It didn’t, and after a few minutes of Jared fawning over the women and children, things simmered down. After all, it wasn’t like they sat around watching soaps all day. They’d taken care of feeding and educating the kids, sat on the OP, and even brought water from the creek and pumped several gallons through a water-purification pump so everyone would have drinkable water. The water was sitting in plastic milk jugs near the kitchen sink, and when John spied them, he helped himself to a glass. He nearly drank out of the jug, but thankfully caught himself and used the glass.
In the end, Jared and Stephani made a dinner consisting of freeze-dried camping rations and canned corn. The kids ate like it was their first meal in a year, while the adults ate and talked about Devon and how long it would take the kid to find a trailer. John didn’t mention the dog he’d asked Devon to bring back. John had made sure when he mentioned it to the kid, he’d made it very clear to bring back a dog only if Devon saw one that seemed friendly.
As John internally argued his case, an unease came over him, making him wish he had been more specific with Devon about making no effort outside his normal travels to find the dog. John, earlier that same day, had jammed Jared up for going off mission, and now he’d done basically the same thing, only his life wasn’t at risk. At least Jared’s health and safety had hung in the balance as much as Stephani’s had during his little teddy-bear detour.
Devon walked through the countryside, trying to stay in the lower depressions, where dry creek beds were covered in brush and he could avoid any unwanted attention. It was far rougher going than if he’d chosen to walk out in the open, but the alternative would at some point spell disaster. Devon had been witness to the darker side of humanity since the solar flare and harbored no intention of becoming one of the people who’d died simply because they were unable to adapt from an easier life. For now, he’d take the path less traveled.
Devon knew he must carry the small rifle on this journey. The small-caliber weapon was what he would feed himself with, but this outing was different than ones before. In the past, Devon left the rifle behind unless he was hunting so as not to be targeted by someone in need of a small rifle. Now he was being forced to carry a pack and the rifle, causing him to maintain a single-mindedness about remaining unseen.
Nothing John and Jared did during the trip back from Solar Green to the ranch house had been lost on Devon. The teen devoured everything the two men said and did. The manner in which John kept the group moving when contact with a hostile force was imminent played over and over in the youth’s head. The fashion in which Jared and John worked together almost wordlessly when setting up the ambush for their assailants, and the fact that John destroyed all the firearms and scavenged all the ammunition were burned in Devon’s memory bank.
Although Devon absorbed it all, he was by no means going to ambush anyone. He also realized if he were to be pursued, hiding would make a search for him easier. On the contrary, if he moved and was able to break outside a group’s perimeter who might be closing in on him, they would be hard-pressed to re-establish a cordon around him as long as he never stopped moving.
Devon reached the edge of the built-up area as the afternoon was turning to early evening. The grassy slopes turned to concrete sidewalks and black-top roadways. Houses were the first to spring up and then larger buildings depending on the area Devon was traversing through. Devon slipped in and out of buildings as he crept through the dead city. He heard sounds from time to time, but nothing close enough to warrant any concern.
While Devon worked his way through the city, the sun sank lower and lower. Once it was dark, Devon began searching for a house that wasn’t occupied by a corpse. Surprisingly it took searching through three houses to find one that was completely empty. The house was a wreck from looters, who had destructively ravaged the entire neighborhood in search of food. Devon picked his way through the home until he found what he was looking for. In a hall closet he found access to the attic. Next, he went to the garage and found a short ladder, which he brought back to the closet. Once Devon set the ladder below the attic access, he went to one of the bedrooms and dragged the bedding from a bed.
Ironically, the bed was perfectly made, in stark contrast to the rest of the mess the looters made of the home. Devon struggled mightily getting the bedding into the attic, but in the end, he had a nice little nest to curl up in. He hauled the ladder up into the attic before gingerly reaching down and pulling the closet door shut. He replaced the attic access covering and was immediately shrouded in darkness.
It had been nearly pitch black before he closed himself in, but after the access was secured, Devon was not able to see his own hand in front of his face. Devon took a
