Darkness upon the Land
Chapter 20

The next day was Thursday. It had now been a whole week since the solar burst had changed everything, and Alexia couldn’t help worrying more about her mother.

The woman’s condition wouldn’t change, and the longer she stayed like this the more Alexia feared she would wind up slipping into a coma and dying. At lunchtime, as she and Reuben ate the duck eggs they’d gathered that morning and fried in a skillet out on the grill, she tried to broach the subject with him. He refused to admit that Mѐre could get any worse.

He had his denial of reality, but she was unable to seek any solace within hers. The first thing he had them do in preparation for another attack was gear up to flee into the protective inhospitality of the swamp. She prepared “bug-out bags” for herself and Mѐre, and he began construction on a travois-style transport to help them get her mother and their gear to a couple of “refuge bases” he planned to set up.

Before chore time, while taking a break from his project, he caught three fish. She kept them stashed in a cooler that sat in the shade while they fed and watered the animals and milked the goat.

Despite their efforts to keep all the milking equipment clean, she noticed a “whang” that before the outage they’d never had trouble with tainting the milk. It was all due to the lack of refrigeration and ice. She discovered her tolerance was higher for warm milk because it tasted better. It became her habit to drink some right after it was strained, only minutes after it came out of Bliss’s udder. What they couldn’t use before the next milk time was fed to the ducks and turkeys. Reuben admitted the poultry benefited from it, but they should put out some effort to make some cheese. Within the next couple of weeks they would be milking two goats, but Alexia doubted she would like the cheese much better under these conditions.

After chores, he wanted to wash up before grilling the fish for supper, and she realized he was trying to assemble something of a true square meal, which they hadn’t had in over a week. He’d made a loaf of cornbread, using the milk that was only minutes old, and set it to bake in the coals of the grill. While he was still in the downstairs bathroom, she stepped outside for a little while to check on the loaf and discovered it was done. She brought it into the kitchen and set it on a rack to cool, and while she stood beside the cornbread for a minute to enjoy the aroma, a memory stirred from the depths of her mind.

That darned cornbread muffin that took a swan dive off her tray and caused her to crack the glass of the case in the cafeteria sure started something. One day after Reuben muttered to her “Except we know that’s not what really happened,” she knocked on the door of his room. After worrying about what her mother would think if she knew anybody “unauthorized” was aware of her ability, she believed she came up with a plan on how to handle it. The banjo music from inside his room stopped and he opened the door.

“You said something yesterday we need to talk about,” Alexia stated.

“I probably did.”

“Look, that thing I did, it’s supposed to be a secret. My mom would completely freak out if she ever learned you know about it. So here’s the deal. You don’t breathe a word about it to anybody else, and we’ll keep my parents out of it, too. That way they’ll have nothing to worry about.”

He seemed to think about her plan for a few seconds, and then calmly replied, “No.”

Her heart started to race. “It’s supposed to be a secret.”

“That part I agree with.” He smiled slightly. “But not from your parents. If you and I conspire to keep this a secret from them, then I contribute to your delinquency in not honoring your parents. And I won’t do that.”

“You don’t understand. My mom will completely flip out.”

“Unless that knowledge will do something like give her a life-threatening heart attack, your mom has every right to know.”

Alexia didn’t realize at the time that she had run headlong into his high moral standards, a quality she found sparse in most other people. She wound up with no choice but to tell her mother about his discovery, because if she didn’t, he was going to confess. As she expected, her mom practically wanted Reuben to be locked away where he could never divulge the secret. But she settled on meeting with him to stress the importance of his silence. After that meeting Mѐre seemed calmer, and one of her first remarks was, “I’d never believe he’s only fourteen.”

He was only a year and a half older than Alexia, but his unnaturally high maturity level contributed to his becoming something of her guardian.

And now here she was, feeling a lot like a kid because she was facing something new and strange and terrible, and without him here to continue his role as “bodyguard,” she wasn’t sure she’d be able to survive what the world had become. Even her mother, probably one of the strongest people she knew, might not survive. Alexia drew a cleansing breath to banish the thought that kept haunting her, and she returned to the bedroom.

As she approached her mother’s bed and started to sit in the chair, Mѐre opened her eyes.

Alexia hesitated. Until this very moment her mom hadn’t opened her eyes unless she was prompted, and then she would only gaze ahead as though she wasn’t seeing anything.

Mѐre’s eyes rolled toward her, and her lips trembled before a single word escaped in a whisper.

“Alexia.”

She stared at her mother, and her own voice was tremulous as she placed one hand upon the woman’s. “Mѐre? Can you see me? Can you hear me?”

“I see.” Her mom’s blink was long and slow, her voice still weak. “And I hear.”

She felt trembling begin to set in to her whole body, and an emotional sensation she hadn’t felt in a long time washed through her. Tears rushed to her eyes even as she started laughing, and she gasped to her mom, “I’ll be right back!”

She darted to the bedroom doorway and leaned into the hall.

“Rube! Come here!”

Alexia dashed back to her mom’s bedside. “How do you feel? Are you in pain? Thirsty? Hungry? Anything?”

“I’m okay ... thanks to you. How long ... have you been here?”

“Mѐre, it’s been like three days since we got here. In all that time –”

Reuben stormed down the short hallway like a whole herd of elephants that got spooked, and abruptly halted in the doorway. He had on his one clean pair of jeans and nothing else, and the rifle was gripped in his left hand. His hair was only towel-dried so it was tousled, and his initial expression was grim.

Too late she realized what must have gone through his mind when she hollered at him. “Mѐre’s awake!”

Her mom gazed at her until Reuben stepped to her side, and then her eyes drifted toward him.

“Bon jour ... Reuben.”

“Liana.” His voice was a little hoarse. “You tough little cookie. You had us worried.”

She managed to smile slightly. “You can’t ... get rid of me ... that easily. Besides ... I smell cornbread.”

“How bad is the pain?” He asked, and Alexia noticed that even though he was smiling he wiped at the corner of one eye.

“I can ... tolerate it.”

“What can we do for you?” She asked.

“Just keep up ... what you’ve been doing.” Her mom’s eyes closed again for a couple of seconds and her smile vanished, and when she opened them she looked at Reuben. “Be careful. Three men ... did this.”

The joy she had been experiencing suddenly deflated. When she glanced at him she saw the light vanish from his eyes as concern overshadowed them.

“You said three men?” He replied.

“Three.” Mѐre’s eyes closed, and this time remained shut as she continued speaking. “I don’t know ... the first one. The other two ... were the Carvel cousins.”

Alexia stared at him as she felt her heart begin to pound, and she was forced to concentrate on keeping her emotions in check.

“We know about Hooter and Jake.” It was amazing how he managed to remain so calm. “What can you tell us about this other man?”

“Tall. Young. Clean cut. Polite.” Mѐre’s brow furrowed slightly, and Alexia worried it might be from both physical and emotional pain. “He reminded me of you, only not as dark. I let my guard down.”

She glanced at him again and was glad her mom’s eyes were closed. The torment and concern that filled his expression was unquestionable.

Yet his voice remained calm. “Can you tell us what happened?”

A few seconds passed before she spoke again. “I just finished ... the morning chores. The stranger ... came up the road. He was calling hello. He said he was new ... to the area. He said his name was ... Brent Rayburn. He said he lived ... south of us. His wife got hurt ... the night before. They were out of water. They were low on food. He’d heard about me. I was closer to him than town. Could I help?

“I asked him ... to wait outside ... while I got some things. He obeyed my instructions. I followed him ... down the driveway. We rounded the bend. He said, ‘Who are they?’ Jake and Hooter were waiting. My attention ... went to them. He grabbed my shotgun. I fought but ... Jake fired. He shot me in the back. Brent took my gun. He kept hitting me. By the time ... they dragged me back to the house ... I blacked out.”

Alexia wasn’t sure how much longer she was going to be able to stay inside the house. The fact she might have to leave only frustrated her more. She tried not to squeeze Mѐre’s hand too tightly as she had to surrender the conversation to Reuben.

But it was her mother who spoke again. “There’s something else.” Her eyes opened. “The day before, two men and a woman from ... the city council came to see me. They said they wanted to offer ... protection for me and the farm. I declined. Things have been happening ... in Esperanza.”

“Father Nick was here,” He replied. “He told us all about that.”

Mѐre focused on him. “I declined, because in return for their protection ... I would give them monopoly of the food ... I could produce. They might be why ... those men came here.”

The dishes on the nightstand rattled. As Reuben and Mѐre shot their gazes to her, she turned and strode out the room. More items trembled as she passed through the dining room and living room and finally out the door. As she stood in the middle of the yard, she clenched her hands into fists and pounded them on her thighs.

No, no, no, this wasn’t fair. There was no more escape for her in denial. Hooter and Jake may not have been directly involved with the council, but this mysterious third person very well could be. He must have approached the two cousins and made a bargain with them, offering a life of comfort in return for their services.

Why did this have to happen? Why was everything spiraling into worse? What was the use of all their efforts if everything was subject to futility anyway?

She sat on the ground and held her head in her hands while trying to get her emotions back under control. The only reason she even bothered was to keep Reuben from having to tend to her after another collapse.

Speak of the devil. “Alex?”

Alexia didn’t look up. She felt more than heard him approach as he stepped over to her side.

“Mѐre send you out to check on me?” She muttered.

“Things aren’t as grim as they appear.”

She turned her head. He squatted down beside her, and she noticed his approach had been so quiet because his feet were still bare.

“Don’t try to cheer me up.”

“Why not?”

“I just don’t want you to.”

He cocked his head slightly. “But if I don’t cheer you up, how am I supposed to cheer up? I can’t be cheerful if you’re in the dumps. And believe me, I need cheering up.”

She stared at him but didn’t respond.

So he continued. “The good news is, not only is Liana better, she told us some very important things. Sure, more trouble’s on the way, but at least we can be prepared for it instead of caught off guard.”

“We can’t prepare for everything they might do.”

“And they can’t prepare for everything we’re capable of. Tomorrow we’ll continue with our preparations. But tonight ... tonight we celebrate.” He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled tenderly. “We do have something to celebrate, because your mom gets to celebrate with us. Let’s not lose sight of that.”

“It’s hard to celebrate when you know doom is coming.”

“Doom is always coming. From the day we were born there was no guarantee we’d live another day. And yet we’ve made it this far. Different circumstances only mean different problems. We’re never free of them. So we need to focus on the positive. We need to keep our joy. Let’s go in there and make Liana happy.”

Alexia drew a long, slow breath, and then nodded as she exhaled. They stood and began walking back toward the house, and Reuben actually wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“And one more thing,” he murmured warmly as he squeezed her against him. “Don’t ever yell like that and scare the living daylights out of me again.”