Jason Morrow - Anywhere but Here

“How many people?” I ask.

“Just over fifty.”

“Are you their leader?”

“We don’t really have a leader.”

“Do they look to you for leadership?”

A pause. “Yes.”

The door opens and the man that hit me in the head comes in with my coat and shoes. He places them on the table in front me and then leaves the room without a word.

“Are we going somewhere?”

Stephen nods. “We’re taking a walk.”

“I want my guns,” I say.

“You mean the ones without any bullets?”

“There was one left.”

He lets out a laugh and stands. “And why do you think I’m going to let you have that?”

I don’t say anything as I pull on my shoes and coat. He leads me out of the room and into a hallway with brown wood paneling, cracked and water-damaged. The place looks to be an old office building. I glance into one of the rooms and see a bunch of old computers in their cubicles. I shake my head as I think about the people that might have worked here long ago — how everything used to be about work. It was a fight for survival, just not in the same way we face it today.

We reach the end of the hallway and walk out a door that leads into a wide open parking lot. It’s not raining as I expected, but the clouds are dark and heavy. To my left are barriers of trucks, tires and wooden pallets that make up the perimeter wall. To my right I see a group of children playing some version of tag. I can’t help but smile, not because of the children, but because my unique ability had given me the upper hand once again.

Stephen leads me through an alley, past another building until we come to another parking lot. This one has a protective wall at the other end and people are spread all about, talking with each other, laughing. Some are playing games, others have made fires and they sit hunched over a warm cup of coffee.

“These are my people,” Stephen says. A few of them look up at me and when they notice that I’m a newcomer, they stop what they are doing and stare.

I try not to look at them, and instead, I turn to Stephen. “What do you want with me?” I ask. “Why are you showing me these people?”

There is someone I would like you to meet,” he says.

We walk across the parking lot, with all eyes seemingly on me as we cross. He leads me to another building and opens the door for me. We walk down a hallway until we reach a room. Inside there is a woman sitting at a desk. She wears a headset connected to a radio transceiver. Every couple of seconds she relays a call.

“Red Falcon this is Home Base, do you copy? Red Falcon, please respond.” She looks up at us and smiles, but then her face turns suddenly serious.

“Still unable to reach them?” Stephen asks.

She nods. “I don’t know what could have happened.” I can sense the fear in her voice.

“I want you to keep trying,” Stephen says.

“I didn’t plan on stopping,” she says. She looks at me for a moment. “Who is this?”

“I wanted to introduce to you our newest friend,” Stephen says looking at me, his eyes warning me not to contradict him.

“Her name is Remi.” He turns to me. “Remi, this is Lydia.”

“Pleased to meet you,” I say slowly. I start to reach out my hand but think better of it.

“We found her at the hospital,” he continues. “She was looking for an old friend named Jessi Paxton.”

Lydia’s face goes from narrowed eyes to wide eyes, her mouth gaping open. Then without warning, her mouth closes and she seems to be snarling at me. “You aren’t going to take her. I won’t let you!”

“Calm down, calm down,” Stephen says, holding up his hands. “She’s not taking anybody. I just wanted her to meet you.”

“Why are you looking for Jessi Paxton?” she asks.

I look at Stephen and he just nods for me to tell her. “Her father sent me to look for her. That’s when I came across Stephen and some of your friends. One of them’s a real jerk,” I say, rubbing the back of my head.

“So, you’re wanting to take her from me?” Lydia asks, tears filling her eyes.

“What are you talking about?” I ask. “Jessi is here? She’s alive?”

“Auntie!” The voice behind me is so sweet sounding, so innocent, like something that could have never been born of this world. “Can I go outside?” I turn to see a tiny little girl, barely reaching a height above my knee. She’s wearing a ruffled dress and her bright, blonde hair is pinned back into little pigtails.

“Not right now, Evie,” Lydia says.

“Evie?” I say. I squat down to look at the little girl in front of me.

Her blue eyes study mine and she smiles. “Who are you?” she asks.

“I’m Remi,” I tell her. “Your name is Evie?”

She nods emphatically like she is proud of nothing more.

“Short for Evelyn?” I ask, turning my head toward Stephen and then to Lydia.

“You can’t take her,” Lydia says, now standing. “She’s been my baby since…since the day it all started.”

I hadn’t planned on taking anyone, but what better opportunity for me than to bring Paxton his granddaughter? He would welcome me in without question. All would be made right. All would be forgiven. I would demand to be a soldier. Not just a soldier, but a commander. Paxton might even ask me to be an elder. This little girl is all the security I need.

“But her grandfather is still alive,” I say. “He runs a town not too far from here.”

“You can’t take her anywhere,” Stephen says.

“If you didn’t want me to take her, then why did you show her to me?” I ask. “Why did you bring me here instead of just sending me on my way?”

“Because you made it to the maternity ward all by yourself and back to the entrance without a scratch,” he says. “That takes talent.”

“I’ve been on the road a lot,” I say.

“We could use a person like you here,” he says. “I want to be open and honest with you. No, Jessi is not here, but her daughter is.”

“Then I should tell Robert Paxton about her,” I say.

“I don’t know who this man is, or what Crestwood is like, but I can promise you that we offer protection,” Stephen says. “I brought you to Lydia and Evie because I want you to know that I’m not lying to you. You’ve got an honest bunch here that really cares about one another. You can offer us your skills and we can offer you protection.”

“But you don’t even know me,” I say. “You don’t know what kind of person I am.”

“I know you are skilled,” he says. “I know that you’re willing and able to go on missions.”

I look down at Evelyn and she smiles back at me. What if this is the new start that I need? What if I don’t take Evelyn back to Paxton? What if I stay with these people? It seems secure enough, though not nearly as comfortable and nice as Crestwood.

“Am I allowed to have a gun?” I ask.

Stephen laughs at me with an eyebrow raised. “Everyone carries a gun if they are old enough. Of course you will be allowed to carry a gun.”

Elkhorn is not the ideal location. There are so many things that can go wrong. It seems that most of their protection consists of a flimsy wall and the hope that most raiders won’t come near the Epicenter because of its past. These are weaknesses that will be their undoing someday.

But not today.

I look into Evelyn’s smiling eyes. Her true grandfather is waiting for her even though he doesn’t know of her existence.

My thoughts are broken when we hear a crackling from the radio headset. “Unplug the headset,” Stephen says. Lydia does as he commands and a muffled voice says something unintelligible.

“Can… hear…? …is…, ov…”