Christmas lights draped from the guardrails of the walkways, giving the silo a festive ambience. Except for the Marshall survivors, no one seemed to notice that a brilliant man had died yesterday. Justin had given everyone the day off. The excitement was palpable as residents prepared for tonight's Christmas Eve celebration. Nearly everyone-even the non-Christians-was helping decorate and plan skits. People were smiling. Benji was in a wild group of seven kids running down the walkways.
Clutch, Griz, and I were included in the few exceptions. We were fully geared up and on our way topside when we ran into Justin. "Good morning," he said with more enthusiasm than usual. "You'll be back before dark, won't you? Everyone's been looking forward to the banquet for some time."
"That's the plan," Clutch said.
"One, maybe two airports, and then invite Sister Donaldson and Connie to tonight's banquet," I said, neglecting to mention Henry's name. "It's a full day."
Justin nodded. "If they happen to bring Connie's husband, we'll have him stay in the lab with the others."
"Understood," Clutch said. "We'd better head out."
Justin stood off to the side. "It looks to be another sunny day. Be careful out there."
"We always are," Griz said as we walked past Justin and outside.
New Eden's vehicles were all parked outside the silo by a new gate installed after the fires.
Dozens, if not hundreds, of starlings flew over the ruins of New Eden. Birds were one of the few species that multiplied after the outbreak. Like mice and cats, they were everywhere now, and I had nightmares where the birds became sick like the dogs and wolves and would dive-bomb us. It wasn't as bad a nightmare as some.
Luckily, these starlings seemed to have no interest in us, to dive-bomb or otherwise, as we headed toward our vehicle. Clutch and Griz chose our Humvee since a few inches of snow still blanketed everything. It was full of gas, along with six five-gallon containers full-we always kept everything ready in case we had to make a sudden evacuation.
As we approached the vehicle, I glanced at Griz. "Shotgun, sucker."
Griz held up the key, a shit-ass grin on his face.
My eyes widened, and I made eye contact with Clutch. He took off running, and I leapt forward. He had a head start and reached the passenger side first. When he reached for the door, I tackled him from behind. He went down on a knee before catching himself and somehow managing to grab me and flip me over him. I landed on my back with a thud, and the air was knocked from my lungs.
I looked up to see Clutch standing over me. He tried to give me his mean look but failed, and he held out a hand. I grabbed it, and he pulled me to my feet. I pouted. "Bully."
"It was self-defense," he countered before he brushed snow from my hat. When he looked at me, I could see warm love in his brown eyes, and it melted me. I smiled and leaned into him, and he wrapped his arms around me.
The Humvee's engine roared to life, and we broke apart. Clutch opened the front passenger door, but instead of climbing in, he held the door open for me. I grinned and jumped in. "Thank you."
He climbed in the backseat, "Remember, paybacks are hell."
Griz drove through the gate, which the guards closed as soon as we'd left the safety of New Eden. The roads weren't as bad as I'd expected. Other than a few high drifts, which Griz seemed to take pleasure in plowing through, we made pretty decent time to the first airport, where we were able to fill up over fifty gallons of avgas into plastic containers and stack them in the Humvee. It was a small airport with fourteen hangars and without a zed in the vicinity. After we scared off the lone dog, we checked out each hangar. Unfortunately, not a single plane would start. We could jump start a couple, but I was hoping to find a plane that started without any issues the first time. Call me superstitious, but I felt more comfortable in a plane that didn't need encouragement to run.
After burning two hours there, we moved on to the second airport, which was only twelve miles away. The drive was peaceful, and I found it odd how not a single zed shambled around. No animals roamed the fields-the packs of dogs seemed to stay near towns. Every field we passed could've come straight out of a Bob Ross painting.
The second airport was larger than the first, with both a paved and a grass runway. I didn't like the row of trees off the end of the paved runway. Too many things-both two-legged and four-legged-could be hiding in there. The airport had twice as many hangars, with a large corporate hangar close to the airport office. Three zeds watched us from inside the office, and we quickly dispatched them.
This time, we only had to go through three hangars to find a plane that started. A big Cessna 210. It was more complex than anything I'd flown before, but it had four seats and could be loaded down with anything we could stuff into it. Like enough fuel to get us to the capital and back home again.
I gave one final look at the plane and put my hands on my hips. "Project Moose Jaw is a go."
"You're so adorable when you try to talk Army," Griz said as he and Clutch pulled the hangar door closed.
An eagle soared overhead, and I watched it ride a thermal. My soul lifted. Soon, I'd be up there again, like that eagle.
Our last stop of the day was Picadilly and Connie's house. The only other time we'd been there before, we'd left in a hurry. Since that visit two months ago, the squadron dropped off a box of food every other week...up until the snowstorm, when all travel had been halted.
We drove past the small store that served as a New Eden outpost and pulled up outside the two-story house. We cautiously stepped through undisturbed snow and up porch steps. I looked through the window. A wilted peace lily sat in the center of the kitchen table. "Looks like nobody's been here for a while."
After throwing a quick glance at Griz and me, Clutch knocked on the front door. "Sister Picadilly? Connie? We're from New Eden. Anyone home?" He waited for a minute before knocking again. "We're coming in."
He turned the handle and then shoved his shoulder into the door. It burst open, and we stepped inside. No fire burned in the fireplace, and I could see my breath. The boxes the squadron delivered sat in the kitchen, filled with empty cans and garbage.
"Hello?" Clutch called out.
I looked around. "Maybe they're out."
"Yeah, maybe they went to the mall," Griz said.
I flipped him off and followed Clutch up the stairs.
As soon as the smell hit me, I reached for my machete. Death.
Zeds smelled like death.
Two doors were open. The only closed door was to the same room Henry had been in when we were here last time. Griz moved from behind me and checked the first of the open bedrooms while Clutch checked the other. I stood in the hallway and watched the closed door, while glancing down the stairs every few seconds.
When Clutch and Griz returned, they moved to the closed door. I stayed behind them. Clutch rapped his knuckles on the door. Nothing. He looked back to Griz who nodded, and Clutch opened the door.
No zed jumped out, and Clutch stepped inside. Griz followed.
"What the hell?" Griz said.
"What is it?" I asked, still keeping an eye on the hallway.
Neither answered, and both emerged from the room and closed the door.
I looked at both of them. "What's in there?"
"They're dead," Clutch said. "All three of them."
I frowned while I tried to make sense of his words. "They'd survived so long. Why would they give up now?"
"Oh, they didn't give up," Griz said and brushed past me.
"What? What do you mean?"
"They were killed," Clutch replied.
"Are you sure?" I asked. "There weren't any signs of violence downstairs."
"Trust me," he said. "They didn't die by their own hands. Whoever killed them was thorough."
"Oh." Thankful I wouldn't have the images of the corpses of Picadilly, Connie, and Henry seared into my brain, I followed Clutch downstairs. "They were good people. Who would do such a thing?"
Downstairs, Griz stood by the back door and held up a hand. He made a gesture to Clutch, who nodded and moved closer to him. Clutch looked at me, held up his hand, and then pointed at the ground. Stay here. I frowned but nodded, not moving. What had Griz seen or heard?
Griz opened the door, and the two took silent steps outside. I moved to the door but didn't go outside. Clutch and Griz were at the small detached garage. They slammed open the door and rushed inside. A racket ensued as though an entire shelf of paint cans fell at once. Someone shouted and then there was eerie silence.
After an interminably long minute, Clutch and Griz emerged, dragging an unconscious man with greasy brown hair between them. I ran outside and stopped cold when I recognized who they'd found. He had three fingers missing from his left hand.
I felt myself grow faint.
Hodge.