The New Night Novels (Book 1): Rippers: A New Night Novel (16 page)

     “All right, we’ve got orders,” Phoebe said as she entered the living room where everyone had begun stacking materials. The supplies would be dispersed throughout storage areas when they were determined but for now, Phoebe wanted everything in one central location so it could be catalogued. That’s what her mom had always done at the daycare, and it seemed like a good habit to be in.

     “What are we doing?” Leland asked.

     “Chopping down trees, lot of them. Jameson said just let them fall and he’ll deal with them when the sun goes down. Come on, let’s go.” When Elise stood, Phoebe gave her a scolding look. “Come on, Elise, not you. Chopping trees is not something a pregnant woman should be doing.”

     “Guess I’ll just bring y’all some lemonade or sweet tea when you get thirsty, eh?” she asked wryly as she crossed her arms beneath her breasts.

     “No, you can catalogue the supplies, though,” Phoebe suggested.

     Elise sighed. “All right.”

     “Call out back if any Rippers come or if you need one of us,” Leland said as he hefted one of the large axes and took several of the work gloves they’d commandeered from the hardware store.

     “Here you go,” Phoebe said as she handed Elise a notebook and a pen. “Why don’t you do a page for clothes, a page for nonperishables, a page for perishables, and a page for miscellaneous?”

     “Yeah,” Elise said with a sigh as she accepted the writing paraphernalia. “Why don’t I?”

     They spent the day chopping trees on the far edges of the property, farthest away from the road. Art and Gerry were an effective team and worked the chainsaws all day long. The whine and buzz echoed over the property until they were out of all but one gas can and decided to call it a day.

     “I can’t believe we only got twelve of them down,” Leland complained. He was sore all over. Three pairs of gloves had been destroyed by the hard work and he had callouses under his burst blood blisters.

     No one else had made out any better. Both Phoebe and Jenn seemed to have suffered the worst from the intense physical labor, but they were both too tired to complain.

     Not a single Ripper had confronted them all day. Leland knew that didn’t mean there weren’t several on their way. Upon hearing the commotion of their tree felling, the creatures could have been drawn even through the vast forest and field that stretched until another town joined up with it.

     Phoebe had explained, when she had breath to speak, how isolated her uncle’s farm was. Forests, fields, and another town many miles away. The closest human population existed in the town of Greenville itself, and it was completely abandoned. They’d been all through the town and had seen no one. Not in any stores they’d looted or any homes they’d passed.

     “We’re alone for the most part,” Phoebe had said. “Except for each other.”

     They passed Jameson on their way into the house. He’d made sure to stay inside his room for the brightest part of the day and had slept deeply and well.

     When he saw how exhausted the group looked when they came inside, he hoped he’d be able to finish what they started. None of them were in any position to fight if anything came at them in the night.

     “Don’t talk to me until I’ve had a shower,” Phoebe said as she held a hand up to him. “I’ve literally never felt this bad in my entire life.”

     “Seconded,” Leland groaned. “Tell me there’s more than one bathroom.”

     “There are three altogether,” Phoebe answered. “The one on this level is a half bath with a stand up shower. The two on the top floors have bathtubs. I call one.”

     Eli and Carmen ran down the stairs. Carmen had bounced back surprisingly well after a full night’s sleep and a day in Elise’s presence. The pregnant woman followed the children downstairs, one hand on her belly and one on her back.

     “If I’m going to be playing den mother after this baby comes, I think I’m going to need a nanny or three,” she joked with a smile. Her face fell when she saw the dirty, sweaty, exhausted group. “Oh, you all look awful! I have a roast on for dinner. Everyone take some time to wash up while I start on the mashed potatoes. We’ll have some corn and a salad, too.”

     Elise led Carmen and Eli into the kitchen. She said, “Come along, you two. We’ll color something while I cook.”

     “We can share the second floor bathroom and then Art can hop in after us,” Gerry suggested to Jenn. He squeezed her against him and she gave him a tired smile before lifting her lips to his for a gentle kiss.

     “Whoever gets done first, I think,” Art said as he watched his brother embrace his young wife. “I just want to wash off all this work.”

     Leland had already gone to the bathroom on the first floor, right off the kitchen. Phoebe wanted to race upstairs, but it took enough effort just to drag herself up one step at a time with a hand on the railing.

     “We can’t do that again, Jameson,” she said in a conversational tone, even though he was a floor lower than she was. “We’re only human.”

     Jameson nodded. The sun was about to go down. He needed to get to work.

Chapter Twenty-Three – The Wall

     When Phoebe left the bathroom after thirty minutes, she felt moderately refreshed. Her body still ached from what she’d put it through and her head felt like it wanted to explode but the long soak in a steaming bath had eased her hurts some.

     The sun had set and darkness had begun to settle into the house. A cool evening breeze floated in from the open door.

     “So, what’s the plan?” Phoebe asked as she came upon Leland. He sat at the table, shoveling roast and potatoes into his mouth with gusto. The insane amount of work they’d done had contributed enormously to his already large appetite.

     “Jameson said he’s going to finish it up. I don’t know how he thinks he’s going to cut down sixty-eight more trees like he says he needs, but I gotta see it if he does.”

     Because the forest butted up to the property on three sides, Jameson had said it was the front that mostly needed to be enforced. Around each of the front lines of trees, which he’d insisted they didn’t chop, he intended to weave fencing and barbed wire. He’d said they would be able to electrify them eventually. The plan was not only to make a warning system for them, but to get Rippers tangled if they approached, as well.

     “We’ll reinforce the walls eventually,” Jameson told Art as the man followed the vampire outside. Jameson had an axe slung over his shoulder and senses stretched out as far as they would go. He still heard and saw no Rippers.
     “With what?” Art asked.

     “Trees from other parts of town,” Jameson said. “We’ll use the seventy or so from around here, but I don’t want to thin this place out too much. Did you drive the unused vehicles and farm equipment and park them in front of the holes I dug up front?”

     “Indeed we did,” Art responded. “Now you want to tell me what your plan is?”

     “I’m going to pick the trees up you all cut down and put them in the holes. Then I’m going to cut more down and finish the perimeter. I dug seventy holes. We’ll have to bind them with the rope and twine if we can. It can hold until morning, but I’d prefer to do it tonight.”

     Art eyed the first tree they came to with suspicion. “You’re just gonna pick ‘em up, eh?”

     Jameson dropped his axe and squatted near the first tree. He wrapped his arms around the base of the thick oak and hoped his vampire strength wouldn’t fail him. He’d never tested it, but Joselyn had assured him he would be able to lift cars with little effort. Trees, cars, it seemed like the same rule should apply.

     He lifted and straightened, balancing the tree straight up. Leaves and small branches fell down to land on him as he walked toward the side yard, near the barn.

     The most difficult part for him was the awkwardness of carrying a full-grown tree, Jameson realized. With a grunt, he placed the tree in one of the holes he’d dug and held it in place.

     “Fill it in,” he ordered Art. The other man stood with a gaping mouth. “Come on, man!” Jameson hollered.

     Art snapped to attention and rushed over with his shovel. He filled in the hole around the trunk and patted the dirt to secure it.

     “The trees are going to be a little difficult to sit as close as I want them to, but you guys did a good job of trimming the big branches,” Jameson said. “Thanks for that. I know it was a bitch to do all of this.”

     Phoebe came out into the yard and ran over to Jameson. “Hey, we don’t need to cut down a bunch more trees,” she told him. “I found my Uncle Shaun’s business book. There’s a place that sells lumber for farms and ranches not far from here. He got treated wood for the barn fences there two years ago. If we get some of the treated timbers and don’t cut them down at all and do the twine or rope or whatever that you intended to do, won’t that work just as well?”

     Jameson grinned at the girl and pulled her in for a tight hug and a quick peck on the cheek. The electricity she felt through that small contact made her flush crimson and sped her pulse.

     Jameson’s mouth watered and he pulled away from the girl. “Sorry. But you’re a clever little thing, aren’t you? Let’s take a few of the trucks. I can load ‘em up and we can get ‘em here.”

     “We can still use the trees we cut down today,” Phoebe suggested as they jogged toward the trucks. “I know I certainly don’t want all that work to go to waste.”

     “I’m sorry I didn’t even think to ask if there was a place like that around here,” Jameson said as he opened the door to one of the trucks they hadn’t used for shoring up their defensive walls.

     They’d kept the van with the tarps on the windows, two of Shaun’s trucks, and one of the trucks Gerry, Jenn, and Art had driven up in.

     “Leland will have to drive one, and your dad in another,” Jameson suggested.

     “You can just call him Gerry,” Phoebe suggested.

     Jameson saw the sadness and discomfort in Art’s expression, but Phoebe was one of his people. Art wasn’t yet. He would side with the girl on any issue until the others proved themselves.

     “Okay, why don’t you go grab Gerry and Leland?” Jameson suggested.

     “Are you sure it’s safe to do this at night?” Phoebe asked as Jameson started the truck.

     “We’ll be safer the sooner we do this,” the vampire said. “I still don’t hear anything in a several mile radius. At night, those things are loud as shit. I’ll hear them coming, and we’ll take them out. You with me?”

     Phoebe nodded. She turned to run for the house, calling for Leland as she did.

     We should limit shouting, Jameson thought to himself. It would just be a good habit to be in.

     When Leland came outside, Jameson gestured him toward the second of Shaun’s trucks. Gerry, he waved toward the truck Art had already started.

     “We’re going to the lumber yard,” Jameson told Leland and Gerry. “I have the address and look,” he held out a small, square device that was lit up and had a small map displayed on its face. “The freaking GPS still works. Insane, right?”

     “All right, let’s get it done,” Gerry said as he climbed into the passenger seat of Art’s truck.

     When Phoebe made to hop in the passenger side of the truck Jameson was going to drive, he put out a hand and said, “No.”

     “What do you mean, ‘no’?” she snapped. “I’m going along. I told you about the place!”

     “You want to leave Elise and Jenn alone with the kids?” Jameson asked in a patient tone. “Elise is pregnant and we don’t know if Jenn can fight.”

     Phoebe hesitated. “You said there aren’t any Rippers around,” she accused.

     “And there aren’t right now, but they move fast. We already know that. What if we can’t get back in time and they get overrun? We need to split ourselves up effectively when we have to split up at all.”

     Phoebe pouted but hopped down from the truck. “Fine,” she said as she slammed the door. “But hurry up!”

     The trucks pulled away, beds cleared and men ready to complete their tasks. They followed after Jameson, who listened to the GPS and found the building supply store with ease.

     He heard nothing in the vicinity. No heartbeats to indicate humans, no thrashing and crashes to indicate Rippers. He was amazed they’d apparently found what was practically a ghost town to defend and make their home. It needed to be a damn good home, he’d decided.

     “Back ‘em all up,” he ordered of the trucks.

     Leland, Art, and Gerry reversed their vehicles and drove them until they butted up to the loading dock. Treated timbers, tall and stacked in twenty piece bundles, lined the back storage area.

     “Grab all the bungee cords,” Jameson told Leland as the younger man stepped out of the vehicle he’d driven. “We’re going to need them.”

     After two trips, the men had all the lumber Jameson thought they would need for the wall defense and then some.

     “I can’t do anymore,” Art said as Jameson unloaded the last bundle of heavy wood. “Sorry, but I’m bushed. I have to call it a night.”

     “I’ll help,” Phoebe said as she stepped off the porch. “What do you need, Jameson?”