Date: 2022-08-06 07:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fiction; Science Fiction; Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic; Dystopian; disaster
Description: Given hope in the form of a purple-hued crocus, Ben Tildon emerges from the safe haven of the underground colony meant to preserve his life from the harsh effects of a mini-ice age after eleven years. But what he doesn't know about the surface might kill him anyway.
Rights: Copyright 2022 A. R. Shaw. All rights reserved.

SAVAGED EARTH

SURRENDER THE SUN

BOOK 4

A. R. SHAW

APOCALYPTIC VENTURES, LLC

Copyright © 2022 by A. R. Shaw

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

For Jaqui and Angus

Life is a lot like jazz…it’s best when you improvise.

GEORGE GERSHWIN

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Also by A. R. Shaw

About the Author

1

Year 2042--The weekly walk from Colorado Colony Hatch 5 to the old Deer Trail railroad station was an hour there and back, and for much of it, Ben hadn’t said a word. For the first half hour he followed behind his mother, Maeve, and his stepdad, Bishop. His three younger siblings dashed in random orbits around the trio, coming in close and once in a while, nailing him in the back with a snowball and circumventing again.

His parents either didn’t notice or didn’t care. They were doing that thing again. They didn’t like to call it arguing. It couldn’t be that. No…it was a discussion. They were discussing, louder than before, Ben noted, that returning to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, wasn’t wise.

“But you said yourself the temperatures are coming down. The worst is over. Those were your words,” Maeve said.

“That’s true,” Bishop replied, stopping briefly to make his point, “but I also said I’m not comfortable moving this family above ground until the first real thaw.”

“Well, when is that going to happen?” His mother flung her arms out against the gray landscape.

Bishop made a growling noise deep in his throat. He’d been doing that a lot lately.

His parents continued like that for another seven minutes. Seven minutes was a long time to listen to parents arguing. He didn’t care how they’d tried to portray the discussion, that’s what they were doing, and…listening to his siblings laugh while crunching in and out of the packed snow, louder and louder. The sound of it brought back memories of when he was a boy. Some of them, he’d rather forget. So he stopped his progression with his family and looked down at the ground. Neither of his parents noticed immediately and as his younger sister, Jackie, skipped her way to catch up with the parental unit, Sean, his little brother, ran up behind her and nailed her with a snowball. Jackie wailed but Ben continued to look down as the distance between them lengthened further. It was Louna, his adopted sister, who came up beside him and said, “What you got there?”

But he didn’t answer. Instead, he yelled, “Mom. Dad. It’s another flower. What did you call it? A crocus?”

They immediately retraced their steps as Ben pointed between his gray snow boots to a small purple flower with a bright yellow stick coming out of it.

His mother sucked in a breath the moment she spotted it and fell to her knees just to get nearer. “Oh my…it is a crocus. See, I told you, it’s a sign.”

His little sister Jackie grabbed his glove and said, “You’re lucky, Ben. You spotted the first two flowers the Colorado Colony has ever seen.”

Ben pulled her up into his arms. She was only five years old, had never run through the sprinkler on a warm summer day, and had hair just like their mother’s…all fiery red. “I bet you spot the next one. Just keep your eyes open.”

She hugged him and then wriggled free, so he put her down.

“Can I touch it? What’s that yellow stuff?” Jackie asked.

Maeve hovered over the flower as if warming her hands over a tiny flame.

“Don’t touch. The petals are so delicate. That yellow stuff is saffron, actually. It’s a spice…or I mean, was a very expensive spice in the old days.”

“Can we sell it?” his younger enterprising brother Sean asked, and Ben laughed.

“No. No one’s touching it,” Maeve responded, holding her children back.

“Tick, tick, tick…too much time above means frozen toeses,” Bishop said.

“That’s not a word,” said Sean.

Ben touched his brother’s shoulder and said, “But still. Dad’s right. We have to get back or we’ll look like Jax.”

Sean grimaced and gave a shudder while Louna suppressed a laugh behind her hand. “That’s mean. He can’t help that his nose was frostbitten.”

Maeve stood up and linked arms with Bishop and took Jackie’s hand in hers, and Ben noticed his mother had cried at the sight of the flower, but she also had the brightest smile on her face that he’d ever seen. Not even the birth of Sean or Jackie made her that happy.

Then something strange began to happen…her face began to glow.

“Mom?” Ben queried.

It was Bishop who answered his concern by grabbing Ben by the shoulders and quickly turning him in the opposite direction. “Look. It’s a sun shower.”

And when Ben looked up into the sky, it was as if the heavens above parted and let through a flame of fire.

“Run. Tell the others. It might only last a few hours this time,” Bishop urged.

Ben raced like a bullet through the snowpack, back to Hatch Five, followed by Louna and Sean. And once he reached the door, he took the right corridor as Louna and Sean took the left and banged on every residential door they came to.

“Sun shower alert! Hurry!”

An hour later, Ben had the same smile on his face that his mother bore earlier. Only, as a teenager, he’d never admit to crying happy tears. Still, having warm rays on his bare skin for the first time in a year was enough to make him sob like a baby.

“You’re going to get burned. Now come here,” Maeve yelled as Sean battled her long-reaching arms in an attempt to apply a glob of white stuff.

“No. That smells funny,” Sean protested, and Ben laughed. It was like watching a man battle a sea monster. But Ben knew from experience that Sean would lose the battle soon and as predicted, a moment later, Sean was shirtless and standing as still as a statue with the most disgusted expression on his seven-year-old face. His eyes were covered in protective sunglasses but beneath them, Ben imagined they were rolled back into the top of his head.

“Just grin and bear it, buddy,” Ben said.

“You don’t have to,” Sean said.

But it was Maeve who answered. “That’s right and when you’re seventeen, you can deal with the natural consequences of a third-degree burn.” Then she cut her eyes at her oldest born and smiled. “But don’t come crying to me.”

Ben shook his head. “Give it here,” he said, reaching for the bottle full of the icky-smelling lotion.

As he applied the sunscreen to the back of his neck, Sean asked, “You can really get burned by sun exposure?”

“No. Mom says that just so she can rub you down in public with lotion,” Ben retorted, but then realized his little brother might take him seriously. “But yes, and it hurts a lot. I only burned a few times when I was younger than you, so I don’t really remember much, other than my back was beet red and stung when I tried to sleep. And Mom put this green gel on my skin that made it feel cool.”

“Aloe vera,” she added as Ben told the story. “We can’t get that anymore.”

“But you didn’t have to take vitamin D pills every day, like the rest of us do now.”

“True, but I’d much rather have sun shower-filled days and put on the lotion to keep the burns away.”

His little brother nodded and ran off when a few of the other kids his age from Hatch Five showed up.

“Do not take off your shoes,” his mother yelled after him. “You’ll cut your feet on the ice.”

Ben laughed and leaned back in his chair, letting the sun warm his skin, as his mother shook her head and watched all the others from the colony setting up chairs in the sun shower, dressed as if they were going to the beach. Only there was no liquid water around, just the frozen tundra beneath their feet.

“He’s just like you at that age, you know,” she said and pulled her hat down lower on her head while applying lotion to her own fair legs. Then she leaned back in her chair as well and when Ben glanced at his mother, the sun reflected the red highlights in her hair.

“I hope the breeze stays down. It’s about what? Twenty-five? Thirty degrees right now? We might get above freezing.”

“Something like that, but it won’t last long,” Ben reminded her.

“What a great graduation gift for you! Aren’t you excited? High school is over! Wait, why aren’t you hanging out with your friends? Where’re Julie and Ames?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Ames is working with his dad at the moment. They’re firing up the grill. I don’t want to get in the way. And Julie…I don’t know. I think she’s with the girls. She made me angry picking on Louna the other day.”

Maeve took in a deep breath and patted his knee. “I’m glad you caught that. Louna doesn’t say much, and she doesn’t need anyone giving her a hard time, but listen Ben, Julie isn’t bad. She’s just a girl and we all make mistakes, so don’t be too hard on her.”

Ben sat up in his chair when he saw that Bishop was coming their way. “I’m not being too hard on her.” He shook his head. “I haven’t even talked to her lately.”

“Honey, it’s natural for couples to grow apart at times…”

“Ice is melting slightly,” Bishop said.

“Isn’t it great? See…things are changing. Everyone’s so happy. Look at all the smiling faces. We really needed this. Oh, there’s Cassie. Where’s she going?”

“They’re bringing some of the cold variety vegetable plants out of the greenhouse,” Bishop said.

Maeve sprang up. “I’ll give them a hand,” she said and kissed Bishop on the cheek before she ran off.

“She sure is happy,” Bishop said.

“Yeah. Just wait for the sun to go down,” Ben replied and raised his eyebrows.

Bishop laughed and sat in the chair next to Ben.

“I was thinking though, Dad. She’s right about one thing.”

Bishop did that growling thing again. “Not you, too.” He shook his head. “I know you want to go back. It’s all you’ve talked about since you were ten, but don’t you remember what it was like? I’ll recap for you as we sit on lawn chairs upon at least fifteen feet of ice under what we now call sun showers. Everything’s the opposite of what was normal when you were a little kid.”

Now it was Ben’s turn to growl under his breath.

Bishop continued, “The Grand Solar Minimum is a natural disaster. The last major sudden ice age was the Maunder Minimum that happened back in the mid-1600s. I know you remember that a lot of people died. It took everything I had and more to save you and your mother and Louna from that maniac, Roman. It could have easily gone wrong, Ben. It was that close. I nearly lost you both in the early days more times than I can count. I’ll never forgive myself for Louna losing her mother.”

“Dad, she doesn’t remember…” Ben started to say but trailed off because deep down, he remembered Louna’s mother only briefly, but he remembered her, and if he did…Louna had to have memories of her too.

Bishop breathed deeply. “We lost a lot of people on the way too. Bear attacks…fighting, sudden freezes. And I know…conditions are improving but we’re not there yet. This is nice,” he admitted, raising his hands to the sky in a kind of concession. “But I still remember those days and I won’t risk your lives again.”

“The Colorado Colony is a safe place. We’ve made it that way over the past eleven years, with hard work. We’ve joined the Arizona and California Colonies in the Underground Federation, and we’re expanding east.

“I can’t believe my eyes when I walk the streets down there. It’s an entire city. Two-lane roads. Businesses and houses on either side. A high school. A pizza parlor. A wrestling team. Good take-down at your last meet, by the way.”

Ben smiled and nodded, remembering the look on Ames’ face when he threw him over his head.

“My point is, we’ve built a life here. Why give that up? Why resurface and deal with all the savages that brought us here in the first place?”

Ben thought about that. He’d been thinking of that exact question for a long time. Years, perhaps. And because Bishop was always honest with him, and always said that he could tell him anything with no judgment, Ben said, “Because…I want to go home.”

2

“You should put some lidocaine on that,” Louna said as they walked down the road leading to the schoolhouse.

“I couldn’t find it. I think Sean took off with the can. He’s probably going to replicate it and sell it on the black market and become rich,” Ben said.

Louna laughed.

“Where were you yesterday? Why didn’t you come out with the rest of us?” Ben said.

She looked away. “I…just thought I’d help in the kitchen and let the others go up top. I didn’t want to risk a burn; I mean, look at you.”

“Yeah, but…don’t you miss it…being outside?”

“No. I really don’t. I don’t remember what it was like before. I’m not obsessed with going back like you are. I like it here,” she said and kicked a rock.

Ben’s eyes tracked the trajectory as the pebble skipped at an angle to the side of the road, where it plopped into a channel full of water. “Nice one. Water’s high today.”

“Dad said there was some melt-off.”

“It’s funny that we both call him dad, but he’s neither of our fathers,” Ben mused.

Louna stopped in her tracks. “But he is our father. He’s always taken care of us.”

“Louna, I don’t mean that in a bad way. I love Dad.”

He knew she wasn’t done when she crossed her thin arms over her chest. “You know what, Ben? All you talk about is going back to Coeur d’Alene. Don’t you think that hurts his feelings? Look at what he’s done for us.”

“Yeah, but…”

“You’re so selfish. I don’t want to leave here. Dad built all of this for us, and we’re not even his kids. He did this to keep us safe. I don’t remember Idaho. I don’t remember my mother or my father. I don’t remember the trip here, either. But you keep telling me...”

“I think you remember your mother, Louna. I remember her long blond hair, the color of snow, just like yours... Wait. Where are you going?”

She sniffed and wiped her eyes and ran off down the road. “To school, Ben. Some of us are graduating soon. I’m going to school.”

He tried to catch up to her but Louna was a fast runner and as they neared the building, he caught the tail end of his sister running up the steps but lost sight of her as she and everyone else ran inside the schoolhouse doors. Ben shook his head. They rarely argued but he didn’t understand why Louna refused to listen to his memories of her mother. Wasn’t that a gift? Wasn’t that something she’d want to remember?

He tried waving to her as he sat down at his desk, but she kept her eyes lowered when he walked into their classroom. In other words, he wasn’t there. Not in her view.

Ben sat down at his desk and raised his eyebrows when Ames walked in like a red stop light and said, “Hey.”

“All right, class. Grab a seat,” the teacher droned in the background as she began drawing on the whiteboard with her back turned. “You’re late. I don’t want to hear about your sunburns. Deal with it. I have one, too.”

Ben pulled out his notebook as everyone else shuffled through their stuff. But when he glanced at Louna, she sat prepared, with her forearms on her desk, looking intently at the whiteboard, and ignoring, Ben noted, Julie and the other girls giggling right next to her. He caught Julie’s eye and shook his head briefly.

Julie made a pouty face at him.

Ben looked down at his notebook.

The teacher turned to the class and nearly everyone began laughing.

When Ben looked up, he saw that Mrs. Johnson’s face was red and glossy.

“Yeah, it’s going to be a rough day for all of us,” she said. “But we’ll all get through it together, except maybe not Ames. You okay? Do you need to go to the infirmary? Yours looks worse than the rest of us.”

“No, Mrs. Johnson. I think I’ll make it.”

The class laughed again.

“Okay. If we get through our lessons fast, I’ll dismiss you early. So let’s keep the talking and the shenanigans to a minimum and do our work, please.”

In a rare truce and without looking up, Ben knew she was aiming her words at Ames, but Ben thought Ames was just as eager to get through the day as Mrs. Johnson.

“Class, this is the last geography test of the year. Please open your workbooks. Fourth grade…name all the major former and present U.S. cities that we know of. Fifth…name the colonial thirteen colonies as well as the present Federation Colonies. Middle schoolers…name the countries of Oceania. And high schoolers…write an essay on the effects of the Minimum and how the ice age has shifted our society’s location underground. Louna, dear. You’ve already passed. Can you please assist the intermediates?”

“Yes, Mrs. Johnson,” Louna responded, putting her pencil down and slipping out of her seat.

Then Ben raised his eyes in a warning as Julie sweetly mocked his sister: Yes, Mrs. Johnson.

But Julie never turned her attention to him, nor did Louna acknowledge the slight, so Ben picked up his pen and began to write. And when he finished, he looked up at the quiet classroom, finding Louna staring back at him. She gave him a straight smile and Ben took that as a treaty of sorts and smiled back. He hated being at odds with his family, especially Louna. She’d been with him since the beginning and if she didn’t want to remember the past, then that was all right with him. That was her decision to make.

Ben put his head down on his desk while the others worked and thought of how upset Louna got over his mentioning that Bishop wasn’t either of their fathers. But it was true. Bishop wasn’t his father. Though he loved Bishop with everything he had, he also remembered his own father, especially when he remembered what it was like living back when things were normal…back in Idaho. Before the winter stole everything forever. He remembered the glistening sunlight off the river water where his father taught him to fish. He remembered the heat of the sun on his face after standing in the shallows with his pole for hours. He remembered seeing past the sun’s reflection on the ripples and spotting fish and tiny turtles among the jeweled river rocks. He remembered his father’s smile as he baited his first hook in a rocking metal boat on Lake Coeur d’Alene. He remembered him burning hotdogs on the grill at the park and his mother laughing like she seldom laughed now. But most of all, he remembered the day when his mother knelt in the doorway when two uniformed officers arrived with the news of his father’s death. That day…he remembered in minute detail. He remembered the smell of autumn leaves on the breeze that poured through the open doorway. She wore an olive-green sweater with three-quarter sleeves, and somewhere in the kitchen NPR was talking about the history of jazz music.

“Ben.”

The officer kept saying he was sorry, and his mother kept saying she didn’t understand. There was some kind of mistake. She’d just spoken to him the night before.

“Ben! Ben!”

Mrs. Johnson stood next to him when he sat up and looked around, and he realized she’d been tapping him on the shoulder.

He saw that Ames held back a laugh with his hand, but the rest of the class, except for Louna, did not.

Mrs. Johnson pulled his essay out from beneath his arm. “I think that’s enough, class. Let’s move on.”

3

Louna rambled on as they ate dinner, her words coming out like a speeding freight train. It was something she rarely did, so Ben knew she was excited, and Bishop had a smile on his face as he listened.

“…and Dad, she said after graduation I can apprentice as teacher’s assistant,” Louna said. “I know you wanted me to exchange with the Arizona Colony, but Mrs. Johnson said…”

Ben was happy for her but stared at his plate, lost in thought.

Movements later, his mother said, “Ben! Ben! Where are you?”

“Huh? Oh…I was just remembering your bookstore. Wasn’t there a movie theatre nearby?” Ben replied. “Didn’t Dad take me to see Toy Story there once, and an ice cream shop right next to it? Do I remember that right?”

She reached her hand over and ran it through his hair after glancing quickly at Bishop across the table. She nodded and smiled.

He wasn’t sure what it was. Did she miss his dad still? He knew she loved Bishop. But did she miss his dad more? When someone died, did you stop loving them? Or was love a more complicated thing than what he knew? Could she love his father still but love Bishop just as much, only in a different way? Love seemed more complicated the older Ben got.

“How was your day?” Maeve asked.

Ben shrugged his shoulders and let his eyes glaze over. “Same stuff, different day.”

Bishop said, “Come on, Ben. You’re graduating. That’s exciting.”

And apparently someone was expecting him to fill the silence, but he was saved by his little brother.

Sean poked a carrot coin with his fork and said, “Jimmy said they’re moving to California Colony after school’s out.”

“That’s because Jimmy’s dad didn’t anticipate flooding in sector four and now I have to add it to the other three I operate.” Bishop tossed his napkin next to his plate.

“How bad is the flooding?” Maeve asked.

“It isn’t. It’s manageable,” he conceded. “If…you heed the warnings that are included in the daily briefings.”

“But flooding is becoming a bigger issue,” Ben asked, “as the temperatures begin to warm?”

“Well, they are not warm enough yet. We’ve only had five days this year with temperatures close to above freezing.”

“But that’s four more than last year,” Maeve said.

Jackie asked, “Daddy, why do you chew on the side of your mouth?”

“Because, Jax…I’m thinking,” Bishop replied.

“Well, we can use more of the runoff in the greenhouse,” Maeve said. “Sure beats melting ice every morning to the right temperature to water all the crops.”

“You can work that out with Steve,” Bishop said.

“Actually, Alyssa is point on that,” Maeve corrected him.

“I want to go back,” Ben stated.

Silence.

He’d never been afraid of Bishop in his life, but something about the man’s expression on the other side of the table told him why grown men were.

“Where?” Bishop asked.

Ben swallowed. “Coeur d’Alene.”

Everyone at the table seemed frozen in place except for Sean. Sean widened his eyes and very slowly looked from Ben to his father.

Bishop took in a long, slow breath and then, with what Ben knew was barely-controlled anger—or was it hurt?—he replied, “You’d have better luck going south, where reports of flooding due to the thaw have many leaving the underground community.”

“I…” Was he doing this? Wasn’t this what he wanted? Wasn’t this all he could think of? Like Louna, everyone else in his graduating class was making plans for a career underground for the colonies, but not him. It wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted to go home. He wanted to see what was left up there…in Coeur d’Alene. “I’ve read the reports too, Dad. There’s significant flooding all over…”

But it was his mother who worried him more than Bishop’s reaction. She didn’t say a thing. Instead, she sat there next to him, wringing her hands in her lap, listening to the discussion, her head down.

“But they’re not taking into account seasonal fluctuations,” Bishop argued. “I don’t see a clear window…”

Maeve cut in, “I understand, son, that you want to return.” Her hand fluttered as she spoke, and Ben could hardly take his eyes off the rapid movement. He did this. He was doing this to her.

“The theatre, the bookstore, the ice cream shop…the house we lived in. Sure, it’s still there, but not the way you remember.”

“How do you know? I want to find out. I’ll go by myself and see and then I’ll return, and I’ll know. Don’t you see? I can’t stop thinking about it.”

She pulled her hand beneath the table then. Silence.

Not even Sean was looking around then.

Bishop said, “I wouldn’t feel comfortable with you going by yourself.”

“Ames will go with me. We’ve talked about it. You trained us, Dad…you and Jax. We’re prepared. We know what we’re doing,” Ben replied.

Maeve protested, “Alyssa needs Ames here, Ben. He’s apprenticed to the greenhouse. You had that option. Walt…her husband died last year. And they lost little Frank before that. Ames is all she’s got.”

His mother and father exchanged sad glances. Then silence again as they all thought about the discussion. Even his chatty younger siblings seemed bereft of speech and instead seemed suddenly quite interested in various aspects of the dining room design.

Then his mother’s hand appeared on the table again, and when her fingers touched his, they felt like ice.

4

As he followed the booming live music down the corridor in the original part of the silo, Ben entered the Grand Room that dated back to the 1940s. It was once a meeting space for the hundreds of personnel who secretly lived and worked underground around a Trident Missile during the Cold War era. Since then, the space had been retrofitted, of course, by the man who took it over after the military dumped the site, into a grand living room. But now, since the Minimum, the room was converted into a gathering space for special occasions once again. Only this time, it wasn’t a military meeting. It was a graduation. And when Ben walked through the double doors, the entire floor rocked with the beats of Ames and The Beast’s newest tunes.

On stage, his best friend, dressed in a dark navy graduation gown, held the mic close to his mouth and belted…something about a girl. When he pulled the mic away, he opened his eyes again, and smiled in a way that told Ben his best friend was likely making one of the happiest memories of his life, right at that very moment.

“Is it what you expected?” Julie asked, still wearing her gown as well as she brought him a cup filled with amber liquid.

“What, the party?” Ben replied, pulling his graduation cap off and taking the cup.

“Yeah,” she yelled over the music. “Isn’t it great? We finally get to move on.” She winked at him. “Oh! Ames asked me if Louna was dating anyone.” She laughed a little. “I said probably not.” She took a long sip of her beer and nodded her head to the tunes.

Ben looked at the side of her pretty face, her long, dark flat-ironed hair, her petal pink shaded lips, and thought there was likely not much rattling around in there…past the beautiful exterior. He took a gulp of his own beer and looked around the room, spotting Louna helping their mother and the other ladies serve slices of pizza and beer.

“What do you mean?” Ben said.

“Well, you know…he likes her. Maybe they’re a match, like us. Maybe they’ll move on together, too.”

“No. I mean, what do you mean about us moving on?”

She smiled and half-closed her eyes. “You know…” she looped her arm into his. “Most couples move out into their own apartment after graduation, while going through their apprenticeships.”

He swallowed another gulp of beer.

“I, for one, am ready to ditch my little sister’s room for my own space. I’ve had it with my mom.”

Ben investigated the crowd. “Why not just move into the singles bunker? You can share an apartment and have an entire room to yourself.”

“Pft!” She yanked her arm from his, gave him a dirty look, and walked away.

“What?” Ben called after her.

She didn’t turn around.

Ben loosened the tie his mother made him wear under his graduation gown and took another long pull from his beer.

“Don’t drink that too fast,” Louna cautioned as she brought him a plate of pizza. “Wanna sit?”

He nodded and followed her to an empty table. Louna sat down and he realized she was all eyes and smiles, taking in the high ceiling, balloons, the stage, and Ames.

“You look happy,” he commented between the beat and the bites.

She nodded. “I am…But you’re not.”

The statement was really a question. He knew her well enough growing up, she never pried. So it was an option to engage with an answer or avoid with a smile.

He smiled.

She pointed to their mother. “They’re all talking about us. They look so happy.”

He nodded. She was right. His mother sat at a nearby table, along with Cassie and Alyssa. Their loud voices were a result of too much beer, or they were trying to be heard over the music. He wasn’t sure which, but likely a little of both.

Changing the subject, he said, “So you’re going to be the next Mrs. Johnson.”

She smiled and tore off another bite of pizza. “I’m going to be Miss Louna.”

“Excited?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “I love the kids.”

“Are you going to move into the singles quarters? Or stay home?”

He watched her as she stole a glance at Ames on the stage and avoided making eye contact with her brother. “I don’t know yet. I think I’m staying home for a while. Mom and Dad are fine with it, and I get along sharing a room with Jackie.”

“Wait, you had this conversation with Mom and Dad?”

“Well, yeah. Haven’t you?”

He chewed a dry piece of pepperoni and shook his head. “I just don’t feel like this is my…” He was about to explain more but suddenly Bishop, Jax, and Yeager wheeled out a humongous cake emblazoned with sparklers and thick frosting that read Congrats!

Everyone stood and clapped loudly. Ben said, “When did Jax arrive?”

Louna heard the question and leaned in, yelling in his ear, “Last night. You were already in bed.”

The music began again and the parents, all smiles, cut the cake into slices above the sparkling candles, and Ben couldn’t help but think, What? This is it? This is what we’re celebrating?

All they had to look forward to was taking old worn-out things from the past and repurposing them into something useful for the present, like televisions. There were no current shows. All they did was watch old movies from a life that no longer applied to them, and they simply lost interest in watching them after a few years. Screens remained blank, so they were mostly for security and surveillance.

The same thing went for music. Radio was only for communication. And like Ames, there were a few who learned instruments and played live tunes whenever the occasion called.

Life was simple. Too simple for Ben. After graduation, you were assigned to apprentice for one of the needed positions in the colony. There was the option of going off to exchange with another graduate in one of the other colonies, but it was the same existence all over.

Then, if you were lucky enough, you could find a marriage partner and start a family of your own, but the thought of sharing a space with Julie for more than a few hours made Ben shudder. Then again, the new homes they were digging out and building where the streets ended were pretty cool. They were far enough away that you actually had to walk to a bus stop to get into town. And when they ran out of space, they just dug out more roads and built more houses.

Still, that was no reason to settle down with a girl that was mean to your sister and if you were honest, you could barely stand her yourself.

Ben had finished his second beer by then, and his cake, when the chatter subsided. The band was drunk, and the grand room looked as if there was an explosion of plates, forks, and streamers. Louna and Ames were rolling around large gray trashcans, scooping up the mess, and the parents still laughed with faces as red as their Solo cups. Ben was wondering if his cheeks were as red as his mother’s when he suddenly found Jax standing beside him.

“Got something for you, kid.”

Ben nodded but Jax was already walking out the door and Ben realized he was apparently supposed to follow him. So he stood up and dropped his plate and cup into the trash as he left and hurried to catch up.

It was quiet as Ben entered the apartment. Everyone else was still at the party. He wasn’t sure where Sean and Jackie got off to, but likely the littles were having a sleepover at someone else’s house for the evening. They were the littles, and he and Louna were the bigs—that’s how his mother referred to the two sets of children in the home because of the big age span. The reference worked in quick pinches.

“There you are,” Jax said. “Thought I’d lost you.”

“Well, you took off kinda fast.”

“You gotta keep up, young man. I have something for you. Thought you might be able to use this, now that you’ve graduated.” Jax held out a large pack used for long overnight treks up top. Ben had used one several times when they took their year’s expeditions out in the elements for a week in the summer.

“Well, thanks, Jax.”

“It’s what’s inside, dummy.” Jax smiled.

“Oh,” Ben said.

“I mean, the pack’s a part of the gift but it’s what’s inside that I meant for you to have now that you’re a grown man.”

Ben eyed him. No one had ever told him that before. Not even Bishop.

“I don’t think I’m totally grown yet.”

“Just open the pack.”

He unlatched the clasps and inside there was a dead animal. Or at least, the fur of one. He pulled the hide out and realized it was not one, but many dead animal pelts sewn together into a coat. A coat that, when Ben put it on, fit him perfectly and had no use below Hatch Five.

5

Ben woke the next morning with a vague awareness that someone was watching him. Glancing at his little brother’s bed, he spotted the familiar bundle beneath the covers. But then at the foot of his own bed, someone silently stood vigil. The jolt his body made right after seeing this confirmed his suspicion.

“Dad?”

No one answered but the next thing he knew something soft and furry landed hard against his chest.

“Put it on. Let’s go,” Bishop commanded.

Ten minutes later, Ben stepped outside Hatch Five, boots crunching on ice. “I don’t understand why I couldn’t take a shower first. I smell like greasy pizza and stale beer.”

“Shh,” Bishop said. “First rules of hunting…we leave early, and we don’t talk…much.”

Ben mumbled, “You’ve never talked much. Hunting or otherwise… Wait. Is it just us this time? Why isn’t Jax coming? Isn’t he still here?”

But Bishop wasn’t answering questions. Instead, he walked so fast through the dark that Ben had to double-step to catch up or lose sight of Bishop in the blinding snow. Ben did note the new coat Jax gave him weighed him down considerably, but he was warm to the point of almost sweating.

Once they’d passed over the old town of Deer Trail and into the east woods, Bishop slowed his pace so that the thrumming inside Ben’s head trailed off substantially to a mere drumbeat. And by a more reasonable morning hour, they’d bagged the important parts of a large elk.

While Bishop cleaned his knife in the snow he said, “Ben…about Coeur d’Alene—there’s really no reason to go back there. You know that, right? Everyone who loves and cares about you, is here.” He shook his head. “It would kill your mother.”

It was Ben’s turn to shake his own head. “She would understand. She wants to go back, too.”

“No. Not exactly. Like everyone else underground, she wants to live above ground. That doesn’t mean going back to Coeur d’Alene.”

“She misses it.”

“She misses the memory,” Bishop said. “Look, we’ve discussed this extensively, your mom and I. Sure, some families in the south are relocating up top. But they’re struggling with extreme weather fluctuations. And north Idaho is no place to inhabit, not yet.”

“But…would you consider it if it were?” Ben asked.

“Of course. If…it becomes livable and your mom wanted to go back there, I would make it happen but Ben, it isn’t right now, and I have Sean and little Jax to think about as well. A trip like that, was hard on you as a little boy, and Louna, but then it was the only way to survive. We didn’t have a choice then. We do now and making a decision like that now is crazy, with what we’ve built below. I can’t risk it, not now and certainly not in the foreseeable future.”

Ben swallowed. Bishop wasn’t wrong. He took in a deep breath and thought of Jackie and Sean as he and Louna when they were little. He couldn’t do that to them either. “I remember how it was, Dad. I remember the trip, the fighting.”

Bishop looked at him in the dim light. “And you weren’t with Walt and Yeager’s group, or with Jax. It was a hell of a trip that many did not survive. That’s something no one forgets.”

Ben nodded and knew the scars were still evident on the faces he’d grown up with over the past eleven years.

“Besides,” Bishop added, “I was able to pull a few strings and I know you said you were undecided, but I think you’d be great working with me at the station. Just a desk job to start for now, but we need someone in there and you can’t just sit around on your laurels.”

Something like dread crept into his chest but ignoring that, Ben asked, “What are laurels?”

Bishop coughed and said dismissively, “It was a kind of plant. So what do you say, Ben?”

“You mean I have a choice?”

Bishop stared at him, unsmiling, right in the eyes. “We all have choices, Ben. And this is the point where you start making yours.”

Ben swallowed and then nodded his head.

And though they seldom spoke of him, Bishop said in a reverent tone, “He’d be real proud of you son…your dad. I know I am.” He got up, cleared his throat again and headed home.

The next day, Ben woke at what was referred to as the crack of dawn…only, that just meant four o’clock in the morning below Hatch Five. He met Bishop in the kitchen and they quietly, so as to not wake the others, made their coffee and popped two frozen breakfast burritos into the microwave. Once they were through, they headed out the door of their apartment and down the hallway several minutes until they came to the security station.

Cassie’s warm smile greeted them from behind a desk. “Hi, you!” Her arms were spread open.

Ben had no choice but to hug the tiny lady who had become his aunt over time.

“I can’t believe you’re all grown up and working here now,” she said.

“We’re just trying it out,” Bishop said.

She nodded. “Be that as it may, Yeager is all ready for you.”

Bishop said, “How’s the south side this morning?”

Cassie yawned. “Quiet as a mouse.”

“No more trouble from Jerry’s kids?”

She shook her head and looked at Ben and raised her eyebrows. “Nah, they’re settled down now. Ben, one of the first things you learn here is to keep station business in the station.”

He understood. “Mr. Briggs’ sons have caused problems since the day I met them but they’re mostly harmless. I know Mr. Briggs drinks a lot at times, since he lost his wife.”

Cassie nodded. “Well, Mr. Briggs’ son, Paul,” she pointed a remote to the screens on the wall, “broke into the infirmary two nights ago. We’re not sure what he was looking for and he didn’t come away with anything but at the same time, we’re watching him.”

Ben watched the replay of the video on the screen. It looked to him like Paul was stumbling drunk. “He looks surprised…like he’s not sure that’s where he belongs.”

“That’s what we think too,” Bishop said. “But just in case he’s casing it out for something, we’re keeping him under surveillance.”

“Why? He just had too much to drink after graduation.”

Bishop nodded and Cassie looked down as if there was something else she had to do on her computer.

“And that’s why you’re going to train with Officer Yeager before you get started. There’s a lot here that most residents of the Colorado Colony are not aware of, Ben. There’s a reason we’re lenient in some areas and harsh in others. You put several hundred people underground with a limited food supply and trust me, things get weird quick.”

“Okay, but why am I training with Yeager and not you?”

“Because Jax and I’ve already taught you everything we know. Just like wrestling, you’d anticipate any move I throw at you. It’s better if you learn something unfamiliar to you from someone who won’t be easy on you, and that means Yeager.”

Ben’s eyes got big. He knew everyone in the colony. But Cassie and Garrett Yeager were a pair apart, mostly because they worked with Bishop running the station. Cassie was outgoing and kind, but Garrett was a tall, mean-looking guy who, since he was a boy, Ben thought was always ready to rip someone’s head off. He blew stuff up all the time and yelled a lot when guiding school trips on their yearly expedition up top. He especially didn’t like wolves or bears and often killed them on sight by throwing sticks of dynamite at them, instead of letting them walk past.

He also knew when he was a boy, several students over the years had suddenly vanished from their seats overnight. Then whispers started that a member of their family had stolen something. Punishments were rumored to be meted out by Yeager. Then families were left fractured and torn apart. What had happened to them? That was always a question that when asked, was never answered. Ben was about to learn those answers.

Bishop formed something like a smile with his lips. It was unfamiliar to Ben, but then Bishop jerked his head twice to the next door. “Oh…I’m supposed to go in there?”

“Yes. That’s the way it works,” Bishop replied.

“He won’t bite you. I promise,” Cassie called after him, then added, “If he does, you come tell me.” Then she laughed and when Ben opened the door, he looked back at her to see if she was still smiling. She wouldn’t let him go through the door if something bad was about to happen to him, right? She was his mother’s best friend, after all. But Ben suddenly wasn’t comfortable and raised his right eyebrow and opened the door anyway, despite the odd warning.

The hallway was pitch dark, with none of the customary runner lights along the baseboards like most of the colony. The station was part of the original entrance where, he remembered from childhood, his mother had nearly died at the hands of a maniac just a few yards away. A chill ran through his spine because he’d remembered that day and how close he’d come to losing his surviving parent. It was only because of a stranger named Morrow that she’d survived. Still, he could see the light outline of a door at the end of the long hallway, but what was more disconcerting was the loud shots he heard coming from the other side.

Ben’s hands fisted; his legs seemed frozen in place. His knees jolted with each shot but beyond that, they refused to move. He closed his eyes. He could turn and leave. He could go back the way he came. Tell them no…that wasn’t what he wanted. He could work with his mother and Ames for the rest of his life in the nursery belowground. Grow crops for dining tables…again…for the rest of his life. But something from the day before came to mind. Something close to what Bishop said: This…is where you start making your own decisions. And despite giving him a choice, why did he feel like all his decisions were still being made for him?

Suddenly, he was that little boy in Bishop’s cabin again, with the bad men trying to get inside. Trying to get his mother.

Another blast…another jolt, though less this time. She was screaming. They had her by the hair.

Another blast. With his eyes still closed, Ben opened his hands. Spread his fingers.

Three more quick shots. Ben controlled his heart rate, controlled the jolts. Controlled his breathing. He opened his eyes. He’d grabbed the gun then…

He wasn’t that little boy anymore.

Ben opened the door without realizing he’d walked quickly down the long corridor.

Bam!

Garrett Yeager stood in a modified Weaver stance. The shell casing of the last round flew as Yeager turned to him. In a station ballcap and yellow safety glasses, Yeager didn’t look too menacing. But when he spoke, Ben began to rethink that notion.

“You’re late.”

“I…”

“No excuses.” He nudged his chin to the table behind Ben next to the door. “Sign in. Put on a hat and grab a pair of safety goggles.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ben knew from past training how to shoot. He knew why you wore a hat…to keep the hot shell casings from flying down the neck of your shirt and giving you a burn. The safety glasses were for the same reason; without them, you could end up searing an eye or worse. Ames had a near miss once and had a tiny scar near the right side of his left eye. He remembered that training day. They were twelve then. Up top with the rest of his class, and that was the day Yeager threw a dynamite stick at an approaching bear. They all ran back through Hatch Five, screaming, not because of the bear but because of Yeager losing it…as Ames always said when he retold the story.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Yeager kept shooting and when he stopped, he said, “Fill three of those magazines with nine mils as fast as you can.”

Ben waded through inches of shell casings and stood by the ammo table. Saw the three empty magazines. Saw the full box of rounds. But what he didn’t see was a speed loader…mechanical or otherwise. “Do I…”

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Ben thought better of the questions and picked up the first empty magazine and started shoving rounds through the spring-loaded mechanism. By the time he got to the fourteenth round, his thumb was beginning to ache, but he finished that one off and grabbed the next as fast as possible. He’d been through this before. All the kids, in all the colonies, knew how to shove rounds into magazines as if their life depended on it. And it did, at times. So it became a school competition and he wasn’t the champ. That surprising honor went to his sister, Louna. She and her nimble fingers won every year since they’d made it a thing. And at that very moment, she was sitting in a classroom cooing at five-year-olds and he was there, shoving rounds into magazines while Yeager continued to shoot behind him. It made no sense and what made less sense was the fact that he knew they had boxes of nine mil-filled magazines in a station closet somewhere because as kids…they filled them all. Already full. Why was he doing this? Louna should be here.

“Are you done yet?”

“Uh…yes.” He turned and handed the third one to Yeager.

“Good,” he grunted, taking off his hat and glasses. “Fill five more as fast as you can. Tomorrow when you get here on time, load five in less than a minute each…and wear a long-sleeved shirt.” He added that last part sounding a bit disgusted, and then he turned and headed for the door. “And clean up this mess.”

Ben stood there and listened as Yeager’s steps descended the long dark corridor and then the other door to the station opened and closed. He let out a breath quickly and abused his thumbs for the next ten minutes and then eyed the push broom and dustpan in the corner and went to work.

He had to admit, there was something about the tinkling of the casings as he shoved them from one end to the other that felt slightly satisfying, or at least it took his mind off his aching thumbs. And an hour later, as he dumped the final dustpan of casings into the bin, Bishop opened the door.

“Ready for lunch?”

“Yeah,” Ben said but then reminded himself not to seem too enthusiastic about leaving the station. On their walk home, Ben asked, “Why is Yeager training me and not you?”

Bishop snorted slightly. “That’s easy…because I don’t want you to hate me.”

Ben raised his eyebrows. It was going to be that bad apparently.

“You two are back early,” Maeve said.

“We’re on time,” Bishop replied, looking at the clock.

“Oh...” She glanced at the time as well. “I guess I was just excited to hear about Ben’s first day. How was it?”

He wasn’t sure how to answer that question when his thumbs were throbbing with his heartbeat. “Great,” he said.

“Awesome,” Maeve said. While she prepared lunch, Bishop filled a water pitcher.

“You’re used to eating at school. Now you get to see how we do it,” Maeve commented.

Bishop added, “Yeah, it’s really exciting.”

Maeve said, “Well, we get to check in with one another while the littles are at school.”

“Where’s Louna? Will she come home for lunch every day, too?”

Maeve raised her shoulders. “I don’t know. I guess she gets to decide. I know some of the teachers stay with the kids during lunch hour.” She opened the fridge and stared inside. “I have turkey or roast beef. I’ve been craving tuna lately, but we haven’t seen cans of that in a long time.”

“The mercury will rot your brain over time anyway,” Bishop said and pulled out a cutting board to slice bread.

Like standing in the hallway before, Ben wasn’t sure what to do as he watched his parents gather odds and ends for their lunch. They seemed to have their own rhythm down, something he’d never known about the two of them. How could he live with them all these years and not wonder how they came together at lunch alone in the apartment during the day? It all seemed off-kilter, watching them work around one another.

Maeve glanced at her son. “Go ahead and have a seat, Ben. We just do leftovers or sandwiches during the day.”

Ben washed his hands at the sink and by the time he sat down, they had a spread laid out on the table.

It was Bishop who glanced at him, like he often did, and showed him how things were done without saying a word. He picked up a slice of bread, cupped it in his hand and smeared a spoonful of mayonnaise on the surface, and then poked a few strips of roast beef into the center, folded it in half and stuffed one end into his mouth.

“I also have sliced tomatoes here, Ben. I can make you a proper sandwich if you’d like.”

“Leave the boy alone,” Bishop said between bites. “He can make his own sandwich.”

And while Bishop fingered a pickle out of a jar, Ben repeated the creation, only he selected turkey instead of roast beef.

“Here’s some of those colorful radishes from last night,” Maeve offered as she held up a container.

Ben felt as if he had to take one or offend his mother, though he didn’t really like them.

So…this is how it goes, Ben thought and then asked between bites, “What happens when we get back?”

“You’re all finished with Yeager?”

Ben nodded.

“Then you’re with me the rest of the day. Yeager will teach you officer procedure. He’s better at it than I am. We can’t seem to keep recruits around if I teach it.” Bishop quickly smiled and shoved the rest of the half-sandwich into his mouth and washed it down with a large swallow of water. “I’ll walk you through the way we handle law and order in the colony. It’s more of a lecture. But like you know, I don’t like to talk about this stuff at home. So while we’re here, let’s keep work out of the conversation.”

“Oh…I’m sorry,” Ben apologized.

“No. Don’t be. It’s a lesson to keep work and home life separate as much as you can. Trust me, I’m doing you and your future wife a favor.” He put his hand over Maeve’s atop the table then.

Maeve smiled at Ben. “How is Julie? Have you talked with her lately? Any date plans?”

Ben nearly choked on his sandwich and took a big drink of his water. He shook his head. “Nah, I haven’t run into her lately. We’ve all been so busy since graduation.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You shouldn’t let that one have too much free time. I’m just saying…”

Bishop cautioned, “Don’t pressure him, Maeve. It’s too early for that.”

Maeve was shaking her head. “No…not really. Not if you want your pick.”

“Mom, enough,” Ben protested and finished his sandwich in two bites and a pickle in three. Then he cleared his plate, drank another glass of water, and by then Bishop was in a hurry to catch up with his son.

Bishop kissed Maeve. “See you later,” he said with his eyebrows raised, and then on the walk back to the station, Bishop commented, “Your mom…she only wants the best for you.”

Ben shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t like Julie. I do. We fight occasionally, but I really do like Julie. Why is everyone so quick to couple up, though? That’s what I don’t understand. What’s the big hurry?”

Bishop had a rare grin on his face as he responded, “Take your time, Ben. There’s no rushing that. It’s either there or it’s not.”

“But how do you know?” Ben asked.

Bishop gave his son a quick side glance.

“I’m assuming you’re referring to love. And if I must tell you what that’s like then you haven’t felt it yet. But when you do, you won’t question it, son.”

Then he cleared his throat and went from father to law enforcement mode with a flip of a switch. “Let’s check in at the station, then we’re going for a walk.”

As soon as they walked in the door, Bishop said, “Cassie, status?”

“Big bear…big,” she said, staring at the screen before her with round eyes. “And three cubs.”

“Yeager?”

She nodded and chewed her gum without looking up. Then her jaw stopped chewing. “Make that two cubs.” Then she swiveled in her chair and turned her back to them. Through her mic she said, “Honey, don’t get too close.” There was an explosion shortly after that. It wasn’t a gunshot.

Static on the radio and then, “…not. Damn things…ger every…ar.”

Bishop said, “Interference? Is that wind?”

She nodded, holding the mic close to her mouth but not making eye contact. “One more minute, Garrett. Don’t make me come after you. You know I will.”

Bishop said under his breath so that only Ben could hear him, “And she will, too. That’s the only way to get him out of there when the predators are within the perimeter. Remember that.”

Ben nodded, not really sure what he was agreeing to.

“I’m walking, Cassie.”

“Copy,” she said.

“Ben, grab a coat,” Bishop instructed, and he reached for one of the hooks along the wall, looping it over his arm as they left.

Walking past their apartment, they headed farther down to where a hallway merged into a city street.

A courier on a bicycle went by and the man waved at Bishop.

Bishop waved back. “We’re going to go over a lot of what you already know but we have to start somewhere and fill in any of the gaps you might have.” They stepped off the road and onto a sidewalk that led past a busy diner and a grocery store.

“Law and order is different in this society than it was in the old world. People had rights back then. We don’t have the luxury of that now. Eleven years ago, when we first came together and moved here, things were worse. We couldn’t afford theft. If one person stole from another, it was essentially premeditated murder, sometimes of an entire family. People starved to death that way. Parents had to watch their children starve.” Bishop shook his head. And Ben knew what he was saying was fact because he remembered more than he wanted to about how things worked back then.

“If you were caught stealing or worse, you were taken out into the wilderness and shot. Simple as that. We couldn’t let them live because we couldn’t take the chance of them forming a group and leading them here, causing trouble and threatening more lives. We had to form a no-tolerance policy with no exceptions.

“But, since that time, things have calmed considerably both down here and above. Most survivors have found their way into communities, or they died off trying over the past decade. Now, if someone commits a theft or violent crime, we banish them into the wilderness and make them fend for themselves. I know growing up, you’ve missed students suddenly. There were rumors but I’ll tell you what really happens. If a crime’s committed by a member of a household, they’re banished without question, but we also give the remaining family members the option of either going with their family member, or they can choose one of the other colonies in the Federation to transfer to. Jax escorts them on horseback on their trips and that’s sometimes why we receive transfers here. It’s a harsh trip, as you can imagine, but it gives the rest of the family members a fresh start someplace else, but they only get one more shot in the Underground Federation. After that, they’re gone. No questions asked.

“There’s really no reason to steal anything down here. We all work very hard to make this happen. No one is starving. The Underground Federation has experienced such hardships in the past that everyone just wants to live peacefully. Any questions?”

Ben’s head was reeling. The occasional empty seats in the classroom over the past eleven years sprang to mind and those questions were answered, finally. “So the little blond girl in the third grade…I’d asked Mom about her. Her dad stole something? Is that what happened?”

Bishop was nodding his head. “Yes, but no, actually. I remember that one. It was hard for your mother and me. Her name was Adrianne, and she was Louna’s best friend. She’d spent the night a few times in the beginning. The girls were around seven, I think. It wasn’t the father who committed a crime. It was the mother. And she didn’t steal anything. But what she did was endanger her family in the worst possible way. She couldn’t handle living belowground. It’s not for everyone. She instead took both her daughters out of Hatch Five late one night during an ice storm and tried to run with them without the father knowing. And that’s all fine and good, but the children were also his.”

“But that was her choice. Wasn’t it?”

Bishop nodded. “Sure, but to take a three-month-old out there at thirty below with no provisions and not being able to see your hand in front of your face…that’s a death sentence for a baby. The mother only got twenty feet before she collapsed with the girls. We brought her back down. Tried to reason with her. The father asked that we remove the kids from them temporarily until he could get his wife stable, and if you remember, we had Adrianne and the baby with us for a few weeks.”

Ben nodded, remembering his mother walking a newborn around that wasn’t one of his siblings.

“And the mother did get better at least for a while. And then one day, Adrianne came home from school and found her mother hanging from a light fixture…the baby was squalling. Adrianne was old enough to remember it all, so Mr. Martin decided it was best for them to have a fresh start and Jax escorted him and his daughters to the California Colony.”

“Oh, wow. So she’s alive?”

“Adrianne? Yes, as far as I know. He was a plumber if I remember right. Great guy. It was sad but I hope things worked out for them in the end.”

“This job has a lot more to it than what I’d thought.”

Bishop nodded. “Yes. It’s not all wild animals up top that you have to worry about…it’s the wild ones below as well.”

“So…why all the secrecy over the years about the people who simply vanished?”

“People are herd animals, and they copycat one another, even their bad choices. For example, a hundred years ago there was no such thing as a school shooting, where a crazed individual stormed a soft target like a school building and started blowing away the most vulnerable and precious part of our society, our children. Then, back in the 1980s two deranged teenagers went into a school and killed a bunch of their classmates. It was the first time a crime like that had ever been committed and it horrified the nation, but you know what happened then?”

Ben shook his head.

“It happened again and again after that. And it didn’t stop.”

“That’s pretty horrible. So you’re saying you keep the crimes committed quiet so that others don’t do the same thing or try something similar.”

“Yes. I know it seems harsh to lose a classmate or a neighbor suddenly but overall…it’s what we’ve had to do to keep the whole community as healthy as possible.”

“Okay…I guess I can live with that. Dang.”

“What?” Bishop asked.

“That means I can’t explain it all to Ames or anyone else.”

“That’s right. If asked, just nod and wave. Now that we’ve made the rounds, let’s go outside and give Yeager a break from the bears.”

Ben widened his eyes and thought for the first time he wasn’t sure which beasts he wanted to deal with…the ones above ground or the ones below.

6

“What are you doing here so late on a Friday?” Cassie swung the station door open.

Ben didn’t move his head. What he did do was shift his eyes up at her and then immediately back to the screen in front of him again.

“Did you know this is your sixth-month anniversary, Deputy Ben Tildon? Yesterday, you were just a babe.” She took off her sweater then and looped it over her chair. “And now here you are ignoring every word I say just like the rest of them.” She was making that smacking noise with the inside of her cheek again. “Hmmm…they grow up so fast. Okay, whatcha got there, smart boy?”

“Paul Briggs,” Ben said without looking over. “He’s doing that thing again.”

“Did he get inside this time? Yes, he did. Did we leave the infirmary door open?”

Ben nodded. “Yeah, Gabe said he’d rather leave it open than have him shred his hand again. Paul’s drunk as a skunk and he’s just wandering around in there.”

She sighed heavily. “We’d hoped that new wife of his would calm him down. I just don’t understand what he’s doing in there.” She rolled over on her chair wheels and leaned into Ben’s screen. “He doesn’t take anything. He just breaks in, puts his hands in his pockets and leans against the wall.” She puffed her cheeks out and shook her head. “Did you call Jennie or his dad?”

“Nah. He’s an adult now.” Ben leaned back in his chair. “It’s the end of my shift. I can go down there and talk him out or walk him to his door. I hate to see Jennie deal with this all on her own.”

“She knew what she was getting into, honey, when she married him.”

“I know. We all thought the marriage might straighten him out.”

“Some things are too broke to fix.”

“You mean some people.”

She nodded.

Ben stood and pulled his jacket from his chair while Cassie continued to monitor the screen.

But then she said, “And sometimes, they’re not really broken after all. Look.” She pointed to the screen.

Paul was shutting the door behind him and was walking down the sidewalk.

Ben watched while flipping his collar out. “Huh…well, that’s a first.”

“No damage. Nothing was taken but he still breaks in. He’s committed a crime. What do we do about it?” Cassie mused. “Just like last week…we watch him and see if there’s some way to help him. If he’s not hurting anything, we leave it alone.”

“But he is hurting someone. He’s hurting himself,” Ben responded.

“That’s his right. We don’t interfere there. We all have our own demons.” She made her eyes big.

“Maybe I’ll catch up to him on my way home and see where he goes.”

Cassie nodded. “That’s a good idea. Just keep your distance. And hey! Good work this week. Garrett said you’re a natural shot out there.”

Pffft…Ben shook his head, but he couldn’t tell Cassie what he was thinking because Garrett Yeager was her husband.

Yet she seemed to understand the dilemma, because she was laughing wildly as he swung open the station door and waved goodbye.

It was chillier than normal out in the hallway and before he left, he checked the Hatch Five door to make sure it was secure. Seeing nothing amiss, he turned and continued, only to turn around a few steps later and go back to the door when he felt a slight breeze linger on the back of his neck. Still, the latch was securely in place. The only thing out of the ordinary was a trickle of melting ice along the seal. Not that the moisture was unusual…it just indicated there was melting in progress.

Cassie had noticed him walk back and forth and came to the door. “I felt that too. There was more runoff earlier in the day, although your dad didn’t see any breaks in the cloud cover. No sun showers, just a few degrees higher.”

“Interesting,” Ben said. “Well, good night. Hope the night shift is calmer.”

She popped back inside, and Ben continued down the hallway. It was Friday and when he came to his family’s apartment, he heard his little brother inside giggling along with little Jax. And their mother saying, Calm down in there! in a tone that he remembered often as a child.

It made him laugh as he walked past the door and continued walking until the hallway ended and the city street began. He put his hands in his pockets and kept his head low as he passed several people he’d once gone to high school with. Most of them had coupled up now, holding hands as they walked into the pub. Then he spotted Julie among them, and he nearly stopped but she was alone as well and like some kind of trigger, she turned and spotted him just as he was about to get away.

She was wearing a red polka dot dress that tied at the waist, and her legs were long and lean. She scurried over to him. “Ben! You said you’d meet me here. It’s Friday, you promised. Are you coming?” She grabbed his jacket and began pulling him toward the pub.

He smiled but shook his head. “I have to do something first, but I’ll meet you there right after.”

She did that pouting thing. Her long, dark shiny hair glistened in the light of the streetlamp.

He kept his hands in his pockets but leaned forward when she gave up the fight and instead pulled him near.

“You’ve got to be cold in that dress. Where’s your jacket?” he whispered in her ear as she cuddled up against him.

“I left it at home. It’s warm enough.”

He smiled at her. She was beautiful but he shook his head, remembering the dead body of a woman he’d seen outside their perimeter earlier in the week with Yeager, her brown eyes glazed over and frozen within her pelts. There was no way to identify her. Jax had never seen her before but said she’d probably gotten pulled into a random polar flash freeze.

“Here,” Ben said. “Put this on.” He shrugged off his coat and draped it around Julie’s shoulders.

She slid her hands inside the too-long sleeves and pulled up the cuffs.

He pulled her in by the shoulders. “I’ve got to check on something. But I’ll be back in a few minutes. Keep the jacket on, please.”

By then, friends from the door of the pub were calling for her and she waved goodbye with the floppy end of his jacket sleeve as he left and ran a few streets over to where he’d last spotted Paul.

Stopping at the infirmary door, he pulled on the handle and found it locked. He turned then and gave a thumbs-up at the camera hidden under the eaves of the building. Then he turned and ran farther up the road on the sidewalk to see if he could catch up to his polite but habitually drunk, unlawful old classmate. He expected to find him on the same side of the street but up two more blocks, he spotted a man staggering on the other end. Skipping past a few bicyclists, Ben crossed quickly and hung back a few paces until Paul came to a stop and hugged a lamppost. His head began to loll, and Ben thought he was either getting ready to launch the contents of his stomach all over the sidewalk or, he was falling asleep with a slow partner.

“Hey there, Paul. Why don’t I give you a hand home? All right?” Ben pulled Paul’s arm over his shoulder. “You going to be sick? Don’t puke on me, man.”

Paul shook his head. “Not sick. Just going home.”

“Right. You’re just up here a few houses. I’ll walk you to the door.”

Paul pulled away and looked at him as if he was trying to merge two images together to identify who the one in the middle was. “I’m Paul,” he finally said, sticking his hand out for Ben to shake.

“I know. I’ve known you since we were little kids. I’m Ben, remember?” He got Paul a dozen steps farther when Paul nodded and agreed that he knew who Ben was.

“Yes, you were that guy…” Paul slurred.

“What guy?” Ben thought keeping him talking would keep him walking closer to the door of his house.

“The wrestling one…the one that threw that other guy on his head… ‘member, that one.”

Ben raised his eyebrows. “That one, yeah. I remember. But that guy had it coming,” he said, playing along.

Paul snickered. “Had it coming.” Then the snickering turned into a kind of sob and Paul’s lower end began to descend to the sidewalk. “My mom…my mom…my mom died.”

Ben eyed the door and then pulled Paul’s arm up a little farther. “I know, buddy. I’m real sorry about that.”

“You don’t know. You don’t know what it’s like. You have both a mom and a dad.”

Ben stopped walking. “Actually, that’s not true, man. My dad died too, when I was five. He died in the China war.”

Paul put his free hand on Ben’s chest. “So you know. You do know. Hurts so much…so much.”

Ben nodded once. “Yes. And it doesn’t stop. But Paul?”

“What…what?”

“They don’t want you to stop living.”

“Aww…” Paul muttered.

Ben said, “Look, we’re almost there, my friend.” He walked Paul up to his front door and when they climbed the steps, the door opened before he had a chance to knock.

“Hi. Thank you,” said a pretty young blond that he vaguely remembered had transferred over from the Arizona colony a few months before.

“This…this is my wife,” Paul said proudly.

Ben avoided making eye contact and handed Paul over like transferring a child to another parent.

She widened the doorway and Paul walked inside and landed on the couch like felling a tree.

She smiled and turned to Ben in the doorway.

“Do you need me to help get him to bed?”

She shook her head. “No, he’ll make his way there in a few minutes. He always does.”

“I’m sorry. If you need help with him, let me know.”

“He’s really not a problem. He’s just working through the pain of losing his mother. I knew the conditions before I agreed to marry him. He’s a good man, but grief is an awful thing. It’ll take time. I’m willing to wait. I love him,” she stated and raised one shoulder as if love was an excuse.

Ben nodded. “I’ll let you go then. Have a good evening,” he said, and she shut the door.

Satisfied that Paul was no longer a menace to himself or anyone else, he sprinted back to the main road and right into the pub to find that Julie didn’t have his coat on. She was sitting on it atop a barstool, talking to another guy. She hadn’t made eye contact until Ben was nearly ten feet away. Close enough to see that the guy she was in a conversation with wasn’t familiar to him.

“There you are!” She slipped off the barstool, sending his jacket to the beer-covered floor.

Ben kissed her quickly and then reached down to snag his jacket before cooties decided to attach themselves.

“Ben, this is Raymond Sawyer. Raymond, this is Ben,” Julie said.

Ben put his hand out first and said, “Hi there.”

Raymond stood briefly and shook Ben’s hand. “Hey, I was just talking with your pretty girlfriend here. She’s told me about things in the Colorado Colony. Quite the setup.”

“Oh?” Ben said and pulled Julie close to him. “When did you get in?”

“Last week. I’m from the Arizona Colony. We’re here for a few weeks discussing the melting situation we’ve experienced in Arizona and what might happen here as the temperatures warm.”

“Yeah, I heard you guys had a situation. That day we were outside in the sun shower, you guys had actual flooding in the tunnels, is that right?” Ben said as the bartender asked him if he wanted a beer and Ben nodded. “I’m the station deputy and we’ve noticed significant seepage the last few months, as well, but nothing major.”

He nodded. “Yeah, at first it was just seepage and then later that day we heard dripping sounds throughout the sector. Later that night, three of our men went above ground to see what the issue was. They opened the door to one of the underground exits and water flooded into the underground tunnels. It was so bad that sector residents found themselves grabbing onto anything they could to avoid being washed down the street until the men were able to seal off the metal door. We had to evacuate that whole sector. But then it froze over again and here we are.”

“So there’s a cost to pay for one warm day?” Julie said.

Raymond nodded.

Ben said, “But on the other hand, that also means melting. If we can just anticipate and control where the water flows, we should be okay.”

“Well, that’s why I’m here. But hey, I’m not here to bore your lady.” He clinked bottles with Ben, took a last swig, and stood. “I’ll see you around, Julie. Ben, nice to meet you. You two have a nice evening.”

Ben took his stool and when he sat down, Julie smiled at him. Ben took another pull from his beer. “Where’s the rest of your gang? I thought you wanted to hang out with them.”

“They went to the diner, but I wanted to wait for you. We can join them when you’re ready,” she said.

His eyes scanned the length of her as she smiled at him. “You really should wear warmer clothes, you know? You heard him talking about the flooding.”

The smile left her face and she played with the edge of the label on her beer bottle. “Does it bother you all that another man was talking with me when you came in?”

“What do you mean?”

She stared intently at the liquid within the bottle and shook her head slightly. “I…don’t want to wait anymore.”

He knew something was up, but he wasn’t ready to have this discussion again. “Look, you know I love you.”

She turned to face him. “Yeah, but how much, Ben? Everyone else…”

There went her hand, aiming at thin air. He knew things were about to come unhinged. So he smiled and held her palm warmly within his own. Maybe he could disarm her.

“Everyone else is what?”

“They’re moving on. But you’re not.”

“Look, if moving on means getting married…then I told you, I don’t want to marry until after I visit Coeur d’Alene.”

She shook her head. “That makes no sense.”

“You know what also makes no sense? Getting married because all your friends are doing it. That doesn’t make sense. I mean, why? Is it some kind of race?”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say because she popped down off the barstool like a toaster pastry and headed for the door. He turned and thought about catching up to her. Thought about pulling her back or taking her to the diner to meet with her friends or maybe even making out and telling her he loved her again, but she was already out the door and stomping down the street. And as soon as she was out of sight, he didn’t think and swirled around on his barstool and ordered another.

Working his way through his second beer, Ben soon heard a familiar voice and then felt Ames’ hand on his back.

“Hey bud, where you been?” Ames said.

Ben smiled. “Right here, where you left me.”

They tipped bottles and when they finished, Ben said, “I’ve got to get home. Early shift tomorrow.”

“I’ll walk with you. My mom’s not feeling well lately. I don’t want to leave her home alone too long.”

“That’s nice of you.”

“Well, she’s my mom.”

As they walked out of the bar, Ben asked, “Do you ever remember what your life was like before the fall? You were in San Diego, right?”

“Yeah. Everything happened so fast. Or at least it seems that way now. We were about five…six-year-olds. Barely able to wipe our own butts and then suddenly our parents are training us to use guns when the week before that was considered very bad parenting.” They laughed but it wasn’t funny.

“Would you ever want to return to San Diego…see what it’s like now?”

Ames thought about this as he stared down the street. “I…I don’t think so. I mean, my family sacrificed so much to get here. My dad…he was never the same. I mean, he saved a lot of lives, but it was pretty brutal. My mom...she’s been through so much, and we lost Frankie two years ago. I couldn’t leave her.” He shook his head. “My dad would want me to look after her.”

“Okay, yeah. But I’m just thinking if you didn’t have that going on, would you consider returning there? Is it important to you at all?”

“No. Not really. Somewhere else maybe, sure. I’d go up top and move my mom if it was safe. But I don’t have a driving desire like you do to return to Coeur d’Alene. Is that what’s holding you back?”

“Holding me back from what?”

“From settling down with Julie.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Not you too?”

“No, man. I mean from everything. I knew you were undecided about your position at the station and everything else. I know you’ve wanted to return to Coeur d’Alene ever since I can remember. But why? Why there? Is it just to move up top permanently or there specifically?”

“There specifically. I just want to see what’s happened there since. I want to know for myself.”

“Ben, is it because of your dad?”

“I don’t know. I’ve thought about that. I mean, why not just emerge and stay in Deer Trail? We’ve at least cleared a perimeter. It’s secure. My family is here, but at the end of the day, and in my dreams at night, I keep returning to Coeur d’Alene.”

Ames thought for a minute. “Hmmm, yeah. San Diego means nothing to me now. But my dad worked for the original owner, and we were here much earlier than the rest of you, when it was owned by that other guy. Honestly, I don’t even remember the trip here. My dad was the Osprey pilot. All I really remember was my mom waking Frankie and me up early one morning and she was throwing things into a bag and rushing us out the door. It was cold but that’s all I really remember. Then we were with my dad on a plane and the next thing I knew, we were underground in our apartment here. Maybe if I’d gone through what you remember, it would be different. But returning to San Diego...I don’t think so. That, I know for sure. I’m not leaving my mom for anything. She’s always been there for me and since Frankie and my dad died, I need to be there for her.

“Plus,” Ames added, “it’s still freaking dangerous out there. I mean, Frankie just happened to fall into that crevasse during a field trip. Yeah, he went out of bounds but geez, man. He died, just like that. My mother will never get over his loss. And Ben, the animals…the sheer number of wolf packs that have proliferated the wilderness…. I don’t care how great you are with a shotgun…there’s too many of them. I can shoot just as well as you can, but dang. And going alone? I don’t think you realize how easy it was on your trip here. Things have changed out there over the last decade without people roaming around, in ways I’m sure we don’t even know yet. I think it’s impossible.”

Ben shook his head. “Nothing’s impossible. And man can’t live underground forever.”

7

“Good morning. You look a little hungover, darlin’.” Cassie nudged a trashcan with her foot over to Ben’s desk.

“I don’t need…it’s not that bad,” Ben said and pushed it back.

“Don’t let your dad see you like this,” Cassie cautioned.

Ben chuckled. “He already knows. But I’m fine. Just one too many.” He took in a deep breath, hoping more air would liven his brain cells and curb the nausea in his stomach. “What’s up today? Dad said we had some trouble with a big wolf pack in the perimeter?”

“Yeah,” Cassie nodded. “Big wolf pack and they were fighting amongst themselves too, so Jax said it was likely a merged pack. Around forty-five to fifty in all.”

Ben whistled. “That’s a lot. Is it the same pack that fought the coyotes? There’s too many of those around.”

“Yeah, there’s a few frozen carcasses out there now. Jax said he’s going to move them out of the perimeter later today.”

“That’s really weird. A wolf pack usually consists of the main couple, their immediate offspring, and a few yearlings. Jax said the litter sizes have doubled from six to twelve? Where’s Jax now?”

Cassie’s eyebrows shot up. “He’s bringing in some fish he found under a lake. I’m so excited! It’s so rare that we see any lake or sea life alive!”

“Ugh…tone that down an octave. You and your fish hobby. How’s the gulfarium doing? The turtle’s cool. Little Jax and Sean love to see him.”

“It’s a her, and yeah, she’s adorable. We named her Stella. Still can’t believe we found her alive. We’re widening the tank soon. Garrett said we have room for more. He was especially happy to find that trout. Any sea life we can preserve is vital.”

“What’s Jax bringing this time?”

“I don’t know. Probably another big catfish…or as Garrett says, roaches of the sea.”

“Blah…” Ben shuddered at the mere mention of food or foodlike things.

“They’re good fried.”

“Can we please talk about anything other than food?”

But Cassie didn’t come back with anything sassy right away, so Ben shifted his sight from the screen he was monitoring to her screen.

“Bear at Hatch Three.”

The hair on the back of Ben’s neck stood up when he saw the sheer size of the grizzly crowding the metal hatch. “He’s shoving at the door. Can he get in there?”

“If he breaks the latch. I wonder if he smells something inside. This happened last week, same door.” She grabbed the radio and rattled off the location of an impending breach.

“There goes Yeager. He’s going to need more explosives soon. This is becoming a daily occurrence,” Ben commented.

“Yeah, and quite frankly, we’re all getting a little sick of greasy bear meat,” Cassie replied.

“Ugh…stop please.”

Over the radio, screams were heard, then static and then, “Hatch Three…breach, breach, breach!”

Cassie pressed a button. “Copy. Lockdown. Standby.”

Then a loud boom was heard.

“Yeager…this is Station, what’s your status, over.”

Static.

“Yeager?”

Static.

Ben said, “Snow’s picked up. I can’t see him. Wait, who are those people? Hunting party?”

Cassie nodded her head. “Yeah, but they were warned not to go out due to snow cover. I’m glad they’re back because we weren’t going after them.”

Then gunshots…

“Station, this is Yeager. Be advised, bear is down, Hatch Three is breached, and hunting party is firing at coyotes coming in for bear parts, over.”

Cassie’s spine softened into the back of her chair at the sound of Garrett Yeager’s voice. She nodded and smiled slightly with the mic held close to her mouth. “Copy. Let them know they’re late but I’ll grant them a gold star for timing. Out.”

On Ben’s screen, he watched as a hunter aimed and fired again as a coyote dashed in quickly to retrieve a bloody piece of scattered bear flesh. “Scavengers…always out for a quick meal.”

“At least they’re cleaning up the place,” Cassie said.

“Yeah, their numbers have tripled too, according to Jax.”

Cassie stood up. “Well, that’s enough mayhem for me, my friend. I’m outta here.”

“When is Jax expected?”

She shook her head. “You know he shows when he wants to show. But wake me if he brings the fish in alive. Your mom’s preparing the water for me. I’m hoping to get five consecutive hours of sleep so I can clean the tanks and get things ready before he gets here.”

“Any other hunting crews expected in?” Ben scanned the log on the desk.

“No, and by the rules, they know if they go out in a snowstorm, we’re not expecting survivors and we’re not going after their frozen corpses. It doesn’t matter that there are few clear days. It’s too much of a risk to the colony.” She gathered her things and changed the subject. “Ooh, I’m so excited about the fishy.”

Ben rolled his eyes at her. He knew the gulfarium work was important to preserve what few species they found alive, but he enjoyed kidding Cassie about her interest as well. “Goodnight.”

As she headed out the door Cassie stopped and said pointedly, “Tuna casserole,” and she smiled at him. “Can you smell it, Ben? Can you smell the oozy goodness?”

Ben’s stomach gave a lurch. “You are evil.” But he smiled anyway and shook his head as she left. His attention returned to the screen when the sector leader of Hatch Three called in.

He heard the sound of metal clink against metal. Then the sector leader said, “Latch is busted. Second time this month. What are you going to do about the bears? It’s like they think we’re a box of animal crackers…only we’re the crackers.”

“Calm down, Terry,” Ben replied. “We don’t control the animal population. We just pretend we do. I’m sending the engineer now. Yeager will stand guard until the hatch is secured.” He ended the call then and while monitoring the other screens, he saw only white-out snow flurries, and yet in his mind he kept envisioning the purple hued crocus.

8

Ben woke to the smell of bacon frying in a pan and the sound of a man talking over the sector intercom. It sounded like an interview and the voice was vaguely familiar. He pulled himself up on his elbows and glanced at the other side of the room. Sean’s bed was empty. The sheets were rumpled into a swirl in the middle. Ben walked bare-chested into the living room and found Bishop standing in the center. Ben pulled the waist of his pajama bottom strings up tight. “What is this?”

Bishop said, “There’s a guy from the Arizona colony giving a recount of what happened there.”

Ben grabbed a slice of bacon from the table. “Oh…I got the live version of this at the bar last week. His name’s Raymond something, right?”

“That’s right. And it just so happens that the sun shower yesterday is causing significant melt-off today. I’m going up top with a few others to investigate later.”

“Can I come?”

“No. I need you here. If it’s significant, we’ll need to evacuate so I want you with our family.”

“Where’s Louna?”

“She’s with your mom and the kids, repacking supplies in case we need them. I let you sleep in a little longer because I think you’re going to need it.”

Ben nodded. “I’ll get ready.”

There were three of them standing around the back emergency exit of Sector Three. Ben watched his father, Jax and Yeager assess the situation on the living room screen. His brother was curled up on one side of him and his sister on the other.

“What are they doing?” Maeve asked.

“They’re just checking to see if water is pooling around the hatch,” Ben explained.

Louna said, “Look how they’re wading through the muddy snow and chunks of ice. It’s a mess out there.”

It was little Jax who said what they all feared, though. “Are the tunnels going to flood like in Arizona?”

“Of course they are, stupid,” Sean retorted.

Ben nudged his little brother and shook his head at him. “You don’t need to do that.”

“Well, it’s true. That’s all everyone’s talking about,” Sean argued.

“Look, the water’s pooled all around the hatch. Mom, isn’t the plant nursery near there?” Louna asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, a smaller one where we kept a few species of maples and conifers, but we relocated them late last night to Sector Two.”

Ben added, “We relocated everything and everyone from Sector Three to other areas. We’re not taking chances with flooding.”

“I wouldn’t want to drown in that dirty water,” Sean said.

Ben knew his little brother was trying to get a rise out of his little sister as Jackie squeezed further into Ben’s side. “It’s all right. I won’t let anything happen to you,” he whispered.

Louna said, “Well, I think I’m meeting Ames. I’ll see you guys later.”

Ben shot up. “No. No…you’re not going anywhere. Dad said to stay right here.”

“You don’t get to tell me…” Louna began.

“I’ll tackle you at the door. Go ahead. Try me,” Ben said.

“Mom!” Louna pleaded.

“He’s right,” Maeve said. “We’re all in lockdown to quarters until they make a decision.”

“That is not fair,” Louna snapped.

Ben tilted his head at her and realized her relationship with his best friend was getting serious, because Louna was the least likely person to argue with her parents. Him? Sure. But not Louna.

Louna avoided making eye contact with her brother after that and dropped her bag at the door and sighed. “Okay, fine,” she muttered and flopped on the couch between the littles.

Ben met his mother in the kitchen. She smiled at him. “Everyone’s a little bored.”

“Well…things will liven up quickly if they have to start swimming in muddy melt-off.” That’s when he noticed his mother’s hands shaking. “What is it?”

He grasped one and said, “Mom, he’s coming back down. There’s no immediate danger or they would have said something.”

She squeezed his hand. “I know. It’s not that. You know three people died in Arizona?” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “They drowned in it. I mean, we’re down here adjusting to a life underground to survive and now the very thing that saved us could kill us all in our sleep. The babies…”

Ben hugged his mom and she trembled in his arms. “I know it’s been a lot. But we have alarms in place. And we’re learning from the Arizona incident every day.”

“That just means we’ll have to go out there, in that. I know I’ve looked forward to a time when we can go back up, but to take Sean and Jackie up there in a thawing world and learn how to survive again, only this time, it’s not so much the humans we’ll have to worry about but the massive number of unchecked carnivores...We can’t fight them all. I’m scared for my family again and getting I’m too old for this.”

And before he could come up with something comforting, the all clear alarm sounded.

In the next second, Louna yelled, “Later!” as she ran out the door.

9

When Ben came home the following week, things were different. Not only were they dealing with a flash freeze again, but the water that had seeped into Sector Three made an ice rink of the walkways. No one had returned to their respective homes, making the other four sectors crowded with displaced residents. And when there were too many fear-ridden people in one area, fights broke out. He’d been awake for twenty-four hours and when he went into the kitchen, he found his mother banging pots and pans roughly as she put them away.

“Hi. There’s a plate for you there on the table.”

He swallowed. “That’s okay. I’m beat.”

“What happened to your eye?”

“Nothing…broke up a fight or fights.”

“Looks like you were in one.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Sit. I know you haven’t had anything all day.”

Ben took in a long breath and thought, Why not? Just for a minute.

She sat down too, and pushed the plate in front of him.

Ben stared at the green peas, mashed potatoes, and pan-fried bear chunks…or was that beaver? He didn’t ask anymore. He took a bite. Bear…it was bear again. He dredged a chunk through the potatoes and gravy and took another bite.

His mother wrung the dishtowel in her hands as she sat next to him and looked as if she was trying not to say something.

“What? What’s got you worked up?”

“I’m not worked up.”

He took another bite.

She stared at him still.

“Mom…”

She flopped the dishtowel on the table. “I know you don’t want to talk about it.”

He dropped his fork. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“Julie’s mom…”

And that was it. Ben pushed his plate away. “Mom, I’m tired. I haven’t slept in over a day.”

“I know! Let me finish.”

He took a deep breath.

“Julie told her she’s considering a trip to the Arizona Colony for a visit.”

“Well, that’s news to me.”

“I’m sure it is.”

“Mom, why do you let Julie’s mother bother you like this? You know how I feel. More importantly, Julie knows how I feel. I don’t see a point in rushing things.”

“But you are going to ask her…the special question?”

He swallowed. “When I’m ready.”

“What’s keeping you? Because I’m telling you that Raymond guy from Arizona, he’s interested.”

Ben shook his head. “Mom…I’m not talking about this. If Julie wants to visit Raymond Sawyer in Arizona, that’s her business.”

“I know you love her. Why won’t you just ask her and end this?”

“I can’t believe you.” He smacked the edge of the table with his hand, causing his mother to jump slightly. “You know why. You know I want to take the trip first. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

Maeve stood up. “That is the most stupid, selfish thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

Ben stood up and knocked his chair over and yelled at his mother for the first time in his life. “You asked! Now leave it alone! I don’t want to live the rest of my life down here in this mess.”

“It’s suicide, Ben. You’ll get yourself killed. You think it’s rough down here; there’s no telling what’s left out there beyond our view. No one knows. Don’t you remember what it was like? Don’t you remember the cabin and those men? We nearly died several times then. And not to mention the violence, we nearly starved over and over again.”

“Stop, Mom! I’m going. One way or another. I’m going to do this! And you can’t stop me!”

That’s when Ben realized his first mistake…yelling at his mother. But when he heard Bishop’s hard boot steps come quickly, his second mistake was automatically pushing back when Bishop’s hands grabbed him and shoved him away from the kitchen entrance.

Bishop pulled Maeve into his shoulder and gave Ben a menacing gaze. Pointing with his free hand he ordered, “Go to your room and cool off.”

Ben turned and walked away.

Maeve cried, “He’s my baby. I don’t want to lose him.”

When Ben turned to them at his door, Bishop had pulled her in tighter.

10

Ben stared up at the dark ceiling of his room with one arm over his forehead as he replayed the argument he had with his mother in his mind. And though he should be exhausted and sleeping, Sean’s loud snores from the other bed kept him awake. Or it could have been getting nailed in the eye as he kept a new resident from pummeling drunk Paul on his way home on his last shift. Or perhaps it was the fact that he’d yelled at his mother. Or the glare that Bishop rightfully gave him. He’d disappointed them. He’d especially disappointed Julie and he knew it. He ran his hand through his hair, tugging at the sides, and accidentally poked his eye and winced. I feel like I’m going crazy. My whole life I’ve lived like a mole in an underground city. Then Julie’s image flashed before him, all pretty in her red dress. But it was always the background over her shoulder his mind zoned in on. A sunny day. Green trees. Grass.

Ben sat up and whipped off the covers.

Maybe they were wrong.

Ben got dressed and grabbed his pack.

Like his mother said, no one really knew what was out there.

He pulled the fur coat Jax made him from beneath the bed.

Settling down with Julie would make everyone happy.

In the kitchen he grabbed spare bear jerky from the pantry.

He had to get this out of his system first.

Ben slung his shotgun over his shoulder as he quietly left the apartment and closed the door with a soft click.

Two streets over, he scrawled a note and laid a message on the steps outside Julie’s door. And then, knowing Cassie was watching the screens, Ben made his way into the abandoned Sector Three and skated the hallways on his boots and exited through the damaged hatch door.

Outside, the night was anything but crystal clear, but he knew where he was going even if he couldn’t see three feet in front of his face due to a thick blanket of snow flurries. And if anything, the low visibility would keep anyone from seeing his departure.

Moments later, he entered the stable and knew he was risking an encounter with Jax but then again, Jax had returned with another live turtle earlier in the day, which meant he was likely sleeping in the gulfarium while Cassie monitored the station to ensure the critter acclimated to his new surroundings.

Jax would be upset with him, but wasn’t everyone? So one more person wouldn’t matter. Ben took Holly’s reins and pulled her around, saddled her, and made sure to load enough provisions for a few days.

After that, he pointed her in the direction over Deer Trail and headed north.

11

By the dim night light, Maeve pulled off the covers and swung her feet to the floor.

“Why are you up so early? Lie back down,” Bishop mumbled.

She ran her hand through her hair. “I can’t sleep and it’s already five am, so there’s no use in trying.”

“I need at least another hour,” Bishop mumbled and patted her back.

Maeve pulled a loose blanket from the bottom of the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders. “I’ll read in the other room. You sleep more.”

Bishop didn’t argue. Getting three hours of straight sleep was a godsend in the days after the apocalypse, and he would take them when he could get them.

Maeve took her book from the nightstand and lightly stepped down the hallway but when she got to the living room, she kept on walking to the other side of the apartment where the children’s rooms were located. With her book in hand, she opened the boys’ room door and walked inside. In the darkness, she saw Sean’s form curled up on his side facing the wall and, on the right, was Ben’s bed. And it was absolutely empty. “Ben?” she whispered. And perhaps her eyes were playing tricks on her in the darkness, so she ran her free hand where his body should be sleeping and found the covers cold and void of her son.

Louder, she said, “Ben?” thinking maybe he went to the restroom down the hallway, but it was Sean who sat up and said, “What, Mom?”

“Have you seen your brother?”

He kneaded one eye with a fist. “No. Is he at work?”

Maeve left the room and looked around the apartment. His boots by the door were gone. His daily pack was gone too. Maybe he was at work? Maeve checked the board where the busy family kept their daily schedule and saw that Ben was off the next two days. Did he get called in? Maybe Louna knows.

Turning, Maeve stepped quickly down the hallway again, passing Sean, who was now standing in the hallway. “Mom?”

“Go back to sleep,” she directed as she passed by his room where his brother should still be asleep.

Swinging the girls’ door open, she said, “Louna…Louna.”

“Mom?” Louna replied, sitting straight up. “What’s wrong?”

“Have you seen Ben? Do you know where he is?”

“What…” she mumbled groggily. “If he’s not here, he’s at work or with Julie. I know he’s not with Ames. He was hanging out with his mom last night or this morning. What time is it, anyway? Mom…it’s only five. I have to get up in an hour. Why are you worried?”

But Maeve couldn’t say that she had a bad feeling for the last two hours as she’d lay in bed staring at the ceiling, thinking about the fight they’d had earlier. She couldn’t say that deep down, she knew Ben was right. Not only should she not pressure her son into a marriage he didn’t want, but he was a grown man, after all…and all he ever wanted for the last ten years was to take a trip back to the place that he’d once loved. She’d always suspected it was because he missed his father and that there was no other place on earth that made him feel connected to the man that brought him into this world…no matter how vague the memories were for him now. Of course, he loved Bishop. That was never a question, but you never forget your own father. That’s a bond that you never escape. Why couldn’t she just let him do what he wanted?

“What’s going on?” Bishop’s groggy voice made her turn around.

He was standing there, shirtless, in his joggers and rubbed a hand against his nearly bald head.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. It’s probably nothing.”

“Maeve, what’s going on?” Bishop asked and reached behind her to shut the girls’ door.

“It’s Ben…”

“Things will work out,” he cut her off. “Come back to bed.”

She shook her head. “No…he’s not here.”

Bishop seemed confused. “He’s not? He’s off today. Maybe he’s out doing something. Maybe he’s with Julie. Ever think about that?”

“Sure…yeah. But I don’t think so.”

“Okay, look. I’ll call Cassie in an hour. She’s on duty. If he’s not there, he’s probably with Julie.”

Maeve rubbed her stomach. “I don’t think so, but okay.”

“And if he’s not around later, we’ll call Julie and see if she’s seen him. All right? Ben’s a grown man. He can fend for himself.”

She nodded but the bad feeling deep in the pit of her stomach told her that something was very wrong.

But while Maeve made coffee and Bishop showered, it was Julie’s mother who called at an unaccustomed hour and said, “Good morning, Maeve. I hope everything’s all right. I just wanted to reach out and tell you my heart is breaking for you now that your son is gone. I’m sure it was a hard decision to let him go.”

Maeve dropped the cup of coffee straight to the floor. The old ceramic shattered, and the hot brown liquid exploded everywhere. Her hands shook and it wasn’t from the scalding fluid. “What do you…what do you mean?”

“Well, the note. Wait…didn’t he tell you?”

“What note?”

Maeve heard the woman flip over something that sounded like thick paper brushing against a counter. “It’s from Ben. It says: Dear Julie, I’m finally taking that trip and when I return, we’ll make plans. Love, Ben. Didn’t he say anything? Oh Maeve…did he leave without saying goodbye? Please tell me he didn’t go alone.”

But Maeve didn’t tell her anything. Instead, she dropped the phone into the puddled mess below and screamed for Bishop.

Bishop was out the door in a hot minute and after he pounded on the gulfarium door, waking Jax to help him, they headed to the station.

“There’s no trace of him, Bishop. I’ve checked all the screens. He must have bolted through Sector Three,” Cassie said.

“Why?” Bishop yelled. “Why would he do that?”

“Because,” she said calmly, “we turned the cameras off there since it’s abandoned. He knew what he was doing…the little ant. I’m going to wring his neck.”

“Not before me,” Bishop said between gritted teeth.

It was Jax who didn’t seem worried. “The boy’s not stupid. You raised him. We all did. He’ll come back on his own when he’s ready.”

Bishop looked at him like a traitor. “Nah. There’s no telling what he’ll encounter on his own out there. We wouldn’t take that trip by ourselves. It’s too dangerous. You don’t even go to the other colonies without backup. Why do you think he’ll just skip through daisies on his way north?”

“Because he’s Ben,” Jax said. “But I agree it’s dangerous. There are likely no tracks, but we can saddle up a few horses and see if we can find him. He hasn’t gone that far, I’d imagine.”

“Uhh…he’s got hours on us and you’re right…Ben’s as capable as any grown man in this sector. Let’s form a team and search for him. He’s my son, Jax. I can’t lose him.”

Jax put a hand on Bishop’s shoulder. “You won’t. We’ll find him.”

Bishop swallowed.

Cassie assured him, “Garrett and I have this handled. And we’ll call in the auxiliary team if needed. You take Jax and a few others. The go bags are packed and hanging in the stable.”

Bishop nodded. “Tell the others to meet us there in five minutes.”

Cassie asked, “Are you going to stop by the apartment and let Maeve know? Or do you want me to let Maeve know you’re leaving?”

Bishop pictured the heartbroken look on Maeve’s face as he rushed out the door. “No…not until we’re gone. Tell Louna to watch after her.”

“We all will,” Cassie said.

And then Bishop followed Jax out of the station after they grabbed their gear and met the others at the stable. Once Jax had a look around he said, “Well, the boy’s not stupid.”

“What do you mean?” Bishop asked.

“He took the best horse, an emergency pack and extra provisions. See that empty stall...that’s Holly’s. She breaks snow like a plow through butter.” Jax smiled. “He’s miles away by now. We’d better catch up.”

Louna immediately recognized the soft rap of Ames’ knock on the apartment door. On the other side stood not only Ames, but also a tearful Julie.

“I just wanted to come by and see your mom,” Julie said.

Louna nodded and Ames gave her an awkward glance.

“She’s in there.” Louna pointed, and Julie went into the living room, leaving Louna alone with Ames.

“How, ah…how are things?” Ames asked.

“Oh fine,” Louna replied sarcastically. “Mom’s hysterical. The littles are crying, and my dad left without saying goodbye. He didn’t say anything to you, did he?”

“No. The jerk didn’t even say goodbye. But I don’t see why everyone’s so worked up over this. He’s trained to survive out there just like the rest of us, and he’s good at it. You remember?”

Louna nodded. “I remember freezing my knees off.”

Ames put an arm around her. “Ben’s going to be fine. If anyone can survive that trip, it’s him. Everyone’s already acting as if he’s died or something.”

“Gosh, don’t say that. It would be one thing if he tried to make it to one of the other colonies on his own…people we know have done that, but not alone. And some of them have died trying. This is something else entirely. I’m worried about him. I really am.”

Ames pulled her close and reassured her, “Ben’s badass. He’ll be fine. Maybe he’ll even find something cool. Look, I have to fill in for the jerk at the station while everyone’s gone, but if you need me, just call.”

Louna smiled and closed the door behind him as he left, and then she turned and leaned against the entrance as she listened to Julie and her mother’s worried sobs in the next room.

12

Half a day later, after he’d crossed the northernmost point anyone had been in years, it was a relief for Ben to be alone and in a saddle upon a horse despite the nagging guilt of the torment he was putting his family through. They will come to understand in time, Ben kept telling himself. When he returned, things would fall into place like everyone wanted them to: He’d return to his job. He’d marry the girl. He’d settle down. He’d never mention Coeur d’Alene again. But for the next few weeks or more, Ben just wanted to breathe lungs full of cold fresh air, see what remained of his childhood home, and if he was honest, have a little freedom and adventure to do exactly what he wanted to do without anyone telling him otherwise.

And just as he and Holly climbed the next rolling hill, as if it was some kind of sign that he was doing the right thing, a few morning rays of sunshine broke through thick cloud cover, just enough for Ben to feel actual warmth on his face and neck for the first time since the sun shower months before. He stopped Holly and just stood there, letting the warmth seep into every cell of his being. He needed this. This was what he needed. And Holly seemed to need it too, because she flipped her tail and waggled her head, causing her gray mane to flap around in the cool breeze.

Ben took a handful of the strands and held them against the pommel when she settled and looked out over the snow-blanketed landscape ahead of him. Much of the lower levels was shaded darker gray than the rest, and with each step Holly took, the top layer of snow crunched easily through a thin cover of ice, indicating melted snow lay just below those darker shades. Unless he wanted Holly swimming in ice water, Ben kept to higher ground. He also noted to himself that he wouldn’t as easily recognize every danger he encountered lurking just beneath the surface. He’d have to keep his wits about him, especially since he was on his own. The thought of Frankie falling through the crevasse popped into his mind. This was dangerous and he knew it, but he was doing it anyway or, he admitted to himself…he would die trying. It was as simple as that. He would not return until he saw the streets of Coeur d’Alene once again.

But later that day, Ben found Holly’s hooves sinking farther into deepening slush and the higher hills were diminishing into a flooded valley. He would have to wade through ice water before the next rise. And that was precisely why he took Holly to begin with. She was known for her general good nature, plowing through snow, and not resisting an ice water bath. After dismounting, he took off the heavy fur coat and zipped it into a large waterproof bag. Then he secured every strap and cinched ties around his boots and gear and held Holly by the reins. The wind was beginning to pick up and farther ahead, there was a cluster of ice-covered evergreens upon the next rise. That was his destination. From there, he would chart their next course. “All right, girl.” He rubbed her mane as she took the next few steps, then remembered something Jax had told him about horses. Don’t coddle them. They’re like big dogs. If you show them fear, they’ll cower with you in a corner, and you’ll get nothing done. But if you show them bravery and lead the way into battle, they’ll ride their souls out believing in you.

He dropped his hand and instead, held the rein loosely and waded into the icy cold water the color of dirty dish soap, and Holly followed along without a hitch. Ben kept his gaze ahead despite the numbing sensation creeping into his shins and kept breaking through the larger chunks of unmelted ice in his way. Then he took another step when they neared the middle of the valley and without warning Ben sank down a foot and half, taking his breath along with his balance. That’s when Holly pushed him with her muzzle. “I got it,” he said when his breath returned to normal and then he suddenly wondered who was leading who. When he regained his footing, Holly was right behind him. The underwater uphill climb proved more difficult than he anticipated, twice more falling, and hitting the soft point of his knee against what he thought was likely the edges of a granite rock. But then finally, with each step he took, the water level became lower and a half hour later, they stepped onto soggy but not flooded ground. And once they’d climbed up into the grove of trees, the wind picked up, causing him to shiver to the point that walking was difficult.

He dropped to his knees and knew he had to get out of his soaked clothing quickly, but first he brushed away any accumulating chunks of ice from Holly’s hooves and then took a heat warmer from his pack and shook it hard until it was nearly too hot to handle. He rubbed the small mat against Holly’s legs, warming both her and his hands at the same time. Then he removed his wet clothing, dried off the moisture despite the cold wind, put on dry thermal and pants, and then unsealed the fur coat and bundled up. Luckily his boots were not breached with water and his feet stayed dry. Then he rubbed Holly’s coat down, started a fire, popped open a one-man tent, and gave Holly a high calorie ration. Then he stood there and looked over the rise to the next valley in the dying light as he ate a power bar and searched the ridge and imagined what might lie beyond. And then he remembered the story about Yeager and Ames’ father, Walt. They’d crashed their helicopter near there somewhere with a bunch of little kids on board and barely survived. Though he didn’t see any sign of the crash site, he knew it was likely nearby. That was not what he came for, but it still made him think of Ames and by then, he knew not only did his family know he was gone, but also his friends too. Julie could not keep a secret and leaving the note with her only ensured he’d have a little more time to get away before they tried to track him down and make him change his mind.

The station policy was to always let people go if they left on their own and were not endangering others, and despite his mother’s pleas, Bishop would likely follow that policy. He swallowed hard as he looked forward, knowing that behind him, his mother grieved. But he wasn’t going backward. He would see this through.

And with a day’s travel behind him, and when Holly’s coat was reasonably dry, he pulled a heated mat over her back and then climbed into his one-man tent and tried not to imagine himself as a bear burrito and went to sleep.

It started off as a great day the following morning, after he’d packed and had another power bar. The sun peeked through early and bright, and after Ben cleared out of camp, he and Holly traversed two more valleys and into a forest where golden beams filtered through the treetops, sending rays through the cracks and melting slivers of the forest floor. The sound of water tinkled in tiny rivulets through bark canals, telling him conditions were warming quickly. But by midafternoon, he’d entered a small glade and his stomach protested his meager breakfast. He sat back in the saddle and gazed out over a small lake at the clouds of insects that hovered over the water’s surface when he saw something lurch. At first, he didn’t want to believe his eyes but the ripples on the water’s surface told him the truth. “Nah…fish?”

Ben scanned the nearby trees and before long he’d pulled a long thin sucker from a nearby tree and reached in his pack for a hook and line kit. And then, as Jax had taught him in years past, he took a strand of Holly’s tail and tied one end firmly to the hook and then wadded the rest into a nest. If fish were hungry, they hit a horse fly in no time. But Ben never expected what happened next as ripples increased around his line while he made little jumping tugs with the string. Not only did he get a bite on the line and began to pull what he thought might be an olive chub from the lake, but just as the foot-long fish appeared beneath the surface, something as large as a man leapt up out of the water. And when Ben jolted backward and scrambled away, the fish on his line went sailing to the muddy bank while the shark disappeared back beneath the murky surface of the lake.

It is true. Ben had always thought that Jax was prone to tall tales of the things he’d seen on his travels but seeing with his own eyes a shark in lake waters was something Jax wasn’t lying about. And when Ben stood, he wondered what else might lie beneath the surface and leaned forward, but then the fish on the bank began to flop around and some minutes later, Ben was turning the fish over the flames of a fire farther up on the shore, being mindful to never turn his back on anything larger than a puddle.

13

Jax twisted in his saddle and looked back the way they’d come as ice crystals stung the side of his face. “I don’t know where this wind came from all of a sudden. We’ll have to shelter soon and camp for the night.”

But Bishop took a few more strides, his eyes fixed on the horizon ahead.

“Bishop…Bishop,” Jax remonstrated, shaking his head. “We’re not going to find him in this. He’s a good click ahead of us. We’ll only succeed in risking ourselves and that will help no one.”

Bishop knew Jax was right, but it was still hard to let go.

“We’ll head out, first light,” Jax added. “The horses need to rest and so do we.”

Bishop turned and followed the others to the underside of a small cliff face.

Jax said, “This will at least give us some shelter from the wind for the night.”

And while the others made camp, Jax rubbed the ice off the dog’s coat.

“He’s not catching the scent?” Bishop asked.

“No…there’s too much melt on the ground. Everything’s mixed together. And the wind’s changed direction. Bishop, I know you want to keep going but it’s just too much of a risk.”

“No, I understand and trust your instincts. I just can’t fathom Ben on his own out there. We only know he’s headed north but we have no idea what route he took…or if he had a plan at all.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not five years old anymore. He’s a grown man now.”

“I know. I know we’ve trained him…we trained them all, but training and doing are completely different things.”

And while the fire crackled, they soaked in the warmth of the fire and dried their gear and ate a ration in silence and then Jax asked, “Did you ever think that maybe it’s time? Maybe he’s right?”

“What do you mean…surface?”

“Yeah.”

Bishop shook his head and warmed his frozen hands over the campfire flames. “In this? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Man has lived in worse conditions on the surface.”

“We’ve survived and thrived underground. We’re not ready for this. Not yet. I agree, things are melting…”

Jax cut him off. “And you can’t fight gravity, Bishop. The underground tunnels will flood with all this runoff. We need to consider…”

But then the long and eerie howl of a wolf interrupted their conversation altogether and the automatic clicks of rifles snapping into their ready position followed.

“That sound is your warning that it’s going to be a long night, fellas,” Jax said. “Sleep in shifts. Two-man watch crew and tie up the dog. Our new neighbors will lure him away first.”

And then later that night, Bishop woke to the sound of the horses braying nearby and knew a sneak attack was imminent. Moving slowly, he first looked to see who was on watch, and Jax caught his eye and held a finger to his lips. Bishop nodded and patted the sleeping guy next to him with the back of his hand, making eye contact and with a warning. But before Bishop could sit up a wolf half the size of his horse darted into camp, low to the ground.

The first shot was from Jax’s rifle. The next was from the other man on watch, and then Bishop was up and firing at another wolf going right for the horses.

“Too many of them,” someone yelled.

Bishop pulled flares from his pack and began lighting them and tossing them out in a wide arc around the camp. But the visibility only increased their anxiety.

“Look at the size of them.”

Bishop said, “I’m more concerned about the size of the pack.”

“There’s got to be fifteen or more.”

Then another howl made Bishop turn around just in time to find that another wolf sat above them over the small cliff face they were using as shelter from the wind. He aimed and fired just as the wolf crouched over a man meant to be prey. The wolf dropped down right behind the man. They opened fire then and by the time the sky began to lighten behind the clouds, several mounds lay on the sloshy ground.

“They had us surrounded,” Jax said. “That was close. But there will be more. Let’s break camp and get out of here now and hope that the water on the ground will disguise our scent as well. Or they’ll trail us wherever we go, picking us off one at a time.”

“They’re massive now,” Bishop commented. “Have you encountered them this size before?”

“They’re not quite this big down south. But I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff over the last few years. Things have changed now that man isn’t at the top of the food chain,” Jax replied.

Bishop squelched the campfire with a cup of icy water. “I’ll say. I sure hope Ben is all right.”

Jax reassured him, “He will be. Even though we don’t know the route he took, we know where he’s going. We just have to get there.”

Under his breath Bishop muttered, “If he gets there.”

14

After riding most of the following day up and down more soggy hills and wetter valleys, Ben came to another glade and, driven by thirst, he approached a pond, warily this time, after watching for ripples on the surface for nearly fifteen minutes. And when he thought there wasn’t a monster lurking beneath the depths, he slid sideways down an embankment with his arm outstretched to dunk his canteen below water, but a moment later a swish of a large tail on the other side sent him scurrying back up the bank again with an empty bottle. Then he heard running melt-off and switched his plan. After finding a rocky outcrop, Ben filled his canteen with a stream. Then he capped the lid and lit the sterilization mechanism inside. A few minutes later, he drank the contents and then repeated the process once more to take with him.

And then an hour later he stood at the foot of a great slope covered in melting ice and it was starting to snow big puffy balls. “There’s only one way to go, Holly. I don’t like it either but we’re wasting time standing here talking when we should be counting our steps.” An hour later, they were halfway up the slope when the wind picked up and the puffy balls turned to stinging hail.

It took them another full hour to reach the top of the hill, and Ben didn’t bother glancing back down the way they’d come because he could barely see what was right in front of him. “We’ve got to get out of this.” And when he could hardly steer Holly in any direction at all, Ben dismounted into thigh deep snow and led the way to a rocky outcropping. And then suddenly Ben noticed something that sent a chill through his heart. The temperature. It was dropping and it was dropping fast. His gear was laced in ice, and Holly was too. He had to start a fire and do it quickly but his hands were numb from the cold and he couldn’t even hold onto the firestarter long enough to get it lit. He leaned against the rock facing to calm himself and nearly fell through an opening. What…a cave? Quickly wiping away frozen brush, Ben found a dark opening. Please don’t let there be an animal in here. Ben led the way into the small opening with his rifle and knelt on the ground. Fishing out his fire kit again, he tried to light a small fire, but everything was too damp and with each strike he looked to see if he’d just cozied up to a bear family. He looked around, seeing nothing other than sodden debris along the corners of the cave, but he was at least out of the cold wind and hail. With Holly barely fitting just beyond the entrance and sheltered from the worst of the ice and wind by the cliff face, Ben rubbed his hands together until he could bend all his fingers and he brushed away the accumulated ice welding his eyebrows in place. He leaned back against the stone wall and was worn out from the day’s trek, more than he’d ever been in his life, and soon fell asleep.

And sleep he did. Long and deep, right into the wee hours of the night, and then he woke to the sound of something new, something not related to the storm. Very still, he listened and watched the cave entrance.

It was the kind of noise you wouldn’t want to wake to, and it put a cold chill down his spine when he saw either a bear or a man in dark furs pass by the cave entrance. It was pitch dark inside the cave and when he put his hand out, he grabbed his rifle. There was something moving near Holly and had it been a bear, she would have brayed and stomped on the ground. And when he saw a man’s hand come out of the packs, he knew he had the worst of the two enemies to deal with. Quietly, Ben rose and approached the entrance as the man rifled through his belongings, but his boot crunched on the icy ground and the man turned just in time to grab the end of the rifle, both pushing and pulling Ben from the cave as he yanked the rifle out of his hands. Ben dove for the man’s legs, knocking him to the ground, and Holly pranced out of the way. But when he tried wrenching the rifle away, he ended up shoving it away and it slid partially down the hill above his assailant’s head.

The man flipped over on his belly and scrambled for the gun, but Ben knew it meant his life and he had to keep him from getting to the rifle first. So instead of fighting for the gun, Ben’s training kicked in and he took the man by the back, drawing his right arm around the man’s neck and the other arm closed in a vise, and he flipped him over so that Ben was on the bottom and the man laid on top of him and in the next motion, Ben drew his feet into hooks, holding the enemy down.

The man’s arms flailed about as Ben increased the tension around his neck. It would take twenty seconds against his jugular to make him go limp and pass out. But while Ben shook with the steady effort to hold the man down, Ames came to mind, and the many wrestling meets over the years of Jax teaching them how to take down an opponent larger than your size.

He was suddenly back on the mat and Jax was walking barefoot around the room as Ben held Ames just as he was holding the man now. “It will take twenty seconds to make a man unconscious, but if you let him go, he’ll come back to life swinging. So what do you do to keep him down?” They all knew the answer. Ames had smiled at him while he had him in his arms. And he watched his friend turn purple and go limp after the allotted time and panic rose in him until he felt for the pulse. But Ames didn’t come up swinging then; instead, he woke up smiling and said, “That was fun. Let’s do it again.”

But this time, Ben didn’t look as the man’s face turned purple and his arms fell limp to his sides. Instead, Ben squeezed harder still and held onto the man for three long minutes and wracked with shakes as he thought of his mother and his sisters and brother and Bishop and everyone he loved and wanted to see again as his eyes flooded with tears and two rivers of snot trailed down his face and pooled around his lips and he yelled out, scaring Holly, when he knew he’d just killed a man for trying to kill him. And when he let him go, he still didn’t look at his face as he checked to make sure he’d succeeded. And when he found no pulse, no life within him, he pushed the man over to the side, got up, grabbed his rifle, accumulated his strewn belongings, and left.

15

“Giant packs of wolves and bad weather,” Bishop muttered low to Jax as they readied their horses the next morning. He shook his head. “I sure hope I can get Ben back to his mother. He’s out here all on his own.”

Jax made a noise. “Are you sure that’s what he needs? He’s not a little boy.”

“Yeah. I keep forgetting that. But it’s my job to protect him.”

“No. It’s your job to teach him to be a man. And you’ve done that. He’s not that wide-eyed little kid anymore. He’s a grown man. But look at it this way: The weather’s cleared and we have that slope to get over. I don’t think I would have chanced it in that weather yesterday.”

Bishop climbed up into his saddle and looked around as he waited for the others to mount. All around him, what were once peaks of brown hills now looked more like jagged, untamed, snowcapped mountains. “If this place wasn’t so deadly, it would be beautiful.”

“Oh, it’s beautiful…because it’s deadly,” Jax commented. “The landscape is a thing of reverence that we once heeded and now we’re forced to again. Mother Nature shook us off like parasites, and she was right to do so.”

“Don’t let the others hear you say that. They’ll wonder what side you’re on,” Bishop said and made Jax laugh.

“Look, blue skies even. Let’s get up that slope before we’re flooded down below.”

And before they approached, Bishop exclaimed, “Look at that, Jax. Tell me that doesn’t look like a recent trail.”

“Ah, could be. Could also be an animal crossing. But let’s go with your idea and see how fast we can follow it up.”

An hour later, they’d met the rise and stopped for a moment by a rocky outcropping of trees and brush and the unmistakable scent of decay.

“Do you smell that?” asked one of the men in their search party.

“Something’s dead,” Jax replied and looked around.

“Watch for scavengers,” Bishop warned.

Then one of the men said, “Look, there’s a body on the ground.”

Jax ran his horse in front of Bishop’s. “No! Bishop, don’t. Let me look first.”

But the man who found the body said, “It’s not Ben. But this guy smells bad…like really bad. That’s not just decay.”

“Are you sure he’s dead?” Jax asked.

“Uh, yeah. There’s no doubt of that.”

Jax got down and with his boot, he turned the man over. The dog ran over and sniffed at the corpse and ran away. “Whoa, that is pungent.”

Bishop came over and studied the body as well. “Strangulation,” Bishop commented, pointing to the man’s neck. “Is there any sign of Ben here?”

“Look, there’s a cave back here.”

Bishop ordered, “Look around for any clues. Maybe this guy met Ben. I don’t think this guy has ever shaved. He looks like a caveman. And he smells horrible. My God, what is that?”

“I’m pretty sure he’s never showered, either,” Jax added.

“That can’t be right. He’s like forty. What’s he been doing the last eleven years?” Bishop mused.

“Not bathing,” Jax said. “Have you seen what’s in the waters around here? Just like the wolves…big, big fish with big teeth. Bathing’s too risky, even if the top layer of ice has melted.”

“Pull his coat back with your stick. Look, everything he’s wearing is made from animal skins. There’s not a shred of him that looks modern in any way.”

“Except for one thing,” Jax corrected, prying between his lips. “He’s got fillings in his molars.”

“Pshew…” Bishop said, ending in a whistle. “How far we’ve fallen.”

“There’s no real sign of Ben but it does look as if there was someone else here a horse. Could have been Ben.”

Bishop nodded and looked at Jax. “Do you think Ben did this?”

Jax was already nodding.

16

It wasn’t the first time Ben had killed a man. He was a little boy back then. Now he was a man but for some reason the experience left him raw and numb, like he’d never be the same again. He’d killed to save his mother before. He’d killed to save himself this time, and maybe that was the difference. Maybe that was why he felt so lost. And he’d wavered in the saddle as he rode the next three days, eating little and heaving even that. Each time he’d take a bite of a ration bar, he smelled the man he’d choked life from. Each time he closed his eyes against the rays of the sun, he felt the man struggling in his grasp. Killing had changed something within him, and he thought he’d never be the same again.

Stop it! You can’t keep on like this. Wake up!

Then after another week, some part of Ben must have been thinking straight and acting cautious, because he crossed from what once was Wyoming and eventually into Idaho, and when he saw smoke in the distance, he had his rifle out and ready. But when he came to the source of the campfire, he found the camp abandoned and the fire only recently put out. And by the tracks on the ground, there were at least a dozen or more in their party and they were pulling heavy wagons, by the look of the long streaks embedded in the ice.

Then Ben scanned the valley below and spotted a small stand of trees on the next rise and made his way there in hopes that he would spot them from higher ground somewhere along the way. And once he was there, he heard them before he spotted them as a woman’s screams carried on the wind across the valley.

She was an older woman, probably his mother’s age, but this lady wore only animal skins, and her hair was long and unkempt. Kneeling in the dirty snow, she wailed over a slight form. The person on the ground was not moving and Ben thought perhaps it was the woman’s mother, sister, or daughter. But what happened next shocked Ben. A man from the wagon jumped down and when he got to the woman, he grabbed a handful of her hair at the scalp and dragged her completely back to the wagon. Then he lifted her roughly and shoved her inside. Other arms shot out and helped the woman back inside, but it was the rough nature of the man that gave Ben the impression that these people were to be avoided.

Still, he was curious and when they continued their journey and were out of sight, Ben made his way down to the valley and stopped where the body lay on the ground. He was surprised to find that it was a young woman about his age. He was even more surprised to see that she was breathing. Ben quickly scanned for signs of a trap. He looked for the people, but they were beyond his view. He jumped down from the horse and knelt by her side, checking her pulse, and saw that she had a bloody gash to the side of her forehead and what looked like a possible stab wound to the front of her right shoulder. The wounds were either the result of an accident or someone had tried to kill her. He hoped it was an accident. But what if the people who’d left her behind to decay in an icy valley didn’t realize she was alive? “Hey, can you hear me?”

No response.

He patted her cheeks and ended up smearing bright red blood across her face. But she still didn’t wake up. He couldn’t just leave her there. Then she might die for real, and her people would never know. He looked around for a place to make camp and spotted the next rise that might provide shelter. He picked her up and put her over the back of his horse, being careful not to increase her injuries. Then he rode carefully to the next hill and made camp for the first time with another human being since he’d left home two weeks ago.

He stared at her by the firelight and when she started to stir, she did exactly what he would have done; once she spotted him, she pulled up on her elbows and scrambled backward.

“It’s okay…it’s okay. I won’t hurt you,” Ben assured her, his arms outstretched.

And her shoulder must have hurt because she collapsed that arm and lay on her side, staring back at him with wild eyes.

“Look, I don’t know what happened to you or if you even understand what I’m saying but I’m not going to hurt you. Here’s some water…no, don’t worry, I’ll put it right here.” Ben laid the canteen of water near her side of the fire, but she still wouldn’t reach for it with him so close.

“Okay…look, I’ll move over here. I’ve got a little rabbit meat. It’s not my favorite. It’s too fluffy but it’s protein.” He added a few chunks of meat on a dried leather plate next to the water and when he’d moved away, she reached for them but kept one eye on him as she ate.

She reminded Ben of a wild animal. Like the woman who cried over her, her hair was a tangled mess, and her clothes were all made of animal skins, nothing from the modern past. He’d looked at her shoulder wound when he laid her down and noted the clotting. Other than infection, he didn’t see any risk of leaving it to heal on its own after applying antibacterial ointment. The injury to her head, though...he wondered if she sustained a mild concussion. And as he watched her, she winced a few times, as if she was fighting back a whopping headache.

“You need some pain relievers. This will be fun. I swear, I’m only trying to help you.” He fished out two white capsules and without thinking he reached his hand toward her, and she dropped the canteen and the meat and scurried back again. “Wait, wait, no. This will help, I promise. Look, at least tell me your name. That way I’ll know if you understand me. You can call me Ben.” He pointed to himself and waited for an answer.

She looked terrified and then perplexed and brought her fingers to the gash on her forehead, smeared the ointment between them and then sniffed her fingertips.

“It’s just medicine…to keep away the infection,” Ben explained.

But her eyes suddenly reminded him of Louna’s when they were twelve and he’d put blue food coloring in her shampoo bottle.

“You touched me?”

“I…yes. I put medicine on your head.” Why was he defending himself for helping her? Why?

She scrambled for the food and water she’d dropped. “Don’t. Don’t touch me again.” And then she sat them down nearby, held her hands to the sides of her head and rocked back and forth with her knees held tight to her chest.

“Ah…please, we’re doing this wrong. What’s your name? You’re in pain and I’m only trying to help you,” he repeated as he knelt nearby with the meds in his outstretched hand. “I won’t touch you. I promise. Take these. They’ll help take the pain away. And dang, your shoulder’s bleeding again.”

He took in a breath and instead of drilling his eyes into her, he looked to the fire in hopes she might trust him a little if he kept his voice calm and his attention drawn to the flames. “The weather…wasn’t too bad today. That was nice for a change. I tried fishing with some of the rabbit entrails while you were out, but what I got on the line wasn’t something I’ve ever seen before, like some kind of flying muddy eel with scales.” He shuddered. “So I tossed it back.”

He felt her fingertips brush lightly against the inside of his palm and he held very still and kept talking.

“And I saw the first bird I’ve seen since setting out. At first, I thought it was a big overgrown insect,” he chuckled. “I mean, everything else is huge now, but it was the brightest blue bird. I remember bluebirds back when I was a boy. Birds were everywhere back then. I was…”

“Shh,” she said.

“What?” Ben said and when he looked at her, she was pointing to the west.

“You hear something?” he whispered.

She nodded. “Dogs.”

Ben tilted his head at her and tried to listen, and her eyes widened a moment later when far away, a howl echoed, and then another with a slighter pitch.

“Wolves?”

She shook her head. “No. Dogs.”

“Not coyotes?”

She looked at him as if he were the stupidest man alive. “No. Dogs.”

“Dogs,” Ben repeated as if to let her know he accepted her word on this.

“Paisley.”

Ben looked up at her. “What is paisley?”

Again, as if she’d encountered the dumbest man left on earth, she pointed her thumb at herself. “I am Paisley.”

“Oh, Paisley’s your name…” Ben said.

She rolled her eyes.

Ben noted they were blue.

“Can you tell me what happened to you, Paisley? Do you remember?”

She looked down and shook her head.

“Was it an accident or did someone hurt you?”

“I don’t know.”

“There was a woman with dark hair like yours crying over you before I got there. Who was she?”

Without looking at him she replied, “My mother.”

And by her tone, he didn’t think she wanted to say more, and he didn’t feel like prying. “You should get some sleep now, Paisley. We’ll catch up to your people tomorrow, and you can go back to them.”

She stared at him then with an expression he couldn’t discern. Then she grunted and leaned back, and her blue eyes turned to ice.

Maybe it was the sunshine peeking out between the clouds early the next morning as Ben woke, but he felt better about the world with Paisley in it, since he’d taken a man’s life. With hues of lavender and gold cast over a new dawn, he watched her sleeping on her side. At least, he thought she was sleeping. Because the last time he had moved an inch, she’d woken with a flinch and stared daggers into him. So he’d kept still as a stone with an occasional blink so that she might sleep a little longer and regain her strength for the journey that lay ahead.

And when she started to stir on her own, he said gently, “Good morning. How’s your head?”

She sat up, using her good arm to brace herself, and then poked at the wound in her shoulder. She nodded.

Then he suddenly felt like his mother prying answers out of him. “Does that mean good morning? Or that you don’t have a headache?”

She swallowed. “That means I’m fine.”

Not a morning person, noted. He raised his eyebrows and pressed his lips together and wished he had some coffee to offer her. But instead, they broke camp and Ben packed their belongings without saying a word. Then he stepped up in the saddle and reached for Paisley’s hand.

She started at him. Not him…his hand. But she kept her arms wrapped tightly around her middle.

“I’m just helping you up. It’s going to be a long ride.”

“Up there?”

“Well, yeah. Come on, I’m not going to hurt you. I think I’ve proven that.”

She shook her head at him and began walking.

“Paisley, wait.”

She stopped and turned to him. “Women don’t ride…they walk, or they ride in the wagons. Women don’t own horses. And if they do, they’re in trouble.”

“Well, I’m not giving her to you. I’m just giving you a ride.”

She turned and stomped on.

He sat back in his saddle and watched her.

She turned around ten paces away and glared at him. “You’re not like them. You should go home.”

“What did you say?”

“Go home, Ben.”

He got off Holly and walked toward her. “I am going home and when I see what’s there, I’ll go back to my people—and not before. Now I can either walk you back to your people, or you can go alone.”

She stared at him like she wasn’t sure if he was serious or not. Then they heard a long howl off in the distance and her eyes got wide.

“Dogs?”

“No. Wolves.”

“Do you want to ride, or do you want to walk?”

She swallowed. “Ride.”

Paisley could not have been farther from him on the back of the same horse and by midafternoon, the clouds smothered the sun’s rays and they saw tendrils of smoke rise into the air like fingers reaching for the sky and that’s when Paisley said, “They’re right over that ridge. You can stay here and go around. You don’t need to walk me into camp.”

“But why? Don’t you want me to meet your people?”

She looked unsure.

“Well, I at least want to make sure you get there. Let me walk you part way and then I’ll be on my way. If they see us, pretend you don’t like me. How hard can that be? You’re pretty good at it now. Wait, why are you smiling? That wasn’t a joke.” But she did smile just for a moment and in a flash, it vanished, but it was the prettiest smile he’d seen in his entire life, and he wanted to see it again.

Then she hopped off the back of the horse with a grunt of pain.

Ben got off too. “You’ve got to let that shoulder wound heal or it’s going to keep bleeding.”

She didn’t make eye contact but instead nodded and ran her boot over the icy ground in a half moon. Then they walked the rest of the way and when they crested the ridge and saw the camp below, Paisley seemed more closed off than before.

“Okay, I see the wagons and it looks as if it’s time for dinner. Let’s get you home. I’ll bet they’ll be surprised. Hey, what is it?”

Her eyes filled with tears, and she shook her head as she stared at the people roaming about, but then her eyes went searching. And then she began to run.

“Hey, wait. Paisley!”

But it was no use…she ran through the ice as if it were a meadowy field on a warm spring day, never falling once.

Ben, on the other hand, wasn’t sure if he should follow along or go on his way, but he watched and walked with Holly at a steady pace and when he saw Paisley run into camp, a heavyset man stopped her and put his hands on her shoulders and brushed her hair from her head and then looked at Ben approaching them.

She was talking to the man, but Ben couldn’t hear what she was saying. When Ben was nearly there, she ran off and the man stood there waiting for Ben to approach. He was a big guy about Jax’s age and had never met a razor from the length of his beard that he had braided into a kind of rope that hung from his chin. He also looked well-fed in a time when excess food was rare.

“Hello,” he said enunciating each syllable.

Ben didn’t miss the fact that the man held his bow in one hand and an arrow at the ready.

Ben nodded. “Hi there.”

“She said you found her unconscious.”

“I did, yes. She was out for most of the day.”

“Well, that happens sometimes,” the man said and looked out into the valley.

“So, where you from?” the man asked in such a way that Ben thought he was genuinely curious.

“From down south,” Ben replied.

“Wyoming territory? Nah, we’ve scoured that whole area over the last decade. Haven’t seen you around.”

“Farther south,” Ben explained, and the man nodded.

“I see. Well, where you headed?”

“I’m out scouting. I’ve got a group headed this way. We’re just looking to see what the conditions are these days up north.”

The man continued to nod and eye him, and then he began eyeing Holly. “Well, I suppose you want a finder’s fee for returning our female. She’s a little banged up, but she seems fine.”

“What? No, I don’t want anything for finding Paisley. I’m just glad she’s all right.”

“Well, you’re welcome to stay the night and feed your horse then. Does that sound like a fair trade?”

“Actually, I’d just like to say goodbye to her, if that’s all right, and I’ll be on my way.” He scanned the area behind the man, watching women carrying heavy chunks of ice and dropping them in a pot over a fire. Another was standing over a different fire, poking what looked like furs with a stick. Still more were scraping hides stretched over a frame.

“Well, she’s doing her work now. If you want to spend time with her or any of the other girls, you’ll have to make a trade. Looks like you’ve got a lot of nice gear packed up there. How about that canteen you’ve got there?”

“What did you just say to me? You’d trade her for a canteen?”

The man gripped his bow harder. “No. Not trade her…just her time. Paisley’s still young. If you want her…I’ll take your horse. But I can see by the look on your face, you’re offended by our ways. I don’t want trouble with you. The ladies are clean and well cared for. We’ve saved them from the elements and from predators.”

“Predators? When you leave them to die of their injuries in a valley? No, you’re right,” Ben said, feeling the heat rise in his face, kicking himself inside for not asking her more questions. No wonder she was upset about rejoining her group. “I don’t want trouble either. I’ll be on my way.”

“All right then. Was nice meeting you. If you change your mind, we’ll be here for another day or so.”

Ben didn’t say more. He mounted Holly and skirted west over the next ridge before nightfall.

But Ben argued with himself while he made camp because there was no one else around to do it for him. “No, you’re not going to do that. You’re not going back. You’re going to keep moving north.” He picked up another log to add to the pile he would need throughout the night. “It was her choice. She wanted to return.” But then he wondered if that was why she seemed angry. No, not angry—hurt, perhaps. He had assumed she wanted to go back. Who was that woman anyway? Was it her mother or was she the one who hurt her? He should have pressed her harder for answers. He shook his head. It was none of his business. She was back with her own people. Agh…the thought of them using her like that. He dropped the wood. What if he gave her the choice? Would she come with him to Coeur d’Alene? Maybe she could find new, better people. And maybe if that didn’t work out, she could come with him back to Colorado. Ben rubbed a hand hard through his hair. Gosh, no wonder she kept scurrying away from him. “Blah…” Ben couldn’t stand to think what they’d done to her. And he’d brought her back to them.

An hour later, Ben doused his fire and repacked his camp in the dead of night and just before he was about to turn back, break into their camp and rescue Paisley, he heard a long howl. Only it wasn’t like the one the dogs made. Nor was it a wolf’s howl, and it certainly wasn’t chirping coyotes. Ben spun in a quick circle with his gun raised and when the familiar form appeared from behind a tree he asked, “Is there anyone with you?”

“No, but they’re coming. You shouldn’t have made camp here. You have to leave. Quick. They’ll kill you and take everything. It might already be too late.”

Ben swallowed and looked back the way she’d come. There were bouncing lights in the distance, but barely discernible.

“Go, now!”

He shook his head and held his hand down for her to grasp. “Not unless you come with me.”

She stared at his hand.

“Come with me, Paisley. Grab my hand.”

She grabbed his wrist, put the toe of her boot on the stirrup and swung her leg over just as Ben sent Holly into a gallop. She held on tight and urged, “Hurry! They’ll kill us both.”

And when Ben looked back, she was right. They weren’t far behind. But knowing Holly was in better shape and could outrun any other horse in a challenge, he pressed hard, and they didn’t stop.

“We have to slow down. She can’t take much more of this.”

“Skirt the glade. They won’t go this far. They’re scared of the water at night.”

“Well, I am too.”

“Trust me, it’ll be all right. Just don’t get near the water’s edge.”

But he really feared what might slither or jump out of the lake at night and instead of readying his gun for what dangers followed them from behind, he pointed the barrel down in anticipation of any movement from below.

And as the moon reflected off the glade’s surface, they made their escape and when they came out of the rise and back into the clearing of the next valley below, he put his hand over hers around his waist and whispered, “We did it.”

And though Paisley didn’t say a word, she didn’t push away either and instead held on a little tighter.

17

“How much longer?” one of the men asked as they ate the last of their rations. “We’ll have to hunt from here on out. We can’t keep this up. They’re going to start worrying about us and there’s been no sign of him.”

“He’s out there,” Bishop replied. “And you volunteered for this, so don’t give me any more of your crap.”

The guy put his hands up. “Hey man…I didn’t know it was going to take weeks, not days. My family is worried and so am I.”

Jax put a hand on Bishop’s arm, stilling his next outburst. Jax stared the man down. “Bishop would be out here without complaint if it was your son.”

The man got up and walked away, muttering under his breath.

“He’s not wrong,” Bishop commented to Jax when the others left as well.

“Yes, he is. Like you said, he committed to a search and rescue. But he’s also right. Look, I can go search up ahead a day and return later tomorrow. The horses need a break and so do the men. What do you think?”

Bishop nodded. “Yeah, I think you’re right. If you don’t find anything then maybe we’ll have to return. Ugh…” Bishop rubbed his face. “I hate feeling like this. I can’t believe I have to face Maeve and return empty-handed. I’ve failed her.”

“You’re forgetting something. We trained him. He’s not helpless.”

“I think we have too much faith in our training.” Bishop chuckled. “This land is wild now in ways we never dreamed. The animals are bigger, more prevalent, and more vicious. They’re not afraid of humans any longer. They don’t shy away. They approach. The storms are sudden and brutal. At least the sun is coming out more and the ice is melting. I didn’t expect that to happen so quickly.”

“A lot can change in eleven years when there’s a break from human existence.”

“Yeah, I’ll say. It’s both better and worse than I’d imagined. But no one can say it’s not beautiful.”

“Most deadly things are beautiful when you think about it. Well, I’ll get some sleep and head out at sunrise…if there’s a sunrise, that is.”

Bishop nodded, “Thank you, Jax. I mean it.”

“I know you do. He’s my son, too. You both are.”

Bishop smiled at the man who had helped a generation survive one of the worst catastrophes on Earth for man. Without him, he didn’t think he could have saved so many.

Bishop sat by the fire a little longer, staring into the flames. It would be a long journey back to Colorado empty-handed but the man was right. He couldn’t keep them out here any longer without any sign of Ben. He tossed the remains of his water into the flames and doused the light.

The next morning, Jax headed out before the sun had a chance to battle the clouds. It was dark and gray, and he’d already ridden an hour’s journey north. It would be a long day, but he was determined to find some shred of Ben if one existed and though he never mentioned it to Bishop, he had seen horse and human tracks in the mud near a lake in a little forest, but he couldn’t pin them on Ben. There were a few hunters in those parts, and he intended to question any he came across. But actually, Jax knew that Ben wanted what most young men want…he wanted a chance to prove himself a man and not his mother’s little boy. Perhaps it was all their fault for protecting them too much and accommodating an old way of life when they should be adapting to a new one, learning a life on the surface, sooner than they’d ventured so far. He felt a little guilty…he knew what Ben wanted when he made him the coat of pelts. He knew Ben would use that coat for its intended purpose. No one wore them underground. They were too darn hot. And when wet, they’d bog you down and you’d end up smelling like a drowned rat in the end.

Jax rode the horse harder than he intended because at the next rise where there was a valley below, he’d spotted smoke in the air, and there hadn’t been a fire season in a decade. That only meant one thing. Man.

Or in this case, a woman. As Jax descended into the valley to investigate the smoke, he entered a small forest with the aroma of cooked meat permeating the cold air. He silently left his horse tied nearby and with his moccasin boots, he just as quietly neared a campfire with a savage-looking woman tearing into the hindquarter of a cooked rabbit. The hides she wore didn’t cover enough of her arms and her hair, at least from the back, looked as if it had never met a brush. There was a gash around her right wrist…on second look, both wrists, and they were bright red wounds. The woman had rope wounds around both wrists, meaning she’d recently escaped bondage of some sort. Jax let out a breath. He wasn’t a naïve man. This was a dilemma. Because she was either someone’s escaped slave or she was someone’s escaped prisoner. And either way, he needed to take caution in his approach. She could be a crazed woman hell-bent on killing him in his sleep, or she could be a desperately mistreated woman who was brave enough to escape her captors. Perhaps she was a little of both. He’d seen the type over the years. Some of them, he helped. Some of them, he steered clear from.

On the other hand, she was the only person they’d come across so far and she didn’t have a horse. So perhaps she’d seen Ben or knew something about him.

And because she had survived by her wits to at least this end, it was no surprise that she sensed Jax’s presence and ceased devouring the meat from the rabbit bones and turned around.

Jax silently pulled back behind a tree trunk and stood perfectly still.

He wasn’t convinced she had not sensed his presence. The sudden lack of noise in a particular spot was one way highly instinctive people sensed danger. And anyone who’d survived this long at their age had the instincts of a cat. And since Jax took up a spot suddenly blocking sound receptors with his body from behind her, and then he let them in again when he moved behind the solid tree, he expected her curiosity to peak.

What he didn’t expect was when he turned to check on her…she was gone.

And that’s when he felt a bone knife poke into the thin skin of his exposed neck.

It was the smell of her that brought tears to his eyes, even though he felt the sting of broken skin and the warm trickle of blood down his neck.

“Don’t move,” she ordered.

“Never crossed my mind,” he whispered and tried to relax despite having a dagger tip piercing the first layer of skin.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing. Only to ask you questions about a boy…a man, I mean. Have you seen a man come through these parts? Riding a big gray horse?” He had to swallow the saliva that had accumulated in his mouth but with each word he’d spoken, she’d not relinquished the pressure she put against his neck. The last thing he needed was to have a permanent leaking problem.

“Why?”

“Why? I’m trying to find him. He’s my friend. We’re lost from one another.”

“You’re lying.”

More pressure.

“No, no…I’m not lying. He’s my friend. And he’s on a trip and I’m trying to find him. I only want to know if you’ve seen him. I’m trying to catch up to him. I’m trying to make sure that he’s safe. That’s the truth.”

And there was something there. Despite what she wanted to say, he’d felt the dagger move away from its lethal position. And he could smell that she’d relaxed just a bit.

“Your friend…he’s good?”

Jax felt comfortable enough to slightly nod but did not make any sudden moves and certainly did not look at her. He remained still. It was a kind of test, and he knew he had to wait until she invited him to exist in her space without danger.

“When you find him, what will you do to him?”

“Nothing. I would never hurt Ben. He’s like my son. I will only make certain he survives.”

She took a full step back and Jax, for the first time, turned to fully look her in the eyes and found them sky blue and piercing and wild against her dirty pale skin and tangled dark hair. She was a wild thing of beauty. And though he was an old man, he was instantly enthralled.

“Do you keep women?”

“Me? No…I mean, if they need help...” He was suddenly lost for words, or at least the right words. What was it that she wanted to know? “I mean, I don’t have a woman, a companion.”

She pressed her eyes closed and shook her head. Her hair swung around in protest. And then she tried again to say the words that she meant, as if she was out of the practice of making conversation. “Do your people keep women? Have women? Girls?” And then she flung her wounded wrists together to show him what she meant.

Jax shook his head and nearly shouted the word no! The mere thought of such a thing horrified him.

“Your people don’t take women?” she said as if to clarify.

In a normal reassuring tone, he said, “No. And they never would. We live in families. We are normal.”

She raised her eyebrows at that. “Normal.”

He nodded his head briefly to the side, widened his eyes and said, “Well, as normal as we can be.” Then he subtly reached for her wrist.

Big mistake.

She jumped away, the dagger out and ready, her elbows close into the sides of her ribcage and her head low enough to see his chest.

She was good and agile for someone nearly his own age.

Hands up, Jax said, “No. No. I’ve got medicine for the injuries on your wrists. Medicine, in my bag. You can find it yourself. It’s in a tin, in the pouch on my horse.” And though he was risking theft, he needed her to trust him because he had the sneaking suspicion that she knew something about Ben.

She eyed him and, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, she took a quick look back at the horse tied to a nearby tree. And when she looked back, Jax made sure he didn’t budge a hair, because that was what she’d waited for. One signal of mistrust and he’d lose Ben forever.

Without looking over her shoulder again, she took a step backward.

Jax didn’t move. “It’s all right. The salve’s in a tin on the side bag, right there.” But inside, he was cringing. All she had to do was leap up into the saddle and take off, and she’d have nearly all his possessions beneath her.

And in one swift movement, that’s just what she did.

“Wait!” he said and began to pull a throwing knife from his thigh. And it’s a funny thing how time slows in such instances and your mind takes over in a rapid thought process, because Jax didn’t want to do it. He didn’t want to pinch the blade and send it through the cold, void air where it would find its mark too easily. He didn’t want to kill this wild creature that somehow had made it through the worst of times upon the surface. But to find Ben, he needed his equipment, and he would have killed her in the next nanosecond if it wasn’t for what she did next.

She sat upon Jax’s horse and eyed the blade in his hand with a question and sat high in his saddle and said, “Come. Your Ben, on a gray horse…he has my daughter.”

Taking a few running steps, Jax flew into the saddle behind her, but she’d not anticipated what would happen next and by the look on her face, all of her fears came true because though she’d taken a chance and lowered her guard, the next thing Jax did was put her in a chokehold that faded the dark gray clouds to midnight in under thirty seconds.

“I’m sorry but you’ll learn to trust me again,” Jax said before she lost consciousness. And then Jax lowered her to the ground and fished an herbal tea tincture out of a pouch and emptied the contents into her mouth before she regained consciousness. This would ensure that she would sleep while they rode back to camp. Then he treated the wounds encircling her wrists with the ointment he promised was within her grasp. After that, he gently laid her over the top of his horse and rode back to Bishop.

Bishop wasn’t expecting to find that Jax was already gone the next morning when he woke, but what surprised him more was that Jax was already returning and when he saw from a distance a body lying over the back, he thought the worst had happened.

Without a word, Bishop’s eyes began to fill. His hands braced on his hips. He’d look up at Jax approaching and then again at the muddy ground, all the while wondering how in the hell he was going to tell his mother they found Ben too late. And then the next time he looked up, the body on the back bounced and long, dark hair appeared. His heart leapt within his chest. It wasn’t Ben. He blinked and focused again as Jax got nearer. It wasn’t Ben after all.

“What? Who is that?” Bishop demanded when Jax came to a stop.

He grinned. All teeth. Which wasn’t an easy thing to look at.

“Start talking, man.”

“Ben’s got a girlfriend.”

“I know.” Bishop looked confused and pointed behind him. “She’s back there.”

Jax shook his head. “No…she’s not. She’s with him.”

“I’m confused. Then who do you have on the back of your horse?”

“Oh…this is your son’s future mother-in-law.”

Bishop yelled, “And you killed her!”

“No, no.” Jax chuckled. “I only made her take a nap because she never would have agreed to come back here and tell you what she told me. Ben’s alive. He has her daughter with him. I don’t know the particulars but she’s going the same way. And we’re taking her with us.”

“We talked about your habit of putting people to sleep. They don’t like it. It’s not how you make friends, Jax. You know this.”

Jax shrugged.

“How far ahead are they?”

“I don’t know.”

“What route did they take?”

“I don’t know.”

“What’s the plan then?”

“I say we let the rest of these guys go home and the three of us continue to Idaho because we generally know where Ben’s headed and he’s not alone. It’ll take a few more weeks and the other men are not up for it. They can at least get word to Maeve and the others to let them know what’s going on and that we’re safe.”

“All right. When do we leave?”

“I’d say we leave now, before she wakes up because, buddy…she’s going to be mad.”

18

They were both silent as they arrived in the part of the day when you kept your voices low. Holly’s hooves clanked against the pavement of Sherman Avenue. The ice had mostly melted.

“This place…it’s creepy,” Paisley whispered. “It’s a ghost town.”

“Well, I don’t think there’s anyone here, so it is a ghost town. That’s okay though, because we’re riding through and up to my old neighborhood. I want to see the old house first. Where my dad and I used to fish in the stream nearby. That’s also where my stepdad, Bishop, lived for a long time. But I was just a kid back then.”

“What’s that tall building?”

Ben looked up at the old hotel. Windows were missing in some of the units. “We lived there for a while. It was really nice, once. It’s how we stayed alive before the weather turned even worse.”

A chill crept down Ben’s spine with a passing breeze when they passed an old, dilapidated barn that looked to be riddled with gunshots. He swallowed. “I think that’s where Louna’s mother died. We were inside there. I told you about that, remember?”

“Your sister’s mother?”

He nodded. “And back here, you can see the lake. There’s still some ice cover in parts but I wouldn’t walk on that now. Much of it’s melted now. There was a battle on that lake. That’s the one where Bishop took the Osprey helicopter. I’m flashing on some of those memories. It seemed so big then…now it’s much smaller than I remember as a boy. A lot of people died on the ice. We nearly did too.”

She patted his shoulder. “That was a long time ago.”

“Not long enough.”

Farther ahead, they passed through an old town and then stopped because right in the middle of a street, a large doe stood looking at them as if they were the intruders. And then Ben turned Holly down another side street because a large wolf darted after the deer.

“Whoa, they’re even bigger here. Let’s move on; there’s probably more where that came from,” Paisley said.

An hour later they rode past the forest that Bishop lived in and down the road Ben was born on. “That’s it, right there.”

Paisley adjusted herself in the saddle. “I’m surprised it’s still standing when so many of the others are all burned up.”

“I think fire got to it as well…the back’s mostly gone. Let’s get down and check it out.”

“Okay, but not for long…I haven’t seen anyone, but I have the feeling they’re watching us.”

“I’m sure there are a few people left but most of them didn’t make it here. The conditions were worse here than in most places. That’s why we had to leave back then. Let me go first,” Ben said. “Don’t look at me like that. There could be someone in there, and I know you have ninja skills but just do me a favor and wait a minute.”

She cracked a smile at his teasing, and he couldn’t help but let that warmth seep into his heart. This last leg of the trip was so much better with her along, but he was still trying to keep a distance even though they were together every waking hour and slept side by side to keep predators at bay. He’d not laid a hand on her, though, out of hope that someday she might let him willingly, but not before he got this trip out of his system. And he was here, finally. Back where it all began. Back where he’d last seen his father, it all looked so much smaller than he’d remembered…so much less than what he’d imagined. But reality was what he was after and so far during the trip there was one thing that kept coming back to him despite having to kill a man: The surface was livable. It was brutal but it was livable. Maybe not for little Jax and Sean or his mother but if needed, they could survive with accommodations. And that was one thing he had to make Bishop and the others understand when he returned.

“It reeks in here.” Paisley gagged, holding a sleeve over her mouth and nose.

Ben walked through what used to be the garage. And that’s when he began to doubt his livable theory. “Smells like piss.”

“Making my eyes water,” Paisley muttered and turned around.

“Someone’s been living in here.”

“Could it be an animal?”

Ben shook his head. “Yes, but sadly the man kind and he likes SpaghettiOs, whoever he is, because they’re strewn around the place. So disgusting.

“Paisley, come on. Let’s stay together. I want to check out the inside. Hold your breath. Let me go first.” He pulled her back by the elbow and led with the muzzle of his rifle through the crack of the garage door into the main living room. Immediately the vision of him and his mom in the kitchen on their last days there entered his mind. He’d sat at the kitchen counter on the bench stool. His mother’s red hair contrasted with the light blue paint on the walls. But as soon as he opened the door, he realized why someone had taken shelter in the garage.

“Oh my gosh, it’s worse than the garage. Are you sure you lived here?”

“Yeah.”

Paisley began to heave.

“Go ahead. I’ll meet you out front,” Ben said through gasped breath. He turned and watched her go back through the garage. “Stay where I can see you,” he said and then the contents of his stomach threatened to launch and escape as well, and his vision swam through welling tears. Shaking it off, Ben tried again. He only wanted to walk in a few paces and maybe see something he remembered, even if it meant he was going to have to go out, regroup his innards and try again. But he stepped ten feet into the house and saw why the place was so inhospitable. Right in the middle of the living room, where a window and half the back of the house was burned out, lay remains of what he thought was once a frozen body that was now decaying with the warmer temperatures. And the delayed decay was something of a nightmare.

Ben’s stomach lurched three more times before he gave up, but not before spotting a frame on a wall that somehow was left hanging. The glass and frame were smoke damaged, but Ben yanked it off the wall anyway and ran back the way he’d come.

“Are you okay?” Paisley said.

Long strings of saliva hung from Ben’s lower lip and trailed down to the ground below.

“What’d you find?”

Ben heaved again.

“Cough,” she said.

He looked at her like she was crazy.

“Trust me. Cough a few times. Take a deep breath and it will clear and go away.”

But that’s not what happened first. Instead, he puked up everything he had and more. But then things did clear, and that’s what she’d meant. She just omitted the throwing his guts up part, first.

Afterward, he swiped the moisture from his mouth and cleared his eyes and then cut them at her. One edge of her mouth was lifted in a smirk.

“Seen enough? Or do you want to explore more? Because it’s going to get dark in a few hours if you want to head back into town like we planned,” Paisley said.

Taking a deep breath, he replied, “I don’t want to see anymore thawing bodies, if that’s what you mean.” He swallowed.

“But you know…some of the houses on this street look intact, like they’ve never been searched before. Wanna try?”

“I guess,” he said.

“You know, you can always come back here when you’re feeling up to it.”

He nodded but also admitted there wasn’t much to salvage. “Burning it to the ground would be a better tribute at this point,” he said.

“Yeah. Maybe let’s do that, but not right now. Not until we know who’s around. We don’t need a big fire drawing attention.”

“Agreed,” he said and then remembered the picture in his hand, and he smudged the black soot away with his thumb and saw the image beneath. At first, he thought they were his own eyes, but they weren’t. After revealing more of the image beneath the glass, he found they were the eyes of his father. And next to his father was a younger version of his mother, and she cradled him in her arms. “Mom…they look so happy.”

“Those are your parents?”

“Yeah. My dad…he died when I was just a kid. My mother was so sad.”

Paisley put her hand on his shoulder and leaned over his arms to look at the image. “You look like him. I bet she sees that every day.”

He took a deep breath in. “Yeah, I’m sure she does.” And he remembered the deep looks she gave him as he grew up into the man he was now. “I need to get back to her and Bishop.”

Paisley removed her hand from his shoulder, and he missed the warmth from where it once was. “This neighborhood isn’t bad. Most of it’s still intact. We have time to check maybe one or two before it gets too dark to wander around. You still want to stay in town?”

He nodded and covered the picture with a cloth and put it in his bag. “Yeah, I think it’s safer that way. More exits if needed. I don’t want to get trapped down one of these roads if the weather suddenly turns.”

“Okay. We can walk to the one across the street.

Ben eyed the old house and said, “I don’t know. Looks like the roof caved in from a load of ice. We see that all over. Probably a sloshy mess in there.”

“Well, we need food and it’s getting too late to hunt. Want to see if there are any eleven-year-old cans of SpaghettiOs in there?”

“I’m pretty sure the guy who stayed in my house had them all. At least, I hope so. But let’s take a peek anyway.” As they walked up the long drive, Ben noticed long hills and rows in what once was the front lawn but was now a muddy mess. “Looks like someone tried to garden here not long ago. Look.”

Paisley took several steps into the soggy ancient garden. “There might be root vegetables down there.”

“They’re rotted if there are any. And it smells. But that’s actually a good sign. It means the soil is breaking down.”

She kicked at a few lumps with the toe of her boot and once they broke apart, there was nothing but rot. “Oh, look. Worms. They’re usually farther down in the soil. You have to really dig for them to go fishing with.”

He chuckled. “Who needs worms? All you need to do now is dangle your hand over a lake…just watch out for what latches on. The only problem is, instead of you eating it, it eats you.”

She smiled and at that moment a ray of sun escaped the clouds, and it was as if a sunbeam had pierced his heart, because he felt all warm and fuzzy inside his chest. Then he remembered what Jax had said about love, and he began coughing again.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah…I’m not sure what hit me.” With his hands on his knees, he took another deep breath. “Okay.” He smiled. “Let’s go see what horrors lie within this house, shall we?”

She nodded and when she passed him, he rolled his eyes to the sky, thinking, Thanks, Jax. As if it were Jax’s fault that love had suddenly found him.

Paisley led with her dagger and Ben looped his fingers inside her waistband while holding his shotgun out with his right hand, in case he needed to yank her back. But the first thing that hit them when they entered what used to be the foyer was the smell of delayed decay. It was somehow worse than the typical decay rate of a body after it had once been frozen solid and then met a warm sun shower day. Combined with all the melting ice, it made for a soupy mixture that nightmares were made of.

Paisley lurched first and ran past him out the door.

Ben didn’t have to go far to see where the bodies were. When he looked over a couch, he saw them. An entire family. He’d glanced briefly and then up to the sky, through the whole in the ceiling. There were two small children amongst the adults and Ben didn’t want his eyes to linger there too long. He didn’t want to know if he’d once gone to school with them or once played with them out front in the street on their bikes. He didn’t want to know if the boy in the striped shirt was the one he’d walked home with from the bus stop up the road. He didn’t want to know that Johnny Gunderson never lived a day after his fifth birthday. Flashes of a little boy riding his blue bike with training wheels on the rocky dirt road outside. Flashes of his blond hair and red striped shirt and his flashing tennis shoes at dusk when the pale sun hid high above the autumn leaves. Ben swallowed and shook his head. He wasn’t sure if he was imagining the images flashing in his mind or if they were real. But the little boy lying dead on the floor had walked home with someone from the bus stop and Ben had friends when he was there. He remembered them all in his classroom and knowing maybe three of them survived the disaster was heartbreaking. And in a way, he felt guilty to be one of the few that survived. “I’m sorry,” Ben said and turned to find Paisley.

“I don’t know. I think I take back my idea that we can redo these houses. Setting them all on fire might be a better way to go and start over,” she stated.

He walked slowly to the horse and climbed in the saddle, then reached for her arm. “I think we have to let everything decay and dry out. It’s a process that takes time. Meanwhile, we can head into town and find dry ground to sleep on for the night. Perhaps the old hotel might work.”

She agreed and an hour later they were trotting down the center of Sherman Avenue as the hazy sunlight began to fade to darkness.

Paisley whispered, “We need to find shelter soon. We don’t know this area that well and you can bet there are others watching us.”

“The hotel is the only structure I’m comfortable sleeping under.”

“You haven’t been there in over ten years, though.”

“Yeah, but I’d bet on concrete over wood lasting this long. Let’s get down there and see if we can find something secure for the night.”

Paisley stretched and looked up the length of the building. “Your family stayed here after the freeze?”

“Yeah,” Ben said with a chuckle. “They fought for this place with their lives. Most of the town did too, and the majority of them came with us to Colorado.”

“There’s a downed tree in the porte cochere,” Paisley said.

“The what?”

“The hotel’s drive-through. That’s what it was called. This place was once a beauty. I can tell.”

“I just remember blue awnings and fires on the back porch area. The memories are muddy. I remember coming here with my parents on sunny days, with boats in the water at the marina. But then I also have memories of my mom with Bishop here, grayer days and a war on the ice. But where did you learn that word in a time like this?”

She leaned into him. “My mom. She’d tell me to close my eyes and she’d describe a hotel in Paris or New York. She’d traveled all over the world back then. She was a patent attorney for a tech company, whatever that means.”

Ben reached up and covered her hand with his. “I’m sorry she’s gone, Paisley.”

“She’s not gone. You saw her cry over me. She’s with them. She wanted me to escape. She knew they were going to treat me like they treated her soon, and she didn’t want that for me. I was angry at her for letting me go.”

Ben swallowed hard. He knew exactly what they were going to do with Paisley, and the mere thought made him angry enough to kill again.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, stopping the horse and turning to look at her.

She shook her head. “When you brought me back, she was very upset and screamed at me to leave. I was just going to follow them and try to get her free too. But she wouldn’t listen.”

“Paisley, we’ll find her. We’ll get her out of there. Let me spend a few days here and we’ll find her.”

Paisley shook her head. “No. She doesn’t want me to come back for her. She made that very clear.”

Though Ben didn’t understand why, he accepted her explanation. “All right,” he said and helped her off the horse. “Why don’t you wait here with Holly, and I’ll see if there’s a place we can keep her nearby.”

She agreed and held the reins as Ben took his rifle and walked through the shattered glass doorway of the hotel. There was little light filtering through the windows, so he had to use a small flashlight as he made his way through the dark, destroyed lobby. At the end were wide broken-out windows that led directly to what once was the marina and the lake. Where there was once warmth from huge fireplaces on either end of the building, there were only damp and dark dripping caverns. “Was there a fish tank in here?” he mumbled, remembering an image of himself, barely tall enough to poke at them through the glass. “And pies!” He turned to where a restaurant had a twirling dessert case that as a boy, he stood and drooled in front of but was never allowed to touch the glass with his sticky fingers. Smiling at a few good memories, Ben realized that so far, there was no gut-churning smell to the place. And that’s when he gripped his rifle a little tighter. Because that meant someone had removed the bodies of those who died there. Or, when Bishop evacuated the place, then maybe a few stayed without the protection of many. Either way, once he walked the length of the lobby with nothing other than a few old memories to combat, he walked back through and saw a hallway leading the right from the entrance. He peeked at Holly and Paisley out front and then went to find a room they might lock themselves in for the night. Then he met them outside the front doors. “Come on in,” he whispered.

“What about her?”

“She’s used to being in a stable. She’ll walk inside. We can put her in the hallway down here.”

Paisley replied, “Okay,” as if she wasn’t so sure of Ben’s plan. But as soon as she walked into the old place, she was enthralled. “This is awesome,” she whispered.

“I know. We lived here for a long time before heading south. I don’t think much has changed. I can hear dripping, but that’s expected.”

“I don’t see any collapsed walls. Though I’m sure there’s a lot of damage on the upper floors.”

“Yeah, for sure. But I found a room we can sleep in for the night down here,” Ben said. “And Holly can stay in here…because look,” he explained and when he went inside, the room had a door that opened into the next.

“She just went outside, so…this is perfect for the night. We can lock the door, and nothing can get to her.”

“Yeah, it’ll be nice to sleep a few hours straight. I’ll take the first watch,” Ben said.

“And there’s an actual bed,” Paisley commented.

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t sleep on that. The covers disintegrate. God only knows what’s living in that.”

“Yeah, no thanks,” Paisley said and instead pulled their sleep rolls off the back of the saddle and laid them out on the floor while Ben locked the doors. He barely closed the room Holly stood in and then went to the window that viewed the side of the lake while Paisley laid down.

If it were a sunset day, Ben would see hues of blushed reds against the water’s edge but because the clouds had snatched the hostage back again, there was only dark purple against the night sky. Though what he was really looking for were signs of man. A campfire of the residents of Coeur d’Alene or from those who’d taken Paisley’s mother. But there was nothing like that for hours into the night. And when he heard Paisley’s soft snores, he didn’t want to wake her for the next watch. They seldom slept through the night. So for a first, he instead slid into his bedroll next to her and did what he’d dreamt of doing many nights and laid his hand on her hip and went to sleep right next to her, hoping for better days to come.

19

“It all started with being hungry,” Jax said.

“Is this one of those anthropology talks, you give sometimes? Because I’m living it and I’m not in the mood,” Bishop commented.

Jax laughed, though after riding hard for hours on horseback, his laugh sounded more like he was choking. Bishop even turned to see that he was all right. Freya, on the other hand, didn’t seem all that happy as she held onto Jax and shot a glare at Bishop.

“I don’t know what you’re laughing about, old man,” Bishop said.

“Life,” Jax replied. “Isn’t this great?”

Again, Bishop looked at him like he was crazy. “No. No, it is not great. I want to find Ben and get home.”

And as if he’d nearly forgotten, the woman named Freya said, “You’ll be lucky if I don’t murder you both in your sleep.”

Big smiles from Jax. “I hope you try…I hope you try.”

But Bishop wasn’t so sure she wouldn’t succeed and said, “You’d never find your daughter that way.”

“She’d better be all right,” Freya snarled threateningly.

“She is,” Bishop stated and this time, he shot her a glare at the insinuation against his son. Bishop picked up the pace after that. He didn’t want conversations with the rude woman, it was getting dark, and they still had a couple of hours to go before they reached Coeur d’Alene.

Then, a few hours later, Bishop knew they were entering what was the old civilization when, by moonlight, they spotted an old billboard. Most of it was ripped and torn away but they could still see part of a hamburger and a section of golden French fries. They slowed then and exchanged glances.

“I’m surprised how much has melted,” Jax said.

“Yeah, even the river is running high. We have to be careful around there. We’ve come in the back way, so let’s check out the old house first. I’m betting he went there. If we don’t find him, we’ll check the old hotel after that.”

Jax nodded but when they arrived at the remains of the old house, Bishop looked off into the woods. His fortified cabin was still in there somewhere. He’d often wondered what became of the old place after all this time. It used to be his home for years as he kept an eye on Roger’s family. And when Roger was lost to war and everything went to hell, they became his family.

“It’s just down here,” Bishop said, bringing his horse into a fast trot.

“I can’t see much in the moonlight, but I don’t think they’re here,” Jax responded, and then Freya let out a long, mournful call like the hoot of an owl.

Bishop looked to Jax. “What?”

She did it once more.

“Can you not do that? Every hostile within a few miles now knows we’re here.”

“We won’t waste our time bumbling around in the dark because she will come if she’s here.”

Jax just shrugged his shoulders.

Bishop took in a long breath and when they reached the driveway to the old place. He said, “You stay here. I’ll have a look inside.” He handed Jax the reins to his horse and by the light of the moon, he swiped at what he thought were recent tracks on the muddy ground, but he couldn’t be sure who or what they belonged to.

Inside the garage, he waded through debris and held his breath against a strong smell of urine and waste. But inside the place, he realized the back half was burned down. Then he remembered being there over eleven years before. Sneaking stacked firewood by the back door. Trying to make sure Maeve and Ben were out of danger and then realizing it wasn’t the cold that would take their lives with the way things were going. It was the misdeeds of man that he had to contend with in the end. With his flashlight, he looked around the place after bouncing a bit on the old floorboards to make sure they’d handle his weight, but the smell of rot was overwhelming, and as he headed back to the garage he glanced at the wall and saw a perfect rectangle where a family portrait used to be. When he got into the night’s fresh air, he took a long, deep breath.

“Nothing?” Jax said. “Oh well. It was a long shot.”

Bishop had his palms braced against the top of his knees as he breathed in and out, doing his best to hold back the contents of his stomach. He nodded. “Nah. He’s been here. He took a picture off the wall.” He pointed to the house. “There’s recent tracks all over. I’m not sure but I think it’s got to be them. Let’s head into town. I know where they are now.”

Ben didn’t know what he would have done if he had met a hostile group of people in the dead of night, but he did know that whatever the right thing was, he didn’t do it. He kept looking at them, blinking his eyes as they stood over them for longer than a few seconds. In his mind, he kept thinking they’d disappear or something, and then he reached for his weapon too late.

When Paisley opened her eyes, she had the sense to at least scream right away.

But that didn’t matter because the next thing he knew, they were dragged off into the woods by a rough group of men.

“Tie them up,” one of the men said. “There’s more of them here somewhere. They can’t be on their own.”

“What about the horse?” someone asked and while Ben felt a searing pain around his wrists as a large man tied him and Paisley to a tree, he scanned the area for Holly, spotting her as a man pulled her by the reins across the sopping ground.

Holly reared up and when a man ratcheted his shotgun and aimed at her, Ben yelled, “No!” But then the butt of another rifle stock cracked into the side of his face, and he wasn’t sure if the blast took Holly’s life or if it was the sound inside his head.

20

At some point, moonlight intermixed with the coming sunrise as Bishop, Jax, and Freya rode into the outskirts of town, but then Jax suddenly stopped and when Bishop looked, he had his hand up to his mouth.

“Why are we stopping?” Freya said.

“He heard someone,” Bishop whispered. “Keep your voice down.” And Bishop led the way off the road, beneath cedar boughs and into a small forest behind an old building.

“Someone’s screaming,” Bishop said, and he and Jax climbed off their horses. “Do you hear that?”

“It’s Paisley. It sounds like my daughter,” Freya said.

“Stay here,” Jax said. “Watch the horses and don’t move.”

It was a split-second decision that Bishop hoped he wasn’t going to regret but he handed his reins to the woman Freya. “We’ll be right back.”

And they didn’t go far when Jax quickly knelt by the edge of the next building. He turned to Freya and motioned with his hand to have her move out of the line of sight. She rode Jax’s horse and led Bishop’s as well, silently to the side.

“What do you see?”

“It’s them…but there’s trouble. Look.”

Jax leaned back so that Bishop could get a full view, and there was Ben being hauled by the arms of three men, and a girl with dark hair much like her mother’s, was as well. Bishop’s heart hammered within his chest at the sight of his son but also at the imminent danger he was in.

“There got to be at least twenty of them,” Bishop whispered.

“Where are they taking them?”

“Just over there. In the woods.”

“Oh, there’s Holly. They’re not going to shoot her, are they?”

Bishop had to stifle Jax reaching for his throwing knife. “No. There’s too many of them. How much ammo do we have?”

“Not enough,” Jax replied.

And then, as they watched Holly rear up, Bishop nearly aimed and fired at the man about to kill her but then Ben yelled, and his captor slammed his rifle into the side of his head, causing Ben to slump down.

That’s when Jax had to wrestle Bishop’s rifle away. “Stop it. Stop. That’s not going to help them. Let’s make a plan or we’ll get them killed reacting like this.”

“Okay.” Bishop nodded and willed his pulse to slow.

Then they watched as one of the rough men grabbed the girl by the jaw and yelled, “Where are the rest of you?” And when she didn’t answer he threw the back of his big hand, whipping her across her face.

Jax turned and ran for the horses in case Freya was watching.

Bishop stayed where he was and surveilled the men. One man tied Holly up nearby to a tree and was rifling through all of Ben’s belongings, tossing them to the ground, while Ben still appeared unconscious with his head lolling to the side as he was tied to the tree and the girl Paisley cried with blood running down her mouth as she called Ben’s name.

A moment later, Jax led the horses and Freya back to Bishop. “We’ve got to let her see her daughter.”

“Did you explain the situation? She can’t just run out there,” Bishop said.

Freya frowned at Bishop. “I’m not as dumb as you might think.” She got off the horse and stormed toward Bishop.

“Okay,” he whispered but warned her, “One outburst and they’ll not only kill my boy, but your daughter as well and the rest of us. We’ll come up with a plan. We have the advantage. They don’t know we’re here. I know this area well enough.”

She leaned over Bishop and looked around the corner for herself.

Bishop watched as her bottom lip quivered but she didn’t gasp or react.

Then she pushed herself away and surprised Bishop with a sharp nod and cleared her throat. “I see twenty-three armed men and they’re all wearing the same leather tie around their left wrists, and there are no women in the group. My girl’s tough, but I don’t like the looks of them. There’s something funny about the way they interact. We need to get in there before nightfall. What’s the plan?”

Bishop lifted an eyebrow at her and then gaped around the corner again. “You’ve got an eye for detail, I’ll give you that.”

“I said, what’s the plan? We don’t have time to waste.”

He nodded and said, “I need to run an errand before we get started.”

“What?” Freya asked.

Jax clarified, “He means we’re gathering supplies.”

“What do you want me to do?” Freya said.

Bishop replied, “Oh…you’re surveillance. Keep an eye on them but you are not allowed to interact at all. No heroics. Don’t draw attention to yourself. None of that. We’re taking the horses. Just be quiet and watch their every move and we’ll return as fast as possible.” And then Bishop watched while she took all this in. The wheels were turning. She was a smart woman, possibly too smart. Bishop was about to get up on his horse, but something kept him back. Then he said, “I need your word on this or I’ll tie you up and gag you. Those are your options.”

She took in a deep breath. “I will watch them unless one of ours is dying and in that case, I won’t make promises I can’t keep. I’ll act accordingly. Now go. You’re wasting time.”

Now it was Bishop’s turn to think…and he nodded. “That’ll do.”

21

Once he thought they were out of earshot, Bishop and Jax rode as if their lives depended on it. And instead of going to Roger’s old house when they turned down the last street leading that way, Bishop instead dropped into woods on the side of the road. It was once a grand forest but was now a wilder land than he’d ever imagined…except that the horses’ hooves kept sinking into the mucky earth. “This is taking too long.”

“Can’t be helped. If we rush in a panic, we’ll screw it up. So take your time,” Jax said.

“Whoo, smells like low tide in here.”

“Yeah, isn’t it great? The earth is making peat moss again. It’s a wonderful process.”

“The process is making my eyes water. Okay, we’re here. I don’t know if the scanner will work. I’ll likely have to shoot my way inside. Wait, where are you going?”

“You take care of that. I’ll meet you back here.”

“We should stick together, Jax.” But there was no use arguing, because Jax and his horse were enveloped by the forest in the next second.

“Crazy old man,” Bishop said, getting off his horse and landing ankle deep in much and noted he’d was getting on in years himself and thought Ben probably said the same of him when he was out of earshot.

Pulling his rifle from the saddle, just the thought of Ben in the hands of his captors made Bishop squelch through the mud faster to what was once his old cabin. And by the looks of things, nature had tried and failed many times to consume the cabin with vines. So he ripped away what lay in his path, but when he reached the door, he didn’t need to worry about the lock after all. It worked all right, but the walls of the cabin itself were so rotted after eleven years of an ice age that when he pushed against the side structure, they nearly fell apart in his hand. It was the dead plant matter that kept the place standing in the end. Still, hurling yourself into a bramble of dead and decaying foliage was inadvisable, and he ended up shredding the exposed skin of his hands and arms. Once he was inside after tearing down one side of the place, he tried to imagine where the supplies were when he’d left it all behind. And then looked beneath his feet, next to the old cast iron wood stove that had sunk down on one side as if the earth’s next plan was to reclaim the old thing. Then he took two steps forward and dropped to his knees in the muck and began digging with his bare, bleeding hands.

Meanwhile, Jax continued past Bishop’s cabin in a line that he knew by heart that led back to his old tree. He’d wondered how the old man was getting on in the years of an ice age and what tales he might have to tell him. It was slow going at first, but as the elevation rose, the ground became a little less mucky and more stable to climb. “It’s all a process. She knows what she’s doing.” Jax rubbed his horse’s neck and then when they reached his tree, he sat back in the saddle and let his shoulders slump. “You were a beauty, my old friend.” Because in front of him, the massive tree that once housed him for decades in its treetop was now lying on its side, having fallen sometime over the past eleven years. Its branches were bleached white. Its massive trunk caved in on one side where another tree now lay across. It was a graveyard of an old friend. But Jax slid off his saddle and walked through the pieces of a place he once called home to find a few gifts it might have left behind.

Bishop pulled the pitted metal case out of the mud. The edge of the stove or some other force had smashed in one side but when he opened the lid, it was full of ammunition rounds. Bishop closed the lid and dove into the mud again to find what he knew was farther still and after brushing the side of a metal fragment with his hand, he was more elated than worried about the searing pain in his palm. When he pulled the case out, he saw a flash of red-hot blood mixed with muck but paid no attention to that and shoved his hands back into the earth for one more thing in hopes that it was still back there and not fully reclaimed by the earth.

Lying prone on his belly then, he stilled his movements when he heard something or someone outside.

“It’s me,” Jax alerted, aware of the sudden stillness.

“Did you get what you needed?”

“Not all of it, but most. You?”

“Yeah. Can you help me out of here?”

“Certainly. You need a bandage on that, and purslane if we had it. Moss would do but I don’t see any around. You hit a vein.”

“That’s okay. We’ve got to get back.”

“No. We have to stop this first. One thing at a time. You won’t be able to shoot well with a pumping vein making your stock all slippery. Let’s take one minute. I’ll suture it if...” Jax looked around at the forest for something that might do the trick.

“We don’t have time for this. I’ve got a med kit right here. I’m sure there’s something we can use.”

Jax pulled open the lid and though some of the items inside were water damaged beyond use, he was able to pull out a sealed suture kit. “Wipe that off.”

“I’m not worried about infection at this point. Let’s go!”

“I just need to see where I’m sticking the needle,” Jax responded and jabbed the point in one end and out the other, pulled it tight, and tied it off.

Bishop groaned, “Hurry.”

“Two more and we’re done.” Calming his voice as Bishop raised his helped his friend through the needed delay. He’d barely cut the string from the third knot when Bishop said, “Let’s go.” And then they packed the amassed gear onto their horses and rode hard back to their lookout.

And then it started raining. Not snowing. Not hailing and nothing in between, but actual wet rain and when Bishop looked back at Jax, he had his hand out, catching the stuff in his palm and laughing. “You know what this means?”

Bishop nodded his head and said, “It’s below freezing. Keep it down.”

And in hopes that the rain might distract the captors from their activities, they returned to find Freya not where they’d left her but not far away either.

“What took you so long?” she asked hotly. “Have you seen? Do you know what they’re doing?”

Bishop shook his head and quickly slid from his saddle. He peeked around the corner of the building.

Freya moved in behind him. “You can see better from the other side. They moved them over there.”

Bishop’s hands shook from the scene, but it wasn’t from the cut.

Freya whispered, “I don’t know how much time we have before they do whatever they’re going to do to them. But look at them chanting.”

“Are they praying? What are they saying?”

Gone was the merry mood when Jax said in a somber tone, “That’s no kind of prayer I’ve ever heard, and now there’s drum music.”

“No amount of rain is going to put that bonfire out. They’ve got accelerant pumped through there. It’s some kind of grill,” Bishop said.

“Then let’s go. I hope you brought me something to use because I’m not watching from here,” Freya stated firmly.

Jax handed her a large knife with a curved blade and told her to keep watch as they worked.

But Bishop hardly heard the exchange. He threw open latches and assembled one thing and packed another as the rain came down in torrents.

“They won’t hear us coming. Not with this going on,” Jax said.

“Freya, you stay here until we call you and then and only then, run in and untie them from that damn thing. Do you understand?”

Without question, she nodded and that was the first time Bishop thought he might like her, or at least the fire in her eyes. Because at any second, Ben and Paisley would be lowered into the massive flames from the wood frame they’d tied them on.

“Let’s go.”

22

And they danced by firelight to the rhythmic beat of drums. Bishop ran up behind one sentry and drew a sharp blade across his neck, lowering the man to the ground and collecting his gun.

Jax blew poisoned darts into the ones on the outer edges. But seventeen men remaining to two were unfavorable odds. Although Bishop never gave up a fight based on odds alone and though he was older than he once was, the training from his past kicked in and in the next moment, he was no longer the man who lived peaceably belowground but a man of war, and he would not let these people win the deaths of the ones he swore to protect.

When the first shout out of cadence echoed, Bishop and Jax gave up all pretenses of subtlety and instead, while Bishop pulled out his shotgun, Jax let loose an arrow that, when it landed, exploded to scatter the remaining survivors. And Bishop ran in closer, dodging between the pillars of the old hotel.

In the chaos, one of the enemies ran between the rest and made it all the way to Ben and Paisley and began sawing at a rope with a knife. “No!” Bishop yelled and began firing on as many as he could, but that’s when he saw Freya running too, beyond the flames.

But it was too late. One edge of the frame sank into the grate, sending sparks flying high into the dark sky.

Penned down by oncoming fire, Bishop watched as Ben rolled against the frame. The ropes on his left arm were already on fire and the boy he’d raised to a man was screaming.

Bishop left cover and ran to the next pillar where the next gunman hid, dropped his gun to his side, pulled his knife, and plunged the blade into his gut, slamming it like a hammer to a nail.

Then, thinking he was too late, he watched as Jax took out the next one and Freya was fighting with all she had to keep the killer away from the frame. Bishop leapt onto the grill, into the fire, and tore his son away from flames.

And amongst the screaming, Bishop pulled Ben into his arms. “It’s okay. It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

“I have to get her free,” Ben yelled.

And when Bishop turned to find the next enemy, he watched as Jax came up to the man fighting Freya and slid a knife under his arm like it was nothing.

Bishop held his son tight to his chest and said, “It’s too late, son.”

Ben screamed, “No!”

But Bishop yanked Ben away from him and shoved him around so he could see that Paisley was standing in the arms of her mother.

“She’s already free.”

23

“I’ve said it twice. I’m not going to say it again!” Bishop yelled. “You’re going back.”

Paisley raised her eyebrows as she kept her attention trained on the cutting board, chopping a root that her mother had found on their way back to Bishop’s old cabin. She’d heard heated arguments before, but Ben’s dad was mad in a way she’d never heard before. And each time he raised his voice, she jumped.

“And I said, I’m not going back!” Ben yelled.

Paisley’s eyes widened.

“How long can they keep that up?” Freya asked while helping her daughter with the vegetables. “Is he always like this? Maybe we won’t come along after all.”

Jax poked at a piece of venison over a fire and then calmly leaned against a nearby tree, whittling a stick of wood to a point, and glanced at Bishop and Ben arguing in the old cabin. He answered, “They’ll do this for as long as it takes. He’s not going to win. I don’t know why he tries.”

“Ben or Bishop?” Paisley asked.

“Ben…in this case. At least…he won’t win this battle,” Jax mumbled but then added under his breath, “but he’ll win the war.”

Paisley ducked. “Now they’re throwing stuff? Can someone make them stop? We’re going to eat soon. And we know there are locals around. We’ll draw attention. I thought the whole point of coming back here was to keep quiet and head out in the morning.”

“Look at us,” Ben yelled. “We’re cooking out in the open. It rained. I know you saw that. The ice is melted in the lower elevations. We can live here. We can come back home.”

“Ben,” Bishop said, “this isn’t home. This is an anomaly. Sure…it’s promising, but we have to monitor it instead of getting caught in a flash freeze again. I know you don’t remember what that was like, but try imagining your girlfriend out there dying…not just one day, but slowly, each and every day. That’s what nearly happened to you, your mother, little Louna and the rest of us. And it was by the grace of God that we made it through. Many did not.”

“It’s the same story you always tell. That doesn’t change, but the landscape here…the weather…it is changing. It’s getting warmer every day. We can resettle, I know we can. Bishop, you can bring Mom home.”

Paisley wasn’t sure what happened, but she was eyeing the side of Bishop’s jaw and it worked up and down. His hands were on his hips and he shook his head. “You’re going home to your mother.”

“I’m staying,” Ben said.

Jax said, “Meat’s ready. Time to eat. Speaking of cooked meat, Ben, when you’re through, let me replace that bandage on the back of your hand. That’s going to scar, buddy.”

Ben walked to the campfire and sat down next to Paisley, shaking his head. “Don’t make jokes.”

Jax said, “It could have been worse. Much worse.”

They ate mostly in silence, wolfing down the food they’d prepared, when Freya said, “Let’s cut off your singed hair, my darling, and get some sleep before we head back with this lot. I’m not sure it’s such a good idea but I’ll follow you wherever you want to go. I’m just so grateful to have you back.”

Bishop got the impression they were leaving them to discuss their business in private but then Ben said, “I’m going to bed.”

He left Bishop in the company of Jax and the light of a crackling fire. Staring within the flames, Jax said, “He’s not wrong, you know. Maybe he’s right. Maybe we should consider resettling the town.”

Bishop let out a deflated breath. “You too? If I didn’t have younger children, I might consider it. But we just came out of a decades-old ice age. We nearly lost Ben today for some crazy religious belief. That was going to be some kind of sacrifice. We don’t know what these people are like anymore.”

Jax replied, “They’re survivors…if they made it this long. We know that. I’m sure we’ll come across some strange ways people endured all this time. I mean, think about it. Did you know they have tanning booths underground in the California Colony?” Jax repeated, “Tanning booths. What do you think the surface dwellers would think of that if they saw it now?”

Bishop chuckled, “I’d heard that. Did you see them?”

“Shoot, I got in one. Oh, to be warm again.” Jax closed his eyes and smiled.

“That’s denial, to answer your question,” Bishop said.

“And maybe that’s what we’re finding here. People unwilling to face facts, but they still survived by coming up with gods and rituals and magic. Because that’s what they’ve always done to cast fear aside. And if there’s one thing we know about the end of the world, it’s a lonely place. People are not good alone or in small groups; they tend to screw things up. That group had twenty there today and we’re still not sure where or if there are more of them.”

“I’m sure there are more. And that’s just it,” Bishop stated. “We’d have to fight savages for the land again.”

Jax nodded. “Yes. Whoever wins gets the prize. We can’t stay underground forever. It’s always a fight for the land, Bishop. That part never changes. That’s how man survives over and over again until he stops.”

24

Jax’s words echoed in his mind even as the sun rose properly, sending creamy golden beams cascading through the trees. He’d miss this view once he was back in Colorado. Though Bishop was both relieved at finding Ben and nearly as angry over his stubbornness the next morning, he rubbed his temples at the crack of dawn. This was not a good way to start the day heading back to Colorado. The boy’s not wrong… but if there was one thing he hated, it was lying in his bunk and letting his mind race over his worries. Groaning like an older man than the day before, Bishop sat up, climbed out of his bedroll, and put on his boots and jacket. He nodded at Jax on his watch but kept right on walking into the woods as he rubbed off the morning frost. He needed to think, and he didn’t want to do it lying down.

He’d taken this walk every morning in a previous life. He followed the sound of a stream before he made coffee and breathed in the fresh morning air. Then he’d blow out the mental list he’d made the day before. His job then was a daily existence and over the course of a calendar year, a hermit could keep himself quite busy setting traps, preserving meat and foraging. He’d always check on Maeve and her son, never expecting that someday she’d be his, but he was sworn to protect her, and he’d never faltered. He wasn’t faltering now. They had two young children together since, and he had to consider their needs now as well. They’d made life normal underground in Colorado. As normal as possible compared to before the fall, under the circumstances. Granted, they didn’t have tanning beds, but they were never hungry, and they were never so cold that they risked death. He’d made sure of that over the years. Not under his charge. But maybe…maybe Jax was right. They’d survived but now things were changing again. And he needed to consider his next move. And as Bishop reached the stream from his past, he realized the rushing water was now more of a gushing river.

Meanwhile, Ben was loading the last of his supplies into the saddle bags. “I just think we should give it a chance. That’s all I’m asking. Start with a settlement here.”

Jax put a hand on the center of Ben’s back. “Give it time, Ben. You’ve succeeded in what you set out to do. You visited.” Jax glanced at Paisley. “I’m not sure about the rest of your plans but you got that part out of the way.”

“I’m excited to see the Colorado Colony. I didn’t know it existed,” Paisley said.

Freya added, “I’d heard rumors over the years but never trusted them. I always thought it was someone’s fantasy. Living underground. You say there’s a school and a grocery store down there?”

Ben was tying a knot on his saddle. “Yeah, and a greenhouse and a pub. There’s plenty of room still, but there’s also flooding.”

Freya shot a concerned look at Jax. “What he means is, because of the ice melt, there is flooding but we monitor the situation and act accordingly.”

“You live down there too?” Freya asked.

Jax pointed to himself. “Me? Oh, heck no. I live in the heated stables on the surface with the horses, and I escort people from one colony to the next when the weather’s good. I can’t handle it more than three days at a time down there. You’ll do okay if you’re not claustrophobic.”

“So it’s like a whole town down there?”

“More like a small city,” Bishop said, and everyone turned around at the sound of his voice.

“Oh, you’re back,” Ben muttered in a tone that told Bishop he wasn’t too excited. Then Ben turned his back on him to continue readying his horse.

Bishop cleared his throat and said, “Well, I don’t know what you’re doing, but if we’re planning to settle this town, then we better get rid of your new friends. Your mom’s not into human sacrifice.”

Ben turned with a snap. “Are you serious? We’re staying?”

Bishop looked at his son and couldn’t believe he was now staring at a grown man. He cleared his throat, and all eyes were on him. “I’m staying. But you are going back.”

“What?” Ben asked.

“Well, someone has to tell your mother that we’re moving home, and it’s not going to be me. Here’s the plan…”

25

Early the next morning, with Paisley ready to go on the spare horse, Ben argued, “I still don’t see why I have to return and recruit the others. Why can’t it be Jax?”

Bishop nodded, expecting some resistance to his plan. “Because you need to tell your mother what is happening here, and I need you to recruit the others. You’re the leader of the younger generation, Ben. This must come from you. I need you to gather as many men as possible to help rebuild this town. Besides, Paisley wants to see what the underground world is like. It’ll be a good trip for the two of you. Just don’t talk to strangers this time.”

“Funny,” Ben said.

“I seem to be getting funnier as I age. At this rate, Sean will think I’m hilarious when he’s a teen. That’s not a good thing.” He grabbed Ben’s knee. “Seriously though, son. Take care of yourself and Paisley and get her back to her mother safely. That’s your job now.”

Freya smiled. “They will take care of each other.”

Bishop nodded and as Ben and Paisley left, he let his eyes linger on the back of the man he’d helped raise and finally understood then why his own mother cried when he shipped off years ago to attend basic training.

Clearing his throat, he turned to see Freya wiping tears from her face and Jax holding her other hand. Then he met Jax’s eyes, then avoided eye contact altogether.

“We have a lot to do,” Bishop said and went to the bunker, but as he passed by them, Jax said, “It’ll only be a couple months.”

Freya nodded. “So hard to let them go. First, I had to make her leave me to save her life and now she’s leaving me to have a life. She’s a grown woman. I don’t know why I’m flustered.”

“Because you’re her mother,” Jax whispered. “And now we can make this place something for them to build on.”

“It’s going to take a lot of work,” Bishop said, interrupting what he thought might become an awkward intimate moment, at least for him. “And the first thing we need to do is scout the area. Find out where those maneaters’ camp is and Jax…did you get your hands on the explosives?”

“Yes…and I still have all my fingers.” Jax smiled.

They prepared while waiting for nightfall. And when the three of them crept up to where they last saw the new residents, the bodies were gone.

“Well, that’s interesting,” Freya said.

“They fixed the grate, too.” Jax pointed.

“That would lead me to believe they don’t know we’re still here,” Bishop said.

“Movement in the hotel window on the right corner. Second floor,” Freya warned.

Again, the woman surprised him. Bishop said, “Good eye.” And for now, he was glad she tagged along.

“There’s more of them,” Jax stated. “Here’s my binoculars. Check the left center of the fourth floor.”

“One on the balcony, too,” Freya added.

Through the eyepiece, Bishop watched them milling about like the inside of an anthill. “Looks like they keep the women inside. They’re all wearing something like a prairie bonnet.”

Freya blew a hard breath that almost made Bishop laugh if the situation were not so sad. Why was it when things fell apart that men shoved women back into the dark? Was it really out of protection or the need to dominate when no one was looking? Whatever the reason, Bishop knew that to shove a woman into darkness only meant you’d better watch your back. For she might lack strength, but she’d make up for it in vengeance. And besides, Bishop always wanted that cunning mind as a partner in life, never at the tip of a knife. Because you’d never see it coming.

“Bishop,” Jax said, handing him the binoculars, “tell me that guy doesn’t look familiar.”

Putting the scope to his eyes, he asked, “Where?”

“That guy. The one who just walked outside.”

Bishop’s jaw dropped as soon as he spotted him. “That guy’s dead.”

“What do you mean?” Freya asked.

Bishop handed her the binoculars between them and looked at Jax. “I killed him. I watched Roman fall to his death. That can’t be him.”

“Well, it looks an awful lot like he’s alive to me,” Jax stated.

“That would explain a lot,” Bishop said. “Why these people are following a new religion.”

Freya observed, “He’s wearing a longer fur robe, too. Doesn’t look like it’s used much. How old was your friend, though? Because I don’t think this guy is over twenty-five or thirty…max.”

Bishop shrugged his shoulders. “He was our age. Wouldn’t you say?”

Jax nodded. “At least. But I didn’t actually see you kill him.”

“Trust me…he fell from the top floor after I shot him. His body lay out there in a snow berm for a day. He was dead. I know it. I made him that way.”

“Did he have a son? Or perhaps a younger brother?” Freya asked.

“I don’t know,” Bishop said in a frustrated whisper.

“I’m just trying to help you make sense of the dead man walking out there. Maybe you did a crap job of it, because that guy’s breathing.”

Jax took the binoculars back. “All right, you two. Keep your voices down.”

Bishop took the binoculars again and double-checked. Yep, she was right. He was breathing, and he had tobacco, or he was smoking some of the remaining local fauna, because great big clouds of smoke huffed out of his mouth. He was tall and lean, with the dark hair of his father. His spitting image. It had to be Roman’s son. Bishop shook his head. “Son-of-a…”

“It wasn’t her fault,” Jax said, cutting him off. “And look…did that guy just bow to him?” Jax said. “Watch, here comes another one.”

Bishop wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it for himself. Another man walked out to meet this guy and seemed to have shrunk by the time he reached him in the courtyard, and then he tipped his head to the ground before the man in front of him tapped his shoulder.

“Wish I could hear what he was saying,” Jax muttered.

“I don’t wanna know,” Bishop snarled and rubbed his knuckles into the concrete wall. “Dammit. I’m going to have to kill him again.”

Jax said, “Well, it’s not him. But he is in charge. They worship him. Look.”

“Or get eaten for dinner,” Freya added.

“Still, our advantage is they don’t know we’re here. I’m glad I had the kids go east. They might have set traps on the other routes,” Bishop commented.

“There’s about twenty-five or thirty of them, from what I can see through the windows,” Freya said and then added, “Ohh…it looks like they’re shoving someone down that hall. They have a prisoner. They’re bringing him to your undead friend. Do you know him?”

Bishop grabbed the binoculars from her. “No. I don’t know that guy. He…oh, hell. Shoving him to his knees. We can’t intervene. There’s too many of them.”

But it was too late anyway, because when they heard two shots, they knew there was no need for a rescue.

“That was an execution,” Jax said. “Not a sacrifice.”

“Maybe he’s not a true believer or maybe he’s sending a message for all to see. Behave or else. At least we know who we’re dealing with now,” Bishop answered, taking note of the gun the man carried before he holstered it. Two other men hurried out and dragged the body away while the leader took another drag from whatever he was smoking and strolled back to the building at a lazy pace.

“All right. Let’s split up and surveille them and plant the explosives like we planned and meet back at camp after dark,” Bishop instructed. “And hey…don’t get caught and don’t blow up.”

“I’m not planning to,” Freya replied. “But you do what works for you.”

And later, standing at the campfire by his cabin, Bishop was a little worried when the others didn’t show up at first, but then as the firelight flickered, he finally spotted them coming in from the night. Both sets of eyes reflected the flames and after Jax dropped a freshly killed rabbit the size of a small Labrador to the ground, they set to work on a plan to get rid of them all.

And the next morning, when they were set to rise at dawn and begin their mission with a midday surprise explosion that would scatter the lot, they were instead surprised themselves by an early wakeup call in the form of a scream from Freya.

Bishop leapt up right into the burly embrace of a much larger man than himself they’d seen the day before milling about in the old hotel. And if it wasn’t for Jax, Bishop later thought, he might have ended up on the BBQ grill himself because whatever they’d fed that guy, he clearly hadn’t suffered from starvation over the past decade.

But because Jax always performed his watch shift from above in the trees, Bishop saw him come up behind the larger man and stab him in the neck, and he dropped to the ground in a heap, spilling blood everywhere.

“What took you so long?” Freya asked.

“Jax, you’re supposed to warn us before they attack…that’s what watch is,” Bishop said.

“You ungrateful…” Jax began and then pointed behind them. “I was busy…there’s three more of them back there. I thought you could handle these two little guys.”

“Are you sure that’s all?” Freya queried.

“Yes,” Jax answered. “I’m sure.”

Bishop put his hands on his hips, shaking his head. “We can’t do this.”

Jax said, “What do you mean? We’ve already laid the dynamite, and that stuff has an expiration. We’re down to about twenty or so residents, give or take a few after tonight.”

“I mean we can’t just kill them all. What we need to do is take out the leader and then give them a choice, like we did last time. Remember? It was harder but it worked for a while. Or it’ll never end. They’ll do this…sneak in and pick us off when we least expect it. And we’re bringing our young back here. We can’t take that chance. We have to clean house and show them a better way to live.”

“And now they know where we are,” Freya commented. “Their king, or whatever he is, is going to expect a report from them when they get back that they made us dead.”

“We have to get there first and end him,” Jax said.

Bishop nodded and stepped over the big man spreading blood all over his cabin floor. “Take what you can carry. We might not come back for a while.”

They were off then, flying on horseback back to the town he’d liberated once from a tyrant and would have to do again. He only hoped it wasn’t a mistake. And when they finally reached their hideout, he realized the lake itself was melting in wider circles than the day before. Coeur d’Alene was worth the fight. He couldn’t just let them have it. Not this way. Not living in fear of a tyrant.

When they got there, Jax said, “Are you sure about this?”

Bishop said, “I am.”

Then Jax tipped his head and ran on to his position, and Bishop watched Freya gain ground to her spot, and then she backed up into tree cover and disappeared like she wasn’t even there. Bishop glanced at the clouds. It might end up raining again; that would somehow be fitting for what he was about to do. Kill a man who helped others to survive but lorded over them too. That was never going to work long term; there was always a bigger, badder villain to take your place. And for some reason this same scenario played out over and over again throughout the history of man. It was only those societies that chose a governance by the people that worked long term. And this was the first step in creating that republic again. Like Jax said about the land, it was always going to be a fight.

But before they could begin, there was a loud explosion right in the center of the courtyard. Bishop lurched his head out to see Jax’s expression as surprised as his own. The idea was to shoot the explosives on cue and create the distraction. But that was not what happened.

Dynamite is a funny thing. And if you were to ask an expert in the field, they’d tell you their two rules: 1) It explodes easily. 2) Don’t be there when it does. They would also tell you not to bother storing it because it’s high maintenance. Nitroglycerin is a liquid and guess what happens when it lies on its side for a month or more? It accumulates and becomes concentrated on one side. And when Jax hid his stash of sticks in an underground cave eleven years ago, it was certain there was no one going down there and rolling the candles over every once in a while. The other wild thing about dynamite that most people don’t realize is that while heat is an accelerant and will make the sticks go boom if they sweat, getting them cold is even more volatile because at only 55 degrees nitroglycerin freezes and forms crystals and when they melt…they go boom, too. And though Jax stored and retrieved them with the utmost care and stashed them where they’d cause a disruption, one crystal just melted and the whole stick went kablooey and because that one went off, the others began to explode as well, in a chain reaction.

That’s when everything sped up before he was ready. Some twenty people spilled from the building, all carrying guns and firing at anything that moved. Bishop aimed through the scope for his mark. Not him. Not him. Where are you, my old friend? But he knew he wasn’t going to be that lucky.

Then more than they anticipated sprang from another building across the street.

They’d miscalculated. There were more like forty of them.

He knew as soon as he fired, there would be a battle that he’d likely not win. Not with the three of them. But his intention wasn’t to die in this battle. And his intention wasn’t to get caught either, but that was plan C if needed. Because if he knew anything about Roman, it was that he led battles from a desk, and he’d expect the same from his son or whoever was wearing the robe and had no problem sending others to fight wars for him. And since he wasn’t going to come out of the building, Bishop was going in.

When the rest of the explosions ended, some of them dropped their guns and looked from one to another as if there was a joke to be had. The smart ones kept their scopes to their eyes. One guy in particular, wearing an old black baseball cap, seemed to be the security detail. Bishop thought he looked vaguely familiar.

“Is this some kind of prank? What was that? Are Gary and his crew back?”

“He’s not back,” another man yelled.

“Ga-ry!” the black cap man yelled.

No one answered. But that was okay, because Bishop was making his way to the side entrance of the hotel when one of the guys nearer Jax’s position suddenly dropped to the ground.

Nighty-night, thought Bishop.

And then more of them began to drop.

“What the hell…Stan!” black cap man said.

And it would have been funny except that Bishop remembered being put to sleep by one of Jax’s poison darts, and the hangovers were murder the next day. But they weren’t dead…so there was that.

And while the others were advancing farther away from the building and within range of Jax and Freya’s sleep darts, where they were slumping to the ground in sudden silence or running to see if they were all right, Bishop slipped into the building’s side entrance and found the lobby absolutely trashed and abandoned. He kept his rifle low as he peered around corners and stepped through trash and debris but the funny thing was, it looked staged. Ben said that he and Paisley had stayed the night there and were caught in one of the rooms by a group. Perhaps this was all a setup to catch newcomers? Because the people they’d observed in the windows were mostly on the upper floors and only seen when they were leaving through the lobby doorway the day before.

But Bishop had the advantage of knowing the building inside-out, and he took the back stairwell up to the second floor and suddenly, the next door he opened revealed what was nothing less than a palace, with a red embroidered rug lining the hallway, gilded framed art hanging on the walls, and candlelit sconces. It was an extreme contrast to the lobby floor, and it was ingenious to make the lobby a trap if one were a sociopath. But not great for those unwitting travelers like Ben and Paisley. But Bishop wasn’t that naive, and he certainly wasn’t happy about the man trying to make a meal of his son, or whatever his plans were.

And when Bishop began walking down the hallway, even his boots sank into the plush carpeting. They’d really done a lot to the place since he was a resident. Then he heard more commotion coming from outside and when Bishop peered through a window, he saw a few of the others being led by black cap guy back to the building. They’d figured out their friends were not taking naps of their own free will.

Time to hurry. Where are you, you little bastard? And then the idea came to him. Of course, he would take up his father’s office on the top floor. I mean, why wouldn’t he? So as black cap guy retreated to the safety of the building with the remaining awake guys, Bishop retreated to the stairwell and climbed higher, backing, and retreating when he heard voices nearby or advancing. The whole time he listened to their confused and frightened chatter.

“What was that?”

“Are they dead?”

“I don’t know.”

“I didn’t hear any gunshots. There’s no blood.”

“Is this some kind of sign?”

“Where’s Caesar?”

Bishop nearly choked on a cough when he heard the name of their leader, who just happened to be the son of Roman, or something nearly.

“Where do you think?”

“He was right,” one of them whispered. “It’s the end times.”

Black cap guy’s voice said, “Just calm yourself, Billy. The end times already happened. No, someone’s got the jump on us. And I’d bet since Gary and his group haven’t returned, those kids and their friends didn’t leave like we thought.”

“Don’t let him hear you talk like that. You saw what he did to Jefferson yesterday. Now I have to take care of his wife and kid along with my own. And no one can deal with him like you can, Marcus.”

“That’s not my name, Billy. Just more of his nonsense, and look what he’s gotten us into now.”

Despite the intel, Bishop was sweating because he was stuck behind a door waiting for them to move.

“Are they moving? What can you see?” Marcus asked.

“Jimmy’s checking. Look, he’s inching up to Bob. He kicked him. He’s not moving and oh…Jimmy’s down too. Could it be some kind of gas set off by the explosions?”

“Nope, not like anything I’ve ever seen. You stay here. I’m going to check on our leader,” Marcus stated.

Bishop blew out a sigh of relief because time was ticking and he rather liked Marcus and Jimmy and didn’t want to leave them dead in the hallway if he could help it. As it was, once Marcus left, Jimmy stood at the open window watching as Freya and Jax kept on shooting silent darts at anyone within range, too small to see from farther away. Then they dropped like a rock to the ground and Jimmy was in awe. Too awed to notice Bishop come up behind him and ram his rifle butt into the side of his head. It would hurt later but not as much as the dart venom the next day.

Then Bishop was off running up the next stairwell after Marcus in hopes that he could knock the man down without a fight. But halfway up the next flight, Bishop stopped and huffed. I’m getting too old for this. His heart hammered inside his chest. Then he was off again and once he reached the top floor, he peeked in through a sliver of an opening and caught a glimpse of the man called Marcus, whether he liked the name or not.

“Sir?” Marcus yelled. “Where are you?”

Still, at the same time, Bishop couldn’t help but like what they’d done to the place. Completely remodeled into some kind of palace. He tapped his foot against what looked like red velvet carpeting. Though it showed wear in spots, he wondered where they found so much of the stuff. It gave new meaning to the term royal treatment. But he perked up when he heard a similar voice to that of the man who nearly killed him eleven years ago.

“What’s going on out there, Marcus? Why haven’t you taken care of this?”

“We’re trying to, sir. I just came to make sure you were out of harm’s way. Please stay here where it’s safe.”

“I expect this to be taken care of immediately or I’ll make your wife pay for your mistakes, Marcus. And your little Jenny—she’s turning into a beauty.”

There was a pause and a tinge of hate in his words. “Yes, sir,” Marcus replied, and that was all Bishop needed.

Because it wasn’t until you really knew a guy that you also knew his motivations and his fears, and Bishop had just learned Marcus’.

But when the door flew open, Bishop wasn’t ready and Marcus suddenly stood there face to face with the next man who would try to take his life.

Only, when a man is ready to fly down a set of stairs, does he generally not expect another man standing in his way. So before Marcus could raise his weapon, Bishop said, “Let me have him,” and then took advantage of his momentum and helped him down, hard. And as Marcus fell, Bishop alleviated him of the strap holding his weapon, and then Bishop swung himself up and over the threshold, slamming and locking the door behind him just as Marcus’ face registered his mistake.

“Don’t move,” Bishop said, aiming at Caesar, and then walked to the main entrance of the office that he’d nearly died in years ago and locked it too. He could already hear Marcus clambering down the rest of the stairs, trying to get to the next floor. And Bishop knew he only had a little time.

“What do you want?” Caesar demanded.

“Stop talking.”

“You’ll be dead in a matter of minutes, my dear friend. So you might as well begin by telling me your name,” Caesar commented and put out his cigarette against his desk.

Bishop found it odd that the desk was in the same position as Roman’s once was. And in place of the glass that they both nearly fell from, they’d put in a balcony lined with royal red curtains. It must have been meant for a royal view of the subjects below. He wondered if the kid knew his father fell to his death from that window.

“You don’t need to know my name. All you need to know is that I killed your father, and now you along with him.”

At the first mention of Roman, Caesar’s widened but then he smiled and laid a lazy hand on his chest. “My father? You must mean my mother’s sperm donor. And you killed him? You’re a legend then.”

Bishop took a step toward him, and Caesar pulled a knife from his robe and then he stopped and said, “What’s going on here? Why not just shoot me? You have the advantage.”

“Fine,” Bishop replied and sent a shot through the man’s knife hand, sending the blade to the floor.

And while Caesar screamed and held onto his wounded hand, Bishop stepped forward and grabbed him. “I don’t know how you came to power. You’re even a disgrace to your father’s bad name. And I liked him.”

“Why not just kill me now?”

“Oh, I intend to, but we’re going for a little walk first.”

And Caesar must have thought that would buy him time and he’d perhaps get to plead to Marcus and the rest of his soldiers, but that was not what happened.

As Bishop opened the main office door, holding Caesar at gunpoint, he led him out into the great hall lined with more red velvet carpets and sconces along the walls. The opulence in such a trying time was criminal. By the time they came to the outer staircase, they had not run into anyone yet and slowly, very slowly, Bishop continued to prod Caesar down the stairs.

At first, Caesar continued with a slight confident smile, as if he was humoring Bishop, but the farther they went and no one showed themselves, the man began sniffling. And he both shoved and retracted him at the same time by the scruff of the neck. “Buck up. Your father was a braver man. You’re embarrassing him.”

And then when they reached the lobby, Marcus stood there with another man’s rifle in front of his chest.

That’s when Caesar began to grovel. “Marcus! Kill him! Kill him!”

Bishop stopped and Caesar dropped to the ground.

It was a perfect shot. His chest was wide open. Marcus could have dropped him at any moment, but he stood there in the same position, guarding the lobby doors.

Bishop reached down and kept his eyes on Marcus and grabbed a handful of Caesar’s robes and when he did, Caesar loosed his arms out of the sleeves.

“Please, Marcus…. I’ll, I’ll let your wife go. Whatever you want. Whatever you want.”

Bishop tossed the animal skin to the side and grabbed a handful of the back of Caesar’s hair instead. All the while, Marcus didn’t budge. Interesting.

As Bishop pulled Caesar up to standing, he continued his begging.

“Open the door,” Bishop said. He was about to add, “or I’ll kill him,” but before he had the chance to say that, Marcus stepped aside and shoved the doors open wide.

And what he saw on the other side nearly made him weak in the knees. Both sides of the exit were lined with armed soldiers, all dressed in various furs, all wearing the same leather wrist bracelets that Bishop hoped were not human.

Caesar began to cry when Bishop pushed him forward to walk the gauntlet. But Marcus still stood at the entrance and when Bishop got far enough, Marcus stopped him.

“What kind of king are you?”

“I’m no king,” Bishop spat out. “And this is no fairy tale.”

Then Marcus nodded and stepped out of his way.

Bishop was a little nervous walking the gauntlet lined with residents of the town with Caesar in front of him and Marcus walking behind him, but at the end of the row stood Freya and Jax, and they were smiling.

When they were out in the open, he realized there was a larger crowd than he had ever imagined. There were at least a hundred people gathered, and everyone turned and watched Bishop. He thought perhaps he had to give some sort of speech before killing the guy and he began by yelling, “I recognize some of you and by your nods you recognize me too. Understand this…I don’t know what’s happened here, but this is no kingdom. We don’t rule people with torture and fear. This is no way to begin humanity again. And if you want to live under this fantasy, this is your warning to leave…now. Because this is Coeur d’Alene, and my name is Bishop, and we’re coming home.” That’s when he intended to shoot Caesar dead, but he didn’t get the chance because Marcus pulled a handgun and shot him first. Not once, but five times.

Bishop watched the man for further violence, but he holstered his weapon and Bishop gave him a nod. Then Bishop turned back to the crowd and continued, “Now start that fire and then get in there and rip out every shred of royalty and burn it up.”

People scattered and then Marcus held out a hand to Bishop and said, “My wife and children are in the basement dungeon, along with several others. I’m not asking you to free them; I’m just letting you know what I’m doing now. You can try to stop me.”

Bishop held his hand in his and whispered in his ear, “I’ll help you myself.”

Marcus stared Bishop in the eye then and said it like an awful excuse. “Watching your family starve is a cruel weapon.”

Bishop swallowed and nodded. “We’ll take of that, together.”

Then another man came up and looked from Bishop to Marcus and said, “What do we do about them?”

Bishop looked out at the melting landscape to see several bodies lying haphazardly throughout the courtyard.

Loved ones appeared to be checking vitals and trying to revive them by patting their cheeks and lifting limbs and dropping them by their own weight, to no avail.

Bishop widened his eyes at Jax, shook his head, and smiled.

26

First there was darkness and then the gray, a gray the shade of gravel, but then on less rare days now, there was the most shining blue. The sky seemed to sparkle like an ocean on a warm summer day. Ben had always wondered what was going on up there above the clouds during the worst of it and even if it wasn’t true, he hoped this sky was the one that waited for them the whole time, like a gift from heaven.

“I don’t think I’ll ever tire of this,” Paisley said, holding out her hands to the sky. Dark strands of her hair floated in the slight breeze, the red highlights reflecting like gold.

“Neither will I,” Ben said, and he wasn’t talking about the splendid weather.

Paisley smiled and changed the subject. “We’ll be there soon. Are you excited to see your mother?”

“I am, but also my siblings. I miss them. Never thought I’d say that.”

Paisley giggled at first but then her mouth became a straight line.

“I’m sorry about your brother. I’ve got a little one. You can have him,” Ben said, joking but also knowing he was making light of a loss.

“I’m okay,” Paisley said. “It was a long time ago. I know our mother will never forgive our father over the whole thing. It was his weekend. But I was sick, and he took Cody with him and left me with Mom.” She swallowed. “He always liked him better anyway.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“It was a long time ago, and they both went together.”

They rode in silence through Deer Trail for a while. Ben let her take her time looking at everything new. Then he slowed his pace.

“How much farther?” Paisley said.

“What do you mean?” Ben said, planning this all along.

“I mean you said it wasn’t much farther, Ben. We’ve been riding since daybreak, and I need to stop for a while.”

“I did say that. Why don’t we take a walk?” he said and slid off Holly and took the reins from Paisley as well and tied the horses up on a nearby tree branch.

“Is it like, an hour more, would you say?” Paisley said.

Ben blew out a breath. “I bet you were like this as a kid in the back seat of your mom’s car on long drives.”

“How’d you guess? I just like to know what the schedule is.”

Ben shrugged and started walking and when she caught up to him, he was nearly at the door, only Paisley didn’t know it yet.

“Okay, I know you’re annoyed with me, but I ask a lot of questions. Just an estimate? Wait up.”

And by the time she’d jogged to his position, he was around a boulder and reached for the handle, knowing that Cassie had already unlocked the latch to let him in.

“Oh my gosh,” Paisley said.

“We’re here!” Ben held open the door for her, but she was soon pushed aside as Cassie plowed into Ben’s arms.

“Where have you been?” Cassie said after she was done squeezing the life out of him. But she didn’t give him a chance to answer. “Oh my gosh…your mom! She’s gonna freak. Have you seen Bishop? Did he find you? Are they all right?”

“Yes…to everything,” Ben laughed.

“And who is this?” Cassie asked.

“Cassie, this is Paisley,” Ben replied.

Cassie carefully shook Paisley’s hand with a smile and then eyed Ben briefly. “Well…I bet you wanna see your momma.” She opened the office door a crack and yelled inside, “Garrett…watch the front.”

“Hi Ben,” Garrett yelled back without answering his wife.

Which didn’t seem to matter because Cassie let the door swing shut and then she started sprinting down the hallway. “Hurry Ben, before someone tells her. Let’s surprise her.”

Ben ran to catch up to the small woman, who ran surprisingly fast throughout the tunnels, and then he turned and waved Paisley to follow.

Paisley said, “The horses?”

“They’re fine. Come on,” Ben replied, and while they ran down the halls and into the street and farther down to the greenhouse levels, Ben thought the experience was going to put Paisley into shock, so he kept looking back at her and when she slowed to look at it all, he grabbed her hand and pulled her along. “I’ll give you a proper tour later.” Then he noted her eyes were as wide as her smile.

“It’s like some kind of dream.”

And when they burst through the airlock doors of the greenhouse, he spotted his mother right away, but she had earphones on, and her red curls were bobbing to some kind of music as she dragged a hose around, spraying water on several pots of green leafy plants.

“It’s warm in here,” Paisley commented. “What is all this?”

But Paisley’s questions went unanswered when Alyssa’s eyes widened at the sight of Ben, but he put a finger to his mouth and shushed her. Alyssa smiled and pointed to Maeve at the back of the large room.

Ben nodded and began walking toward his mother while she had her back turned to him, bobbing her head with a hose in her hand.

And when he tapped her on the shoulder, she turned and screamed, and then she tackled him. The hose and her earphones went flying to the ground.

And then she held him…and she cried.

He whispered into the side of her head as she sobbed and said, “Mom, it’s amazing. It’s all still there. It’s okay. Don’t cry. I’m fine.”

She pulled away and slapped him sharply across the jaw and said bitterly, “Your father’s out there looking for you!”

“I know.” He absorbed the hit with a smile, knowing he had one coming. “And he’s expecting you.”

As they made their way back to the apartment, Ben said, “Mom, this is Paisley.”

Maeve nodded first, shot her eyes back up to her son with a question for a second, and then shook Paisley’s hand. “Hi, dear. You can call me Maeve.”

And though Ben wanted to listen to their conversation, he had no chance because Sean bolted into his stomach, followed by his little sister Jax. And then over their heads he watched Louna walk in with Ames right behind her, but Louna crossed her arms over her chest and stepped aside. He and his sister never quarreled but she gave him a death stare that said go and die. Ben averted his eyes as Ames approached him with wide open arms and a big smile.

“You did it, man!” Ames said, smiling. He clapped Ben on the back and whispered, “Louna’s really pissed. You’re in big trouble. Better you than me, bro.”

Ben swallowed and looked at his sister leaning against the wall by the front door again. Now she wasn’t even looking in his direction and was acting as if she was bored and wanted to leave.

“Guys…this is Paisley,” Ben said and introduced each one of them, ending with, “And this is Louna.” He walked toward his sister, but she began crying and bolted out the door.

“Let me go,” Ames said.

“No. Let me…Mom, stay with Paisley?” Ben asked.

“Yes, of course,” Maeve said.

And Ben ran after Louna. But when he’d gone several blocks, there was no sign of her, and he slowly wandered back to their apartment and met Ames by the door.

“Didn’t find her?”

Ben shook his head.

“I think I know where she is. I’ll be right back,” Ames said.

Ben nodded. “Hey, we have a lot to talk about…”

“Yeah, who’s the girl? Julie’s going to be surprised too when she finds out, bro. She’s been waiting for you.”

“Whew…yeah. I know I have a lot of work to do there. But listen…we need to talk tonight. So no matter what, come find me.”

Ames nodded and ran off as Ben returned to the apartment and when he walked inside, Paisley widened her eyes with a smile, as if she was hoping for a rescue as Maeve talked on.

“Ben, how is Jax? Paisley said they were preparing for some kind of battle when you left?”

Paisley said, “Well, I said they were clearing the town of hostiles when we left.”

“Dad knows how to handle things, Mom. Don’t worry…and Jax is great. They have Paisley’s mom helping them. Her name is Freya.”

“That’s what Paisley said.”

“But Mom,” Ben continued, holding his mother’s arm, “I know it’s a lot to take in but listen, Bishop wants you to come. He wants us to gather as many families from here as want to go back to Coeur d’Alene, because he’s staying and he’s clearing the land.”

Maeve began pulling her arm away. “What are you saying?” She glanced at little Jax and Sean. “Is it safe?”

Ben raised his eyebrows, remembering how he’d burned his hand. “Well, it’s not without risks, but it’s getting warmer each day and it’s melting, Mom. It’s melting.”

“I know…we’ve had a lot of flooding and an entire tunnel went under in the California Colony, killing seven. We’re drawing up plans to divert the runoff to fuel the generators here, though.”

“That’s never going to work long term. When I say it’s melting…I mean it’s melting. This place will be underwater in a year or two, tops. We have to surface. And we’re going home.”

Maeve swallowed. “That’s a lot to take in, son.”

“It’s what you’ve always wanted, Mom,” Sean said. “You wanted to live up top. You’ve said that as long as I can remember.”

“I know.” She touched the back of Sean’s head. “I’m just surprised it’s happening now. And your dad…he’s okay with all of this?”

Ben said, “Yeah, Mom. He sent me back to get you and anyone else who wants to come back to Coeur d’Alene.”

Maeve teared up again and looked around at her children.

Ben knew she remembered the struggle to get there, just as well as he did. It wasn’t going to be easy.

But she said, “Then I guess we’re going home!”

That Friday, the common room filled with people. Ben counted to a hundred and then another and when his mother took the stage, Ben knew she was nervous because what she was about to say would change everything in their lives. They’d become a family during a crisis and now she was about to tear that apart for the next chapter of their lives. And any time there was change, there was also discord. Ben just hoped it wasn’t going to get violent. But that wouldn’t change anything. No matter what, he was going back with his mother and siblings, but then he searched the crowd for Louna and didn’t see her among the residents. But he did catch a look from Julie, and she glared at him for a second. Though he’d meant to talk to her himself, she’d heard the rumor of the wild girl who returned with him before he could get the chance. And then when he went to her door to explain things properly, she wouldn’t see him. And that was life and there wasn’t anything else to say after that.

Then his mother began to speak over the microphone, and Ben squeezed Paisley’s hand.

“I know you’ve all heard that Ben’s returned from Coeur d’Alene,” Maeve said. “Some of you are aware that Jax and Bishop went looking for him and not only found him, but they also discovered that the land north is melting as much as the other colonies, and we’ve decided as a family to return to Coeur d’Alene.”

Then someone shouted, “What about the colony?”

His mother raised her hands and lowered them in little taps to keep the murmuring down.

“I’m getting to that. I’ve also spoken with the Arizona and California Colonies this week, and they too are making plans to surface. Many of them are returning to their last locations as well. Some of the families are choosing to form a new community next to the underground base in case there’s another freeze wave. Most are willing to chance it on the surface now. My point is…things are changing, and we have to make decisions for the next generation now. We know that flooding is occurring with increasing frequency, and we cannot control its path…not for long anyway. Arizona has had over thirty deaths from sudden floods and collapses in parts of their colony. We can’t just wait for that to start happening to us as things warm; we have to act. And that’s what we’re doing now. I’m proposing a move to Coeur d’Alene; for any families who would like to join our expedition, you are welcome. But listen, you only have two weeks to decide.”

“We’re staying in Deer Trail,” someone shouted.

Maeve nodded. “Yes, that’s another option. That way you would have this resource to draw from. I’ve even heard a few are headed to Denver or Texas.”

“We’re going to miss you!” someone shouted.

Maeve smiled as her eyes filled with tears. “Oh yes. We’re going to miss all of you too. Look what we’ve done.” She spread her arms, smiled, and shook her head. “It was impossible. But we survived…together. We struggled and thrived even, and it was all because we came together, and we didn’t quit.” She took a deep breath. “But it’s not over. We now have to do it again, but this time on the surface, because our children will need to learn to live in that environment next. Ben’s had some great tales about what’s beneath the water’s surface and the strange animals he’s encountered. I’m not sure I believe them all, but the ice age has changed a lot of things up there in the past eleven years, and we need to relearn what it’s like to survive in this world so that our children will live again on the surface. Please sign your intent to join us so that we can plan the expedition. There are meetings and sign-up forms posted on the commons bulletin board.

“Wait, what about the Yeagers? Are they leaving us, too?”

Maeve was stepping off the stage at that point but shook her head and added, “I cannot speak for anyone else but my own family at this time. It’s an individual decision and one we all have to take the time to think about.”

“But what about…”

But Maeve walked through the crowd and Ben watched as many of the residents shook her hand as she passed, or outright hugged her. By the time she reached him and Paisley, she seemed emotionally worn out.

“You did great, Mom!” Ben said and gave her another hug.

“Well, I feel like I need a martini and your father.”

“Dad would be really proud of you.” Ben smiled.

She took a deep breath. “This is going to cause some conflict, of course. People don’t like change but it’s clear now that it has to happen.”

“Yeah, speaking of conflict, have you spoken with Louna? She still won’t talk to me,” Ben asked.

Maeve put her hand on Ben’s shoulder. “She’s struggling with change as well. She was planning on going to California to teach but of course, with the great exodus out of the ground, those plans are now on hold. I don’t know what she’s going to do.”

“Wait…you don’t mean she’s not planning to come home with us?”

Maeve shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“She has to come with us.”

“Have you talked with Ames?” Maeve said. “I think you should, because I don’t know if he and Alyssa have plans yet either. She’s from San Diego.”

Ben’s mind went reeling and then he turned to Paisley. “Can you go back to the apartment with Mom? I need to track Ames down and get to the bottom of this.”

Paisley nodded and Ben shot off through the dispersing crowd, searching for his best friend. He’d never considered the idea that Louna wouldn’t join them, and Ames…his best friend? It was unthinkable. They had to come with them to Coeur d’Alene.

When he spotted Louna’s long white hair leave the commons, he ran after her and when he was close enough to touch her, he grabbed her arm.

She turned around and as soon as she spotted him, her eyebrows bunched together and she began crying. “Why did you have to go and change everything? I hate you!”

He let her arm go as if it were a hot coal and she ran off into the hallway. He knew she was angry at him for leaving, but now she was blaming him for the recovery of the ice age? A guy couldn’t win.

“You’re a real jerk, Ben.”

Ben turned around and saw that Julie was leaning against the wall behind him with her arms crossed. “You’re a traitor and your sister hates you.”

He took in a deep breath. “Julie, I’m sorry about the way this happened. It really wasn’t my plan.” He opened his hands. “I have strong feelings for Paisley. It just happened. You’ll find someone if that’s what you want.”

She shook her head at him. “I wanted you, Ben. And now everything is changing. My parents are taking us to Arizona because of this, and you started it. Don’t you see? It could have been us going to Coeur d’Alene, and now I have to go with them.”

“I’m not sure how to…”

“You know what…it’s all right because I can’t stand you, your stupid sister, or your family.”

“Oka…y.”

She stormed off and as she was leaving, Ben released a long, slow breath. “I guess that’s over.”

Back at the apartment, his mother and Paisley were preparing for dinner and then he heard a knock at the door and found Ames on the other side, but he wasn’t smiling.

“What’s going on?” Ben asked.

“We need to talk. If you weren’t my best friend, I’d punch you, man.”

Ben shook his head. “Not you too! What did I do?”

“Louna is mad and says she wants to stay here in Deer Trail. My mom hasn’t made a decision, and I’m not sure what to do.”

“What does this have to do with punching me?”

“I know you didn’t mean to start this, but that’s what it looks like to everyone else. We have to surface. I get that, but it’s rough.”

“You’ve known about this for a few days, but everyone else just learned about our plans. I need you, Ames. I need you to take Louna and your mom with us to Coeur d’Alene.”

“Louna’s not going to go, Ben.” Ames shook his head quickly from side to side. “She’s adamant.”

“I’ll take care of Louna. She’s going.”

Ames closed his eyes and waved his hands in front of his face. “Don’t tell me what you’re going to do. I don’t…I can’t know. I know nothing. She’s mad at me too, and I can’t handle it.”

“Ames, you have to ask yourself what do you want. Not what your mom wants, what Louna wants…what do you want?”

“I…want my mom and Louna to be happy. That’s what I want,” Ames said. “I don’t care where that is. I just want them both happy, safe, and secure.”

Ben nodded. “Okay…well, Louna needs her family. She might be angry at us now, but she needs us and we’re going to Coeur d’Alene, and your mom is my mom’s best friend. She has to come with us. Why don’t you do them both a favor and tell them that’s what you want? That would at least help expedite the situation because we only have two weeks. That’s it, and I need to know that you’re coming with me. I need you there.”

Ames’ eyes began to pool, though he didn’t say a word.

“Are you going to cry?”

“No. I can smell your mom making my favorite meatloaf and she hasn’t invited me in for dinner yet. It makes me sad.”

Ben laughed and patted his friend on the back. “Mom, set another place for Ames.”

Two weeks later, Ben sat in the office with the Yeagers, Alyssa, Ames, and Maeve. Cassie said, “We have fifteen families as of this morning. We lost the Ulrichs but we gained the Johnsons, so our numbers are the same. Ames, you said that Louna is coming for sure, right? Because we could use another good shot on the team.”

Ames nodded, “Yes, she’s coming but she’s not happy about it.”

“Okay,” Cassie said. “As long as she’s aiming at the enemy…we’re good.” She crossed something off her list. “Okay. We have some ammo, but we had to split everything with the other groups. It was all fair and square and it leaves us all a little too short, but we have other methods.” She touched Garrett’s leg with a smile.

“I think we’re ready,” Maeve said. “We leave tomorrow morning. I can’t wait to get there even though it will take us a month.”

“And to think it all started here in this room,” Alyssa said. “And we were with the first group. It’s all so surreal. If only Walt…”

Maeve hugged her friend. “We’re your family.”

Alyssa nodded and then they all left for their underground homes for the last night there. And the next morning, it was a tribute when they opened the hatch door for the last time and surfaced to see a sunrise over the mountain ridge in the distance.

27

Bishop stood with his hands on his hips in what the people called the courtyard and stared at the old hotel, watching birds glide on drafts above.

“What do we do with it all?” Jax said.

“Take it all apart. Repurpose the grid and spread the ash on the ground. That’s the only good use of this whole experiment. We have to prepare this land for warmer temperatures. We might even get a short growing season in if things keep up like this. It got to fifty degrees yesterday and it’s likely to continue this way in ebbs. We won’t be growing pumpkins, but we might get a few cold weather crops in, like radishes, lettuce, and cabbage, to store in the cellars of each home, and maybe a wheat crop if things dry up more.”

“Leave the crop planning to me,” Jax said. “It’s too bad Marcus took his family and left. He would have been useful here.”

“Yeah, sometimes memories are not worth the reminders. I’m happy for them. I’m sure they’ll do great in California. I sent him with a letter to the community.”

“Well, his leaving has created more hostility with those who remained behind. Jim pulled a gun on me yesterday. He’s walking a little funny today but with a better appreciation of what an old man can do when he’s threatened.”

“Is he a problem?”

“Not after his attitude adjustment. He’s not an issue but he is a barometer. These people are used to being ruled, not being forced to work together for the common good. It’s going to take a while. We’re identifying those with useful skills and we’re putting them to work in those areas.”

Bishop nodded. “Good. I’m taking Jim and a few others out hunting tomorrow.”

Jax nodded. “Make sure you come back.”

Bishop laughed. “You spent a few days at your old camp. Did you find anything more?”

Jax shook his head. “I didn’t find anything old, but I did find a lot of new things. The tree is down. It’s all overgrown, of course. And it was warmer yesterday afternoon when the sun was out, and all these little animals came out of the brush. And Bishop…I don’t even know what they were.”

Bishop shook his head. “Like mammals or reptiles?”

“Yeah, like rodents. This area has always had a huge gray squirrel population, and they were quite big back then. Now these things are more like the size of a skunk or badger and they’re meaner, and I got to thinking about this. Squirrels eat nuts. And there hasn’t been a lot of nut action here in the last decade. Trees went dormant. They’re just now starting to bud out. What the hell have squirrels been eating all this time?”

“Meat?” Bishop said.

“Yeah…I think that’s a likely conclusion. They’ve adapted just like humans. And I’m sure it started with eating their own.”

Bishop gave a shudder. “Great, now we have to worry about attacking squirrels.”

Jax was about to walk on when Bishop said, “Hey, do me a favor and don’t tell that to Maeve when she gets here.”

Later that night, Bishop stood in front of a crowd of thirty residents and said, “Good work today, people. Jax is drawing up plans for a community garden and he’s locating seeds for cool weather crops. We’re hoping that together we can get things ready as we’re monitoring the soil temperature. And we’re moving raised beds to the roof of this building to get unfiltered light.”

He watched as smiles lit up in the room.

“If we keep working together like this, we can change things for the better here. I’m committed to helping that process but it’s up to each of you to pitch in, make suggestions and work as a team. And in that light, I think we should reopen the community center. It can be a public meeting place and a barter and trade center. Jim, you know almost everyone here and what they’re good at. Why don’t you consider helping organize that? Come up with a schedule, like every Thursday we barter and trade meat and produce, Tuesdays we do household goods? Something like that.”

Jim nodded and Bishop knew he’d taken care of one potential hot spot there.

“That’s what I mean. It’s going to take working together to come up with solutions. To say you are hardy people is an understatement. You somehow survived the worst event on Earth since the dinosaurs and you did it on the surface when many of us went underground. So I know you have it in you to make this a great place to live in harmony again. We all lose our way at times but it’s our true friends who bring us back to ourselves once again. We’re all friends here. We’ve survived; now it’s time to live again.

“We’ve also had some security issues. As you’re aware, we had a group dodge into town two nights ago and invade Mr. Fletcher’s home, killing his two chickens and taking his dog. Now, we’re not sure what they wanted with his dog, but this is something that we can’t let happen. We have a security detail that I’ve trained to keep watch on a schedule and we need a few more sign-ups. This usually works great from my experience to have the younger generation, say, fifteen to twenty, train this way. It keeps them out of trouble, and it teaches them the early basic skills needed to protect their families. Of course, any age will do but we need to fill the roster around the clock in shifts.”

Two men raised their hands in the crowd, and one young boy about Sean’s age. Bishop smiled as the mother pushed his arm down and pulled him back to her skirt.

“There will be time for that,” Bishop said to the lad. “But right now, I need you to help your mom.”

The boy nodded.

And later that night when he slept in his new bedroll in the old lobby of the hotel, all he could think about was his own family, the bigs and the littles, and especially Maeve. They were coming, he reminded himself once again.

28

“Sean, get back here. Where’s Jackie?” Louna asked.

“She’s with Mom,” Ben replied. “Calm down.”

“You calm down. Don’t tell me to calm down. Did you see the frog Sean brought to me? That thing had wings, Ben.”

“Yeah, a lot of things have changed. You missed my speech about staying away from any body of water.”

“That’s because you put me to sleep, Ben. So help me, I will give Jax’s tincture to you too, someday when you least expect it. It’s kidnapping. That’s what you did.”

He put his hands up. “We weren’t going to leave you behind. Ames is happy you’re here. I am. Mom is. Sean and Jackie are. Your future mother-in-law is also happy you’re here, and Dad is going to be happy when he sees you too.”

She crossed her arms and shook her head. “It’s still kidnapping.”

“You weren’t staying behind in Deer Trail. I just made the decision to take that weight off you and listen, I promise, when we get there if you choose to go back, Jax will escort you.”

She mumbled something under her breath but didn’t look at him.

“What was that?”

“I’m not going back to Deer Trail.”

“You’re staying with your family.”

“Yes, I’m staying with my family.” She rolled her eyes.

He held his arms out and smiled. “I’ve missed you.”

She hugged her brother. “I’m still mad at you but I love you, and I like Paisley. Much better choice.”

“I love you, too. I know,” Ben answered.

“Look what I found!” Sean exclaimed and when they turned to their little brother, he held something gray between his hands that had scales.

“Wait, Sean. What is that? You can’t just pick things up off the ground.”

“But it’s a bird.”

Louna protested, “That can’t be a bird…its feathers look like iridescent scales.”

“He’s nice,” Sean stated. “He won’t hurt me.”

Louna reached out a finger and stroked the bird’s head. “It looks like a seagull cross. Where did you find him?”

“He was walking on the ground,” Sean said.

“Is he injured? Did he try to fly off?” Ben asked.

“He’s not the flying kind. Remember those videos of the birds in Antarctica…penguins?”

“That’s right,” Louna confirmed. “They’ve evolved into land animals. They swim but they don’t fly.”

“Well, when I picked this guy up, he was standing up like that,” Sean said. And he put the bird down on the ground and instead of leaning out, the bird stood perfectly upright.

Ben exchanged a look with Louna. “There’s a lot of ah…changes going on. A lot of new things to learn and discover,” Louna commented.

Then Sean said, “You should see the roly-poly I found.” And he fished something out of his pocket but before he could pull it out, Louna had already backed up.

Ben watched as a million little legs squirmed and a dark gray oblong shell emerged. Sean held the bug within his palm and the thing stretched from his wrist to his middle fingertip.

Ben looked in awe. “I don’t remember them being this big.”

“That’s because they weren’t that big,” Louna said. “Sean, put that down and go wash your hands with Mom’s special soap right now.”

Ben laughed as his little brother ran off.

“Seriously, we don’t know what kind of germs or viruses those things are carrying. If they’ve developed like this, you can be sure that the rest of this world has evolved…which means bacteria and viruses as well. We have to be more careful. It’s not like we have antibiotics anymore.”

“See? I never thought of that, and neither has anyone else. We need you, Louna.”

“I know. I’m just not happy about it. Ben, my mother died there. My family died there. This is hard for me.”

“I think I understand, but like we always said…we’re our family now and I’m not about to lose you. I’ll be there for you if you need me.” He hugged her tighter.

But then Ames called, “Hey, Ben. There’s someone up ahead. Three people, actually.”

“Alert!” Ben yelled out the order though after a few weeks of traveling, they’d not come across anyone hostile. And more often, they’d see travelers in the distance wave as they passed by. It was something about the warming weather. More and more people were coming out of their caves, out of the ground, out of hiding, and returning to places most familiar to them. Which made Ben realize that they were no longer desperate for survival. Hunting was prevalent now that animals also came out of their dens and into the light.

Ben quick-stepped to his horse and once in the saddle, he watched as his mother waved back to the small group passing by. She sat tall in her saddle and smiled.

“I guess they’re just passing through like we are,” Maeve said. Her spine relaxed a little and Jackie complained, “You’re taking all the room, Mom.”

Maeve smiled. “I can’t wait to see your father!”

“About that,” Ben said as they all began to move again. “We’re way ahead of schedule due to the warmer temperatures. I think we’ll make it in the next few days if this keeps up.”

Jackie exclaimed, “That’s a whole week less than you said!”

“That’s right,” Ben said. “But…it could start snowing any day and slow us down, so don’t get your hopes up.”

Maeve patted her daughter’s leg. “You’ll see your daddy soon.”

But the weather did hold out and a few days later at dawn, the families rode horseback into town.

And it was a Thursday, because the residents of the town were preparing the commons for a day of bartering. People were setting up stalls and bringing in the game they’d caught or the loaves of bread they’d made for weekly exchange, and they all stopped when they saw fifteen families riding horseback and pulling makeshift wagons, with Maeve and Ben leading them all.

Maeve’s smile was as bright as the morning day sun as she said “Good morning” to anyone who stopped to look at them. “Your man at the gate said Bishop is around here?”

The merchant smiled and replied, “Yes…he’s…oh, look. Here he comes.”

And down the road to the old hotel, she saw him running their way.

“Daddy!” Jackie screamed and Maeve quickly got out of the saddle, taking Jackie with her. She sat their daughter down on the ground next to Ben and then went running up to Bishop’s open embrace. “I cannot be without you this long ever again,” she cried.

Bishop held her tightly. “You won’t have to. We’re home now.”

Then Jackie and Sean ran up to them, followed by Louna and Ben. A family that began in Coeur d’Alene was there again.

“What’s all this?” Jax said and welcomed them all.

“A lot’s changed since Paisley and I left,” Ben commented, looking around. “I mean wow. The people seem more normal, for starters.”

Bishop smiled and stood back from the crowd of families joining them. “A little normal goes a long way when you give people free will and a basic set of human rules to live by,” he said. “We have an underground shelter started in case we need to get out of the weather again. There’s a surprising amount of young school-age children here so we’ve started a schoolhouse. Louna, I’m hoping you’ll spearhead that. I’m really busy with other things. The lobby of the old hotel is becoming our city hall. We’re working on setting up a new government just like we did in Deer Trail. The upper floors are housing families and there’s room for all of you, but many are moving out to live in the neighboring houses. They’re all being inspected and set up for occupancy. A lot of the ladies are even going around and providing linens and furs. It’s going to be a lot of work, but you’re used to that. Alyssa, Ames, and everyone new to Coeur d’Alene, thank you for joining us. And for those of you returning, welcome home!”

29

“Let that sink in for a minute,” Paisley said as she lay next to Ben, her fingers woven through his and held up to the morning light. “We’ve lived here for a month already.”

Ben was smashing half his face in his pillow with one eye trained on her but mumbled, “Is that a complaint?”

“No, no…I just can’t believe it’s all over. You know? Here we are living in our own house, in our own bed, together.” She turned to face him with the sweetest grin that made Ben’s heart swell. He loved her…just like Bishop and Jax said he would. Without a doubt. He knew Paisley was his everything.

He rolled over onto her and brushed wisps of hair out of her face. “Well, it’s not all over but it is a good start.” He kissed her then, and an hour later Ben ran for the militia post and when he opened the door, Ames said, “You’re late.” But he smiled at his friend, knowing why newlyweds ran late.

“Two minutes,” Ben shook his head, “but yeah. Sorry about that. What’s the status?”

“Everything was going fine until about ten minutes ago. That’s why I’m still here. Pete said there’s a group of people approaching the Post Fall gate. I’m waiting to hear back from him.”

“Anything on camera?”

Ames shook his head. “Same black and white image I’ve been staring at for the past hour.”

Ben looked over Ames’ shoulder. He only saw the stationary overpass with barricades still up. “Could it be a hunting party, or were they travelers?”

“He didn’t say. He just reported and then said he’d get back to me.”

“What about the other points of entry? Any news south?”

Ames shook his head and yawned. “No. Nothing. We haven’t had any problems since that last drunk guy who roamed through town looking for his mother. Poor sod.”

Ben checked the other cameras along the wall when he heard Ames’ feet fall off the desk to the floor with a thud. “Wait a minute.”

“What?” Ben asked.

“Call your dad, Ben. Call him now.”

Ben sidestepped over with the mic in his hand and stared at Ames’ screen.

“Bishop, please. Hey Dad…I think you need to get down here quick.”

“Why?” Bishop asked.

“Because we’ve got at least a hundred people at the Post Falls gate.”

“Right now? We haven’t seen more than twenty grouped together. Are they friendlies?”

Ben shook his head. “Well, they don’t look nice. I don’t see families, Dad. I see men carrying guns, and one of them has something that looks like a rocket launcher slung over his shoulder.”

“Copy. On my way.”

Then Ben twirled a finger in the air and Ames sent out silent alerts to the community. They’d prepared for this, but they’d never put it into action.

“I hope people don’t think this is a drill,” Ames commented.

“We’ve prepared them. Let’s hope they took the training seriously. Any word from Pete? Because it looks like they’re advancing the guard post.”

“No. Nothing other than the initial warning. But it was more routine than anything. They caught him off guard, Ben.”

Ben shook his head. “Damn…he was just a kid.”

Ames said, “He was just a year younger than us, Ben.”

“Let’s not talk about him in the past tense. Maybe they just tied him up.”

Ames finished zipping his bulletproof vest and looked again at the screen behind Ben. “I doubt it. Look at those guys.”

“Where’s Louna?” Ben asked.

Ames checked the load in his shotgun. “She’s at the schoolhouse by now. The kids are just arriving.”

Ben nodded even though his heart began racing. “They’re on lockdown then.”

Ames watched the screen. “Yeah. That doesn’t make me feel any better at the moment.”

“We might need her, is my point. There’s so many of them. Mom will take over the kids. We’re going to need every sharp shot we’ve got if this goes bad.

Bishop walked in the station door and said, “Where are we?”

“Looks like most of them stopped just outside of town and they’re sending these guys,” Ben replied, pointing to the screen.

Bishop scanned the screens and began shouting orders over his mic. Then, to Ben and Ames, he said, “It’s a good thing we got surveillance installed. Ben, you’re with me. Ames, stay put. You know what to do.”

As Bishop and Ben walked to the town entrance, Bishop said, “Yeager’s in play?”

Ben didn’t take his eyes off the approaching men through the gate. “Yes, sir.”

“Jax?”

“Uh-huh,” Ben said.

“Good job, son.”

“Howdy,” one man from the group said through the gate slats. He was tall and wore lighter furs than the rest of them.

“Good morning to you,” Bishop said. “What can we do for you?”

The man Bishop was talking to was around Jax’s age with a long red beard and beady eyes, but Ben had his eyes on the younger men surrounding him because not only did they have their weapons drawn but they were acting antsy as well. And if there was one thing Bishop taught him, it was to pay attention to the man’s weapon but don’t lose sight of the man. He’s your enemy, not the weapon.

“What can you do for me?” red beard said. “My name’s Dan Cleaver. And by the look on your face, I don’t think you remember me. But I remember you. And you’re on my land.”

Right then, without warning, one of the men Ben had been watching aimed at Bishop. Ben jumped in front of his dad just as the gun went off, but not before Ben fired his own.

Bishop lowered his son to the ground and began firing at will but that didn’t matter at the time because Garrett and Cassie Yeager were already picking them off one by one.

“Ben!” Bishop said and tore at his son’s chest. With the thick Velcro straps peeled away, Ben was trying to catch his breath. “Just breathe…just breathe.”

“I’m all right, Dad,” Ben assured his father.

Bishop stood and grabbed his mic. “What’s going on in Post Falls?”

“They’re on the run,” Ames answered, then added. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah. He’s going to be sore. Always wear your vest,” Bishop said.

“You don’t have yours on. He knew that,” Ames replied.

“Yes, he did. Keep me informed of the group. I’m getting Ben to the infirmary,” Bishop said.

“Yes, sir,” Ames responded.

30

If it had been up to Ben, they would have killed the lot of them for trying to kill his father, but Bishop was probably right. They needed more information about the people who tried to storm the gates and nearly killed him a week ago.

Dan Cleaver had said at the time that he used to live in that area and that he knew him from before, but Bishop swore he didn’t remember him.

Maeve, who had lived in the area longer, said she’d never heard of him either. They were interviewing the residents of Coeur d’Alene to try and piece together a history from before but so much was lost, frozen, or dead.

But none of that mattered now since Dan Cleaver was buried with his buddies on the outskirts of town. They’d left the bodies for the others to collect but none of them bothered. So they buried them themselves.

“How’s your chest? That was a pretty wicked punch,” Ames commented.

Ben was looking out over the gate’s entry point and down the highway, then through his binoculars. “It’s fine. Don’t really feel a thing now. How’s Rachel handling things since we found Pete dead?”

Ames took the binoculars from Ben and sighed. “Louna checks on her daily. It sucks. Could have been one of us. Was almost your dad, had you not thrown your body in the way.”

Ben shook his head, ignoring the implied heroic label. “They have a baby on the way. That sucks. That’s not going to happen to us. We’re not letting that happen to anyone again.”

“I see two people coming this way,” Ames alerted.

“It’s Jax and Freya. We’re expecting them. There’s intel on the Cleaver Clan incoming. They might be gearing up for another attack.”

Ames commented as he watched the couple through the binoculars, “You know…your dad and Jax…they’re getting up there.”

Ben sighed. “Yeah. But they’ve trained us well and I can only hope that we can take Bishop’s place together.”

“Who replaces Jax, though?” Ames mused as he stared at the couple headed their way, noting Jax’s gray beard that seemed longer and Freya’s dark hair blowing in the wind.

Ben laughed. “Paisley is the closest match, as weird as that sounds.”

“And what about the Yeagers?” Ames continued to watch the two people dressed in furs walk their way down the center of the highway as he shook his head and murmured something Ben didn’t make out.

“What’s the matter?” Ben asked.

Ames still looked through the binoculars but stood and got a little closer. “Something’s off with these two.”

“What do you mean? They’re still pretty far away,” Ben said.

“Yeah. And they’re walking down the center of the street…that’s never how Jax arrives…anywhere. He never announces his presence. He shows up…like a ghost. And where’s his stick?”

Ben took the binoculars from his friend and looked at the couple. “That’s not Jax and Freya.”

ALSO BY A. R. SHAW

Graham’s Resolution

The China Pandemic

The Cascade Preppers

The Last Infidels

The Malefic Nation

The Bitter Earth

The Wild West

The Long Goodbye

Surrender the Sun

Bishop’s Honor

Sanctuary

Point of No Return

Savaged Earth

Dawn of Deception

Unbound

Undone

Unbeaten

Remember the Ruin

Rebel Blaze

Wayward State

Grand Gesture

Watch the Wreckage

The Drone Keeper

House of Light

See the Light

Saw the Light

Standalones

The French Wardrobe

Pretend You’re Here

Motel at the End of the World

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

For the new release updates GOTO: https://arshawbooks.substack.com/

USA Today bestselling author, A. R. Shaw, served in the United States Air Force Reserves as a Communications Radio Operator. She began publishing in the fall of 2013 with her debut novel, The China Pandemic.

With over 20 titles to her name, she continues the journey from her home in the Pacific Northwest alongside her loyal tabby cats, Henry and Hazel, and a house full of books.