“I didn’t know you could ride horses,” Janet said.
“Fred taught me,” Julie replied as she softly brushed Isis. Janet scoffed.
“Oh, the cowboy who thinks he’s living in the Wild West. I should have known. What in the world made you want to learn to ride horses anyway?”
“Because I like horses, they’re beautiful creatures, like Isis. She’s beautiful.”
Isis must have known she was being talked about, she nickered softly.
“She’s Julie’s birthday present,” Penny added.
Julie watched her mother out of the corner of her eye. It took a moment before her eyes widened in realization.
“Oh, my God, it’s your birthday!” Janet exclaimed, as if it was somebody else’s fault she had forgotten it. Julie ignored her melodrama.
Fred and the boys drove up as I shoveled the last of the manure out of the truck. I leaned against the shovel and waited on them.
“Did you get that from Bo?” he asked, nodding toward the manure.
“Yeah, he has plenty.”
“It’ll certainly be tasty for all of those worms the boys dumped in there,” he commented.
“Yeah, I think so. I’m going to experiment a little with it. I have an organic gardening book somewhere that I need to read.”
His next comment was a low whisper. “Is that who I think it is inside the barn?”
I nodded. “Yep,” I replied in the same low whisper. “It was probably a mistake, but since it’s Julie’s birthday, I invited her to join us. We’ll dump her after the dinner. By the way, I invited Chet and his group to join us.”
Fred grimaced slightly.
“I know,” I said, replying to his unspoken opinion, “but if they’re going to continue living here, we need to get them on board with us. Besides, Penny just told us Janet tried to hit on Chet, and he turned her down, so maybe there’s hope for him.”
I tried not to grin when I said it and then regrettably realized I was talking about Tommy’s mother right in front of him. If it bothered him, he didn’t show it. We looked at each other a moment and then the four of us walked in the barn. The women turned their attention on us when we walked through the barn door and smiled. Well, except for Janet. She jogged up and embraced Tommy in a hug. He looked uncomfortable and shrugged out of her grasp.
“How do you like your birthday present?” Fred asked.
“You were in on it too?” Julie asked. Fred smiled slightly and nodded.
“The boys were in on it as well,” Fred walked over and stroked Isis. “Even though she’s pregnant, you’re light enough to ride her without any problems, as long as you’re gentle with her.”
Julie smiled and gave Fred a hug. Fred grinned. Penny and the boys smiled broadly. Janet looked like she was out of place and trying desperately to fit in.
The school cafeteria actually looked festive. There was colorful crepe paper hung from the ceiling and posters of various cartoon characters adorning the walls. Mouthwatering food aromas were emanating from the kitchen.
“We found all of the decorations in a storage closet,” Ward said with a grin. “We thought it would cheer the place up.”
“It’s certainly – colorful,” Fred commented dryly, causing Ward to beam in pride.
Mac and Wanda made sure everyone had food, and had arranged the tables where everyone was sitting close enough to talk to each other without having to yell across the cafeteria. I ate quietly while listening to Janet talk to Tommy, which consisted of her grilling him about us. I finally chimed in.
“Janet, I’d be interested in hearing what you’ve been up to since the last time we saw you at the National Guard barracks. How long has that been? Almost two years now, right?”
She eyed me warily before responding. “Where would I even begin?” she responded.
“What happened with the soldiers? The last time we saw you, you and Tommy were living with them.”
She sampled a bite of food before answering. “The Lieutenant, Ward, or whatever his name was, he was killed. One of his own men shot him in the back. Tommy and I escaped with what’s his name, Private Lard-Ass…”
“Private Dawson,” Tommy added. Janet glanced at him a moment. It looked like she was going to scold him for interrupting, but decided against it.
“Yes, Private Dawson. It got pretty scary with those soldiers. Dawson got one of those Army vehicles and we went with him. We met up with some people and…”
“Those were the heathens, Zach,” Tommy said in between mouthfuls of food.
“Stop interrupting!” Janet chastised, but Tommy shook his head defiantly.
“You don’t tell me what to do anymore,” Tommy said between mouthfuls of food. “You’re not in my chain of command.”
Janet gasped at the rebuke and looked at the rest of us like we were supposed to reprimand him. The only response was Andie snickering and nudging Tommy in the ribs. I waited a moment before resuming my questions.
“What happened to Private Dawson and the other men?” I asked. She looked at me as if she were wondering what I was up to. In fact, Tommy had told us everything that had happened up until the time I found him. I merely wanted to see how much she was going to lie. She shrugged and answered.
“Private Dawson apparently didn’t like the company. He left in the middle of the night. Two more of them disappeared a week later with Tommy,” she looked over at Tommy then. “What happened to you guys?” she asked. “I thought you were dead!”
“Zach found us and killed them,” Tommy responded. “They deserved to die.”
Janet’s eye’s widened. Chet, who was sitting at the next table over and listening to the conversation, laughed.
“Damn, Zach. What’d you kill those two for? You didn’t like the way they looked or something?” Chet asked.
“Or something,” I responded without emotion and looked back at Janet. “What happened after Tommy didn’t come back? Did you guys go looking for him?”
“Of course we did,” she responded curtly, which made it made it sound like an obvious lie.
“So, what happened next?”
Her face darkened, and for a moment I did not think she was going to answer. I noticed Chet listening intently as well.
“There was a big fight and some shooting. The ones who were left alive made me leave,” she said quietly, and for a minute I thought she might actually cry. She inhaled and pulled herself together though, and a second later, the same old Janet emerged. “As far as I’m concerned, they can rot in hell.”
Chet turned his chair around, straddled it, and changed the topic. “You people have done a lot to this school.”
“Benny and his people did most of the work. If you look around, you’ll see some things you should do to your house.”
“Or, you guys can come live in the school,” Benny said from the next table over. “We have plenty of room, each classroom can serve as living quarters, we have a large communal kitchen, and we’re working on the plumbing situation,” Benny saw the questioning look from Chet and explained. “The toilets and drains are hooked up to the city sewer system, which doesn’t work properly. We capped it off and have to use outhouses at the moment. When the weather warms up, Mac and I are going to try our hand at installing a septic tank large enough to handle everyone’s deposit,” he grinned at his own joke. “I have an idea for a solar heated water system too. It’ll be awesome!”
Chet looked at him thoughtfully and then looked at me with a wry grin. “What do you think, Zach?”
“If y’all can get along, it’s an excellent idea. There is strength in numbers, and with larger numbers, larger work projects can be accomplished.”
“But, you don’t live here,” he said. I shook my head.
“We have a place not far from here. We had already made improvements before any of y’all came along, so we’re quite comfortable with what we have, but it may change one day.”
“They have running water and hot showers for God’s sake,” Kelly lamented. Chet and his friends looked surprised when they heard this.
“So that’s why you always look squeaky clean,” Johnny said.
“Yeah, we have solar panels and a generator, but we’re still dependent on fuel somewhat.”
Our conversation was interrupted by Fred leaning over beside me. “Have you seen the Thompsons?” He asked in a whisper. I looked around. Sure enough, they weren’t present.
“I guess they decided not to come?” I said, questioningly. Fred shook his head.
“It doesn’t seem right. I’m going to take a ride and check on them.”
I stood up. “I’m coming with you.”
“Might I tag along?” Chet asked. Fred started to object, but something changed his mind. He walked out with Chet and me following.
We arrived at the Thompson house within minutes. There was a note stuck in the door. I looked at Fred and pulled it out. Unfolding it, I read it quietly before looking at the two men.
“It’s a note from Geoffrey. It says they’ve decided to leave and find some relatives who live in Kentucky,” I looked at Fred and frowned. “This is a surprise.”
Fred looked around. “Their SUV is gone,” he then checked the doorknob. It was unlocked. He looked at us and walked inside. Chet and I followed.
We didn’t find anything unusual inside, and there were bare spaces in the closets and dressers, indicating they may have packed some stuff.
“What do you think?” I asked Fred. He shrugged.
“It kind of looks like some clothes are missing, but damned if I know why they didn’t say anything before leaving.”
I looked at the note again. It definitely appeared to be masculine handwriting. I looked all around for anything else Geoffrey may have written so I could make a comparison, but I found nothing.
In the end, we agreed the Thompsons left of their own accord, but Fred and I also agreed it was damned strange.
Chet was chopping wood when the four of us drove up. Sweat was drenching his faded blue tank top and bandanna tied around his forehead. His physique looked as though he was beefy at one time. Now he was lean, but with no real definition in his arms. They looked more like four by four posts and I had no doubt there was a lot of strength there. Richard and a woman whose name escaped me were sitting on the ground, watching Chet indifferently. There were a couple of others who were wrestling with some barb wire, trying to attach it to an existing fence. He stopped working and wiped his face as we drove up. Rowdy was the first one out of the truck. He walked up to Chet with a grin and shook his hand.
“Howdy, Hoss!” he said enthusiastically. “You sure are working hard.”
“We found this in the barn,” Chet said with a grin, holding up a double-bladed ax. His grin faltered. “We don’t have any two-cycle oil to use a chainsaw.”
“The house is nice, but it’s big and drafty,” Richard added. I nodded in agreement. They should have chosen a smaller home, one they could better manage. I kept my thoughts to myself and looked around at their work.
“How have y’all been getting along?” Fred asked.
“Not too bad, not too good,” Chet responded. Richard, one of the men sitting on his ass doing nothing, snorted. Chet pointedly ignored him. “We’ve been out foraging, but haven’t had a lot of success in finding food and everyone is getting tired of eating nothing but beef and venison. Plus, we’re almost out of fuel.”
“Well, that’s what we wanted to talk to you about,” I said.
“Yeah?” Chet asked.
“We’re putting together a team to raid a fuel reservoir and were wondering if any of you guys want to join in.” Terry answered.
“Now you’re talking!” Richard said, jumping to his feet. “When do we leave?”
“Two hours,” Fred said. “Do any of you boys or girls know how to drive an eighteen-wheeler?”
His question was met with silence. “In that case, you guys will be part of the support team,” Terry said. “Be at the school in thirty minutes for the mission briefing.”
“Four or five of you will do,” I added. “Whoever can’t take orders, leave ‘em behind, we don’t have time for rebels.”
“We’d love to join in, but we need gas for our van and we’re low on ammo,” Chet lamented.
“Bring the van,” I said, “we’ll gas it up and we have some extra ammo we can spare.”
Chet grinned. “I knew I had a good feeling about you guys.”
“Alright,” I continued, “we want you guys to understand something. We’ve trained extensively together and we do things a certain way. Terry is executing the mission and Fred is in charge. This isn’t a debatable issue, so if any of you don’t plan on being a team player, please don’t join in.”
“You’re not going?” Chet asked. I shook my head.
“There will be plenty of you going. I’ve got too many chores to do back at the farm.”
What I didn’t say was that I was staying close to my family until I could hunt down and kill the thing I now referred to as Big Bastard. He was still out there somewhere. We didn’t know where, but my intuition told me he was still in the area.
“Okay then,” I said, “we’ve got to be getting back and getting prepared. We’ll see y’all in two hours sharp.”
*****
Chet and Richard watched as the four men drove away.
“That boy is full of himself,” Richard commented. Chet grunted.
“He’s smart,” Chet replied, “don’t underestimate him.”
“You keep saying that,” Richard retorted. Chet grunted again, stretched, and glanced at Richard.
“I’m going to finish up here. Go get cleaned up, I’ll be in in a minute.” Richard shrugged and walked inside.
Chet started chopping some more wood, but his mind was on other things now. He stopped and stared down the road. Zach reminded Chet of his own little brother, Justin. Justin was a sharp kid and had graduated high school as the class valedictorian. He had gotten engaged to the only girl he had ever dated and joined the Army. When he came home after graduating boot camp, he found out the love of his life and Chet had been having an affair. The two brothers fought, although it wasn’t much of a fight. Chet used his size and wrestling skills to throw his little brother to the ground repeatedly. Justin finally conceded defeat, picked himself up off of the ground and left, ignoring Chet’s plea for forgiveness. It was the last time Chet had ever seen him.
He felt his eyes watering up, quickly wiped them, and looked around to see if anyone was watching him.
*****
Chet brought two of his friends with him, Richard and a woman named Cami, who apparently was Richard’s girlfriend. She was a plain looking woman, about the same age as Richard, and seemed to prefer to keep her hair cut very short, ridiculously short.
“Well, after a little talking and a lot of arguing, I only brought these two,” he said, gesturing at Richard and Cami. Richard grinned.
“We promise we’ll be team players, unlike the rest of our bunch.”
Chet groaned. “I swear to God, I love my friends, but they’d argue with a stump over the price of wood. How in the hell do all of you guys get along?”
I shrugged. “We have our moments, but we seem to be able to work it all out.”
Terry gave his mission briefing in the parking lot. His only prop was a map which he used to show the route. Everyone listened attentively. The only question was by Cami.
“Are you guys going to keep both tankers?” she asked.
“Affirmative,” Terry answered.
“But why? Y’all already have one, can’t we have the second one?” Terry stared at her a moment before answering.
“We have one tanker for regular gasoline. We’re going to fill another tanker with diesel. If you want a tanker all to yourselves, I suggest you go find it, like we did.” Cami started to argue the point, but Chet stared at her pointedly, effectively silencing her.
Afterward, I motioned Chet off to the side.
“You heard the mission briefing, what do you think?” I asked.
“Terry seems to have everything planned out.”
“He does,” I replied, “he’s very good at it.”
Chet looked at me perplexed. “I’m getting the feeling there is something you want to say.”
I nodded and made direct eye contact. “Like I mentioned earlier, our original group works very well together as a team. Terry is a soldier, Andie may be small but she’s as tough as they come. Rowdy is downright goofy at times, but you can always count on him. Fred and Mac, I don’t even have to say anything about them. Tommy and Joe are good kids and have been forced to become men before they’re ready. Julie is one hell of a shot. Benny has fit in nicely, and then there are Konya and Bo. They’re both loners I guess you’d say. The rest of the people here are more oriented toward the domestic end of the spectrum.”
Chet looked at me and smiled tightly. “You guys are testing us.”
“Yep,” I said simply, “we need people we can count on in case there’s trouble.”
His smile didn’t disappear, but it did tighten a little more. “Understandable I suppose,” he finally said. “What happens if we don’t measure up?” he asked. I shrugged and walked off.