The Returners (6 page)

The girl looked up as Ray entered the room, but didn't say anything to him. Ray walked past her, opening a door that led to the bedroom area of the cabin and entered. He placed his things upon a stand in the corner of the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. He contemplated how they were going to go about making their move this evening. His eyes were getting heavy, he was tired. It had been a long hike to the cabin and back, and they would be doing it again soon. He stood up and walked out to the kitchen area of the cabin.

"Dave is going to be coming back here in about an hour. I'm going to go and lay down. Make sure you wake me when he arrives. He and I have important matters to discuss." The tone of his voice had changed from earlier and was now more soft spoken.

"Yes Ray," Was all the girl said as she continued to peel and cut potatoes.

"Briella I wish you wouldn't call me Ray. I'm your father, call me Dad." He hated when she called him that and his voice reflected his displeasure.

"Yes Dad." She still didn't look at him when he spoke, continuing to do what she'd been doing.

Ray was a bitter hard man, but the one soft spot he had was for his daughter...even though she hated him. She blamed him for her mother and brothers being killed and he knew this. She thought him a bully and a coward, telling him this on more than one occasion. No matter what he did to protect her and keep her safe, her opinion had never changed.

Those were the thoughts that ran through his head as he laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. It didn't take long for sleep to overtake him.

In the kitchen Briella put the pot she had been putting potatoes into on top of the wood stove. She looked out a large picture window, watching the waves of the pond gently caressing the shoreline, a single tear ran down her face. She hated it here and felt like a prisoner. She wasn't allowed to leave the cabin unless accompanied by her father, Dave, or Joe. Not that Dave and Joe were bad guys, especially Joe. She actually liked his company. They were both the same age and had a lot of similar interest. He was a bit overweight, but had an innocence about him she found attractive. She knew Joe had a crush on her, but would never act on it for fear her father would make him disappear. Briella knew her father loved her, but she felt more like a piece of property than a daughter.

The one thing she'd found solace in since arriving here was the garden they planted last spring. She and the two other women in the camps took care of and harvested it. They were in charge of canning and prepping the food for winter. It wasn't much, but to her it was a small sense of freedom and respite from the hum-drum of normal everyday tasks. Soon it would be time to get the garden ready again. For her that time couldn't come fast enough.  

Jacob, Jessica and Emily sat around the table. The sound of laughter echoed throughout the room as they ate breakfast.

"That was a funny story Mr. Jacob," Emily said as she took a bite of her food.

"I thought you might like it Emily. Just goes to prove you should always check where you pick to do your business when you're in the woods. If you don't, you might get stung in the butt by hornets," Jacob said with a chuckle.

The three of them began laughing again as Jessica stood up and began clearing plates from the table while Emily finished eating.

"Jacob are you done?" Jessica asked as she went to grab the plate in front of him.

"Yes ma'am, that was an amazing meal for sure. I could get used to this whole having a full stomach thing." It had been a long time since he'd done more than just eek out a day to day existence. This was a pleasant change of pace.

Jessica grabbed the plate and headed to the kitchen. A few seconds later Jacob joined her with the rest of the dirty dishes.

"Anything you'd like me to help you with?" Jacob asked as he sat the dishes down on the sideboard.

"You can grab some more water from the spring. That way we'll have plenty to do up the dishes and won't have to get more later on. If you bring back enough I'll show you where the shower is if you want to clean up," Jessica said.

The mention of a shower caught him off guard. He was confused because there didn't appear to be any running water.

"Shower? Wait, you don't have any running water. How can you have a shower?" The thought of having a shower sounding amazing and he was interested to hear about this.

"Years ago my dad and some of his friends built a shower shack out behind the cabin. He was a pretty clever man and figured out how to make a drop tank you could put water in. The water warms up from the sun heating the metal or by pouring in water you boil. It works on a gravity system to pull the water through,” Jessica said.

"That sounds like the most amazing thing I've ever heard.”

“Its pretty neat how they set it all up. I'll show you how it works later if you want? First we need to get the water though." She winked at him, giggling a little as she did.

“Where's the spring?"

She pointed in the direction the spring was. "Emily will show you, it’s not far from the cabin. We use the stream during the winter because the spring freezes over and you can't really get to it because the hill is too slippery. It's only a couple hundred yards from here." 

Emily stood up and walked over to Jacob, grabbing his hand. "Come on, I'll show you where the cart and the buckets are." 

"Okay then, guess I'll be right back. As soon as we do I want to see where that shower is, and what it's all about."  He grabbed his shotgun as the young girl led him out the door.

Jessica couldn't help letting a smile form while she watched Emily dragging Jacob out the door. Jacob seemed like a very kind man, at least that's the impression she got from the brief time she'd known him. Emily seemed to really like him as well, and was already latching onto him. She never took to anyone as quickly as Jacob. It was weird, like a twist of fate had brought the three of them together. It had also been a long time since she'd laughed and smiled so much.

She had to admit it was nice having another adult around. Someone she could talk to and help out with things around the cabin. Jessica was an independent woman, but often felt overwhelmed by everything that needed to be done. The sheer amount it took for her and Emily to survive often took its toll on her. Emily helped as much as she could, but was limited to what she could actually do.

The struggle wasn't something she regretted in the least bit. It was all worth it to keep her daughter safe from the madness that had taken over the outside world. Even if that meant at times pushing herself to her limits.

Emily led Jacob around the corner of the cabin to a small cart that had four five gallon buckets on it.

"This is how we get our water. You just grab those two handles and lift it up." Emily pointed to the two elongated handles sticking off the cart. "It moves along pretty easy once you get it going. Even I can use it, though it's pretty tough to move by myself when the buckets are full."

Jacob grabbed the handles and lifted it up with ease. It was designed very similar to a wheelbarrow, except you had to face away from it and pull it behind you.

"Well Emily, why don't you take me to the spring and we'll get that water. I want to see this shower your mom's talking about."

"Follow me," Emily said, and then began to walk away from the cabin.

Emily led Jacob to a narrow path that looked barely wide enough for the cart to go through. He wasn't so sure the cart was going to make it up it or not, but once they got moving it was wider than he'd thought and the cart moved along with ease.

Jacob continued following Emily and after a few minutes they arrived at the spring. A piece of plywood had been laid over the top of it, used to keep bugs, leaves and pine needles out. It also kept animals from using it and causing contamination.

Emily removed the plywood and flipped it off to the side as Jacob grabbed the buckets and began to fill them. Placing the buckets onto the cart a feeling of unease began to creep over him, like they were being watched. When you spent as much time as he had alone in the woods, you became attuned to your surroundings. Right now something felt off.

Stopping what he was doing he peered into the woods. Slowly scanning the dense cover, watching for anything that might be out of place.

Emily watched Jacob as he stopped and began looking into the woods. Wondering to herself if he had caught a glimpse, or heard something.

"Mr. Jacob is something wrong?" Emily asked.

He looked at Emily and could see she was getting nervous. He didn't want to worry the girl, and didn't voice his concern. It was probably nothing anyway, just him being paranoid. He grabbed the last bucket from the cart.

"No, I don't think it's anything. I'm just used to being on guard all the time. Sometimes I get a little paranoid," He said, dipping the last bucket into the water. Pulling it out he placed it on the cart. "All done, now let’s get back to the cabin."

"Oh okay." Emily could understand that. It was easy to let your imagination get the best of you like that out here. Your mind could be a funny thing sometimes and play all sorts of tricks on you.

"You lead the way Emily." Jacob grabbed the handles of the cart and lifted. Still unable to shake the feeling they were being watched. It just wouldn't leave him, his gut instinct had saved him more than once and he knew better than to ignore it. It took all he could do to convince himself it was nothing. Just his imagination acting up because things were going so well right now.

Emily placed the plywood back over the top of the spring and headed down the trail. The wheels on the cart squeaking as it lurched forward and Jacob followed her back down the path to the cabin.

From a distance Joe watched the man and young girl gather water from a spring. Fear came over him that he'd given away his position when the man stopped and began looking into the woods. He was sure he'd be seen, a wave of relief washing over him when he wasn't and the man went back to gathering water.

Once they were out of site he repositioned himself to get a better view of the cabin. He took extra care to make sure he was well hidden and wouldn't be detected. He watched as the man and young girl reached the cabin. The woman came outside almost as soon as they arrived. All three were now standing outside, and appeared to be talking. Though from this distance he couldn't make out what they were saying.

Jessica could hear Emily humming the same song she had been earlier and the squeaking of the carts wheels as they approached the cabin. Stepping outside to great them she saw Jacob was perspiring profusely as he set the cart down, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"You didn't have any problems did you? I know that cart can be a pain sometimes." It didn't look like he'd had any, but she felt it was polite to at least ask.

"Nope, it worked fine. Just a bit of a workout. Still easier than hauling it one bucket at a time, that's for damn sure." 

Emily grabbed a bucket from the cart. Struggling to lift it, but managing to get it off and on the ground, a small amount of water sloshing over the side.  

"You want me to help you with that Emily?" Jacob asked as he saw the young girl struggling to move the bucket off the cart.

"Nope, I can get it." She picked it back up with both hands and began walking towards the cabin.

"Mom, I'll get the dishes. You can show Mr. Jacob the shower."

"Thank you hon." Jessica grabbed a bucket off the cart. "Jacob grab those other two and follow me, I'll show you where the shower is."  

Jacob grabbed the last two buckets from the cart and followed Jessica to the back side of the cabin. They came to a small rickety looking V shaped structure. On the roof of the structure sat an old metal washtub with a homemade lid. There was a set of steps at the back you could walk up to pour water into the washtub. A sheet of plastic covered the front where you entered.

"So how does this contraption work anyways?" He was not sure this thing was actually going to work. It looked like it was about ready to fall over.

"Pretty easy, I'll show you. It’s not exactly like taking a shower at home, but it works."

Jessica took the bucket she was carrying up the steps and pushed the lid on the washtub to the side. She carefully dumped the bucket of water into it.

"Now give me one of your buckets." She reached out and Jacob handed her one of his buckets. She poured it into the washtub and when she was done placed the lid back over the top before descended the steps.

"We have to give it an hour or so to warm up. The way it works is the sun hits the metal washtub and warms the water up. That way it wont be ice cold when you turn the water on. You can even heat up water inside if you want to take a hot shower. That can be kind of a pain in the ass though, but nice sometimes."

Jessica walked around to the front and pushed the plastic aside. "See this nozzle, you turn that lever and the water comes out. The water doesn't come out very fast, just enough so you can clean up. You have about ten minutes worth of water if the washtub is completely full. It takes three buckets to fill it."

"I've gotta say, I probably would have never thought of something like that. That's pretty clever." He was impressed with the concoction.

"You can leave that other bucket here. Emily and I will probably want to shower later as well. Can you go fill up some more buckets now that you know where the spring is?"

"I can do that." He was more than happy to do that for her. Plus it would give the water in the washtub time to warm up.

"Good, I'll go see how Emily's doing with the dishes while you do that." 

"See you in a few minutes then." Jacob grabbed a stack of empty buckets and walked back to the cart.

Jessica took the last remaining bucket of water and went inside the cabin. She could hear Emily humming a song as she did the dishes. It wasn't a song she recognized.

"How's everything going in here kiddo?" 

"Good, I'm almost done with the dishes. Is it okay if I lay back down for a bit Mommy? I'm wicked tired still."

"That's fine hon. Jacob went to get some more water from the spring so you and I can take showers later."

"Yay! I definitely need one. I'm starting to smell like dirty feet." She laughed.

"Me too hon, me too." She grabbed some of the plates and pans Emily had already cleaned and put them away. "Go ahead and lay down. I'll finish up here."  

Emily turned and gave her a hug. "Thanks, I love you mommy."

"I love you too sweetheart."

Emily ran over to the bed and climbed under the covers. Within moments Jessica could hear her snoring away. She finished putting the dishes away and threw a pot of water on the stove. Opening a container she took out a bar of soap and washcloth, setting it on the sideboard while she finished up the dishes. It wasn't long before she heard Jacob return and open the door. She put her fingers to her lips as he walked in, pointing to the bed where Emily slept. Grabbing the pot of water she went to Jacob and stepped outside. Jacob gently shut the door behind them, so he wouldn't wake Emily.

"I boiled this water so you could take your shower and have warmer water. Figure it would be a nice treat. Oh, wait one second." She handed Jacob the pot of water, going back inside, returning a moment later with the soap and washcloth. "I got these for you as well." 

"Thank you so much." He couldn't remember the last time he'd had hot water and soap to clean up with.

"Do you have any other clothes? I have some stuff that was left here by my dad that might fit you. He was bigger than you, but they should fit. I also have some scissors if you want a beard trim and haircut?"

Figuring she might as well give them to him If he could use them. It was better than leaving them sitting in the storage trunk unused.