by Eric Vall
“What are we drinking?” Rolly asked as he joined the group.
“Rum,” Anna grinned, then she handed the old man a cup.
“Thank you,” Rolly smiled, took a swig of the cocktail, and wrinkled his nose. “I think next time I’ll take just the rum.”
“You don’t like rum and coke?” Paige asked.
I watched Tara cut up the tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, garlic, and onions that she had grabbed.
“Not really,” Rolly chuckled in response to Paige.
“I’m with you,” I nodded at the old man. “Straight is fine with me.”
“Cheers to that,” he said, and he tipped his drink toward me before taking a large swig.
Tara scraped the vegetables off the cutting board and into the hot pan, and they sizzled and smelled truly heavenly.
“Oh my God,” Paige groaned. “That smells so good.”
“I haven’t even added spices,” Tara laughed.
“It does smell delicious,” I smiled at the platinum blonde.
“Just you wait,” Tara grinned. “It’ll be even better at the end.”
“Are you making meat to go with it?” Rolly asked.
“Yup,” the platinum blonde smiled. “I had Paige cut some venison steaks from the last deer you caught.”
“That sounds amazing,” Anna sighed, and she took another drink of her rum and coke.
“How do you think everyone did today?” I asked the redhead.
“Hmm,” she thought for a moment. “I think they did good. They weren’t quite as fast as they needed to be, but they tried really hard.”
“They’ll get faster,” I smiled.
“Are we going to run this drill every day?” Paige asked. “I know you told everyone to come back tomorrow.”
“Yes,” I nodded. “At least for a few days in a row.”
“Good,” Anna agreed. “They need to be able to do it in their sleep.”
“Aye aye, Major,” I grinned, and Anna wrinkled her nose at me. “What?”
“It just doesn’t sound right,” she mused.
“Yeah,” Paige nodded, and her nose was wrinkled as well.
“You missed the mark with that one,” Tara added.
“You all are cruel,” I fake scoffed, and we all laughed.
Tara finished making dinner, and we brought the pans to the roof and served up the food there so we could eat with Bailey.
“You guys didn’t have to come onto the roof,” Bailey smiled. “But I’m glad you did.”
“It doesn’t feel right eating dinner without us all there,” Paige said, and she handed Winchester his dinner.
“Yeah,” Anna nodded. “What good is there in eating without family?”
“Thanks,” Bailey grinned, then she smiled at Tara. “This is delicious.”
“Glad you like it,” Tara grinned.
“How is everything up here?” I asked Bailey.
“It’s quiet,” she said softly. “But I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.”
“Could be either,” I said. “But you can never really know which until something happens.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” the blonde hippie said, and she narrowed her eyes at the horizon.
I didn’t say it aloud, but I was nervous, too. We had dealt with two different groups of people last night, and I figured it would only get worse after the guard left. I just hoped that winter would be enough to save us.
“Rolly,” I said. “How are we coming with the wood stoves?”
“I have all the parts,” the old man nodded. “Just need to put it together.”
“How about we all help tomorrow?” I asked. “We can work on that before everyone else gets here to run drills.”
“That would be much appreciated,” the old man smiled, and the wrinkles on his face grew deeper.
“When should we move the animals?” Bailey asked.
“Soon,” I nodded. “Everyone can stay at the farms for now, but we should get the animals into the barn as soon as possible.”
“Okay,” the blonde hippie nodded, and she took another bite of steak.
“Do you think Winchester could, like, herd them?” Tara asked.
“He is technically a herding dog,” Paige said.
“So he’ll just do it?” the platinum blonde asked.
“Well, there’s no guarantee he would,” Paige chuckled. “But he might.”
“We should let him herd the cows over here,” Tara suggested.
“Maybe,” I laughed. “We’ll see what the farmers want to do.”
“Not to be that person,” Anna said. “But shouldn’t we butcher some of them before winter?”
“Well,” I thought for a second. “We have plenty of deer to snag right now, and we can get milk from the cows.”
“Does that mean we can make butter?” Tara asked, and her eyes grew wide with excitement.
“I suppose it does,” I smiled.
“Making butter is difficult,” Rolly informed. “But we can give it a go.”
“Oh my God,” Tara moaned. “Butter would be the best thing ever.”
“We’ll ask Betty,” I chuckled. “Maybe she has some tips.”
“If you guys think my food is good now, it’ll blow your mind once I get my hands on some butter,” Tara laughed.
“I don’t doubt it,” Rolly grinned, and he took another bite of steak.
I smiled at my little family, and looked out to the horizon, it was lit with pinks, oranges, and soft blues as the sun dipped below the ridge. We had all put in a long day, and as cold as it was, and as difficult as winter might be, I was grateful for this food, this family of mine, and this distinct moment in time where the laughs were free, and we shared a feeling of total unity.
Chapter 16
We spent the next three days running drills and harvesting vegetables. We hadn’t made as much progress on the wood stoves as I had hoped, but that would change soon. Everyone was a bit anxious about the future, and I couldn’t blame them, though I did my absolute best to not show any lack of confidence myself. We had a tough road ahead of us, but we had no choice other than to forge ahead and do whatever we had to do to survive. As grim as things might get in the coming weeks and months, I knew we had what it took.
I sat outside with the rest of the group, and we huddled close to the fire. The morning air was cold, and each of us was wrapped in a coat and long pants while we drank our coffee.
“It’s getting so cold,” Tara pouted, and she scooted a bit closer to the fire.
“Any closer and you’ll set yourself on fire,” Paige chuckled.
“Gladly,” Tara breathed, and she smiled as she let the fire warm her.
“We’re finishing the stoves today, right?” Bailey asked.
“Yes,” I nodded. “That’s the plan.”
“Good,” Tara smiled. “Then we can be warm inside.”
“It will be nice to not be so chilly,” Paige smiled.
“Sorry it’s not finished yet,” Rolly frowned.
“Rolly!” Bailey exclaimed. “You work so hard, don’t be sorry.”
“Yeah,” Paige nodded fervently. “We appreciate everything you do.”
“Besides,” Tara said. “We’ve all been running drills, so it’s not like you’ve had a lot of time to work on it.”
“That’s true,” the old man smiled. “I just don’t like when things don’t get done. Especially things that I’m in charge of.”
“Don’t stress about it, old timer,” I grinned at him, then pointed to his cup. “Now, drink your coffee.”
“Will do, boss,” Rolly grinned and took a large drink of the black nectar.
“We got trucks!” Anna called down from the roof.
“Are they ours?” I yelled back.
“Probably,” she hollered. “But get in position just in case.”
“I told you she would get a big head,” Tara whispered to me, but she set her coffee down and headed toward the back of the building.
“She’s right,” I chuckled. “We should always be prepared.”
“Yeah, but I only like taking orders from you,” Tara pouted.
“Well keep being sassy, and I’ll give you a spanking later,” I teased.
“Is that a promise?” Tara purred, and I felt my erection stir, but I decided to focus on the task at hand.
We all found our positions behind the buildings and waited for the trucks to pull up to the campus.
“It’s us!” I heard Betty call out, and I saw her waving her hand.
“Hey!” I hollered and started to walk toward the truck.
Rolly rushed over to Betty and wrapped her in a hug while everyone else hopped out of the trucks.
“What are you all doing here?” I asked once everyone had gathered around. “We don’t have a meeting today.”
“Not one that you planned,” Marla grinned.
“I’d say not,” I chuckled, then I raised an eyebrow at the group. “You all are planning meetings now?”
“Not exactly,” Betty laughed. “We just wanted to help.”
“Yeah,” Jeff nodded. “Yesterday we heard you say you’d work on the wood stoves.”
“Right,” Donna agreed. “And we figured maybe you could use some help.”
“After all,” Cathy smiled. “We’ll all be living here soon. We should do our part.”
“That’s very gracious of you,” I grinned at the crowd.
“And I’m going to do physicals for everyone today,” Marla said. “We’ll need to check everyone’s weight today to make sure nobody is losing too much once winter hits.”
“Awesome,” Paige smiled.
“Would you like to help me?” Marla asked Paige with a smile.
“Yes!” Paige blurted quickly, then she blushed and turned to me. “That is, if you guys don’t need me to help with the stoves.”
“We’ll be fine,” I laughed. “Besides, it’s good for you to learn.”
“Great,” Marla clapped. “I made a list, and Tav, you’re first.”
“Alright,” I smiled. “I volunteer as tribute.”
“Whoa,” Tara said, and looked surprised. “I’m surprised you’ve seen that movie.”
“I’m not an animal,” I grinned.
“Oh, but you are,” she purred, and Bailey and Paige went red next to her.
“Have you no shame?” Paige whispered.
“None,” Tara grinned.
“Alright,” Marla chuckled. “Is it okay if we do the physicals in the gym?”
“That’s fine,” I nodded. “All the supplies are in there anyways.”
“That’s what I figured,” Marla said.
“I have a list of all our medical supplies,” Paige said excitedly. “I’ll go get it.”
Marla and I walked to the gym, and I left Rolly in charge of everyone else. While we walked I thought about what an amazing tribe we had started, I hadn’t asked anyone to come today, they volunteered without provocation, probably because if they had offered I would have said it was fine, this was a great reminder to accept help from my tribe.
“I don’t have to get naked, do I?” I teased Marla.
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” she laughed, and Paige ran up with her list and an extra notepad.
“Here it is,” the brunette said, and she handed the list to Marla.
“Great,” Marla smiled and looked down at the notepad. “I’ll have you take notes during the first exam, and feel free to ask any questions you might have.”
“Thank you so much,” Paige smiled.
The physical went about how I expected, and I left the gym around twenty minutes later with a clean bill of health.
“Doc get you all checked out?” Rolly asked as I entered the laundry room.
“Clean as a whistle,” I grinned. “How’s things going here?”
“It’s going well,” the old man smiled.
“What can I do?” I asked.
“First things first,” Rolly said. “We need to put this ducting up.”
“Great,” I smiled, and reached for the silver ducting on the floor.
It took half the day, and a decent amount of strength exerted, but we got the wood stoves attached, and all that was left was to try them out.
“Alright,” Rolly clapped his hands. “I think these suckers are ready.”
“Looks like it,” I grinned, and I admired the two large wood stoves we had put in.
“I’ll go get some wood,” Jeff said.
“I’ll help,” Donna offered, and they headed outside.
“Need to get the fire going a bit before we add the wood,” Rolly said, and he bent down and tore up some old newspaper we had found while rearranging the laundry room.
“Let me help,” I said, and I started to put some newspaper in the second stove.
“Thanks,” Rolly grinned, and he passed me a lighter.
We got both the stoves going quickly and Jeff and Donna returned with some wood to add to the flames. Before long the room had filled with a small amount of warmth, and Rolly and I checked all the ducting to be sure no smoke was escaping into the dorm areas.
“I think we did it,” I smiled at the old man.
“Appears that way,” he chuckled. “Feels good to have finished a big job today.”
“It does,” I grinned, and I turned to the others in the room. “Thank you all for your help.”
“Of course,” Cathy smiled.
“We’re happy to help,” Donna added.
“Right,” Joanna said. “We’ll be here for winter too.”
“I think we’ve all earned some food and drink,” I said.
“That sounds great,” Jeff sighed, and he stretched.
“I’ll cook,” Tara offered with a smile.
“That would be great,” I nodded.
“And I’ll go get some drinks,” Bailey said.
“Let’s all move outside for now,” I smiled. “We’ll let the stoves heat up the place for a while, then we can come eat inside.”
“It’s been a long time since I had a meal inside,” Donna laughed.
“Come to think of it,” I said. “It’s been a long time for us too.”
“Well, we cook everything on the fire,” Rolly chuckled. “Hard to have one of those inside.”
“Seems like we’ve done a good job,” I laughed, and I pointed to the new wood stoves.
“Touché,” he laughed back at me.
We all made our way outside, Bailey retrieved three bottles of liquor and some soda, and Tara started the fire for dinner.
“Mom, can I?” Joanna asked Cathy after Bailey handed her a cocktail.
“Oh,” Bailey said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you couldn’t drink.”
“I can,” Joanna said. “But I’m only eighteen.”
“The world isn’t the same as it once was,” I told Cathy with a gentle smile.
“Alright,” Cathy sighed. “But not too much.”
“Okay,” Joanna grinned, and I thought how funny it was that her mom hadn’t wanted her to drink considering how fucked up the world had become.
“It’s getting cold,” Briar said, and he nodded to Joanna. “A little booze will put a fire in your belly.”
“What?” Joanna asked, slightly alarmed.
“He just means it will make you warm,” I chuckled.
“Actually, that’s a common misconception,” Paige said in a matter-of-fact tone. “It makes you feel warm, but it doesn’t actually raise your body temperature, it lowers it.”
“Well, whatever it does,” Briar said, and he took a pull of whiskey. “It’s good.”
“Actually,” Joanna wrinkled her nose. “It doesn’t taste that good.”
“It’s an acquired taste,” Rolly chuckled, and he put his arm around Betty.
“So, what’s for dinner?” Betty asked Tara.
“I’m thinking some venison pot roast,” Tara grinned.
“That sounds great,” Betty smiled. “I s
aw some flour in the gym when I had my physical, I can make some biscuits to go with it if you’d like?”
“Awesome,” Tara smiled. “Think you could show me how you make them?”
“Of course,” Betty said. “But you’re quite the cook already, or so Rolly tells me. I’m surprised you don’t know how to make them?”
“I like to cook,” Tara nodded. “But baking is a whole different story.”
“True,” Betty chuckled, and she stood up. “Let’s go get the supplies.”
“Will you see if Marla is almost done?” Justin asked.
“On it,” Tara smiled, and she and Marla walked toward the gym.
I looked around at the group of people around me and smiled at the hard work they had put in that day.
“It really is getting cold,” Jeff remarked, and he shivered a bit.
“Yes,” Cathy nodded. “I’m glad we could help get the stoves working.”
“Right,” Donna agreed, then she turned to me. “And I think we’re all glad that you offered to let us stay for winter.”
“Of course,” I smiled. “You all can stay as long as you want.”
“Each day that passes, I get a bit more concerned,” Joanna frowned.
“Concerned about the Guard?” Tara asked.
“That,” Joanna nodded. “And the Canadians. I just worry we won’t be safe.”
“I know it’s a scary time,” I said. “But as long as we help each other and get our jobs done, we’ll be fine.”
“Do you really think we can hold this place if a horde shows up?” Justin asked, and he pulled his boys closer to him.
“Yes,” I nodded. “Trust me, I wouldn’t have suggested everyone come here if I didn’t think it was safe.”
“We do trust you,” Cathy said. “I have a little less faith in myself, though.”
“Hey,” Anna said sternly. “Don’t talk about yourself like that. You’re a badass. All of you are. You went through some serious shit and you survived.”
“Yes,” Donna nodded. “But that’s in large part thanks to you.”
“We helped,” I said. “But Anna’s right, if you were weak, you wouldn’t have made it this far. Have faith in yourself.”
“Besides,” Bailey added with a smile. “Nobody’s good at everything, you all bring things to the table that are uniquely yours.”