Crashing Down - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (The Ravaged Land Series Book 3) (20 page)

Somehow that thought made me feel better.

I
didn’t know
how much time had passed from when I left the group to when they came back to the trailer. After I rinsed my hand with our drinking water, I laid down to get some rest. I didn’t even care that no one was keeping watch. It was as if I didn’t think anything worse could happen to me than what had happened.

And I just wasn’t feeling right. In fact, I was probably feeling worse. At first I thought I was just doing it to myself from anxiety and fear, but maybe this was something more. Maybe something I had eaten. Or maybe I was catching a bug. I was nauseated, a little dizzy, and felt far more tired than usual.

“Oh, she’s sleeping.” I heard Sienna whisper, presumably to Penn and Dean.

“Let her rest,” Dean said, and I could sense someone standing over me.

“No… no I’m awake,” I said, my voice thick. I turned around, but I didn’t feel well enough to sit up.

“You don’t look well,” Penn said sounding overly concerned.

I ran my fingertips across my forehead, “I don’t feel well. Stomach bug or something, I’ll be fine. So what jobs did you guys get assigned?”

Penn and Dean exchanged a look. I knew it was about me, but I ignored it. Dean kneeled down next to me and placed his hand on my forehead. His skin felt cool against mine.

“I’m fine,” I said before he could freak out. “What’s your assignment?”

“We have to dig the pit,” Penn said looking out the window. He was probably looking at the spot where Dominick wanted them to dig the pit.

I knew exactly what he was talking about. The prisoners’ pit. It would probably be where he put the people he didn’t think he could get away with hanging in public. Now this resistance camp would have a pit too.

“And when we finish the pit, then we have to build a stage with a beam that goes across the top. Strong enough to, say, hold up a man or two,” Penn added.

I didn’t know why Dominick needed a hanging stage when he had a perfectly good tree to use to fulfill all his hanging needs. He must have just wanted things to be more like his old camp. Or maybe he was trying to turn this camp into his old camp.

“And then, when we finish that,” Sienna said sitting down on the small sofa, “we have to map out the minefield.”

“What?” I said trying to sit up. It was almost too much. In fact, it had been too much. The quick movement made me feel dizzy, and I had to lay back down.

As Dominick’s right, or was it left, hand man I would definitely have to have a word with my boss. That was a far too dangerous job for anyone who didn’t have experience. “And how does he expect you to do that?”

“His exact words were, ‘figure it out,’” Penn said lowering himself into the chair, keeping his spine straight. “So, since you seem surprised by all that, I guess that means Dominick didn’t tell you the same thing. Did he give you a different job?”

“Yes,” I said pausing to find the words I needed. My eyes started to burn as I fought back the tears.

“And?” Dean said his eyes glued to me as he tapped his foot. It must have seemed to him as though I was being intentionally dramatic, but the truth was, I just didn’t know how to say that I was going to be living and working with Dominick twenty-four-seven.

I coughed to clear my throat and my chest rumbled. Maybe it was just a cold. “I’ll be doing everything Mack used to do at the old camp,” I said unable to look at any of them.

“Why would he even want that?” Penn asked after a long pause. None of them had known what to say.

“Because maybe he wants to split us up. This is just the first step in accomplishing that goal… at least that’s my best guess,” I said kicking the blanket off my legs. My temperature was rising from the illness or from talking about my new position.

“What do you mean by that?” Dean said as he crouched down next to me. He put his fingers on my chin and tilted my head up towards him.

“I have to move into his new trail—”

“Not happening!” Dean said loudly as he got up on his feet. He looked at Penn as if he would know what to do. How to put a stop to this, but he just shook his head. “That just can’t happen. I won’t let it. He can’t be trusted.”

I couldn’t help it but I let out a small laugh. It wasn’t that I was trying to provoke Dean, it was just that he must not have realized how powerless we were. I pulled the blanket back up over my shoulder as I felt a chill.

“What happened to your hand?” Dean said noticing the scrapes and blood smears immediately. But he looked confused since he had watched the whole interview with Dominick and knew nothing had happened that would have caused the cuts.

“The fence out back got in my way,” I said with a shiver. It had been a stupid thing to do, and I knew that, but I wasn’t up for a lecture. I could have broken my hand. And what could they have done about it? Nothing. There weren’t any doctors anymore, at least not any we knew of.

Dean looked at me as if he could see the thoughts running through my head. And maybe he actually had since he didn’t tell me how dumb it had been to fight the fence. He started pacing, “What are we going to do? We can’t let her stay with Dominick. I don’t want it to happen for a single night. We have to think of something.”

“Neither do I,” I groaned. Maybe since I was sick, he’d make an exception. Dominick wouldn’t want to get sick right now. After all, he had a lot on his plate with tending to his new flock and the renovations. “He’s allowed me tonight only… tomorrow I have to report to him for duty and then that’s it. But maybe now that I’m sick I can get another night.”

“Maybe,” Penn said as if he was running scenarios through his head. I think I could almost hear the gears spinning. “Or maybe it’s time.”

Dean shook his head, “Not now. We can’t… I mean, look at her. She’s sick.”

“We can’t risk waiting either… he might not grant her another day to stay here,” Penn said crossing his arms in front of his chest. His mind was already made up.

“I’m fine… it’s just a bug,” I said forcing myself to sit up. I felt a little dizzy and nauseated, but it wasn’t the sickest I’d ever been. It wasn’t as bad as having the flu.

“Are you sure?” Dean said putting his hand on my forehead again.

My head felt a little heavy but I was able to move it up and down. “I’m more than positive. We need to get out of here. It’s probably just something I ate. It’ll pass soon, in fact, I think I already feel a little better. Tonight is the night,” I said looking at each one of them in turn so they knew I was serious. For all I knew I’d feel better the instant I was out of this godforsaken camp that was filled with sick and dying people. “It has to be tonight.”

“It’s settled then. We leave the camp,” Penn said as if that was that. There hadn’t been much discussion about it, but the truth of the matter was that we all just wanted out that bad. What was left to discuss anyway? And as if he just wanted to be really sure, Penn asked, “Tonight?”

I nodded and couldn’t stop the devilish, yet excited smile from spreading across my face. I was pleased and oh-so-very ready to leave this place and Dominick behind.

“Tonight.”

W
e laid down
and pretended to sleep. Not that it mattered because there hadn’t been anyone around to see us. Penn sat by the window keeping a close eye on the camp while we waited for the right moment. The moment when the whole camp would be asleep. For several hours we waited but there always seemed to be someone up doing something. There were four of us that needed to exit the camp through the entrance, we had to be sure no one would see us. I wasn’t sure we could pull it off.

I had spent some time actually sleeping in the hopes that it might help me fight off the illness. And I think it worked. My body didn’t feel like it was at a hundred percent but I did feel better than I had earlier.

Dean and Sienna had gone to Dezzie earlier to see if he could locate any medicine. We hoped he wouldn’t ask what it was for but of course he had. So they told him I had a migraine, and he opened the locked supply and gave them two headache pills. Luckily for me, they helped a great deal. With the rest, the medicine, and the plan to leave in place, I felt almost as good as new.

“I’m going to get some fresh air,” I said after I took a big drink of water from the jug.

“You’re supposed to be sleeping,” Penn said pointing at my blanket on the floor.

“Too excited maybe… or nervous,” I said turning the handle.

“Want me to come with you?” Penn said as he stood up. He looked out the window to make sure it seemed safe enough.

“No. I’ll be fine. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right out here and if anything happens I’ll scream for you,” I teased, but my smile faded when he didn’t seem amused. Something like that could actually happen here. “I’ll be fine.”

I stepped out and closed the door behind me. The fresh air felt nice on my still warm skin. I tried to take in as much of the air into my lungs as I could. It felt refreshing… and healing.

Not to mention the slow breathing was helping to keep me calm every time my thoughts drifted back to getting stuck in this camp forever. I’d have to live with Dominick and Dezzie, and I didn’t trust either of them any further than I could throw them. And in my weakened state I wouldn’t be able to throw them at all.

I walked around to the side of the trailer to get my heart pumping a little and the blood circulating through my veins. When I rounded the corner I heard a quiet voice, mumbling as if talking to someone.

It was weird because I could only hear one voice. I couldn’t figure out why anyone would be up at this hour having a conversation. This was definitely going to make our escape a little more difficult if they didn’t go back to bed soon.

I tried to hide myself against the side of our trailer while I peeked out to see if I could find out who was talking. The voice was hushed but somewhat familiar, but because of the volume I couldn’t quite place it. Whoever it was hadn’t known I was there because they kept talking.

As I scanned the area slowly I caught a small movement and where the voice was coming from. And who it belonged to. Dezzie was standing close to the fence holding a communication device just like the one Owen had caught Penn with back at the cabin in Alaska.

“What the…” I mouthed silently to myself. I pressed both of my hands down against my mouth to make sure no sound would escape. I needed to get back inside the trailer to warn the others.

“There are about sixty people here, I think. It’s hard to count them.” He said right before giving general directions to the location of the camp. The way he spoke, describing landmarks, made me think they weren’t too far away. “Attack tonight. I’ll get out before you do.”

Had I heard that right? Did Dezzie just tell HOME to come and attack the resistance camp tonight? I turned my body to go back inside the trailer but Dezzie must have seen the movement. His head was turned in my direction and he was staring into the darkness. Or maybe he was staring directly at me. I couldn’t tell but I froze in place.

When he started running in my direction I knew that he had heard something or spotted me. I turned to go back around the other side of the trailer. If I was fast enough, I could circle the trailer and get back inside before he caught up to me. I’d have to explain things to Penn quickly otherwise who knew what Dezzie would do to us. He’d of course try to break down the door. Or worse, since he was armed.

I moved as quickly as I could, but it wasn’t fast enough. I heard Dezzie’s footsteps as he gained on me, but I couldn’t move my legs any quicker. He must have dived at my feet because the next thing I knew I was falling face first towards the ground.

Luckily, my hands reached out fast enough so that I could protect my face. The fall had knocked the wind out of me and before I could catch my breath he grabbed the back of my jacket. He yanked me up off of the ground as if I was weightless.

He dragged me away from the trailer towards the fence. I should have screamed for Penn, but the gun pressed into my back made me think twice.

“Dezzie, please… I don’t know why you are doing this,” I said my voice shaking.

“Aw come on,” he said as he slammed me into the fence so hard my vision blurred. I blinked repeatedly as I tried to regain focus. My hearing seemed to fuzz out, and I felt like I was drifting away from reality.

My vision and hearing came back all at once like someone turned the volume up to maximum. I saw Penn approaching us and by the look on his face he knew something wasn’t right. He must not have seen or heard Dezzie chasing me and slamming me into the fence.

“Hey! Heard some noises and came to check it out. Mind telling me what’s going on back here?” Penn said trying to put the pieces of the scene together. He stayed a few steps back while he looked us over. Dezzie was trying to hide the fact that he was holding his gun on me.

“Everything is fine, man,” Dezzie said taking quick, heavy breaths like he’d just ran a race. “We are just having a nice, little talk.”

Dezzie took a big step to the side as if trying to block Penn from making eye contact with me. I had to hope that none of this would fool Penn. He should be able to see what Dezzie was up to from a mile away. Not to mention the fact that he knows I wouldn’t just wander off with Dezzie without telling anyone. Especially on the night we had plans to escape.

I saw Penn’s eyes shift down towards Dezzie’s pocket where the communication device was sticking out ever so slightly. But I wasn’t sure if Dezzie had noticed or not.

“Oh, well OK then. Don’t stay up too late,” Penn said turning his head to the side. He put on a smile that looked believable, but when he quickly turned back and grabbed Dezzie knocking him to the ground, I knew the smile had been a fake.

Dezzie’s gun fell to the ground, and I kicked it out of his reach. I probably should have grabbed it but my first instinct was to just get it away.

“He’s been communicating with HOME,” I blurted out as I grabbed the device out of his pocket while Penn held him down. Penn pressed his face into the ground as if he was going to suffocate him in the dirt. “He talked to them… I don’t know everything, but I did hear him tell them to attack tonight. Penn, I think they are coming. I think HOME is on their way right now!”

Penn let out a noise akin to a growl and pulled out his knife. I couldn’t be sure but it looked like one of the knives we had from back at the cabin in Alaska. He gripped Dezzie’s hair and pulled his face up so he was looking above the horizon. His muscles in his neck were stretched so tight they almost looked like they could tear.

“They burn the markings off your flesh… and still you are loyal to HOME,” Penn said in a deep voice. “All that for nothing. I wish I could tell Dominick.”

“Of course… they are just tattoos. They can always put them back on. You’ll remember them one day too,” Dezzie said, his voice was rough, and it seemed like he was struggling to speak.

“Never,” Penn laughed, and quickly dragged the blade across Dezzie’s throat. Once the blood spilled out, he let go of his hair. Penn didn’t bother to look at me. “Help me move him.”

When I stepped outside for fresh air, I wouldn’t have ever guessed that only a short time later I’d be helping my friend hide a dead body. In fact, never in my life had I imagined I’d ever help anyone hide a dead body.

“Over there,” he said dragging him into a thick patch of grass behind a few trees. He grabbed some branches, grasses and leaves and threw them on top of him.

The whole time we had stayed in this trailer I hadn’t seen anyone ever walk out in this direction. He’d probably stay hidden for a while. Until he started to smell anyway, but hopefully by then we’d be long gone.

“We have to get out of here,” I said as I followed closely behind him back to the trailer. I could tell he was anxious by how fast he was moving. He was afraid someone might see us. Neither of us knew how long it would take before Dominick would start looking for him. Our clock was ticking.

“We’re getting Dean and Sienna and leaving. Now.” He was moving so fast he leapt over several steps and was inside the trailer before I even took the first step up.

They had both slept through the whole thing, but Penn started to shake Sienna awake. I tried to wake up Dean, but he was being more difficult. He woke abruptly and grabbed me by the neck.

“No! Stop! It’s me!” I said in a panicked whisper.

He blinked his eyes several times and started looking around the room. It was almost as if he didn’t know where he was.

“Sorry! Sorry, I was having a nightmare,” he said letting go and shaking his head. He looked frustrated and confused.

“It’s OK. I’m fine, but while you were having a nightmare I was outside have an awake-mare,” I said stepping over to the window to see if people were running towards us with guns and pitchforks. But it seemed as though everyone was still dead to the world. Which was exactly what we’d be if we didn’t get out of this camp, and fast.

“I have no idea what that means,” Dean said shaking his head and looking to Penn for answers. Penn was practically pulling Sienna to her feet while she was still half asleep.

Penn quickly got them up to speed on what had happened. Once they heard the word HOME, they were both instantly wide awake.

“No… no, no, no!” I said looking out the window as the lights drew nearer. “This can’t be!”

“What is it?” Penn asked standing behind me, looking out the window over my shoulder. Dean and Sienna ran over to the other one.

“Oh shit,” Dean said as he moved over to our window to see if he could get a better look. “They’re here.”