In the Aftermath: Burning of the Dawn Page 26

  Clarissa’s only response was an ambiguous lift of her left brow, which was more than sufficient for Daniel. She knew he was right; her lifting anything was asking for trouble. Even though the pain in her ribs had slowly begun to diminish, she was still far from recovered. Clarissa did not like admitting to this fact, but she still accepted it.

  As Daniel headed off down his gravel driveway, the Hannigans returned to the house. Vita and Maria immediately gathered up their belongings, along with anything else that piqued their interest, and began stacking them next to the front door. Both girls were nervous and frightened in regards to their upcoming journey, but they were also excited. This trip out of Pennsylvania was a trip long overdue. The fact that Daniel would be with them emboldened their confidence, for the most part. Their mother was still vulnerable and that deeply concerned the twins, yet she, too, would heal with time.

  Clarissa did what she could to assist her daughters. This mostly consisted of her gathering pillowcases, bags, baskets, and light boxes. She despised her nearly helpless state, but she did not complain. If she had to rely on anyone she was glad it was her daughters. Vita and Maria were happy to take up the extra tasks and did so without command or hesitation. The Hannigans worked efficiently; they had the storeroom completely cleaned out and everything they wanted stood ready by the front door. All they had to do now was wait for Daniel to return.

  It took Daniel only minutes to make his way to the outskirts of Meadville. However, he was still not sure as to where to deploy his distraction. The Smock Memorial Bridge was his first idea, but he quickly abandoned it. Even though Daniel had framed Maria’s drawing, a wayward gust of wind could still send it into the creek below. A lone strobe lamp sitting on the bridge would surely confuse the Sayona, but it wouldn’t likely stoke their anger in the process. Instead, Daniel ultimately settled on Diamond Park at the heart of the city. There, he entered the unkempt park and placed the strobe lamp, with the car battery, in the center of a weathered gazebo and fastened Maria’s drawing to a nearby post. For a little more dramatic effect, Daniel acquired a few life-sized mannequins from some obsolete apparel shops within his vicinity. He placed them in an obeisance-like manner around the gazebo, as if they were giving homage to Maria’s drawing. Daniel then wired the strobe lamp to the car battery and switched it on; it seemed to work well. He slowed down the strobing to where the light flashed about every three seconds. The Sayona would spot it easily, Daniel was confident in that. Their precise reaction was beyond his knowledge. In their rage, the beasts would likely tear apart the city in an effort to find him, but that was by no means an assurance. In any case, it would have to do. By the time the Sayona’s search advanced beyond the boundaries of Meadville, Daniel hoped that he and the Hannigans would be far away. After completing his distraction, Daniel returned to his truck and proceeded back home.

  The trailer that Daniel aimed to bring along on the journey westward was stashed in the very town that he resided in. He had left it close by in an old service station, so that he could acquire it quickly and easily if necessary. Now was the necessary time. Daniel had removed the tires from the trailer, but they, too, were hidden nearby and immediately reequipped. Unlike Daniel’s large utility trailer, this trailer was a cargo trailer and much smaller in size – five feet wide and eight feet long. The smaller size would be a benefit. The black, cargo trailer was also enclosed, so whatever was packed inside would be better protected from the elements. Daniel fastened the trailer to his truck and then made a hasty return to his house to help the Hannigans prepare for their imminent journey.

  The Hannigans were fast and proficient. By the time Daniel returned with the trailer, all of their necessities were packed and ready to depart. There were still many hours left in the day, so it was decreed by all that the trailer might as well be loaded up now and be ready to leave at the first signs of light tomorrow morning. Even with her limp, Vita worked just as efficiently as Daniel and her sister. The trailer was loaded up and ready to go with no time wasted. As a whole, they did not take a great many necessities; most of the occupied space consisted of food items from the storeroom. Blankets, clothes, batteries, lamps, solar panels, and other essentials were also placed within the trailer. The ammunition was left out. It would be brought along in the Hannigans’ car where it would be more easily accessible. Some of the items from the Hannigans’ car were also relocated to the trailer to allow for more space within the vehicle.

  After the trailer was loaded and readied to go, Daniel pulled it behind his house and covered it with a dull, gray tarp. He then tore down his hand-crafted smokehouse and used its remains to further conceal the hidden trailer. Vita and Maria assisted. After Daniel was satisfied with their hiding duty, he and the Hannigan twins returned to the house. Tonight and tomorrow would be a long and tense affair, so Clarissa insisted that Daniel get as much sleep as he could before nightfall. Though he was reluctant, Vita and Maria eventually persuaded him. That evening the Hannigans dined on the last of Daniel’s smoked elk. As they ate, the twins spoke with feigned enthusiasm about their forthcoming journey; their mother was not fooled. She knew her daughters were dreading the impending night, as well as their trip tomorrow. She spoke calmly and compassionately to her girls to try and ease their fears. It helped; mostly because the twins believed their mother. Clarissa was honest with her daughters. She, too, harbored anxieties concerning the night ahead, but after that her fears would cease. Their voyage into the west was the right decision and Daniel was the right person to lead them. The only thing that stood in their way was a few more hours of darkness.

  “Just one more night, my beauties,” Clarissa spoke to her daughters. “Just one more night and we’ll be rid of this place forever.” Clarissa gently embraced both of her girls and added, “I love you both beyond words. You’re still my girls, but you’ve become better women than I could ever hope to be.” She kissed them both. Vita and Maria’s worries faded steadily as they dined with their mother and spoke of the days and nights to come. No amount of tender words would truly chase away the twins’ anxieties, yet they both were determined to face this last night in Daniel’s house with strength and courage… at least with as much strength and courage that could be marshalled while hiding in the storeroom.

  It was nearly an hour until sundown when Daniel awoke. To his pleasant surprise he had slept without incident. It was only a few hours, but Daniel was as ready as he possibly could be to face the night ahead. He had his worries: would his distraction be effective? Was the trailer hidden well enough? Could he really lead the Hannigans to a safer place? His concerns could not be helped, so Daniel simply let them be for the time being. The light of the morning would bring an end to most of them, but the road to that rapture was a dark one. The final hour of daylight passed quietly. Daniel and the Hannigans spoke little until dusk was finally upon them. As the light of day dwindled into obscurity, the Hannigans made for the storeroom for the last time.

  As Maria entered the threshold of the storeroom she turned to Daniel and spoke, “Be careful tonight.”

  “Don’t worry, hon’; I’ll be as stealthy as a snake.”

  “Seriously,” Maria declared in all seriousness. “If something happens tonight…” Maria paused briefly to gather her words. She did not want to mention the beasts, but she did want to be completely clear in what she was conveying to Daniel. “If the Sayona show up tonight, don’t try to fight them. Just come down here, with us, and hide. Please.”

  “I won’t take any unnecessary risks, I promise.”

  “All risks are unnecessary at this point,” Vita added. “Maria’s right. No acts of foolish bravery.”

  “I give my word on it, ladies,” Daniel professed. “No one wants to see the morning more than I do right now.”

  “You should stay in here, with us.” Maria spoke as she stepped aside to clear the entryway into the storeroom. “There’s plenty of room.”

  “I know.” Daniel’s response to Maria was delicate. Her moth
er and her sister were far better at controlling their anxieties than she was. It would be a rough night for all of them, but Maria would be the most affected. Daniel was aware that there was little he could say to change that fact, but he gave it a shot nevertheless. “Just one more night, that’s all. Your drawing is gonna have the Sayona chasing their own tails; they won’t know where to go or what to do, not for tonight. And by tomorrow evening we’ll be safe and sound and a hundred miles away. I’ll be safer tonight than I have been in a long time.”

  “I still don’t understand why you can’t stay with us.” Maria stated, still unsatisfied.

  “It’s safer that way,” Clarissa clarified. “If Daniel sees danger he can come to us and warn us and we’ll all be ready. We’ll hide together and we’ll fight together… but it won’t come to that.” Clarissa looked to Daniel. “Will it?”

  “Nope.” Daniel assured. “I’ll guarantee it if that’ll help.”

  Maria made no reply. She took her place on the storeroom floor and sat quietly. That was as close to a victory as Daniel and Clarissa were going to get and they were both content with that. Vita gave Daniel a goodnight hug and fervidly demanded that he stay safe; she then joined her sister in the storeroom.

  “I’ll see you in the morning.” Clarissa said to Daniel as she followed her daughters into their hiding place.

  “I’ll be here.” He replied confidently. “Goodnight, girls.” Daniel sealed the Hannigans into their hidden room. Afterwards, he paced around his house in the fleeting light. He was unsure if he would miss this place or not. Nothing bad had ever come to him since the day he had moved in, but as Daniel mulled over that fact, he also established that up until the Hannigans showed up at his front door, nothing particularly good had ever happened to him either. Nevertheless, the old house had treated him kindly, so he silently thanked her for her many months of hospitality.

  As the night settled in, Daniel took his place at his listening post for the last time. He took up his earphone and nervously listened for any sounds while cautiously keeping an eye on the outside world. Thoughts concerning tomorrow’s journey crept into his head from time to time, but for the most part Daniel was successful at masticating his trepidations and maintaining his full focus on the present. It was almost like a renaissance. Within a few hours he would be starting a new journey – a new life almost; a second chance. The mundane and insignificant existence he had lived over the last year was nearing its conclusion, but now was not the time for those meanderings. Focus: Daniel had to emphasize caution before expectation. He did exactly that for a long time… until something shattered his focus. Seeing and hearing: those were the senses he was relying on to keep him and the Hannigans safe. However, it would be a different sense that would come to his aid on this night: his sense of smell. There was a scent in the air, and Daniel recognized it instantly. It came in subtle at first; Daniel was not even sure if it was real or just his imagination conjuring it up, but as the night progressed the scent strengthened in intensity. It was no delusion. Something, somewhere, was burning.

  It took a few hours, but eventually Vita and Maria both fell asleep on either side of their mother. Clarissa herself was nearing the edge of slumber when she, too, caught the stale aroma of the strange scent. Clarissa assumed that it was Daniel. She and her daughters had been in the storeroom for a long time, but was it morning already? Was Daniel cooking something? He had torn down his smokehouse and otherwise only prepared foods by boiling water. Also, the cooking of food tends to have a pleasing aroma, if done correctly, and this burning smell was not very inviting. Clarissa rose from her place between her daughters and made her way to the other side of the storeroom. She had to move slowly to maintain quietness as she gently attempted to open the door. Clarissa chastised herself throughout the attempt: this is dangerous and foolish; the Sayona could be outside. Regardless of the risks, her steadfast curiosity kept her going. The heavy door made her ribs hurt and the slow pace that she maintained did not help the pain, yet she prevailed soon enough. Clarissa breathed a painful sigh of relief when she saw light faintly glowing through the opening of the door. It was dim, but it was definitely the light of the early dawn. Her sigh of relief was soon followed by a sigh of distress. The front door to Daniel’s house was wide open.

  Clarissa procured her shotgun from the storeroom and made her way towards the front door. The burning scent was even stronger now and Clarissa’s eyes began to water in the pale dimness of the dawn, impairing her vision even further. She rested briefly by the open door before cautiously peering outside. The dawn itself was not so dim; it only looked that way to Clarissa because of the overcast sky. As she peered around the doorframe, she immediately spotted Daniel standing a few meters ahead. He had his back to her, staring in a trancelike state towards the south with his rifle in his arms. Carefully, she made her way towards him. As she got closer she spoke.

  “Hey!” Clarissa called quietly. Daniel turned to face her. Clarissa could see some sort of oddity in his eyes; not necessarily fear, but definitely some degree of unease. “What’s going on?” She asked.

  Daniel began to laugh, but not out of amusement. An overabundance of bewilderment had triggered his hysterics. “The little bastards burned it down.” Daniel replied.

  “What?” Clarissa asked with an affluent abundance of her own bewilderment. She understood who the little bastards were that Daniel was referring to, but still she wondered, “Who burned what down?” As she asked that question, Clarissa took notice of the sky above her. What she originally assumed were clouds overhead proved to be something else entirely. It was smoke: thick and dark and ubiquitous.

  “Meadville,” Daniel replied. “The Sayona burned it down.”

  “Burned it? They set fires?” Clarissa asked. Daniel had advised her over how intelligent the Sayona were, and she had witnessed it firsthand by driving right into one of their traps, but this was different. Although the fire itself was obstructed by the trees surrounding Daniel’s yard, the scent of the nearby inferno and the amount of smoke in the air was proof enough of how large the fire was. Clarissa had also taken notice of a light rain of ash falling all around her now.

  “That’s a new one on me.” Daniel answered. “They’re smart enough for sure, but with fire comes light… they must’ve been really damn determined to destroy that city.”

  “It wasn’t the city they were after.” Clarissa pointed out as she walked up beside Daniel. That was a fact he was already well aware of, and in Clarissa’s apathetic tone it made it all the more menacing.

  “Yeah, I’m getting the impression that I’m not well-liked.”

  “I’d take it as a compliment, personally.”

  “I won’t be sending any thank you notes anytime soon.”

  “Your plan worked; you kept them away for the night.”

  “At the cost of an entire city.”

  “It won’t be missed.”

  “No, I guess it won’t be… still my fault though.”

  Clarissa gave Daniel a brief, unsympathetic scowl. Not only had his plan worked in distracting the Sayona, but he had also riled the beasts to such an extent that they destroyed a city that was more useful to them than it was to any humans. Clarissa could not comprehend why Daniel should feel any guilt.

  Daniel did not catch Clarissa’s glare, but he could feel her indifferent eyes upon him. He was annoying her again: too sentimental, too sympathetic, too meek… he would have to avoid that in the future. This journey he and the Hannigans were about to undertake would seem a great deal longer and much more unpleasant if Clarissa was perpetually irritated by his idiosyncrasies the whole way to wherever they were going.

  “Oh well, shit happens I guess.” Daniel spoke in an attempt to be less diffident

  “When can we be on the road?” Clarissa asked.

  Daniel looked to Clarissa. It was impossible to tell if the drastic measures taken by the Sayona had spooked her. Her actions were often predictable, yet Clarissa’s eyes shed
no secrets. Daniel envied that, but it also disturbed him. The extreme actions taken by the Sayona had undoubtedly spooked him, and he was now more than happy to be gone from this place as soon as was possible.

  “About twenty minutes if we put our minds to it.” Daniel answered.

  “That’s fine by me,” Clarissa replied. “I’ll go wake the girls.”

  Vita and Maria were swiftly roused by their mother and instantly they caught the scent of the nearby inferno. Although they were initially perturbed by the fire, both girls moved hastily and obeyed their mother’s every command. Daniel used his truck to bring the cargo trailer out of hiding and around to the front of the house. He used his truck for this task instead of the Hannigans’ vehicle mostly for sentimental reasons: reliable and dedicated, this would be the last time that Daniel would ever see his vehicle again. Daniel unlatched the trailer and returned his faithful truck back to its place in the garage.

  Clarissa and Maria gathered up what few personal items remained while Vita went to see if Daniel needed any assistance. Daniel was searching behind the seat of his truck when Vita joined him. She asked if he required any help in his search. He did not and conveyed to her that he was merely checking for anything he might have overlooked. The medical box that had recently saved Vita’s life was lying on the ground just by the truck door; that item would certainly be making the journey with them. As Vita looked around Daniel’s modest garage, she spotted something against the back wall. It was a single rowing oar standing next to an assortment of rakes, shovels, axes, and picks. Vita scurried around Daniel’s vehicle and over to her mother’s car. Still fastened to the roof of the Hannigans’ hatchback was the ash rowing oar that she had found at the old, abandoned house at the back of the field where she and her sister had used the oar for a bit of impromptu batting practice. It had only been about a week since that time, but to Vita it seemed like a lifetime ago. She removed the oar from her car and took it over to the one in Daniel’s garage; she then placed them side by side. Vita stepped back and stared at the two oars. Hers was much finer than Daniel’s; though she wasn’t aiming to draw any comparisons. She took a strange comfort in the fact that the oars were a pair again, which brought her a schmaltzy, little smile.