“So, who are you?” she asked. “And what the hell just happened back there?”
“That’s what happens when Lou Hales has some trouble living in the real world,” the man said. “Just stopping by for a little climate check tonight…and it seems like our timing was spot-on. We’ve been having some disagreements over his decision to keep you in the basement…but looks like you solved that issue on your own.” He winked at her. She didn’t crack a smile back.
“You are the people we heard? The ones who visited the Hales? You got a place up in Montana?”
The man nodded.
“He didn’t attack me until he thought you were Sweepers. I had the keys.”
“Sorry about that,” Ray said and he smiled. “But Lou keeps his car keys in a safe in the kitchen. Those are all decoys. Wouldn’t have made it very far.”
“Lindsey set me up?” Darla asked and she didn’t feel as badly about the image of Lindsey running after the truck.
“No, darlin’,” Ray replied. “Lou doesn’t even trust his own daughter not to make a run for it. I imagine she told you honestly what she thought.”
Darla nodded. She looked down and closed her eyes.
“Look, Lou told us he thinks you know something about the people who did this...the terrorists...”
“Oh,” Darla sighed, her stomach sank and she felt ill-at-ease. Her eyes went to the young vigilantes in the other truck. Their vacant stares scared the shit out of her. “I see…so, this rescue is far from altruistic in nature? We don’t know anything…so, I’m sorry if you wasted your time. You wanna take us back now?” She couldn’t help the bite in her voice. Dean put his hand on her shoulder, but she shook him off.
The man didn’t budge. He cleared his throat, “I won’t lie. I wished you did know something. But you have to understand...I got a good community growing and a lot of people to look out for. My intentions in asking you what you know are only because I want to protect the people who have asked me for protection,” he said. “If you say you don’t know anything, then I believe you. Either way, we’ll take you where you want to go. Or leave you be. The choice is yours.”
Darla didn’t answer. She scanned the faces again. They all watched and waited intently.
“The Hales, well, they found us you see,” the man continued. “Before the radios cut out. It’s not important, but you should know that they’ve been helpful to us. No doubt they’re paranoid. Lou’s not right in the head. He still thinks of his kids like they are twelve and not thirty, but they didn’t see us as a threat and they’ve been kind and generous. Even if they won’t leave their house and join us. He says it’s too risky to congregate.”
“They might be right,” Darla said. She turned her attention to Ainsley, who was still huddled against the bed of the pick-up. The girl looked pale and sickly under the moonlight. She wondered how long it had been since she had eaten anything substantial. “So…why come to rescue us? If you don’t care about the information I possess and it could potentially risk your relationship with those people, then why?”
“Look, that’s a pretty cynical world view…if you think that just because we’ve had a good relationship in the past we’re not able to overlook a wrong. It’s not right what they were doing. Not right to keep people like prisoners. I don’t care what the world has come to…right is right and wrong is wrong. We thought...”
“You just do all that for strangers? I don’t buy it,” Darla replied. He already thought she was cynical, there was no use trying to prove him wrong. “You’re Ray and Jillian?”
“I’m Ray. My wife Jillian,” he nodded to the woman in the cap. “That there is Liam. Survivor from Texas. And my daughters Alexus and Alia.” He paused. “Our intentions are good, Ma’am. We’re just doing what’s right. Not what’s easy or maybe even what’s sane. Just what’s right.”
“Texas?” Darla looked at Liam. Liam nodded to her; he acknowledged her wayward glance.
“People from all over. Canada, too,” Ray continued. “And we bet there are others. Maybe some like the Hales, paranoid and holed up. Maybe some like us, eager to rebuild.”
“How many people you got in Montana?” Dean asked.
“Fifty.”
“That’s not many,” Darla said with a sigh. She had hoped for hundreds. Thousands. Fifty. That’s all that was left across the Western United States?
Ray bowed his head. “Each of us thought we were the only ones left at some point. Fifty seems like plenty to us.” He paused. “Look...if you don’t know anything, that’s fine. But we’re fighting for our lives out there. Sweepers, sure. But also everything else. Little flu bug went through our place…little baby got really ill.”
“You have babies up there in Montana?” Darla asked, her voice catching.
“Two babies. And one was super sick for a long time. We don’t have a doctor, but we’ve been doing okay so far.”
“I was going to be a nurse,” Ainsley added from the sidelines.
Ray acknowledged her with a smile. “Well, we’d be happy to have you join us.” He turned back to Darla. “Look…if you do know something, I can’t tell you how glad we’d be to finally have some knowledge of what we’re up against here. We’d be happy to give you a place to stay, a meal, a place to clean up...”
“No,” Darla said quickly. “No, thank you. I can’t even begin to tell you how fortunate we are that you were there to give us a lift and get us out of that house without incident. Whatever your intentions...” she trailed off. “We don’t want to seem ungrateful. But we have earned the right to be a bit suspicious.”
“A meal. And a shower,” Ray said with a nod. “Then you’re on your way…no strings attached.”
“I’m sorry,” Darla said again. “We don’t have time for that.”
“There’s something more pressing you have to do?” His question was honest, genuine. He rapped his hand against the side of the truck and waited.
“Can you give me and my friends a ride to Nebraska?”
The request caused Ray to pause, and he looked back at his kids and then his wife. Jillian nodded. Liam leaned over and whispered in her ear, and she nodded again.
“We’ll drop the kids and Liam back off at our community and then we’ll take you where you need to go. But...”
Darla put up her hand. She knew where this was heading. His offer of no-strings had been too good to be true. “You want to know what’s in Nebraska. And what we know.”
Ray nodded.
With a look to Dean and then to Ainsley, Darla rubbed her eyes. “I just spent God knows how long in someone’s basement because I didn’t know if I could trust them. Why on earth should I trust you?”
“That’s valid,” Ray replied. “Very valid. It’s been a rough time for you. Well, you have a drive to Montana to think about it. And your ride to Nebraska is free of charge. What I mean is, if you don’t feel like you can trust us after meeting everyone, then you don’t lose that extension of our hospitality. And if you think you can trust us, we’d be happy to keep your stories safe.”
“Who are you?” Darla asked. “Why not demand I tell you...why not force me? Why any of this?” She motioned to the trucks, the silent spectators with guns.
Ray nodded again. “Because we believe.”
“Believe what?” Dean asked.
“In goodness. In the capacity of the human heart to be kind. We believe that we’re here, alive, for a reason. In helping those who’ve lived through the biggest terror of our time...we’re not each other’s enemy, I believe that.”
“Are you some kind of modern day Jesus, Ray? Prophet of Montana? Your little group some sort of cult?” Darla winced as a sudden pain from her hand shot up her arm. The adrenaline was wearing off; the damage might have been worse than she had originally suspected.