Page 35 of Deceptively Dead

They let me walk, small hobbling steps, until we reach the last building at the edge of the town, then Hunter scoops me into his arms, and we make much quicker progress, following a gravel road out into rolling pastures that spring up almost as soon as we step foot out of the square.

Again, my brain struggles to comprehend what I am seeing. Small ranch houses dot themselves throughout large paddocks growing an assortment of produce, some even holding paddocks full of cattle and sheep. All around us, surrounding the town and its many acres of habitable land, looms huge mountains their jagged cliffs a dusky golden color in the afternoon sunlight. My head swivels as I try to take in everything, peering back behindHunter at the buildings nestled against the hill we travelled down yesterday. At the top of the hill, I can just barely make out the tops of the trees beyond the gleaming gate.

The guys continue down the laneway as I gawk, taking a few twisting turns around houses that are scattered throughout the landscape, until we end up much closer to the mountains that had seemed so far away only moments ago. They keep moving, until the path we tread stops looking so well used, and the pastures and manicured fields give way to rougher looking prairie grasses and thick trees that erupt sporadically from the ground. They cross a bridge over a small creek, gurgling happily in its deep trench below, and suddenly a small cabin pops into view, nestled in the middle of nowhere, not another home to be seen or heard, the structure dwarfed by the cliff face at its back.

“Home sweet home!” calls Chase, from up front, taking the lead to prop open the cabin door for us to enter. But I don’t want to go in yet, the scenery calling me to explore. So, I squirm out of Hunter’s hold and use him as a crutch instead as I lead him around his home, peering at the vegetable patch that is thriving and overflowing at the side of the house. Inspecting the water tanks dug into the ground just beyond that and the back porch that points directly at the cliff face. Lastly, I stand and crane my head back to simply stare at the enormity of the mountain in front of me. The cliff is sheer and jagged, and rocks and boulders litter the ground underneath it. The house is set several acres back from the rocky face, but it feels as if I could reach out and touch it. A fence runs a line between the homes’ backyard and where the rogue stones and boulders have fallen.

The whole area comes across as intimidating and I couldn’t imagine my guys living anywhere else. As I turn back to the house, the dark glint of solar panels snags my attention and I have to wonder how much sunlight gets through here, theuntamed trees along the riverbank sending their shadow nearly to the cabins door as the afternoon sun sinks lower.

I finally allow myself to be led inside and smile at the rightness that settles my soul. The entire space is open plan and much larger than it looked from the outside. The kitchen/dinning/living space are all integrated in a seamless flow that takes up the entire left side of the house, while to my right a door leads to a distinctly masculine bedroom that feels inviting despite it having only the essentials. The next door leads to a functional, basic bathroom that consists of a shower/tub and basin. The final two doors reveal bedrooms similar to the first. The roof arches high above us and I fall in love with the exposed beams and high windows that allow as much light as possible in while giving a glimpse of the sky. The floors are hardwood that has been polished smooth and the furniture is a ramshackle collection that looks like it was put together purely for comfort.

“I love it.” I manage on a sigh, and each of my men relax a little, letting out breaths I didn’t realise they were holding. “Where’s your toilet though?”

They share an awkward laugh, and Hunter reaches up to scratch the back of his neck, a nervous gesture I’ve noticed. “Well… we are a bit far out for indoor plumbing to be easy… what with the water tanks and limited solar we get…”

“So… you guys have an outhouse?” I ask, a twist to my lips. I’m not sure I can live with that. Not after living with the compound’s cesspools.

“Yeah, but it’s done up real nice.” Chase rushes to assure me. “It’s just off the other side of the house, there’s a little path and I did up some garden beds around it.”

“He even put in some stained glass.” Adds Nate dryly and I smile, not quite sold, but not withering away in disgust either.

“Come eat, I made you soup.” Hunter calls out from the kitchen. They guys settle me in a comfortable chair at the diningroom table as Hunter brings me a heaping bowl of fragrant soup and snags the chair by my side. None of the others have soup and I eye them curiously even as I dig into the hot meal. There’s a brief silence as they watch me eat for a moment before Nate speaks up.

“Isabella came to seen Angie today.” He tells the other two nonchalantly and they whip their heads in his direction.

“What?”

“When?”

“Mhmm, she bust her way into the hospital to meet me, I guess? I dunno, I got a bad vibe from her, but she didn’t really do anything threatening. Then Nate came and she kind of just scuttled off.” I tell them. Nate snorts.

“She was trying to put her claim on you.” He says to Hunter. “She insinuated the two of you had something going on and Angie just told her she was your girlfriend.” Hunter slides a look to me that is pure heat, and I squirm a little in my seat, my heart rate picking up. “Then she claimed us too.” Nate continues, looking to Chase and sharing a smile with the other man. “I might have gotten carried away showing Isabella just how on board with that we are, she got in one of her snits and stormed off. I expect we will be summoned in front of the council tomorrow. I’m surprised Thompson was able to hold them off this long to be honest.” Chase nods his head at that and Hunter grunts in agreement, then turns to me.

“So, sweetheart, there are so many things you need to know. I’m sure you have lots of questions and we will do our best to answer them for you. I’m going to start from the top and when I’m done, we can answer any questions you have, yeah?” I nod, settling in over my soup. I haven’t asked many of the questions that I have because there always seems to be something more important happening, but now we are here, and I want to know everything.

“We told you that we were part of a refugee camp at the start and that when it collapsed, we managed to get a few people out?” Again, I nod. “Well, after that, we shepherded the survivors about for months, moving from place to place, trying to find them a permanent base. We had women and kids with us and each day we spent out there... we lost a lot of them, gained some too. Everyone lost people we cared about, and we were just about out of ideas when we decided to head into the mountains. We were in the foothills, hunkered down in a school at the outskirts of the closest town when we all noticed a huge smoke column rising in the near distance. We three went to investigate the smoke, we left the others behind in case it was dangerous, of course. We followed it all the way to the wall, took us nearly the whole day to get there too. Of course, when we arrived, we weren’t the only ones to have followed the smoke signals. Dead were piling up at the gate, which was nowhere near what it is now, and the people of Charydale were struggling to get them under control. Of course, we jumped in with what we had and helped them to dispatch the remainder of the groaners.” I smile, I can just picture the three of them, dirty and hungry, swinging in to save the day like it was their self-proclaimed job. “Once we finished up with the bodies, the people invited us in.”

“Which was a dumb idea, and we told them as much.” Nate interrupts with a shake of his head. “They didn’t know us from dog shit, what if we had of been murders?”

“Yes. Anyway, we were reluctant to enter but they told us one of the houses had burnt down and asked if we could help them. When we stepped past the gate… well you saw it, I guess. The town was basically as it is now, but the main wall and the front gate were the only defenses already there. There were gaps in the perimeter that needed to be shored up, and improvements made on what was already here, but it gave us hope. We worked the rest of the day helping to salvage what we could from the fire siteand getting to know the people here. The whole town was something called a ‘prepper’ village. They grew up or moved here many years before the dead started to rise and they built themselves a sustainable community for when shit hit the fan. Obviously, they weren’t planning on that shit being dead people, but they adjusted. Web, you’ll meet him tomorrow, he and a few of his college friends started this place. They brought the valley land, all three hundred acres of it, and built the community from the ground up about twenty odd years ago. They built everything with the view of non-reliance on the government. Every building is powered by solar that is collected and distributed by their own ‘grid’, every place has water tanks attached, and fireplaces built in. The things they have done are incredible. The farms have been producing food for the town for years but they also stocked their stores and homes full of preserved basics, there’s enough food stored here to last the whole place at least five years, even without the farms supplementing them. And they actively recruited people with out-dated skills to move here. At the moment we have seamstresses and pottery makers, a glass blower and a blacksmith, we have people that make cheese and other foods the old way. It is incredible the amount of planning and effort that Web and the other founders put into this place.” I can feel his passion and respect for what was built here in his voice, and I give him a soft smile, liking being able to see this side of him. “But, back to the story. Once we had helped them for the day, we told them about our people and they invited us all to become part of their community. They had suffered losses at the beginning, just like everyone else, and they needed the extra manpower to help reinforce their defenses. We offered to help them fortify the town in exchange for a place for us all to live. So, we moved our group to Charydale and spent months building and guarding and training until, eventually, we were done. In that time, while we were busy, the people we brought with usassimilated into the people of the town, which was no easy feat. The council was decided on at that time and it consists of three representatives from each group to make decisions on the communities’ behalf. Of course, the community has a voice here too, a loud one. So, everything works pretty well, for the most part.”

“Once everything was done here...” Nate takes over the story, “We found that we” he throws Hunter a look “couldn’t be still. We got restless quickly and started to venture outside the walls, first it was for little things, any excuse would do. Someone would say they missed a particular brand of toothpaste, and we’d jump at the chance to go find some. We were venturing further and further each time we went out, looking for the next fight, looking for something to quell the restlessness.” Again, he looks at Hunter. “And that was when we found Ty. We were in a new city, having driven there in one of the only cars still up and running, we came across a group of survivors, a bunch of skin headed thugs. We were shocked, to say the least, but curious so we followed them for a while, and they eventually lead us back to their base camp. That was where we found Ty. He was all trussed up and it was obvious they had been beating the shit out of him for some time. So, basically, we set him free. We annihilated the entire crew and Ty finished off those that we had left alive. He wasn’t in a good way but managed to explain that they had grabbed him as he was trying to catch a few hours’ sleep before moving on. Ty, he’s different. He doesn’t talk much but he cares a lot, and we could see that, so we brought him home. Turns out he used to forge weapons for fun and immediately took up an apprenticeship with the local blacksmith. Now he makes all our gear… anyway, sorry I got off track.” He says waving a hand as if to clear the air. “The point was, once we brought Ty back the council got it in their head that we should be actively looking for survivors. They picked four teams of volunteers, us included, tohead out and comb the surrounding area for people to bring back. For a while, it was good, it gave us an excuse to be out of the walls so often we were barely back before we would leave again. But then, we found that when we did eventually find someone alive, they were awful. We never approached them first thing, always followed and watched and not a single person lived up to our expectations. Obviously, the other teams were not as… selective as we were and one time when we returned… one of the people brought in had touched one of the kids. He had a trial scheduled for the next day, but he never made it there. They found him hanging from his cell with a bullet between his eyes. Obviously, no one was unhappy about this, but the council was divided on how to handle the situation. Eventually, Web declared that justice was served and we got away with it. That’s how we became what we are today to the towns people. We take out the trash. Quickly, the other teams started doing things our way, leaving behind those that were not worthy and bringing in those that they felt deserved a chance. For a long time now, we haven’t stepped in to deliver justice, but the people remember, and they treat us differently.”

I nod my head in understanding then ask into the silence. “How many people have you had to kill here?”

“In these walls? Four.” Nate answers.

“And they all deserved it? They were guilty?”

“Without any doubt in our minds.”

“Then… good.” I push my empty plate away. “You said a while ago that you only ever brought back two people, obviously Ty was the first but who was your second?”

“Ah. Charlie.” Chase says with a big smile on his face, I can tell this Charlie person means something to him, maybe to all of them. I slight stab of jealously sears through me at the thought. “She’s something different altogether. We didn’t so much find Charlie, as she found us. She… look, she’s a character you justhave to meet for yourself. Through she’s not a fan of people in general and her humor lays somewhat on the sharp side… I’m sure you will love her.”

“Wow.” I say, still simmering in a touch of jealousy. “I can’t wait to meet her.” It’s not a lie, I’m anxious to put a face to the name and eyeball the potential threat.

“Yeah, we’ll introduce you around town soon, sweetheart.” Hunter says a sly light in his eyes as he watches me through half lidded eyes that see far too much. Changing the subject with a last knowing glance he continues, “Tomorrow we will likely have to meet with the council, the regular procedure is to bring any outsiders directly to the council, so they can meet them and decide if there is a place for them here. There has only been one case where the council found the applicant unacceptable, so don’t worry. Besides, we already have a claim on you so this whole thing is just a formality.” He says with a flirty smile and a shrug.

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