America's Sunset: A Post Apocalyptic Fight for Survival (21 page)

Chapter 39 ~ The Arrival

The morning outside started as it usually did every day on the farm. The sun rose and the animals started moving around in their stalls as they waited for someone to feed and care for them. But this morning, the routine of the farm was disrupted. The occupants were different. For the first time in a long time, Bert Williams woke up to a house full of people. It had been a long time since his family occupied the main farmhouse. He fondly remembered those days. When his children were young and growing, before his wife passed away, and before the kids moved on to big city careers.

Today wasn’t the kind of day that would elicit memories for Bert to wax nostalgic about in the future. Today, he’d been invaded. It wasn’t the big corporations coming in to shatter his daily routine and take away his life. It was his hired help, with his family and friends in tow. The whole world was turning on its head. In Bert’s mind, it was an opportunity for people to pull together and help one another. He remembered stories from his grandfather about how families came together to help during times of need, not infringe on an old man's home.

Dawson made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen. It was later than he normally got up. Even though he didn’t wake in his own room, it felt more secure than waking in a bunker in the ground, and more secure knowing that the people around him were people he trusted. At least most of them. He’d hoped that Bert would understand what they were doing, that it wasn’t safe any longer to be in the city. It’d be safer for Bert as well, having people around to protect him and help.

Bert had been spending so much time worrying about the big corporations swooping in to steal his livelihood and his legacy that he couldn’t see what was going on around him. The world had been turned on its head. People needed to work together. Some wouldn’t be able to. They could just give up and let the world have its way with them. Dawson couldn’t do that, and didn’t want to see that happen to Bert. He’d been through too much to just give up.

Maggie was up long before everyone else, and decided she needed some time to think. She went for a walk to get the lay of the land and sort some things out in her head. It had been a tumultuous few weeks leading up to where they were now. They’d lost so much of their former life, and she worried about the kids. Not knowing where they were, what they were doing, or even if they were still alive. She had to believe they were OK. She didn’t want to imagine a world without her children. She chose to believe that they were still doing well, fighting the good fight and doing everything they could to get through. Their world had changed, but she knew her kids. They were tough. Tough and smart and resourceful like their dad, and like her. She reassured herself that they had raised them right. They showed them not just how to survive, but how to thrive. She had to believe.

She opened the big doors leading into the barn where the horses were. She’d heard Dawson talk about them endlessly. He’d never lost his love for them, no matter how off track his life got. That had to be a good thing, she supposed. Any man who loved animals as much as he did, in spite of his faults, couldn’t be that bad. I
have to believe
, she thought,
that deep down inside he’ll come around and make something of his life.
She prayed, that he’d give his kids the same opportunities that she and Jake had given to theirs.

She heard the gentle neighing of the horses as she walked through the door of the barn. She didn’t know if that meant they were hungry or restless, or just saying hello. She walked up to the first horse, which leaned over the stall door and shook her mane at Maggie
’
s approach. Memories of being around horses and farms as a little kid came to her mind. She was always a little afraid of them. They seemed so big. They didn’t seem quite as big as they used to, but those old feelings were still there. The mare shook her mane once more and gently whinnied. Maggie walked closer. “You know I’m a friend, right? You’re not as angry with us invading your home as Bert is, I hope.” Maggie reached her hand forward slowly and rubbed the head of the mare. The mare rolled her head in gentle rhythm with Maggie’s touch. “Good, good. Glad to see that we’re getting along. Now, if you could just put in a good word with your master about us. We’re not really all that bad. Maybe he’ll listen to you. Maybe he won’t feel so bad about having the company.” Maggie continued rubbing her head. “We’re best friends now, aren’t we?”

Maggie’s reverie with the horse was interrupted by the sound of rumbling off in the distance. The mare’s ears perked up as she shifted uneasily.

“What do you suppose that could be?” She looked around the stalls at the other horses. They seemed alert but not agitated. Maggie walked back outside to investigate. In the distance, there was a convoy of vehicles coming down the road to the farm.
Who could that be
, wondered Maggie,
and where did they get so many working vehicles? This has to be good ne
ws, she thought.
This must be one of the government support groups coming down to help out.
As the convoy came closer, she recognized one of the faces in the lead vehicle.
Oh shit
, she thought,
this is bad.
Maggie turned and raced back to the farmhouse.

Chapter 40 ~ Leadership

Maggie ran frantically into the house, slamming doors. “Wake up! Wake up! Dawson! Jake! Where are you guys?” She ran from the front porch through the living room and into the kitchen at full sprint. She slammed into the kitchen table, nearly knocking breakfasts everywhere.

“Maggie, what the hell? Are you OK?” Jake rose and reached out to her.

“No, I’m not OK. There’s a convoy of vehicles coming down the road and the lead car belongs to those son-of-a-bitch terrorists. The ones that had Veronica and Chase.” She suddenly looked around and noticed the kids weren’t in the kitchen. “Where are the kids?” She ran toward the stairs and started calling, “Veronica! Chase!”

Jake caught up to her, grabbing her arm. “The kids are fine. Dawson just came down a few minutes ago and said they were still sleeping. Come back here and tell us exactly what you saw.”

Dawson and Bert headed to the front door as Maggie turned and looked at him in a sweat, saying, “We don’t have time. We need to go. We need to get the kids and go. They’re going to try and take them again.”

Dawson was standing on the front porch with Bert. Bert was loading his shotgun, but Dawson pulled him reluctantly back into the house. They were arguing as they entered the kitchen.

Bert was shaking and irate. “Damn it, this is my property. My home. If I want to die protecting it, then that’s damn well what I’ll do.”

“This is not just about you any longer, Bert,” Dawson said. “Not everyone here shares your desire to be a martyr.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t invite you here, if you remember. You can damn well go any time now. These bastards are here because of you. They’re here on my property because of you. I told you to leave, and now I’m demanding it. You’ve brought nothing but trouble. Go on, get the hell out.” Bert gestured towards the front door just as the kids came stumbling down the stairs in the clothes they had slept in. Maggie was hurrying them down stairs from behind.

“Daddy, what’s going on?” Veronica said, still rubbing sleep from her eyes.

“Bert,” Dawson said, “we don’t have time to debate this. I’d hoped that we’d have time to get ourselves situated before they found us, but for now we’ll have to go to plan B.”

“You have a plan B?” Maggie asked.

“Not yet,” Dawson answered. “Just give me a second though, and I’ll come up with something.”

“Jesus, boy!” Bert chimed in. “You don’t have a second. Did you see the number of vehicles coming up the road? They’ll be swarming this place in no time. We’re massively outnumbered, and even with every weapon I’ve got on this place, we’ll be massively outgunned as well. Whatever plan B you come up with, it won’t stand a chance.”

The group was quiet. Even the kids didn’t say a word.

Bert shook his head. “You people need to follow me.”

Maggie picked up Veronica, then handed her to Dawson as she squirmed, reaching for her dad. The sound of vehicle engines could be heard from inside the house. Bert motioned out the back kitchen door, and they all made their way in that direction; through the back storage porch and down the stairs into the yard. The backyard was large, about a hundred meters in each direction, with a few random fruit trees. The grass and weeds were cut short, and there was still an old kid’s climber towards the back that looked like it hadn’t been used in years. There was no fence around the yard, but its border was clearly defined where the short grass ended and the tall grass started. It backed onto a small woodlot, which was the direction in which Bert was heading.

Even carrying Veronica, Dawson was the quickest of the bunch of them. Bert waved him past as Dawson slowed to say something to Bert.

“We’ll have time to talk later. Don’t bother me with whatever is on your mind now. We need to make it to that woodlot before anyone spots us.” Bert pointed to the back of the yard.

They could hear the squeak of brakes as vehicles came to a stop at the front of the farmhouse, which hid them from view. They were just over halfway through the yard and starting to feel winded. Chase stumbled but didn’t fall as Maggie caught his arm from behind. They exchanged a quick glance as Maggie urged him on. “Go! Go! I’ll catch up. We’re almost there.”

Dawson glanced over his shoulder and started to slow, but Chase waved him on as he regained his stride. Dawson was just on the edge of the woodlot. Jake was next, followed closely by Chase and Maggie, with Bert bringing up the rear with ten meters to go.

The invaders kicked open the front door, even though it wasn’t locked. They systematically went from room to room and floor to floor checking for people.

Bert made it into the cover of the woodlot and fell to his knees gasping for breath. The rest waited there for him. Dawson and Jake watched the back of the farmhouse door, waiting for men to come crashing through at any minute.

“Did anyone close the back door?” Jake asked.

“I did,” Maggie answered. “I locked it from the inside first, so it didn’t look like anyone just ran out.”

Jake kissed her on the cheek. “I knew I married you for more than your looks.”

“The hell you did,” she answered. “I remember what you were like as a teenager.”

“Sorry to interrupt your little trip down memory lane here, kids,” Dawson said, “but whoever the hell that is won’t take long to search the house. We need to keep moving. Bert, what’s on the other side of this woodlot? Can we get to the road or the next farm from here without being spotted?”

“Not a chance. Those guys will start searching the area any minute. They’ll track us down in no time,” Bert said.

“We should split up. It’s too easy to track us down as a group,” Jake added.

“I’ve got a better idea,” Bert said. “Follow me this way.” Bert took off through the woods.

Maggie looked to Dawson and Jake as they both shrugged their shoulders.

“Well, get moving,” Maggie said, nodding in Bert’s direction. “He’ll be out of sight in no time.”

Bert moved through the woods with remarkable speed for a man of his age. He was charged with a new sense of energy. He had grown up in this place, he knew these woods and the property intimately. It was his childhood and his adult home. He darted amongst the trees and down past the stream, which the group waded through for a bit. Not that he was intending to hide their footsteps, but it was the most direct route. The banks of the stream rose at sharp and uneven angles in both directions, and it would have been nearly impossible to traverse the banks with any reliability.

Before long, they came to a less dense area of the woods, and saw a small cabin with a collapsing roof that looked like it was about to fall in on itself. The walls on both sides were canted in opposite directions, as if being pulled by opposing forces. As they got closer, they realized that there were several cabins or more appropriately the remains of cabins in the area. Compared to the rest, the first one was in the best shape. The others resembled chaotic wood piles more than cabins.

“This is the place,” Bert said. “This is our best chance for hiding from those damn trespassers.”

“These cabins?” Jake replied. “You’ve got to be kidding. We can’t hide in those things, at least not from anyone that has half a brain in their head. There’ll be a team of guys running through these woods any second, if not already. They’ll find these cabins in no time. There aren’t even doors on the good one. There’s no way we’ll stay out of sight for long.”

“Not in the cabins,” Bert said. “Under the cabins.”

“Whoa, wait just a second,” Maggie said. “This one is derelict and ready to fall down any second. Just look at those other ones. They’re already a pile of rotten lumber, likely full of all kinds of bugs and God knows what. There’s no way I’m taking these kids under there.”

“No, it’s really quite safe,” Bert answered. “Trust me. I used to play around these as kids. There are tunnels.”

“Tunnels?” Dawson said. “What do you mean tunnels? We’re out here in the middle of the woods.”

“Slave tunnels,” Bert answered. “These were the slave cabins back when slaves worked the cotton fields. My cousins and I found them as kids. We figured they were built as escape tunnels, but never got finished. We found bones in them all the time. Our parents never knew, but we used to play down in them for hours. They go on forever. We never did get to explore all of them. There’re just too many.”

The floors creaked and splintered as they walked across them. The old cabin hadn’t seen this much traffic in years. Distant voices could be heard from the woods.

“You hear that?” Jake asked.

“Yes,” Maggie answered. “I can’t understand what they’re saying, but it sounds Arabic. They’re getting louder, and they sound angry.” She looked to Bert, who was standing in the center of the cabin looking around like he’d lost something. “Bert, where are they? The men attached to those voices will be here any second. Where are the damn tunnels?”

“One sec, just one sec. I haven’t been down here in years. We used to get to them through two of the cabins. I’m pretty sure this is one of them.” Bert turned and shook his hand like it was a divining rod that could search out tunnels in the ground.

Veronica started crying. “Daddy, I’m scared. I don’t want to go in the ground. That’s where they bury people. I don’t want to go.” Her voice got a little louder with each statement. “Daddy, I just want to go home. Please, Daddy, just take me home.”

Maggie tried stroking her hair as she glared at Bert, who took no notice. “Don’t worry, sweetie,” Maggie said. “This will all be over soon. We’ll get you home, don’t worry.”

Veronica responded by burying her head in Dawson’s shoulder, which at least muffled the sound of her sobbing.

“This is nuts,” Chase said. “This old bastard can’t remember anything about the tunnels, if they’re even here. He’s gone senile. We’re all screwed.”

“That’s enough, Chase,” Dawson said. “You’re not helping the situation.” Dawson looked at Bert. “C’mon, Bert, it’s now or never, they’re almost on us.”

“Here!” Bert said, moving towards the remnants of an old brick fireplace. Most of the bricks had fallen into the hearth and spilled on the ledge. “Help me move these bricks.”

Jake and Maggie were instantly on their knees and pushing bricks off to the side. Dawson pushed Chase towards them with a look in his eyes that said ‘get your ass to work.’ Chase dropped down and started helping. The flooring underneath was worn and rotten and had multiple holes from old popped knots. Bert instinctively stuck his finger through the second one from him, and pulled aside a false door.

It was dark and damp down the hole. They couldn’t see the bottom.

“It’s less than a six-foot drop down,” he said. “Trust me. I remember now. Face towards the fireplace when you drop down, and there’s a tunnel on the right. It goes for twenty-nine paces, then turns left, but be sure to duck, because the ceiling gets lower. Another twenty-four paces and you’ll come to a small room. It should be big enough for all of us to wait.”

“You sure about that pacing, Bert?” Dawson asked. “You were a kid the last time you were down here.”

Bert nodded his head up and down quickly, pointing at Dawson. “Right, right. Kids take smaller steps. Good point. Maybe fewer paces now. Go, quickly. Feel your way through.”

“That’s assuming the entire thing hasn’t caved in since then,” Chase added. Dawson smacked him on the back of the head.

Jake was the first one down the hole. The air was stale, but at least breathable.

“I can feel the tunnel, it’s still clear.”

Maggie went in next, and motioned for Dawson to hand her Veronica.

“Alright, baby,” Dawson whispered into her ear. “We’re going to get you home, but we have to go somewhere else first. It’s just a little adventure, and I want you to be brave for me. OK?”

Veronica sniffled a little.

“I’m going to give you to Maggie now, and I want you to do a favor for me. I want you to close your eyes, and keep them closed until I tell you it’s OK to open them. Can you do that for me?”

Veronica sniffled again, then in a muffled voice said, “Yes.”

Jake started down the right-hand tunnel to make room as Dawson handed Veronica down. She was shaking, but grabbed Maggie firmly as she felt Maggie’s arms close around her. Maggie started humming a soft lullaby to Veronica as she followed Jake. Chase went through next.

“Help your sister,” Dawson said to Chase as he dropped into the tunnel.

“We need to cover our tracks,” Bert said as he slid the bricks around the tunnel opening. He then position the false door partially over the opening as they both slid bricks onto the door.

“Go on,” Bert said. “I can slide this over with the bricks on it once we’re in.”

Dawson gave Bert a questioning look. “You know I never wanted to put you in this position. I was just trying to protect my family.”

“I know all about family, son. You don’t need to explain it to me. Go on now, I’ll be right behind you.”

Dawson dropped into the opening and moved into the tunnel to make room for Bert. Bert dropped in, and as quietly as possible, slid the door laden with bricks over their exit.