Home: A Stranded Novel (5 page)

David leaned in and kissed Emily on the forehead before turning to his friends.

“My father was a soldier. He told me once that he joined the military because he wanted to do the right thing and help others. What he saw and what he did…it broke him. He couldn’t handle what came after. The memories never left him and they destroyed him. I, I don’t want that to happen to me or to any of us. I don’t want us to be broken.”

No one in the group could reply to that. They already felt the effects of their actions and knew it would only get worse as they fought and killed to free the town. The silence was heavy until Josh lifted his head and spoke.

“I’ll take that chance.” Everyone looked at him. “I will take that chance to make sure my mother and my sister are not broken. If they are safe then whatever happens to me will be worth it.”

Alex started to nod and she looked at David.

“It’s worth it.”

Emily squeezed David’s hand.

“It’s worth it.”

One by one they all voiced their commitment to doing whatever it took to free their loved ones. David looked at all his childhood friends and the two new ones who had joined them. He thought about his
dad and wondered if he had thought it had been worth it. Then he thought about his mom and his little sister, Emma. He pictured them scared and cowering in a corner while they were being threatened by the men who were controlling the town. He felt his heart harden and he realized he
would
do anything to protect them. He looked around and met the eyes of everyone in his group. He nodded his head.

“
It’s worth it.”

Alex looked around the forest and closed her eyes and breathed deeply. The spring smell of new growth was sweet and she had never felt so close to her home. She had spent so many years playing in this area that she felt like she knew every tree and bush. She opened her eyes and shot a grin of delight at her best friend. Emily smiled back knowing exactly what Alex was feeling. They had spent so much time running through this area as kids and later as teens. It would be easy to forget what was happening in the fields ahead. They had left the bikes further back as the trail thinned out and walked the rest of the way. David was supposed to scout out the area with Alex but the two girls had decided to go together. They had always been a team and after such a long time apart, they couldn’t bear to be separated again.

The trail widened ahead and they both slowed and crouched down. The clearing ahead was very well known to the two girls
. After carefully checking to make sure it was empty, they scanned upwards into the trees. On the other side of the clearing, they could make out the faint outline of a homemade ladder nailed into one of the biggest trees. The watched for a few minutes and listened for any sound coming from above. When they detected nothing out of place, they moved forward and climbed the ladder up into their tree house. As soon as they entered it, they knew someone had been there. In one corner there was a tarp and it was covering something that didn’t belong in the tree house. Alex held up a hand to Emily and motioned with her hand that she was going back out the door to circle around the balcony. Emily nodded and went to one of the two windows as lookout and held her rifle ready. Alex slipped back out the door and made her way around the house peering over the half railing they had completed last summer.

The tree house had gone through many transformations as they had grown up. It had started with a sloppy lean to against the trunk to gradually raising higher and higher with their ages and capabilities. The latest version was started the summer they were fourteen and involved many ladders and much hauling of wood planks. They had used a pulley system to get the boards up into the thick branches and had built the floor out into a twelve foot platform before building the walls up and around the branches. Last summer they had added a narrow balcony all the way around the house and erected the half railing for safety.
Alex and her friends had worked hard to create the tree house and she remembered how proud they had been when they invited their families out into the woods to see the completed project. She felt a pang of longing when she remembered her and Josh’s dad climbing all over it as he inspected every board to make sure it was secure, while Quinn’s grandfather had stood on the forest floor nodding his head in approval. The few tweaks his father had suggested had made the roof waterproof and they had a mini celebration picnic.

Alex completed the inspection around the balcony and didn’t find anything else out of place so she entered the house and the girls moved over to the tarp to see what was under it. Pulling the tarp aside
, they saw two plastic bins and two garbage bags that had been tied off. Opening the two bins they were confused to find all of their camping gear. Alex recognized items that belonged to Quinn and Josh as well as gear that she used. The garbage bags also held their sleeping bags and two tents. Emily leaned back and frowned thoughtfully.

“It had to be one of our
fathers that put this stuff here but why? They knew we wouldn’t be using it so why bring it out here?”

Alex stared at the bins for a moment before reaching in an
d pulling gear out. When she got half of it emptied, she found food and water. Nodding her head she looked at Emily with a frown.

“It’s a fallback point. They cached this stuff in case they had to leave the houses. They used our stuff because they didn’t know if we would be back and they were using their gear at home. I just can’t believe that none of our families got away!”

They quickly repacked the bins and covered them back up with the tarp. They had all they needed back at their campsite and they wanted to leave the supplies here in case someone from their families managed to get away and needed it. Alex contemplated leaving a note in the bin but decided it would be too much of a risk if someone else found it.

“Let’s have something to eat before we go any further. We could be stuck in place for a while depending on what we
find.”

Emily nodded and pulled out a couple of granola bars and some beef jerky before settling on one of the camp chairs that she took down from the w
all. Alex studied her friend while they ate. It was so good to have Emily back but she could tell that her friend was different. She was more quiet and watchful and there was a ghost of sadness that came and went from her eyes. The biggest change though was Emily and David being together.

“
Soooooo…David?” Alex asked in a teasing tone.

Emily’s cheeks turned pink and a soft smile came across her face.

“I was so blind, Alex. David was such a rock for me through the journey home. I don’t know why I didn’t see him like that before. I was just so caught up in Mason that it didn’t even come to mind. It took so many horrible things happening for me to finally see what was right in front of me all along.”

“Well
, I’m happy you finally realized he is the one for you! I’m so happy you’re here, Em,” Alex said.

Emily nodded, “I owe you an apology, Alex. I never should have left you guys in California. I can’t even tell you how many times I was sure I would never see y
ou again. I’m happy we’re together again but I just can’t wrap my head around what’s happening here. I mean, how did these guys take over the town so easily? Are they really going to hold our families and everyone else hostage for the long term? I just can’t see that lasting. How are they going to feed everyone and keep them under control? I just don’t get it!”

Alex turned her head and looked through the forest in the direction of the fields. “We don’t know a whole lot of what’s going on but we know they are using a lot of them for labour to work the farms.
Hopefully by the end of the day we will have a better idea of what’s happening. We’re only guessing that they are planting Quinn’s, Josh’s, and our farms because they’re the biggest in the area. We need information and that’s what we’re doing today.” Alex faced Emily again and a hard look came over her face before continuing. “Listen, we need to be prepared for what we might see. We have no idea what kind of condition our families are in or how they are being treated. We have to stay strong and not do anything stupid. No matter what we see, we can’t go charging in. We have to stay hidden if we have any chance of making a plan to free everyone. No matter what we see today, we have to stay quiet and just watch. Can you do that?”

Emily swallowed hard before nodding. “Do you really think we can save everyone
, Alex?”

It took a minute before she answered and when she did her voice was quiet and full of concern.

“I don’t know but I won’t give up until we do or I die.” Alex made a fist and looked at it thoughtfully before standing up. “Come on, let’s go.”

Emily quickly closed the
backpack and slung it over her shoulder before grabbing her rifle and following her best friend down the ladder. They made quick time through the rest of the trees and when they were close enough to see the first field, they started to take cover and crawled to the edge of the trees.

Quinn’s grandparents
’ farm was straight ahead of them and Alex could see the roof of the barn in the distance. There wasn’t anyone near them so they rose and skirted the field, staying just in the tree line for cover. Just as they were coming inline to the barn, a shot rang out and both girls flattened to the ground. Alex met Emily’s wide-eyed stare and gave a quick shake of her head. She didn’t think they’d been spotted and the shot had come from the vicinity of the barn which was still a full field ahead of them. They stayed down a few minutes just in case and two more shots rang out.

“What are they shooting at?”
hissed Emily in frustration.

Alex scanned the closest trees around them and reached for the
backpack that Emily had dropped. She pulled out a pair of binoculars and pointed at a thick tree and motioned at herself and then up. Emily nodded in agreement but her heart was pounding in fear for her friend.

Alex stayed in a crouch as she went to the tree she had pointed at. Putting the tree between herself and the barn
, she put the binoculars strap over her head and tucked the glasses in to her shirt so they wouldn’t bang against the trunk of the tree as she climbed. Scanning the branches above her, she found the one she wanted, and using a knot on the trunk, launched herself up to the lowest branch. Alex had been climbing trees all her life and with her gymnastic conditioning it was no effort to haul herself from branch to branch until she was twenty feet up. She freed the glasses and brought them to her eyes and focused them on the barnyard. It took a few moments for her brain to catch up with her eyes and with all the uncertainty and fear she felt over the well-being of her family, the scene through the glasses made her stomach lurch from horror. The blood she was seeing was from three steers that were being butchered, not slaughtered. Alex watched as groups of four men hauled ropes attached to the carcasses to get them hanging. Once she got her emotions under control she started to scan each face she could make out and her heart leapt with joy at the broad shoulders she recognized. When the man turned in her direction she felt tears well up at the face of Harry Dennison, Quinn’s grandfather.

She had to lower the glasses for a minute to clear her eyes. That man meant so much to her. For as long as she could remember he had been in her life. He was the kindest man and so many times she would sit on his fence and chatter away a mile a minute and he would just patiently listen to all she had to say.
She reached up and tugged at one of her red gold curls, something he had done ever since she had wandered over to his fence the first time when she was five. Alex wiped away her tears and looked down at Emily’s upturned face. She gave a reassuring smile and a thumb up which eased her anxious expression before training the glasses back towards the farm.

There were a lot of people working around the farm. There
was a huge area around the barnyard that had been cleared and tilled and at this distance, Alex guessed that they had planted garden crops. It was also easy to tell the guards from the workers because they all held some sort of long gun. After scanning the entire area she was surprised to only count six guards. Taking another look around she tried not to focus on the workers’ faces but it was hard not to look at each one to see if there was anyone else she recognized. After another careful count, she came up with over sixty townspeople on the farm and still only six guards. After thinking about that for a minute, she realized that they didn’t need more guards while the families of all these people were being held hostage. No one would cause any trouble if their children were being threatened.

Alex looked out into the far fields to see if there were any others working further out but didn’t see anyone. Deciding that she had seen all she needed to on this first scout
, she couldn’t help but bring the glasses back to the barnyard to have one more look at Quinn’s grandfather before moving on. Her breath caught in a gasp when she focused on him and he seemed to be looking right at her. She knew that he couldn’t see her from so far away so she just watched him for a minute and was confused when he slowly brought his hand up and pointed in her direction and then ran his finger over his throat in a cutting motion. What was he doing? Why would he make that gesture? She scanned the men around him to see if anyone had noticed what he was doing but the two guards were watching the men wrestle with the beef carcasses. When she trained the glasses back on Mr. Dennison, he was still looking in her direction and with his body blocking the guard’s sight was using his hand in a shooing manner.

Alex lowered the glasses and leaned back against the tree in confusion. There was no way he could see her from that distance so what was the meaning of his actions. Without using the glasses she looked back out at the fields and had to shade her eyes from the sun’s bright glare. She squinted into the distance before her eyes widened in reali
zation. Before the thought had fully formed in her head she was wiggling down the tree. She dropped down beside a surprised Emily and grabbed her backpack and quickly shouldered it.

“We have to go! Mr. Dennison saw me. I don’t think anyone else did but I don’t think we should take that chance.”

Emily looked at her doubtfully. “Alex, there is no way anyone could have seen you from that far, calm down!”

Alex shook her head and held up the binoculars. “No
t me, these! The sun is shining right at us. Every time I moved the glasses around, there would have been a flash. If I hadn’t had some of the tree for cover, it would have been as clear as a signal flash! What a stupid mistake!”

Emily grabbed the glasses from her and ran to the edge of the tree line. She carefully shaded them with one hand and looked towards the farm. After a few anxious minutes
, she turned and came back.

“Ok
ay, no one is headed in this direction but I agree we should move on just in case. What did you see up there? Did you see anyone we know?”