by Ralph Gibbs
“Climb,” Franklin shouted, too late. Both realized at the same time that Randel would fall short of the bank.
“Oh shit,” Randel said just as he was about to land in the water. As he hit the fast-moving stream, the torrent swept his feet out from under him, but before he was pulled downstream, Franklin reached out and grabbed the outstretched arm flailing for a handhold. Using all his strength, he muscled Randel ashore.
“You okay?” Franklin asked after dragging Randel ashore.
“Holy shit, that water is freezing.”
“You forgot to climb.”
“I got that,” he said, bending forward, still breathing heavy. “I’ll remember next time.” Randel looked around for the branch. “Shit, we lost the pole.”
“Don’t worry about it. I have a plan when we come back.” There were no other bridges or streams that needed crossing, only steep hills. Eventually, even that wasn’t much of an obstacle as they found a truck with the keys still inside. A short time later, they were on a hill at the outskirts of a small town that a sign proclaimed was Saddletree, population 2344, now painted out and replaced with 27. Franklin scouted the town from the top of the hill.
He lowered his binoculars. “There are a few people in the town, and they have at least one armed sentry who’s seen us.”
“Is that bad?”
Franklin shrugged.
“Do we go ahead or wait here?” Randel asked.
“Two men are getting in a car. I’m guessing they’re headed up here to check us out, so let’s wait.” Franklin put his rifle on the car’s hood and kept his pistol holstered. The holster was unlatched, and the rifle was still close enough should he need it.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Just be ready to fight,” Franklin said. He walked to the middle of the road, and Randel followed. They looked like cowboys getting ready to face off against cattle rustlers at high noon. Franklin glanced at his watch to see that it was just after three. The car stopped thirty feet away.
“Howdy,” said the driver as he got out of his car. To Franklin, he was the quintessential backwoods mountain man dressed in a dungy orange T-shirt, faded jeans, and a faded black ball cap. The only thing that wasn’t dirty was his new hiking boots. He turned and spit. “What can we do for you?” His partner was sharper dressed. That is to say that his T-shirt, jeans and ball cap were newer.
“We need a few supplies,” Franklin said in a tone that expressed an air of confidence. “Just a couple things, and we’ll be on our way.”
“You don’t look like you have a lot to trade with,” the driver said in a thick southern accent, that to Franklin seemed forced.
“What?” said Randel surprised. “There are more supplies in that town—”
“Shit man,” the driver said, losing the southern accent. “I’m just kidding with you.” He stuck his fingers in his mouth and used them to pry out the chewing tobacco. He spit the rest out. “God, I hate that shit.”
“Then why chew it?” Randel asked.
“For effect,” he said as if it should be obvious. “People come up here with notions about who lives here. I was playing into the Deliverance stereotype, having a little fun. If you haven’t noticed, it’s kind of depressing nowadays.”
“We’ve noticed,” Franklin said. “About the supplies?”
“My name is Thomas,” he said, walking up to Franklin and offering his hand. “Take what you need. Though, I would appreciate if you didn’t load up your car with all our food.”
“I’m Franklin, and this drowned rat is Randel,” Franklin said. “We don’t need food, just a wheelchair, and a pair of axes.”
“Maybe some eggs,” Randel said, hopefully.
“A wheelchair?” the other man said, looking in their car. “Who’s it for?”
“That’s Percy,” Thomas said.
“It’s for a friend of ours,” Randel said.
“Where are they?” Percy asked.
“About two bridges back,” Randel said. “We found a place that has solar power.” Franklin inwardly cringed. He wished Randel hadn’t volunteered that information. These two seemed friendly enough, but they’d only just met them. He would need to talk with him later about being so free with information.
“They must be at the Blazer Compound,” Percy said to Thomas.
“What’s a Blazer Compound?” Randel asked.
“About two years back, a group of people came up here and built that compound claiming the election of President Dixon signaled the End Times,” Thomas said. “We just laughed at them, but not where they could hear. They were good for business. They bought all sorts of stuff from us. I guess the last laughs on us, though. It turns out they were right. I’m surprised they let you in. We wanted to go check on them, but they’ve never been overly friendly, and they’re armed to the teeth.”
“No one was there,” Franklin said.
“That makes little sense,” Percy said, scratching his beard. “Why spend all that money to build you a community for the End Times just to abandon it when it comes?”
“Just another mystery in a world full of mysteries,” Thomas said. “Shame about your friend, though. As if the world wasn’t screwed up enough for them. I’m not sure I’d want to live in this world as it is now if I couldn’t walk. Hell, I barely want to now. This world won’t be kind to the disabled.”
“I wouldn’t think so,” Franklin said. “But I intended to make sure she survives the best she can.”
“You knew her before the plague?” Thomas asked.
“Just met her the other day,” Randel said.
“Damn,” Percy said. “That’s pretty nice of you guys. Can’t say that I’m surprised, though. We’ve seen a share of good people coming through here. The majority have been some of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had the occasional asshole, but it’s been rare. Only had to kill one person, and that was about a month back. Never killed anyone before. Nasty business. Hell, I didn’t even know his fucking name.”
“I suspect it won’t be the last time,” Franklin said.
“Probably not,” Thomas agreed, shaking his head.
“What happened?” Randel asked.
“Man came into town all bossy from the get-go,” Thomas said. “Started ordering people around saying he was from the government and that he was in charge. Reminded me of those people you see walking down the street talking to themselves. You know, before cell phones made walking down the street talking to yourself normal. We politely, but firmly, told him to get the hell out. He left but came back later that evening and tried to kill me. I’m just lucky my dog heard him. I don’t know what he was thinking. Maybe he thought if he killed me, people would be inclined to listen to him.” Thomas chuckled. “Maybe he thought we were a pack of wolves. Kill the leader, and the pack will follow.”
“I just think he ran out of meds,” Percy said.
“So, you’re in charge?” Franklin asked.
“Not much to be in charge of,” Thomas said. “Not more than a handful of us in town, but, yeah, I guess I’m in charge . . . for now.”
Franklin pointed at the sign. “Apparently, twenty-seven.”
“Someone’s idea of a joke,” Thomas said. “More like thirty-two, now.”
“You should head to Colorado,” Randel said. “The government’s set up there.”
“I’ve heard the rumor,” Thomas said. “I also heard a rumor that there’s a government set up in Atlanta. Doesn’t matter. I’ve never had much use for the government.”
“No argument from me there,” Randel said.
“Come on,” Thomas said. “Let’s go find you a wheelchair.”
“And axes,” Franklin said.
“And axes,” Thomas echoed. “Evening comes early in the mountains this time of year. I’d suggest spending the night. How about we feed you, bed you down and in the morning, we’ll get your supplies?”
“Do you have any eggs?” Randel aske
d.
“You know, you’re in luck,” Thomas said. “I think we can spare a few. One thing about chickens, they never stop laying eggs.”
“I think you and I are going to the best of friends,” Randel said to Thomas.
“As long as I keep you in eggs, you mean?” Thomas said, clapping Randel on the back. Randel just smiled.
CHAPTER 49
Danica watched Deborah from the kitchen as she sipped her coffee. Deborah was flipping through magazines, the same as she’d been doing for the last several hours. For most of the day, she and Maggie explored their surroundings while Deborah watched.
She didn’t like leaving Deborah alone, but there was no help for it. They needed to know what was around them. She and Franklin had conducted a recon the night they had arrived, but she needed to see more of what was out there. She came back every hour to check on Deborah. Danica wanted to include her, but it was the same as with Matthew. She didn’t know what Deborah was or wasn’t capable of. It would be easier when Franklin and Randel returned with a wheelchair—if they returned—with a wheelchair. As of now, it was impossible for them to move her around or let her do anything.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” Deborah said as if reading Danica’s thoughts.
“I’m not,” Danica said, coming around the kitchen counter.
“But you are uncomfortable,” she said, knowingly.
“A little.”
She brought her cup of coffee into the living room and sat in the chair opposite Deborah. Whisper thumped his tail on the couch when he saw her but didn’t lift his head. She wondered if maybe he had an infection. “I need to check Whisper’s wound.”
“No need. I already did. It looks fine.” It was then Danica noticed the fresh bandage wrapped around Whisper’s wound.
“How?”
“I saw where you keep the bandages. While you were out, I put some antibiotic ointment I found in one of the bathroom drawers on the cut as well. It looks fine.”
“How?”
“I crawled,” Deborah said, enjoying the look of shock on Danica’s face.
“Crawled,” Danica said incredulously. “I would have gotten that for you.”
“I’m not helpless.”
“Yes, you are,” she said before she could stop herself. “Well, maybe not completely.”
“I’ve been a paraplegic all my life. I’ve gotten used to doing things for myself. And right now, I need to do things for myself.”
“Listen, I’m sorry,” Danica said. “I don’t think you’re helpless, and I can understand you wanting to exert your independence after what you’ve been through, but you have to be careful. We all have to be as careful as we can. There’s no one here with medical training. I know you’re probably traumatized, but try to remember we’re not that person. We’re not trying to take care of you. Okay, we’re trying to take care of you, but not like he was. You have to let us help you.”
“I’ll try to remember that,” Deborah said, and Danica knew she hadn’t gotten through to her.
“So, what did you do before the world went to shit?”
Her voice rose with excitement. “I was an elementary school teacher.”
“You were a teacher,” Andy said, coming down in his shorts, a towel wrapped around his head. Maggie was behind him with a towel wrapped around her hair as well. He crawled up beside Deborah. “What did you teach?”
She put her arm around his shoulders. “I taught reading, writing, and arithmetic,” she said. “Can you read?”
“I can,” Andy said, puffing up his chest. “Would you like to see?”
“I would,” Deborah said.
“There’s a bookshelf in the upstairs bedroom,” Maggie said. Andy wiggled off the couch and dashed upstairs. “I better go up and help him, or he’s likely to come down and read from a book that turns us all red in the face.” When they returned, Andy handed Deborah a book on gardening.
“I found this selection ironic,” Maggie said. “When I first met Randel, he was in the library looking for a book on gardening. They have a lot of how-to books up there. There’s a few I wish we could take with us.”
“Why can’t we?” Deborah asked.
“Many of the roads are out,” Danica said. “We’ll be doing a lot of walking, and those books will weigh us down. Once we’re out of the mountains, we’ll be able to find more.”
“The more I look around, the more I believe Randel is right, and this is a survivalist camp,” Maggie said.
“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” Danica said. “The question is, where are they? This whole neighborhood is like something out of a horror movie. I keep expecting some crazy masked person to show up and try to kill us.”
“Oh great,” Deborah said. “There goes my goodnight’s sleep.” They all shared a laugh, but inwardly, they were worried. “Let’s change the subject.” She turned to Andy. “Why don’t you read for us?”
Andy spent the next hour reading to Deborah. He was surprisingly well versed. Deborah only had to help him with a few words, and they were words adults might have trouble pronouncing.
“Would you bring in that table?” Deborah asked Danica and Maggie. “Andy, help them with a chair.” When they were done, she asked them to find her some paper and pencils. She handed them to Andy. “So, what math were you learning?”
“We were learning our multiplication tables,” Andy said.
“Right them down for me, starting with 2 x 1,” Deborah said.
He finished and handed the sheet over. She looked it over, marked on it, and handed it back. “Hey, I got an A,” he said proudly.
“You did very well,” Deborah said. “Now, start on the threes.”
He was about halfway through when he suddenly slammed down his pencil.
“Hey, wait a minute,” he said. “You’re trying to trick me. You’re trying to teach me things.”
“I am?” Deborah asked, acting innocent.
“You can’t do that,” he said, standing up and putting his hands on his hips. “There’s no more school. Not since the world went to shit.”
“Hey,” they all said at once. “Watch your language.”
“What?” he said, not understanding what he did wrong. “It did go to shit. You guys say so all the time.”
“That’s true,” Maggie said. “But we won’t say it anymore. Will we ladies?” They agreed.
“Now sit back down,” Maggie ordered. “You need schooling, and now that we have a teacher, you’ll devote several hours a day to learning. When we get a chance, we’ll stop by a school and see if we can find you some textbooks.”
Deborah spent the rest of the day trying to figure out where Andy was in his schooling. Maggie went back upstairs to look over the books.
“Hey,” Danica said, coming up to check on her. Maggie jumped.
“Shit, you scared me,” she said and then covered her mouth. “I’m going to have to figure out a different vocabulary. That boy picks up on everything.”
“What have you been up to?” Danica asked.
“I’ve just been looking at all the books here,” she said. “There are books on all sorts of subjects. How to fix small engines, how to survive in the wilderness, what plants are edible, emergency medical care, books on woodworking. If you want to know something, this is the place to find it. The more I explore, the more I’m not sure I want to leave.”
“You serious?” Danica said after first thinking she was kidding.
“Why not? This seems to be the ideal place. Plenty of food, electricity. All Randel would have to do is build me an outhouse.”
“And fix anything that breaks. What if the solar panels break down this winter? You’ll freeze to death.”
“I don’t see why,” Maggie said, taking down a book. “Our forefathers didn’t freeze to death. We have a fireplace, a whole mountain full of wood. Several houses are full of food. It might be nice.”
“What about people? Don’t you want to be around people?”
“People are overrated. I don’t know. I haven’t thought this all the way through.”
“But you’re thinking about it?”
“I am,” Maggie said. “This place is just too nice to give up.”
“And if the people that own this place come back?”
Maggie shrugged. “I guess we leave or move into one of the other houses.”
“You’re free to do what you want but I think it’s insane.”
Maggie laughed. “Probably.”
CHAPTER 50
The next morning, following another round of scrambled eggs, Randel and Franklin went in search of a wheelchair. As it turned out, the wheelchair was easy to find. Thomas escorted them to an urgent care facility and found eight. They settled on the one that didn’t have a dead body resting on it.
“We’re slowly getting around to burying the dead,” Thomas said. “We have an excavator on the other side of town, and we’re burying them in a mass grave. We’ve buried a lot already, but it takes its toll. We dedicate two days a week to the task. I prefer to bury them in their own graves, but it would take forever.”
Searching in the back, they found an electric wheelchair.
“Jackpot,” Randel said, finding the prize. “Now we just need the axes.”
“And a climbing harness,” Franklin added.
“The box store up the street will have axes,” Thomas said. “Not sure where we can find a harness.”
“What do we need with a harness?” Randel asked.
“With the roads washed out or blocked, we might have to carry Deborah. It’ll be easier with a harness.”