The Survivors Book III: Winter (24 page)

I started to protest, but he cut me off with a wave of his hand.

"You're human just like the rest of us, and your unique set of circumstances make you particularly vulnerable.  Accept it.  You're not invulnerable."  He adjusted his glass, and gave me a stern frown.  "She's fine, just give her a few minutes to sit down."

Then, before I could say anything else, he marched away to tend to whatever other business was demanding his attention.
 I blinked in surprise, and looked at Michael.

"
What is it with everyone giving me lectures lately?" I asked dryly, both amused and a little annoyed by it.  "Skylar, Anahera, Doc, you… it seems like everyone wants to tell me how to do my job."

"
You're still learning," Michael said gently, slipping his arms beneath me to lift me up in his arms, as easily as a father lifting a child.  "Everyone is, I think.  But you're the one that has to learn the most in the shortest period of time, because people are relying on you.  Don't worry, they're not lecturing you because of any kind of failure.  They're lecturing you because they see so much potential in you."

"
Oh."  I paused to consider that as he carried me back towards the car.  The explanation assuaged most of my annoyance, and left me thoughtful.  "Well, that does make some sense."

"
I should hope so," he answered, shooting a look at me.  When we reached the car, he gently set me back on my feet and braced me against the Hilux's side panel with his body.  "Do you notice the commonalities amongst the people that have been trying to educate you?"

"
You lost me with the big words," I answered teasingly.

The joke earned a smile from him, and encouraged him to finish his thought.
 "They're either leaders themselves, or people of uncommon ability or experience.  I hate blowing my own trumpet like that, but it's true.  Anahera and I both led our groups for a long time, so we have experience with what you're learning now.  Doc has the most life experience of any of us, and he's also the student of human nature.  He's been studying people like us longer than we've been alive.  And as for your sister, well – she has a deeper insight into your nature than any of us, even me.  She's been studying, emulating, and loving you her entire life.  That makes her an expert in… well, you."

"
So, what you're saying," I summarized, "is that I shouldn't think about it like a kid getting a spanking, but more like university lectures?"

Michael laughed and nodded.
 "Yes, but you're definitely getting a spanking later on.  In private."

"
Oh my," I intoned dryly, wiggling a brow at him in a playfully suggestive manner.  He grinned and gave me a kiss, then reached past me to open the passenger's door.

"
In you go walking wounded," he ordered, guiding me back into my seat.  For once in my life, I did as I was told.  He even went so far as to buckle me in, then kissed my forehead.  "You stay here and guard the car while I make sure everyone's safely loaded."

"
Okay," I agreed reluctantly.  Just as he was walking away, a flash of anxiety twisted my gut.  "Make sure you do a headcount!  Don't leave Tigger behind!"

"
We won't," he replied, waving over his shoulder.

Relieved, I sat back and indulged myself in a long, deep sigh.
 If there was one thing I could rely on in life, it was Michael taking care of the people I loved.  I tilted my head back and closed my eyes, forcing myself to relax.  The sound of the rain was always something that brought me comfort, even when I was soaking wet and cold.  During the bleak years I'd spent living in the back of that shipping container in Te Awamutu, the rain had always eased my terrors, chased away the demons, and lulled me to sleep.

The vertigo slowly began to fade, leaving me feeling better.
 I opened my eyes and blinked slowly – then I froze, staring at a distant junkyard.  Through the haze, I thought I could see human figures watching us.  I fumbled for Michael's binoculars, but by the time I found them, the figures were gone.

The driver's door opened, and Michael climbed in.
 He was soaked to the bone, rivulets of water oozing off his leather jacket, and his short hair was plastered to his head.  Despite that, he still had a smile for me.  In the back seat, Alfred lifted his head and yelped a greeting to his master, tail wagging frantically.

"
All heads are accounted for and firmly attached to their necks," Michael told me playfully, reaching back to rub Alfred's ears.

I took the opportunity to steal a quick kiss, then I pointed towards the shipping yard a few hundred meters beyond our current position.
 "I think there are people over there, but I couldn't tell how many.  Let's be careful."

"
We could go a different way," Michael suggested, turning back to face front.  He slammed his door, pulled his seatbelt on, and started the car, but waited while I pondered the suggestion.

"
No," I decided, shaking my head.  "It's not worth the extra risk.  At least we've seen the lay of the land here, so we know more or less what to expect."

Michael nodded, put the truck in drive, and took his foot off the brake, letting us roll forward slowly until we felt the tyres bump across the train tracks.
 On the other side, a wide, open space yawned in front of us, flanked on one side by thick trees, and the other by warehouses and shipping yards.  I picked up the binoculars again and studied the yards carefully, but if anyone lurked there I couldn't see them.

Michael kept our pace slow and cautious as we advanced.
 I heard the faint growl of an engine, and caught sight of a quad bike rider in my side mirror.  A second later, another rider appeared on Michael's side, flanking us.  I recognised the riders as ours, but they were so bundled up against the weather that I couldn't tell exactly who they were.  One of them glanced at me and waved, but he looked away before I could reciprocate.

"
Eight eyes are better than four," Michael explained.  "I asked them to ride with us and help us keep watch for trouble.  The others are spread out along the column, doing the same."

"
Good call," I agreed softly, my natural caution slowly bubbling away beneath the surface and making me uncomfortable.  It was only mid-afternoon, but it was darker than it should have been because of the weather.  The treeline beside me was full of dancing shadows, which made it hard to determine if there were enemies about.

"
Intersection," Michael said.  "Direction?"

"
Keep going," I replied.  "We should start seeing more warehouses and stuff soon."

"
Is that... a cannon over there?" Michael asked, sounding both excited and bewildered.

"
Yes," I answered, laughing.  "The map says that's the old Returned Services Association's hall.  Pity that won't help us deal with our mutant problem, right?"

"
Yeah, no kidding," he agreed with his usual playful grin.  A moment later, he chuckled and pointed at one of the shop fronts up ahead of us.  Three ride-on lawnmowers sat nestled amongst a grass verge so overgrown that we could barely make them out.  "That strikes me as kind of ironic.  Need a mower?"

"
Nah, I'm good," I answered dryly.  "Besides, good luck getting them to start after they've been sitting out in the rain for ten years.  We should be coming up to a roundabout soon.  Go straight through it."

"
You mean that thing?" Michael asked, pointing to an enormous green dome that sprang up in the middle of the road, verdant with wildflowers and bushes.  "It looks like a big green mushroom."

I couldn't help but laugh at the comparison.
 "It really does.  I don't much like the look of those trees on the other side, though."

"
They're just trees," he said, his tone turning gentle and reassuring.  "Don't worry, it'll be fine."

A few seconds later, our convoy plunged into semi-darkness beneath the thick boughs.
 What had once been a row of shade trees planted in a neat median strip had become a jungle, just like the rest of the human world.  Just as suddenly as it had begun, the trees parted into an area that had been a shopping centre.  The glass fronts of the buildings had been shattered and broken away, and gang sign painted over every flat surface.

"
Left," I instructed.  "We're almost there.  Just keep going straight through the next few intersections."

Michael nodded silently and obeyed.
 With careful determination, he guided the truck around a few cars that partially blocked the road.  We found what we were looking for just a few minutes later: a low, glass-fronted building with an assortment of broadcast aerials on the roof.  The windows were just as cracked and broken as everything else, but there was no sign of current occupation.

I grabbed my radio, and thumbed the receiver.
 "We're here.  Form a circle in front of the building, bikes in the middle.  Get some people up on top of the trucks to stand watch.  Skye, Zane, Jim, and anyone else who knows anything about mechanical stuff or radios, you're with me."

As soon as Michael had brought the Hilux to a stop, I hopped out with my shotgun at the ready and scanned the surroundings for any signs of danger.
 I saw and heard nothing, just the occasional warble of birdsong and the pounding of the rain on the roof of the truck beside me.

"
Stay out here and organise the watch," I instructed when Michael joined me.  He nodded and went off to direct traffic, while I inspected the building that had brought us all that way.  The moody weather meant that it was dark inside, too dark for me to be able to make out much beyond the ragged glass around the window frames.  I reached inside my jacket and grabbed my torch, tucking it inside my sleeve to keep it from getting wet.

The golden beam probed the darkness and drove back the shadows, revealing a small room that had once been a lobby.
 Debris of a hundred different sorts littered the floor and gathered in the corners; I stepped over the window frame and made my way deeper, my feet crunching across a mixture of leaf litter and trash blown in over the course of a thousand windy days.  Tiny, sparkling gems of broken safety glass glittered when my torchlight brushed past them, giving everything a strange, otherworldly feeling.

I heard quiet footfalls behind me, then Skylar's voice whispered,
"We're here.  Where do we go?"

"
Cover me while I check the building is safe," I answered quietly.  The response was a chorus of metallic clicks as my companions slipped the safeties off their weapons.  I did the same, and led the way down the corridor towards the back of the building.

On either side of the hallway, doors hung open like shadowy, gaping maws.
 I checked each one, and found a couple of offices, a couple of sound studios, a small lunchroom, and a pair of single-stall lavatories beside an exit that let out into an empty car park.

"
I guess the folks that worked here all went home to die," I commented, closing the door to the car park and locking it from the inside.

"
Well, aren't you morbid today?" Skye answered, her voice dry and sarcastic.  I grunted inarticulately in response, focusing on a more important question: was the power working in Tokoroa?

A light switch caught the beam of my torch.
 I gently slid past my sister and friends, and pressed it with my thumb.  Light flared up, but it was dull and flickering, barely enough to see.  I ran my gaze across the ceiling, and discovered that most of the bulbs had been shattered: only two were still intact.  Whether that was deliberate or not was a mystery that I couldn't solve.

"
Well, at least we've got power," I said, trying to make myself sound cheerful for the sake of my companions.  I glanced at them to check who I had with me, and found Jim, Zane, and Ropata following me, in addition to my sister.  I nodded and smiled at them.  "I saw two sound studios.  Let's split up and examine them, see if we can get one of them working."

They nodded obediently.
 Zane and Ropata headed off towards the studio on the right, leaving me, Jim, and Skye to look at the other one.  I found a light switch just inside the door, and this one yielded better results than the one out in the lobby.  Unfortunately, what it lit up was a bank of buttons, switches, and dials that looked about as complex as the control panel of a battleship to my inexperienced eye.

"
Wow, I have no idea what to do here," I admitted, then I shot a look of appeal at the other two.  "Help?"

"
Don't worry, I know exactly what to do," Skye answered cheerfully.

Surprised, I lifted my brows and looked at her.
 "Yeah?"

"
Yep!"  She grinned suddenly and gave me a playful wink.  "We find the manual.  Then, we read it."

"
Damn, I was hoping to be way out of town by sunset," I said, shaking my head.  "Oh well.  Nothing we can do about it.  Anahera will never let me hear the end of it if we don't at least try."

"
It's the right thing to do," Skye reassured me.