The Survivor Chronicles: The Risen (22 page)

"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.

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.