From Within (12 page)

It was now low light and getting dark quickly. They approached the last quarter mile rounding a bend in the road. They came abeam the trees where they could now see the entrance to the driveway and the gate they had built. Alejandro saw them first. He shushed everyone and started herding everyone towards the trees. There was a truck facing their gate with its lights shining on it. A man was at the gate testing the lock and chains. The truck was a faded black that appeared to have some patchwork spray paint in spots along the step-side bed. A few patches of rust outlined the wheel wells. The truck obviously lifted higher than stock with larger wheels and tires.

“I know that truck,” Alejandro whispered.

“That’s someone you know?” Will asked. “Why are we hiding then?”

“No, I don’t who it is,” Alejandro answered. “I recognize the truck from the grocery store. It was with that group. The guy who attacked Juana.” He looked over to his wife

Juana’s face filled with worry and fear. Alejandro could tell she was reliving her attack in her head and creating new scenarios of what could come next. It must have been obvious to the others as well because Beth quickly put an arm around Juana and began rubbing her shoulder.

“I’m gonna go through these trees to get closer and see if I can hear anything better,” Will said pointing to the trees along their property.

“No,” Lea said almost too loudly.

“Why would you want to do that?” Beth asked.

“I want to know what they are planning,” Will answered. “Maybe we can stop them. If they are from that group that was raiding cars at the store then I’m sure they’ve been the ones that were a part of destroying Oakhurst.”

“What do you think we could do to them?” Lea asked.

“Take them out one at a time,” Will said. “Now would be the time. There is only two of them.”

“What do you mean take them out?” Lea asked with a rising panic in her voice. “Kill them?”

Will looked around at everyone before answering. “Yes,” he said matter of factly. “Look, there are no police. No military it seems. Our town is destroyed. Somebody has to stop them eventually. It looks like they have probably run out of places and things to steal in town and now they have moved out here.” He pointed towards their house.

Everyone remained silent for a moment, considering what Will had said. Alejandro was the first to answer.

“I agree. Where will we go if they take the house? They won’t just raid it and leave. They burned down the town. What if they do that here? I don’t want to have to rely on those camps.”

“Will is right,” Beth said. “We need to do something.” She sighed deeply. She was clearly thinking about the possible consequences of fighting these people.

The look of worry grew on Juana’s face while Lea appeared to be coming to terms with their plans.

“Alright,” Will said, “I’ll get over there and stay in the trees. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything yet. I just want to hear if they are talking about plans. I’ll only shoot if I need to right now.”

Lea grabbed Will and hugged him tightly. “Be careful,” she said into his ear.

Will wanted to tell her. He wanted to say that he loved her. He had wanted to tell her for the last couple of months. However, he didn’t want it to seem like it was words of desperation. A situation like this, a powder keg of potential chaos and violence, was not the scene he pictured in his mind when he told her those words. For some reason, he still imagined it happening in the life before. Normal date nights. A meticulously planned romantic adventure. He didn’t know why he still held on to this. He didn’t foresee the world returning to the old normal anytime soon. He thought he could see in Lea’s eyes that same desire. He wasn’t sure if he was ready. Certainly not at this exact moment.

He stepped further into the trees and crept towards the two men at the truck. He could see they were both standing outside the truck now. He thought that one might have been talking into a handheld radio. He couldn’t make out what they were saying this far away. He went slowly, bending down low and dropping to one knee every few steps. He constantly checked to make sure neither of them was looking his way when he moved at all. It was now dark enough that he was sure they wouldn’t be able to see into the trees. He continued along steadily now. He could start to make out the words.

“...tell him we think we should use some gas to burn down this gate,” one of them said into a handheld radio.

The radio beeped and the man held it up to his ear awaiting a response. The men waited only a few seconds before speaking again.

“This might be the jackpot,” he said. “This place is secured really well. I bet there is a lot up the hill. We can’t see it from the road.”

A muffled response finally came. Will couldn’t hear exactly what was said but he thought they said something along the line of waiting for more people. He hoped they meant the next day to at least give themselves more time. They could be desperate now. It could be why they were out at night. He wanted to get to the house to get some supplies so they could rush back to Lewis’s. Hopefully, they wouldn’t find that place too.

Will was so focused on trying to listen that he almost didn’t notice the other truck approaching. Its lights were pointed in his general direction, however, he had his head tilted to the side as he tried to listen to as much as he could. He caught a flash of light in the corner of his eye as the arriving truck turned towards the gate and parked next to the other truck. Will abruptly turned his head and his heart skipped a beat. Were they already going to attempt to get inside right now? The added sound of the second truck made it nearly impossible for Will to hear any of the conversation going on now. Will decided to try to get a little bit closer.  His mind was racing. Should he get up to the house and get his go-bag? He had prepared a list of items he wanted with him if they ever had to leave quickly and packed them in a bag. Of course, at the time he wanted it with him the most he was separated from it.

He was now lying down, crawling forward a couple of feet at a time. He was trying to stay in the grassy areas as best as he could to stay as quiet as possible. He wondered what the others were thinking now. They surely saw the second truck. He hoped if he tried for the house that they would conclude to head to Lewis’s and not wait by the side of the road. He was only about twenty feet away now behind a few wild bushes that grew along the fence line. If he was going to get to the house he would have to back out and get further into the trees. If he jumped the fence this close to them they would most surely see him. He could make out the conversation again.

“Gerard decided to bring everyone up here,” one of the men from the recently arrived truck said. “You better be right about this place.”

“Are we burning down the gate?” one of the first asked ignoring the other man’s comment.

“Yes, they’ll bring some gas up with them. Did you search further down the road?”

“Not yet. The map doesn’t show anything down there except a Jeep trail. Maybe there’ll be more big properties like this one.”

“We’ll head down and check it out. Wait here for everyone else. This will probably be a good camp for now. It’s all hidden from everything.”

The two men that just arrived returned to their truck. They backed up and drove around the other truck and headed down the road. Will was panicking now. He held it all inward. His heart was pounding and he could feel his pulse all throughout his body. He started to crawl back towards the trees to make his way back to the others. Someone needed to get to Lewis and he still wanted to get to his go-bag.

He wasn’t being careful enough now. He heard it as if someone clapped their hands right next to his ear. He had crawled onto a stick and it snapped under his knee. It was like turning on a beacon and yelling loudly ‘here I am, I surrender’. Both of the men, now leaning against the truck, pushed themselves away from the truck and grabbed rifles that Will had not noticed before. They aimed in his general direction. Will lay frozen, his head was turned back to keep an eye on the men. Would they seek out the source of the noise or brush it off as possibly an animal, maybe a raccoon? Maybe they would fire off a few rounds towards him. He was at a loss for a decision. Lewis was alone with armed men headed for him. He was alone with armed men nearly standing on top of him. How big was this group? He was beginning to consider that firing at these men might be his only chance for escape. He could only hope they would retreat for cover behind their truck before firing back at him.

Will slowly reached for his pistol. His hand reached his holster and he covered the button to try to conceal the noise. He opened it and started sliding the pistol out, again slowly to prevent any sounds. This whole situation with two guns pointing at him could have been avoided had he been careful in the first place. He had panicked. He never considered himself as one to panic. Their whole future was in question again. Where were they going to go? Was everything, all the work they had done in the last two months, all of his prepping, about to disappear in such a short amount of time. He was taking aim at the closest man. Both men were still aiming in his general direction. He was certain that only thirty seconds had passed since the stick snapped under him, yet it felt like hours. The radio crackled.

“How far up this road are you?” a garbled voice said.

The two men turned to look at each other and then looked at the radio perched up on the hood of the running truck.

“That sounded like Gerard,” one said to the other. He picked up the radio, “A few miles. By the map, we are a couple of miles from the end of the road.”

“Be there in five or so,” the voice said.

Was this Will’s lucky break? Had God just opened a door for him? They seemed to completely forget they were concerned about the snapping sound just twenty seconds earlier. He quickly started to move, this time being careful to avoid or move any sticks he saw in his path. He glanced back to see the two men resting their rifles against the truck and recommencing their lean upon it. He sighed in relief as he arrived deeper into the woods. He raised up from his crawling position and brushed himself off. He looked back again to gauge the distance between himself and the men waiting to burn down their gate. He figured he was far enough away to be able to run, so he did. He arrived back at where he left the others to see no one in sight.

“Will,” a loudly whispered voice said.

Will turned trying to find the source of the whisper. Lea, Juana, and his mother approached from the dark depths of the trees.

“What did you find out?” his mother asked as she hugged him. A sense of relief shone on her face. “We couldn’t see where you were.”

“They are going to burn the gate down,” Will said shaking his head. Lea approached quickly after Beth to hug him as well. “They are bringing more people. They were talking to others on a radio. Did you see the other truck? Where’s Alejandro?” He had too many questions and too much he wanted to go over.”

“We saw the other truck,” Lea answered. “Once it headed down the road Dad ran to go after Lewis.”

“Good,” Will said. “That’s why I rushed back here. I need to go up to the house and get a few things. Did Alejandro say if he was coming back to this spot? Or another meeting point?”

“What’s at the house?” Beth asked.

“I have a go-bag,” he answered. “I want to get that and some other supplies before we have to find somewhere else to live.”

“Somewhere else to live?” Juana said. She still had the look of horror on her face from earlier.

“It sounds like they have a lot of people on their way right now,” Will said. “They’ll be here any minute now. They also talked about this being their camp. I need to get up there now.” Will was backing up with urgency to get to the house. “What about Alejandro? Once he gets Lewis is he coming back here?”

“He didn’t say,” Beth said.

“Wait here then,” Will said. “I’m assuming he’ll come back to where he left you. Stay hidden. I’m going up the property line and will jump the fence higher up the hill. I’m going to leave out the back,” he said pointing up towards the house, “I’ll cross at the back corner of the property and make my way back along the property line again back here.”

He didn’t wait for any more questions or conversation. He took off running into the trees. Will wouldn’t have seen it as he rushed away, but Beth, Lea, and Juana all turned at the same time to see a long line of vehicles coming up the road, their many headlights illuminating the trees. The convoy went as far back along the road as they could see from where they stood. All three started to back up further away from the road again. They knelt down near where they had hidden before. Juana was in tears. She folded her hands in front of herself and prayed. They watched as the first vehicle slowed and stopped by the other truck in front of their gate. Their gate they had spent over two days building to keep out people like this. All of their work was about to go up in flames if Will had heard correctly. They watched a man from the first vehicle get out and inspect the gate. He looked up along the driveway. A gas can was being held by another man by the gate but it was returned to a truck. A pair of bolt cutters was retrieved and brought to the gate.

Beth cursed. “Oh no,” she said.

“What is it?” Lea asked.

“I was hoping they’d go with the plan to burn it,” Beth said.

“Why?” Lea asked with a perplexed look on her face.