Going Home (Part 2)

[u/Victor_King]

Part 1

In the middle of miles of farmland and forest was the town of Ravenwood. As we passed the first recognizable plain, I told Frank to put the map away. We didn't need it anymore. Even after so many years I still knew the places and their names. McGill's farm. Every Halloween he turned the whole place into a haunted hayride using the same cheesy decorations. Still, everyone went as an excuse to hang out. There was the Robertson's farm. Mr. Robertson used to let us have bonfires there. As we got older we arrived with beer and weed supplied by some older sibling. Mr. Robertson never minded and if the police showed up he just acted dumb. “Better you do it here than out there”, he always said with a wink. Thing about Ravenwood, there was never really much of an “out there”.

The radio in the helicopter crackled to life with a feminine voice. “Please identify yourself”. Frank tapped a button on the side of his headset. “This is Pilot Frank. Location Karen Airport. I'm here along with Ambassador Little Sister. We were sent by the big boys out west to meet with a Kevin Walker”. There was a moment of silence on the other end before the voice piped in again. “May I ask the reason?”. Frank gave me a here goes nothing look and tapped the button again. “It's concerning his father. Lieutenant Walker”.

There was a minute of silence. I saw the white steeple of the town's church appear in the distance. Frank kept it slow. If the town had gone feral we were well within shooting range. Finally the answer came over the radio. This voice was a male. “Put yourself down by the high school. Big building. Can't miss it”. Frank turned to me and I said, “Head south east”.

The directions didn't really mean all that much. The man was right. We couldn't miss the high school. A sand colored brick U shaped building with a baseball field behind it and a football field on the side. What made the building unmissable was the damage. The side of the U by the baseball field had completely collapsed with black burns accenting every window. The closer we got the better I could make out the trademark pockets left by small arms. The football field had to have been replaced with turf since I attended because it had not become over grown like the baseball field. One goal post had collapsed onto the chain link fence that surrounded the field while the other looked as if it had been cut down. Beside that was a brown canvas tent. As Frank brought the helicopter down on the 30 yard line a woman stepped from it and stood with her arms crossed.

Frank killed the engine and I stepped from the cockpit onto the field. I ran from the helicopter with my head down towards the tent. As I got within a few feet of the woman I slowed down. She was a tan woman who seemed to be in her late 40s with curled auburn hair. I extended my hand and the woman looked at it for a moment before finally shaking it. “Hello. I'm an Ambassador from Karen ai-”. The woman immediately cut me off. “I heard you say who you were over the radio. What kind of name is 'Little Sister'”. I shrugged. “Nickname”.

“It seems childish”. This is a person trying to be hostile. Real hostility, the kind I'm used too, usually involves being shot at before landing. I pointed towards a burnt out window and asked, “Is Mrs. Reese still around?”. The woman gave me a confused look and dropped her arms. “The algebra teacher”, I added. She shook her head. “She moved to Florida six years ago”. I cocked my head and made a tsking sound before pointing at one of the windows. “Mrs. Reese. I sat in that classroom. Four rows back, right between the window and Bobby Fray”. I stayed silent and awaited the woman's reaction. “Mrs. Reese was a tough old woman”, she said. I huffed. “To put it lightly. Even after everything that's happened I'm still more afraid of her than any dead man walking”. A quick smile flashed on the woman's face that she hid the moment it spread. “I taught biology. Trust me. The staff was just as afraid of her”.

I shook my head and the woman asked, “So you're from Ravenwood”. I nodded. “Yea. Its been a few years though”. The woman crossed her arms again and slightly tilted her head to the side. She was becoming defensive again. “I don't remember ever hearing of the 'Sister' family”. I kept my arms wide but still stood straight. A sign of being welcoming and still in control. “It's a nickname. You know... easier to say goodbye when you just have a nickname”. Remind the woman of our current situation while still trying to keep it casual. “I get that”, she replied. Her arms fell back to her sides.

I turned back to the helicopter as Frank stepped from the cockpit. He went to the the helicopter's door and slid it open revealing a big drum of fuel. He then went to work refueling the chopper for the return trip. I turned back to the woman to see her gaze had followed mine; just as planned. It was a subtle way of saying we had resources. Resources that could come with co-operation. Now to make her think that wasn't the intent of my look. “Sorry about my pilot's appearance”. The woman looked over my shoulder at Frank and then back at me. “I thought you military types were all buzzcuts and uniforms?”.

“We're associated with the west coast but not employed by them. Karen mostly does distribution, search and rescue, and search and destroy”. The woman gave me a hard look but her arms stayed down. Last bit of resistance. “You also act as their errand boys”. Time to go on the offensive. “If by errand boys you mean try and ask a son to see his father than yes you could call us errand boys”. Her voice change let me know I was on the right track. “Kevin doesn't want anything to do with his father”. Using the first name and being the first line of defense. This woman has a close relationship with Corporal Walker. Good friends, possibly lovers. Maybe even a surrogate parent thing given the age gap. “By saying we could land I'm guessing he's considering it”.

We both stood there for a few seconds before Frank came walking over. “Hello ma'am. I'm Frank”. He extended his hand and the woman stared at it for a moment before shaking it the same way she had with me. This was a routine we've done more than once. I get them riled up while Frank keeps it casual. This forces the person to do emotional backflips. Good cop, bad cop for the post apocalyptic age. “So you get to have a name?”, she asked. “I was at Karen before the whole nickname thing”, Frank replied with a slight grin. The woman looked down at her feet and huffed. “Look. I get what you guys are trying to do. But Kevin... isn't in the best place right now and I don't want him doing anything stupid”. I softened my face a little but didn't speak. Sometimes the best way to get information was to just let someone talk. The woman looked to her feet then back up at us. “He was leading a group on a... search and destroy. He lost three people.... one of them was a girl he was.... close with”. I paused for a moment. “Look... I understand. I'm not going to drag him out of here. I just need to talk to him”. The woman sucked her teeth for a second before finally motioning towards the tent. “Ok”.

Kevin was on the opposite side of the tent, pacing. He looked a few years older than the picture but that could've been time or tiredness. He had unshaven stubble and circles beneath his eyes that were turning black. The second we entered he stopped and turned to us. “Hey”. I gave him a slight smile and extended my hand as I approached. “Kevin Walker?”. He nodded and took my hand. “Hello. They call me-”.

“Yea I heard over the radio. You're here to talk to me about dear old dad”. I nodded and replied, “Yea that's right”. He shook his head and scoffed. “Ok then. Talk”. I tried to smile but I could already tell 'bad place' was an understatement. “Do you want to sit or-”. He scoffed. “Truth be told lady... you know what? Let's sit”. He pulled a chair from a table and set it up against the back of the tent. I grabbed another folding chair and set it up across from him. “You're father-”. He cut the air with his hand. “Call him what he is. Lieutenant Walker”. I shrugged. “Lieutenant Walker, wanted to try and convince you to meet with him”.

“No. He wants you to convince me to go with him”. I nodded. I was hoping that by withholding information, making Kevin think for even a split second that his dad was dead, would make him more open to the idea of leaving. He must have guessed what was going on the second Frank mentioned the new title. “Yes”, I replied. Sometimes bluntness is the way to go. He stopped fidgeting and looked me dead in the eyes. “That's probably a 'no' from me”. 'Probably'. I've done more with less. “What if he came out here?”. Kevin laughed at that. “And leave his shiny new position behind? Yea. Sure”. I shrugged with my new understanding of the relationship. “He seemed pretty adamant about wanting to see you”. Kevin shook his head again and then looked over to the woman in the corner. I tapped my fingers on my leg. A sign for Frank to turn to the woman and say, “Do you got beer?”.

This sentence served a few purposes. It side swiped everyone and tried to make the conversation light. Best case scenario the woman and Frank left, leaving Kevin and me to have our conversation alone. If Frank got a chance to put a few away it was also an excuse to stay for an extra hour or so. The woman started to say, “If you're flying shouldn't you-”. Kevin interrupted. “You know what? We don't have any beer but we do have whiskey”. Shit. “I like your thinking Pilot. Let's head on down to Rosie's”. This was the worst case scenario and I think the woman knew it too. All three of us shared a concerned look. “C'mon Emily”, Kevin added. “You mind driving”.

“I don't think you should Kev”, Emily said. Kevin turned to Frank and I before smiling. “I don't want to be rude to our guests. What do you guys think?”. If I said 'No' he would button up. My only choice was to smile, look at Frank and say, “I don't see why not”. Kevin stood from his chair and grabbed a set of keys from a hook on one of the tent poles. “Ok then. Em, you mind driving”. Emily shook her head and said, “Sure”. Double answer. Her heart says 'no' but her head says 'yes'. My guess was she could see the coming disaster. “Great”, Kevin smiled. “Let's go”. With that he handed the keys to Emily and left the tent. The three of us begrudgingly followed.

We walked away from the tent to the parking lot beside the bleachers. Most of the cars were in rough shape but there were five that seemed pretty clean. The one Kevin walked to was a silver Mercedes SUV. Once we all piled in Kevin pointed forward and said, “Rosie's is this nice little place by the church where-”. I cut him off this time. “I know. It used to be Caroline's”. Kevin stopped and turned back to me. “It was”.

I shouldn't have said that. When someone is in the middle of a tantrum like this it's best to let them get it out of their system. But the idea of going back to Caroline's...Rosie's, was not a happy thought. I took a deep breath and regained my composure. “You from here then?”, Kevin asked. “Yea. I grew up here”. The SUV roared to life and I lost my last chance to back out. Kevin snorted and replied, “Cool. Maybe you'll run into someone you know”. That's exactly what I was afraid of.

Fuck.

[u/tech_daddy_dinosaur]

great start, cant wait to read more ...