Dark Days of the After (Book 1): Dark Days of the After Read online

  Maybe that’s why she was thinking about Logan. He was in the city. And he was probably exhausted. Would he like it here as much as she did? she wondered. The craziness of the city had a way of depleting everyone. Of course he’d like it! But would she want to be with him? Maybe. Still, he’d burned her.

  Surprising herself, she thought, Yes, I could be with him.

  Okay…so she pushed that thought away pretty quickly. With what was coming, there would be no time for romance, certainly no time for love.

  She shut off the water, dried her body, then put her bra and panties back on. She’d need new underwear from town. She’d need other things, too. Maybe when Stephani was done tending to the hives, they could go together. Or maybe she could go there on her own.

  From what Skylar said, the Chicoms hadn’t occupied much of southern Oregon yet. Especially not the smaller towns. Was it still safe to travel? Orbey would know.

  Back in the house, Connor asked how she felt and she said, “Awake and ready to go.”

  “A cold shower will do that to you,” he said. “Orbey’s heading into town in a bit if you want to go with her.”

  She nodded her head and said, “I was thinking of going.”

  “You’re going to need some lady things. Best get them in case everything goes south. And take a gun with you. Some of those guys down there can get a bit grabby with a pretty thing like you.”

  “First off, I know I’m not that pretty, but thank you for your kindness. Second, is there any law in town?”

  “Local Sheriff,” he said. “But he’s a little soft with the whip.”

  “Meaning?”

  “If one of the local guys offends you, the Sheriff would probably ask what you did to prompt it. He did that with Orbey the first time. Next time it happened, she hit the offender with a stun gun. Nearly electrified him to death. The Sheriff didn’t seem to understand, then again, he isn’t exactly one of us.”

  “He gets it though, right?” she probed. “I mean, he knows what kind of trouble we’re in with the Chicoms, doesn’t he?”

  Connor shook his head and said, “He still thinks the military will intervene.” That’s when they both turned their heads to all kinds of commotion. Cooper came bounding down the hall full of energy. He barked twice at the sight of Harper, but Connor shushed him, saying, “Not in the house you furry menace!”

  Orbey arrived looking unmoved by the outburst and rearing to go.

  “You coming with me like that?” she asked Harper.

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Well go dry your hair and get some clothes on. We’re going into the land of heathens and we need to look the part of women who won’t take flack from men.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” she said as she walked back to her room and got dressed. Combing out her hair, she felt clean but not as presentable as she’d like.

  It doesn’t matter, she thought. Hell hath no room for showoffs.

  Chapter Nine

  “When the Sheriff comes looking for that dead boy,” Orbey said on their way out the door, “tell him we shot him but that he wandered off.”

  “I know what to say,” Connor said, scratching Cooper’s ears. Mumbling to himself, he said, “And it ain’t that.”

  “Don’t show him where the bullets are or where we buried him. Just tell him that as long as this is America, he’s trespassing unless he’s got a warrant.”

  “And if he doesn’t leave?”

  “Make him leave,” Orbey said. “You know the Sheriff. He’s playing pretend detective right now. He hasn’t seen a dead body since Buford Rand got drunk and flipped his car.”

  “What if he really brings a warrant?” Connor asked.

  Waving him off, she said, “The man is no bark and no bite.”

  “A warrant is judge ordered,” he said. “That’ll mean someone else is doing the biting for him, and jail time might come with not following judge’s orders.”

  “If he’s got the peanut sack enough to get a warrant, then let him sniff around. And when he starts to get all fidgety and his jaw does that back and forth thing, you ask him point blank what he thinks he’s going to do to keep these pye-dogs off our land.” Then to Harper, she said, “Well I’m waiting on you now, Sweetie. And don’t you smell fresh!”

  “I think I’m going to like you,” Harper said to Orbey with a grin.

  “What about me?” Connor asked.

  “Jury’s still out on you,” Harper said with a wink.

  They walked out to the Jeep Harper and Logan stole to get there, got in and Orbey said, “This thing’s gonna do the trick.”

  Harper fired it up, let it warm up, then glanced over at Orbey when the older woman asked who the Jeep belonged to.

  “Skylar’s ex-boyfriend,” she said.

  Now she frowned. “Does he know you stole it?”

  Harper swallowed hard, then said, “He’s not going to miss it.”

  Now the woman began to grin.

  She got it.

  “Did he die screaming?” she asked.

  “Something like that,” Harper said, looking away.

  When the slightly modified off-road vehicle was ready, she said, “We’re going to test this thing out.”

  “Do you want to drive?” Harper asked, sensing she did.

  “If you don’t mind.”

  A smile lit her face and the woman got out of the Jeep to trade seats. Inside her jacket, Harper saw a pistol tucked into a shoulder harness. Orbey saw her looking at it.

  “How fast can you get that out?” Harper asked as they passed each other around the front of the off road vehicle.

  “Let’s hope we don’t have to find out,” she said. “But if push comes to shove, I can move pretty quick.”

  Nodding her head, she strapped in and Orbey took off, driving down through the meadow to the tree line.

  “Where are we headed?” Harper asked.

  “Back way out,” she said. “Need to check for poachers and squatters.”

  At the tree line, there was a beaten down path. It wasn’t tire-tracked or bare. Clearly it wasn’t traveled much. They bumped and slogged their way through the forest, Orbey knowing where she was going.

  When they got to a ridge, Orbey stopped, looked right, then said, “Cover your ears.”

  The woman pulled out the pistol, aimed and fired off three quick shots.

  “Sons of rotten goats think they come down here and just park their asses where they want,” she grumbled. Turning and looking at Harper, she said, “They burned three acres across the way last summer when someone’s campfire got out of control. Now they want to come here.”

  “Did you hit anyone?” Harper said, unable to see what Orbey saw.

  “Nah. Just want to…son of a…”

  She dropped the Jeep in gear, heard return fire then ducked sideways. “You armed?” she asked.

  “Connor said to bring my gun in case, so yes.”

  They started bumping through the dense forest into a clearing where three guys were scattering.

  “Get one of them!” Orbey said.

  “Shoot him?”

  “Yes!”

  Harper stood and aimed at the last man, then shot beside his foot. It went wide and hit the tree beside him, bark kicking off as he raced by.

  Orbey stopped before a small campfire and a tent. The fire was smoldering, the embers hot and red. Inside the fire was a cast iron pan, some sort of meat cooking.

  “Hold on,” she said. She got out of the Jeep, walked over to the three man tent, and with her gun in hand, she pulled back the flap. When she came back to the Jeep, she didn’t say a word. She only put the vehicle in gear and drove over the tent. When she was done, she backed up over it and said, “You give these guys an inch, they want ten miles. You shoot one of them and let them bleed out here, they don’t come back.”

  “Seems a bit harsh.”

  “Are you a bad aim, or did you miss on purpose?” she said, looking at her with judgmental eyes.

&nbs
p; “Both, I think.”

  “You’re the leader of the Resistance and this is what you bring to the table?” she said.

  Harper opened her mouth to speak. She wanted to say there was no leader of the Resistance, only pockets of organized dissidents, but that seemed like too much information.

  “I’m not impressed,” Orbey said, backing up onto the path they followed to get them to this point.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “You and me both,” Orbey replied.

  She tied her gray hair back into a tight ponytail. Looking lean and strong, her skin showing her age but still a few years away from seventy, this woman made Harper feel like a pretender. There was “tough” because you could fight, and “tough” because you could live on your own and survive. Orbey was both.

  Harper now had a new task in front of her, and that was measuring up to the standards of this woman—a charming woman with both grit and benevolence.

  “Skylar said you were coming in hot with blood on your hands,” Orbey said as they roamed through the forest. The tall trees towered up around them, the sun barely getting through in some places. It was cool and still, not much moving. She stopped the Jeep, shut off the engine. She wasn’t reaching for her pistol though.

  “What’s wrong?” Harper asked.

  “Shhh,” she said.

  Up ahead, a pair of doe meandered through the woods. They waited for a few minutes for the deer to graze before taking off.

  “We’ve got almost a hundred acres up here. You think they’re cute now, but when everything goes to hell in a handbasket, that right there will be your breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

  She started the vehicle back up and they began to roll. When they popped out the other side of the trees onto what looked like a forest service road, Harper said, “I can hold my own, Orbey. I just don’t like killing indiscriminately.”

  “Neither do I,” she said. “That’s why we’re going to town.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “The second Skylar gives me the word, if that’s what it comes to,” she said, “we’re gonna give some folks a dirt nap.”

  “We’re going to what?” she asked.

  “Anytime you think about a grid-down scenario, and that’s what this will be if things go the way Skylar is thinking, there are going to be your protectors, your potential recruits, your useless eaters and your riff raff.”

  “So you want to identify the riff raff and prepare a hit list?” she asked. Good God did I misjudge this woman, she thought. Where before she loved Orbey’s kind eyes and hospitality, now she sat there in envy.

  “That’s exactly right.”

  “Um…I have a question,” Harper said.

  “Yeah?” she asked, looking over and brushing aside a few loose strands of hair blowing around in the wind.

  “Can you be my mother?” she said, serious.

  Orbey laughed and then she said, “Only if you pull your weight.”

  Nodding, she said, “I will.”

  “That means when I tell you to shoot someone, you shoot them,” she said, looking at her sideways.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “When we get to town, we’re going to the feed store. There’s a guy that works there, Ned. He’s big and really nice to older folks, but two years ago he got out of jail after raping a thirteen year old girl. Word has it this was just the one he was caught for.”

  “He’s a sex offender?”

  “The worst kind, yeah. I just want you to get a good look at him.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he’ll be the first.”

  “The first what?”

  “The first person we kill,” Orbey said. “Well you, rather. Skylar said you’re good up close. I’ll watch your back. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, we’ve been planning for a total meltdown.”

  “Have you been planning for the Chicoms though?” Harper asked.

  “Yes. We’re going to get them on the way into town.”

  “You didn’t see the convoy I saw.”

  “So?” she said, turning off the dirt road onto the main road.

  “They have tanks.”

  “I have a guy who’s making grenades.”

  “Did I tell you I want you as my mother?” Harper asked with a big, contagious smile.

  “Indeed you did,” she replied, grinning.

  When they got to town, the first place they went was to was Five Falls Feed & Seed, named after the town they were in—Five Falls.

  Inside the hulking wooden structure, it smelled like feed, a smell she loved but forgot even existed. “Dear Lord, that smell is better than sex.”

  “Shhh,” Orbey said.

  Just then a tall man with black hair, a bit of a gut and solid arms walked over. He had to be close to six and a half feet tall. Harper was five foot eight and a little over half his weight. He looked down at them and asked, “Ladies, how can I help?”

  Orbey said, “Looking for seed.”

  “What about you, young lady?” he asked, smiling as he looked her over. All she could think of was that this man took advantage of a child. She had a gun in the Jeep. Orbey was packing right there.

  “I’m with her,” she said of Orbey.

  “Follow me then,” he replied, congenial. “Are you looking for conventional seeds or heirloom seeds?”

  “Heirloom, of course,” Orbey said. “Why would you carry conventional?”

  “Some people don’t know the difference, but they know a bargain when they see one,” he said. “Are you new in town?”

  Harper swallowed hard. “Just visiting.”

  “Interesting,” he said, turning around to look at her.

  She was in her mid-twenties and had a face and body that did not stand out. He, on the other hand, did stand out. She lowered her eyes. In her mind, she thought of ten different ways to kill him. None of them played out right. In each scenario, he’d get the upper hand. All it would take was him grabbing her, punching her or tackling her. If he did that, it was game over. She decided the bullet was the way to go. That brought her to forensics. Trace evidence.

  “There’s nothing interesting about it, sir,” she said, her eye clearing. “Someone comes into town, they enter a feed store, they want some seeds. That’s about as interesting as a dog fart.”

  Now he turned and looked at her and that thing in his eyes, the thing he was hiding until he was ready to come out and play, it flashed her for just a second.

  Then it was the smile.

  “Are you Ned?” Harper asked.

  “I am,” he said, not looking at her. Instead, he walked them to a long row of wooden bins, each containing seed packs. “I gotta bucket over here if you want. Plants up to an acre. Some interesting veggies in here.”

  He turned and hit them with a smile, one that was propped up hard.

  He didn’t like Harper.

  “There’s that word again,” she said.

  “More interesting than a dog’s fart, if that makes a difference,” he said before he walked away. “Grab me if you have any questions.”

  “Are you crazy?” Orbey hissed.

  “I wanted to see that thing in his eye. Did you see it?”

  “Yes.”

  “There’s a killer in there.”

  “I already told you he was the worst,” Orbey said.

  “I can do it now.”

  “Right now?” the older woman asked.

  “No, not right now,” she said, grabbing a few seed packs. “When the time is right.”

  “Get the bucket,” Orbey said, stilling Harper with a hand on her wrist. “We’ve got a big garden with wood and soil to spare.”

  She set the seeds back, then grabbed two buckets of heirloom seeds and walked it to the counter.

  Ned was there, towering over them, smiling. And that awful, predatory expression? Gone. He rang up the order, gave them the price, then said, “So how long are you staying in Five Falls?”

  Harper looked u
p into his eyes and said, “I’ve got business to attend to. So maybe a few days, maybe a month, maybe forever. I don’t know, Ned. I just go with the flow.”

  Now he smiled, this time genuine. Nodding his head he said, “A woman after my own heart.”

  Not to own it, she thought. More like to cut it out.

  “It was nice to meet you,” she said as she and Orbey took their purchase and walked it out to the Jeep.

  Harper got in and saw Ned watching them though the small, dusty window.

  “What a creep,” she said.

  Orbey started to back up and then she slammed on the brakes, shaking Harper. “Orbey, what the hell?”

  Harper glanced over her shoulder, saw the Sheriff’s car blocking their way, the lights flashing.

  Orbey got out, but before she did, she said, “Come with me.”

  A skinny man with a handsome face and a clean shaven jaw line stepped out of his car, frowned when he saw Orbey and smiled when he saw Harper. Now she knew why Orbey wanted her to come—to soften the Sheriff’s temper, should he track them down.

  “Heard you had a spot of trouble at the house,” he said.

  “Some people shot at us, we shot back, it was very civilized,” Orbey said. “You look rather dashing today, Sheriff. That’s a new aftershave, isn’t it?”

  Ignoring her, he said, “And you are?”

  “Curious,” Harper said.

  “About?”

  “Whether or not that’s a new aftershave. I like it, but I don’t. Makes me wonder if you have another.”

  Standing a little straighter in the back, he said, “You must be related to this one.” He glanced over at Orbey.

  “This one what, Sheriff?” Harper asked. “What is she to you?”

  “I was referring to Orbey.”

  “That’s a she, or a her, but not a ‘one’ as if she were something inanimate rather than a human being.”

  “I just meant—”

  “I know what you meant,” she said. “I saw it in your expression. That’s why I asked. So you’d know that I know.”