Jackson
Chapter Two
In the morning Joel showed Ellie how to make perfect fried eggs and sausage. Their toaster was broken so he made their toast in the oven. Ellie praised his cooking, it was way better then the usual slop she was fed back at the academy, better then tin can meals out on the road. After they cleaned up breakfast they began the tasks of cleaning out the closets and dressers of the former owners. Joel found a good lot of shirts the man of the house left behind, but most of the guys pants were two sizes bigger then what he could keep up. Luckily the pajamas had a string tie waist so he kept those too. The lady of the house was more petite and Ellie confiscated the things she would ware. It all added up to another mountain of laundry to weigh down the clothesline out back.
The sorting didn't take long, after they filled the line once Ellie went to start in the office with all the books and Joel went out to the garage to find something to trim back the grass and weeds getting tall in the late spring sunshine. He found a decent pair of trimmers and an old bottle of witch hazel to clean them up with. Once he got them in working order he got down on his knees and cut all the grass around the clothesline short. Joel made a wide path to the back door. He came in for a glass of water and called up to check on Ellie. "Find anything good up there?"
"A lot of books!" Ellie shouted toward the door.
Joel smiled suspecting his girl would want to read every one of them. He finished his cool drink and set his glass on the counter next to the sink. "I'm gonna do some more trimmin around the house, you yell if you need anything!"
"Okay!" Ellie slid another hardbound fiction off the shelf and looked at the dust jacket. There were some kind of animal bones on the front. "The Lost World, sounds cool."
He went out the back door and started clearing the two feet closest to the house. He worked counter clock wise around the place losing himself in the work and the warm sun. A breeze kept him cool, in the distance he heard hammers, finishing up the roof he supposed. Joel was working his way towards the front door when from behind him "No don't cut that!" startled him out of his daze. Joel turned and looked up at a woman who had come up behind him. She wore a gun on one hip and one of Tommy's walkies on the other. He blinked at her curiously. "Uhh..."
Lily arrived just in time to save the shrubbery from a terrible hacking. She stepped closer and pointed it out. "That's a niko blue hydrangea. Ornamentals are still pretty rare in this town and I haven't had the chance to try and propagate that plant yet."
Joel lifted a brow. "You the plant police?"
"I'm Lily Brenton, the closest thing there is to a botanist in this town and I'm Ellie's tutor."
Whoops. "Oh, is that right?" Joel got up and wiped his hands down the front of his jeans. "Well pardon me ma'am. I'm Joel, Ellie's guardian." He offered her his hand and an apologetic smile.
She shook Joel's hand. Tommy had talked about his big brother to her more then a few times. Lily studied his face, there was steel in his eyes. "Nice to meet you."
"You too." He needed to smooth things over fast. "Is there anything else in this overgrown mess that I shouldn't be cutting down?"
There was. "Over here is a rose bush you can clip back some but not down to the ground, that would probably kill it." Joel followed her to the other side of the front steps. She grabbed some leaf. "This is all peony, I think you've cut some down on the other side, but it will probably live."
"I hope I didn't kill nothin, I was just trying to get some of this mess under control."
"Ellie will be learning about flora, maybe she'll help you with the gardening end of home maintenance."
Home maintenance put a smile on his face. "That sounds good. Ellie's inside, why not come in and meet her."
"That's what I'm here for, plant policing is just an added bonus."
"Right," Joel chuckled and lead Lily inside through the front door. He went to the stairs and yelled up to Ellie. "Hey Ellie, your new teachers here! Come on down!"
"Coming!" Ellie called back.
Joel turned back to their guest. "Please, take a seat. Make yourself at home. Can I get you a drink or somethin?"
"No thanks I'm fine." Lily went to the couch as Ellie came bounding down the stairs.
Her eyes found her tutor right away. "Hi, I'm Ellie." She came forward to meet her teacher.
"Nice to meet you Ellie I'm Lily, mind if we sit and talk for a minute?"
"Sure." Ellie came around the other side of the couch and the ladies sat facing each other.
"You sure I can't offer you a cup of coffee?" Joel tried again.
"Joel is really happy to have coffee again," Ellie smiled at the big guy.
Lily grinned up at her host. "Looking for an excuse to brew some?"
He laughed a little. "Yes ma'am."
"Fine, I'll have a cup if you stop calling me ma'am."
"What would you have me call you?"
"Just call me Lily, everyone else does."
"Alright then Miss Lily I'll go start some coffee and let you girls get to it." Joel bowed out and went to the kitchen to make coffee.
She turned her attention back to her new kid. "It looks like you guys busted ass cleaning this place up."
"We spent all day cleaning yesterday and even more today. I've never done so much laundry in my life."
"You're from the Boston quarantine zone?"
"Born and raised."
"You went to school there?"
"Yeah mostly. A few years ago I ended up in the military academy. I was in the eighth grade class there before I left."
Lily would save other questions about Boston for another time. "Maria says you like to read."
"Yeah I love to read."
"I'd like for you to make me a list of all the books you've read, everything you can remember."
Ellie smiled proudly. "Okay, but its going to be a pretty long list."
"Do you know how to write an outline Ellie?"
"With the Roman numerals and letters going down?"
"Yup that's it. What I would like you to do is outline all of the different subjects you learned in school and how far you got, what you studied in each. I don't want to waste our time on crap you already know."
She was ready for the challenge. "Yeah, I can do that. What kind of stuff do you teach?"
"You're in for a lot of science and history. It wont be as boring as you think."
"Me and Joel, umm, I mean Joel and I are watching a history show together. Well, historical fiction anyway. Our tv still works pretty good."
Her student was trying to impress her. Lily smiled. "From what period?"
"Ancient Greece, the gods and warriors and stuff. Xena, ever heard of it?"
"I remember the show. It was pretty good. Sam Rami went on to direct a couple of the Spiderman movies. He had a great career."
"This house has a lot of movies and books still in good shape. Maybe you could look at the books upstairs and recommend something for me to read?"
"More homework?"
"The fun kind I hope."
That would depend on what books were upstairs. "Let's go take a look. I'll see what's good."
Joel had the coffee dripping when he heard the two move up to the office. He and Ellie had gone over what she could tell people again last night. You can't tell people you're one of the immune or that the fireflies have stopped looking for a cure. He told her it was because he didn't want to rob anybody of any hope they might still be holding onto. The truth was Joel just wanted it to be over and forgotten before Ellie figured out he was lieing to her about the fireflies. He cast his eyes up at the ceiling listening to the soft muffled voices of the girls upstairs.
He could see why baby brother was crushing on Lily, she was the prettiest thing Joel had seen in a long time. She was a petite little lady not too much bigger then Ellie, but she had an ample bosom and really long hair; both features on a woman turned Tommy's head quick. Lily had a pretty face and big dark eyes, but Joel wasn't fool enough not to see the quick draw gleam in them when he smarted off to her. He was plenty sure Miss Lily was one dangerous woman.
The coffee finished and Joel heard the footsteps and voices move down to Ellie's room. Her voice came stronger and faster, clearly excited. He heard her laugh as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "Just be a kid for a while baby girl, you've earned it." The footsteps headed for the stairs.
Ellie came down with a book in her hand leading her likeable new tutor into the kitchen. "Hey Joel, do you think you can teach me about baseball?"
"Baseball?" he turned to greet the girls. "Sure I can do that."
"Do you remember a guy named Tom Gordon?"
"Sure, he was a pretty good ball player. Miss Lily, can I get you that cup of coffee?"
She took a step back. "Actually I'm going to have to take a rain check on the coffee. I still have some things to do today and this thing later so Ellie and I are going to step out into the back yard to pick out a spot for a vegetable garden. Cultivating, preserving and preparing food is part of the science I teach."
It sounded quite sensible to Joel. "Would it be alright if I give Ellie a hand with it all? I'm up for growing some fresh veggies."
"Sure, you can help her turn it all over. Come on Ellie, let's go pick a spot. It was nice to meet you Joel we'll talk again soon."
"Pleasure was all mine Miss Lily. You can come by and check in on Ellie anytime. Let me know what I can do to help when I can."
"I will," Lily followed Ellie out the back door.
Joel sipped coffee and looked down at the book Ellie left on the table. "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Aint that Stephen King feller kinda scary?" He turned the paperback over and read the description. Joel closed his eyes for a moment and pictured Sara in her team colors. She loved her sports, a side effect of growing up with a single dad. And now here I go again with Ellie. He opened his eyes and looked at the pair out in the back yard. Ellie was smiling and nodding at her new teacher. Joel sighed away some tension. "It's gonna be just fine." He sat at the small kitchen table and waited for Ellie to come back inside.
After the meet and greet Lily departed to finish running her errands. Ellie came in through the back door with a smile on her face. "So, what do you think?"
He watched her come to the little table. "Well what do you think?"
"I think its not going to be like school at all."
"Oh yeah?"
"It's going to be more like rolling in knowledge." Ellie cracked up. "I think Lily is going to be an awesome tutor."
It appeared the females had already bonded. "I think you're gonna have to work hard to impress that lady."
"No problem," Ellie sat in the chair next to Joel. "What did you think of her hmmm?" she tucked one fist under her chin and leaned forward on the table.
"She seems smart, on top of things."
"Uncle Tommy has the hots for her. Maria told me."
Joel still wasn't used to hearing his girl call his brother uncle, but it was something Ellie and Tommy decided on and so Joel just let it be. "You don't say?" he sipped his coffee.
"I can totally see why. Lily is pretty. Don't you think so?"
"I reckon she is."
Mwahahahaha. Ellie had already decided within the first ten minutes of meeting her new teacher that she just had to try and hook her up with Joel. Lily was totally cool. "With her being my teacher and all, you guys will probably have to spend some time together talking about me and stuff."
"Ellie," he regarded her squirming with patience. When she had ulterior motives, she couldn't hide it from him. "I intend to help you with your school work when I can, but I aint gonna go paling around with your teacher."
"Why not? What if you guys could be friends? It wouldn't hurt you to have a friend Joel. Is it because Uncle Tommy will get jealous?"
"Tommy's got nothin to do with it." Joel sighed and shook his head. "You aint old enough to understand that a woman like Miss Lily got trouble written up one side of her and down the other. Hell, her dang existence is enough to get Tommy in trouble."
"Maria actually likes Lily ya know. They rip on uncle Tommy behind his back."
"See, trouble. Don't you go pickin up no bad habits from her."
This put a kink in her plans, but Ellie wasn't ready to give up. Retreat and fight again another day. Operation Get Together can still work. "I wont," she sighed.
He sipped more brew. "Didn't Miss Lily assign you some homework young lady?"
"Yes."
"Don't you think maybe you ought to get to it? I mean, if you want to watch more Xena later."
"You don't have to bribe me to do my homework," Ellie said standing up. For good measure she added "Yet." She went to go find some paper and a working writing utensil.
Joel watched her go with a little smile on his face. He understood she was just trying to take care of him and he loved her all the more for it. A growing teenage girl was going to give him enough trouble, especially with teenage boys in this town. "Ellie," he smiled and finished what was left in his mug.
2
Joel finished clipping down the yard to something presentable then started to dig out the perimeter of their new vegetable garden. By the time he quit to go in and fix them some dinner his knees were angry with him. He wanted a drink to quiet them, but passed so that he could go to Tommy's meeting with a clear head. Ellie finished her book list and part of the outline before the paperback called her to start reading. The story reached out and grabbed her, she could identify with Trisha's disorientation and fear. Ellie set the book down to help make the meat sauce for the noodles. After dinner she gave the reading a break to watch another episode with Joel before he went off with Tommy. They got through one and a half episodes before Tommy arrived. Ellie promised to stop the dvd at the end of the episode and wait for Joel to watch anymore. She wanted tv to be their thing and she wanted to get back to her book.
The sun was almost gone and the night was coming on chilly as the brothers walked toward the center of town. "Got about a dozen guys coming tonight. Can't say they'll all be in, but most will."
"You think taking it to them is the right idea?"
"It has to be this way. We got women and children here. Don't want them tangled up in any more fighting."
"Alright then we'll take the shooting to their camp. Is a dozen guys gonna be enough?"
"Maybe. We'll see what we're dealing with and plan accordingly." They stepped along a little faster. "You and Ellie meet Lil today?"
"Yup, she came by the house. Her and Ellie hit it off pretty good. I think they'll do alright together."
"She got you diggin up your back yard for tomatoes yet?" Tommy laughed.
"I started this afternoon."
He smiled at his big brother. "Lily says grow food not lawns, at least in our back yards anyway. Its good to teach kids how to keep our food system goin."
"Ellie's got homework already."
Tommy knew Joel had to have missed this sort of thing. "This place will be home for ya'all. Give it time, you'll see."
Joel followed Tommy to the town hall and back into the conference room. Six men and a woman were already there mulling around the table. "Boys, Lil," Tommy greeted his team coming in. "Anybody else comin?"
"Rob's wife said no dice and Susan backed out on a count of her little ones," Stuart piped up with answers.
"Alright then, take a seat, we'll get started." Tommy flashed Lily a winning smile. "You can sit next to me darlin."
Lily pushed past Tommy and opted for the seat next to Joel. "I'm telling Maria on you."
"I know you are," he laughed back as everyone got seated.
"Miss Lily," Joel nodded at her concerned to find her here.
"Hey Joel. Ellie start her homework?"
"Yes she did. Been reading that book too."
Lily nodded at Tommy's big brother. "She'll like the story."
"Wasn't Stephen King a horror writer?"
"Mostly, but his use of descriptive narration is some of the best in print. Did you ever read his books?"
"One of em, The Gunslinger, back when I was young."
"I have the Dark Tower series, its excellent."
Tommy leaned over his brother and eyed the chatty pair. "You two wanna quit yer flirtin and join us?" Tim and Kenny laughed across the table.
"We were talking about my girls schooling thank you very much," Joel grumbled back defensively.
"Okay, here's the deal," Lily spoke up grabbing and opening the beat manila folder on the table. "We've been logging bandit activity for the past eight months and we've worked out some stats." Lily started passing out papers to be handed around the table.
Shawn took one and passed some more on. "We who?"
"Myself and Kyle."
"He's just a kid," Randy scoffed.
Lily straightened and glared at Randy. "I'm turning him into a mathematician for fucks sake Randy, okay? Give me some fucking credit and give me a fucking break."
Joel cut his eyes over to the scary woman as Randy slumped in his seat. Tommy saved the day with "Explain it to us Lil."
She looked at Tommy and then around the table. "The bottom line is they would max out at thirty guys tops. From everything we've seen its likely its just hunters."
"No women or kids," Tommy took over. "Ya'all know the type of men we're talkin about. Any which way, they're gonna outnumber us. Thing is, if we play it smart, we can even them odds."
There was some nodding and Lily dumped more info. "Their back trail puts them at about twenty six miles from here. They're probably holed up at one of the big ranch spreads down in the valley."
"Alright here's how this thing is gonna go down," Tommy grabbed their attention again. "We'll gear up and ride out at dawn. We're gonna track these guys and we're gonna get close, real close. Lil, I want you and Stu to take point. You set yourself up in a spot and Stu you guard her six."
Joel was sure Tommy had his reasons but "Wait a minute Tommy, what you sending in a school teacher for?"
"Because I'm the best sniper in this town," Lily condescended right back at him.
"She's right," Tommy lifted his brows at Lil. "And you'll call back the position of every man you see."
Joel was unsettled. "Then I'll go with her. I wanna access the situation too, if that alright with ya'all."
Tommy knew what kind of an asset his brother was going to be. "Alright then, you and Lily can be the advanced team. You get situated and report back. We'll meet up with ya and break up into two groups, flank em if we can. I want us all in constant communication. Lil, we'll be relying on you to tell us what you see and guard our asses."
"I'm on it."
"Tim Kenny Randy Dan, you guys are in one group. Stu, when we advance we'll sit you up there with Lil, Joel you Keith and Ben will come with me." There was a murmur of understanding and agreement. "Okay then, we're leaving at first light and ya need to plan on being gone all day at least. "Who needs a shift covered somewhere?"
Joel sat back while little brother did his politickian. He stole occasional glances at the best sniper in town, but didn't try to talk to her. Ellie had no idea the kind of time he was about to spend with her new teacher. Teaching a kid to be a mathematician, holy shit. I bet she'll be real good for Ellie. It was all the more reason for him to keep Miss Sniper alive and well on their mission.
After some more q and a the meeting broke up. Some of the guys needed to get someone to cover a watch for them, Tommy meant to go ask a few of his boys to pull a double at the plant tomorrow. As people were rising to get to their business Tommy got one last flirt in. "Sorry I can't see ya home Lil. Real sorry."
"Aint you married?" big brother jabbed.
"I see with my eyes not my hands." Tommy broke into giggles.
Lily shook her head. "I am so telling Maria on you."
"I know," he laughed harder.
"I'll escort Miss Lily home," Joel frowned at his fool brother.
She had about reached her limit with the Duke boys. "I don't need an escort home thanks."
Joel had other ideas. "It wouldn't be polite Miss Lily and besides, I thought we might talk a bit on the way."
Bonus round. Lily refrained from rolling her eyes. "Fine, but Tommy, next time I see Maria you are on so much trouble."
His giggles never stopped. "I didn't do nothin!"
"You an idiot," big brother scolded.
"You're an idiot," Lily corrected getting flustered. Tommy was still chuckling.
"Yeah well, I'll see ya at dawn," Tommy broke off to go with Keith.
He turned to Ellie's teacher. "Miss Lily," he gestured toward the door.
"Right," she turned and headed out with her new kids pops behind her.
3
They walked in silence until they were away from the edge of town, then Joel began "Best sniper in town huh?"
Here we go. "I'm accurate about most things."
"Like teaching kids math?"
"Yup, like that."
"You got em growing coffee."
Lily sighed, she knew how to end it with a story. "A long time ago, back when the outbreak happened, I knew there were some things I didn't want to live without. I didn't find raw coffee beans right away, but I did have other seeds I took with me from place to place. I've been a regular Johnny Appleseed when it comes to some shit."
That was probably a good thing. "Like what?"
"Tomatoes, cucumber, beans, peas, squash, melons, apples, grapes, marijuana, lettuce, Swiss chard."
"Whoa whoa whoa, back up. Did you say marijuana? Like weed?"
"You do understand that medicinally speaking we've been flung back to medieval times. We can't just whip up most synthetic drugs in a lab. We're lucky to make aspirin right about now. Weed is for pain and serotonin imbalance in the brain and yes, some who choose it over alcohol."
"You study that? Plants and drugs and such?"
"Botany and pharmacology are subjects Ellie will be learning."
"Sounds pretty advanced."
Lily sighed. "Yeah well I'm really smart and I need to pass it on. Look, you don't have to worry about Ellie, she's going to learn some good shit and as far as tomorrow goes, you don't need to worry about that either. I've got an SR25 and I know how to use it."
"I imagine you're pretty good considering you've been on the outside most of the time. Tommy told me a little bit about you."
"He told me about you too," she warned.
"He told me you were good at survivin, helpin people out."
"He told me you were good at killing people." She cut her eyes over to his, for a moment they locked in the glow of the streetlight.
Her eyes were pitch in the dim. "When I need to be. You don't need to worry about me tomorrow either Miss Lily."
"You stepped up, so I'll put my trust in you." Lily stopped at the intersection. "You're that way, my place is over here. Get back to Ellie, I'll see you in the morning."
The gentleman in him wanted to argue, but Joel had to play it smart with this one. "Alright then Miss Lily, I'll see you bright and early."
"Okay," she turned and headed home in the dark.
Joel stood and watched her go for a minute, then started down the street in the opposite direction. He would judge Lily's sniping abilities and a whole lot more come tomorrow. He wasn't going to tell Ellie it was a raid he was going on, she would hear that he was doing something at the plant with Tommy in the morning. Joel wasn't even going to bring up Lily.
Ellie took it all in stride and they watched some more Xena while Joel eased his way through two short glasses of whiskey. They talked baseball for a while and Ellie told him about the story she was reading. It had its spook factor, but she liked it. When it started to get late Ellie went up to bed with her book. Joel made sure the place was locked up tight and headed to bed himself. He needed his rest for the mission come dawn.
4
He set his wind up alarm clock for four thirty and slapped it off within seconds of it bleating its shrill chime into the darkness of his bedroom. He didn't want to wake Ellie getting up and moving himself. He lay in bed for a minute feeling the aches and pains of old beatings and hard falls. Another day of this shit. He rubbed his eyes and got out of bed. Joel stumbled to his bathroom and into a nice hot shower. Once awake and dressed he went down for a cup of the coffee he programmed to brew for him last night. He debated which guns and gear to bring with him over his first cup and started getting his backpack together at the coffee table in the living room while he enjoyed his second.
Tommy knocked on Joel's door at six thirty. The brothers finished what was in the coffee pot and headed for the checkpoint. They were the last to arrive, nerves on edge made for a lot of early birds. The posse geared up, bullets and nail bombs alike, then rode out against the rising sun.