No Ordinary Mission: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller Page 6

  They rounded a bend in the gravel drive and a faded mobile home with once-white siding sagged on a foundation of concrete blocks. A barn listed dangerously to the right beside it and Emma slowed. “I don’t think this place has seen any activity in years.”

  “Let’s check to make sure before we write it off. Vince said the guy who lives here might trade supplies.” Gloria strode forward, folding the map and shoving it into her back pocket before nearing the door. A heavy curtain of cobwebs obscured the entry and Emma plucked a long stick off the ground to clear them away.

  Gloria knocked and the dull echo of her knuckles on the hollow door was the only sound. “Hello? Hello, is anyone in there?” She sidled over to the closest window and used her palm to attempt to clean the glass. Dirt smeared in a circle. “We could break in. There might be something worthwhile inside.”

  “I don’t see how. From the spiders and the grime, I can’t see anything of value sitting around inside. Whoever left this place didn’t intend to come back.” Emma turned toward the barn. “We could check in there for fencing.”

  Gloria grimaced. “I’ll shine a flashlight, but there’s no way I’m stepping in there without a broom. She pulled one of the flashlights from their stash out of her pocket and shined it at the barn. The light reflected off a kaleidoscope of webs, illuminating nothing but a bare dirt floor. “I think it’s a bust.”

  She pulled the map from her pocket and crossed the neighbor off the list. “Next up is Mary Grace. Vince said she won’t be friendly.”

  “Great.” Emma tried to keep a positive attitude as they pressed on past the abandoned property. Half a mile down the unpaved road, they came upon the second property. It showed more promise, with a swept front porch and recently cleaned windows. Emma knocked on the door.

  “Did you hear that?” Gloria hurried over to a window and cupped her hands around her eyes to get a better view. “I think someone is in there.”

  Emma knocked again. “Hello? Mary Grace, are you in there? We live just down the road with Vincent. We were coming to see if you had any gas or supplies to build a fence that you might be willing to trade. Hello?”

  Shuffling sounds emanated through the door and Emma stepped back in anticipation.

  “I don’t know no Vincent. The voice sounded older. Emma guessed a woman in her seventies or eighties. “Get the heck off my property before I have to clean up your guts.” The last word warbled, and Emma stepped back.

  “We didn’t mean any harm. Just trying to find a friendly neighbor.”

  “Well, I’m not it, so you best keep looking.”

  “Let’s go. No sense in making anyone uncomfortable.” Gloria turned toward the road and lowered her voice. “Or getting shot.”

  They headed toward the other two properties, crossing the dirt road leading to Vince’s cabin and on toward the north.

  As they walked, Emma turned over John’s admission about calling Dane and his request for silence. He’d asked only for the night and holding out any longer didn’t sit well with Emma. She turned to Gloria. “So last night.”

  Gloria eyed her with a spark of interest. “I saw you follow John into the woods. Any juicy gossip to share?”

  “Nothing like that.” Emma tried to contain the blush creeping up her throat. “While we were occupied, John took the satellite phone and called Dane.”

  Gloria stopped in alarm. “He what?”

  “He claimed he was fishing for information to see if Dane knew our location and if he planned to send anyone after us.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  “I want to.” That was the truth. Emma wanted to believe John more than anything. “Can you help me keep an eye on him? Something about it all… It doesn’t seem right.”

  “Of course.” Gloria reached out and gave Emma’s arm a squeeze. “If he does or says anything suspicious, you’ll be the first to know.”

  Emma smiled in appreciation. Gloria had always been a solid friend.

  The old RV came into view and Emma and Gloria stopped on the road. “Doesn’t seem worth it, does it?”

  From the looks of the rusted-out heap, it was as abandoned as the first shack across the way. They passed the vehicle by and walked on toward the fourth and final neighbor. It had taken them hours to search the properties and frustration began to cloud Emma’s thoughts. Five miles of walking and nothing to show for it. Not how she’d hoped to spend the day.

  As the final place Vince mapped out came into view, Emma mustered up a small bit of hope. A sizable home perched on the edge of a gravel drive with a barn a few hundred feet to the right.

  “Maybe we’ll get lucky.” Gloria approached the front door and knocked. No answer. She tried again. “I was really hoping someone would be home.” She turned to look at the barn, tapping Emma a moment later to catch her attention. “Do you think that vehicle stays here year-round? Or are we right to have our hopes up?”

  Emma squinted. A pickup truck, too new to be rusted to the spot, sat inside the barn. “Only one way to find out.”

  Gloria headed straight for it, calling out their presence as she ducked inside. A moment later she stumbled out, face contorted in a grimace. She rushed to the weeds and heaved.

  “Are you okay?” Emma rushed forward.

  Gloria pointed as she heaved again, vomiting the remains of breakfast onto the ground. “Emma!”

  Emma plucked the handgun from her waistband and eased into the barn. She stumbled to a stop just inside the line of shade. A body sprawled across the dirt floor, skin ashen, milky eyes open and vacant. Emma recoiled at the stench, pulling her T-shirt up over her nose. “Judging by the smell, my guess is he’s been dead a good long while.”

  She toed the dead man as Gloria stepped back inside. Something crawled out of his mouth.

  “Are those maggots?”

  Emma’s stomach twisted and she stepped away. “If so, he’s been dead for a week at least, right?”

  “That would be my guess.” Gloria held her arm over her nose and mouth as she swirled to take in the contents of the barn. “Look over there.” She pointed into the dark interior. “Looks like he was trying to start that mower.”

  A gas-powered push mower stood in the middle of the barn, with a portable gas tank beside it.

  Emma thought it over. “Maybe he had a heart attack.”

  “Or a stroke. He’s not young.”

  Emma frowned. “We can’t leave him like this.” They’d left other dead bodies for the wild animals to scavenge, but not one of an innocent old man who deserved a little more grace. “Let’s search the property, make sure it’s empty, and then we can bury him.”

  They made quick work of clearing the property, searching the sizable house and barn, before giving a quick once-over to the grounds. There were plenty of things available to use. Plenty they needed. Emma shoved the thoughts aside as she helped Gloria find a pair of shovels in the dark recesses of the barn.

  They worked slowly and methodically, digging a shallow grave in a scenic spot behind the house overlooking a small valley of wildflowers. Together, they rolled the man onto a tarp and dragged him to the backyard. After saying a few words, they buried him.

  By the time they finished, Emma’s shirt clung to her back and her arms ached from the effort. She eased down to sit beside the grave and let the sweat dry across her forehead. “I feel guilty rooting through his house. Like we should leave it all and walk away.”

  “So do I, but there’s no one else here and you saw that pantry. There’s so much to go to waste.”

  “What if his family comes? What if they show up and his house is ransacked with nothing left?”

  Gloria stared at the mounded dirt for a while, not answering. At last, she looked up, brown eyes full of sadness. “I think we inventory what’s here. Take what we can carry and come back with a vehicle for the rest. We don’t have to take the house apart or move in like a group of squatters. We can just take what we need.”

  “I still don’t like it.”

  “Neither do I, but we need to get used to it, I’m afraid.” Gloria held out her hand and Emma grabbed it before hoisting herself up.

  They worked their way through the house, staging food and tools in the dining room and kitchen before heading out to check for building materials and supplies in the barn. As they canvassed the rear of the property, they passed a small, fenced-in area. A handful of chickens rushed the gate as they approached.

  “They’ve got to be starving. There’s no grass or weeds in there at all.”

  “We can’t take them on foot. We’ll have to leave them and come back.”

  “They can’t stay there, hungry and trapped.”

  As they stood at the gate, debating what to do, a sound like a child crying startled them both. Emma turned as a pair of little goats trundled through the trees straight for her. One head-butted her in the shins, and she gave a shout of unexpected pain.

  Gloria bent to give the little animal a scratch behind the ear. “Let’s search the barn for some feed. We can dump some out and leave the gate open and hope they’ll all still be here when we get back with the trailer.” She opened the gate and three of the hens rushed out, clucking and pecking at the ground around their feet.

  Emma hurried to the barn and searched the supplies until she found half-empty bags of feed. One had a hole in the bottom where enterprising wild animals had already had a feast. She hoisted a bag in each arm and hauled them back to the eager animals. The same little goat jumped up, scrabbling against her leg as she dumped the bag on the ground. The chickens rushed forward, heads bobbing, claws scratching as they pecked at the food.

  She turned to Gloria. “Let’s get back in a hurry. I don’t want to lose them to the forest.” They half-jogged back toward Vince’s property and Emma let go of the guilt of stealing the dead man’s food and supplies. They would be caring for his animals as well, keeping them safe, and helping themselves to eggs and milk. It was a win-win. They just had to hope the little critters would still be there when they returned.

  It didn’t take long to retrace their steps. As Emma hurried toward the cabin, the familiar sound of a vehicle bounding over the rutted road made her turn.

  Chapter Eleven

  HOLLY

  Holly spotted Emma and Gloria through the trees and pointed. “Looks like they’re back already!”

  Vince squinted through the windshield. “Don’t see a lot to show for it.” He shook his head. “Told them the neighbors would be a waste of time.” He honked the horn twice in greeting as he pulled to a stop beside them.

  Emma waved as Holly buzzed the window down. “Any luck?”

  “Sort of?” Holly glanced back at Vince before continuing. “We traded two bottles of scotch for a tank of gas, but that’s it.”

  “My best scotch, mind you.” Vince eased the SUV forward and parked in the clearing. Emma and Gloria continued down the drive and met them outside of the cabin.

  “Did y’all find anything? Any neighbors willing to trade?”

  Emma filled them in on the day’s adventure and the food and animals waiting back at the homestead. Holly felt for the dead man, but all she could think about were the goats and the chickens and how they needed help.

  Vince nodded at Emma’s description of the place. “That’s Hawkins. If I remember right, he had a heart attack before. Doctor told him to lay off the manual labor. I offered to help a few months back last time I was here, but he practically threw me out. Something about his pride.”

  Holly picked at a nail as she thought over the options. “Can we use the trailer for the animals? Take it and round up the goats and chickens?”

  Vince frowned at the darkening sky. “We’ll need to hurry if we want to be done before this storm rolls in.” He glanced around him. “And there’s nowhere to keep them penned in until they get used to the area.”

  She ripped off a tattered strip of index fingernail. The thought of leaving a gaggle of stranded animals alone with coyotes and little food bothered her. “Isn’t there anything we could use? Something temporary?” She waited as Vince pulled off his hat and ran a hand over his matted hair. His eyes unfocused as he thought it over.

  At last, he snugged the hat back down and adjusted the brim. “I’ve got a few rolls of twine in the shed. Maybe we could use some trees as posts and wrap it around them like rails. It wouldn’t keep the goats in, but it might give them an idea of where they’re supposed to stay. “

  “Hawkins had a few bags of unopened feed,” Gloria offered. “Combined with the twine, they might decide to stick around.”

  Holly brightened. “We could use some branches, too, lean them up against the twine to give more of a barrier.”

  Vince nodded. “There are quite a few fallen trees in the area. If I can convince Raymond to help, we might be able to install some makeshift fence posts. Maybe find something that jangles to string up. It’d alert us to a coyote sneaking in.”

  “Or anyone else,” Emma added.

  “Are you three all right handling the animals on your own? You’ll have to drive the long way around instead of cutting through the property, but it’s easier to navigate in a vehicle. If we need to dig a post hole and fell a tree or two, I’ll need Raymond’s help.”

  “I’ll convince him.” Gloria headed for the cabin and disappeared inside.

  It took all of Holly’s self-control to wait for Gloria. The prospect of finding a collection of animals, especially chickens, filled her with excitement. Ever since her preschool adopted two from a farmer who had more than he could handle, she’d loved the plucky birds. She’d tried to convince her father to build a coop in the backyard, but he had turned her down, encouraging her to volunteer at the preschool instead. Once she was old enough to bike there on her own, she’d taken on duties during holidays and breaks, checking on the two speckled hens and cleaning their coop, and collecting eggs.

  She tugged on another ragged nail. In all likelihood, her two feathered friends had been served up on someone’s dinner table.

  “It’s all set.” Gloria hurried across the clearing, stopping in front of Holly and Emma. “Raymond will stay and help Vince with the fence. We can round up the animals. Once they’re secure and the storm passes, we can go back for the food.”

  “If you back up the Explorer, I’ll hook up the trailer,” Vince offered.

  Gloria shook her head. “We talked it over. It’ll waste too much fuel. We’ll just pile all the animals into the back and cross our fingers that they don’t turn it into a rolling barn before we make it back.”

  Without another word, the women piled into the Explorer and took off, Gloria driving and Emma helping navigate. They made it to the property in a matter of minutes. As soon as Holly opened the door, a pair of pygmy goats trundled out of the shade, bleating and complaining.

  Holly rushed toward them, kneeling between them as they rubbed their fuzzy heads against her hands. The smaller one, with ruddy fur and a white blaze across its chest, half-climbed onto her lap as she knelt. A laugh bubbled up her throat. “Whoa, slow down there.” She looked up at Gloria and Emma. “You didn’t tell me they were so cute!”

  “We didn’t spend a whole lot of time getting to know them.” Emma glanced in Gloria’s direction. “We had other things to do.”

  Holly raised an eyebrow, but Emma didn’t volunteer any more information and Holly let it go. The little goat nuzzled her hand until she scratched it behind her ear. She eased down to the ground and let the two little animals get to know her while Gloria and Emma disappeared inside the barn. They came back a minute later, carrying a bag of feed between them.

  “We can bring a bag for the goats and a bag for the chickens. That and the animals are about all we can fit in this trip. We’ll come back for the rest tomorrow.” Wind lifted her hair and she shoved it away from her face. “When it isn’t about to storm.”

  Holly stood and coaxed the two little goats into the Explorer, tempting them with a bit of leaves torn from a nearby tree. They hopped in, one after the other and she laughed as they immediately set to inspecting the new surroundings, climbing halfway up the rear seat and peering over the upholstery.

  “There’s only one chicken in the pen!” Emma called out. “Anyone see the others?”

  Holly shut the rear door of the vehicle, promising the goats she would return, and hurried to help. A fluffy white and black speckled bird with feathers dotting her feet pecked the ground around Emma. Holly clucked at her, trying to convince the bird to follow as a loud crow startled everyone. Holly spun to find a rooster parading out of the tree line, warm brown chest feathers puffed out, wings half-open.

  “Easy now, mister.” She lowered down into a crouch and held out her hands, palms up. “I’m not hurting your flock. I just need to find your lovely ladies so we can take y’all somewhere safe.”

  He bobbed his head and crowed again, but it didn’t carry the same edge.

  “I know you’re not big on change, but you can’t stay here. You need food and shelter and someone to look after you. The rooster cocked his head at her as she stood up and Holly smiled. “That’s a good boy.” She headed away from the empty pen and toward the edge of the forest and the rooster followed, bobbing his head and crowing as she called for the other chickens. It didn’t take long to find the gaggle of birds, all clustered together under the shade of an oak. They pecked the ground, intermittently squawking and complaining as they routed out tasty bugs.

  “How did you know where to look?” Emma stopped beside her, head on a swivel as she stared down at the birds.

  “Chickens like to forage, and the trees give them cover from hawks. Besides, it’s about to rain. They don’t like to be out in a storm.”

  Gloria bounded toward them, arms wrapped around a bucket clutched to her chest. “I put a pile of chicken feed in here, figured we might need it as a lure.”

  Holly grabbed a handful and clucked at the chickens again, coaxing them out of the forest and toward the waiting Explorer. Emma dragged a weathered board over and fashioned it like a ramp and together she and Gloria managed to keep the goats from jumping out while Holly convinced the birds to join them. It took longer than she expected, with one bird walking halfway up the ramp before changing her mind and jumping off. Then another and another.