Hidden (Final Dawn) (17 page)

    
Bryan, the closest thing they had in the mine to a preacher, said some pretty words and offered some comfort to the grieving. His words didn’t help the situation, of course. But they bought some time before the tears started flowing.

     And everyone, except little Anna, did a good job of holding back the tears. That was, until Karen pulled another surprise by producing a single yellow rose and placing it on the finished grave mound.

     Karen had been growing a single rosebush in the back of the greenhouse the whole time, unbeknownst to anyone other than her and Hannah. For special occasions, she’d tell everyone later.

     Special occasions, she’d say, like for a mother who’d just given birth to a new baby. Or to the elders, on a milestone wedding anniversary.

     Or, for a beloved who was taken away far too soon.

     Anna and David sang
Amazing Grace
and
Rock of Ages
, just the way Uncle Joe had taught them. Joe accompanied them on an acoustic guitar, and it was at that moment Mark noticed for the first time how his niece and nephew were growing up into fine young adults. And he let his thoughts wander for a moment about the cycle of life. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away…

     There was something about the simple grave, the pure white virtue of the mound, the single yellow rose. It was… beautiful. As sad as it was, it was indeed beautiful, and befitting of the life which laid beneath it.

     Mark knew this would be one of his favorite places to come in the months and years ahead. He knew it would offer him solace and peace, and a place to lose himself in his thoughts.

      He also knew that his love for this woman, and her love for him, wasn’t going to end just because he could no longer feel her tender touch, and watch her laughter. No, despite all they had been through, and even as the whole world was dying around them, that love would stay intact. Forever.

     Bryan would come back later in the day and install a spotlight, which would shine onto the grave day and night, as long as they were in the mine. He even installed a battery backup, so in the event of a power outage, her light would be the only one shining. A beacon in the night, he said.

    
Bryan said it was the least he could do for her, since she’d brightened the lives of so many during the course of her lifetime.

     And all of them wondered, but dared not speak the words, whether she would suffer this indignity alone, or would have some company laying beside her, in eternal repose, at some point before they were able to break out.

Chapter 28

     Frank Woodard stuffed provisions into an olive drab duffle bag and put it on his back. Jesse Martinez asked him, “Are you sure you don’t want me to come along? There is strength in numbers, you know. And you should at least take your gun.”

     “No. They will view a single unarmed man as less of a threat. They are all probably as frightened of outsiders as we are. I need to be able to gain their trust, and show them I am no threat to them.”

     “And tell me again, why are you risking your life to help people you don’t even know?”

     “I don’t know, Jesse. It’s just something I feel I have to do.”

     Eva interjected, “He’s doing it because he’s a man of God. And because it’s what Jesus would have done if He were here.”

     She kissed her husband and admonished him.

     “Don’t take any unnecessary chances, honey. You owe me that much. If you feel threatened in any way, you get out of there and come back home to me. Understand?”

     “Yes, ma’am.”

     He saluted her and she laughed. It seemed to lighten the moment.

     Jesse Martinez walked him out to the street.

     “Jesse, I have a favor to ask of you.”

     “Frank, don’t even. I know what you’re going to ask, and you know my answer to it. You know damn well that if you don’t come back we will take good care of Eva. She is as much a part of my family now as my own children. You both are. You know that.”

     Frank never believed in man hugs before the freeze. But the frozen world had changed them all in so many ways. He hugged Jesse unashamedly and said, “Thank you, my friend.”

     Then he trudged off down the street toward the barricade of cars at the end of the block.

     Frank went two blocks over, to
Maple Street, and one block south to Hollow Tree Drive. There, four houses from the corner, he found what he was looking for. Smoke coming from a chimney.

     It might be easy to hide in a world where three feet of snow blanketed the earth. But in such a world it was impossible to survive without fire, and the smoke would always give you away.

     The house was completely ringed with parked cars, which formed a circle of protection around it. Frank approached the house, hoping he wasn’t making a dreadful mistake.

     He stayed outside the ring of cars. If he was shot at, he reasoned, he would be able to dive down and take cover behind them.

     “Hello in the house!”

     There was dead silence. Not even the wind blew. The seconds seemed to take forever to tick by.

     “Hello in the house! My name is Frank. I mean you no harm!”

     Frank could not see what was happening in the house, of course, but he imagined a group of people scampering around, watching from behind the window blinds and heavy curtains. Wondering who this fool was and what he wanted.

     Or maybe it was just a single old codger who had a rifle trained on Frank, pulling back on the trigger at this very moment.

     Frank was getting ready to yell again when the front door opened about four inches.

     He couldn’t see anything. No one stepped out. But he heard a man’s voice yell, “What in hell do you want?”

     “I come in peace. I am not armed. I am just checking on my neighbors and friends. Do you have everything you need?”

     “It’s none of your damn business what we have!”

     “Fair enough. I brought you food in case you need it. I will leave it here. Then I will leave. You have my word, I mean you no harm.”

     Frank used his forearm to brush snow from the hood of one of the cars. Then he reached into the duffle bag and took out four boxes of spaghetti noodles and six jars of chicken bouillon. He placed them in plain view on the car’s hood.

     The two combined together with water would feed a dozen people for three or four days.

     Then he turned and left.

     He was forty feet away when he heard someone yelling again.

     “Mister, wait!”

     Frank knew it was dangerous, but he stopped and turned anyway.

     The door was open now, and the man he’d been conversing with was on the porch. In the yard was a teenage boy, maybe seventeen. He yelled, “Thank you!” as he scooped up the provisions and scurried back inside. The door closed quickly behind him.

     On the next block, Frank met two armed men at the end of the street pulling guard duty.

     “Stop right there! What do you want?”

     Frank dropped the bag and raised his hands.

     “My name is Frank. I live a few streets over. I mean you no harm. I am just checking on my neighbors and bringing them food if they need it.”

     “You have food?”

     “Yes. I will show you if you promise not to shoot me.”

     “Move slowly.”

     Frank slowly opened the duffle bag and removed two boxes of spaghetti noodles, three jars of chicken bouillon, and a six pack of canned Vienna sausages.

     “Canned goods are no good.”

     “No, these are fine,” Frank said. “There isn’t enough water in them to make the cans swell or break. Once you thaw them out they’re good. I eat them all the time.”

     One of the men seemed meaner than the other.

     “What if we just shoot you and take the whole bag?”

     “Well, you could. But then I wouldn’t be able to tell you where to get a lot more.”

     “What are you talking about?”

     “I know where there is a warehouse. A warehouse that has lots of food. Enough for me and mine, and for you and yours.”

     “How do we know you ain’t lying?”

     “I came unarmed. I am giving you food. Do you think I would do that if I meant you harm?”

     “Where do you live?”

     Frank wasn’t quite ready to share that information.

     “Not far. Think it over. Talk to the rest of your clan. I will be back in a couple of days. If one of you wants to know where the food is, I will take you and show you. If you don’t want to know, then just let me go in peace and I won’t bother you again.”

     He stacked the food in a pile on the snow and put the duffle on his back again. It was considerably lighter now.

     He looked at the men and felt pity for them. They couldn’t take their eyes off the food.

     Frank trudged away, fully expecting every step to be his last. He thought there was a better than average chance he’d be shot in the back of the head.

     But he wasn’t.

     Frank’s next stop, two blocks over, was a bit more heartening. He was greeted by a man and a woman who said they were the only ones left on their block. They’d been eating from all their neighbors’ houses, but the food was about gone. And as little as they had, they still invited Frank in to share their meager food before they knew what was in his backpack.

     “You’re the only ones left? What happened?”

     The man said, “The outlaws came. They went from house to house and took whatever they wanted. They killed everybody in the houses. Killed the pets too. The dogs and the cats. The only way we survived was by crawling into the crawlspace above the ceiling and hiding. All of our food was hidden in the box spring and under the snow. When they didn’t see any food, I think they thought we left like a lot of others. They left.

     “We went through the neighbor’s houses one by one. Most of them hid most of their food too, and we had to search hard to find it. We ate some of the dead animals too, I’m ashamed to say. I hope that God will forgive us for that.”

     The woman was probably about thirty but easily looked twice that.

     “Frank, you’ve been out and about. How many people are left alive out there?”

     He sadly said, “Not many, I’m afraid. Maybe a handful of people on some streets. Most streets, none at all. Most people either left and never came back, killed themselves, or froze to death in their sleep.”

     Frank left them the rest of his food and told them he’d be back in a couple of days to take the man to the warehouse.

     On his way back home with an empty duffle bag, Frank once again walked past the two men standing guard at the end of their block.

     This time they waved at him and smiled.

Chapter 29

    Marty happened to be on watch in the middle of the afternoon when he heard someone yelling on the north side of the compound. It pissed him off because they hadn’t expected intruders coming from the north. The only thing north of the camp were three tankers full of diesel fuel, which they used to run their generators, and a huge farmer’s field.

     Marty scrambled to the north trailer that served as their observation post. He looked out the peep hole and saw the farmer they’d leased the field from for a stolen trailer of meat. Standing beside the farmer was a young girl.

     “I wonder what the hell he wants,” Marty mumbled to himself. He heard the farmer yelling, “Hello in the camp!”

     Marty yelled back, “Stay there! I’m coming out!”

     The farmer gave no indication he’d heard Marty, which came as no surprise given the thickness of the trailer walls. Marty scrambled outside the trailer and yelled to Tina to take over his watch. Then he laid down the heavy sheets of plywood that were leaning against the bottom of the trailer and crawled out to the outside world.

     Tina moved to the south lookout trailer and stood watch on the side they’d always presumed was their primary threat. Lenny, more of curiosity than anything else, took Marty’s place in the north trailer and peeped through the hole.

     He saw Marty shake the farmer’s hand, then the girl’s. He couldn’t hear what they said to each other, since they were a good forty yards away. But he could tell they were having a heated discussion. Marty paced back and forth in front of them, kicking at the heavy snow in anger. At one point he took off his heavy gloves and slammed them to the ground.

     As for the girl, she had her arms wrapped tightly around herself and stared intently at the ground. Lenny thought that quite odd. He couldn’t tell, though, if her actions were those of someone who was very cold, or very much in distress.