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  “I thought they were all dead. I didn’t dare hope to find Derek alive. Knowing him as I did, he would have fought hard against them, never giving up but I also knew he was outnumbered and all his fighting would have been useless. I knew he was dead. I felt my insides start to shake with uncontrollable sobs as I realized that everything I had grown to love and care about since I fell down to this hell had been taken from me. Then I heard it; a moan coming from the back of the cave, buried beneath a pile of bodies. I half walked, half crawled to the sound and started throwing bits and pieces of people that were once my friends to the side. I was crazed to find out who had survived this butcher. When I got to the bottom, my heart fell as I discovered Derek still breathing, still alive. He was covered with so much blood that I couldn’t see his wounds but I knew they were severe.

  “I dragged him to our tunnel where he would be safe and then I went and got water and towels to clean him. It took me an hour to soak the blood away from his skin. It took me an hour to find his wounds and see that there was nothing I could do. During this time, he reached consciousness and saw my face. He knew that I was okay and it eased his pain some. He was delirious and told me to tell his family that he loved them and I agreed, knowing that I never would. I stayed by his side and wiped his brow and sang to him. He squeezed my hand through the worst of the pain and I held him in my arms as he slowly left his body. I wept for five minutes; that’s all I would allow myself. I had to take what I could and leave. I had to find a new place to start; a new place to plan my revenge and kill every one of the Blood Demons. That’s when I came here.” She got up and got another bottle of water then returned to the couch.

  “Wait a minute,” I said. “How’d you know to come here? Are the Blood Demons here? Did you follow them here?”

  “No, I have no idea where they are right now,” she said. “I decided the fewer questions I asked about them the better. I didn’t want them to know that I had survived. I began to head north. I don’t know why, it just seemed like a good idea. I knew the land up here is rough and that the elements are harsh and I figured if you could survive that, then you might be able to survive the Blood Demons if they ever came up here. I don’t know how strong they’d be in the cold winters this land is famous for. I thought, maybe, I could gather some people and prepare for them.”

  “Well, miss,” said Marshal. “The people up here are strong and fight hard, hard, hard. But I don’t know how much help we’ll be to you. We have our own evil clans to deal with. I keep myself busy, busy, busy and they don’t bug me much but they have done their own kind of killing.”

  “It’s you I was talking about.” Emma Lee put down her water and smiled at Marshal.

  “What?” Billy and I both asked.

  “Marshal is the type of man I need to help me build my army,” she explained.

  “Now, just you wait a minute.” Marshal was upset that he had been singled out. “I’m not some soldier. I’m just a man tryin’ to get by from one 360 to another. I don’t fight; in fact, I pride myself in staying far, far, far away from any scrimmages.”

  “Relax, Marshal, I know you don’t fight but you know who does,” she was serious now, “and you know where I can find them.”

  “Yeah, it’s true,” piped up Billy. “Marshal knows everybody around here. He oughta; he’s been here longer than anyone else. He minds his business but he garners a lot of respect ‘round here.”

  “I know,” said Emma Lee. “I asked around before I met you, Billy. You’re not the only one who sings the praises of Marshal. You’re a very popular young man.” I smiled at this last remark knowing how that kind of compliment would embarrass Marshal. He really didn’t like to stand out.

  “Okay, I know a lot of people but I don’t know if I want to be your recruiting officer,” Marshal said. “It sounds like a dangerous job and I happen to like my crazy nonexistence.”

  “My friends died in front of me; slaughtered for offering food and water to strangers,” she said, stressing the importance of her undertaking. “Eventually these men will come here, I know it. They’ll come here and kill everyone, including you, Billy, Nicky and anyone else they see. They want this world to themselves; rule it the way they see fit. They won’t stop. They’ve tasted blood and now they have a thirst for it.”

  “She’s right,” I said. “I know I’ve only been here for a few days but, if there’s anything I can do, I’ll do it.” I couldn’t let these men come up here and just kill us. There’s no way I was going to sit on my ass and let that happen. Hell, I didn’t even want to be down here but, if this was where I had to sit and chill until I could figure out a way to get back home, then I wasn’t going to let some group of psycho killers come and wipe us out. No way!

  “Thank you, Nicky. I could use another strong woman at my side.” I smiled at her. She called me a woman. I guess, down here, I was.

  “Well, I’m certainly not going to be upstaged by a couple of girls!” Marshal stood up and put his hands on his hips and tilted his head sideways. At that moment he looked a lot like a clown poster I had taped on my wall when I was little and I tried not to laugh. “If I can be of any help to my lady, then I shall try my bestest.” He bowed low like an actor after a stage performance.

  “Thank you.”

  “What about me? I want to help, too,” Billy said, unable to contain his excitement.

  “I’m sorry young man,” said Emma Lee, “but you are much too young to put your life on the line.”

  “What’re ya talkin’ about?” He was angry. “I’ve been down here a lot longer than Nicky. I should be able to help. I know a lot of people, too and no one will suspect me because I’m young.”

  “Billy is a great asset.” Marshal tried to stick up for the boy. “He did get you here after all.”

  “All right, Billy, I’ll see what I can find for you to do,” said Emma Lee reluctantly. “But, in no way will you ever be allowed to fight if it comes to that.”

  “Yes, ma’am!” But I saw his crossed fingers behind his back.

  Chapter 6

  The first thing I did when the trapdoor opened and we walked out into the fresh air of a wind free world was look for the river. I needed a bath and soon. Even I couldn’t stand the smell of me. I had tried to wash myself everyday with soap and bottled water but it just wasn’t cutting it. I hadn’t washed my hair in forever and it was getting so itchy that I swore there were things crawling in there. There weren’t, thank God. We did head inspections at least once a day while we were underground; Emma Lee insisted on it. I grabbed a couple of towels, some clean clothes, a bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo before I walked up the ladder ignoring Billy’s sarcastic remarks of how silly I looked. I didn’t care; I wanted to get clean and fast.

  Emma Lee understood and she joined me in my quest for cleanliness. She told me it was no big deal for her to go days without a bath, though. Well, being from 1811, she would never understand the beauty of a hot shower or a warm bubble bath. I, on the other hand, missed my flushing toilet and bathroom time. Barker was like me it seemed because when I said ‘river’ he was up and running, tail wagging and barking excitedly.

  “You’re gonna regret it, trust me,” said Marshal as he watched us climb the small hill west of our hideout. “The river is freezing, always is, even in the summer. The rivers here come from the mountains; most likely from a glacier somewhere and they’re never, never, never warm.”

  “I don’t care, Marshal,” I yelled back. “I stink and I’ll risk the cold to get clean.” We walked to the top of the hill and I expected to see a happy flowing river but, instead, we were greeted with a tiny babbling brook. I looked at Emma Lee in confusion. “Maybe the winds dried most of it up.”

  “It isn’t much of a river,” she said and then turned to Marshal who was counting out steps around the field for some reason. “Hey, Marshal, what happened to the river? Is it always this way when the winds stop?”

  “What do you mean?” He stopped his stride and
swore under his breath because he had lost count. “It should be just fine.”

  “Well, it’s not,” I yelled back. “There’s hardly anything here.”

  “What the hell are you talkin’ about,” he muttered as he made his way up the hill, Billy right behind him. “The river is fine, it’s always fine. You’re just scared to go into the cold...” He stopped and stared at the little stream set out ahead of him.

  “Have we got the wrong river?” asked Emma Lee.

  “What the hell?” Marshal ran down to the water and started kicking the rocks that lay on the dried up river bed. “This shouldn’t be happening. This river never dries up from the winds. It flows out of the mountains and is always deep, deep, deep and fast, fast, fast.” He looked down the path of the water and shook his head. “I gotta know what happened. I’m gonna go and look. I’ll pack a bag, take Billy. We’ll be back...”

  “You can’t go!” Emma Lee grabbed his arm and held him back. “Whatever it is, you can’t go waltzing down there. What if someone has blocked it on purpose? It could be dangerous. You’re not going anywhere without some protection, some sort of plan.”

  “She’s right,” Billy said. “This is bad, Marshal. The out-of-town people probably did this. They’re mad about Butcher. I told ya they wanted to find out who killed him. They’re gonna take our water ‘til we tell ‘em. We gotta find out who done it, Marshal.”

  “Butcher? You mean the man we heard about in town?” asked Emma Lee.

  “Yeah, he was real mean. Everyone was scared of him, even the out-of-towns,” said Billy. “But they had an ‘understanding’ with each other. They let him get the pickin’s first and he left ‘em alone. Marshal we gotta find out who killed him.”

  “No, we don’t Billy,” said Marshal and I knew he was trying to protect me but I didn’t know if that was such a good idea. Maybe they should know what I did. I saved their lives by opening that trapdoor maybe they would understand.

  “But, Marshal, we...”

  “I killed him,” I said. I had to tell them. I had to let them know that my presence was putting them in danger. If the out-of-towns were blocking the river because of what I did, then they should know that.

  “Yeah, right,” laughed Billy. “You? A newcomer? You killed Butcher?”

  “Yeah, I did. I shot him.” Billy kept laughing at me and I found it kind of insulting. “Ask Marshal.”

  “She’s telling the truth,” he said. Emma Lee looked at me with a new kind of respect. “It’s why I decided to let her share my hideout. You know I have no use for newcomers, Billy, but she’s different. She killed Butcher without even blinking an eye, Billy, and that’s when I knew she could take care of herself. She was already like one of us.”

  “Holy shit, Nicky.” Billy sat down on the ground, suddenly losing the will to stand.

  “Why’d you kill him?” asked Emma Lee.

  “He wanted to eat Barker,” I said. Emma Lee looked at the brown dog who was drinking what water he could out of the river. I shrugged my shoulders. “I like Barker.”

  “Shit, Nicky!” Billy had found his voice again. “Do you know what you’ve done? The out-of-towns are gonna flip when they find out a newcomer killed Butcher. They won’t like this, they won’t like this at all and they’ll kill all of us for helping her survive the winds. We’re dead, Marshal, we’re really dead now.”

  “They won’t kill us if they don’t know it was Nicky who done it, Billy.” Marshal walked over to the boy and squatted down to look him in the eye and grabbed his shoulders. “None of us is ever going to mention this again, okay? Butcher died, we don’t know how and we don’t know who done it. That’s all we gotta say, okay?”

  “But he has to know what I did, Marshal,” I said. “He has to decide if it’s safe for him to be near me.”

  “Nicky!” Marshal scared me with his tone of voice. He sounded angry as he glared up at me. “No one has to say anything about what you did to Butcher. It’s done and you’re with us now and Billy will have to live with it. You saved his life and he owes you now.”

  “He’s right,” Emma Lee said. “You did what you had to to survive and I’m sure Billy will keep your secret.”

  Billy looked at the red haired man in front of him and started to settle down. He nodded his head. Marshal was right, none of them could ever say Butcher’s name again and he had to keep my secret to himself. “Okay, Marshal. I-I’ll never mention it again.”

  “Well, then, now that that’s over with,” said Emma Lee, “if you boys would like to return to your counting, or whatever it is you were doing, Nicky and I are going to try to bathe ourselves in what little water we have here.” She started off for the water and I followed. Marshal pulled Billy up and the two of them returned to the field.

  It took us an hour to completely wash ourselves in the tiny little stream. I went back and got some buckets to use for rinsing and they helped a lot. Marshal was right, the water was freezing but it felt good to scrub away all the dirt from my body. I washed my hair three times before I felt satisfied that it was clean and I helped Emma Lee rinse out the conditioner from her long thick hair. She told me she had never used conditioner before and was amazed at how easily the comb went through the tangles afterwards. I bet she would have loved to pamper herself with all the new products we had now. It would have been fun to take her to the spa for a day. I was hoping to come back and try to wash out our clothes but I was reluctant to put any more soap in the trickle of water that was left of the river.

  When we returned to the boys, they were busy digging a hole about a hundred feet east of the trapdoor. They had cleared a patch about twenty feet by twenty feet and were pulling what looked like wooden two by fours out of the earth. Emma Lee and I put our stuff away and headed over to them. Barker ran ahead and grabbed a piece of wood with his teeth and started to help them.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Building a house,” said Marshal. “Grab a board and start piling them over there.”

  “A house? Why are you building a house?” I asked. “And where did you get all this wood?”

  “Buried it,” said Marshal. “’Bout two weeks before the 360 I pulled down my house and buried it here. Now, that the wind’s stopped I can build, build, build. I do it all the time.”

  “Clever,” said Emma Lee. “You’re really quite resourceful, Mr. Marshal.”

  “Oh, my name’s not Marshal,” he said as he pulled another board out. “That’s just what I am.”

  “You’re the Marshal?” she asked, laughing at such a silly idea.

  “Yup, got the nickname ‘bout sixty years ago and it stuck.”

  “Shouldn’t we be getting ready to find out where the water went to?” I asked. I saw no point in building a house right now. That might take days or weeks. If our water supply ran out, we’d be screwed.

  “Plenty of time for that,” said Marshal. “It’ll only take a couple of days to do this, trust me. I’m so good at taking down and putting up my house, I can almost do it with my eyes closed. Mind, it won’t be a mansion or anything, but it should be big enough for all of us. Next 360 we’ll get more wood to stow away and build a bigger house. We can always cut some trees and log it up ‘til then.”

  “Log it up?” asked Emma Lee.

  “Yeah, you know, build a log cabin.”

  “Then we’ll set off and find out about the water?” I suggested.

  “No, then we’ll plant the crops,” said Marshal. “In fact, it’s better if Billy and I build and you girls go start the garden.”

  “The garden?” I wasn’t liking the sound of that. I’m a teenage girl from the city in the twenty first century. What the hell do I know about gardening?

  “If we don’t plant soon, we’ll have no food to store for the winter,” said Billy. “All the people around here plant after the winds are gone.”

  “It’s true, Nicky,” said Emma Lee. “Even down south we do this.”

  “But what about all the
food we took from the grocery stores?” I asked.

  “After a while you’ll get sick of canned food and sweet cakes,” said Marshal.

  “Obviously you don’t know what we eat nowadays,” I mumbled.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “I don’t know the first thing about gardening.”

  “Do you know anything about building a house?” asked Marshal.

  “No.”

  “Then go with Emma Lee and plant, plant, plant our seeds we brought.”

  “Come on, I’ll show you what to do.” Emma Lee guided me to the hideout so we could get gardening tools and seeds. When we came up the stairs, I had a shovel, a hoe, a rake and about a hundred packets of seeds. We started to head off to the south to make our garden.

  “Let’s go Barker,” I patted my leg to call the dog to me. He barked in my direction, wagged his tail and then continued to pull boards from the dirt. “Traitor,” I said and walked away.

  MARSHAL WAS RIGHT, he was good at building. It only took him two days of constant nailing and hammering to get the house up. He was also right in the fact that it wasn’t much of a house. I suppose it was good when it was just him but for all four of us it was rather shabby and small. The house, itself was about thirty feet by twenty feet and was divided into three rooms. Basically, it had a bedroom, a living room and a kitchen. Well, a kitchen with no stove, fridge or sink; it was more for food storage. The floor consisted of sheets of plywood placed over a frame of two by fours and covered with heavy carpets. The frame for the walls was constructed of two by fours doubled up and hammered deep into the ground. There were wider boards that were used for the outside walls and I could see that Marshal had painted them yellow at some point. They were placed as close together as possible but still left huge cracks that I could see through but Marshal and Billy mixed up some kind of mud solution that filled them up nicely. There were no windows.