.

“I’ll talk to him.” Ale said. The council paused and every one turned their attention to him. “Best case, he stops acting up and we have a good worker to help out.”

“And worse case?” asked Trevor.

“He gets pissed off and takes off back to Centralia or elsewhere.”

Malcolm’s forehead was still wrinkled and his frown was carved deep into his face, or course it was almost always like that. “I don’t know if that’s the worst case scenario but it’s worth a shot.”

The rest of the council agreed, but that wasn’t the only thing that Alec wanted to bring up.

“We need to be able to protect ourselves.” No one disagreed. Everyone there knew firsthand how dangerous the world was now. Alec turned to Jack. “What do we have?”

“I haven’t done an extensive count or anything, but we still have the hunting rifle along with one of the assault rifles that Mason left behind.” Jack said the last part delicately as if the mention of Mason would send Alec over the edge. It did cause a ripple of anger to wash over him.

“Ammo?” he asked.

“Not much. Probably 30 shots or so for the rifle, a couple of clips for the assault.”

“We have a few rifles we brought with us,” Malcolm said more to the others than to Alec. Alec was all too aware that they had a few guns. “When we were attacked some of the men left behind their guns when they fled. I’ll ask around about the ammo, not too sure how we’re doing there.”

It was something.

“We need to choose a handful of us to be prepared in case we’re needed. We need a group that is always here and prepared in case someone comes looking for trouble, and a few of us that can go out whenever needed and be prepared to protect ourselves as necessary.”

“Like a police force and what, a scouting party?” Trevor asked.

“Call it what you want. If we can provide for ourselves out here there is a chance word will spread, and people who can’t, will come looking.”

Malcolm simply nodded and his eyes stared off in the distance, reliving a past that Alec was sure he wanted to forget.

“Any disagreements?” Jack asked.

There were none.

              Clive was sitting up on a fence post chewing on a weed of some kind. The man’s raggedy sideburns obscured a large portion of his thin face and dirty clothes hung off his small frame. On the top of his head was a backwards baseball cap; whatever team or slogan that it had once contained had long since disappeared to age. Clive saw him coming and gave a small smile that showed the teeth of a man that must have smoked most of his life.

“Well shit, what did I do now?”

Alec came up next to him and leaned up against the fence. “Hopefully nothing.”

Clive leaned back as if he was trying to give Alec a good look. “You trying to tell me you just decided to mosey on over and talk with me cause you wanted to?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Clive shook his head and looked out toward the field. “Well shit. Must be something big if they got the king of the land to come out and talk with me.”

“King of the land?”

“All this shit is yours right?” Clive waved his hand towards the field. “You the king of this kingdom.”

“No, this isn’t all mine. It was my fathers, or actually my grandfathers. We just came here to get away from the world.”

“How did that work out for ya?”

Alec felt the anger start to bubble up. Clive sat there trying to look innocent but the man knew what had happened here.

The man spit out the side of his mouth. “So this land was your grandfather’s, and was passed down to your father and now to you? I’m not a smart man but I think that means you went from a prince to a king and these are your lands.”

“With the way things are now, what exactly is giving me rights over this land? You think if a bunch of people with guns showed up right now, I could show them the deed to the land and they would just walk away?”

Clive laughed and gave him a yellow smile. “Now you getting the hang of it. I was wondering if any of you understood that stuff don’t matter no more, but nope there you go playing government.”

“How are we playing government?” Alec asked.

“With all your rules and your little congress that you formed. There isn’t a government anymore and you all don’t need to be trying to create a new one.”

“Having rules doesn’t mean we are trying to create a government. It’s a means to survive.”

“Whatever you say.”

“I’m sure there are places out there that don’t have rules, you’re free to go there if you want. But if you would like to stay here than those rules need to be followed.”

Clive hopped off the fence and took a few steps toward Alec with a wiry smile on his face. “Don’t worry your majesty, I won’t step out of line. I’ll be a good little peasant while you all play house for as long as you can.”

They stood there for a few beats in silence, Clive trying to bait Alec and Alec refusing to bite.

“Everything going ok?” Freddie asked as he approached.

Clive didn’t take his eyes off of Alec. “Oh yes sir, just talking about the rules of the land.”

Freddie stepped between them. “That’s good to hear Clive. I know how much we’d hate to lose you around here.”

Clive turned on Freddie. “That right? Who exactly is going to make me leave?”

Alec stepped up before Freddie could respond. “We - I don’t want you to leave, that is why I’m here.”

Clive stepped back and stared blankly at him. It was if the man couldn’t decide whether or not Alec was full of shit.

“Alright man,” he said finally. “I’ma straighten up and fly right. You boys don’t have to worry ‘bout me no more.”

Both Freddie and Alec remained quiet.

“I’ll keep my head to the ground, mouth shut, and get my work done.” With that said Clive turned around and strolled off.

They waited until the man was out of earshot.

“You believe him?” Freddie asked.

“Not for a damn second.” Alec answered.

“Good, you’re a smart man.”

Ally

Ally enjoyed the night.

The heat from the day stepped aside for the cool night breeze if only for a brief moment. The stars twinkled in the night sky and the moon gave its meager supply of light to the world around her. The crickets and frogs made sure there was always something to listen to while the fireflies seem to teleport all across the empty fields.

Tiger jumped up in the air and managed to snatch a firefly in mid-illumination, shattering Ally’s peace. She threw a stick out the dog, who dodged it and continued smacking his lips as he downed the insect snack.

“You’re nasty Tiger.” Ally said, trying to hide a smile.

Her belly was still full from the squirrel she had earlier but sleep didn’t seem to be anywhere near. She went inside the shed and came back out with her bow and arrows. She still hadn’t tested the arrows she had made by supergluing razor blades to her arrows but they seemed sturdy. She had found hundreds of razor blades in an abandoned warehouse a few months back, apparently razor blades weren’t in high demand. But for her purposes they were sharper than the sharpest stick she was ever able to carve.

“Come on Tiger, let’s go on a walk.”

There had been a time where Ally had not liked the dark, she hadn’t been afraid of it necessarily but she hadn’t enjoyed it, but that had changed the first night after her family moved to the country. It seemed so long ago but she could still remember how bright the stars were and how quiet everything was. She could remember nights just sitting on the back porch with Alec and Joseph staring up at the night sky or just watching the fireflies.

It seemed like she had lived multiple lives. She remembered her family when her mother was still around, even if she was having a hard time remembering what her mother looked like. She remembered her mom was always very nice; she used to tell Ally that she should stop picking on Joseph but Ally never remembered picking on him. She remembered when her mom got sick. She would always go in a different room when it was really bad and before she died Alec would always be there turning Ally away if her mother started getting really bad. Then one day she was gone.

The second life was when her dad returned and all the lights went out. Things were fun then. She got to play outside all the time with Joseph, there was plenty of room and she didn’t have to go to school. Alec and her dad didn’t seem to always get along but her dad was always nice to her. She had enjoyed that life. Then it was taken away.

The third life was when she left with Jess. The woman was strange at first. She always seemed to talk to herself and would go crazy sometimes but she was always nice to Ally. Driving everywhere and then walking all over the place wasn’t fun. And Ally remembered being really sad because everyone was gone but Jess helped her get better. Then they had met Gruff and it felt like she had a family all over again. Gruff made her a bow and taught her to hunt and provide for herself. Jess was a good second mom and Gruff would have been a good second dad, but then the bad soldiers took them away too.

Now Ally had Tiger and Tiger had her. She wondered if, when she got older, she would look back and think of this as her fourth life. And if so what would she be doing then? She hoped by then she would have more people to talk to outside of Tiger and the lady at the trading booth.

Ally came up upon a large drop off and ten or so feet down was an old creek bed. She looked around and couldn’t see a way to safely climb down, and for a moment considered just turning around and going home until she saw a light in the distance coming closer. Ally dropped down to her belly and pulled Tiger down next to her.

“Tiger, stay and be quiet.” The dogs ears went back and he dropped his head again but didn’t make a sound.

She used the high brush to conceal herself and watched as the light spilt into two as it got closer until finally she could make out two people walking down the creek bed with torches. The men stopped a distance from her and just stood there. Ally kept her hand on Tiger’s neck so she could grab him if he tried to move or started growling, but the dog remained quiet.

The snap of a twig came from the other side of the creek bed, causing both Tiger and Ally to jump slightly. A small slender man walked below her using only the moon light to guide him and approached the men with torches. As he approached the men with torches stopped walking and waited for him.

“This the guy?” the man on left asked.

“Yep, this is him.” The voice sounded familiar to Ally. “I forgot his name though.”

The slender man stopped a few yards from them. “You can call me Hicks. So you all interested?”

The man on the left took a few steps forward and Hicks took one back.

“Ethan says you have a large stash of smokes you’re willing to part with.”

The slender man nodded. “For the right price. My people found a van full of them when the shit hit the fan. You can smoke a pack a day and have enough for close to a year.”

The name Ethan sounded familiar as well. The men were still too far away for her to make them out and the flames from the torches caused the shadows to dance over the creek bed.

“So what are you looking for?”

Hicks glanced towards the man on the right and then back to the man on the left. “Ethan said you had a bunch of guns from the military guys that used to be around here. He said you all would be willing to part with a dozen of them with enough ammo to go around.”

“Is that so Ethan?” The man on the left lifted his torch towards Ethan, casting away the darkness and revealing the man she had run into in the alleyway. Ethan gave a goofy grin and shrugged his shoulders.

Hicks took a step back, his head swinging back and forth from Ethan to the man on the left. “I don’t have anything with me and I don’t know where they put the smokes so don’t-“

Suddenly, the man on the left swung his torch at Hicks’ head, knocking him off his feet and causing the flames to explode all around the man’s head.

Tiger started to growl and Ally quickly grabbed ahold of him, stopping him for the moment. “Quiet Tiger, don’t move.” she whispered.

In the creek bed Hicks rolled on the ground, covering his face. The man on the left stood over him.

“You know where the smokes are. Or at the very least you know somebody who knows. You really want to die for some goddamn cigarettes?”

Hicks stopped rolling and looked up at the man. “You really going to kill someone for them?”

The man on the left let out a quick bellow and looked to Ethan. “I like this guy,” he turned his attention back to Hicks. “Of course I’m ready to kill for that many smokes. You know what I could get for that many cancer-sticks? I wouldn’t die for them, but I would kill for them.”

Hicks looked to Ethan and the man once again shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t really know or care what was going on.

“Alright, you let me go and-“

“Wrong answer.”

The man on the left pulled out a large knife and before Ally could close her eyes he buried it into the side of Hicks. Ally let out a yelp that was covered up by the man’s screams. She held on tighter to Tiger who shuffled about but didn’t move.

The man on the left pulled out the knife which was now red with blood. “I’ll give you another chance Hicks. You tell me the truth now and I’ll let you go and there is a chance you’ll recover.”

Hicks rolled to the far side of the creek and after a few moments stopped screaming. “If I tell you,” his voice came out in large sobbing gasps. “If I tell you then I’m a dead man.”

“You tell me and I promise to let you go, you don’t then I can guarantee you’re going to bleed out here in the middle of nowhere. It’s your choice.”

Ethan finally stepped forward. “Roy, you gut him then we’re shit out of luck.”

The man on the left, Roy, waved him off. “We’ll find them eventually.” He bent down and put the knife up to the wounded man’s face. “But if we have to search I’ll make sure that I kill anyone and everyone that is connected to this little shit stain.”

Hicks threw out his elbow, scoring a glancing blow on the side of Roy’s face but the man barely budged. Instead he smiled and plunged the knife back into the wounded man. Then he did it again, and again.

Ally felt her food rising from her stomach and couldn’t handle it. She didn’t want to be there. She didn’t want to see this. She wanted to go home. Tiger jumped up as the man’s screams climbed and began to bark. At first the screams drowned out the barks but as the life began to leave the man his screams became softer and Tiger’s barks remained the same.

“The fuck is that?” Ethan asked as he looked back and his eyes fell on the dog.

Ally jumped to her feet and ran, knowing that Tiger would follow. She heard the shouts coming from the creek bed but she knew it would take the men awhile to climb up to where they were. She was aware of Tiger running beside her so she didn’t bother looking back. She ran as fast as she could, hoping that somehow her legs could take her back to one of her old lives so she wouldn’t be alone anymore.