The Days After (The Tenth Year) Read online

  Then her dad stepped up, his hand extended, “Hey son, how are you? Do you remember my kids, Chris and Brent?” he asked.

  Clayton shook his hand firmly. “Hey, Wayne.” He looked directly at Chris, “No, I am sorry. It has been a lot of years since I saw the kids...and that's what they were, kids. Nice to see you.” He nodded to them both.

  Wayne said, “This is Dan's son, Clayton.”

  They both responded, “Nice to meet you.”

  The man made a little small talk with Wayne, told him that his dad and his uncle, Clay had been working on a still. He said, “You know, Mom made some pretty good blackberry wine before. Quite a kick, too,” he laughed and Chris thought it was loud, yet not unpleasant. “The men decided they would like something a bit stronger. And they are also trying to make some type of fuel to burn in the old truck. Of course, it would be good bartering tender.”

  “That's true,” said Wayne. Chris listened, some curls once again wormed out from under her cap. She stuffed them back and saw that Clayton watched her. She felt a bit uncomfortable.

  He said, “Well, you ought to come over to the farm and check out the progress.” He gave Chris a smile, “You and Brent should come, too.”

  Wayne said, “We will all do that. Good to see you, Clayton” The three walked away and continued their search through the minutia that scattered about. Brent found a couple of books, the bourbon bought some ammunition for one pistol and the AR, three more cigarettes bought three good sized potatoes. Potatoes can be dug in the Fall before the first frost, a trader had a small basket of them. A few first aid supplies got the blanket thrown over Brent's shoulder. Even though the father was ever vigilant, he failed to notice that more than friendly eyes observed them. A set of flinty eyes in a hardened face watched most of their movements all morning.

  Content with what they had traded for, the three walked towards home. Brent asked quite a few questions about the folks at Dan's farm, “How many people live out on that farm, Dad? They actually have a truck that runs?”

  Wayne, so sad since his wife died, so intent on the safety and care of his children, hadn't thought until this very moment. Not thought about what a lonely life his son and daughter must have. He said, “Let's see, I guess there are about fourteen people in the compound. Other than the family, there is a doctor and his wife and two old retired military guys. Also another man, his wife and son, they were old friends of Dan's brother. There's family and there's non family, I have lost track of all the names and connections.

  Nearly to their house, Chris looked between and beyond the houses on their street and caught a glimpse of a tall man in camo as he disappeared into the woods. Wayne followed her look, he put his arm around her shoulder, “I think we ought to go for a visit, all of us.”

  On the walk home, she listened to the talk of Dan's farm and remained quiet. She looked up at her father and said, “That would be nice, I'd like that.” Blue gray clouds covered the sky, the air held a sharp cold bite. Winter announced it's presence. They checked out the house, a constant habit and made sure things were secure.

  Chris said, “Brent, how about a small fire? If I roll these potatoes up in foil and put them on the fire now, we can have them for supper.”

  “Um-m, potatoes...sounds great. I'll get the fire going.” He turned on a small lamp, it was dusk and they could use a little of their power ration. He knelt down at the fireplace in the living room and re-arranged the kindling.

  ***

  Chris, her father and brother walked as quietly as they could through the woods. They already bagged a rabbit to take with them to the friend's farm and hoped to shoot one more small animal. She left off the knit cap this morning and her thick curls were pulled back with a stretchy blue hairband, it wasn't far from the color of her eyes. She even smoothed on some lip gloss and some small gold hoops were in her pierced ears. Underneath the jacket she wore, as they all did, she had on a pale plaid shirt tucked into her jeans. She talked to herself while dressing earlier, This has nothing to do with the young man, Clayton. I'm just so seldom around other people and I'm tired of never looking like a woman.

  She quickly wearied of the hunt, a bit more excited with the visit than she wanted to admit. “So, Dad, do you remember Dan's daughter's name? She must be very close to my age.”

  “You are right, she is. She was always a bit shy and quiet. I can't remember her name, afraid to guess, when we get there she will be introduced,” he said.

  Brent stomped along, “I remember that we used to come over here often. Why did you quit bringing us over?”

  They all stepped over fallen branches and crunched through the leaves that were a thick carpet on the ground, gave up on another kill. Brent tripped over a rock and pushed a limb away right before it slapped him in the face. Wayne stopped them all. “Look, I owe you both an apology I think. Your mom and Dan's wife were close, good friends. Even though, I couldn't afford to cut off connections with Dan, it was painful to be around the family. I just quit taking you with me when I did come over. It was selfish of me. I have realized the last few days how I have isolated you in my fears for you.”

  Chris grabbed her father in a hug, “Don't worry, we know you only tried to keep us safe. We always had each other,” she looked over at her brother, who shook the foot that smashed into the rock. “We still do for now, as long as Brent doesn't maim or kill himself.” She released the pleasant laughter that always lifted all of their spirits. “We are on our way now and we are going to have a good day.” She walked briskly on ahead, no attempt to move with stealth.

  The three visitors reached Dan's property, still in the edge of the woods with the perimeter fence in their view in the distance. From out of the trees, two armed men stepped. Before any of the family could draw their weapons, two more emerged and two more from behind them. One of the men jabbed his beefy hand out and touched Chris's hair, “Who-o, girl! You are lookin' much finer than at the market.” Chris viciously slapped his hand away, he grabbed her and pulled her in front of him. Wayne and Brent took a step towards him, from behind Brent got a crack to the head. Pretty accustomed to head knocks, he went to his knees, didn't pass out. His shook his head.

  A gun clicked at Chris's head and stopped her father right where he stood. Wayne remembered the piece of cloth that he noticed caught on the barb wire of the fence, the night before. A walk around their boundary revealed no signs of intruders. He knew the early morning snow would have covered footprints. The men obviously watched them since the market trip. Experience told him to stay still. There were six of these scums, Brent looked dazed, maybe hurt and they would definitely harm Chris.

  “I suppose you folks are going visiting over to the big place,” said a man that stepped in front of Wayne. “We are in the mood for a little R&R ourselves. We haven't been invited but I have a notion that you and them are friends and we can just ease right in,” he made a diving motion with his hand. Wayne remained silent, tried to figure some way out of this. The blood pumped through his veins and felt like ice water. More frightened than he had been in combat, years ago, his self doubts attacked him like flies on a dead horse. He recently realized that he over protected his children, now he thought that his carelessness led some very dangerous people to the doorstep of his friends, as well as put them all at risk.

  Not your average no goods of low intelligence and high meanness, these men all dressed in different versions of military clothing and they carried what looked like military issue weapons. He was ninety nine percent sure that they were some of those fake military raiders that he suspected only used the appearance of government identity to take advantage of the citizens. They might be deserters or never even been in the service. Most likely, they pillaged and plundered as their means of survival. They would be cold and calculating and very practiced at it.

  Wayne helped his groggy son to his feet, the men took all of their guns and herded them towards the fence of Dan's compound. In front of him, the man kept a vise like grip on h
is daughter's arm and a gun stuck in her side. A small portal or two in the fence opened and then shut back down.

  At the gate, a hatch swung out and Dan's loud voice boomed out, “What do you want?”

  The man who spoke to Wayne earlier, evidently the leader, stepped up and said in a sarcastic voice, “We have some friends of yours here, they came visiting and we thought...well now, wouldn't that be nice.”

  Dan said, “What makes you think we want any visitors or give a damn about those people?”

  The man laughed a nasty sound, “Oh, I think you do care...” he reached back and pulled Chris up to him, grasped her face so roughly that she could not help but let out a gasp of pain. He kissed her long and hard on the lips. When he released her, her eyes glistened with frustrated anger and a dot of blood spotted her lip. It took three of them to hold him, but Wayne was kept in place.

  Dan said, “Just a minute,” the sound of the latches opened and bars lifted came from behind the gate and it swung back.

  The six men, using the three prisoners as shields moved into the compound. Dan and one of the other men stood behind the gate and Clay, Dan's brother stood on the porch. No one else in sight, but the curtains at the upstairs window moved ever so slightly. The man with his gun still in Chris's side, ordered all the weapons thrown down. He made them all sit on the ground, Brent pretty much had already slumped down and the man kept his hold on Chris. She felt a pang of worry for her brother. Her decision had already been made, she would die before she let this piece of crap get at her.

  Four of the captors were ordered to search the grounds and house. “We know you have several more people here. Smart thing to do would be for everybody to come on out and join us.” Shortly, the men pulled two women from the farmhouse and pushed them onto the ground with the others. Then a shot rang out and all the people gathered on the ground in front of the long front porch exchanged panicked looks. The aging doctor and his wife, who lived in a small house in the back of the compound were brought forward and pushed down. The other two raiders came around the house, with a gun to one man's back, they literally dragged another with a gunshot to his leg.

  Wayne tried to get his mind to some sort of calm place and do some quick accounting. Where was Clayton? There was an old paddle wheeler down at the channel that belonged to Dan's brother. Even though the tall fence extended down on both sides to the boat, there were a lot of trees and it was not easily visible from the farmhouse. He figured there were four to six more people...could they be at the boat?

  The doctor attempted to look at the man's injured leg. The leader handed Chris to one of the other men, who now sat down beside her, his arm draped around her shoulders and his gun at her neck. The brute boss walked around and looked at the group. “Hey, leave him be,” he ordered the doctor. Where's that big guy that was at the market the other day?”

  Dan answered, “He went hunting early this morning, he may not be back until tomorrow morning.” The man circled the group, menacing and arrogant. Dan caught Wayne's eye and gave him a wink.

  The man's eyes scanned around the compound, “Well, I bet he is already back from that hunt.” His heavy boot kicked Dan right under the chin. Wayne instantly rose to his feet and two guns clicked, one of them against Chris's neck. “I said, where is the man from the market?” The man glared down at Dan whose split chin bled in big drops down his shirt.

  At that moment, Clayton and a young African American man stepped around and through the wide open gate, “Drop your guns!” shouted Clayton and the two of them eased forward. It was a stand-off as the five raiders kept their guns leveled at the two, the sixth one grinned wildly and pushed his pistol into Chris's neck.

  He said, “I sure would hate to mess this pretty up, but hey there's plenty of stuff out there.” Chris came down hard with her elbow right in the thug's crotch. He yelled and rolled backwards. Clayton took about four big steps and coldly shot the man in the head. Wayne lunged for the leader and took him to the ground, the two rolled and struggled over the man's gun. Wayne finally knocked it from the raider's hand, scrambled for it, came up to his knees and shot the man dead in the chest.

  Two of the raiders ran towards the corner of the house, from the upstairs windows of the farmhouse, shots peppered the ground behind them. A young girl stepped through the gate, her mother was right beside her and their rifles were up. The girl's glasses that she had worn since five years old were secured to her head with an elastic band and her hair, a near match to the mother's, flew around her head in swirls of auburn coils. The group on the ground scattered like quail as she yelled, “If you don't belong to me, you better run!” As she squinted and shot her big rifle, dirt sprayed up behind the two of the raiders that ran around the other corner of the house. It took her back a step and when she swung the rifle around, everyone that knew her, hit the ground. The fifteen year old was a good shot and could see well at a distance; close in...not so good.

  Wayne and all of the men of Dan's compound split and ran to the back of the farmhouse. Several shots rang out. One raider escaped and made a dash out the open gate and off towards the woods, his five comrades lay dead and scattered around the compound. It was a chaotic scene, yet everyone dusted themselves off and began to take control. The doctor's wife ran for medical supplies, the injured man was moved inside so Doc could take care of his leg wound. A bandage was applied to Dan's busted chin. Brent's head finally cleared, the doctor's wife said it was a good bump, but he was okay.

  Wayne held his daughter close and Clayton walked up beside them, “Are you okay, Chris?” he asked.

  She unburied her head from her dad's chest and straightened her back, “Yes, I am fine. Thanks for helping me.” She reached her hand out and his much larger one enveloped it, for just a minute.

  That loud laugh rolled out again, “I think you did a little yourself, girl.”

  Wayne went to help Dan pull the leader's body out of the compound. He apologized as they dragged the man, “I am sorry, Dan. I led those scumbags right to you.”

  “Hey, don't beat yourself up, man. They certainly watched us for a while. This is not the first attack we have weathered, won't be the last either.” He dropped the man's head to the ground with a thud. “Leave him here, for now. We have quite a cemetery out behind the compound, we'll get the tractor and bury the bodies.” Dan rubbed his jaw, “Damn, that's going to be sore,” his hand went out to Wayne, “Glad you are here. Let's get some clean-up and introductions done.”

  After the skirmish, a young woman walked out to Chris and said, “Hi, I am Clayton's sister, Dana. Why don't you come on inside and get warmed up?” As the two walked away, Clayton watched the slim figure, with interest. He thought, I can't seem to keep my eyes off of her. She held her own in this mess, too. One of the men pulled a dead weight and shouted for some help, Clayton's thoughts halted for the moment.

  With all signs of the attack cleared away and cleaned up, spotty introductions filled up the afternoon. The later in the day it got, the colder it got, light snowflakes fell by the time they all gathered in the large living area with the tall ceilings. A huge fire blazed in the fireplace and in the kitchen on a wide wood burning stove, two deep pots bubbled away. One of the women had cleaned the rabbit and Clayton's mother added it to the stew.

  When they all sat around, Dan stood and made sure everyone had met Chris and Brent. Over supper, thanks were given that everyone made it through the attack well. The man with the gun shot would take time to recover, but his leg would heal. He and his partner, Don lived in a travel trailer on the property. They were both old retired military and had been friends of the family for a long time. Chris felt much better, actually she was enjoying herself and she joked, “Brent is rarely without a bump or bruise of some kind on his head. He looks quite normal to me.” It was a big unfamiliar crowd, he appeared a bit embarrassed and she regretted the comment.

  The wild shooting fifteen year old, Allie, dropped her spoon and jostled her bowl as she retrieved it. Adjusti
ng her small glasses, she said, “Well, we aren't all smooth and full of grace.”

  Jacob, the second man that came to the rescue earlier, loved her like a sister and knew her well, he laughed out loud, “No, we sure aren't, goof-ball.”

  Brent looked over at the petite girl. Masses of hair, teeny glasses on a turned up nose and just like Dad said, what a beauty.

  More happy banter and getting to know each other followed. For Chris and Brent, it was a lot of new people, a lot of names. It would take a while to make the connections and remember names. However, some faces were already unforgettable to her and her brother. The snow continued to fall and the visitors would stay the night. No lack of things to talk about. Of course, a big part of the discussion was the dangerous encounter today. People died today, at the hands of those in the room. While they couldn't say, that in these times it was just the normal everyday occurrence, it wasn't so far out of the ordinary. None of the family and friends in this room died and that was the priority. They had no regrets. Ten years ago, unexplained events gave them a determination to live and the years had only strengthened that resolve. Unexpected changes lay ahead in their future.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Alliance

  A large group scattered around the farmhouse living area, the noise of many different conversations filled the room. Clayton had been biding his time, he looked towards his mother. Soon, sleeping arrangements for the visitors would occupy her mind. It was one of those speak now or forever hold your peace moments. His large hand added another log on the fire. He caught Chris's eyes for a second but she quickly looked away.

  He turned back to the populated room and spoke, “Everybody...hey, everybody. I have something to say.” Normally pretty confident, he felt a little hesitant right now. He ran his hand across his jaw and decided to just dive right in.