Creatures Read online

  “I guess I haven’t been that observant,” Cassie admitted.

  “It’s actually just kind of hit me,” Matt told her. “On my last run, I was thinking about it, but just shrugged it off.”

  “You think maybe something in the air?” Cassie asked. “You said you aren’t feeling too good, either. You and Trey have been outside more than me, but I’ll bet I start getting sick, too.”

  “We should get out of here,” Matt told her. “I don’t know what it is, but if not even bugs survived here, we should get out.”

  Cassie nodded in agreement, and they started packing up the Suburban as quick as they could. Matt carried Trey to the Suburban and laid him in the backseat. They started their road trip once again, heading south toward Florida. Trey slept for a long while, but Cassie kept a close watch on him. After a couple of hours, Trey’s fever broke, and he woke up. His hair was matted to his head from the sweat, his shirt visibly soaked.

  “How are you feeling?” Cassie asked.

  “A little better,” Trey replied, still a bit groggy. “I think I need to eat.”

  Matt stopped the car to dig out some peanut butter crackers he’d found and some water. “Here, try this to start.”

  Trey ate the crackers slowly and drank nearly half a gallon of water. He had never felt so thirsty, even in all of these months when they were deprived of regular water intake. He felt very dehydrated. He could feel his lips were cracked, and he could taste the blood when he licked them. While he still felt fairly weak and drained of energy, he wasn’t sleepy anymore.

  “So we think something was wrong with the area that made you sick,” Matt explained when Trey inquired on their whereabouts. “Nothing was alive there.”

  As they came past a gated community, they noticed people beyond the iron gates. Matt backed up and pulled in front of the gate, catching the people’s attention. Three men stepped in front of the gate on the inside, armed with AR-15 rifles.

  “Hi, there,” Matt greeted, climbing out of the driver seat. “Are you taking in survivors?”

  “Possibly,” one of the men said. “You’d have to submit to a pretty intrusive inspection. How many you got in there?”

  “There’s three of us,” Matt answered. “It’s me, my girlfriend, and her kid brother. We were staying in a deserted town a couple hours north of here, but we started getting sick and decided to leave.”

  “Town of Cedarville, I presume,” the man inquired.

  “Yeah, there was a community sign saying that,” Matt confirmed. “You know it?”

  “That’s where we’re from,” the man informed. “It’s a good thing you left. The mayor ordered a release of some type of chemical agent to wipe out the creatures, but it did more than that. It killed everything, and we lost a lot of people. We’re the survivors of it. We were sick, too, until we got away. This gated community was cleared out, so we took it over. We have some room. Will you submit to an examination?”

  “Yes,” Matt agreed. He checked with Cassie and Trey, and they also agreed, though Cassie was a bit reluctant.

  “Exit the vehicle and step forward,” the man instructed. “We’ll have one of our women do the exam for your girl.”

  The three moved forward, and were led into a small watch building just inside the gate. It was furnished with a desk, which held a large book and some pens, a rolling office chair, and a couch. There was another room with a door, and two of the men with rifles took Matt into the room first. There was a kitchen area, a bed, a chair, and a separate bathroom. The man who spoke to Matt through the gate ordered him to remove his clothing, and then stand with his feet apart and his arms out.

  “I’m sorry, I told you it would be intrusive,” the man reminded. “Please understand, we have to ensure your health to allow entry.”

  “Our health?” Matt inquired. “Are you a doctor?”

  “No, but we have to check for any scrapes or bites that might be attributed to the creatures,” the man clarified.

  Matt nodded and proceeded to remove his clothes. The other man kept his rifle aimed at Matt, while the communicating man looked over every inch of Matt carefully. Matt kept his stare at the barrel of the rifle pointed at him, trying not to focus on the humiliation he felt. It didn’t take very long, and he was permitted to dress.

  “Small children, we allow the parent or guardian to stay in with them, but we’ll let him decide,” the man told Matt, referring to Trey. “You ask him.”

  Matt came out. “Trey, they have to look you over for any bites or scratches. You want anybody to come in with you? It’s a bit uncomfortable, but he doesn’t touch you at all.”

  “No, I’m good,” Trey declined. He went into the room with the two armed men.

  A woman entered the building then. She smiled at Cassie. “Hi, I’m Debbie. I was a physician’s assistant with the Cedarville Medical Center before the crisis. I’m here to do your exam. What’s your name?”

  “Cassie.” She shook the woman’s hand.

  Trey came out after a few minutes and sat down on the couch. Cassie went in with the woman. One of the two men stayed in the room.

  “Does he have to be in here?” Cassie asked Debbie. “I thought the point of having you come was so I didn’t have to strip in front of any guys.”

  “It’s for our protection that we keep an armed officer on all new admissions until cleared,” Debbie explained. “He’s former military and very professional. He will keep his focus on your face.”

  Cassie thought she might cry, but she removed her clothing and stood as instructed. The armed man never broke eye contact with her. When Debbie finished, Cassie dressed as quickly as possible. The armed man returned to his post at the gate without a word. Debbie also left the building.

  “So, my name’s Alan Dingham,” the man introduced. “We keep a record of all our citizens, so if I can just get your names and birthdates, please.”

  They gave the information, and were then led to one of the condos. They were all identical with raised porches, four windows, and the door in the center. The inside had been taken care of and was furnished. The Suburban was missing, but all of the items from the Suburban were inside the condo. It was one level, with a large living room, a kitchen to the right, and a small coat closet just before entering the kitchen. The dining room had two entrances, an open one from the kitchen and a closed door entrance from the living room. A short hall hidden by a wall had two bedrooms, each with a door going out onto the enclosed back porch. The combo bathroom and laundry room was to the left side of the hall from the living room. The washer and dryer had been replaced with an enormous tub with a drain in the bottom. The toilet and bathtub had been removed and replaced with a makeshift toilet that could be carried out. Three more toilet buckets were also stacked there.

  “When you use the toilet, you’ll just need to set it out on the porch, and use a new bucket. We do runs every three hours, collect the buckets, clean them out, and return them on the next run,” Alan informed. “We do supplies runs every Friday. Lists of any necessities are due by Thursday for the runs.”

  “Where’s my truck?” Matt asked.

  “It’s being stored and will be used to assist on runs,” Alan answered.

  They felt unsure about the level of control in this place, but they did feel safe. Alan left them shortly to settle in. The kitchen had been redone. The refrigerator had been taken out and replaced with more storage space. The stove had a battery-operated cooker sitting on top of it.

  “It’s nice,” Trey commented. “There’s a note requesting we smoke on the porches, and there’s ashtrays out there.”

  “We can do that,” Matt replied. “They’ve put a lot of work into making this place nice. I can understand them wanting us to smoke outside.”

  “Well, let’s go have a smoke then,” Cassie suggested.

  A man they hadn’t met walked past as they sat on the front porch. “Settling in okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s really nice here,” Matt responded.<
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  “I’m Vince Green,” the man introduced.

  “Matt Jenkins,” Matt returned. “This is Cassie and Trey Rickers.”

  “Pleasure to meet you. I’m just three doors down if you need anything,” Vince informed.

  “Thank you,” replied Matt with a smile.

  Alan came by a few hours later. “I just wanted to let you know, there’s a little community park commons area right in the center. Can’t miss it; there’s a park, picnic type area, and a building. We have a get-together every Saturday afternoon and into the evening if you’d like to come. We try to be close here, like a family. We’re pretty much all we have, and we depend on each other to keep this place going, so I’d really love for you to come and meet the others.”

  “Yeah, sure, sounds great,” Matt accepted.

  “Now, if there’s anything you need that you don’t have, be sure to make a list for tomorrow,” Alan reminded. “Will you be joining our supplies team, Matt? We like for everyone to have some type of duty. If you’d rather do something else, we can arrange that, too.”

  “The supplies team is fine with me,” Matt confirmed. “I’m pretty used to that already.”

  “Yeah, me, too,” Trey offered.

  “Well, it’s dangerous out there, so we don’t really permit anyone under sixteen to go on the runs,” Alan declined. “You just turned twelve, right?”

  “Yeah, last month,” Trey told him. “So what can I do?”

  “Well, what skills do you have?” Alan asked.

  Trey shrugged. “I can do anything you need me to.”

  Alan thought for a moment. “Well, you can join our lawn maintenance team. We have a few lawnmowers and weed eaters. Think you can handle that? The group is reserved for ages twelve and up.”

  Trey nodded. “Sure. At our house in Nebraska, I helped Dad take care of the lawn last summer.”

  “Great! Cassie, how about you?” Alan asked.

  Cassie shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Hmm, you’re almost seventeen, right?” Alan inquired. Cassie nodded. “Have any patience for kids? Like little kids?”

  “Not particularly,” Cassie returned.

  Alan frowned. “Well, let’s see…oh, I know, how about our special events team? You would help set up and/or clean up for the Saturday get-togethers, and help set up for birthday parties, weddings, anything like that, at the center.”

  “Maybe,” Cassie replied. “What are the other options?”

  Alan thought a moment. “We have been wanting to do some kind of sports thing for the kids to keep them active, so they stay healthy and in shape. Or you could join the sanitation team where you clean the toilets.”

  “Well, I don’t have patience for teaching or babysitting kids, but I could do some sports things with them,” Cassie decided. “When would I do it?”

  “Well, get it organized, and you can have a daily activity for the weekdays,” Alan answered.

  “Okay,” Cassie replied. “I’ll have it ready to start on Monday. I’ll have it ready by Saturday so the kids can sign up. How many kids are there?”

  “We have twenty-five total, ranging in ages two to eleven,” Alan informed. “There’s eleven girls and fourteen boys. We try to find a job for them at twelve. They do reading and math skills in the morning, as well as education on the creatures and survival tactics in the afternoon, so your activities can start about 3pm.”

  Cassie started on the activities ideas after dinner. She already had gymnastics down first thing. Girls of any age would enjoy gymnastics. She listed soccer next. Boys and girls of almost any age enjoyed soccer, and surely there was a soccer ball around somewhere. She wondered if they could get a ball and bat, as baseball would be good for all kids, too. She wrote down field day, which would be reserved for racing, hopscotch, Frisbee, and flying kites. It would also be a day all the kids could just play on the park equipment. She also listed basketball.

  Alan came by the next day, on Thursday, to see if they had a supply list to turn in. Cassie gave him two. She made a list for food and water, as well as toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap. Her second list had all the things she would need to do the activities. She was very pleased when the supplies arrived Friday night. The team had located several wood boards for gymnastics to make balance beams, a soccer ball and four road cones for soccer, some sheets to make the nets, a ball and bat for baseball, four welcome mats for bases, a Frisbee, a couple of jump ropes, a kickball, a pile of old shirts, yarn, and small pieces of wood to make kites, a basketball, a square piece of wood and basket to make a basketball goal, and a toddler basketball and plastic basketball goal.

  Cassie made up the lists for Saturday. She had gymnastics for Monday, baseball for Tuesday, soccer for Wednesday, basketball for Thursday, and the rest for Fun Friday. She was actually a little excited to get started. They got down to the community center when it started at one o’clock. Debbie Reynolds, the community doctor that had done Cassie’s exam, came over to her little card table first.

  “Hi, Cassie!” Debbie greeted. “How’re you liking the community?”

  Cassie smiled. “It’s good so far. I like it a lot. I’ve been made the kids’ sports director.”

  “Excellent!” Debbie beamed. “Well, this is Carly, she’s eleven, and this is Cody. He’s nine.”

  “Great!” Cassie exclaimed. “What activities would you like to do? Everybody gets signed up for Fun Friday, but you can do some of the others, too.”

  “I like soccer and basketball,” Carly replied.

  “Me too,” Cody said. “I want to do baseball, too.”

  It was a busy day meeting all the kids and getting them signed up. They all told Cassie about themselves. Some had lost one or both parents, some had lost siblings, some were being taken care of by neighbors. Some of the stories brought Cassie to tears. All of the kids were very calm and broken. They had been through so much in their short lives, and just being a playful, carefree child was no longer part of their days. Cassie understood even more now. The activities would give these kids an opportunity to just have fun and be kids again.

  Cassie, Matt, and Trey spent all day Sunday building the balance beams and basketball goal, and making the nets for soccer. They also made as many kites as they could with the material they had. They ended up with four kites. On Monday, Cassie went down to the community center to set up the balance beams inside the building, which had an open floor plan similar to a gym or a banquet hall. She had nine of the girls sign up for gymnastics.

  “Welcome, girls!” Cassie greeted. “I’m Cassie, and I’ll be your activities director. So, today, we will be working on the balance beams. Perfecting your balance is key to doing gymnastics. It will also keep you flexible and increase your stamina and strength, which is good for the kind of world we have to live in now. So, if everyone wants to line up, we’ll start with the ground beam, then move to the mid beam, and finally the high beam.”

  The girls did really great on the beams, and they had a lot of fun doing it. She also let them have some free time to do cartwheels, summersaults, or whatever else they felt capable of doing. She would have to see if they could get a blow up mattress or something so they could do flips. She showed them some exercises as well that she wanted them to learn for next week. It was just after five o’clock when she arrived home.

  “How was it?” Matt asked.

  “It was great,” Cassie beamed. “They all had a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, actually.”

  Cassie had fifteen of the twenty-five kids come for baseball. They ranged in ages four to eleven, so she split them to make it a little more fair, placing the four, five, six, and seven year olds together, and the eight, nine, ten, and eleven year olds together. That gave her six on the older team and nine on the younger team. She didn’t worry too much about not having enough players. It wasn’t like there were any other teams to play against.

  “How many have played baseball before?” Cassie asked.

  Brandon
Michaels and Travis Boggart, the two oldest ones, raised their hands. A few of the younger ones did, too.

  “Great! So Brandon and Travis, you guys can help teach the ones that haven’t played before. I’d like you to work with Group A on throwing and catching,” Cassie instructed. “Dakota, you help with that, too, since you’ve played before. Cody, Daniel, and Candace, you three work on batting with Group A. Let’s see, that leaves…Hannah on Group B. Have you played before, Hannah?”

  “Well, not on a team really,” Hannah replied. “Just with the neighborhood kids where I used to live, and my brothers.”

  Travis and Drake Boggart were her brothers, so Cassie didn’t doubt her ability. “Okay, well, you know how then, so you join your team in helping Group A. And, Dakota, since you’ve played on a team before, I’m going to move you to Group B. Now, does everyone pretty much know how to play baseball?”

  They all nodded, some replying with a yes. “Good. So while you work together on batting and catching, I am going to work out positions. It will be a little different than before, since there’s no other teams to compete against, and we don’t have enough players on either team now. But, remember, we are doing this to have fun. So that’s what we’re going to do.”

  By the end of the two hours, Cassie had decided on who should go where. “So, next week, you’ll be in these positions. For Group A, Gage Whittle and Jacob Wilcott, you’ll be umpire, so you’ll stand at the home plate to catch missed hits. On first base, we’ll have Holly Allen and Lucy Owens. On second base, we’ll have Duncan Foreman and Drake Boggart. And third base will be Lilly Holcomb and Olivia Cawley. So Gage, Holly, Duncan, and Lilly, you four are a team and on bases first. Jacob, Drake, Lucy, and Olivia, you four are a team and batting first. So I want you guys to think of team names for yourselves.”

  She turned to the older group next. “We really need one more person. Cody, do you think Carly would want to play?”

  “Yeah, she probably would,” Cody replied. “She’s played before. Actually, there she is now to get me. Carly, come here!”