chapter 5

It had only been a month since I took John to the families, now it was time for a delivery.

I had been systematically taking the problem families out one by one so that these families, if they wanted, could eventually go back to society.

I went to a department store to buy the toiletries they need, toilet paper soap, pads and tampons, toothpaste you name it. I bought it. Next, I went to the non-perishable items and bought bulk there, too. I had bought a trailer months ago to house cows, goats, and a couple pigs that I had bribed from a local farmer.

I packed everything up and headed out. I arrived a little after sunset, and the Garcia family, as always, was the first to welcome me.

“ Good evening, Ms. Allison. You brought in a new delivery?”

“ Yes, Mr. Garcia, I also brought a couple of cows, pigs, and goats. Male and female so that they may procreate. I want you and the missus to gather all the household items and distribute them accordingly.”

“ Yes, Ms. Allison. We are making dinner, Thomas got us a nice doe catch a couple of days ago. There is also something I wanted to talk to you about as well. I’d like to do that privately.”

“ Dinner would be nice.”

I watched as Mr. Garcia called over a couple of the family men to help gather the store bought items, and the women coaxed the animals I procured for them out of the trailer. Once they were all gone, I noticed that Mr. Blaine Davis was nowhere to be seen. His wife Angela looked shaken, upset. I watched as she kept looking around, I followed her gaze to see no one appear.

“ Ms. Allison..”

Mr. Garcia started.

“ Blaine is missing… His wife has come to me and my wife the last couple of weeks. We don’t know what happened to him. She said he left after an argument, grabbed his hunting gear, and never came home. She said he never stayed past sunset. It has also been about a month since he left. No one knows where he went. I was hoping you could stay a little while to help us figure this out. If it isn’t too much to ask, I know you’re a busy woman.”

I thought about what he said and considered how Mrs. Davis was looking around. I will have to sit with her alone and talk to her, and ask what the fight is about.

“ Thank you, Mr. Garcia, I will look into it.”

That night, they served deer meat with potatoes and corn. I walked over to Mrs. Davis asked if I could room at her house while I looked around to see what I could find. There, I could ask her questions and start learning what happened.

“ Good evening, Mrs. Davis, how are you?”

“ Hello, Ms. Snow, I am… I am okay..”

Her pause was telling me everything I needed to know. Whatever they argued about had her really shaken up. Him not being here is possibly scaring her even more.

“ Mrs. Davis, you can be honest with me. Can I stay in the extra room at the house? Can we discuss this over tea? I haven’t seen Blaine since my arrival.”

“ It would be nice to have another person in the house with me again.”

She started to cry shortly after. Quiet little sobs that left her tiny figure. Now that I had gotten closer to her and actually saw her, she was pale and had dark rings under her eyes. This was going to be more than I bargained for.

I walked loosely behind her as she led me to the little house they both picked when they arrived. They were one of the first 4 families I had saved and brought here, so they had been here the longest.

It was a cute little style. It was small and built nice. One of the good things about the Davis’ is that Blaine was a construction worker. He knew how to build, Mr. Williams was taught old school. His family built everything they owned, passing down generation after generation of skills and knowledge. Mr. Williams' family was Amish. All of that, and I still don’t know how they managed to cross the Marrieotti family. He was a prized member of this little group.

It was something knowing I had a few different kinds of professions here. A teacher, doctor, construction worker, and well… Amish people. They know everything. Mr. Williams became a secondary teacher here.

We walked in, and she showed me the room I would be staying in, grabbed me a few blankets, and gave me a towel and rag to go shower with when I was ready.

“ Mrs. Davis, can we have that tea now?”

She looked at me with these glassy eyes that spoke a thousand words.

While we walked to the kitchen, it was like a waterfall. She started babbling about their argument. The thing was I could barely understand her. She had cried through sobs and sniffles as she tried to catch what breath she had.

“ Mrs. Davis, please slow down.”

I grabbed a paper towel and handed it to her to wipe her face and blow her nose. I took the lead and grabbed the tea kettle and the cups out of the cupboard. I had searched through almost all of them til I found the tea, sugar, and cups.

Once the kettle started whistling, I poured the hot water onto the bags that sit in the cups and brought the small jar of sugar into the dining room where she sat sniffling.

“ Here you go.” I paused and waited for her to take her first sip.

“ Now Mrs. Davis, can we talk about the last time you talked with Blaine?”

I watched as her eyes started to fill up. I walked to the kitchen, grabbing another paper towel for her. I walked back and took a seat right next to her.

“ Thank you…. Blaine was upset that day.. He told me he was tired of hiding, that he missed his family, he wanted to know how they were doing, and us being here was keeping him from that. He was angry. He said he felt like he was lost with time. All he knew was that it was daytime, then nighttime never, what the day was, never what the month was, it was like he was losing himself.”

I thought about what she was saying, I never thought that the families would want calendars.. I thought it would be like torture to them… the count down to days that they would never see the end of. I will grab some and mark the month and day,

“ Did he say where he was going?”

“ He said he was going to hunt, the men say the east side of the forest is where the most game is. He left really angry… I was angry too, but I never got to tell him I loved him before he left.”

She started sobbing all over again. I’m not good with the comforting thing, so I just sat there… and awkwardly patted her shoulder. I led her to her room and got her into bed and walked out, and sat back at the dining table.

Did someone find out that I had been hiding the families??? Did someone catch them by chance?? The only town close enough is 3 days away.

I did the only thing I could do. I went to my car, pulled out my bags and went back to the house, and started unpacking the necessary items to help me figure out what was going on in this little group.

See, at the same time I bought this land. I had already built a house here.

It just so happened that the Garcias took the very house. I knew Mr. Garcia would be up, so I went over. When I knocked on the door Mr. Garcia looked like he'd seen a ghost.

“Ms. Allison, how can I help you?”

“ I need to use part of my house. Will that be an issue?”

Mr. Garcia shook his head.

“No, anything you need. Have you spoken to Blaine's wife?”

“Yes, and I plan to stay a few days to go over some things to figure out what's going on.”

“Okay, let me know if you need anything. I've canceled classes until we can figure out what is going on.”

“That's probably a good idea.”

I walked past him to the basement. Once in the basement, I walked to the wall to a normal person. It looked just like a wall. However, to me, it was anything but normal. I slipped my foot along the base between the wall and floor until I heard that familiar ‘click’. I watched dust fill the air and settle as the wall lifted, slid back, and to the side. Once inside, it returned to its normal appearance.

I looked at all the monitors on the wall. When I bought the land, I placed a number of cameras in the surrounding area and a camera that faced the inner part, I planned to have a nice bonfire. I pictured my chair and a nice big open flame that carried the weight of all my secrets burning away.

I flipped the camera back a whole month, the day I brought John Spencer to the group to be in fact. If anyone was going to be on my suspect list, it was him.