Carl had intended to search the other cabins surrounding the lake but he hadn't had a chance to get to them yet. A part of him thought they might stumble across the mother load when they finally did get a chance to search the other cabins, the more logical part knew they would most likely be almost useless too.
"I think we should try going into town today, when this is done," he said as he took another gulp of water.
"I think you're right," Xander agreed and poured a little of the water over his head before drinking some. "Let's get these covered up so we can get out of here while it's still early."
Carl nodded and rose to his feet. He grabbed some of the branches Riley, Victor, and Freddie had collected and piled together yesterday for this step. The five of them worked to lay the branches over top of the pits in an attempt to make them look as natural as possible. He wasn't sure how strong the sense of smell was on the more ravenous people. They definitely didn't do anything to ease the hideous aroma they emitted, but even if there was a chance the sick ones could somehow smell them on these traps, Carl still would have built them. Maybe the pits were only a false sense of security, but he still liked that sense and he would dig a hundred more if there were any chance it would help to keep them all safe.
Carl grabbed some leaves and pine needles from the ground and sprinkled it over top of the branches. He kicked the debris on the ground around to hide the material that he'd removed from the forest floor. Glancing up at the sky, he judged it to be around ten o'clock but he was probably completely wrong. One thing he was going to put on the list of supplies was a watch; he hated this boy scout shit.
"Let's go," he said and kicked at the ground one more time.
He grabbed hold of the rifle he'd propped against another rock and fell into step with the others as they made their way back to the cabin. Taking hold of the first perimeter fishing line, he ducked under it before stepping over the next one. He was careful to avoid setting off the alarms as he didn't exactly feel like being shot at by one of his own people. If he hadn't known where the trench was, he wouldn't have seen it, but he jumped over it when he got to the edge of it.
He spotted Riley sitting on the boulders by the lake when he came around the corner of the cabin. Victor perched beside her with a fishing pole in hand and Rochelle sat beside him. Riley rested her hand on Victor's shoulder when she saw them, she said something to him, and climbed off of the boulder. The two of them had been spending a lot of time together over the past couple of weeks. Riley and John had become the ones that the younger kids gravitated towards, but Victor followed her around the most. Carl believed they looked at Riley like an older sister, John amused them and was their biggest source of entertainment.
Pushing a damp shirt aside, Carl ducked under the line of clothes that been stretched from the cabin to a large maple across the clearing. Even if the clothes were being washed in the lake, he loved the fact that what he wore now smelled of lake water and summer air instead of BO and blood. Riley walked over to join them and stood on tiptoe to kiss Xander.
"How did it go?" she asked.
"We'll add more of them over time but we've got two done," Xander answered and draped his arm around her shoulders. "We think it's time to search the town for more supplies."
"I'm coming with you," Riley said. A delighted cry from the boulders drew their attention as Victor turned and proudly held up a small fish dangling from his hook. "It's a perch," Riley told them. "That's the fifth one he's caught today."
"Wish we knew if they were safe to eat," Donald said as Victor tossed the fish back. "Small or not, I'd eat them."
"So would I," Carl agreed.
"Well if one of you is willing to be the guinea pig, I will happily see how the results of that turn out," John said. "Until then, I'll stick with Bambi and Thumper."
"Ugh." Riley's nose wrinkled and she shook her head. "I can't think of them like that."
"Think of them this way, they're a little tough but not that bad when they're cooked right," John told her.
Riley rolled her eyes and shook her head. "As long as it's not Flower."
John grinned at her and turned away as Victor let out another small shout. "He's like the fish whisperer," Josh said.
"He's something," Riley said but a proud smile lit her face. "He really is."
Carl nodded his agreement as he watched Victor toss the fish back into the lake. They had managed to save someone, out of this whole mess, something good had happened and Victor was doing well. He hadn't required any more L-Dopa to keep him going and every day he was gaining weight. He also wasn't as shy or hesitant around them as he'd been in the beginning. No one had discussed what they would do if they should find more of The Lost Souls, but he knew he would try to help them too, if he could.
"We should get going," he said.
"I'd like to go with you," Josh volunteered.
Carl nodded his agreement, they had practiced shooting a little since arriving, but he'd been unwilling to take the risk of attracting unwanted attention or wasting too much ammo. Josh had been competent with the gun and hit the target on a regular basis. Even if they weren't firing the weapons daily, they were handling them on a regular enough basis that the others had gained confidence with them too.
"Is it just going to be us?" Riley asked.
"I'm going to stay here," Donald said. "Unless you think you'll need me."
"We'll be fine," Carl assured him. "I don't think it's a good idea to take too many people away from here anyway. Just in case something goes wrong."
"I'll let Rochelle and Victor know we're leaving. Al, Mary Ellen, and Claire are in the shed out back," Riley told them.
"Where are Nancy and Freddie?" Donald asked.
"Inside napping."
"Let's go talk with Al," Carl said when Riley and Xander broke away to join Victor and Rochelle.
Al stood on a chair inside the shed, hanging chains from the beams running across the ceiling, when they found him. Mary Ellen held the stool for him while Claire held another set of chains in her hands. Carl recognized them as the chains they'd found in the back of the shed, they'd used some of them to hang the deer further away from the house. The sight of the metal hanging from the railings brought back images of the barn and caused a shudder to run through him.
"What are you doing?" John inquired.
Al glanced over at them but continued to adjust the chains on the beam. "We can hang the deer in here and keep it locked up if we get a chance to get a surplus of meat. When it starts getting cold enough we can store even more deer, squirrel and rabbit in here and let them freeze. I'd like to build another shed and turn it into a smokehouse when we get some more lumber. How did everything go in the woods?"
"We were able to get two pits dug in the areas that we picked out," Carl answered. "We can do more later but I think it's time for us to go into town to find some supplies. We're not going to be able to live on meat forever."
"Well we could but our arteries will clog and we'll drop from a heart attack at fifty," John said. "To be honest I'm ok with just eating meat."
"Not all of us are, and we have no guarantee we're going to be able to keep catching food," Carl told him. "And we need more medical supplies, ammunition. We can never go wrong with more guns, hunting and fishing supplies, tools, and I don't know if I'm ready to take my chances with boiling that lake water to drink yet."
John glanced at the lake and shook his head. "No, definitely not."
"How long do you think you'll be gone?" Al asked.
"I don't know, with any luck we'll be back before dark," Carl answered.
"Do you think you can find your way back to town or would you like me to go with you?"
"I think it would be better if you stayed. You're good with a gun; you'll be needed here if something happens. I'm pretty sure I can find my way back to the main road. From there I'll be able to figure it out."
Al wiped his hands on his pants and nodded as he approached them. "I'll mark the
way out on the map for you."
They walked over to the car that Riley and Xander were already standing by. Al retrieved a map book from the cabin and pulled out a pen. He placed it on the hood of the car and flattened it down. He marked where they were with a big X and then began to trace a convoluted route back to the main road. Carl assumed they were the roads they'd taken to get here but he couldn't remember the names of any of them. Al made a few more marks on the map before pushing it toward Carl.
"In this area," Al said as he pointed to the other marks. "There used to be some department stores, a grocery store, and some other small stores. I'm not sure if they're still there, but you might want to give it a look. Maybe you could even find us some more clothes."
"That's one of our goals," Riley said.
Carl studied the roads before nodding and folding the map up. "We'll get as much as we can."
"If something happens and we're forced to leave here, we'll go to the racetrack. It looked relatively safe and secure, we'll find somewhere around there to hide," Al told him.
"Ok," Carl agreed.
"Good luck then, we'll see you soon," Al said as he clapped Carl on the shoulder.
"See you soon," Carl told him and turned toward the truck as Josh, Riley, and Xander climbed into the car.
"Be careful!" Rochelle called from the rock and waved at them.
Victor turned toward them with a new fish in hand and a proud smile on his face. Freddie had woken from his nap and was sitting on the boulder beside Rochelle, he turned to wave to them too before turning back to her.
Carl took a moment to simply stand and stare at them. If he hadn't known better he would almost think he was looking at a postcard from the fifties, when life had been simpler. Life was anything but simple now but they'd managed to carve out this little place for themselves and he intended to fight like hell to make sure they kept it.
When he walked back over to the truck, he noticed that Freddie had moved closer to Rochelle and was pointing at something across the lake. "I think Freddie has a crush," he said as John shut the driver's side door and started the truck.
John frowned as he looked over at them. "I think they're a little too young for that."
"And how old were you when you had your first crush?"
John scowled at him. "That's not the point. I'll break his fingers if he hurts her."
Carl released a harsh bark of laughter as he unfolded the map and spread it on his lap. "Now you know how your girlfriend's brothers felt about you."
"I hope he's nothing like me."
"So does Mary Ellen," Carl said.
"Bite me," John muttered before shifting the truck into reverse.
They led the way down the dirt drive with the car right behind them. Following Al's marks on the map, Carl navigated John back to the main road. Carl watched the buildings and scenery passed by before they drove by the racetrack again. Relief filled him when he saw the horses standing by the fence; he wondered if perhaps someone was hiding inside the gates feeding them.
He was surprised that some of the hungrier, more insane humans hadn't gone after the horses yet, but perhaps the animals were too big and fast for them to take down. Carl didn't know if he believed that though, those people were too smart not to figure out a way to get some of the horses cornered.
Maybe they were feasting on a better supply of food in the area, one that wasn't people, but it probably was. He knew there was a possibility the rabid ones weren't even in this area. It had been less affected by everything, but he doubted that was true.
"Where to?" John asked.
Carl tore his attention away from the horses and focused on the map again. "We'll try the gas stations first."
He folded up the map and tossed it onto the dashboard as they pulled into the parking lot of the first gas station.
CHAPTER 17
Al,
Al finished hanging the chains; he wiped his hands on his pants as he took a step back to inspect them. They would do for now. He hoped to find some more wood to nail on the outside of the shack, maybe some insulation or something else that would help to keep the smell of blood from drifting out. They had made sure to get the deer they'd killed skinned and gutted as fast as possible and they'd done it away from the cabin. That might not be possible to do if they got a lot of snow this winter, and leaving tracks everywhere definitely wasn't going to help keep them hidden.
"Now what?" Claire asked.
"Now I think we should take a look at the other cabins in the area. There might be some wood and other supplies we could use to try and barricade this better," he answered.
"You want to do that now?" Mary Ellen asked.
"Might as well, unless you have more pressing plans?"
Mary Ellen smiled as she shook her head. "My calendar is pretty clear for awhile. What about the kids?"
"I'll stay with them," Claire offered. Over the past couple of weeks she'd proven to be extremely accurate with a gun. She'd been the one to take down the deer and had helped Al to set up the rabbit traps they'd established in the area. Claire had told them she'd started hunting with her father when she was nine years old. She and Jim started taking Freddie hunting when he was nine also. Al was confident that she could keep the camp protected if something went wrong.
"Donald can stay here too," Mary Ellen said.
"I'd like to take Donald with us," Al told her. "Freddie knows how to use a gun too and Nancy is competent enough to shoot, so is Rochelle, if it becomes necessary. They have the trench and alarm system here to help protect them. It would be good to have someone else with us and I think Nancy will prefer to stay here."
Nancy had calmed down a lot, and her jumpiness had eased, but she was still a little too antsy for Al's liking. Whatever had happened to Nancy before they'd discovered her had left her scarred and as timid as a field mouse. He expected it to get better with time but for now he would prefer to keep her in a calmer and less threatening environment than the woods surrounding them would offer her.
"Yeah probably," Mary Ellen agreed.
Al walked with her and Claire back to the cabin. They ate a quick lunch of rabbit and what was left of the chips before packing some water and a few granola bars to take with them. Al made sure his gun was loaded, and he had both of his knives, as Donald slung the backpack on and checked his gun. Mary Ellen slid a knife into her holster and grabbed her gun.
"We should be back before nightfall," Al told Claire. "We're just going to search the cabin on the other side of the one that Carl already went through."
"We'll be here," Claire said and lifted the rifle off the table. She gave them a grim smile as she rested it against her shoulder.
"If anything should happen here, get out, no matter what it takes," Donald said.
"How will we find you again?" Nancy's bicolored eyes darted nervously around them as she twisted her hands before her.
Donald rested his hand on top of hers, stilling her frantic movements when her skin began to turn red. Her eyes shot up to him, she took hold of his hand and clasped it within hers. Al lifted an eyebrow, this was the first time he'd seen such an interaction between them and he wondered when it had started. At least Donald was able to calm her as the distress on her face eased.
"Go to the racetrack, if you can," Al said. "That's where we told Carl we'd meet them if something went wrong. We'll find you eventually."
Nancy's eyes remained on Donald; he squeezed her hands before pulling his free. Nancy's lower lip trembled; she lifted her hands toward him but then dropped them back to her side. Donald gave her a hug before stepping away and walking out the door.
Al and Mary Ellen followed behind him as they made their way to the perimeter they'd established around the cabin. Maybe one day, if they were lucky, they would be able to add onto the cabin or move some people into one of the surrounding cabins for more space. If their luck continued to hold out, they might actually be able to establish a life here.
Al stepped carefully over
the fishing line that had been twisted intricately through the trees. He grabbed hold of the next line, just beyond the first, and lifted it carefully to duck beneath it. Once on the other side, he searched the treetops. Since they'd been out here, they'd seen no sign of the sick, either The Lost Souls or the rabid ones, but searching up high was a habit he'd picked up from Riley. They'd been so isolated here that he could almost believe they were the last people on earth, but there were others out there, he was certain of that much.
The leaves and sticks crunched beneath his feet as they strode through the thick woods. This journey had been easier when he'd been younger, but he still made it over the fallen trees and rocks without slowing the others down. There were more freshly toppled trees in the woods due to the quakes, but the going was still relatively easy despite the added obstacles. Soft moss and bark fell apart beneath his palms as he rested them on an old pine caught up within a large maple.
He peered over top of the pine before ducking down to crouch walk under it to the other side. "So, you and Nancy," Mary Ellen said to Donald as she scrambled under the tree.
"We're just friends," Donald replied. "She's had a rough go of it. I'm not sure how she's going to come out of all of this in the end, but she has to know that I'm there for her and that she has friends in this world."
Mary Ellen leaned against an old oak and took a sip of water. "I'm sure she knows she has friends in all of us. She'll get through the best she can, like the rest of us."
Donald shook his head. "She's not like the rest of us. Some people just aren't equipped to handle certain things. We can all experience the same exact thing, but it will be different to all of us because we process it in different ways. Some people are more capable of picking themselves up and continuing on than others. Some simply can't do it."
"You don't think she's going to do something to hurt herself, do you?" Mary Ellen asked in a disbelieving tone.
Al didn't find the idea that unbelievable, the notion had crossed his mind more than once. He'd already prepared himself for discovering Nancy's body one day, or for her to disappear into the woods. "Some people rise up and some people fall," Donald said. "I don't want her to fall."