The Survivors Ch. 04

"Vicki!" Melissa shouted when she saw her adopted daughter coming through the door.

She ran to embrace Vicki, tears streaming down her face. She didn't notice the Changeling girl until Vicki pulled away slightly and turned to shrug her rifle off her shoulder.

When Melissa saw little Cindy, her hand flashed down to the pistol that she wore constantly.

Vicki's hand flashed out like a striking snake to catch her mothers hand ad stopped her from completing the draw. "No mom!" she spoke rapidly. "This is Cindy. She's my sister and she's OK."

Melissa backed off several steps, but she didn't try to continue drawing her gun, although she kept her hand on the butt. "You have some explaining to do young lady."

Cindy saw the naked hostility in Melissa's eyes and cowered back against my side for protection and comfort.

"I'll take Cindy around and introduce her to everybody," I said. "That way there'll be no misunderstandings about her status here."

Vicki met my eyes for a long moment, and then nodded slowly. "Thank you father."

She turned back to Melissa with a lopsided smile. "Is there any coffee made mom? This is going to take a while. "

Melissa nodded abruptly and turned to lead Vicki into the kitchen.

I looked down at Cindy and put my arm around her shoulders. "Come on short stuff, I'll show you off to everyone and let them know that you are part of the family."

She smiled up at me with trusting eyes.

This wasn't going to be easy at all.

In the kitchen, Vicki and her adopted mother sat across from each other cradling cups of coffee and just looking at each other for a long moment.

"Well Mom, it's like this," Vicki began.

*Vicki's story*

After Tammie was killed on the raid to wipe out the major Changeling nests in town, I was obsessed with killing every Changeling I could. I knew that Dad wouldn't let me go on any more raids for a long time if ever.

I talked Matt into making me a sniper rifle and practiced with it until I was confident that I could hit my target every time.

I slept with Jack while he worked up some special ammunition for the rifle. A lot of it since I knew I would be out there alone for a long time."

(She looked steadily into Melissa's eyes.)

"I knew exactly what I was doing. I waited for you to give birth, then I saddled my horse and rode out while everyone else was celebrating,

I knew that you and Dad wouldn't approve of what I had to do to make those creatures pay for Tammie and everyone else that they've killed.

(Vicki waited for her mother to pour more coffee and sit back down before she continued.)

I headed for the Miller's place to establish a base of operations.

It's close enough to Billings that I wouldn't have any trouble getting to and from town, and far enough out that the Changelings wouldn't be likely to come out that far.

I spent the week of that first blizzard holed up there in the Miller house studying maps and making plans.

I found a cellar in the basement that held canned food and other supplies that we had missed when we made our earlier sweeps.

There was plenty of firewood and I brought in hay bales and bags of grain from the barn before the storm got too bad.

There wasn't much to do except to keep the horse and myself inside and try not to freeze to death until the storm broke.

When the dawn came on the 8th day, the sky was clear and bright even if it was cold as hell.

I saddled my horse and went out for a scouting trip. I tied my horse to a tree just down the slope of a hill that overlooks Billings and belly-crawled up to some bushed on the summit. Peeking through the branches with my binoculars, I could see a few Changelings moving around, scavenging anything they could find that was even remotely edible

The urge to start shooting was almost overpowering, but I remembered Dad's lessons. .

Never set up a snipers next without scouting at least 3 escape routes before hand.

I slithered back down the hill to where the horse was and started back to the Miller place.

I didn't want the tracks I was leaving in the snow to lead straight back to my lair, so I found a creek that was still flowing and rode downstream for about a mile before coming out on the opposite bank and turning for home.

The hill I had just left was a lousy place to start sniping, Only one way out of there that was even remotely secure, and a limited field of fire.

I needed a better place so that I could start making those bastards pay for killing my sister.

A week later I found the first of the snipers nests that I would use.

I scouted the escape routes like Dad had taught us, then I moved on to look for another nest.

When I had several places scouted and memorized, I felt I was ready.

I went to the first nest that I had scouted and set up the spotting scope and my rifle.

I didn't know how many shots that I could get off before the Changelings figured out where I was, so I made my preparations for a quick getaway.

Looking through the spotting scope, I found my first target. A male Changeling wearing a blanket draped over its shoulders.

I quickly found him through the scope on the rife and calculated the range at about 600 yards.

I tracked him until he stopped to sniff at the air by a burned out house and squeezed the trigger slowly.

The suppressor worked perfectly and the rifle made very little sound.

I had held the crosshairs just above the Changeling's head and was gratified to see the bullet strike him just below the neck dead center in the spine.

I watched for any signs of life, but the bullet had performed exactly as designed and the beast was dead.

I worked the bolt to chamber another round, and then put my eye back to the spotting scope to look for my next target.

I made 6 more kills from that nest, and then decided that I had pushed my luck far enough. I gathered my scope and rifle and headed back for my lair.

Over the next couple of months, I raised merry hell with the Changelings. Then I decided that I needed more ammunition.

Besides, my food supply was getting low, and I was starting my period, I didn't dare risk the changeling scenting my menstrual blood.

I started visiting places I knew that we had missed on earlier sweeps. I made a travois to haul my booty back to the lair, as I had no other way to haul stuff around.

I found a reloading press and enough powder, primers and bullets to keep me in business for a long time at one house.

Another house provided more than enough food to last me a long time. I made several trips to get everything back to the Miller place.

I considered coming back home, but I knew that you and Dad wouldn't let me go out again, and I still had too much killing to do.

I found an old Remington 12 gauge shotgun and a hacksaw at one of the places I visited, along with a few boxes of shotgun ammunition.

I sawed off the barrel of the Remington to make it easier for me to carry and swapped the bird shot in the shells for some steel ball bearings that I found at another empty place.

If I got into a close fight with Changelings, the shotgun would be a better choice than the rifle or my pistol.

At last I was ready to get back to killing Changelings.

It was starting to get warmer, and the Changelings were becoming more active again.

The Changelings were near starvation by now, and I found that I could get several easy kills if I shot one Changeling at the far side of a pack, then let the others start feeding on it's corpse.

My days started to blend into one long blur of shooting, retreating and shooting some more.

But somehow I still hadn't had enough. The Changelings still hadn't paid nearly enough for Tammie.

Then a couple of months ago, I was headed back from a particularly successful sniping session when I heard singing.

I stopped the horse and listened for a while.

Sure enough, it was a girl's voice, singing a happy tune. I had to check this out.

I dismounted and secured my horse. I made the decision to leave my rifle in the scabbard and just took the shotgun and my pistol.

I eased through the trees until I could see the clearing where the voice was coming from.

It was a Changeling girl, sitting on a log idly drawing in the mud with a twig as she sang.

My first thought was that there was just another monster to kill, and I started to bring up the shotgun.

I still don't know why I held my fire that day.

I saw movement behind the Changeling child, and realized that an adult Changeling was stalking her.

I reacted on instinct and fired at the adult Changeling.

The steel ball bearings worked as I had hoped, and the Changeling fell in its tracks.

The Changeling girl ran off into the woods.

I reloaded the shotgun and stayed put for a while, listening for movement and watching for any signs that the adult Changeling hadn't been alone.

At last, I went back to my horse and took a circuitous route home.

The next morning, I looked out a window and saw the Changeling girl from the clearing sitting on a swing that dangled from the limb of the oak tree in the front yard.

She was kicking her feet and swinging just like any normal child her apparent age would be.

I picked up the shotgun and went outside.

"Hi," she said when she saw me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, keeping the shotgun pointed not quite in her direction.

"You shot that mean one who was after me," she replied. "And I didn't know where else to go. All of the big ones in town want to hurt me."

I heard a rumble from her belly, and I swear the girl looked embarrassed.

"Stay here," I told her.

I went back inside and heated some of the stew I had fixed the night before.

I ladled some into a bowl and stuck in a spoon.

I took the food outside and set the bowl down on the porch and moved back. "Come on and eat something." I told her.

She dragged her feet to stop the swing, then came skipping over to the porch. "Thank you," she said politely and sat down beside the bowl.

To my surprise she folded her hands and bowed her head. "Thank you O Lord for this food. And thank you for sending her to save me from the mean one. Amen."

Only then did she pick up the bowl and start eating.

This was going to take some thought.

On the one hand, she was a Changeling.

On the other hand, she acted like a well brought up child.

All I knew was that I couldn't just kill her in cold blood.

When the girl was done eating, she brought the bowl over and handed it to me. "Thank you," she said.

I stood there a moment making up my mind.

"Come on inside," I told her.

I put the bowl and spoon into the sink and then sat down on the couch in the living room.

The girl sat in a chair by the fireplace, enjoying the warmth of the blaze.

"What is your name?" I asked.

"Cindy," she replied. "Cindy Carson."

I thought for a few moments.

"How long have you known your name?" I asked.

"Always," she giggled. "What's your name?"

"Victoria Phillips," I answered.

"Is your mommy dead too?" Cindy asked.

"Yes, but I have a new mom and dad now." I replied.

"I wish I had a mommy and daddy too," she said wistfully, a tear trickling down through the fur on her face.

Shit. Now I was starting to feel sorry for a Changeling.

"All right, you can stay here with me for now," I told her. "But if you start acting like one of the mean ones, I'll have to shoot you the same as I would them."

Cindy nodded soberly.

I prepared a room upstairs for her, and when it was dark, I locked her in.

The next day I decided to try cleaning her up a bit. She obviously hadn't had a bath in a very long time.

I heated water on the stove in the biggest kettles in the house and filled the bathtub.

Cindy didn't hesitate at all about getting into the water and grabbed the soap and shampoo.

I left her in the bathroom and went downstairs to reload my expended rifle cartridges.

Cindy came downstairs an hour later, smelling a lot better and her fur was almost fluffy.

There were some clothes that had belonged to the Miller children that fit her well enough, and she was happy to have clothes again instead of running around bare.

Clothed, Cindy looked just like any other pre-adolescent girl if you ignored the fur on her face and her protruding muzzle.

A couple of days later, it was time for me to go sniping again.

"I hate to do this Cindy, but I have to lock you in your room until I get back." I told her.

"That's ok," she replied. "I understand."

I gave her some of the books and magazines that were lying around the house and gave her a bucket to use as a temporary toilet, then locked her in.

The days killing went well, and I racked up another 30 kills. But somehow the satisfaction wasn't there anymore.

When I got home, Cindy was sprawled out on the bed engrossed in a book. She looked up when I opened her door and gave me a smile and a wave, then went back to her reading.

The next couple of weeks went pretty much the same, and eventually I stopped bothering to lock Cindy in her room.

It was nice to have someone to talk to, and she had a wealth of information about the Changelings and especially the ones she called The Awakened.

The Awakened were those who were starting to regain their memories and ability to talk and reason. But most of them retained the ferocity and blood lust of the rest of the Changelings.

Those who were further awakened and didn't have the same killing urge were hunted down and slain by the other Changelings.

As far as Cindy knew, she was the only one her age who had managed to get away and survive out in the wild long enough to find shelter and food,

Her father had died in the initial plague, and her mother, like Cindy, had changed, but had never lost their ability to reason and speak.

Then her mother had made a slip and the other Changelings had turned on her and torn her to pieces.

Cindy had seen what was happening and had fled before the others spotted her.

I had lost my nervousness around Cindy by now, and she would often come to me for a hug or to curl up next to me on the couch in the evenings as we watched the flames in the fireplace.

I took Cindy on my next sniping run, and she proved invaluable by pointing out places where I could see and kill the Mean Ones as she called them.

The killing didn't bother her at all. She had seen far too much already.

And my kill score climbed steadily.

Finally I decided that it was time to come home.

I debated leaving Cindy at the Miller place, but I just couldn't leave her all by herself again.

So I made a cloak for her and we started off for home.

I think of her as a kid sister, or even as a daughter now, and I won't let anyone hurt her.

(The women looked up as I came back inside with Cindy)

"Well," I said. "I think that she will fit in here just fine."

Vicki just nodded and smiled at the Changeling girl. I saw the warmth and humanity come back into her eyes and relaxed a little more.

Melissa sat staring at her coffee cup for a long minute, then sighed and stood up,

"Come on Vicki," she said. "It's about time that you met your little brother."