Joshua Gayou - Commune - The Complete Series - A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Box Set (Books 1-4)

He called out as they continued to walk and several of the people waiting jumped in place. Many of them began to call as well, not to those who arrived but to some of the others, who hid back in the trees. They were told to put up their rifles, to come out into the light and see.

Columbus Jeffries, Andrew Stokes, Tom Davidson, and Otis Cotting rejoined with their people out by the barrel fire, shrugging from their rigs as they came. They cleared their rifles, leaned them up against the porch railing, and settled gratefully into chairs.

Among the chatter, Jake, who stood close by, said, “What’s wrong, guys. You weren’t scheduled to return for another three days. Also, the truck…”

Otis nodded. He rubbed at a knot in his calf and said, “We’d better get the heads together, Jake. Inside the house .”

Jake considered this a moment and said, “Ah.” He looked at Amanda, who nodded and began to move quietly through the others, tapping certain people on shoulders and whispering into ears. Jake mounted the steps to his cabin and disappeared inside.

A short time later, the four new arrivals stood from their chairs as one (all thoughts of sore feet and joints forgotten), retrieved their gear, and entered the cabin as well. They found Jake inside, sitting by himself in the front room, illuminated dully by candlelight. Rifles and rigs were stacked up by the front door, and they all filed into the room to join him. As they each took a seat, Jake said, “We’ll give it a bit of time. Drinks over by the wall if you’d like.”

A few of the men made to move, but Lum waved them all back into their seats. He’d had enough drinks with each of them to know what they preferred. He went to the cabinet, set a few selections onto a tray, and returned a short time later with tumblers enough for everyone likely to show.

Gibs was the first to arrive after they’d settled in, looking hopped up and bushy—no doubt due to the fact that something out in Jackson had caused the boys to return early without their goddamned truck. He took a spot on the sofa, filled a glass, and his foot commenced to jackhammering a hole through the floor. This went on for a little bit before Andrew, who was already feeling unnerved from the events of the day, asked, “Hey, bud, could you…?”

“Huh?”

“Your leg, Gibs…”

“Ah, shit. Yeah, sorry.”

He drew his foot in so that he could bounce it without the heel of his boot cracking into the floorboards. It wasn’t perfect, but it was at least an improvement, so far as Andrew was concerned.

Wang came a little later, followed by George and Amanda. They all sat down, those who wished for drinks poured them, and they made themselves ready to hear the news.

“Monica didn’t want to come?” Gibs asked.

Wang shook his head. “No. Rosie and some of the other kids can tell something’s up, so they’re a little freaked out. Monica’s keeping them entertained with Patty. Besides, she knows I’ll just go back and tell her everything.”

Jake gestured across the room to the four new arrivals and said, “You’d better bring us up to speed, guys.”

They all looked at Andrew quietly. He shrugged, scratched through a head of blonde hair, and said, “We have some new arrivals in Jackson, guys. A lot of them.”

Any other group of people might have collapsed into a tumult of chatter, filling the room with a cascade of questions; volume rising steadily as each query was delivered. In the present situation, the only change in the atmosphere was that Gibs’s leg had frozen in place.

“Define ‘a lot,’” the Marine pressed.

“Hundreds.”

Amanda leaned back in her chair, mouth slack, and whispered, “ Hijole… ”

“Easy, easy,” Jake said. “Let’s take it a piece at a time. Start at the beginning please.”

Andrew made to speak but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Gibs shot to his feet before anyone could respond due to an abundance of nervous energy and strode to the door. He pulled it open to reveal Edgar standing out on the stoop. Choking down the first thing that came to mind, Gibs said, “Yeah? What is it?”

“I… I’d like to hear what this is about.”

“Oh, you would? And exactly why the fu—”

“Is that Edgar out there?” Jake asked from the front room. “It’s okay; let him in please.”

Gibs’s teeth clacked together as though the only way for him to halt the words issuing from his mouth were to bite them in half and swallow the unuttered portion. Face reddening into a dark rage, he stepped aside. The other man entered, being careful to keep his eyes forward, and shuffled into the room.

“Have a seat, Edgar,” Jake said, almost conversationally. “We were just coming to the details of today’s events. Andrew, would you continue?”

Andrew eyed Edgar suspiciously for a moment; most of them were, in fact, given that his past actions were common knowledge by then—his attempts to deal with Warren behind their backs. Amanda very pointedly kept her eyes forward, refusing even to look at the man. Jake had asked though, after all. Andrew heaved a breath and said, “We never got an exact count on them; there were way too many, and they were spread out too far. They came in along the main road, see, and just stretched along the whole thing like a giant traffic jam. We were over on Scott Lane when we saw them, digging through some homes looking for whatever we could find; that’s where the Chevy is, by the way. Buried in among some houses.”

“Did you leave anything critical?” Gibs asked.

Andrew shook his head. “Just a bunch of clothes and some other sundries. I think you guys were right; any useable food that was ever in that town has all been had by now. We’d gone for three days straight, even hitting areas we knew’d already been cleared and didn’t find a single thing. It’s like Rebecca said before; we’re down to pulling just materials, clothing, and tools out of there from now on.

“So like I said, we were out on Scott when we saw them go by up north on the highway. We ducked out of sight and booked over to that little warehouse by the library, you know the one? Well, Lum and I got up on the roof while Tom and Otis kept an eye out on the ground and watched awhile. We watched as the head of their line made it up to the park and then just stopped. Then they set up some tables and appeared to have a bit of a meeting out in the middle of the road.”

“A meeting?” Jake asked.

“They were goin’ over a map,” Lum said quietly. “Looked to me like they divided up the area; east and west side. Stayed out there runnin’ mouths a while, and then they broke off an’ went separate ways.”

“Huh,” Jake muttered.

Shifting in her chair, Amanda looked across the low coffee table to Gibs, who returned her stare. She searched for incite in his eyes, hoping to see some indication from someone more experienced than her that the situation was under control. His expression was steady; his leg did not piston nor did his fingers drum. He cracked his lips to speak and, anticipating what he would say, she leaned forward slightly. Unconsciously.

“Hundreds…” Gibs mused. The deep bags under his eyes made him look like a man who’d been heartbroken since the day he was born.

Amanda deflated—only slightly, true—but it was still there; still noticeable to others in the room. Wang, who had been silent to that point, asked, “Armament?”

“To the teeth,” Andrew confirmed.

“M60’s, M249’s, saw some fifties, plus some of that exotic looking stuff… too hard to identify at that distance,” Lum said.

Gibs snorted. “What? No man-portable missiles?”

Expression serious, Lum said, “Didn’t see any.”

The smile slowly died from Gibs’s face. He looked either incredibly old or incredibly tired, Amanda thought; she couldn’t tell which it was. “Sheep shit,” he grunted.