The Deepest Red (39 page)

“About earlier,” I begin. Connor cuts me off.

“Don’t say another word. It was nothing.”

My head snaps up.

“Excuse me?” I say, confounded.

“We’re friends and I took advantage of the situation. It won’t happen again,” he says with a firm tone.

“Were we in the same room? I kissed you,” I say as he rolls his eyes.

“You’ve been having a rough couple of weeks…” I don’t allow him to finish.

“Whatever.” I straighten. “If that’s how you want to spin it, so be it,” I respond angrily.

“No, wait. Millie.”

His face is one of confusion. He reaches for me again but I dodge his advance.

“You know, I wasn’t going to say anything but you have some competition,” I say.

He looks at me uncertain before the muscles of his jaw tightens.

“Lonnie?” he spits the name out in a sneer.

“Yeah,” I say not understanding his sudden anger. “During one of my fly ops, I saw Evie and Lonnie kissing.”

“Wait. What?” he replies.

“Evie and Lonnie. They’re together,” I confirm.

Amusement flares in his steel eyes and he relaxes into a comfortable stance.

“Fly ops?” he questions.

“Yeah, you know. You wanted me to practice hiding. I did and by the looks of it you’re going to have to play serious catch up if you want to steal Evie away.”

I spin giving Connor by backside as I walk away. Fury pulses in me.
How does Connor get this kind of reaction out of me?
Behind me a soft chuckle causes my teeth to ground together.

I spend the next few hours walking the perimeter of the fences enjoying my first breath of fresh air in days. I notice all the leaves have fallen from the surrounding trees leaving only the pines to give flashes of green among the bare branches. My mind replays everything I’ve learned in the past week, so many secrets, so many lies. All the details mush together forming one large ball of deceit. I push the anger away letting the ball weigh heavy on my chest. I’m not sure how to continue.
Is it possible to feel years older in a matter of moments?

I find myself back inside the gymnasium ahead of schedule anxious to get the show on the road. When I open the doors to one of the back rooms, I’m not shocked to see Lonnie, Jay, Carter and Daniel already there. I am surprised to see Connor slouching in the corner of the room with arms crossed, and legs spread out.

“Why are you here?” I ask. He crooks an eyebrow.

“What can I say, I’m indispensable.”

He opens his arms wide in a grand gesture. I ignore him and sit beside Jay.

“And here I thought I was early,” I say, quietly. 

On the center table, Lonnie spreads out a delicate map of the red zone surrounding the abandoned town nearby.

“Nah, you’re just in time. Here’s the map that shows the route we’ve taken before.” Lonnie says. He points to a section highlighted. “With the intel Connor and the scouting group has given us, we now know this area is going to be the most dangerous.”

I study the map.

“They didn’t actually travel into Barnesville. Do we know how many infected are there?” I ask.

“No, we don’t.” Daniel says.

His intelligent eyes inspect me, questioning my ability to step foot into the red zone.  His hair is solid black with skin unblemished. I’ve always known Daniel but I never have considered us friends. He’s a little older than Lonnie and Jay but not by much. When the twins used to help train me, he would always leave saying he had better things to do. I always figured I could take him in a fight since he practiced so little.

“This whole mission is a bad idea,” he says.

“Yeah, it is,” Connor agrees from his corner.

I throw him my best shut up expression. The end of his mouth curves slightly.

“Either way, we’re going,” I say.

Our meeting continues as we discuss the best route, when and where to rest and set up camp. We mark off buildings that we know are empty.

“Some of these buildings are destroyed. A bomb hit here.” Lonnie points to a place on the map. “We believe it was meant for Forsyth but was dropped prematurely. So this section is off limits.”

The knob of his throat bobs as he swallows hard.

“How do you know about the bomb?” I ask actually curious.

“I’ve seen it.” Lonnie stares ahead intently, “Do we have a list of things we need?”

“Nah we haven’t been given one but we need medicine. Just like the last times we need to gather non perishables. Liquor, sugar, honey, white vinegar, salt, you know basic stuff,” Jay says, counting items off with his fingers.

“We’ve been scouting Barnesville for years. How do we even know the place still has any of this stuff left?” Carter questions.

Carter, in his late thirties, is a new addition to the scouts having joined about the same time I did. I don’t know why he waited to do so until he was older. I’ve never been the kind of person to pry. He has dirty blond hair, receding in front and has oversized ears. I’ve an urge to ask him about his hearing every time he irritates me but I always stop myself at the last minute.

   “Well, because last year Jay, Daniel and I scouted the whole town and put items we found, that might be useful,  in one central location,” Lonnie says smugly. “Glad we took the time now.”

“Wait, so there is a room somewhere in this town stocked full of supplies,” I say, intrigued.

“Well, I wouldn’t call it a room per say.” Jay remarks.

“Okay, I’m missing something.” Carter says, a little uncomfortable.

“It’s an airplane,” Daniel comments to Carter.

I hear a noise coming from Connor’s corner. He leans closer elbows on his knees completely alert.

“No way,” he says “that’s brilliant.”

Now Lonnie laughs, “It was one of my better ideas.”

“So let me get this straight,” I say, reaching out palms first to quiet them. “There is a plane out in the red zone full of supplies?”

The twins nod at the same time.

“So that’s why it took you so long for y’all to come back last year?” I ask.

“Not just a plane but a crashed plane.” Jay pauses, eyes glittering at my amazed expression. “The crash site is right here.” He points to a place on the map. “It’s a mile before you even get to the city.”

Lonnie joins in with his brother, “It’s the perfect location because no one walking by would go into a partially damage airplane looking for loot.”

“This mission won’t take the whole three weeks then?” I question.

“Nah, but the hike will still take a good bit of time,” Jay states.

“We scavenged so much it would take multiple trips to bring all of the stuff back home,” Lonnie says as he watches Connor draw nearer to the table.

“We’re bringing extra bags to fill with supplies right?” I ask.

“Yeah, we were wanting to bring a cart of some kind but with the infected I’m afraid we’ll make too much noise.”

Connor studies the map, his finger tracing the lines of roads long swallowed up by the red zone.

“I don’t like this,” he says toward Lonnie. “Are these supplies worth the risk? This place grows it’s own food and you ration supplies. You know how hard it was for me to get a little extra food for Chevy?”

Lonnie narrows his eyes.

“I’m sure it wasn’t too hard,” Lonnie replies sharply.

Connor ignores his comment to address me.

“You have trained well enough you can handle this mission but if you get into trouble I want you to run. Run fast and don’t stop.”

I stare into his serious expression.

“I can do that,” I reply.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The next morning we leave as the sun breaks through the horizon. Anticipation, fear, and determination mix together inside me as I glance behind to the fences. A light fog envelopes the prison and the surrounding fields but I can still see Connor. He stands inside the fence, fingers laced with the cold metal. He watches as I go, his face the perfect example of concern and worry. I offer a slight smile and wave. He doesn’t respond.

I feel guilty for leaving Connor behind, even more so knowing that I should’ve spoken with my father one last time. However, no matter how many times I walked past the library, I couldn’t bring myself to open the doors. I stare straight ahead wanting to block out everything of the last few days and focus on the red zone.

“Alright everybody look alive. This is the real thing,” Lonnie says.

He leads the group into Zebulon’s town square. We stay alert, searching each broken street.

“Before we get started we’re going to pick up another person,” Lonnie announces to the group. “Carter, you’re the only one that doesn’t know about Bryan. He’s a friend that lives inside the church just a block over. I ask you to keep him a secret until he decides he wants to join the prison.” Lonnie holds Carter’s gaze. “For me. Please.”

Carter nods and we continue on our way. When we reach the old church, I realize Bryan has been busy. He has constructed a wall made out of tree trunks and branches. The border stands about five feet high and wraps around the property. I walk over and peer inside. Raised garden beds lay in rows with blue tarps securely fastened over the plants.

“Are you sure he doesn’t want to live with the community?” I ask Lonnie as a grin surfaces on his face.

“Hey Bryan,” Lonnie shouts.

I flinch at his raised voice recalling Connor’s comments of drawing the infected to us. I scowl as the crackling sound of leaves and snapped branches catches all of our attentions.

“Hello there prodigal son.” Bryan steps out of the trees smiling brightly.

“Did you miss me?” Lonnie asks.

They reach out shaking each others hand.

“Just a little,” Bryan says and steps back taking notice of all of his visitors. “Glad to see you back, Millie.” He eyes scan from me toward Lonnie’s twin. “Jay.” He nods in greeting.

“Do you remember Daniel?” Lonnie pauses then adds, “and this is Carter.”

Bryan greets them both.

“You must want me to meet everyone in your community. Not going to work Lonnie boy, I’m staying put.”

“You’ve done a great job on the fence,” I say, placing a hand on a bark covered branch nailed into place.

“Thanks. I found a bucket of nails in a home down the street that hasn’t been marked scavenged yet,” Bryan remarks, motioning North.

The chilled wind sweeps past us causing him to cross his arms for warmth. He peers back to Lonnie.

“I bet it will snow in a few weeks but I’m sure you already knew that,” Bryan says. He holds his head at a curious angle. “So what can I do for ya?” He asks, shifting behind a tree to block the oncoming wind. “If you want to know about the infected, I killed some the other day about two miles south. I don’t think it will be long til you see one at your prison.”

Bryan raises his hand to scratch the new growth of a beard.

“I came by to ask if you want to come with us on a supply run. Every man counts and you need to gather more supplies for winter.” Lonnie pauses, “Last year we did a sweep of Barnesville and gathered most of the remaining supplies into one central location,” he says as he pulls the bill of his worn baseball cap down further over his eyes. A breeze lifts strands of his wavy blond hair as he waits for Bryan’s answer.

“When do you leave?” Bryan asks.

“Now.” Lonnie replies.