Notes from the Edge America the Dead Book One Episode 5

Notes from the Edge America the Dead Book One Episode 5

Good morning from New York. It is still cold in the mornings here in New York; as far north as we are it will not really completely warm up until sometime toward the end of the month. But June should be beautiful, July edging into the hot zone, August way too hot, September, fall will be here. Ahhh, northern New York seasons are fast, except winter.

Today is episode 5 of America the Dead book 1. Enjoy. Comments, feedback are important and of course you can also listen to the podcasts on our YouTube channel or get the books from Amazon. Enjoy, Dell…

EARTH’S SURVIVOR’S AMERICA the DEAD: BOOK ONE

Based on the series by W. G. Sweet

Episode 5

PUBLISHED BY

Writerz.net

AMERICA the DEAD: BOOK ONE

Copyright © 2013 by W. G. Sweet All Rights Reserved

Writers: W.W. Watson, Geo Dell, W.G. Sweet, G.D. Smitty

This book, in this blog format, is licensed for your
personal enjoyment only. If you would like to share this book with another
person, please point them to this blog entry. Thank you for respecting the hard
work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places or
incidents depicted are products of the authors imagination. Any resemblance to
actual living persons places, situations or events is purely coincidental.

This novel is Copyright © 2013 Writerz.net No part
of this book may be reproduced by any means, electronic, print, scanner or any
other means and, or distributed without the authors permission.

Permission is granted to use short sections of text in
reviews or critiques in standard or electronic print..

*******

EARTH’S SURVIVOR’S – AMERICA the DEAD: BOOK ONE

*******

CHAPTER FOUR

March 14th

Everyone was up early and ready to
go before the sun was barely above the horizon.

“Yesterday,” Jake said to no one in
particular. “Thirty-two hours long.” Silence greeted his remark. Katie checked
her own watch.

“So, like, that means things are
slowing down,” Lana asked?

“You think,” Jake asked unkindly.

“Well, something like that,” Lana
shot back defensively.

“Why would it go backwards,” James
asked?

“Yeah. Wasn’t it supposed to stop,
reverse and then start up again,” Lana asked?

“Maybe,” Conner agreed. “But that
was all based on theory. No facts involved at all. I think they had some
evidence that the poles had reversed at a few points in history before. And some
legends that spoke about the Earth standing still for a day, something like
that. But even so, that’s all theory. Not fact.”

“Yeah,” Jake chimed in. “It’s like
an asshole. Everyone’s got one.”

“Don’t you mean opinion,” Lana
asked sweetly?

“Whatever… We ready to go, or
what,” Jake asked? Everyone followed him outside in the uncomfortable silence
that fell.

~

“What’s up with those two,” Katie
whispered as she followed Conner outside.

“Who knows,” Conner whispered back.
James met his eyes and raised his eyebrows. Conner shrugged his shoulders and
shook his head as if to say I don’t know.

“We may as well take all three
trucks,” James suggested. “That way if we find stuff we want it’ll save us
driving back to get them.”

“Easier if we get stuck too,” Katie
suggested.

Jake shrugged his shoulders. “Fine
by me,” he said. He headed for the Suburban with Lana right behind him. Jana
and Katie headed for the pickup truck. James broke into a laugh and grinned at
Conner. “Guess that leaves me and you in the old dinosaur… Want to drive?”

“After you,” Conner said laughing.
James started the truck and pulled out last in line and followed the other two
trucks as they picked their way along the edge of the ruined road.

~

“It was me that asked Jana to go
with Katie,” James said as they followed slowly along behind the other trucks.

Conner nodded. His eyes following
the sides of the road as James drove along. “I thought it was something like
that,” he said. “What’s on your mind, James?”

“Well… A lot,” James said after a
second or two. He hesitated a little longer. “I guess mainly to say Jana and I
would like to go with you when you leave… And Katie, I assume.”

“Yeah,” Conner agreed. “I know that
probably seemed kind of quick.”

“It’s a…”

“Quick world,” Conner finished.
“Katie said the same thing. I don’t know how much better off we’ll be, but we’d
be glad to have you two with us if you want to come.”

“We would. Jana and I talked it
over. We talked all night long last night. I got nothing personal against Jake;
he did alright by us, but he’s a little too…”

“Demanding…? Aggressive…?” Conner
supplied.

James looked thoughtful. “I don’t
know… Something like that. I just don’t see him being able to see this through.
I feel like if we came back here in ten years, we’d find him still holed up in
that … He’s… I don’t know… Too immature to talk to about it. He has only one
way of looking at things… That can’t work.”

“You’re probably right. He’d still
be here with Lana… Probably with a couple of babies running around… But maybe
that’s not such a bad thing…Maybe that’s a good thing…” He shrugged. “The
immaturity… I don’t know… It’s there though. Maybe he’ll move out of that.
Maybe it’s just the situation.”

“Maybe,” James agreed. “But that’s
exactly the time he should be mature, isn’t it?”

Conner nodded. James continued.

“So, maybe it’s a good thing, maybe
it’s not. But not for me. I don’t want to stay here. Nor Jana either. I
wouldn’t want to quit this unless I knew this was all there was. I mean, this
couldn’t be worldwide, could it?”

“I don’t know,” Conner said softly.
“But I agree. I know what you mean. Katie and I talked about it last night as
well and came to the same opinion. It could be better elsewhere, and whatever
is right for Jake or Lana isn’t necessarily right for us. I was for going from
the start. I have to know if this is really the end. If there’s anything else.
If it is, I’ll deal with it. Find a place to settle down. Thank God I have
Katie, you and Jana… Maybe we’ll meet others on the way to… Well, wherever.”

“I think so,” James said. “There
are people, other people around. We just got to find them… Or them us.”

“Yeah… We got to remember rifles or
pistols… I hate to say it, James, but we may need them.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, “Yeah.”

They continued on in silence as the
small caravan made its way past a collapsed building partially blocking what
was left of the road.

“I think… It’s not my business,”
James said, “But I think you made an enemy of Lana. She was thinking you would
be with her…”

“Yeah… I could see that, James… I
don’t think Jake was pleased either.”

James nodded. “Nope… None too…
Him I wouldn’t worry about though. Her, she’s pretty spiteful. I’ve only known
her for a week, but it’s enough. That child did pretty much what she wanted to
I’ll bet… Used to having her own way… Getting what she wants… When she wants
it.”

“Yeah… I can see that… But last
night we talked about the journals; I’m keeping one, Katie is as well, Lana
said she would… Something to leave when we leave…”

“It’s not a bad idea,” James
agreed. “I’m not much for writing myself, but Jana might like it.”

Conner nodded. “Well, Lana liked
the idea. She didn’t say she’d go, but she might… So, hate me or not, she might
be with us.”

“Oh,” James said. “I see that.
Maybe she’ll be okay… She’s a kid… Maybe she’ll change.”

“Guess we’ll have to see,” Conner
agreed. “Guess we’ll have to see.”

James worked the truck up and over
a huge slab of up-tilted asphalt and followed along behind the other two trucks
as they made their way down the strip.

“What did you think of the idea
that Jake had of fixing up one of the new trucks,” Conner ventured after a few
minutes.”

“Won’t work. Or at least it won’t
work without a lot of trouble. The new engines are computer dependent. We could
probably find ourselves another motor, maybe even a new crate motor at a parts
store somewhere around here,” James said.

“What’s a crate motor,” Conner
asked?

“It just means a new motor, all
crated up when it was sent from the factory. They sell them. Race cars. Old
rebuilds… Like that. But even if we couldn’t find a crate motor, we could find
enough parts to rebuild anything we would need to rebuild on nearly any
vehicle. So really, when we’re done, we’d have what amounted to a new vehicle.
Jake wants to oversimplify that. He thinks we can just find the parts and swap
them out on the motor that’s in the truck. Maybe we can… I’m not that good
though, and I don’t think he is. I think we should stick to what we can do for
sure. Utilize what we have… The new parts.”

“That what you think we should do?
Build a vehicle?”

“Yeah… Maybe two… Four-wheel drive
of course. Go right through them top to bottom. Everything new. It would take a
few weeks, but we’ve got that and more. Meantime you could work on your Ham
radio idea, “James finished.

“Can you get electric? Those big
Ham radio outfits need regular power.”

“Yeah, that’s not a problem. We’ll
just find a generator. That will give us all the power we need. We could even
hook up a power inverter to give us one twenty in the vehicle,” James added.

Conner nodded. “So, we’re going to
jump right into this thing. Get ready to go?”

James nodded. “I’m with you. I’m
not spending next winter in a cold factory building unless I have to. There’s a
place in Tennessee… Maybe Kentucky.” He closed his eyes for a split second as
if seeing something only he could see. He shook his head, frowned and then
continued. “If not, I’m thinking the coast… Southern or western, either will
do. Whichever one looks to be the better bet. And who knows how hard it’ll be
to get there? So, the sooner we’re ready to go the better.”

“I agree,” Conner said. “I’ll talk
to Katie.

“And I’ll talk to, Jana. But we
already talked…”

“So did we,” Conner agreed. They
both laughed.

James angled the big truck around a
final piece of asphalt and into a cracked and buckled parking lot. The two
other vehicles sat silent: waiting for them.

As they left the truck Conner
noticed that the store hadn’t seemed to incur any more damage since the last
time that he had been there. The roof was bowed inward, it had been before, but
there were plenty of upright pillars that supported the roof and they all
appeared intact. At least the ones he could easily see. The supports were
spaced about every sixteen or so feet.

“Safe,” Jake asked?

“Looks the same as it did the last
time,” Conner allowed. Katie and James looked at him and he shrugged. “I’d say
so. It looks the same as it did the last time I was here. It doesn’t even look
as though anyone has been here.”

The scattered, powdered snow seemed
undisturbed around the shattered doorway that led into the building. Conner
snapped his flashlight on and led the way inside.

The inside of the store told a
different story. Someone had been there during the time Conner had last been
there. Several of the glass display cases that held the weapons had been
damaged. They were locked. Whoever had made the attempt had made it
halfheartedly. The glass was safety glass of some sort. It had cracked, spider
webbed, but it had not broken and caved in.

“Guess someone tried to get in,”
James offered.

Jake held up a discarded crowbar.
Even in the weak light they could see the streaks of scarlet on one end. Jake
let it fall to the floor. The clatter was loud enough to make Lana draw in a
quick breath in the broken silence that followed.

“Jesus, Jake,” She sputtered. Jake
only grinned.

“Why does someone go through all of
that when they could’ve taken a simple screwdriver and just popped the locks,”
Katie asked?

“Well,” Jake started.

Katie had walked behind the
counter, taken a screwdriver from her pocket and began to jimmy the lock
mechanism. It was a cheap sliding set and easily bent to one side far enough to
slide the glass door open. Katie smiled.

“Learn that up in the big city,
Miss,” Conner asked with a smile.

Katie smiled back, reached inside
the case, careful of the glass that had sprayed in small slivers from the
spider webs in the top, and withdrew pistol after pistol, setting them on a
wooden topped case next to the cash register.

“Forty-five caliber… Nine-millimeter, a cheap one though… Three eighty, kind of nice, though small…
Here’s a much nicer Nine Millimeter…” She set several more guns on the wooden
top, looked up with a crooked grin and asked, “Well, gentlemen…Lady… what will
it be?”

“You really know about this kind of
shit,” Lana asked in an awed voice.

“Obviously well enough to know
what’s what,” Jake said.

“That’s right. Obviously well
enough,” Katie agreed. She gave no further explanation.

“What do you think, Katie,” Jana
asked?

“Yeah, what would be the best,”
Conner asked?

Katie shrugged. “It depends on what
you like. I like a three eighty myself. It’s small. Not as heavy as a Nine-millimeter.” She pulled her own Nine Millimeter. “This was my dad’s… A good
gun, but I liked the Three Eighty I had… A Three Eighty won’t really knock
somebody down, not like you see in the movies. But a nine-millimeter won’t
always do that either. It’ll just make a bigger hole. If you want to knock
somebody down, you need this.” She held up the bigger forty-five caliber pistol.
She held the mostly black pistol easily in one hand. “This will knock somebody
down and kill them… And, on the off chance that your aim was bad and you didn’t
immediately kill them, believe me… They are not going to feel like getting back
up.” She grinned. “It’s still not like the movies… You know, where you see
them flying backwards through the air. But it will knock them down and keep
them there.”

“Jesus, Girl… I’m like in awe,”
Lana said.

“Katie,” Katie said, “and thank
you.”

“So how do you know all that…? Like
for real? How do you know all that shit?”

“My dad was a cop… Not in New York,
before we moved there. He had a thing for guns. I just caught it. When he knew
I was going to be like him when it came to guns, he sent me for training…
Safety stuff mostly, but I liked it so much I started buying my own weapons as
well. I took the test… Eventually I would’ve had my foot in the door in New
York. That’s a good department. I would’ve been in already if not for the
economy. “

“The thing is I love to shoot. I’m
good also,” she sighed.

“So… What will it be?” She let the
smile return to her face, reached over and began to jimmy another of the locks
on the sliding glass doors.

They spent the good part of two
hours in the store. Camping gear; rifles, pistols and ammunition. Conner began
to feel like they were equipping their own private army before they were done.
Even so by the time they left everyone was carrying at least one pistol, and
several rifles and boxes of ammunition had found their way into the back of the
pickup truck. Katie, Conner noticed, had added a matte black forty-five caliber
pistol to the Nine Millimeter. She wore them in webbed holsters on a wide
leather belt.

“I thought you preferred a Three
Eighty,” Conner said half-jokingly as he replaced the Nine Millimeter, he had
decided on back into the side holster he had chosen.

“I do,” she said. “For shooting…
But like I said, a Three Eighty can’t knock somebody down.” Her eyes met his.

“Yeah… There is that,” Conner
agreed quietly.

They spent a short amount of time
looking through a small convenience store in the same parking lot. There was
very little left. Most likely cleaned out, James voiced, by the same folks who
had tried to take the guns. This was evidenced by smears of maroon on the
counter tops. Even so they managed to find boxes of stuff in the storage area.
They finished filling the backs of the trucks with basic First Aid stuff and
several boxes full of Candy bars and junk food too.

The sun had been standing overhead
for what seemed like hours. James Spoke.

“Hotter,” he said. “You can feel
the heat. And,” He motioned with his hands, “the snow is melting faster too.”

“Got a theory on that,” Conner
asked?

James shook his head.

“Maybe the whole process takes
time,” Katie said.

“Maybe,” Jake agreed. “Maybe it’s
not so easy to start something spinning in the other direction… And we don’t
know if it really stopped or not. The sun’s coming up in the north, or it was,
but that seems to be changing also. I don’t think it stopped all the way. I
think it’s just got a different spin now. And maybe a different path.”

James nodded as did Conner. “I
guess we’ll leave it for the scientists… Long as we don’t fall off the Earth.”
He chuckled a little.

“Call it a day,” Conner asked?

“Yeah,” Jake agreed. “We still have
to unload all of this.” There were a few halfhearted complaints, but everyone
piled into the trucks, and they made their way slowly back towards the heart of
the city and the old factory that lay behind Old Town.

Jana March 14th

We are six people who have managed
to stay alive through whatever it is that has happened to our planet. My
husband James and I were fortunate enough to be protected by our spirits and
brought through all of this.

I am Jana Adams; my husband is full
blooded Blackfoot and a very proud man. A very good man as well. And not just
to me. He treats all people well.

My mother was Cherokee, and my
father was French. I don’t mean French transplanted to this country. My mother
met him in France. We are looking forward to whatever the Great spirits purpose
is in this.

We have many young people with us.
Conner Davis. He’s mixed race. Like many of us. He probably doesn’t realize it
but he is in fact our leader. He’s in his early twenties. I guess the mixed-race stuff doesn’t matter anymore, but I lived with it for so long that it’s
hard for me to let it go.

James has suffered worse with those
prejudices. Many other people besides me. Maybe the world is at that place
where all of that stuff can be let go now? I hope so.

Katie Lee is a beautiful young
woman. Her father is African American, her mother Asian. She has her father’s
dark skin blended with her mother’s features. Striking. I enjoy her company. She
reminds me of my daughter. I don’t know how she fared in all of this. I suppose
we’re all wondering similar things.

Jake Light. And, Lana, Marcia Lana
Santos fill out our party. We are planning to leave here in a few months and
head south, or west. The direction isn’t decided only the realization that we
need to go. The thinking is that we should head south. Somewhere warmer. After
all, there is no electricity here. And we are living in an old factory right
down by the river. It’s not a bad, and we’re lucky to have it. Almost the
entire city has been destroyed. Most buildings are unsafe to live in. This one
was built up against the cliffs. It’s solid.

When we leave, we’ll leave all of
that behind us. This is who we are. We will most likely continue to the south.
We are currently looking for a Short-Wave radio set to try to get in touch with
others around the world. You, whoever you may be, may be able to reach us that
way wherever we have gone to now.

James believes in the people. That
the people will once again live on the earth the way they used to. James
believes it, and so I believe it. I’ll continue to keep this book up while
we’re here and include any useful information we can pass on to you before we
go…

Katie March 14th

I guess I should start this the
right way. I hadn’t thought about it when it was just me to think about. But
it’s more than me. Or even those of us that are here now. It’s the ones who
might come. Or will come after. So even if you figured out almost all of what
I’m about to write I’ll write it anyway.

I read back over what I wrote, and
it doesn’t even seem like me. Like I wrote it. Like those things happened to me

My name is Katie Lee. I was living
here when all of this happened. I’m not from here. I actually did live here for
a while last year, but that’s a long story. The point is I’m not really from
here like the others are.

My man is Conner Davis, and we are
with two other couples: Jana and James Adams, and Jake Light and Lana Santos. I
came here with them; Conner was on his own then. I was too, even though I had
people around me. I guess if you’ve read all of this diary you know what I’m
talking about. I had Jana as my friend. This diary and my father’s gun. I Thank
God for what I had, especially Jana.

Jana and James are older. They are
really good people. Jake and Lana are younger. Well, Lana is. Lana’s even
younger than I am, but Jake is quite a lot older. I don’t think anyone cares
about that anymore though. At least nobody here does.

We are going to leave here sometime
in the next few months and try to make it down to the Gulf coast. We don’t know
for sure how that will go. I’ll keep this updated though until then. We’re
going to leave these behind us. Hopefully they will be useful to someone. But I
think I’ll keep my little Notebook. It means something to me.

Things we know: You can get trucks
and cars to start as long as they are older ones that don’t have electronic
brain boxes, as James put it. That is how we intend to go before winter or just
after winter really let’s go. Otherwise, we’d really have to wait for summer to
settle in before we could chance travel.

There are several sporting goods
stores in the area. We’re all carrying guns now. It seems smart to do. Maybe I
should say it would be stupid not to. We think it only makes good sense.

This building we are in seems
stable, but many of the other structures in the city aren’t safe to live in. We
don’t know if it’s even all over with yet. Whether there is more to come. We
hope not.

We’re going to try to reach others
with Ham Radios. We’re also trying to find a battery powered television set
just to see if anything’s on the air. We’re hopeful. We’re also going to pick
up some handheld F.M. radios. Walkie Talkies James calls them. That way we can
speak to each other when we’re separated.

The sun is rising in the north.
Really the Northwest. The days were long, then short, now going back towards
long again. We don’t know what that might mean. Where it will end or even where
we will be when it does end. And maybe end is the wrong word to use. We don’t
know what began or ended; might begin or end.

I re-read that, I guess it seems
melodramatic, at least to me, but it’s honest.

 I’ll write more as we go along.

March 15th

Early morning darkness held the
road that fronted the old factory. The moonlight, sparse, reflected off the
rapids of the river.

A shadow moved by one of the pickup
trucks. Another moved by the Suburban. The sound of sand gritting beneath the
sole of a shoe came clearly in the shadowy darkness. The door of the pickup
squealed loudly as it was carefully opened. The shadow paused looking towards
the Suburban. The shadow there appeared to be fighting with the door to no
avail. The shadow next to the pickup gestured quickly with both hands and the
shadow next to the Suburban gave up on the door, crossed to the pickup and
quickly climbed inside. Once they were both inside silence returned to the small
patch of asphalt that fronted the entrance to the building. A few seconds later
the pickup roared to life. The headlights snapped on, the wheels turned hard
left, and the driver launched the truck down what was left of the shattered
roadway.

Voices were raised in alarm from
inside the building, and within just a few moments everyone inside was outside.
Lana, gun in hand, unloaded a full clip at the fleeing pickup truck. Both Jake
and Conner snapped off a single shot, more in startled response to Lana’s’ shots
than with any real hope of hitting the retreating pickup truck.

“Jesus,” Lana said breathlessly.
“They stole our truck!” She turned and looked at Conner with wide, frightened
eyes. “They stole our Goddamn truck,” She repeated. “How could they steal our
truck?”

Jake headed for the suburban,
pulled the keys from his pocket, prepared to unlock the door.

“Jake,” Conner called. “Where are
you going, Man?”

That’s our Goddamn truck. I’m going
to get it.” His eyes were wild. The truck keys in one hand, a pistol in the
other. No shirt. Sock-less shoes, laces trailing.

“It’s an old truck, Man,” Conner
said.

“It’s my old truck,” Jake
said defensively. “And if I catch that fucker…”

“Fuckers,” Lana said.

“Huh,” Jake asked?

“Fuckers as in I saw two heads. Two
of them. Not one,” Lana said. Her voice held a breathless, excited quality to
it that Conner didn’t like. She was dressed in jeans and a thin T-shirt. She
shivered slightly, whether from the cold or the excitement Conner couldn’t
tell.

“Either way. One, two, how would we
catch them? … And then what? Are we going to shoot somebody for stealing an old
truck? Is that what things have come to,” Conner asked?

“Look, don’t get moral on me,” Jake
said. He leveled his eyes at Conner. “I do things my way. You take from me you
pay for it.”

Conner just stared back at him.

“You’re soft,” Jake said. But his
fists, still clenched, dropped from the truck door and he walked away from the
Suburban and back into the building.

Lana threw Conner a nasty look,
finally managed to fish a replacement clip from her overly tight front pocket.
Ejected the empty one into her hand and slid the new one into the pistol with a
solid click. “Soft,” She echoed as the clip clicked home. She turned and walked
back inside the factory. In the distance the muffler of the truck began to
fade. It was hard to tell where it had gone. Which direction.

James stepped up beside Conner
where he stood with Katie and Jana. “I’m not going to kill anybody over an old
truck,” he said.

“Me either,” the other three said in
near unison.

“Guess we better start making sure
everything’s locked up tight,” Conner said.

“We’re going to have to start
keeping a watch,” Jana said.

“We will,” Katie agreed. “What if
the next thing they want is a woman?”

“That’s not funny,” Conner said.

She leveled her dark eyes on his.
Silvery moonlight reflecting from them. “I wasn’t trying to be funny. Now that
they know we’re around…” she shrugged. “Lana may have overreacted, but… Maybe
not…Who the Hell would pull a stunt like that anyway? Everything’s just lying
around… Want a truck? Go get one… No… It’s a mindset. Someone who takes like
that doesn’t take because it’s easy. They take because they like it. Because
they can…” She lowered her voice, “Truck… Woman…. Might all be the same to
them.”

No one answered.

~

Jake and Lana sat talking in low
tones as the others walked back into the building. They had rebuilt the fire
and the warmth and light spread out, glowing on the brick walls. “Jake,” Conner
started.

“Listen,” Jake said. “I shouldn’t
have said that… I didn’t mean to say that. And, no, it would be stupid to go
chasing after a goddamn truck in the middle of the night. And, no, I don’t want
to kill someone over stealing a piece of shit truck,” Jake said. “But that kind
of shit can’t happen… I mean, what’s next?”

“Yeah,” Conner agreed. “Yeah. I
guess what’s next is locked up trucks. No keys left in them. And…” He looked
over at Katie. “I guess a guard at night… Katie said… She thinks someone
who would come to take a truck might come to take a woman also.”

The silence held only for a second.

“Fuckin’ A,” Lana spat.

She looks positively rabid, Katie
thought. “What I mean,” Katie said, “A truck… Maybe one of us… Who steals a
truck when everything’s just laying around free to anyone who wants to pick it
up?”

Jake nodded his head.

“Well as soon as it’s light I say
we follow the tracks. If we’re careful it should be no problem at all,” Conner
said.

“Goddamn right,” Lana said.

“Should be armed… I’m sure they
will be,” Katie said.

“Not you… You’re not going are
you,” Conner asked?

“I’m the best shot we have,” Katie
said. “It’s that simple. If we don’t go after them,” she shrugged and then
shook her head. “No,” she said. “The more I think about it, they’ll probably
come back. And they’ll probably come back armed as well. Hell, maybe they were
this time.” She looked at Lana.

“Lana saw two in the truck, but how
many more were there? Or back wherever they went to,” she finished seriously.

“So. The idea is to take it to them
before they bring it to us,” James asked?

“Got a better idea,” Jake
challenged?

“No… No… But I’m no killer. It’s
still just a damn truck…”

James finished.

“Yeah, tonight it was a truck,
tomorrow it might be me… Or Katie… Or Jana,” Lana said.

James stayed silent, thoughtful. He
sighed. “What a damn mess,” he said at last.

“It’s that,” Jake agreed.

“I got to agree, James,” Conner
said. “It’s not the same world. What if they do come back? Do we decide then to
do something? It might be too late.”

“Honey. I think it’s best to go get
them,” Jana said quietly, her eyes on James’s own. Those eyes looked
frightened, Conner thought. He supposed a little of that fright was resting in
every ones eyes right now.

“I don’t like to be bullied or
pressured into anything,” James said.

“Hey,” Conner said. “It’s no
pressure, Man. It’s real. It really just happened.”

James nodded his head yes, but a
frown remained stamped onto his mouth. Deep lines scared his forehead. His
hands twisted restlessly in his lap. He suddenly bought his hands together
firmly. “Okay,” he agreed. “Okay. I see the point. I’ve done a lot of hunting.
I’m a good shot with a rifle… … I’ll go.”