“Hello?”
“Oh, Tamsyn, thank the Lords of Space you’re still there. This is Sally.”
She was stricken with guilt because she hadn’t made an effort to stay in touch with her friend during all of the previous weeks’ events. “How are you doing? Are you staying safe?” she asked anxiously.
“That’s why I’m calling. Could I—could I possibly come out and stay with you at the ranch?” Sally asked hesitantly. “I’ve been staying at my house because Greg had been here in the past and I hoped he’d escape the city and come find me. If I left I might never see him again but now…they say the city has fallen and there’s been no word of him. The hospital there was overrun, or so the refugees say.” Her voice trailed off.
The idea sounded wonderful to Tamsyn and she reproached herself for not thinking of it sooner. It would be so anxiety reducing to have another person at the ranch with her, not that she’d expect Sally to do chores, but simply having someone to talk to and ride out the epidemic with would be a relief. Before she could voice her enthusiasm for the idea, Sally continued.
“The town is getting scary,” she said. “Most of my neighbors are gone and I feel so isolated. And Jonny Fafield has taken over everything. He’s getting more and more powerful by the day. Folks think he’ll keep them alive and safe so for the most part they do what he tells them but I’m not convinced.”
“He always was a bully,” Tamsyn said, remembering a few incidents in high school. The idea of Jonny running the entire town was chilling. “Of course you can come out here. You’ll be very welcome.”
“That’s a huge relief. Can I ask another favor then? I don’t have a groundcar. I—I even went to see if I could steal one of my neighbors’ cars, that they’ve abandoned I mean and there aren’t any. Jonny’s taken all the vehicles in running condition for his patrols and his barricades. I thought if I found one I could get the AI to take me to your ranch but I couldn’t find anything drivable. Can you come to town and pick me up?”
Tamsyn’s gut roiled at the idea of venturing into town again but there was only one answer possible under the circumstances. “I’ll get in the truck right now and be on my way. Pack what you need and I’ll be there in about an hour.”
“You are an angel. I’ll help with whatever you need done, as long as you don’t mind teaching me the ropes of ranching.”
“We can talk about that later. Listen, if you have any supplies we should bring we can pack those too.” Having made her decision, Tamsyn was anxious to get going. The sooner she left, the sooner she could get to Sally’s and then rush home to the safety of the ranch.
“All right, see you soon.” Sally signed off.
Hastily Tamsyn climbed from the hay loft and ran to the house to change her clothes, since she smelled like the barn’s interior. Earthy would be putting it nicely. Ten minutes later she was on her way, blaster strapped to her thigh and a spare one for Sally on the seat of the truck. There was no traffic but when she reached the suburb where Sally’s house was located, she had to swerve to avoid a number of broken down and burned cars. There were bodies in the street and she managed to avoid them but had to drive across overgrown lawns and through a few decorative fences. Her powerful truck made quick work of the obstacles and soon she was roaring up Sally’s street. The houses were like the ones she’d seen the last time she’d been in town—boarded up or else obviously vacant and forlorn, broken windows and all. When she went around the last curve, she hit the brakes and swore.
There were four infected shambling in a pack in Sally’s yard and the door was gaping open. At the sound of her approach the group’s attention became riveted on her and she let the AI drive while she lowered the window and took aim, nailing two of the infected with head shots right away. The others kept coming, joined by a few more who’d been inside the house or nearby. Tamsyn took control of the truck again and rammed into the group, ignoring the way they tried to throw themselves at the windows. She slewed the truck around so hard the suspension groaned and drove through the surviving pack again from behind as the infected were ponderously turning to chase her.. She heard herself yelling curses and defiance as she pulled up right next to Sally’s door. She slid to the passenger side door and got out, standing on the truck step and shooting over the roof, taking down those infected still on their feet. The ones she’d run over were twitching and crawling in her direction. She swept the group with a general blast and turned to run into the house.
“Sally! Sally, where are you?” She had hope her friend might have barricaded herself in a bathroom or a closet and managed to survive but as soon as she crossed the threshold into the bedroom, she knew her trip had been in vain.
Tamsyn took a deep breath, more of a sob of anguish and advanced into the room. Trying not to look too closely at the body on the floor, she grabbed the quilt from the bed and laid it over her friend. “I’m so sorry. This is my fault for not inviting you out to the ranch sooner.” She knew the guilt was going to be with her for a long time.
Outside she heard the sizzle of blaster fire. Racing through the house and out the door, she found two pickup trucks full of people deployed on Sally’s lawn and the one next door, shooting the remaining infected.
“Cease fire,” Jonny Fafield yelled. He jumped out of the closest truck and came to Tamsyn. “Is Sally?—?”
She shook her head. “I was too late.”
“Damn, I had her on my list for pickup today, to get her to the fortress. She was one of my last holdouts here in town and it was too risky to leave her here.”
Tamsyn was confused, knowing Sally had told her she didn’t trust Jonny. “I was going to take her out to the ranch but now I’ll just be on my way. Thanks for the backup.”
Laughing, Jonny shook his head. “Can’t let you leave. You’re not safe out there either. It’s my responsibility as a Fafield to know what’s best.”
Before she knew what was happening, her blaster had been plucked from her hand by a man who came up on her right while Jonny had her distracted. She grabbed at the guy’s arm. “Hey, that’s mine! Give it back.”
“Easy now, Ted’s doing what I told him to do,” Jonny said. “You won’t be needing the weapon at the fortress. I’ve got it all covered, me and my boys.”
“What the seven hells are you talking about?” Tamsyn asked. “What fortress?”
“We’ve made the Fafield estate into quite the citadel. You’ll see,” Jonny assured her.
“All right keep the damn blaster. I’ll take my truck and be going, thanks for the offer.” She tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice as she edged toward her truck.
Jonny caught her arm. “I’ve ordered all residents into the compound for safety. There’s strength in numbers and I’m going to need everyone to rebuild the town once this epidemic is over.”
“I have to get back to the ranch—I can’t stay here. I have livestock to take care of,” she protested.
“We’ll make a run out to the ranch in a few days, once things calm down, take inventory, see what we can use. Not today though, the situation is too fluid. Go with my boys, register at the compound and we can talk later. I have a few more pickups to do and then I have to do my rounds of the barricades. I’m a busy guy,” he said with a jaunty grin. “Take her truck to the western barricade after you get her processed at the fortress,” he said to the big henchman who still had a hold on Tamsyn’s arm. “She’ll get the picture once she’s there and sees how we’re organized.”
