All Is Silence - Deserted Lands #1

Chapter 25 - Part I

LIZZIE FELT BETTER ARMED AND back on the road. They continued south toward Boise. At a sign for Caldwell City Center, they came upon the most people they'd seen since Seattle. Emergency vehicles lined the road. Lizzie saw a Washington State Patrol car, a Border Patrol SUV, an ambulance and a local police car. 

Zach slowed to a stop and a guy in an ill-fitting blue uniform with a gun on his hip and a badge on his chest came up to them. "What's up, officer?" 

The man glanced around as if this wasn't his usual job. "Can I, uh, get you folks to step out of the car, please?" 

"What's the problem?" Zach asked.  

Lizzie watched as Zach pulled her little .38 handgun out of the Tank's side pocket. Chill, Zach. She leaned forward and touched his shoulder.  

"We're trying to verify nobody sick comes into Idaho." The cop character looked shifty; he didn't really focus on them.  

Zach shrugged. "We're only driving through." 

Lizzie glanced at the other side of the road. More men with guns were coming toward them. "Zach. I think we better do as he says." 

He turned and his eyes got wide. "Ah, shit!" 

Everyone exited the car. Lizzie undid Saj's car seat and pulled him into her arms. Men inspected the Tank and the new guns from T-Bone were pulled, compared to a list, and the rest of the Expedition was searched. Shit, I knew it was too easy. Bet he called ahead. Lizzie counted it a small blessing they didn't find her shotgun. Whoever these guys were, they weren't very good at their new jobs. No one looked at them to take a temperature or anything.  

Saj pointed at the ambulance and said, "Woo-woo."  

Lizzie nodded. "Yeah. Some kind of emergency." 

The original officer returned. He motioned to the men surrounding them. "Nadine, uh, the Commander, says bring 'em in."  

Lizzie heard the way he said Nadine, like she-who-must-be-obeyed. 

The gunmen guided them toward the police vehicles. Lizzie planted her feet. "I need the car seat." 

The man pursed his lip, then nodded. "Okay. She and the kid can ride with us in their rig."  

They got in with a driver and three armed guards. Lizzie watched Spike and Zach get shoved into the back of the cop car and Nev and Charley climbed into the ambulance. 

A few miles from the road block there was new construction. People dragged cinder blocks onto pallets and lifted them onto a wall. The laborers had the same stunned look Lizzie remembered on Spike's face before they started teaching him.  

She glanced back at him; his eyes were glued to the activity. Her nerves were on edge, her hands shaking. 

They stopped where the wall was finished, eight feet tall and topped with barbed wire. A giant metal gate was being installed. They pulled through and stopped in front of an elementary school, but a new sign said Caldwell Independence Association. 

A severe woman wearing well-tailored fatigues and a distinguished, graying man in a business suit came out of the door with more armed men. The woman shouted orders and guards separated Zach from Nev and took them off in different directions. They pulled Charley and Spike inside. They both stared at Lizzie as if she had the power to save them.  

What the fuck? They let her take Saj; he was strangely silent. No fussing, just quiet and aware. You must know I'm freaked out, Saj. 

An armed guard in uniform lead Lizzie to a room, the door still said counselor's office. Oh joy, my favorite. Colored poster paper covered the interior windows. Trips to the counselor's office had always felt like an interrogation. Why should it be any different now that the world had ended? 

The gray-templed man came in after a few minutes. "I'm Bill. William Johnston. I'm going to ask you a few questions. If everything checks out we'll be inviting you to join us or allowing you to leave." 

"Why would I want to? Why should I answer? Why can't we leave now?" 

"I'll ask the questions." He was all business. He pulled out a tape recorder, a notepad, and then a handgun, which he laid on the table. He clicked the recorder on and restated his name. He flipped open the note-pad and flashed a tired, insincere smile. "Now. Tell me your name, where you are going and why?" 

Lizzie gulped, eyeballing the gun. Bill seemed civilized. It was for show, but it made her nervous. "Okay. My name is Lizzie Gooden-Guerrero. I'm going to Salt Lake City to meet my father." Saj bleated and Lizzie bounced him on her knee facing her. "You're okay, Saj" 

"Where is your father coming from?" 

"Del Rio, Texas." 

"Tell me where you were when the pandemic hit." 

The questions continued and Lizzie answered all his questions. After telling him about Glen, including his location, her face got hot. Damn. She'd been talking without thinking. She didn't want to get caught hiding something and now she'd compromised someone else. Maybe these guys would trade information with Glen, too. Maybe it was okay. But it didn't feel like it. 

Saj calmed down and slid from her lap to explore the room.  

A guard came in with milk and chocolate chip cookies, like she was some kind of pet to be rewarded for good behavior. The cookies were still steaming and the milk was cold, so despite her principles Lizzie gulped them down, sharing half a cookie with Saj.  

Finally Bill turned off the recorder and set down his notes. "Thank you, Lizzie. I think the others are probably done as well. Your cooperation is most appreciated." He put away his tools, including the gun. "Dinner should be coming soon. Hopefully the cookies didn't ruin your appetite."

Lizzie had caved. She knew it, and now he added insult to injury by patronizing her. She wanted to be angry but instead she felt dazed, like she had lost a part of who she was under his scrutiny. She was the one who never ‘fessed up in the principal’s office, never ratted anyone out. But there had never been a gun on the principal’s desk.