Behind Our Walls Read online

  As he was doing this, Rowen dropped his pack to the floor and reached in for his pistol before running to the back window. He pulled it open to take aim and one of the men on the ATV pointed and raised their gun up.

  Sophie heard more gunfire, this time from above, and looked up to see Lot, reeling back slightly from the force of his shots. She turned back to the ATV's in time to see one of the driver's heads snap back and go limp. The vehicle swerved to the side and rolled, throwing both passengers violently to the ground.

  Rowen ducked as several shots hit the back of the RV, then raised back up again to return fire. He hit the other driver in the shoulder, causing the ATV to slow and turn slightly. She heard Lot fire from above and saw an explosion of blood and matter from the back of the driver's head before his bike turned sharply and flipped, rolling and crashing to a halt.

  Sophie detected no movement from the rovers as the wreckage grew smaller in the window.

  "All right, stop!" Lot called ahead to the driver, who reached down to honk and flash their lights at the other vehicle before slowing to a stop. Lot jumped out of the RV and everyone stood up gradually, to follow. Sophie bent down to kiss Corrine's forehead and saw that she was awake. She smiled at Sophie and nodded.

  "I'll be all right. Go ahead."

  Sophie walked out to survey the damage. Lot paced slowly around the RV, taking it in for himself. He did several laps around the vehicle before making his pronouncement.

  "I think it's okay. Just body damage."

  "So what now?" Clive asked.

  Lot looked back at the wrecked ATV's. "Well, they aren't going to be a problem. But I'm sure there are going to be more of those assholes back there, and before long they're going to come looking to see what happened. We can't have more of these guys on our tail like this. I hate wasting the gas and I don't think we can get very far, but I think we need to use what we have."

  There seemed to be general agreement as they turned back, eager to put some distance between themselves and the carnage they had left. But before anyone could move, they all heard the sound coming from up the road, the direction where they had just been headed. It was the sound of several large vehicles coming from around the bend. They were just about to make the turn and come into sight. Sophie noticed how dry her mouth had suddenly become and saw her fear reflected in the faces of the others around her.

  There was no time to get away.

  -22-

  Sophie expected to see a small squad of tanks coming around the bend, psychotic idiots hanging off of it and waving their guns around at anyone they could get the chance to shoot at. What she saw instead took her breath away.

  Two school busses.

  Lot and Rowen seemed equally taken aback as the vehicles rumbled to a stop about a hundred feet away. The two of them raised their guns as the doors opened and a woman who looked to be in her early fifties stepped out.

  "Whoa there," she yelled, hands raised as she slowly approached. "Take it easy fellas, you've got no trouble from us."

  "Who the hell are you?" Lot asked.

  "The name's Meredith. I'd shake your hand but I'm guessing you wouldn't want me to get close enough for that."

  She stopped, about thirty feet from them, but Lot kept his rifle trained on her. Sophie looked past Meredith, at the busses and saw the people looking out at them, pressed up against the windows. It was hard to see them clearly through the dirt and grime, but what she could see made her heart ache. It looked like desperation, brought to life. She had a hard time imagining any kind of a threat coming from a group like this, but obviously they had to be careful. Lot didn't look like he was about to give in.

  "Where are you coming from? We just got ambushed back there, so it seems like a pretty big coincidence that you would just show up like this."

  "Yeah it is, but I don't know anything about what happened. I don't really expect your trust, but I'm just trying to keep all these people safe."

  Lot kept the hard expression on his face, but he lowered the rifle. Rowen did the same and relaxed his stance somewhat. Meredith took it as an invitation to come a little closer.

  "Are your people all right" she asked. "Anyone hurt? We've got a few ER docs in our group."

  Lot shook his head. "We're fine. Mostly it was the RV that got it." He nodded back at the vehicle, and Meredith looked over their shoulders, taking in the bullet holes and nodded.

  "That's good. You got lucky."

  "Yeah."

  "So can I ask what your names are?" Meredith asked.

  Lot paused before answering, still not looking ready to be hospitable. "I'm Lot. This is Rowen, Sophie and Clive."

  Rowen reached out and Meredith came forward to shake his hand. "Look," she said, "we're all strangers here, but I'm willing to bet that my people are just as shit-scared of you all as you are of us. Truth is, we're gettin' pretty close to the end of our rope and I don't think we have that many choices left. So I'm just going to take a leap here. You seem like people who look out for each other, and not the other kind, so we'll take the first step and see if maybe everyone can feel better about things."

  She turned to the busses and waved them out. Slowly, her people came down, lining up for them all to see. Sophie marveled at how many of them there were. She had thought Lot's group was large, but there were at least twice as many people here. And they really did look to be on their last legs. Most seemed to sway, as if a stiff breeze could have knocked them down. It didn't look like they had been eating very well. In truth, they looked like they would have a hard time working up the energy to walk, let alone fight.

  Sophie immediately saw the look of stricken pity on Lot's face at the sight of so many people. After a few moments, he shook his head.

  "I'm sorry," he said. "I don't mean to treat you so badly. We just have to be careful."

  Meredith nodded. "Understood. So where were you all headed?"

  Lot shrugged. "We were just trying to get a little more distance, in case those idiots from back there have friends around."

  "Would you have any objections to us tagging along?"

  Lot considered this for a few moments before a tiny smile formed on his lips. "Sure. Why don't you get those busses turned around, and we can head out of here."

  -23-

  They drove for an hour and turned off onto a side road, down the gravel for a few miles before pulling off. Everyone unloaded and started introducing each other, getting acquainted in a group that had just gone from large to massive. Before too long, it sounded like a high school cafeteria. The din of combined conversations filled Sophie's head, and she reveled in the brief moment of normalcy. She looked back and saw that Corrine was being helped over to her.

  Meredith, Lot and Rowen came together again to resume their conversation. Sophie happened to be standing nearby and shifted slightly closer, so as to listen in. Lot noticed her moving towards them and showed no sign of caring.

  "So how's your gas doing?" Meredith asked.

  "Pretty low. We just lost a few people scouting around for more."

  She nodded, and Sophie could hear the regret in her voice. "Sorry to hear that. We've been pretty lucky ourselves, but it's definitely getting harder to keep these busses moving."

  "I know," Lot said. "The problem is that we've never really found anywhere we can stay put for longer than a few days. We're going to run out of fuel eventually, I just wish I had a better idea of what we should do before that happens. There has to be somewhere we can go, but I've got no idea where."

  "Well, there might be a place." Meredith had a slight twinkle to her eye as she said it, as if sharing an inside joke. "One of my people had the idea a few weeks ago and at first, I thought she was crazy. But the worse things get, I'm pretty much ready to try anything. And if it means we can find somewhere permanent and knock off this bouncing around shit, I'm all for it. The only reason I haven't suggested it is that our people here are so wasted. I just don't think they'd be up to it, but with your group to help, it mi
ght actually work."

  "What exactly are you talking about?" Lot asked.

  "A place we could go where we would all be safe and hidden away from everything."

  "Sounds great," Rowen said. "Hard to believe something like that actually exists though. Rovers and scavengers are all over the place, and that's always going to be a threat. As much as people are picking things over for themselves, it's hard to imagine that there's much left for the rest of us."

  "I know. I didn't think it was worth trying either." Meredith pulled a map out of her pocket and unfolded it, nodding at the two of them to lean in close so she could point out where they were. With Lot and Rowen's backs turned to her, Sophie could no longer hear what was being said, but she could see their reaction clearly enough.

  "Really?" Lot asked. "You really think that would work?"

  "I've got an engineer in my group," Meredith said as she nodded towards the mass of intermingling people. "Daniel is his name. He thinks we'd be able to seal the place off without too much trouble, so long as we had a few weeks without anyone bothering us."

  "And what are the odds of that?" Lot asked.

  "It's a long shot, I won't deny that, but if it pans out this could potentially be pretty great for us."

  "Us?" Rowen asked.

  Meredith looked up at him and smiled. "You know Rowen, after all this time hacking our way through some of the worst shit I could have imagined, I'm pretty tired of losing people. I'm tired of constantly busting our asses to make it work in a particular place and then all of a sudden, we got to move somewhere else. So what do you say about all of us trying to work it out together? The more strong backs we have, the more likely this whole plan is going to work."

  Lot and Rowen looked at each other but both seemed to be trying to hide a feeling of excited interest underneath their blank faces. "All right," Lot said, "How far do we have to go?"

  "About thirty more miles."

  Lot nodded and turned to the group. "All right everybody. There are likely still some rovers wandering around here so I don't want to hang around for too long. Meredith has an idea for somewhere we might be able to go and stick around, long term. We should be able to get there in less than an hour so let's get moving. It's going to be dark soon, and we probably can't waste the extra gas using the headlights."

  It took just over five minutes for everyone to load up. Sophie was pretty sure that some of Meredith's people ended up in the RV's and some of their people were on the busses. Nobody seemed to care, and despite what had just happened hours before, the mood seemed to be getting lighter. It was hard to not feel a momentum, leading them towards the possibility of anything better than this life that they had all inherited.

  -24-

  Sophie and Rowen sat together as they made their way down the road. It had been slightly longer than Meredith estimated but so far all of the vehicles were holding out.

  Rowen explained the plan to her and the place they were going. The whole notion sounded ludicrous to her.

  "I still don't understand how it would work," she said. "It'd be like climbing up to the top of a giant hill and screaming, don't look up here, nothing to see. How could we possibly control a building like that?"

  Rowen shrugged. "I don't know the specifics. She has an engineer in her group who convinced her that it would be possible. We'd need to have a few things go our way, that's for sure. But she seems convinced that this could be the answer we've been looking for."

  "If it all works out," Sophie snorted as she said it.

  "I'm just as skeptical as you are. I'm just trying to keep an open mind. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? We show up, decide that it isn't going to work out and we end up right where we are now. And you know, there's nobody forcing us to stay. If it really makes you that uncomfortable, we can always head out on our own." He shifted his gaze back to the window and the passing countryside when a thought seemed to suddenly come to him. "If you'll have me, that is."

  Sophie grinned, despite herself. She didn't know what this was yet with Rowen, but for now she was glad to have someone that she could trust and depend on.

  "Admit it," Rowen said, "Aren't you tired of sleeping on the floors of gas station bathrooms with the door wedged shut? Hiding out in basements and sheds, trying to stay quiet and always wondering who might be wandering around outside? Wouldn't you like to have a place again to call your own that might actually have a door that you could close and even lock?"

  "Of course I want those things," she said, "I just don't want to hope for them. There's been too much disappointment and I don't want to be let down again."

  She looked up towards the front and saw Fiona. She kept reminding herself to look past that gruff exterior, the hostile expressions and down to the person underneath. Every time though, she couldn't seem to find her way in. She wanted to reach out and make Fiona feel like she was a part of something. To Sophie, she looked like someone who was on their way to serving a jail sentence.

  As the thought formed in her mind, Fiona turned and made eye contact with her. Sophie shifted in her seat, uncomfortable but unable to look away. She looked into Fiona's eyes and in that moment saw absolutely nothing. No sign at all of the depth of soul seen in every other person she had met in this group. All she saw there was resigned judgment and spite. The one who had been killed, Ty, had it really been rovers that did it? Was there more to her story? Sophie tried to remind herself that if Fiona had been involved somehow in Ty's death, she likely wouldn't have made the mistake of coming back here. Unless there was another reason, someone else in the group she felt responsible for.

  Or maybe she just didn't have anywhere else to go.

  Fiona's scowl somehow seemed to deepen and she put her head back against the seat, closing her eyes as if trying to sleep. Sophie shook her head. She hadn't been around these people long enough to judge anyone, or try and speculate unfairly about the dynamic. Maybe she would take it up with Lot at some point, try and get some more insight into Fiona, other than what Nairi had to say.

  "I think we're almost there," Rowen said as he sat up in his seat.

  The caravan began to slow, and Sophie sat up to try and get a better look. Before she could see clearly, the vehicles turned into a parking ramp and began winding their way up towards the top.

  "Meredith figures that we'll be less likely to be spotted if we take the vehicles all the way up," Lot said, walking back down the center aisle. "We'll also be able to spot any trouble coming if we have a lookout up there."

  The RV drove up the ramp, circling towards the top level and it might have been her imagination, but she thought that she could sense the vehicle struggling, as if gasping to make it up the incline. She felt a brief thrill of panic that they were going to run out of gas right there on the ramp and end up rolling backwards into a horrible crash. They made it to the top though, and each vehicle pulled up to the concrete ledge that overlooked the highway below.

  Sophie stepped out and joined the group already looking out with peaked interest. By the fading light of the setting sun, she could make out their destination. Across the street, she saw the chain link fence surrounding the construction site. Behind the fencing were massive stone walls. And enclosed within, a parking lot. Standing tall in the very center of it all was the darkened, unmistakable shape of a football stadium.

  -25-

  Sophie, Rowen, Meredith and Lot looked out over the parking lot below, at the foreboding structure that could offer either their salvation or demise. They had been so excited to get here, but now that the moment was at hand, uncertainty held them in its grip.

  "So what now?" Sophie asked. She and Rowen had already taken to inserting themselves into these conversations and none of the others seemed to be objecting to their presence.

  "For sure, we can't just send everyone over there without checking it out first," Rowen said as he looked around the perimeter of the building. "There could be anyone in there."

  Meredith shook her head as
she responded. "I think it's perfect for us though. Look at how it's built. It's even better than the article made it sound. The walls are all stone, you'd need something major to break through those things. Plus, there's no way to see into the stadium itself. There could be thousands of people in there and we'd never be able to tell."

  "Unless someone just wandered in and figured out for themselves," Lot said.

  Meredith shrugged, "Yeah, well that is a problem. But Daniel seems to think that if we can get a little bit of time and luck, we can close off those entrances and no one would ever be the wiser."

  "You don't think someone would find it strange to see a stadium with the entryways all blocked up?" Lot asked.

  "They never finished the place," Meredith answered. "It's clearly still a construction site and I think most people would see it that way. It's worth the risk."

  Sophie looked out over the property and it was hard to not feel the same way. It seemed absurd with so much open space around them. But it was more secluded than it seemed. A stone wall surrounded the entire parking lot, towering at over ten feet tall. So unless someone climbed up on top of it the only way to even see the stadium was to peek in through the gates. Meredith was right about one thing, there could be a game going on inside with fifty thousand fans and the only way anyone could tell would be from the noise.

  "I agree with Meredith," Sophie said. Rowen turned to look at her and she could tell from his expression that he did, as well. After another minute, Lot nodded.

  "So how should we handle it?" Rowen asked.

  Meredith offered the plan, once again. "Ask for volunteers. Five teams of two people each ought to do it. We search it from top to bottom, and make sure there's no one in there. Once we clear the place, it should be dark enough that we can bring the caravan over without being seen. Look over there, by the south side of the building." She pointed to draw their attention. "That's a pretty big sized ramp going down underneath the stadium. I bet there's a garage down there and if it's big enough, we could park all of our vehicles down there and keep them out of sight."