Free Rebirth by Michael Poeltl Page B

and wept openly. Caroline lifted the baby out of my arms and handed him to Sid. She crawled in next to me and hugged me until my convulsive, breathless weeping exhausted us both and sleep overcame us. But just as I was about to drift off, I tried Leif once again at my breast. He took it in his tiny mouth, and sucked for dear life. It was do or die for all of us now. Perhaps he sensed this too.
     
    Chapter Eighteen
     
    The next morning Sidney shakily related the gruesome discovery of Seth. After searching fruitlessly within the house he had decided to try the forest behind the backyard, toward the shed. Grave markers of friends long since dead gave him an eerie feeling of dread as he continued past them. It was dark, but the moon was occasionally granted an audience as the dense groupings of clouds moved swiftly by. As Sidney approached the outer reaches of our property, he heard a strange sound. Though the wind had picked up considerably, he hadn’t noticed the trees bending in any noticeable fashion. The sound became louder the closer he moved toward the shed. It resembled the sound you might experience if you were sitting on a tire swing, gently moving yourself back and forth on your heels as the rope stretched and pulled against a large branch of a tree. At least, that’s how Sidney described it. For a long moment Sid stood listening, his semi-automatic poised, but the sound just kept on, lethargic in its repetition. He continued, slowly, cautiously on the path he had started.
     
    The clouds backed off, bathing the forest in light just as Sid realized what was producing the eerie sound. As we hadn’t seen rain in over a week, a sudden breeze picked up dust from the forest floor, filling Sid’s eyes with the grit. He raised his arms to protect his face from the stinging needles and debris caught up in the abrupt wind storm. But as quickly as it had come, it left. Sid wiped his eyes with both hands, his weapon slung over his shoulder, his eyes tearing up, blindly walking along the beaten path. Having walked the path a hundred times, both in life and in our post-Apocalyptic present, he knew every step and could navigate the way safely, blindfolded, on a bet. But something startled him as he bumped into a foreign object impeding his progress to the shed.
     
    He immediately backed off, opening his blurry eyes, blinking away the remaining grit, rifle pulled out in front of him.
     
    As his vision began to return he realized the object was suspended in space, hanging from one of the larger trees in the middle of the path. The object was not a fallen branch. It was Seth, rope attached to his neck.
     
    Sidney spun around, blinking madly, searching the darkness for those responsible. Were they watching him? Was he next?
     
    There was little doubt in his mind as to who had done this. But why? Seth would never have done this to himself.
     
    With the wind came the rains, hard and falling fast. It would last only a few minutes, but long enough to turn the hardened soil into a mucky mess, exacerbating Sidney’s desperate effort to ascend the hill and protect his friends.
     
    Chapter Nineteen
     
    The following day I made up my mind. They needed to die. They had murdered Seth. They could not be allowed to hurt us, or especially my baby. Sid checked on Skylab and confirmed our three enemies were now sitting quietly, drinking what remained of the alcohol and smoking what little weed was left. We went to work immediately. They were too proficient with their weapons, and I was afraid if a gun fight ensued we’d lose. So, I’d decided to torch the house that night. First we’d pack our gear, food and water and lay it out behind the pool for easy retrieval. How it had come to this I couldn’t say. These strangers had been my friends. We had relied on one another during the most difficult time in our lives. But something had happened to them. Something had snapped in their brains. Like undomesticated animals, they had allowed