The Everbright Farm

The barn looked old. Eve hung around the tree line, dodging from dead tower to dead tower as she scouted the building. The locket felt cool on her chest in the warm summer heat as she finished her observations. It was surrounded on two sides by the woods she’d been traveling through. Beyond the farm, she saw an equally abandoned looking home. There were a few chickens nearby, somehow still surviving despite no one seeming to be around to raise them.

Adjusting the rifle in her arms to a low ready position, she quickly ran from the cover of the leafless forest to the decrepit animal shelter. She passed the wide-open entrance, the faded red paint flaking off of the solid wood. She kept moving once inside the building until she found a stall that still had a waist high door. Seeing rust on the hinges, she vaulted over it instead of opening it and moved to the end. There was no window in the stall, nor was there any of the hay she had expected to find.

Slowly, she set her sea bag down against the wall and crouched against the waist high door. Peering over it’s edge, she looked around for anyone she might have alerted to her sprint into the building. Everything was as eerily quiet as it always was. Keeping her weapon at the ready, she hopped over the wall and began a slow, methodical, search of the building, checking every stall on the ground floor before looking for a ladder or stairs to the upper level. There was only the one entrance at the front of the barn, which she ground her teeth over.

She finally found the ladder. Slinging her rifle on her back and pulled out the ka-bar knife her father had given her when she’d become a corporal, she slowly climbed the ladder, wincing at every creak and scrape the metal device made. There was no trap door, and slowly she raised her head to the second level. There was a bed, a couch, a broken television, and piles of comic books.

Pulling herself up, Eve slowly walked around the space. It looked to her to be recently lived in, and she replaced her knife with her Armalite as she considered the fact she’d just broken into someone else’s safe place. Frowning, she looked at the paper comics strewn around the bed and couch. They were old, something her uncle would have had.

The veteran swore to herself when she heard the creak of the ladder behind her. Quickly, she rounded behind the couch to hide herself until she could get away.

The ladder continued to creak slightly, until she heard someone pull themselves up onto the floor.

“Dunno where you’re hidin” someone said. Someone young. “But you might as well come out.”

Eve stood up from her spot behind the couch and saw the person she’d hidden from. It was a girl, in her teens, and dressed in clothes that were torn in several places, but otherwise well kept.

“You going to shoot me with that?” she asked, looking at Eve’s rifle.

“I’d rather not.” Eve said. “What are you doing here? Where are your parents?”

“I live here.” The young woman said. “Parents are dead in the house. I wasn’t strong enough to move them, so I moved in here.”

“Just you?”

The teen laughed. “Yeah, just me. I’m not stupid.”

Eve nodded. “You mind if I stay the night? I’ll move on in the morning.”

“Sure. Saw your stuff in the horse stall. You can bring it up here if you want. Hay went bad years ago.”

They stood awkwardly for several moments, until the young woman moved away from the ladder.

“Thank you.” The veteran said. “I’m Eve, by the way.”

“Twix.” The teenager responded as the older woman got to the ladder. She stopped and turned.

“Like the candy?”

“Yeah. It’s my favorite. And since the world ended, no reason not to change it.” She spoke. “My old name was dumb.”

Eve chuckled, something she hadn’t done in a long time. “Alright, Twix. I’ll be right back.”

Climbing down the ladder, rifle on her back once more, Eve grabbed her seabag out of the horse stall and carefully tossed it onto the second level from the opening. She heard Twix call out that it was safe, and then she went back up the ladder to find the young woman on the couch with a comic in her hands.

“I take it you’re the one keeping the chickens alive?”

“Among other things yeah. Farm’s been in the family generations. I can’t just let it go.” Twix answered without looking at Eve.

“Even though the world ended and you changed your name?”

“Just my first name. I’ll always be an Everbright.”

“How long have you been alone?” Eve asked as she pulled out her sleeping bag.

“a while. Stopped keeping count when it began to snow last year, I guess.”

“How have you survived so long?”

“Out of sight, out of mind. That was my dad’s motto. Made my mom so angry.”

“Chickens usually raise a ruckus when there’s wild animals, aliens, or bandits, and I just hide. They check the house, poke around downstairs, then usually leave.” Twix said. “don’t suppose you’d like to stay? It’s nice having someone to talk to, especially since the phones went down.”

Eve grimaced. “Maybe. I’m not a huge fan of barns.”

“who’s that?”

“Childhood trauma.” Eve said, not wanting to elaborate. Twix caught on and changed tack.

“Were you in the military? That looks like a military gun. And camouflage pants.”

“Yes. I’m a Marine.”

“Kill anyone?”

Eve rolled her eyes at the common, insensitive question. “Oh yeah. Loads.”

“Really?” Twix exclaimed, putting her comic down.

“no. I was a logistical Marine, and while I spent time in a combat theater, I did not see combat first hand. And lucky me, I haven’t needed to use my rifle more than to hunt or stop people.”

“Oh.” Twix commented. “how’s the outside world? I don’t go out much.”

“it’s a mess. You’re lucky to have this little plot of peace.”

“I guess.” The teenager sighed, putting the comic book down. “Not a lot going on though.”

There was a screeching sound outside, the otherworldly cry of the aliens. Both girls tensed until it ended. Twix relaxed when it ended, picking up another comic book. Eve looked at the young woman flabbergasted.

“How can you just go back to reading comics? That came from close by, we should hide.”

“That was just bob. He wanders around the property, but he’s too sick to do anything else. He screams like that when he feels like he needs to assert his dominance or something.”

“you’ve talked to it?” Eve questioned.

“Bob. And no. I’m not stupid. But he hasn’t troubled me since he appeared, and I don’t bother him, even though he likes to hang around the best berry patch.”

Eve shuddered. “Even sick, those things could rip you in half.”

“Only in their armor. They’re barely stronger than us without it.” Twix answered. “I used to watch the news. Bob doesn’t have his armor anymore. He’s an old man too stubborn to die.”

Eve shook her head. “that’s reckless. I’m leaving tomorrow.”

“Suit yourself then.” Twix said.

The alien screeched again, and the veteran shook her head, forcing herself to stay in the present and not think of the past.