Chapter 32: The Fifth
“Where…are…we….going?” Cait gasped for breath after each word.
“It doesn’t matter where.” Eli responded. “Running isn’t about the destination, it’s about the distance.”
The picturesque settlement of Mist Haven was still asleep, the only signs of human activity being the sounds of three people’s running footsteps rhythmically pounding against the pavement. The pale white light that was settling in just before dawn shimmered against a thick, cloudy mist rolling in from the lake, whose waters were dark and calm.
The quiet neighborhood transitioned into a pseudo-industrial zone closer to the shore. Grass lawns gave way to packed earth and gravel lots, and wooden homes were replaced by corrugated metal workshops supported by stained and cracked concrete foundations. The sour smell of fermentation mixed with the dry scent of old sawdust grew more potent with each step.
One mile. That was the goal for Eli’s first run with Amber and Cait. By his best estimation, the rocky, muddy shoreline was just over half a mile from Sophia’s house. Small, smooth pebbles clacked together underfoot, and a layer of furry green moss claimed the rocks nearest the water, making them too slick to continue running on. In the distance, through the mist, on the far shore, a glowing orb of burning orange light flickered to life.
“What’s that?” Eli pointed to the orange glow.
“That’s…ugh….” Amber panted, holding a hand to her side and catching her breath. “Glenn Arbor.”
“Okay, but what’s that light?” He clarified his initial question.
“They’re lighting the kilns.” Cait’s words rushed out in a single labored breath. “Pottery…. tiles…. glass.”
“Hmm.” Eli steered them around, retracing the route they’d already taken.
The mist, which was surely Mist Haven’s namesake, had dispersed by the time they made it back to Sophia’s neighborhood. Dawn had fully broken, and that was apparently the signal for the workday to officially begin. People left their homes in small groups, heading off for another day of life in the hard-working forest settlement. A young mother walking in the opposite direction had a chubby-faced, sleeping baby cradled in a sling across her chest. Her head turned when they passed her, a look of bewilderment on her face about why they were running when nothing was chasing them. The middle-aged woman behind her looked scandalized rather than confused. Probably because Eli was, once again, bare-chested in public, his sweat-soaked shirt hanging over his shoulder.
Dierdre was leaving the house when they approached, accompanied by a tired-looking man with a shaved head, square jaw, and a bushy, black, neatly-trimmed moustache. Meeting Eli’s group halfway, Amber and Cait greeted their father in passing and went straight for the house, exhausted and red-faced. Greyson stepped forward, slapped his hand into Eli’s, shook it twice, and nodded a curt greeting.
“Eli?” He stood about two inches shorter than Eli, but there was an air of undeniable self-confidence about him.
“Yes, sir.” Eli used his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face.
“Greyson Thorne. It’s good to meet you, Eli. We need to discuss a few things, but I’m way behind schedule, and probably pissing off some very impatient women waiting for me at the mill.” Dierdre was already walking away with a polite wave back at Eli. “Come find me at the dock around noon.” He hurried away to catch up with his wife.
“Uh…okay?” Eli arched an eyebrow. “I’ll be there.” He called after them.
Inside the house, the whole place smelled of fried eggs and cooked sausage. Which, he later discovered, is exactly what Charlotte had prepared for breakfast. She’d also left a pile of new clothes for Eli, Julie, and Vivi in the room they’d borrowed. Quickly pulling on a dark green Henley shirt and a pair of black pants with more pockets than he thought necessary, he made his way into the kitchen.
If Charlotte was still hurting from Lauren’s death, she hid it well. She seemed positively cheerful, having a laughter-filled conversation with Julie and Andrea. Vivi, Sophia, Amber, and Cait all looked embarrassed, and somewhat curious, as they listened to what the mature women were saying. A plate had been set for Eli at the kitchen island bar, so he took a seat next to Amber and helped himself to breakfast.
Andrea was the first to leave after informing everyone that she’d be on watch duty at the gate for the day. Soon after, Charlotte excused herself, saying she needed to visit the general store to get something called ‘florals’. When Eli asked what that was, she just smiled sweetly at him and strolled out the door. No one else offered any more of an explanation, either, just giggles and coy smiles.
Amber and Cait argued over who’d done better during their first run while everyone helped clean up the kitchen after eating. Amber eventually won their argument, and, apparently, one of their bets. Cait, having lost, had to write the word ‘loser’ on her shirt with one of Charlotte’s black charcoal pencils, and leave it visible all day.
Amber was still laughing about it when the sisters left home to meet their friends and help out at the ethanol distillery.
“You have any plans for the day?” Eli asked Sophia.
“I was thinking I’d stay home and help mom with her work.” She gestured toward the sewing room.
“Yeah, good idea.” Eli nodded. “You shouldn’t be doing anything too strenuous right now.”
Sophia was somehow even more beautiful that morning. Delicate features, strikingly beautiful emerald eyes, exotic long ears, smooth hair the color of fresh spring leaves; she was like a fairytale princess. Her lithe, toned body and seductively feminine curves could have inspired Renaissance painters, or drove them mad at their inability to capture her beauty on canvas. Everything about her was mesmerizing in that moment, and, despite himself, he was fully captivated by her. He had things to do, and knew he had to go, but he found himself not wanting to leave Sophia.
“Okay, that’s enough.” Vivi patted his chest, snapping him back to reality. “You two can stare at each other later. We need to go see a man about a house, and mom’s already waiting in the roller.” She pulled him away, a broad smile across her lips as she said her parting remarks to Sophia. “Bye, Phi. I’ll see you later.” She waved cheerfully, rushing her brother through the doorway and out of the house.
“You’re calling her Phi now?” Eli asked, climbing into the passenger seat of their militia roller.
“She asked me to.” Vivi shrugged from the back seat. “It’s what her sisters call her.”
“Oh?” He met her eyes in the rearview mirror. “Does that mean you two are sisters now?”
“I plead the fifth.” She grinned.
“You don’t even know what that means.” Eli chuckled.
“No, I don’t. But I know it’s what you always say when you’re being an ass and refuse to answer my questions.” She raised an eyebrow and smirked challengingly.
Julie watched their exchange with loving amusement, holding Eli’s hand as she drove away from Sophia’s home. The short drive to the governors office was punctuated by curious townsfolk turning their heads to watch them drive past. Eli’s tactical militia roller was, admittedly, very out of place in the rural community. Although, it was painted to be camouflaged in the rust-colored sands of the Wastes, so at least that aspect of it matched the natural rust coating the few old clunker cars in town.
They parked in front of the governor’s office building just as a middle-aged, mocha-skinned woman pushed the glass front door open and stormed out, muttering a string of curses in Spanish and gesturing wildly with her hands.
Oh shit. This can’t be good…
It wasn’t. The furious woman spotted them and a scowling look of fury, of pure hatred, darkened her face. She pointed at Eli, Vivi, and Julie, and immediately went into a rapid tirade, mostly in Spanish, but with a few choice English words sprinkled in, none of which were polite. Out of the three of them, the unknown woman made the worst possible choice about which one to approach. She got right up in Julie’s face, put her hands on Julie’s shoulders, and shoved her, hard.
“Dirty lying bitch!” The woman screamed. “You should be locked-up, not my Maria!” She stepped forward to strike at Julie, who looked like she was two seconds away from breaking both of the woman’s hands……and maybe a leg.
“Hooold up. You really don’t want to do that.” Saving the furious woman from herself, Eli pulled one of her wrists up behind her back, wrapped his arm around her neck, not to choke her, just to restrain her movement while he steered her away from Julie before she could get herself hurt.
The woman yelled curses at him that he didn’t understand, and struggled, trying to escape his hold. “Get you hands off me! Let me go!” She screamed.
“Alright, alright.” Eli said, keeping his tone light, trying to not rile her up any further. “If I release you, are you going to calm down?”
“Fuck you!” Another string of Spanish insults followed.
Eli looked questioningly to Julie and Vivi, but they didn’t know what to do with the woman either. Thankfully, the guardhouse was right across the street, and it was impossible for them to have not noticed the commotion. A pair of guards he recognized from his arrival in Mist Haven jogged over to get things under control. Equoni also came out to see what was happening, together with a thick brunette woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties. The woman looked disgusted by what was going on, but Equoni just seemed disappointed.
“Gloria!” The taller of the two female guards yelled as Eli turned the raging woman over to them. “What the hell were you thinking? We’ve already warned you once not to do anything stupid.”
The second guard looked to Equoni, and he just tipped his head to the guardhouse. On his que, the guards forcefully marched Gloria back across the street while nearby onlookers gawked and gossiped about the spectacle of it all.
“I apologize for Gloria’s behavior.” Equoni said. “She refuses to believe the charges against her daughters. Hopefully, she’ll come to her senses when she hears it from Maria’s own mouth.” He shook his head and sighed. “Anyway, how about we head inside and get you folks sorted out?” He waved for them to follow them into the building.
The office’s entry and reception area was surprisingly inviting for what was technically a government facility. A cream-colored area rug took up most of the hardwood floor. An intricate, artistically portrayed mural of Mist Haven’s fields had been painted on one wall, and the other walls were a calming shade of deep blue. Decorative antique two-man saws were displayed at the back of the room, above a wide filing cabinet and a bookshelf stacked with leather-bound books and ledgers of all sizes. Two rustic wooden buckets on either side of the reception desk held thriving, vibrantly green aloe plants, and three ferns in hanging pots were prominently placed at the glass shopfront. It was all rather…quaint.
“Letty, will you please get the-” Equoni began.
“Already got it.” The thick brunette smiled as she handed him a brown ledger book and a set of keys.
“That’s why you’re the best, Letty. Thank you.” He tucked the book under his arm.
The governor took them through the reception room, down a narrow hallway, and into his private office. The man obviously didn’t spend much time in his own office, as evidenced by it’s complete lack of any decoration. He sat in a leather armchair behind a stately desk, and gestured to the two matching chairs opposite his. Vivi shamelessly sat on Eli’s lap, and Equoni watched them with amusement in his brown eyes.
“Now, then.” Equoni dropped the ledger on the desk and flipped it open. “Do you all know what work you’d like to do, or should we go through the options?”
“I’ll be joining the cullers.” Julie informed the governor.
“Me, too.” Vivi said firmly.
“Excellent.” The governor nodded approvingly and scribbled something into the ledger. “And you, young man?”
“Hmm.” He rubbed his jaw in contemplation. “I’d like to work as an operator.”
“An operator…” Equoni looked up from the book. “Can you be a little more specific? Does that mean you want to work at the sawmill or the the mechanic’s shop?”
“Neither.” Eli shook his head. “I meant a Special Forces operator.”
Equoni titled his head to the side and leaned back in his chair. “I can’t say I’ve ever heard of that profession before. Please, elaborate for me.” He gestured with a wave of his hand.
“Alright, well….” Eli patted Vivi’s back, and she got off his lap, allowing him to lean forward and get more serious with the conversation. “I’ll be brutally honest here. The way things stand, when war comes to Mist Haven, and make no mistake, it is coming, everyone in town will die. The guards are woefully unprepared to defend against the JSU’s forces. From what I’ve seen, they’re untrained, unskilled, and, quite frankly, not fit for battle. To put it into perspective, even if they all worked together, every single guard in town, I doubt they could even defend the settlement from my sister.” Vivi preened at his evaluation of her abilities. “They just don’t have the necessary skillset for war. You need a team of Special Forces operators. A group of people skilled enough to do what the guards currently can’t. When there’s hundreds of enemy soldiers invading the forest, Spec-Ops would systematically destroy them with unconventional warfare before they can get anywhere near Mist Haven’s walls.”
Equoni took a deep breath and blew it out with a sigh. “Brutally honest, he says.” The governor mumbled, tapping his pencil against his leg as he contemplated Eli’s words. “You know….” Equoni mused aloud, “I’ve worked damn near every job in this town. Farming, carpentry, logging; you name it, I’ve probably done it. But I’ve never been a guard, and I’ve never done any culling. Now, I’m not the smartest man in town, but I know when to admit that I don’t know something. I don’t know anything about war or conflict, but, clearly, you do.” He sat up and folded his hands on the desk. “Alright, then. If this is something that will help protect my people, I’m willing to give it a chance.” He scribbled in the ledger once more, then pulled open the top drawer of his desk and retrieved a notepad. “Take this…” He quickly made a note, ripped the page out, and handed it to Eli. “Give that to Chenoa at the guardhouse and she’ll go over the specifics with you.”
Eli thanked the governor, folded up the note, and stuffed it into one of his many pockets.
“Oh, and these are for you.” The governor offered Julie a keyring with three brass keys. “Your house is near the south fields. Just look for the one with a willow tree in the front yard and a storage barn out back.”
“Willow tree?” Vivi whispered commentary to Eli.
“Thank you, Governor.” Julie smiled gracefully.
“You’re very welcome, ma’am.” He tipped his head to her.
Equoni tucked the ledger under his arm before leading them back to the reception area, where Letty was hyper-focused on three open books spread out across her desk, comparing their contents, and making calculations on a separate sheet of paper. After walking out into the warm sunlight, the governor offered a round of handshakes and answered a few of Julie’s follow-up questions about their new house.
“An ‘operator’, huh?” Vivi raised an eyebrow at her brother, pulling him to the side, uninterested in her mother’s conversation with Equoni. “You couldn’t tell me about that before I agreed to be a culler?”
Eli’s lips curled into a sly grin. “I plead the fifth.”
Vivi playfully bumped his ribs with her elbow and opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted when a beat-up sedan skidded to a stop in front of the governor’s office, inches away from colliding with Eli’s car. The driver’s door flew open, and Hailey, the petite guard Equoni had sent to check on Lancaster, marched over to the governor, a wild, haggard, manic look in her eyes, and a hand pressed against her bloody shoulder.
“They’ve got Walela!” She desperately shouted. “We fucked up. They have scouts all over the Wastes. Scarlett’s dead, and they caught Lela. I’m so sorry, sir.” She choked out the last words and blinked back furious tears.
