Fire Birds (29 page)

“I’m thinking in terms of security, not comfort,” Andrew said.

“Yeah, we could make room.”

Andrew regarded Somerville then looked around at the others, “Everyone run into the terminal and pack a bag. Each of you pack three days food, clothing, bedding, and anything personal. We ain’t takin’ everything, just three days worth. Hopefully, this will all blow over. Dan, you fill the tanker truck with water.”

“It’ll take several hours to do that with a garden hose, pastor,” Dan said.

“Do it. Take Tim with you. You two can join us at the farm later.”

Dan nodded. Then he and Tim ran to perform the task.

“Once you are all finished, return here to the hangar,” Andrew said. “Would that satisfy you, Mr. Somerville?”

Somerville nodded, “It makes me feel a lot better. Now, let’s talk about Sara.”

“As I told your friend, the young lady is in God’s hands.”

“That ain’t good enough,” Somerville said. “Right now she and her friend are my only way of finding my wife. They know exactly where she is.”

Cheryl grabbed my arm and gave me a tug, “Come help me,” she whispered. “Andrew and Nicholas can work this out.”

I pulled away from her, “I need to be in on this conversation.”

“No you don’t,” she said. “Andrew is a mild-mannered man, but you don’t want him to feel like you’re ganging up on him. Gail told me he’s made some harsh decisions in the past, and these others will do what he says. Walk with me.”

I went with her. “You said this wasn’t a cult. You said everyone was free to do what they want.”

“They are so long as they don’t threaten the group or Andrew’s authority. It’s best for now if Nicholas talked with him one-on-one. I never liked the man, but the councilman has a reputation as a slick talker. Maybe he can convince Andrew to send the whole group out to look for your friends.”

When I entered the terminal with Cheryl, the others were already busy packing their things. We passed Laney in the kitchen. A duffle bag was on the floor beside her, and she was standing on tip-toes so she could pull canned goods from the cupboard. She scowled at us as we walked by.

“What sort of harsh decisions?” I said to Cheryl.

“Like putting people out of the group, putting people down.”

“Putting people down?” I asked.

“Killing them for endangering the group.”

“Seriously? Endangering them how? Were they infected or something?”

“I don’t know,” Cheryl replied. “It was before I knew him.”

“Well, that makes things a whole lot easier for me,” I said. “I definitely won’t be sticking around. You should talk to Dan. Get him to come along.”

“Danny is all about Andrew,” she said, shaking her head. “Let’s get our things. When the time is right, we’ll go. I don’t think any of us is in any danger from Andrew or the others, but the last thing we need is for Andrew to get a bigger head than he already has. As much as I hate to say it, Nicholas Somerville might be the only person with enough charisma to get everyone’s attention.”

I packed a few things, but only as a pretense. The bulk of my things were still over at the Lassiter house, and some of my things were still sitting in that box in the hangar. I came out of the room I’d shared with Dan the night before. Cheryl was already standing by the door with a bag on her back.

“Did you remember to get your dirty magazines, hon?” she said with a straight face.

“Shut up,” I said. “Let’s go.”

We were the first to return. Only twelve cars had been moved to make the wall on Broadway. That left twenty-eight in the hangar.

“Pick one in the front row,” Cheryl said. “I’m looking forward to when we clear out these in the front. I want to drive that Porsche back there.”

“Porsche?” I said. “What Porsche?”

I walked inside the hangar, past the parked cars to the black, Porsche 911 in the corner.

“Shit,” I said.

“I’ve got dibs on that one,” she said.

“Where did this come from?” I said, my voice sounding hoarse.

“They had it already,” Cheryl said. “Tim drove it over here from their other place.”

I stared at the car and felt sick.

“Tell me…tell me about their other place,” I said softly. “Did you see it?”

Cheryl came up beside me and put a hand on the left headlight of the car. “It was out near Belfast. The original house had burned, but there was a windmill. They had electricity for a while, but it was damaged in a storm, and they didn’t know how to fix it.”

“Shit,” I said again.

“What?”

“Was Andrew with them at that time?”

“Andrew has always been with them,” she said.

I heard a noise and looked outside. The others in the group were coming. Somerville was with them. When they entered the hangar, I pointed at the Porsche.

“What the hell is this?!” I shouted.

Andrew got a befuddled look on his face. He looked around at the others then looked at me.

“It’s a sports car,” he said.

“What about its original owner?” I asked.

“What about him?” Andrew said.

“He was one of those gays,” Laney said. “He’s gone now.”

“What did you do to him?” I said.

“We asked him to leave our group,” Andrew said. “He agreed.”

“Liar!” I said.

“Stop it,” Cheryl hissed. “This ain’t helping.”

“God brought the plague on us because of people like him,” Laney said.

“People like him?” I said. Thoughts rushed at me faster than I could process. I remembered the men we’d met at Lowe’s. They’d had the Porsche. “Was there another man in your group? A man named Hank?”

Laney stepped forward. “How do you know Hank?”

“Hank was Laney’s husband,” Andrew said. “He was killed. How did you know him?”

“What’s going on?” Somerville asked.

I didn’t answer him.

This was the group responsible for taking Brian’s house and forcing him out on his own. It could be argued that they were responsible for his death, and ultimately, Jen’s death too. I recognized the hypocrisy of those thoughts particularly since they were coming days after I had scolded Christine for the same thing. It just seemed so obvious here; they were to blame.

I pulled my pistol. I didn’t know what I was going to do with it–I didn’t point it at anyone–it just seemed natural and comforting for me to hold it. Everyone else reacted by going for their own guns.

“Hold up,” Cheryl said, putting herself between me and the rest of the group and raising both hands. “Everything is fine. Obviously he’s upset. It could be that he’s upset for good reason. Let’s everybody put their guns away and hear him out.”

“The car belonged to a friend,” I said.

“You were friends with him?” Laney snorted. “That says a lot, doesn’t it?”

Any accusations I could have made would have never penetrated their self-righteousness. I glanced over at Somerville. He had a concerned look on his face, like I might say or do something to mess up any plans he might have made. I holstered my weapon and looked into their faces. I had so many things I wanted to say to them, but I couldn’t put it into words.

“We’ll need to put away our differences and work together,” Andrew said. “God sent you here to us. God can heal your heart.”

“Work together?” I said. “Where was that sentiment when you shoved Brian out in the cold with a peanut butter sandwich and a car that barely worked?”

“I thought we were more than compassionate, considering,” Laney said.

“Hush now, Laney,” Andrew said. Then he spoke to me. “That young man was a danger to our way of life. He defied my decisions at every turn. His house was overrun by the dead, and he had been bitten. He was obviously not fit. Like this other man you have told us about, he had a mental sickness…and a sin sickness.”

Somerville came forward and took me aside.

“You need to let this go for now,” he said softly so the others couldn’t hear. “It ain’t the right time for this. Like it or not, this is probably the last group of survivors left in this town. If we ever hope to do anything here, we’re going to need them. Otherwise, let’s just write off Clayfield and give it to the dead.”

I shook my head and looked back out at the group. “They wouldn’t even help me find Sara. I can’t stand the sight of them now.”

“Get over it,” he said sternly. “I smoothed things over with Dan. He said he’d fly me down to Biloxi, but we’ll have to help them seal the court square first.”

“Fuck that,” I said. “You don’t need him. Drive down there.”

“You ain’t hearing me, son,” he said. “I’m going to work with this group. This is all there is. The more healthy bodies we have, the better chance we have. Bide your time. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I don’t recall you being so careful when it came to Willy Rupe and his bunch.”

“A lot has happened since then,” he said. “I wasn’t as desperate then as I am now. Just get in line, and do what they want. Give me some time, and I’ll have them eating out of my hand.”

We looked out again, and the others were standing there staring at us.

“I just want to find Sara,” I said.

“We will,” Somerville replied softly. Then to the others, he said, “We should drive as few cars as possible. We don’t want to attract attention.”

We drove over to the Lassiter place in three vehicles. I rode with Somerville and the supplies. I didn’t say anything on the way over. I was too angry. When we arrived, we set the gate into place and secured it. The others got out at the house and walked around, giving themselves a tour.

I frowned at the condition of the place. A few weeks before, I had been proud about what I’d accomplished there, and I would have gladly welcomed visitors, but on that day, I was embarrassed. I immediately started straightening things outside. This embarrassment over the condition of the property irritated me further. I was angry with myself for even caring what these people thought, yet I still cared. I pushed a trellis back into place, pushed some zombie bones back into the burn pile, righted an overturned barrel–

“Hell, son, calm down,” Somerville said. “You’re fretting like an uptight housewife. They know what happened here. You ain’t got to impress nobody.”

“Leave me alone,” I said. “It’s bad enough that I have to put up with these people–”

“I can see you had a garden there,” he interrupted.

I stared at him, and he stared back. The expression on his face let me know we were changing the subject, and that was final.

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll play along.”

“I still see some green in there,” he went on. “It might be weeds, but it’s green.”

I walked over to the fence and looked into the garden plot.

“It looks like some of the sweet potatoes might pull through,” I said. “They’re putting on new leaves.”

“What’s that over there?” he said, pointing to the corner.

“That is a weed,” I said. “But that over there on the other side is a pepper plant, I think.”

“Not a total loss then,” he said.

Andrew came up to us. “This will do,” he said. “I’m grateful to you for your hospitality.”

“We all have to help each other, don’t we?” I said with a sarcastic tone.

“We’re all used to the generator power and runnin’ water at the airport, so we’ll be roughin’ it here. Do you have plenty of candles? And what about rest facilities?”

“There’s a composting toilet in the barn on the right,” I said. “If you use the toilets in the house, you’ll have to haul in water to flush them. I guess things are going to be a little hairy around here now that there are eight staying here.”

“We’ll manage,” Andrew said. “Dan will be here with the water later on. Of course, we could always just dig a latrine.” Then he looked out toward the back pasture. “Laney told me she saw a horse out there.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I have a couple of chickens too.”

“Really?”

“Don’t get any ideas,” I said. “We’re not cooking them. I’ll need them.”

“No, of course, I agree. You know, I think Dan is right. Eventually we will need horses. Is that the only one you have?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Cheryl and I saw another out not more than a couple miles from here. I know the general area where it might be. I don’t know how much they wander from a given area, but maybe you could find it and catch it at some point. I know where there is a goat too if it hasn’t been eaten already.”

“That would be good,” Andrew nodded. “Any livestock would be good.”

We stood there a moment, not saying anything then Andrew broke the silence again.

“I’d like to get the others settled in. Is there a particular place you prefer to sleep? I wouldn’t want to step on your toes.”

“I sleep in that first bedroom at the top of the stairs, but it doesn’t matter now. There’s a queen bed in there, and there’s a single in the other bedroom. I had to burn the other bed and the couch. In fact, the inside of the house probably smells pretty bad. We might all want to sleep in the barns tonight.”