Home: A Stranded Novel (7 page)

The girls moved away from the area, quickly putting distance between them and the men working in the woods before circling around and heading north again. Even though they had the information that they needed, they still wanted to take a look at Emily’s home. It was close to noon so they settled down for a break in a clearing and they pulled out the lunch they had brought with them. Alex picked at the peanut butter and jam bun sandwich as she thought about her dad. After five minutes of silence, Emily broke into her gloomy thoughts.

“I’m sorry about your
dad. If it was my father, I would do the same thing but we really need to talk about this. If you get caught, it might blow our chances of freeing everyone,” she said softly.

“I won’t get caught, just like you wouldn’t get caught if you had to sneak around your place. This is our home turf
, Em. Nobody knows our farms like we do. I could probably sneak into my house without getting caught!” At Emily’s startled expression, Alex laughed. “Don’t worry. I won’t be going anywhere near the house. The barn is between the house and the fields so they won’t have a line of sight on me. Then I will climb the hay bale elevator up into the loft and I’m in. Piece of cake!”

Emily was still frowning. “We’ll see what everyone else thinks when we get back to base
, I guess.”

Alex’s face took on a set expression. “I’m not going back to base. We’ll scout out your place and then I need to go and get some supplies for Dr. Mack. You shouldn’t have any problems getting back to the bikes. Just leave mine and I will be back later.”

“What!? Alex, there is no way you are doing this by yourself! Forget it! Besides, where are you going to get the medicine your dad needs? You have to come back with me and then we will all make a plan!”

“Not going to happen. Don’t bother fighting me on this
, Em. I’m going alone. If for some unlikely reason I get caught, then I need the rest of you guys to keep working on a plan to free us. I’m not risking anyone else. It’s my dad who needs help, so I’m the one who’s going to do it. Besides, I really don’t think I’ll get caught.”

Emily threw up her hands and growled in frustration. She knew how stubborn her best friend was and there was no use
in arguing with her right now. She also knew that there were many hours before it got dark and she could be back with help before Alex made her move.

“So where do you plan on getting these supplies? Last time I checked the Shoppers Drug Mart was closed.”

Alex smiled with relief that Emily wasn’t going to keep arguing with her. She also felt bad about the half lie she was about to tell but she had made a promise and she was going to keep it.

“Mrs. Moore’s house is only one more road over and just to the west. She told me she has some supplies stashed away if we needed them. After we check on your place
, we’ll come back here and split up. I’ll get what I need and then make my way back here and hang out in the trees until dark. I don’t plan on staying very long in the barn so I should make it back to base by ten o’clock.”

Emily looked away and took another bite from her lunch. She understood where Alex was coming from. If it was her father
who was hurt, she would do whatever it took to help him, but she liked to think that she would ask her friends for help. It was just like Alex to not want to put her friends in jeopardy. Emily finished her sandwich and took a long drink from her water bottle before changing the subject.

“So where do you think the best place to cross the field is?”

Alex packed her water bottle away before answering. “I’ve been thinking about that. Do you remember last year when we played paint ball wars? We used that shallow gully along the fence in the north pasture to get to the tree line. We will still have to crouch down and the bottom will probably still be wet but I think that’s the best bet to get across unseen. After that, it gets tricky. It’s all open pasture on your land except for that one copse of trees on the northwest side. We will have no cover at all as we cross the fields. What do you think?”

Emily looked in the direction of her land and thought about it. “We won’t get a very good look from those trees. They are too far away. If we go south at your property line
, we can come up behind the cattle shelter and use that for cover. It’s not much but with the glasses, we can get a good look at the yard and outbuildings. We’re just going to have to play it by ear. We don’t know where they are working and we will have to watch our backs in case anyone is on the east side of your place. Let’s just see what’s what when we get closer.”

Alex stood up and slung her pack over her back before adjusting the sling on her rifle so that it wouldn’t get in the way while she was moving. They set off through the trees heading back towards the distant fields. Alex thought about the farms that they knew were being used. If she had to guess she would say that Josh’s family farm was the fourth one being occupied. Quinn’s and her farms were mainly crop farms with small amounts of livestock. Emily’s farm had some crops but they had a lot of poultry and horses. It made sense that Josh’s family farm would be the fourth because they had the most cattle in the area. They also had a
sizable herd of pigs. If the bad guys hadn’t moved in and taken over, those four farms with the other smaller spreads wouldn’t have had a problem supporting the local population. There was no shortage of food in this area and it made Alex furious that the workers were half-starved.

It didn’t take the girls long to see the break in the trees ahead of them and Alex shimmied up a tree to look ahead and get their bearings. They had moved far enough away from her
barnyard that there was no one in sight. Searching the fields ahead of her, she finally saw that they had to backtrack a bit to get to the area they wanted to cross over. She made her way back down the tree and landed lightly on her feet. Her muscles felt good and limber from all the walking they had done and it was a nice feeling after spending so long without exercise.

“We over
shot it so let’s move up to the tree line and head back a bit,” she explained to Emily.

They stayed just inside the trees and moved more cautiously until they saw the fence and gully ahead of them. Alex passed the binoculars to Emily and she scanned the area around where they would be leaving the trees. She passed them back to Alex with a nod and after they were put away
, they stepped out into the field. The girls ran in a low crouch until they reached the gully and scrambled down into it. Alex’s boots landed in a few inches of water that was left from the melt-off. Keeping their heads down, the girls headed east. They traveled silently with their ears alert for any other human sounds for fifteen minutes. Their backs started to ache from their hunched over postures so when they came to a fairly dry area, they stopped to rest.

Emily leaned against the steep side of the gully and carefully used the glasses to scan back towards Alex’s place before turning them towards her own. While she did that, Alex dropped to her knees and went into a few yoga maneuvers to stretch away t
he tension in her back. When Emily was satisfied that they were clear, she turned away and had to slap her hand over her mouth to muffle her bark of laughter. Alex had her hands and feet on the ground with her butt sticking straight up into the air. Emily watched her complete the move with amusement sparkling in her eyes.

When Alex straightened up and saw Emily’s expression she raised her eyebrows.

“What’s so funny?”

Emily’s grin widened.
“Just thinking about last year. If Josh had come across you like that you would have green neon paint splattered all over your butt and a heck of a bruise. You wouldn’t have been able to sit for days!” she laughed.

Alex started to giggle. “That bugger always tried for a butt shot! He didn’t think it was so funny when we ambushed him from behind and coated his rear with pink neon. I though
t Quinn was going to pee himself laughing when Josh limped out of the trees and turned around to show him!”

They were lost in the happy memory when a distant gunshot cut off their laughter and had them dropping flat to the ground. All joy left them when the hard reality came crashing back that it wouldn’t be paint balls headed their way if they got caught.

After a tense minute with no more shots, Alex grabbed the glasses and peaked over the edge. The shot had come from far away and when she couldn’t see anyone in range they moved on. They stayed silent for the rest of the way and when they came to the end of the gully they cautiously looked around before leaving its protection. This was the scariest part so far. They were surrounded by open fields with no cover except for calf-high grass. There was no choice but to move out into the open so they just ran until they came to the fence that separated the two properties.

Diving down next to it
, the two friends just lay still, and let their heartbeats slow down as they got their breath back. Before long they were moving again as they followed the fence line. It was ten minutes later that Emily came to a stop and motioned for Alex to hand over the glasses. Straight ahead of them in the distance was the outline of the wooden cattle shelter. It was on a slight rise and from the other side of it they would be able to see down into Emily’s barnyard. There was nothing between them and it, but they had no way of knowing what was on the other side. Emily looked at Alex who just shrugged so she turned the glasses back towards the west and was happy to see only empty fields.

Stowing the glasses again, Alex held down the lowest barbed wire running through the fence and Emily climbed through. She did the same for Alex and then they both made the mad dash towards the cattle shelter. Just as they were about to top the rise
, they both threw themselves down to the ground and struggled to catch their breaths. Using her elbows to pull herself forward, Alex advanced until she could peek over the top and see if anyone was in sight. She couldn’t see anyone around but her sight was blocked by the shelter so she closed her eyes and just listened. After a few minutes of only hearing the soft sound of the breeze rustling the grass and background insect noises, she waved the all clear to Emily and they moved the rest of the way up and over to the back side of the shelter. Going separate ways, the girls each took a side and edged around the corners. A quick wave from Emily and they moved around the shelters sides towards the front. They stayed crouched down as they met in the middle and moved into the shelter and behind a dry water trough.

They rested for a minute and gulped down more water before Alex handed the binoculars back to Emily and she moved over to the wall and edged out to the opening again. Emily spent a good five minutes staring through the glasses as she took in the changes to her home. At one point Alex saw her tense up but then her shoulders relaxed. Alex was getting anxious to know what was happening when Emily finally
let out a breath and lowered the glasses. She came over and sat down next to Alex without saying a word. Alex studied her best friend’s face but she could find no clue to what Emily had saw.

“What did you see? Did you see your
dad?” she finally asked.

Emily passed the binoculars to Alex and nodded her head. “Yeah, he’s there. He seems fine.”

Alex waited for more but Emily just looked down at her raised knees.

“What is it? What’s wrong
, Em?” Alex asked in confusion.

“Nothing…I don’t know. It’s just…after all this time away, everything we’ve been through to make it home
, it’s not supposed to feel this way. It’s like…making it home was a race and the prize was supposed to be mom and dad waiting here to make it all better. Now WE have to make it all better. Arggg, I don’t know how to explain it! I just feel let down for some reason.”

Alex turned and put her arm around her friend’s shoulders. “I get it. I really do. It does feel wrong. Our parents have always been there to take care of us and fix any major problems we’ve had but now we have to fix our problems instead. I guess this means we’re grownups now.” She huffed out her own frustrated breath. “I always thought it would be fun. You know? We would get our own place and a cute car and go out to restaurants and pubs and we would have so much fun. Now we have this and it’s not fun at all!”

Emily leaned her head against Alex’s and they stayed there for a while thinking about all the things that might have been if the world had stayed the same. Both girls were too practical to indulge in a pity party for long so after a few minutes Emily sat up and nudged Alex.

“Come on. Take a look and see if you can figure out what they’re doing down there. I could see where they did a lot of planting but right now it looks like almost all of them are building something and I have no idea what it is.”

Alex nodded and whipped a stray tear from her cheek before standing and taking her own long look at the activity going on around Emily’s home. After quickly scanning the nearby fields and noting where the planting had been done, she focused in on the construction site. There were piles of lumber stacked to the side and a long, one story building was being framed in. It was hard to tell from this distance but using the barn for scale, she guessed it was around a hundred feet long. The framing that had gone up so far suggested that there would be multiple rooms. Looking away from the construction, she focused on the people in the yard and quickly spotted six guards. They were easy to spot as they were the only ones with weapons and they were also all sitting or standing around not working. A smile came to her face when she spotted Emily’s dad carrying some two by fours across the yard. He looked strong and healthy but it was hard to tell from this distance. Seeing all she was going to, she dropped the glasses and turned back to her friend.