Young and large families, those with children lived in ward three located to the west; if the city came under attack, they could escape via the bay to Fairhaven.
Everyone else were in wards four and five located in the south-southwest quarter.
It wasn’t a perfect setup and they would make changes over time but it worked for now. After so much time in the hills, all of his family except his mother had wanted to be in Eureka. In many ways Colby had led the way, tipping the scales, and after Jessie followed, that gave the rest incentive to leave. Miriam stayed at the farm, feeling a sense of duty and not wanting to leave Martha alone. He could still remember the conversation they had as a family. The look on his mother’s face was priceless. It was the one and only time she was truly speechless.
Zeke and Dylan moved into Carson Mansion, a huge Victorian landmark close to the northern waterfront. No one was using it. They were offered a regular home but Dylan had this thing about living life like Hugh Hefner. He’d envisioned the place full of scantily clad women all tending to his every whim while he pranced around in a velvet smoking jacket, instead he got Zeke in a pair of dirty underpants.
As for Alicia and him, they’d taken up residence in the neighborhood of Green Park but not under the condition of becoming a deputy for the city. His days of carrying a badge were behind him, however, he’d told Sheriff Johnson that if he needed help, he knew where he was. In the meantime he volunteered to go on supply runs.
Colby exhaled as he picked up the walkie-talkie.
It crackled. Static coming through.
His conversations with his mother were always awkward.
“Anyone would think you were afraid of her,” Alicia said.
“It’s not fear. It’s repulsion,” Colby said. He didn’t want to feel that way about his mother but she hadn’t helped herself. It was the reason why he’d been so eager to leave for L.A. Now he knew she was trying to wriggle her way back into his good books. It wasn’t so much about getting right with him as it was about making herself feel good. He knew her better than anyone. Once the waters were calm she would go right back to her old ways.
No, the more distance he put between them the better.
“I’ll be outside,” Alicia said.
He nodded.
They had traveled up to Crescent City with a crew of ten in two military trucks left behind by Captain Evans. His mother had gone in his with Alicia, Jessie, and Nina while the other five were in the second truck.
Even after months the tension between them still hadn’t changed. In the days after the near execution, he’d tried to push from his mind his mother’s involvement in Skye’s death but with so many lies, it was hard to forget. It wasn’t just him she was pushing. She’d sown seeds of doubt in Alicia that he would leave her. That’s why he chose to move into Eureka. It made life less irritating.
Colby pressed the button on the radio. “Mother, you there?”
A moment.
“What do you want?”
Her reply was cold but expected because she felt he was to blame for the rest of the family moving out. “We were attacked. I’m not sure if there are others out there. I need you to swing by with the truck. Probably best we leave.”
No reply.
“Did you hear me?” he asked.
Static came over the radio then her quiet reply. “We’ll be there in ten.”
“Head to the airport. That’s where we will be.”
“Why there?”
“Well, I’m not going to stay at the harbor after this, am I?”
He blew out his cheeks as he attached the radio to his belt. He was getting tired of her mind games. He could have said something, brought up the past, but it wouldn’t have helped. Instead, Colby collected the dead men’s weapons, ammo and what little snacks they were carrying and stuffed it all in his bag, and headed down to the ground floor.
Alicia was standing by the window, peering out, gun in hand. She’d come a long way since her time in L.A. She was a quick learner. Even more willing to run toward trouble than away from it. Yet at the same time she wasn’t stupid. She knew when they’d bitten off more than they could chew. In many ways she had brought him back from the edge. Without her he wouldn’t have stayed this long in Humboldt. She had every reason to leave and see what had become of her family but she’d opted to stay.
Hearing him, she turned. “So?” she asked.
“She says ten, expect it to be an hour.”
“An hour?”
He shrugged. “You know my mother. She walks to the beat of her own drum.”
They walked out and made their way to one of the airport hangars. Inside were numerous planes, no longer in use, nothing but dead weight. Crescent City was different and yet similar to Eureka in that it was smaller but still the biggest community in Del Norte County. From the time they arrived they saw very few people in the streets, leading them to believe most had gone to the refugee camps. But not everyone would have left and the four men inside the office were proof of that.
Colby climbed up onto the wing of a twin-engine plane and used his boot to kick in one of the windows. He could have weakened it with a round but they’d stopped using bullets unless a situation called for it. Ammo was the one thing that had become scarce. Food was plentiful with the bay so close. They fished mostly, grew their own crops. Medicine was provided by the Wiyot tribe who knew what natural plants could help. Anything else they gained was just creature comforts.
Sure, they had the armory, a cache of weapons acquired by Evans, but in three months they’d used a lot of that
