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 Jake had been trudging along angrily a moment before, trying to rid his mind of the painful visions of everything that had happened to each passenger on the school bus since he hadn't saved them. He had been trudging along Fourteenth Street. Now, he could only stare in amazement as he stood in the middle of a desolate field, far from Heather's house or any of the others that had surrounded him seconds before.

“Are we...?”

Past the ruins of the Tacoma bridge, in the heart of Jericho's former farmland, now the greater town of New Bern.

“Should I even ask?”

I have my ways. Coming up on your right, you will see the Richmond Ranch, on the site of the Richmond Farm, once the biggest farm in Jericho.

Jake was still angry, and not in the mood for the travel guide speech, but the thought went out of his mind as he took in the view to his right. The Richmond's house still stood, a little beaten up but strong and sturdy. All around it were scorched, blackened fields.

“What happened here?” Jake looked out in every direction. Where the fields hadn't been burnt to the ground, they were still a mess, overrun with weeds and dirt.

Let's go find out.

Jake starting making his way towards the house. His boots sent clouds of dust and ash up into the air as he trampled the burnt plants. The house looked deserted. He remembered the conversation he'd had with Mary, and the painful encounter with Mimi. What would this version of Stanley be like?

He neared the house, and was going to climb the steps to the porch when he heard a low growling. Without any more warning, a dog came racing towards him from around the side of the house. He bolted as fast as he could, across the lawn and over to an old truck. He just made it into the cab and slammed the door as two other dogs came running over. They were all barking at once, and baring their teeth.

Jake sat in the cab, waiting to catch his breath. 'When did they get dogs?'

There was silence, or rather, no other sound but the dogs growling and barking, loudly telling him he should have stayed away.

A figure was coming from the house with another dog. He held a shotgun and marched stolidly towards him. As he came closer, he swung the shotgun so that it was pointed straight at Jake.

“No trespassers!” shouted Stanley Richmond as he pointed his gun at him. “This is private property!”

Jake groaned. It might have been funny somewhere else, some other time, to have a gun pointed at him for a second time by a friend who no longer recognized him. “Stanley!” he shouted, holding up his hands. “It's me, Jake Green!”

He was lowering the gun now, but looking at him suspiciously. The dogs were more sedate in his presence, but they were still staring Jake down. Hesitantly, Jake opened the door and climbed out of the truck. Stanley was staring at him, squinting his eyes.

“Hey Stanley. Long time no see.” He almost laughed at the surprised sputtering sound Stanley made.

“Jake Green! I can't believe it!” He grabbed Jake in one of his bear hugs. “Where've you been, man?”

“Around,” Jake said, suddenly flashing back to another conversation that had been eerily similar.

Stanley didn't question his choice of words this time. He just clapped his friend on the shoulder. “Glad to have you back, buddy. Are you on your way home? Sorry to have to tell you this, but we're cut off. The bridge is gone.”

“I know. I came from there. I just wanted to come out and check on you guys.” It sounded like a lame answer to him, and he didn't know if Stanley would buy it, but Stanley just nodded.

“Well, since you're here, why don't you come inside for a drink? Or for some food? I bet whatever they fed you back in town was nothing like what we've got. Come on, man. We'll catch up!”

He was grabbing Jake's arm, pulling him around the back of the house. Jake saw now that the field right behind the house was not damaged like the others were. There were several more dogs walking around the edges, or sitting in the shade of the one tree nearby.

“What's with the dogs, Stanley?” he asked.

“I found a bunch of them when we were hunting. Strays. I brought them here, trained them. Some of them are pretty good guards. It's hard to keep feeding them, but I don't have a lot of ammo anymore and I want to save that for hunting. They keep the random thieves away.” He motioned for Jake to step up on the porch. Jake did so, and looked out at the land once more.

“And the burnt crops? Was that to keep the other theives away?” he asked.

Stanley just nodded, his eyebrows set low like he was angry. “We had to do that to keep anyone from commandeering our land. You don't know how many different threats have come by here. Mercenaries stole our gas, New Bern wanted our land, Jonah's men even came picking around when food was scarce over there. We grow enough to feed ourselves and keep our animals alive. Anyone who tries to steal from us realizes it's not worth it.”

They went inside, and Jake noticed that almost everything looked the same. They had kept up the inside of the house very well. From the living room, he could see once more the kitchen, and the table where his father had died. Except he hadn't died here, Jake thought. He had died at home, in his own bed, of a fever.

“What do you want Jake? We've got eggs, milk, we've even got some meat. Bet they couldn't give you that in town!” Stanley seemed positively cheerful right now. Jake realized he probably didn't get to speak out loud very often. He was making up for it by talking nonstop. For a while, Jake just listened as Stanley cooked the eggs on a camping stove.

“So what does the town do now?” asked Jake, thinking of the crackers Mary had given him, and the watery soup he'd delivered to Heather.

“What do you mean?” he asked, grabbing plates and putting them down noisily.

“You have the biggest farm. How are they still eating if they haven't been eating your crops?”

“I don't know. I guess some of them aren't. Do you want salt and pepper?”

“What happened?” asked Jake.

“As far as I heard, they kept the salt mine. That's why Gray cut us off in the first place,” Stanley said matter-of-factly.

“Why would he have done that, though? Didn't he think the town needed the farms out here?”

“They decided they didn't.” He was looking slightly less giddy than he had earlier.

“Who's they?” asked Jake, remembering Mary, his own mother and brother, and even the mysterious graffiti-artist. “Gray?”

“Listen, Jake, I know you weren't here so you didn't see, but things changed after the bombs. Jericho didn't stay that nice little town you remember from when we were kids.”

“Oh yeah? How's that?” asked Jake, wanting to challenge Stanley suddenly for reasons he couldn't quite explain.

“People were running around trying to figure out how to save themselves. We all did what we had to do.”

Stanley had grown serious again, and had a faraway look on his face.

Jake was afraid, more than he had been when he'd stepped into Bailey's or when he'd spoken with his family, to ask the next question. He had hoped, even after he'd seen the state of Heather's house, and heard about April, that he might find this house different. He still wasn't used to her being gone from it in his own world. “Stanley, where's Bonnie?”

Stanley sat in silence, staring across the room. Jake had the feeling he wasn't even looking at him.

“Where is she?”

Still looking away, he mumbled, “She's around.”

Jake glanced across the room. He couldn't see any other signs of life. “Where, Stanley?”

Stanley cleared his throat. “Here, right now. Keeping me company. Making fun of me. Like always.”

Jake shook his head. He raised his eyebrows, but his friend didn't even look. He just spoke, his eyes focused on something Jake couldn't see.

“Did they tell you at home about the fallout?”

“Yeah,” said Jake quietly. “They said there wasn't enough room in the shelter, and people were out in the rain looking for some missing kids.”

“They tell you about the prison bus?” Stanley asked darkly.

Another wave of guilt passed over Jake, still remembering his part, or lack thereof, in what happened on both buses that night. He nodded.

“Some of the escaped prisoners came here. I was out helping my cousins put away the livestock. When I got back-” he ran his hands through his hair. “I came home, and my sister was dead.”

Jake felt his throat constricting. It was all too familiar. “What happened?” he choked out.

“I found her outside the house. In the mud.”

Jake looked down himself, waiting for his friend to continue.

“Emily Sullivan was there too.”

“Emily?” asked Jake, feeling the familiar fear rising in him.

“I guess she hitched a ride with them. They were posing as cops. I still don't know why she brought them here.”

“Stanley! Was she- is she?”

“She was alive. Still is, last I heard. Didn't look good at the time. She took a shot in the side. We went to the med centre- and found a huge mess there. Everyone was afraid of fallout, 'cause of the rain, and they were holed up as best as they could in there. They didn't want us to come in. With someone with a gunshot wound, and Bonnie...Jimmy and Bill were with us, and they demanded they let us in. We set ourselves up in an isolation room and there was a big fight amongst the staff there. April came to help. She didn't want to go near the rest of us, but she stopped the bleeding. Emily lived; we all did. Turns out the rain was just rain.” He gave a wry chuckle. “But Bonnie, well. Nothing they could do. Nothing anyone could do. That's what everyone kept telling me.”

Jake wanted to know how the situation had changed from the time he'd seen it, but had to be careful. “Did you ever find out what happened? How they ended up in a shootout with the prisoners?”

Stanley sighed. “Emily had a gun, and so did each of them. One of them grabbed Bonnie so Emily wouldn't shoot, but let her go when his friend shot Emily. She said Bonnie tried to fight. Bill thought she got a shot off at one of the men. There was so much blood.” He rubbed his forehead. “Can you imagine coming home to that? And I found out later they'd heard something on the radio earlier, over at town hall, when everyone was fighting for space at the shelter. No one came out here to help them...” His voice got quieter as he spoke, until he trailed off.

“I'm so sorry,” Jake said slowly. “I- I can't imagine what it's been like.”

Stanley nodded gruffly.

After a few moments had passed, Jake said, “I still can't believe you're cut off from the town.”

“Well, they didn't need to help us, I don't think we need to help them. We've had to deal with a lot more than escaped prisoners out here. Everytime I needed help defending the farm, Gray said we didn't have enough resources, or we were too far away. Bonnie and I have held this land ourselves, so I only think it's fair that we get to enjoy it ourselves.” He put a forkful of eggs into his mouth. Jake looked down and started on his own plate, although he felt as far from hungry as a person could get.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, only the sounds of forks hitting plates being heard. Finally, Stanley asked, somewhat embarrassed, “So how is everyone? How's your family?”

“They're...doing alright, I think,” he said.

“How's Bailey's?” Stanley asked, attempting to be nonchalant.

“Not the same without the mechanical bull.” Stanley chuckled a little. Jake continued, “Mary's pretty good though. She's still got regulars. At least she's got Mimi to keep her company.”

“You saw Mimi?” asked Stanley, not bothering to pretend he wasn't interested.

“Yeah,” said Jake, feeling a little uncomfortable.

“Was she okay?” he asked.

“All things considering,” said Jake, not wanting to make his friend look any more guilty. “Mary filled me in on where she came from.”

Stanley nodded. “Did she say anything about me?”

As he took in Stanley's hopeful expression, he thought quickly. “She wanted to know if you were okay.”

Stanley put his fork down now, a different faraway look in his eyes. Jake wondered, looking at his friend, how he and Mimi had ever gotten together, after the terrible thing that had happened while Stanley was out in the rain. He remembered those early days after the bombs, how he'd spent long nights playing cards with them, and imagined what the Mimi from those days would have seen in a grief stricken Stanley, spending his mornings training guard dogs and his afternoons talking to his dead sister. Then again, he had been surprised when he'd first learned they were together in his world. He supposed anything was possible.

“Mary told me you were...you and Mimi were...”

“Yeah, it was good. While it lasted.” Stanley motioned around the empty kitchen.

Jake stared at his bare plate, trying not to picture Mimi's face the last time he'd seen her.

“So Jake,” Stanley started briskly, “What are you going to do next? Heading back home?”

“I'm going to have dinner with my Mom,” he said, “That's all I have planned for now.”

Stanley gave another ironic chuckle. “I get it, man. Well, you're welcome to come back here, if you want.”

Jake nodded. “Thanks.”

A little while later, after passing through some awkward conversation with Stanley, he was heading out the door again. Stanley gave him another hug, and then stood on the porch with his arms crossed. The look on his face reminded Jake of a little kid begging his mom to stay with him on the first day of school.

“You could come stay with us, if you want. I'm sure my mom and Eric would be glad to see you, and Mary,” volunteered Jake.

Stanley shook his head. “We're not a part of Jericho anymore Jake. You and your family are welcome here, but we do not go there.”

Jake tried not to let his concern show on his face. “Stanley, you don't have to do this all alone.”

Stanley stepped forward, his face set. “I'm not leaving my family.”

Jake made a move towards his friend, opening his mouth to say something else, but Stanley folded his arms again, stepping to the edge of the porch and looking out across his blackened fields. Jake sighed. Painful as it was, he would have to accept that the Stanley of this world wasn't going to step any farther off his porch. He said a quick goodbye, and started down the road. He glanced back at his friend, leaning against the porch railing.

“He's stuck here too, as much as Heather in her house,” he said to Freddie.

Heather leaves her house more than he leaves here, Freddie interjected. He's got everything he needs.

Jake smirked. “A security detail, a house, family. Everything you could dream of. Has anyone else seen the way he's living? Or does he really only talk to his dogs and Bonnie?”

Ah, that's something you will discover soon. But you can't blame him, can you? The only ones who haven't left him are his dogs and his dead sister. Figuratively, I mean.

They walked along in silence.

So that guy was your best friend before me, huh? Think I could beat him at arm wrestling?

“Maybe. He is a farmer though. They can get pretty strong, with all the hay-pitching and cattle-wrestling.”

Yeah, but I survived Iraq. I survived Ravenwood.

“Uh, Freddie?”

Okay, almost.

Jake was walking along the road, vaguely aware he was heading in the direction of the old bridge, enjoying the banter with his old friend, when he was suddenly shaken out of his thoughts by the sound of revving engines.



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