Darkness upon the Land

Although she understood what Reuben didn’t want to say, Alexia was still unprepared when the first scream erupted from the barn about twenty minutes after her conversation with him. It was a brief shriek, but its intensity seemed to chill everyone in the house. She really hadn’t thought it would come to this. Earlier that morning when she met the prisoner while completing the chores, she had tried to speak encouragingly to him, pointing out how her group wasn’t bad people, and they would be more than happy to help him out if he would only cooperate with them. The only response she got from him was a snarled retort that almost elicited an outburst from her.

The world had gone mad, and all of them had gone completely bonkers with it. Their “guests” seemed to vanish and become quiet as an occasional shriek, sometimes peppered with profanity, would seep into the house every ten minutes or so.

About an hour after the first scream, Doreen and Mitch approached Mѐre and Alexia while they were helping Larissa change the bandaging on Darius’s wound because it had already soaked through.

“I don’t know why this seems hard to say, Liana.” She seemed to fidget. “We appreciate your taking us in, but … we just can’t stay any longer. You understand, we can’t leave the kids in a situation so … dangerous.”

Mѐre seemed to hardly notice anyone in the family as she put away items from the first aid kit. “I don’t think there’s any way to escape dangerous right now. All you can do is try to determine what might be the least dangerous.”

Mitch added, “We know people are looking for this place, and that it’s leading to things –”

Another shriek came from the barn.

Doreen looked distinctly ill at ease. “We can’t stay.”

Mѐre straightened and started to draw a slow, deep breath. But then she winced slightly and instead held it for a few seconds.

“Of course you must do what you think is best for them,” she responded bluntly. “Come into the kitchen, I’ll send you off with a few things.”

“We’re going, too,” Larissa blurted.

“All of us,” Darius added. “Carlo and Percy, too. This place is too much of a target.”

“Then I’ll send a little something with all of you,” Mѐre replied flatly.

Alexia went outside to stand guard while over the next half hour the band of refugees prepared to leave. She supposed she couldn’t blame them for wanting to seek someplace safer, but it seemed … heartless for them to abandon Mѐre at what might become her moment of greatest need. Yet in another way she was glad to see them go. The Grahams needed to take care of their children, and the rest of the bunch never fit in.

When they walked past her on their way to the driveway, Doreen and the kids said farewell. Mitch looked too shaken to speak, and the remainder of the group only scowled.

Another wail from the barn almost seemed to chase them around the bend.

Alexia eventually ventured some distance up the driveway so that she could sooner see if anyone approached. It also made the cries from the barn softer. Eventually she noticed the screams stopped, and within another half-hour Reuben, with that ashen look she had come to know, strolled up to her.

“I heard that the rats fled the ship,” he stated numbly.

“I was just getting used to them,” she murmured. “I think both the attack and the … screaming … shook them up. So how are you holding up?”

“Barely. Come on to the house, I want to tell you and your mom together what I’ve found out. Nobody else should be coming out here today.”

“Did he tell that?”

“Not directly.” He turned back toward the house.

She walked with him into the kitchen, and the three of them sat at the table while Reuben related what he’d learned. It took her a while to realize they were still speaking English.

“Slim and our prisoner out there are both associated with the council, and they teamed up with a couple of hoods to try and get the jump on us.”

Mѐre frowned thoughtfully. “Was this alliance something they cooked up on their own, or is the council as a whole making its deals with the devil?”

“A little of both.” He took a sip from his glass of water. “Seems that for the last couple of weeks the council has been using lackeys like Mr. Babbles out there to contact and make arrangements with some of the hordes that were closing in. They’d figured the growing gangs were going to come anyway, so the council members decided they’d be able to minimize the damage, especially to themselves, by bargaining before the main confrontation began. The gangs would suffer fewer losses of life if they came into a community where the citizens had been disarmed, and the resources the council had been confiscating would be shared with the delinquents. Like paying tribute to the warlords so that they’ll move on.”

Alexia felt a chilling tremor pass through her. “But the gangs attacked the town anyway,”

“You can always rely on a scorpion to sting you.” He lightly tapped the egg and cucumber sandwich Mѐre made for him, but still hadn’t taken a bite from it. “One problem with the gangs is that they’re a bunch of small groups that raid together but they have no central authority. They haven’t been together long enough to fight it out amongst themselves who the real leaders are gonna be.”

“So they readily act independently of each other.” Mѐre nodded. “And I presume our two visitors from Esperanza struck a deal with the other two that they would all come out here, commandeer the place for themselves, and take all they could before the others arrived.”

“They knew they had a couple of days before the main force comes out here.”

Alexia caught her breath. “How does he know when they’re coming out here?”

“Because they haven’t drained the town dry yet, but they’re getting close. These hordes are like locusts. They suck up every resource in an area before they move on, taking full advantage of what meager comforts are left, then leaving desolation in their wake. Thanks to these goons trying to get a head start, we know who’s coming and when.”

But Mѐre didn’t look a bit appeased. “The three of us can’t hold back a whole swarm of them. We’ll have to gather together everything we can and hide out in the swamp.”

“Not in your condition.” His gaze rose to hers, and determination returned to his demeanor. “I agree we need to be ready to make a run for it, but you can barely walk down to the driveway and back.”

“Which is why we should get cover in the swamp before they even get here.”

“That’s a good back-up plan, but our primary objective should be I take the fight to them for a change.”

Mѐre practically gaped at him. “You’re not a one-man army.”

“Absolutely, which is why I need to go to Esperanza and gather up some reinforcements.”

“How?” Alexia blurted. His proposal sounded much too hazardous for him.

“We know there was already a resistance movement forming in town,” he replied. “Hopefully Father Nick is still … available, but regardless I should be able to track down some people ready to rise up against these hordes.”

Mѐre shook her head. “It’s far too dangerous. You don’t know enough people in town and they don’t know you. You might as well have a target on both sides of your head.”

Alexia didn’t even consider her next words. “I can help.”

Her mother’s nod was almost dismissive. “You’ll be plenty of help.”

“I’ve got to try.” The color had returned to Reuben’s face as he focused on the matriarch. “Yes, we’d be able to survive in the swamp for a few days, but it puts you at risk and we’ll come back to nothing after they move on.”

She was a bit perturbed by Mѐre’s response, but managed to push that emotion aside in order to make her point instead of getting into another argument. “I can help Rube when he goes into town.”

Her mother stiffened as her gaze shot to Alexia. His focus remained on the woman.

“He’s not going into town,” Mѐre replied matter-of-factly.

“I’m going.” His response was just as calm. “Not only could it keep you all safe, it might help the people in Esperanza. There may be a group plotting an overthrow already. And they need all the help they can get.”

“Which includes my help,” Alexia interjected. “I do know the people to look for and they know me.”

There was a flash in Mѐre’s eyes. “I may not be able to stop stiff-necked Reuben, but you are not going to go into that hornet’s nest.”

She saw him draw a slow, deep breath, giving her the impression that he was bracing himself.

“Alex has a point,” he stated calmly.

Mѐre’s fiery gaze shot to him with such vehemence that Alexia was shocked. She’d never, ever seen her mother even slightly cross with him before now.

“She is not going.” Even her voice belied a hostile tone. “It’s bad enough for you to put me in the position of possibly having to explain to your parents what happened to you, you are not dragging her into the fray with you.”

“I’m volunteering,” Alexia stated.

Oh no, it was starting over again. As frightening as his plan was, she realized the value to it, and that his success might hinge on her being able to get him to the right people. But her lion-at-the-gate mother was not about to let her pass.

“Liana, I completely understand your first instinct is to cover her with your wings.” Reuben remained calm. “But you also did an excellent job of teaching Alex to be independent and compassionate, and circumstances dictate–”

Mѐre practically snarled, “She’s only sixteen!”

He didn’t flinch. “And I’m only … eighteen.”

She immediately realized why he hesitated before stating his age, and a rush of both despair and guilt washed through her. “Oh, Rube! It’s your birthday!”

He shrugged slightly but kept his attention on her mom. “If you go mucking through that swamp you’ll run the risk of infection.”

“Don’t even start with me.” Mѐre pointed at him. “There’s no way on earth I’ll ever let her be put at that much risk.”

“Mѐre.” She had to remain calm, partly to keep from reverting to her earlier tirades, and partly to prove to her mother that she could control her emotions. “You just said you didn’t want to have to explain to his parents if something happened to him. Shouldn’t we do everything we can to help him? To help the others in Esperanza?”

“You will not go!”

Her mom’s response unsettled her enough to cause the water in his glass to ripple. Mѐre immediately pointed at it.

“Remember what happened to you today?” Her tone was still firm but less venomous. “We absolutely cannot risk your having an outburst with a bunch of thugs around.”

It was getting harder to keep those resentments from clamoring toward the foreground. “That’s always your answer, isn’t it? Keep me hidden! Keep me locked away! Keep me secret! The rest of the world can go to pot and all I’m allowed to do is hide in a corner with my arms over my head!”

“You talk like you want to go get your head blown off.”

“Of course I don’t want that to happen. But if I can help I shouldn’t let fear paralyze me into doing nothing!”

“I’m sorry.” Reuben was the only one not on the verge of becoming irrational, although he looked a bit uncomfortable at the moment as he placed a hand over the trembling glass. “I didn’t make myself clear. Alex would help me locate the right people, and then she would stay under cover or head home, whichever is more feasible.”

“You can’t guarantee her safety.” Mѐre actually glared at him.

Alexia drew a quick, cleansing breath before responding. “He got me home, didn’t he? You’ve put me under his care whenever you’re not around, haven’t you? Which would really be better, Mѐre? Stop those people where they are and help our friends in town, or leave them at the mercy of the gangs who will then destroy everything that we have and could have shared with those in need?”

She shook her head. “You’re too young. I’ll concede that we should try to help, but you’re going to stay away from the front. I’ll need you to help pack, to portage as much as we can into the wilds of the swamp.”

She drew a deep breath and braced herself as she looked her mother in the eye. “I’ll do everything I can before I leave with Rube when he heads into town.”

“You are not going.”

“She will if I don’t stop her,” he stated calmly.

If looks could kill, Mѐre could have reduced him to a pile of bloody chunks. “We have an agreement, young man!”

“I’m sorry.” He genuinely looked and sounded regretful. “I’m so sorry. I promise I’ll do everything I can to keep her safe, but I’ll be lost in Esperanza without her. I’m not abandoning my word to you, but right now the best way to help me keep it is to let Alex help me to find the right people.”

“You’ll really be sorry if something happens to her!”

“Mѐre, please.” Drawing inspiration from Reuben’s stoicism, she managed to keep herself calm. “I’ve made the decision to go, but please don’t see it as an act of defiance. I know it’s dangerous, and I am a little afraid, but I can’t let that stop me from helping others, from helping you. Please. I’d rather go with your blessing than with you upset at us.”

Her mom glared at Alexia before returning her wrath to him. “This is your fault for encouraging her like this! Can’t you think for one second about how much danger you’ll be putting her in?”

“I’m constantly aware of how much danger we’re in. I’m always on guard, barely sleeping, hardly eating, always waiting for the next time somebody’s going to come up that road and start shooting at us. I haven’t seen Henry all day. We might not even have a dog to help warn us anymore. I’ve had to fight people, even kill people. I’ve just tortured a man –” Reuben’s voice cracked.

She was startled to see him hastily wipe at his eyes as he looked away from them. As he drew a deep, somewhat shuddering breath, her mother’s expression rapidly switched from rage to surprise to concern.

His color was ashen again as he returned his attention to Mѐre, and his voice was a bit hoarse. “I wouldn’t ask for Alex’s help if I didn’t truly believe I needed it. But more so, we all need it. It’s as much for her benefit as for ours and theirs.”

This seemed like a good time for her to remain quiet. Mѐre stared at him for several seconds, and when she responded her tone was heavy.

“You can’t really understand how hard this is for me.”

“You’re right. She’s not my daughter.” His composure was returning. “But I do understand why. It may have been your intention to save her from the world, but now this undeserving world may need her to help save it. Ultimately, you saved her for the world, and for that you should finally accept forgiveness. If you would just do that, you could let her go.”

Alexia frowned slightly as she glanced between him and her mother. She started out following his words well enough, but then he went into something esoteric that only the two of them shared knowledge about. What forgiveness did her mom need to accept?

Mѐre drew a long, slow breath before she replied. “You bring her back to me.”

It was odd how she could experience both elation and trepidation at the same time.

Reuben nodded. “I’ll do everything I can.”

“And you heard me.” Mѐre pointed at him. “You come back with her. You’re part of this bargain.”

He smiled faintly. “Believe me, I’ll do everything I can in that regard, too.”