He was the adult here, it was up to him to do the heavy lifting.
“Ya can’t go there, Squirt,” he said. “Not yet, anyway.”
“When can I go?” Hannah asked and he winced at the question when he saw Audrey visibly tense next to her.
“Not for a while, Squirt. Ya got a lot of things ya gotta do before ya go,” he said, squeezing her hand before reaching out to awkwardly pat Audrey on the knee. She gave him a watery smile before her head dipped down, hair falling down to hide her face.
Thankfully it seem like that was enough of an answer for her because she didn’t ask another question and it didn’t look like she was going to burst into more wailing.
“Okay, now that we’ve sorted that, let’s get some sleep. Sun’ll be up soon and we’ll get back on the road.”
He turned around and turned off the interior light, settling into his seat as he rested his head on the window. Wasn’t the most comfortable place but he’d slept in worse.
“Mr. Jackson?” Hannah’s tentative voice floated to him in the dark.
“No need for that mister crap. You can call me Jax,” he told her.
“Jax, what if the monsters come back when we’re sleeping?”
His hands balled up into fists as a wave of empathy had him hurting for the scared little girl.
“S’long as I’m here, monsters can’t getcha.”
“You sure?”
“Positive. Been specially trained in monster warfare. Ya ever heard of the Boogeyman?”
“Audrey said he lives under my bed and if I get out of it after bedtime he’ll bite my feet off,” Hannah said solemnly, “But Daddy said Audrey was lying. She had to spend all weekend in her room as punishment. No TV or anything.”
“You are such a tattletale,” Audrey hissed at her sister.
“Well, Audrey was right. Boogeyman exists but he don’t live under your bed, not anymore. Know how I know? ‘Cause I caught him. It was a special assignment. I had to fight long and hard, he kept getting away but I finally cornered him in some kid’s closet, hiding under some dirty underwear.”
Hannah giggled softly and that had Jackson turning around to smile at her.
“Yep, big ol’ Boogeyman with a bunch of Spider Man Underoos on his head. So I arrested him and took him to Monster Jail. We make him stay in his room forever as punishment. No TV or anything.”
That got the girl laughing again. She’d been a pit of despair not fifteen minutes ago but a goofy story had her giggling away. Maybe the whole babysitting thing wasn’t gonna be so hard after all.
He looked at Audrey, expecting to find her smiling, giving him some positive reinforcement for doing good with her sister. Instead she was watching him carefully, her brow wrinkled as she stared at him.
He noticed the change in her eyes now. There was wisdom there that was well beyond her years. It was a look he knew well. It had been in his own eyes for a long time.
She knew the score and stupid stories weren’t going to help her.
“Hannah, you want to listen to my iPod?” Audrey asked, reaching into the console and pulling out the electronic device. By the eager squeal Hannah made, it was obviously not something Audrey let her do often and she quickly took the device and put in the ear buds.
Audrey watched Hannah for a moment, waiting until she had cued up the device before she turned her attention to Jackson and spoke.
“Are we really safe here?”
“Like I said, those things won’t get near us, s’long as I’m here.”
Hannah snorted loudly. “I’m not a little kid. I’m almost thirteen years old. Baby stories aren’t going to make me feel better.”
Jackson shifted in his seat, reaching around to palm the gun that was still tucked in his belt. He lifted it up so it was backlit by the moonlight coming in the windshield. “Like I said, ain’t nothin’ gonna getcha while I’m ‘round.”
“I believe you,” she whispered and he tucked the gun away, ready to finally get some sleep. Sun would be up in a couple of hours and they’d need to be back on the road if they wanted to make any distance tomorrow. Christ, this would be so much easier if he was by himself.
Still, before he could let his eyes close, he reached up to adjust the rear view mirror so he could have both the girls in his sight, just in case.
Subject File # 742
Administrator - You seem to have excellent relationships with everyone.
Subject - I made it a point to build the relationships as best I could. It was important for the solidarity of the group that each person felt known and heard.
Administrator - It must have been different for you to work like that. It goes against most of your military training to obey orders without question.
Subject - It wasn’t that hard to adjust. I never saw any of them as soldiers. They’re family.
Grey mist wound its way through the trees, the leaves and bark gathering the morning dew, making the forest feel damp around Malcolm as he made his way back to camp. Travis had relieved him from his watch duty at the road only a few minutes before. It had been dark and quiet then but now the sky was lightening and the birds had started up with their songs. Dawn always came fast here at the park, the low valley to the east giving their campsite first view of the rising sun.
The others would be up soon, none of their group inclined to sleep past sunrise unless they had been on a night watch. In the mornings the camp would come to life with the sun, all of them intent on performing the duties they had been assigned. Malcolm had made sure that everyone had a role to play in their group, knowing that being idle would just mean more time to dwell on what had happened.
It also built a camaraderie between them as they worked together towards a common goal. Everyone had their part to play in their survival and each person was essential to the others. He wasn’t sure if any of them realized that he was training them just as he had been trained when he entered the military.
He had been appointed their leader, even if there had never been an official vote. This was the only way he knew how to lead. They were his platoon and they were deep in enemy territory, cut off from HQ. He had been trained to survive that and he was passing that training along to the others.
A skittering in the bushes to his right had Malcolm pausing, waiting and watching as the noise sounded again and two squirrels burst from the brush, chasing each other up the nearest tree. Malcolm shook his head and continued on his way, smiling ruefully at himself. They’d been at the park a week and they hadn’t come across another person, healthy or infected.
Still, he couldn’t stop himself from preparing for the worst at every sound even though it always turned out to be some forest creature or another.
Maybe it was because he didn’t think their luck could keep holding out. Everything had been going their way and his gut told him that it wouldn’t go on forever. And maybe he was just nervous about today.
They would be heading out on their first real supply run this afternoon.
There had been plenty of practice over the week as they systematically hit up the other ranger stations in the park, stripping them of anything useful. Though the trips hadn’t produced much in the way of supplies, they had been good practice. Malcolm had used the excursions as training, teaching them to work as a coordinated unit to enter and clear a building. They were all fast learners and by the time they went to the last ranger station, they were a well oiled machine.
Now it was time to venture outside the park and this would be where they would prove their mettle.
Malcolm had planned the mission as best he could with what little intel he had available. According to their maps, east of the park was mostly farmland with small towns here and there. The town of Maryville was the closest and according to the phone book they had taken from one of the stations, it had two gas stations, a pharmacy, an auto shop and a sheriff’s station. If they were lucky, they would be able to find fuel, medicine and weapons there, the essentials their stockpile was missing.
He had sent Jose and Craig out to scout the town yesterday and they had circled the town twice and ventured into a few of the residential neighbourhoods along the town border but they had been void of any life.
Still, that didn’t mean the town was empty. The residents could be holed up together somewhere instead of spread out in their homes. But it was the best intel they were going to get and they needed to go on this run. Without fuel, they weren’t going to get very far north.
Malcolm broke through the tree line and he could see Kim and Craig bustling around the fire pit, already preparing breakfast for the group. They exchanged good mornings when he joined them at the fire, where a pot of oatmeal was beginning to simmer over the flames.
“Want a cup of coffee?” Craig asked, shaking the jar of instant coffee at him but Malcolm shook his head.
“Thanks but I’m going to get a couple hours of sleep before we head out this afternoon.”
“I’ll save you some for later,” Craig said. “Everyone sucks this shit down like jagerbombs at a frat house. We won’t have it around much longer.”
“Better keep an eye out for more in town today,” Kim said as she set out bowls and utensils on the table. “I wouldn’t want to see the troops without their caffeine fix.”
“I’ll be sure to add it to the list,” he replied with a grin. “Anything else you want me to keep an eye out for?”
“There might be something I want,” she said, raising an eyebrow and fluttering her eyelashes. And there it was, that pleasant tightening in his belly as her dark eyes looked him over.
There had been nothing physical between them since the gas station but he couldn’t really complain. He was enjoying this dance they were doing, the flirting, the innuendo. Not to say he didn’t want to get his hands on her, because he really did, but the group’s close quarters and their duties at camp made it difficult to find any time alone. Besides, he knew that the anticipation would make it all the sweeter when they finally did find themselves alone.
“If you two are going to eye fuck all morning, you mind taking it somewhere else so I can get breakfast ready,” Craig groused as he went to the fire and stirred the pot.
Kim ducked her head in embarrassment but he could see a small grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“Shut it, kid,” Malcolm said but gave Craig a friendly clap on the shoulder as he passed him. “I’m going to go on a water run before I hit the rack. Anyone else go out yet?”
“Alan left on his morning hunt when Travis got up to relieve you,” Craig told him. “But he went south of the creek.”
Malcolm had been doubtful on their first day at the park when Alan had insisted on going hunting. He had reluctantly agreed, thinking the arrogant man was more likely to get mauled by a bear as bag anything edible but Alan had proven him wrong. Alan had returned to camp that afternoon with a couple of pheasants for dinner.
Since then he had gone out each morning looking for fresh meat, always returning with something to eat, even bringing in a decent sized buck after Ana told them she knew how to make jerky. She had passed that knowledge along to the others and they had been amassing quite a supply of dried meat to take with them. Though Malcolm still didn’t like Alan, he was willing to admit the man had earned his place in the group.
“Alright, I’ll see you later,” Malcolm said and headed over to where the cube van was parked. He passed through the maze of tents, the sound of rustling blankets and sleepy voices travelling through the canvas as the others woke up.
The cube van had become their storage space and the back was half full now, the group having sorted through everything that had been inside it, discarding anything that wasn’t useful. There had been several dozen cases of bottled soda and that had been the first to go, much to the kids disappointment. The plastic bottles would be more useful for storing water for their journey and they had been boiling creek water and stockpiling it.
One of the tent flaps zipped open and Lorraine emerged, greeting him with a smile and a wave that he returned.
“Water run?” she asked as she joined him at the van and he nodded. “I’ll go with you.”
He passed her two of the water jugs and picked up a large wheeled cooler they had found at the welcome centre. He liked Lorraine. She wasn’t much of a talker but she was always quick to help with anything that needed doing.
She even had a hidden talent.
She had come along when he fulfilled his promise to show Trey how to fly fish, saying her father had been a passionate angler and had passed along his love of fishing to his daughter. She had proven to be quite talented and had given them both a few helpful pointers.
As they made their way to the creek, Lorraine seemed preoccupied. She kept taking a breath, as if she was getting ready to say something and then decided better of it. The woman was obviously trying to work herself up to say something and Malcolm decided to give her an easy in.
“Everything alright?” he asked and she jumped before she took a breath and set her shoulders as if deciding it was now or never.
“I want to come with you on the run,” she said and pushed her lips together in a thin line.
He hadn’t been expecting that. They had reached the edge of the creek and he set down the cooler, a hand going to his chin and running over the stubble there.