THE COLLAPSE: Seeking Refuge (6 page)

“Wait,” Stephen almost laughed, “did you call that man a ‘Jesus-thumper’ to his face?”

“Kind of, yeah.  Maybe I did.”

Tarra laughed and corrected Fish, “You realize that they are called ‘bible-thumpers’, not ‘Jesus-thumpers’, right? 
Both
terms are derogatory, though.  It’s not nice.”

Stephen boomed with laughter, “No wonder he got pissed off!”

“Oh, oops,” Fish chuckled.  “I don’t care, I’m not going to apologize to him.  Pharaoh barked his ass off at the dude, and you know he never does that unless the person is a turd.”

“True,” Stephen agreed, changing the tone back to seriousness. “I don’t like the idea of people walking into our site, either.”

Everyone agreed to subscribe to a heightened security posture.  They had thought that being inside a sanctuary such as The Park eliminated any danger, but they were wrong.

Once lunch was over, Tarra kissed her husband and left with the Kays, taking her shotgun with her, of course.  Fish and Stephen remained at site 199, for they had to wait until Meghan came by with the location of the day’s three o’clock meeting.  Fish told Stephen that after he received the day’s location, he was going to head to the beach to find Alexis Tillman.  He needed to get his briefing from her.  He also wanted to know if she was single or not.

Stephen said, “Good, we can walk together.  I have people meeting me there this afternoon.  I’m going to teach them how to catch herring.”

Fish got excited, “Dude, I want to do that.  I love catching herring!”

“Maybe after you get your brief you can join me.  I’m going to need to borrow your herring rig, anyway.  I don’t know if any of the people on my fishing teams have them,”  Stephen said. 

The truth was, he hoped that Fish would accompany him, regardless.  Not only because he wanted to go fishing with best friend, just like old times, but Stephen didn’t like the unknown, and the whole beach scenario was an unknown to him at that point.  Fish made an excellent bodyguard.

Meghan arrived at twelve minutes past one o’clock.  This time, she was on a bicycle.  She quickly told Fish and Stephen where to meet at three o’clock, and then pedaled away to her next notification.

“She’s kinda cute,” Fish stated after Meghan was out of earshot.

“Don’t even think about it, brother,” Stephen warned.

“What?  I was just saying...” Fish grinned.

*****

Tarra had received some disapproving looks from some of The Park residents as she passed site after site with her daughters and the shotgun.  Some even shook their heads and mumbled something.  She figured that they were probably just jealous that Tarra had such wonderful protection.  Maybe they didn’t have a gun for themselves.

At least Carrie had no problem with the gun whatsoever, saying, “Look at that!  Nice!  My dad taught me how to shoot on my tenth birthday.” 

Carrie had instructed Tarra to leave the weapon just inside the RV enough to where it would be easily accessible by either of them.  She explained that the recent attacks had made her more vigilant than she had been in the past.  Tarra was getting the impression that Carrie was just a big ol’ tom girl, and possibly not even a lesbian after all. 

A few minutes after Tarra had returned to Carrie at site 72, two women approached with a small boy.  The boy was clinging to one of the women’s pant legs.  It must have been his mother.  Tarra guessed that the little boy was somewhere around three years old.  The two women appeared clean and well-maintained.  Tarra even detected a bit of makeup on the both of the women’s attractive faces, which was an odd sight during The Collapse. 

The little boy, however, was a stark contrast to his mother’s preened appearance.  He was a total mess.  His jacket and pants were covered in filth, and his face was a snot-encrusted, dirt-smeared wreck.  Some of the gunk was even in his hair. 

Carrie and Tarra got up from their seats to greet the women and determine what was wrong.  The women approached the nurse’s site but addressed only Tarra.

“Are you Tarra?” the woman with the boy asked.

“Yes, I am.  How can we help you?”

“I’m Julia Hollingsworth, my husband is the gate team leader,” the woman said, and extended her hand to Tarra.  Julia seemed to be wearing her husband’s rank on her sleeve.  Tarra recalled many of the navy wives doing that exact same thing when they were on base.  It was so pathetic, in her opinion. 

The other woman introduced herself as Sydney Joseph, and her husband was also on the gate team.

“Nice to meet you both,” Tarra stated cordially.  She then crouched down to the boy’s level and said, “Who’s this little guy?” 

The boy bashfully turned his snot-scummy face away from Tarra without answering. 

Julia replied for him, “His name is Dakota, and he’s actually why I’m here.  We heard that you were really good with children?”

“Wow, word spreads fast around here!” Tarra laughed amiably.  She had considered it as a compliment.

Julia asked, “We were wondering if you could watch him for a little while.  Our husbands didn’t get a chance to eat anything this morning before they left for their shift, and we were hoping to take them some food.”

Suddenly, Tarra thought that three things were odd.  One, that these women knew about what was said at the leadership meeting the day before.  Two, that the women had been addressing
her
the whole time and appeared to be purposely ignoring Carrie.  And three, since there were two of them, why didn’t one of them watch the little boy while the other ran the food out to the gate?

Carrie had been watching and was fed up.  She rolled her eyes and went back over to the Kays at the picnic table.  Tarra’s perception was that her new boss wasn’t kosher with the idea of watching Dakota for a while.

“Please?” Julia begged, and looked pleadingly at Tarra.  “I would take him with me, but it’s a really long walk.  Not only that, but the gate could be a dangerous place for a little boy.” 

Tarra was at a crossroads, and hesitated before responding.  She was new to The Park, and first impressions were everything.  She wanted to be friendly and contribute whatever efforts she could, but she also didn’t want to accept any liabilities without Carrie’s approval.  The child would definitely be a liability if any emergencies arose that would need both of their attention.  But, what were the chances of that?  Carrie had been holding it down all on her own up until that point, anyway.

Carrie suddenly tossed out her own opinion from the picnic table, “I don’t think it’s a good idea, Tarra.”

Julia put her hands on her hips and angrily blurted, “Excuse me?  I wasn’t talking to you, Carrie.  I was talking to Tarra.”

Tarra looked back at Carrie, who was shaking her head, and then back at Julia.  She sensed strife.  Was there some type of animosity amongst these women?  Did they have history? 

Even though Tarra was smarter than the average bear, sometimes the compassion in her heart would overwhelm her, and she would choose to react accordingly instead of following her intellect and instinct.  She did have a question, though.

Tarra asked Sydney, “Why don’t
you
run the food out to the gate?  Why do you both need to do it?”

Sydney was blown away.  She couldn’t think of a response to that logic.  She and Julia had assumed that Tarra would have already have taken the child without question.  The two women just wanted to go off and do something on their own, but the real reply simply wouldn’t suffice, Tarra wouldn’t accept it as a reason.

Julia answered for the ditzy Sydney instead, saying, “Well, um…we’re going to take some food for
all
the guys at the gate, not just our husbands.  It’s just too much to carry by one person.”

Sydney looked at her friend and nodded her head in agreement, as if what Julia had said was actually the plan.

Tarra knew it was a bluff, and that they were lying.  She couldn’t help but to wonder what they were up to.  But there was a more serious matter at hand.

Tarra said to Julia, “One second, please.”  She walked over to Carrie and quietly whispered, “The only reason I want to say ‘yes’ to this shit show is so I can get that poor little boy cleaned up.  That’s all.”

Carrie sighed in frustration and said, “You do whatever you want.  I’ll help you get that boy cleaned up if that’s what you really want to do.” 

Carrie also added just as Tarra turned around, in a voice loud enough for the two other women to hear it, “I’ll tell you some things after they leave.”

Sydney and Julia both tried to give Carrie some menacing, “don’t-you-fucking-dare” looks of warning, but Carrie had already turned around and was talking with the Kays at the table.

Tarra accepted Dakota from Julia, and just before the two shameless women walked away, Sydney had seethed, “Don’t listen to her, Tarra.  She’s just a stupid troublemaking bitch.  You’ll see.”

*****

Stephen and Fish had assembled their fishing poles and organized their tackle boxes quickly before departing for the beach.  Stephen still had anxiety about what might be waiting for them on the other side of the thick layer of trees that formed a comforting, protective barrier around The Park.

Fish, on the other hand, was eager to check out his new area of responsibility.  He craved action.  He was also excited meet up with Alexis!

The two had chosen a path that led to the beach parking lot, which was where Stephen had instructed his fishing teams to assemble.  He had found out that a few of the residents had boats larger than the petty ones that people were using on the lake. 

As they emerged from the forested path that gave way to the parking lot, Stephen breathed a sigh of relief.  There was nothing going on, other than his fishing team milling around a couple of trailered boats.  Stephen looked to the water and saw a few boats in the distance, but they were too far away to be any kind of threat.  It was nothing like he had anticipated.  He thought it was going to be a war zone!

“This isn’t so bad,” Stephen declared to Fish.

“No, it sure isn’t,” Fish agreed, somewhat disappointed.  He then asked, “What did you think it was going to be like?”

Stephen shrugged and said, “I don’t know.  Not like this, though.”

“I need to find Alexis,” Fish stated, anxiously.

“Go ahead.  You can leave your fishing stuff with me if you want,” Stephen replied.  But they wouldn’t need to find Alexis, because she was seen walking toward them from the north side of the parking lot.  She was walking fast, and even though she was a good 70 or 80 yards away, she didn’t appear to be very happy.

“Ah, never mind.  There she is!” Fish said happily and waved with his fishing pole arm.  Stephen wanted to accompany Fish during his briefing, as he was curious to find out what had been going on.  After all, the beach was his area of responsibility as well.  He needed to find out what he was up against.

Stephen waved and shouted to his fishing team, “Hold on, guys!  I’ll be there in a second.” 

A few of them waved in acknowledgment.

They met Alexis half way.  She was wearing a black Oak Harbor Police jacket along with her service belt and holster.  All her other attire appeared to be civilian in nature.  She really did look pissed!  She angrily shouted at Fish, “Where have you been?  I’ve been waiting all day for you.”

Fish’s grin was wiped off his face.  He replied matter-of-factly, “I had to sleep in.  I’m going to be awake all night on my shift.”

Alexis frowned and said, “Don’t you think the responsible thing to do would have been to get your briefing first, then go back to sleep if you really needed it so badly?”

“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?” Fish demanded.  Stephen’s first instinct was to walk away from the conversation.  He didn’t like the tension between the two of them.  They were both Type-A personalities in conflict with each other.  He couldn’t walk away, though.  He had to make sure that Fish didn’t do anything stupid.

“A fisherman, I guess!” Alexis barked an indignant laugh and flapped her hand at Fish’s tackle box and pole.  She added to Fish in a childish voice, “Are you here to go fishing with your little buddies or are you here to protect The Park?”

“Both!” Fish shouted, and was about to add something else but Stephen cut in.

“Good afternoon, Alexis.  We’re both here to help in any way we can.”

Alexis looked at Stephen, pointed at his M-4 and huffed, “And you?  What are
you
doing with a goddamned rifle? You’re just a resource manager.” 

The ex-cop shook her head in dismay, then scornfully added, “That weapon is a total waste of an asset in your hands, if you ask me.”

Stephen was taken aback.  This woman was either really frustrated or a real ball-buster.  Or, quite possibly…both.  Her eyes were a reddish color, and the skin around her eyes was dark, as if she had not been getting much sleep.  Or maybe not enough water?  She wasn’t right in the head, and Stephen could detect that something was physically wrong with her as well.

Fish protectively stepped in front of Stephen and warned Alexis, “Whoa girl, you better ease down.”