The Ocean in the Fire Page 6

  “Okay.” Poe managed a smile as she waved and ran back toward her playgroup supervisor, who had finally decided to pay attention to where the children under her care had ended up. As she approached, she saw the woman wagging her finger at her, and considered telling her that perhaps elementary school kids shouldn’t be trusted to look after themselves..

  As she hopped in the back of the woman’s van to go home, she glanced out the window behind her, and watched as her savior ran down the field and kicked the soccer ball straight into the goal. Poe hoped maybe that was a sign that sometimes, good does win in the end, even if that win is just a point on a scoreboard.

  ***

  Poe took her baseball cap off and wiped her brow. The guard tower became stuffy in the afternoon, as though she were trying to breath under a thick blanket, the way she did when she lay in her bed, hiding from the shadows that danced on her bedroom wall. One would think the structure would let the air flow freely through the cracks in the wood, but not something built by her father. In his effort to make it strong, he had built an oven. The walls were sealed shut for protection, and sealed even further by the massive branches that camouflaged it. There was only a small window that let air through, and acted as the vantage point. Poe stuck her face through it as far as she could; sucking in the cool air and pushing away any stray branches that attempted to scratch her. She gazed out over the hill to the only visible road that led to their property, which ended abruptly at the beginning of a forested area. It wasn’t paved; more of a path that was barely better than driving straight through the woods.

  She heard the cars before she saw them.

  They came around the corner in a line: an SUV followed by several sedans, all being trailed by a large truck. When she squinted, she could see the top of a man’s head cautiously sticking out the back window. If she shaded her eyes with her hand, she could make out the end of a gun barrel.

  It was time.

  She notified her mother and father on her handheld radio, then attached it back onto her belt, right next to her gun. Like she had done a thousand times before, she expertly crawled her way out of the lookout tower and shimmied down to the ground, landing with a thud and a cloud of dust. Brushing the dirt from her face, she stepped out into the open, placing her feet in the stance of someone who was ready for whatever was coming, and putting on her aviator sunglasses. She had to practically step in front of the first car before they saw her.

  She waved her arms as they slowed to a stop. Inside the car, she could see the man turning to the woman in the front seat. She could see their lips moving, but could not decipher what they were saying. Both of them looked like they had just rolled out of bed, which given the status of the pandemic, Poe guessed was exactly what happened. She remembered when she and her family had frequented the town that all the women looked as if they would rather be pecked to death by birds than be caught without their makeup on. She giggled to herself, thinking how the apocalypse could make even the most grooming-obsessed person change their ways. No point in putting on rouge when there was no one left to impress.

  The woman in the SUV carried a worried expression, and Poe couldn’t blame her one bit: she didn’t even know what was coming, not yet. There were two faces visible in the seats behind them, one belonging to a young woman, the other to a child.

  The man driving the first car got out cautiously, at first keeping the car door between him and her. Smart, she thought. “Do you need help young lady?”

  She laughed. “No, but I’m sure you do.” The man looked at her quizzically. Poe straightened her baseball cap, pulling it tightly onto her head and making sure that her ponytail was centered. She was in her element, relishing in what her family had accomplished, and the fact that now the same people who had shunned them so long ago were asking for their help. She was bred to live their way of life, molded by her father from the beginning, feeling most like herself when she had a knife in her hand, and a forest around her. Now, instead of her having to adjust to the world, the world would have to adjust to her. Her family had been seen as the little boy who cried wolf: warning of impending tragedy long before it arrived. But when the wolf did show its teeth, the boy was prepared while others were not, because he saw it coming. “You’re on your way to the Holloway’s to seek refuge from the plague, right?”

  The man nodded in agreement. He looked as though he was about to ask a question, right as he realized who she was. “You’re Poe Holloway.”

  “Last time I checked.”

  “I’m Drew Matthews. That’s my wife Vera and goddaughter Blake with her son in the car. I was your doctor when you were a little girl. Maybe you remember…” He smiled and extended his hand. She didn’t take it.

  “You’re going to have to follow me if you want to find our place.” She gestured to the caravan. “Dump your cars in the woods. From here we go on foot. And be sure to tell the rest of your group that if they’re thinking about trying anything, I’m not the only one out here.” That was another reason Poe was supposed to notify her parents: Connor wanted the opportunity to not only have the rest of the family be able to protect Poe from the strangers, but to observe the new group from a distance, to see them brave and scared and lost.

  Drew looked backward toward the other cars. “We have a lot of supplies. There’s no other way through?”

  “Well, only grab what you absolutely need right away. If you want in, you have to leave your cars. We can’t have you ramming our perimeter and stealing from us, can we?”

  Drew stared blankly.

  “Those of you who make it in will have to make a couple trips.”

  “Those of us who make it? What do you mean by that?”

  Poe smiled the smile of a person with a secret, one that would be revealed when the time was right. “Follow me.”

  After Drew informed the group what the new plan was, they followed Poe’s instructions, rearranging bins and dumping out anything that wasn’t an absolute priority. She noticed what these strangers considered essential, and an annoyed sigh escaped her lips. Yes, they did get some of it right: bringing their warm clothes and canned goods…some even brought surgical masks in an attempt to protect themselves against the spread of the disease. But they also took photo albums, shoved into all-too-small containers, while they left knives behind. Though a picture of a beloved grandmother might bring a small amount of comfort, being able to fend off an attacker should have brought more…though Poe would have guessed they wouldn’t know how to use them properly anyway. She considered taking a second to point out the error of their ways, but knew that experience was the best teacher of all. Most of the people in front of her struck her as the kind that had to learn things the hard way.

  No matter, they will adjust soon enough.

  Those who brought bags and backpacks filled them to the brim, while the rest of the group was stuck hauling large plastic bins up the hill toward the property. Some could lift them, while others were stuck dragging them along the ground, hoping they didn’t fall apart in the effort. They looked like tourists trying to play some sort of survival game, clinging to their cans of food with no openers, and clutching their favorite pillows like they were filled with gold.

  Poe guessed that Drew didn’t share the last part of their conversation.

  Drew and someone she learned was named Cassius lead the new group. They followed directly behind her as they trudged toward the house. Listening to them struggle with the hike, Poe imagined she could hear the sweat seeping down their brows. Sure, they were in shape; they probably worked out several times a week. But they weren’t trained for a hill that size, in woods that dense. Every step that seems easy on a hard surface was ten times more difficult on soft earth. Poe glided up it with ease, wondering if they were cursing their treadmills and weight rooms for failing them when they needed them most. They certainly hadn’t prepared them for her father’s land, and her father’s mountain. She watched, enjoying the fact that for them, every step was a struggle. She al
most wanted them to complain about it: then she could tell them that fighting for every inch of ground was nothing compared to fighting to live your life the way you saw fit, with every single person you’d ever met working against you, pushing you back down the path from where you came.

  The women of the group were struggling even more than the men. Poe scoffed to herself as she watched them hurl themselves up the hill. Could none of them be bothered to go jogging between their day jobs and laundry? Or did they just assume that their men folk would always be there to protect them? Her father had taught her many things, but the one that he said was most important was this: never rely on someone else to save you. Be prepared to save yourself.

  Poe guessed that the women in front of her were taught something different, and between lifting supplies and a quick pace, whatever it was had failed them miserably.

  Fighting their exhausted breath and burning muscles, the two men in front were not whispering as softly as they intended. Between heavy inhales, she heard Drew hiss, “Put that gun away, Cassius. She’ll see it. Do you want to get us thrown out before we even get in?”

  “Not a chance in Hell I’m putting it away. For all we know we’re walking into an ambush and they’re just going to take all our stuff and leave us to fend for ourselves.”

  Cassius didn’t see Poe give the signal.

  A bullet whirred over Cassius’s head and into a nearby tree, sending sharp bits of bark flying. She recognized the perfect aim, and knew exactly who had fired. The group stopped cold, except for Poe, who calmly turned around to face them. “Go ahead, Cassius, keep your gun. If you try anything my sister will take your head off before it leaves your holster.”

  She turned to Drew. “Evidently, your warning didn’t sink in.”

  Cassius’ head whipped around, trying to find the location of his assailant. He started to step toward Poe then thought the better of it, fighting the urge to yell at her by talking through clenched teeth. “Where is she? Your sister?”

  Poe winked at him as she turned back, continuing to head up the mountain. She couldn’t answer his question, even if she wanted to. Harper was a master at blending in—a hunter at heart, probably even better than her mother. The only time either of them would find her is if Harper wanted to be found.

  And at least right then, she certainly didn’t.

  As they got closer to the gated area of the property, Poe turned around and looked at them, smoothly walking backwards as she talked. Her feet seemed to know the terrain by themselves, not needing the aid of her eyes. “Dad said you would come, you know. Children always do.”

  “We’re not children,” Cassius said. Drew elbowed him in the side.

  Poe smirked. “Are you about to ask an adult to clothe you, house you, and feed you because you don’t think you can make it on your own in this world?”

  Cassius didn’t have an answer.

  But Poe did. “Then you’re children.”

  They walked in silence after that for quite a long time. The only thing letting Poe know that they were still behind her was the soft crunch of their footsteps on the frozen grass and their labored breathing. Typical of Washington, one minute the weather was beautiful, the next, the Earth seemed intent on freezing out its occupants. In their case though, the extra cold evening seemed to fit the mood of the situation. She thought about them as individuals, wondering what their stories were, and who they were before this day came upon them. How did they all know each other? Were they family? Were they neighbors? Or had they just stumbled upon each other as they were driving toward the Holloway’s home? She took a moment to glance back at the group, sizing them up one by one.

  That’s when she saw her.

  She barely recognized her at first. Ten years adds a thousand changes to a face, and it took her a minute to find the teenage girl that had saved her so many years ago. The blonde girl from the first car, who held on tightly to who she could then tell was a small boy with hair as yellow as his mother’s, was the one from the park that day, the one who had saved her from being beaten up, and worse, humiliated. Poe assumed that she didn’t recognize her. She had stayed behind Drew since they had arrived, probably at Drew’s instruction, and her attention was, understandably, on the boy.

  Poe wasn’t sure why, but she decided to keep the information to herself. She would reveal it at the right time, and that was not it. She would need it later, of that she was sure. It seemed important somehow, too important to reveal on a hike full of out-of-shape, exhausted strangers.

  As she watched the sun disappear behind a row of gray clouds, she realized that moment was more significant than any other. That moment was the time to get ready, because she saw the top of her house revealing itself just over the horizon.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  DREW

  As the house came into view, a tight, tangled knot formed in Drew’s stomach. He felt a spontaneous burst of sweat all over his body, and he was sure it wasn’t from the long hike they just finished. He hadn’t seen Connor in ten years, not since the day he and another man carried him out of his office as he fought and flailed, humiliated as Drew’s other patients looked on, all looking down to avoid his eyes, all doing nothing to stop it. He could still hear the shrill panic in his voice, and feel the walls vibrate as the door slammed shut. There was no telling how Connor would react when they arrived: he could invite them in, or he could tell him to go back down the path where he came from. He swallowed hard when he realized that he would be less surprised by the second outcome than the first. And if Connor’s past with Drew cost Vera, Blake, and Jackson their lives…that was a truth that Drew knew he would be unable to carry.

  The compound seemed to have grown from the earth itself. It seemed to Drew to be a mix of metal and wood, and from the shapes, Drew guessed that the basic structure was made of shipping container material. Some the plants looked as if they were trying to take back the land, snaking up the walls and clawing at them with their green tendrils. Other shrubs with large needles surrounded the perimeter, and Drew winced at the thought of being stuck by one.

  There was a barn on one side of the compound that looked as though it was plucked straight from the cover of a grocery store puzzle—red with white trim, with huge double doors on the front. It struck Drew as odd, seeing something so tranquil in the same place as steel and thorns. There was a fenced area near the barn, where horses, cows, and pigs roamed peacefully, munching on grass without a clue that the world was crumbling around them.

  Poe held up her hand and gestured for the group to come to a stop. He noticed a ring on her thumb that looked as if it should be found on the hand of a man. The white gold looked darker than it should against her pale skin, and he wondered how she had come to have such a ring. He forced himself to slow down his imagination, trying not to create a number of undesirable scenarios that, if they were true, would mean they were in even more trouble than he had previously thought. A deadly father with a deadly daughter? He knew he would soon find out.

  Her words crackled against the air around them. “Everyone, please pay attention. You’re going to want to.” At the sound of her voice, several people emerged from the house. Drew watched as they all formed a line in front of the door. Gabriel, the son, had become a tanned, muscular young man with the visible self-assurance of his mother and the bitter expression of his father. A girl in a sunflower dress, whom he assumed was Harper by process of elimination, stood next to him with a French braid in her hair, looking more like a doll from a toy shop than the trained killer they had encountered in the woods. Kate stood with them, and Drew noticed her take a brief second to squeeze each of her children’s hands and smile reassuringly.

  The last person to come out was Connor. Time appeared to have taken its toll on him more than it should have: wrinkles had aged his face not ten years, but twenty. The whites of his eyes had seemed to grow less bright, like a shirt that had been washed too many times, but they still had the gleam of self-proclaimed superiority that Drew rem
embered so clearly.

  Poe smiled and nodded toward her father, then took her place on his right, while her mother stood on his left. He was at least happy to see Kate looking healthy in a pale pink dress and sandals, her freshly painted toes shining: the color had returned to her face since last he’d seen her.

  Connor smiled and it sent a chill down Drew’s spine. “Welcome, welcome all of you.” He paused, studying the face of each person. Drew looked at those same faces, wondering if they felt the same discomfort that resided in his own bones. “Most of you know me already, but for the new ones, I am Connor Holloway. This is my home where, I gather, you are hoping to stay given your current circumstances. We have resources here that, as you know, your town is sorely lacking. And though I realize my property resides, technically, within your boundaries, I am by no means mistaken when I say, your town. You all made it perfectly clear that we were not welcome ten years ago.” He looked at Poe before he continued. “You were right about one thing though. We didn’t belong there. No planning for tomorrow where you all came from. Lucky for you that ignorance is something that my family and I do not have in common with you.” He gestured toward them. “I recognize most of you, but I’ll still include introductions because, if the past is any indicator, you thought us unimportant enough that you would forget about us as soon as we disappeared.” A cryptic smile appeared again. “Today…you will remember us forever.”

  He paused for a moment, studying the faces around him once again. Drew realized that their whole group had, in fact, been living in town back when Connor and his family disappeared. Some were barely around back then, like Blake who was in school, and Cassius, who commuted to work at a precinct a few towns over. But Drew could tell that made no difference to Connor. All were guilty, and all would potentially pay the price.