Without Law 9, page 22
“Fit as a fiddle,” Henry responded with a grin.
I raised an eyebrow at Marla, but she nodded back at me.
“He’s healthy,” Marla said. “Though he could use a bit more rest it seems. His joints aren’t what they used to be.”
“Are anybody’s?” Henry chuckled.
“I suppose that’s true,” Marla laughed.
“Where’s Rolly and Betty?” Henry asked.
“They went outside,” Kimmy said. “They’re down by the boats.”
“I guess that’s our cue to head out,” I said.
“Donald, Rosy,” Henry said. “It’s time to go.”
“Okay,” Donald said, and he gave Kimmy a hug.
“Thanks for letting us play with Mitch and Frank,” Rosy said as she hugged Marla’s waist.
“Of course,” Marla said. “I’m sure they’d love hugs too.”
The young boys stood up and held their arms out. It was precious to see the children trade hugs, and I thought I saw Marla shed a tear.
“You guys ready?” I asked excitedly.
“Ready!” Rosy and Donald shouted.
“Alright,” I laughed. “Let’s get going.”
“Maybe we’ll have some treats after dinner tonight,” Henry said, and the children smiled wide.
“We’ll see you in a few days,” Anna said.
“Bye, boy,” Bailey cooed as she petted Winchester.
“Thank you all for everything,” Henry said, and everyone nodded.
I led our small group outside and headed down toward the boats.
“You’ve built a nice place here,” Henry said as we walked.
“Thanks,” I said with a soft smile. “It wasn’t easy.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t,” the old man said. “But you’ve done good for these people.”
“You’ve done well for yourself, too,” Anna said.
“I’ve tried,” Henry said with a nod.
“If you ever need anything you know where to find us,” Bailey said with a soft smile.
“I appreciate that,” the old man said.
“Hey!” Rolly called as we arrived by the boats.
“What are you doin’ old man,” Henry teased. “Trying to sneak on board?”
“Nah,” Rolly laughed. “But I did sneak some booze on there for ya.”
“Much appreciated,” Henry said, and he hugged Rolly.
“Come back and see me,” Rolly said as he pulled away from the hug.
“Will do,” Henry said. “But you gotta come see me for some fishin’.”
“I think I can manage that,” Rolly chuckled.
“And it was very nice to meet you,” Henry said to Betty. “Take care of this old fart.”
“I will,” Betty laughed, and she pulled Henry in for a hug. “It was great to meet you.”
“Bye, Uncle Rolly,” Donald said as he hugged Rolly’s leg.
“We’ll miss you,” Rosy added as she grabbed onto his other leg.
“I’ll miss you both, too,” Rolly said, and he crouched down to pull them in for a proper hug. “But I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“Promise?” Rosy asked.
“Promise,” Rolly said with a smile.
“Alright,” Henry said, and he looked up at the sky. “It’s already mid morning. We should get going.”
“We’ll follow you back up to the lake,” Paige said.
“Sounds good,” Henry said, and he hugged Rolly once more, then led the kids to the boat.
We all hugged Rolly and Betty, then Anna, Bailey, and I climbed onto the boat where Paige and Tara were waiting.
“Let’s get going,” Tara said excitedly.
“Since when are you happy about going on trips?” Anna laughed.
“Since I don’t have to ride a bike the whole way,” the platinum blonde responded.
“That’s fair,” Bailey said.
“Alright.” Paige clapped. “Does everyone remember their jobs?”
“Yup,” Tara said as she took her position.
“I do,” Bailey agreed.
“Me too,” I said with a smile at Captain Paige.
“Uh,” Anna stuttered. “I don’t.”
“That makes sense,” Tara laughed. “You were pretty much out the whole trip.”
“It wasn’t by choice,” Anna grumbled.
“We know,” Tara said. “Why didn’t you just stay home, though? If I got that sick I would never want on a boat ever again.”
“No way!” Anna protested. “I don’t care how sick I am, I’m not staying home while you guys go out exploring.”
“Suit yourself,” Tara said with a shrug. “Just try to vomit away from me.”
“I’ll vomit where I please,” Anna said with narrowed eyes.
“Alright,” Paige laughed. “Anna, come sit by me, I’ll show you what to do. And if you feel sick just let me know.”
I took my position at the back of the boat while Paige gave commands to get the thing going.
Henry set off slowly down the river and waved to us to follow, then Paige shouted a few more orders and we were on our way.
“Good job, ladies,” Paige said with a grin.
“Thanks,” Bailey said.
“I don’t even feel sick,” Anna said with a smug look.
“I’m glad,” I chuckled. “I was a bit worried about you.”
“No need to worry,” the redhead said. “You know I can handle myself.”
“I know,” I agreed. “But feeling sick isn’t fun for anyone.”
“I’ll be alright,” Anna said with a soft smile.
We followed Henry for a while in silence, and I thought about what was in store for us. There was no way of knowing what we would find on the rivers near us, but I was sure that not all of it would be good. The snow had fully melted, and only a few small patches still survived in the coldness of tree shadows. With the spring would come a whole new series of dangers, and though I knew my team was ready, it still put me on edge.
The sun was high in the sky as we sailed along. It had to be almost noon, and the sky was bright blue with fluffy white clouds that hung in the air above us. There was a slight breeze that pulled us forward, but overall the day was still and calm.
“How long until we get to the lake?” Tara asked.
“A couple hours, I’d say,” Paige said.
“How about a game?” Bailey suggested with a smile.
“What did you have in mind?” I asked.
“We could play the alphabet game,” the blonde said.
“There aren’t any road signs,” Tara said.
“Oh,” Bailey said. “You don’t need signs. You pick a category and then you go down the alphabet and name things that fit that category.”
“Okay,” Paige said. “We can give it a try.”
“Who wants to pick the first category?” Bailey asked with a smile.
“How about something easy,” Anna said. “Like food.”
“That works,” Bailey agreed.
“I’ll go first!” Tara piped up. “A is for apple.”
“Weak,” Anna teased.
“You’re just jealous you didn’t think of it first,” the platinum blonde sniffed.
“I guess I’m next,” Bailey said. “B is for banana.”
“C is for cashew,” Paige said with a grin.
“D is for dragon fruit,” I said.
“E is for edamame,” Anna said.
“Good one,” Bailey chuckled.
We continued down the line and were able to make it through most of the alphabet, but I could tell that Anna had begun to feel sick, and I was sure that talking about food wouldn’t help her at all.
“I’ve got a category,” I announced.
“What is it?” Bailey asked with a wide smile.
“Weapons,” I said.
“Oooh,” Paige said. “That’s a good one.”
“I like it,” Tara added.
“Me too,” Anna said, and she mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to me, so I gave her a nod in return.
“Tara,” I said. “You go first.”
“Alright,” the platinum blonde agreed. “A is for …” She paused to think for a moment. “Arrow! A is for arrow.”
“Good job,” I said with a grin. “Paige.”
“Oh, me,” the brunette said. “Okay, B is for bayonet.”
“Very nice,” I congratulated. “Bailey?”
“Hmm.” The blonde bit her lip as she thought for a moment. “C is for cannon!”
“Good one,” I laughed.
“I guess that’s me,” Anna said. “E is for … explosives?”
“I’ll accept that,” I said with a grin.
“Wait,” Paige laughed. “You skipped D.”
“Whoops,” Anna chuckled.
“It’s alright,” I said. “I’ll do D.”
“Yeah, you will,” Tara said, and she winked at me.
“What does that even mean?” Paige laughed.
“I don’t know,” the platinum blonde said with a shrug. “But it sounded sexual. That’s my jam. Also, I love Tav’s D.”
“Of course,” Anna groaned, and the other two women laughed.
“Let’s see,” I laughed. “D is for dagger.”
“Nice,” Paige said.
“Back to me,” Tara squealed happily.
We continued our game as we sailed along behind Henry, and after the third or forth game we had finally reached Lake Champlain. The sun had moved across the sky, and I figured it was at least two o’ clock by that point, if not a bit later.
It was hard to believe it took that long to go up the creek, but with a sailboat there wasn’t much you could do about speed, and since motorized boats were out of the question, we had to make due.
“Alright!” Henry called as he pulled to the side to let us by. “You’ll want to head down that way!”
The old man pointed to our left.
“I think I got it from here!” Paige called back.
“Okay,” Henry said. “Be careful!”
“You too!” I hollered.
“Bye!” Rosy and Donald yelled, and they waved at us.
“Those kids are so fucking cute,” Tara said as she waved back.
“They are pretty adorable,” Anna agreed.
“They must look like their mom,” Bailey said. “Because they don’t really look like Henry.”
“No, they don’t,” I chuckled.
“We’ll have to come check up on them sometime,” Tara said.
“We will,” I agreed. “But let’s see what we’re dealing with out here first.”
“Speaking of,” Paige said. “Let’s get going.”
The brunette directed us south and we sailed along the water gracefully.
Where Otter Creek was thin and windy, the lake was large, open, and easy to navigate. I stared off to the shores on the side as we moved along. They seemed so close, yet so far away all at once. Almost like you thought you could swim there, but you knew you might drown in the process.
“So we just keep heading this way?” Tara asked.
“Yeah,” Paige agreed. “Vermont is on our left, and New York is on our right.”
“That’s so cool,” Bailey said.
“Alright,” I said. “While we’re going along I want to do some scouting.”
“What did you have in mind?” Anna asked.
I pulled out binoculars from my duffle bag and handed a pair to each of the girls.
“Nice,” Paige said. “You guys look first, I’ll make sure everything on the boat runs smoothly.”
“Thanks,” I told the brunette.
“Don’t mention it,” she said with a smile.
I put the binoculars to my eyes and scanned the New York side of the lake. Otter creek had been easy to see across, and while I had noticed a couple bodies here or there, it was nothing compared to what I saw around us. There were bodies everywhere, so many in some spots that you could barely see the ground.
“Shit,” Anna breathed.
“That’s so sad,” Bailey said and I could hear the frown in her voice.
“Alright,” I said. “I think that’s enough. We’ll scan routinely for others.”
“I doubt we’ll find any,” Tara said with a shake of her head. “It’s like a massacre over there.”
“On the Vermont side, too,” Bailey said.
“Bodies?” Paige asked.
“Yeah,” Anna agreed. “A lot of them.”
“Winter really took its toll up here,” I said.
“I feel bad for all the Canadians,” Bailey said with a frown. “I think most of them we’re good people.”
“I’m sure you’re right,” I agreed. “But there’s nothing we can do now.”
“I know,” the blonde sighed.
“We’re going to do our best to help those women who survived, though,” Paige said with a soft smile.
“Yeah,” Bailey agreed. “That will be good.”
“And we did just help an old man and his grandchildren,” Tara pointed out.
“Alright,” Bailey laughed. “I get it. We do good when we can.”
“Yes, we do,” I said. “And that’s all we can do.”
“What’s going to happen to all these bodies?” Tara asked after a moment.
“Well,” I said. “If nobody cleans them up then they’ll stay there, or animals will get to them.”
“Ew,” the platinum blonde said with a grimace.
“They’ll decompose and turn to bones eventually,” Paige said.
“There’s so many I don’t even know how you would go about cleaning it up,” Bailey pointed out.
“They’ll probably stay there,” I said with a nod.
“That’s crazy,” Tara said.
“Or wolves will eat them,” Bailey muttered, but none of us replied.
The sun grew lower as we sailed on, and the sky grew to a deep orange and blue.
“We need to get off the water soon,” I said.
“Port Henry isn’t far,” Paige said. “I figured we could stop there for the night.”
“Good call,” I said.
“That’s in New York, right?” Bailey asked.
“Yeah,” Paige agreed.
“How far?” Tara asked.
“Maybe a mile more,” the brunette answered.
“Good,” the platinum blonde said. “Because I’m hungry.”
“We forgot to eat lunch,” Bailey said.
“It’ll be alright,” I said. “It’s a nice night, we’ll make a fire and a warm meal.”
There didn’t appear to be any signs of rain in the sky, and the evening was just as calm as the day had been. Aside from the bodies on the sides of the lake we hadn’t seen any other humans, especially not any that were still alive.
It was well into twilight when we docked at Port Henry Beach. There wasn’t much there except a small dock, and a little cabin that sat up the hill a ways.
“We need to clear the cabin,” I said as we tied the boat to the dock.
“On it,” Anna said, and it looked like she felt better as soon as she set foot on the sand.
“Finish up here,” I told Paige. “Anna and I will be right back.”
The redhead and I made our way up to the cabin and once we reached the door I gestured right and she nodded.
I pushed the door open and flanked right while Anna flanked left. There wasn’t much to the small cabin, it was only one floor, and there weren’t any bedrooms, only an open studio apartment type of layout. The bathroom was the only room with a door, and we cleared it easily.
“This place looks untouched,” Anna said.
“It does,” I agreed, but I looked around with more care and noticed a few things that seemed off. The bed was nicely made, and the place didn’t have the typical layer of dust on it that most places did.
“What’s wrong?” my redheaded companion asked.
“Someone’s been here recently,” I said in a low voice.
“Hm,” Anna said, and she looked around. “It is pretty clean for a place that’s been abandoned.”
“Exactly,” I said.
“So what do we do?” she asked.
“Well, there’s no one here right now,” I said. “But we’ll stay down by the dock and camp out there.”
“We should have someone on guard duty throughout the night, too,” Anna suggested.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Come on, let’s tell the others.”
We made our way out of the cabin and back down to the dock. Bailey and Tara were working on setting up the tent while Paige built a fire pit.
“All clear?” Bailey asked with a smile.
“Not exactly,” Anna said.
“What does that mean?” Paige asked with a frown.
“Well, nobody is there now,” I said. “But it looks like someone has been there recently.”
“Oh,” Tara said.
“What should we do?” Bailey asked.
“We’ll have someone on guard duty throughout the night,” I said. “And we’ll keep an eye and ear out, but other than that we’re going to make our fire and have some dinner.”
“Alright,” Paige agreed. “Dinner it is.”
“We get it,” Anna chuckled. “You’re always hungry.”
“I am,” the brunette laughed.
“Let me help with the fire,” I said and I started to move rocks around.
“I’ll help with the tent,” Anna offered.
“We got it,” Tara said. “Why don’t you grab some food out of the boat?”
“Alright,” the redhead agreed.
It wasn’t long before the tent was set up and we had a roaring fire going. Anna had grabbed some smoked venison, canned corn, and canned beans from the boat, and somehow Tara had managed to throw it all together in a pot.
“It smells good,” Paige said.
“It should be done soon,” Tara said. “It doesn’t take long for this stuff to heat up.”
“Thank you for cooking,” I told the platinum blonde.
“No problem,” Tara said with a soft smile.
“How do you think Henry’s doing?” Bailey asked.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” I said.
“He seemed like he knew what he was doing,” Paige said.
“Yeah,” Anna agreed. “I’m sure he’s okay.”
“I’m still kinda sad that he didn’t choose to stay,” the blonde admitted.
“We know,” Tara said with a laugh and an eyeroll.
