by S A Ison
“Can you believe that? Stealing TVs when there was no power. Plain stupidity.” Mario grunted. Blake shook his head, but he wasn’t surprised. The world abounded with stupid people. Once more, he was grateful he’d left Miami so quickly. Blake could hear the women chattering inside the house and smiled. He heard Alice laughed and he grinned. Theo caught his look and smiled.
“I take it that Alice is adapting to the new world?”
“Thanks to Kena, she’s been a godsend. I provide her meat and Kena shares her vast knowledge of edible plants. Our meals have improved quite a bit, since meeting your aunt.” The men nodded and a smile transmitted itself through them.
By late afternoon, promises of more visits were given and Blake loaded up two crates, each crate contained a mother guinea hen and over a dozen chicks per mother. Their peeps could be heard and Travis was enthralled with them. Blake left the brothers a box of cigars. Many hugs and handshakes later, Blake pushed the boat away from the dock and headed for home. The heat of the day had eased and there was a breeze off the water. Kena and Alice talked quietly, Travis was sound asleep.
Blake moved the boat smoothly and his head turned and he sniffed the air. He felt a flutter in his heart, something was burning. A forest fire was dangerous, living by the river, they had water, but there were no water hoses, nor were there any firefighters. Both women stopped talking and looked around, sniffing. As Blake drew near the cabin, he could see smoke in the air, heavy and black. He began to move the pole faster, pushing the boat to home. Dread filled him, had they left something burning? Did a spark from his cigar? Had someone set his home on fire? He could hear Alice weeping and the smoke moved over them as his heart beat painfully in his chest.
Ω
Spangle, WA
Lydia’s eyes squinted, the late afternoon sun, it had been a frustrating day and her brain felt like mush. They had tried to cross the Coeur D’Alene Lake, but every bridge was either destroyed or guarded. They had diverted further south, trying to cross at Round Lake, but had run into similar problems. At every turn, bridges presented problems, and she understood why, they were choke points and avenues into a town. They had been shot at so many times and people chased them, screaming like lunatics.
She had not known how to drive a standard and had muddled through the first day. Now, she was an expert, though the jeep ran a little ragged. Yuma was beside her and Phoenix in the back seat. They were all tired and snapping at each other. She and Phoenix had gotten into a fight last night. She had wanted to drive on, just another hour, but he had refused. They were low on gas and he wasn’t willing to risk being caught near dark without a full tank.
She felt terrible now, she’d acted so petty. They were all exhausted, on edge and overwhelmed. The winter had thinned people out, but apparently, the weak and the nice had died. Only assholes remained. They seemed to thrive. She knuckled her eye, tired, blinked and kept scanning. They were on hilly farmland now, vast empty fields. There were no longer forests to hide in and she felt naked and exposed. They would be seen for miles and miles once the sun when down had she turned on the headlights. They would camp long before that. They were now looking for a place to stop.
They hadn’t spotted anyone for a long time. The fields were beginning to show that spring green. She thought about the others at the farm and knew they were already planting. They had spent nearly a week getting the fields prepared before their departure to Seattle. Bob had been generous, lending them two horses. Yuma and Miles dug up an old fashion plow. It had to be repaired, but the two men attacked it with enthusiasm and a lot of duct tape. Each had driven the horse drawn plow, one led the horses while the other handled the plow. It was hard work keeping the plow straight and moving through the heavy dirt.
The others went through the fields and picked out rocks and weeds. Then chicken poop was scattered about the fields. They had fallen into bed before night fall, exhausted by the hard-physical labor. If they hadn’t used the plow and horses, it would have taken weeks to clear the fields and they wouldn’t have as much cleared ground. They had planted spring wheat before she and the men left. Bob and his family also gave them the wheat to plant. They would have flour in the fall. Jael still had plenty of flour, the group had been conservative with its use. There was also corn to be planted, along with other vegetables.
In the greenhouse, there were seed potatoes sprouting and those would be planted as well. Lydia felt bad, since a lot of the work would be done by Julian, Miles and Jael. She knew Jennifer would be over to help them, when she was finished with her family’s farm. She also suspected that Bob and his sons would come to help as well. They had to work together since none of the newer farm equipment worked. Bob’s son Nick, was the farmer and had domain over their lands. He was the go-to guy and they had all picked his brain.
Lydia slowed the jeep down, there was a sharp curve and she couldn’t see around the stand of conifers. The fields were separated by rock walls, fences, and wind breaks. In the distance, she saw cattle, but knew those were heavily guarded. She slammed on the breaks when they heard a shot and she looked at Yuma.
“Christ, that sounded close.” Phoenix said, sitting forward. He brought the AR up and Yuma shifted beside Lydia, rolling down his window. They listened, but heard nothing. She rolled down her window and looked around.
“What should I do?” She asked, looking in the mirror at Phoenix.
“Go slow, keep your eyes peeled.” He grunted. She looked at Yuma and his eyes narrowed and he took off his Stetson. She wanted to grin, he wore that thing to sleep, pulling it over his eyes at night. She opted to sleep in the back of the jeep. Yuma and Phoenix slept on the ground, and if it rained, under the jeep or in the front seats of the jeep.
The jeep moved forward and they were on edge and high alert. The jeep moved around the curve in the road and around the large stand of conifers. In the middle of the road was a gruesome scene, three bodies and a man over a body.
“Jesus Christ! He’s raping that woman!” Lydia cried and sped up. The rapist jumped up, his pants around his ankles, his erection fading into an obscene caricature. Lydia and Yuma jumped from the jeep and she could hear Phoenix scrambling out. She had pulled her Sig Sauer, aiming it at the man’s head. It was then that she heard the shrieking screams of a baby and she looked around frantically. The man shoved a body over and picked up a child and held it before him, a gun to its head.
The man shifted and moved awkwardly, the baby still screaming, held to his chest. His pants were still around his ankles.
“Put that baby down, are you crazy?” Lydia screamed.
“Fuck you. Get away from that jeep, or I shoot this fucking kid.” The man bellowed, spit flying from his mouth.
“Put the baby down, or we will kill you.” Yuma said calmly, Lydia didn’t look at him. They were all good shots now, but it was too dangerous to shoot the man with the baby as a shield. As good as Yuma was, Lydia didn’t think he’d take the shot.
“Bullshit, you’ll shoot me. Get away from the jeep. I’m taking it.” The man grinned, moving the child from his chest to cover his head and back down to his chest. There was no clear shot.
“Leave the baby and you can have the jeep. Just let us get our things out.” Phoenix said.
“No fucking way, you’ll shoot me.” The man screamed, his face going red.
“No, we just want the baby. You can have the damned jeep.” Lydia yelled, lowering her gun. From her peripheral, she could see Yuma lowering his weapon.
“I don’t believe you.” He growled and shook the baby, which made it cry harder, the baby’s face was now nearly purple.
“I promise mister, you can have our stuff and the jeep, we just want the baby. We all swear, you can have it, we don’t care.” Phoenix said, coming to step beside Lydia, his hands up and palms out. Lydia knew that Yuma could shoot this guy easy, he had his 1911 in his holster.
“Step back from the jeep. Move back.” The man said, shambling forward. Lydia moved back,
as did Yuma and Phoenix. The baby was choking now, and the man shook the baby hard. Lydia was afraid he was going to shoot it. They backed off the road as the man got closer to the driver’s side door. The jeep was still running, all he had to do was get in and drive off.
“Put the baby down and just get in and go.” Lydia said.
“Fuck that, you’ll shoot me as soon as I do.” The man laughed.
“No, we won’t, but if you don’t put the baby down, we will shoot. I said we promised not to shoot you, we swear.” Lydia said, raising her gun and the others followed. The man looked at them.
“You swear? How can I believe you?”
“Mister, that baby is too important for us to bullshit you. All we want is the baby safe. We don’t give a damn about the jeep. We stole it, so now you steal it. Okay. We swear, we won’t shoot you.” Lydia said over the screaming child that shuddered and kicked in the man’s arm. The man looked at each of them and they lowered their weapons.
“I’ll drop the kid off down the road.” He promised.
“No, leave the baby there on the road. I told you, we won’t shoot you. Just get in and get the hell out of here.” Lydia said. The man’s eyes darted from person to person. Lydia could smell him. He stunk horribly, months of filth building up, layer by layer. The man’s hair was stiff with filth and his beard was matted.
The man kept the gun to the child’s head and he carefully and slowly lowered the child to the ground. His pants hindered him from moving fast, and he was trying to pull them up at the same time while setting his naked rump on the seat. He was lifting one leg into jeep as the baby touched the ground, but his weapon was still pointed at the fragile head. The baby fell over, still screaming, and Lydia could see the child was thin. She felt the heat of rage washing over her, pushing the fear aside. The weapon was still aimed at the child as the man pulled his other leg into the jeep.
He started to close the door and Lydia brought her weapon up and fired two shots into the man’s head. His gun discharged, his fingers clutching in a death spasm, but the bullet bit into the dirt near their feet.
“I lied, motherfucker.” Lydia snarled and ran to pick up the baby. Phoenix ran to the woman on the ground. Yuma dragged the half-naked body out of the jeep and dragged him over to the side of the road, letting the body roll off into the grass. Lydia held the child in her arms, shushing and rocking the baby, holding it tight.
“You’re alright darlin, you’re okay. Poor rabbit, poor thing. God love your little heart.” She repeated over and over. Her hand patted the thin back and she walked over to the three bodies. She looked down at Phoenix. She could now see that the woman had been shot in the head, apparently the woman had fought the man and he’d just shot her and then raped her corps. That must have been the shot they heard. There were two men, one looked as nasty as the man she’d shot. The other looked a bit cleaner and she thought perhaps it was the woman’s husband. He had a wedding ring on, as did the woman.
“Bastards.” Phoenix snarled, looking up at her. The baby was now calming down and was shudder crying.
“Ma ma, ma ma.” The baby whimpered. Lydia looked at the child, it was small, but the baby had teeth, she didn’t know a lot about children and especially about babies. She thought perhaps the child was maybe a year, or year and a half. It was thin, but long. It was also weak from malnutrition and starvation. The parents looked desperately thin as well, and she looked around, seeing backpacks and clothing strewn about the road. Their worldly possessions.
“These people suffered greatly.” Yuma said softy, his face a rictus of sorrow.
“Should we bury them? The parents I mean?” Lydia said, joggling the child, who was now whimpering and its head on her shoulder.
“I don’t know, people might be drawn to the gunshots. That jeep is a hell of a prize. I hate to leave them, but I think we need to gather their stuff and get out of here, before more trouble finds us.” Phoenix looking around. He was right, she knew, sound traveled far over flat land. Phoenix and Yuma went to the backpacks and began gathering the contents and shoving them back in. Lydia headed for the jeep with the baby, she was sure it was starving and its dry lips told her that it was dehydrated. She climbed into the jeep, not sparing a glance at the dead bastard. The baby was chilled and she opened her jacket and placed the baby inside.
The baby smelled dirty, and she thought the mother wasn’t able to clean it properly without soap and water. The mother had been dirty, but not to the extent of her killers. Rocking her body, she kept up the soft words, her hand digging through the backpack until it came to a bottle of water. Pulling it out, she opened it and held it to the baby’s mouth. The child grabbed the water bottle and drank. She pulled it away, not wanting the child to drink too fast. She looked down into the eyes, they were sky blue, with flecks of emerald in them and rimmed with a deep sapphire. Beautiful eyes. The hair was matted and dirty and she thought, a brown shade.
The fingers were thin and her heart broke. Her hand searched out one of Jael’s jam biscuits and she opened one, pinching off a small piece.
“Here sweetheart, here’s something good to eat. She said softly. Phoenix leaned in and placed a large hand softly over the child’s head and looked at her. His eyes were that deep shade of gray, like storm clouds brewing. She reached her hand out and laid it on his cheek. He then placed his hand over hers and squeezed. He pulled out and then got into the front seat. Yuma got in and turned around.
“How is the baby?” he asked.
“Thirsty and hungry. I’m feeding it a little. I don’t want to overwhelm it.” Lydia said softly.
“Is it a boy or girl?” Yuma asked. Lydia shrugged and pulled her coat open and pulled at the clothing. The smell of heavy urine wafted up, the baby was damp and would need to be cleaned and changed. Looking down, she looked up.
“Girl, she’s a girl.” She smiled. The jeep jerked forward and it swerved around the bodies in the road. The child was chewing the small bits of food Lydia fed her. Yuma turned back, his eyes searching and Lydia looked around as well. She saw in the distance, what looked like a group of men, coming across a field.
“Look, over there. They look like they are going to investigate the bodies.” Lydia said, pointing to the east.
“It’s a good thing we got out of there then. They would probably shoot us first and ask questions later.” Phoenix said, looking where she pointed. She shivered. Lydia gave the child more water and this time, she drank it slower. Her beautiful eyes never leaving Lydia’s face. Lydia smiled down at the little girl.
“You’re awfully sweet, my baby girl. I’m going to have to think of a sweet name for such a sweet girl.” She cooed. Her fingers touched the girl’s face gently, tracing the outline. She bent her head and kissed the child. Her mind was racing about giving her a name.
“I think I’ll name you Demi, for my grandmother. I think she’d like that. Hi Demi, I’m Lydia, your new mom.” She said softly. She pinched off another piece of jam biscuit and fed it to Demi. After a few more pinches of food, Demi’s eyes began to droop. Lydia rewrapped the biscuit and put it away. She took a drink of water and then put that away.
“I’ll drive a few more miles, keep your eyes peeled for a structure of some kind. We’ll stop for the night. If we can find something fairly secure, I want to build a fire.” Phoenix said and Lydia nodded, looking around. Twenty minutes later, they saw a barn, gray with age and leaning with disuse and not quite near to collapsing. Phoenix slowed and pulled off the road, driving on the uneven field. He went slowly, his eyes looking back at Lydia. She smiled and nodded, indicating that Demi was still asleep. The barn was roughly three hundred feet from the road and there was no door to the structure.
Phoenix slowed and the drove into the barn, turning on the headlights to see into the depths. There was tall grass, dead. When he was far enough in, he turned off the jeep and got out.
“I think it’s gonna rain sometime tonight. I figured we might as well find shelter.” Phoenix s
aid, looking up at the roof. Lydia looked up and saw large holes in the roof. They moved to the far side where the roof was intact. The jeep blocked the opening.
“I think if we dig a hole and start a fire in there, we should be safe enough. These walls should shelter the light pretty good and if we dig the hole deep enough, we should be okay.” Phoenix said, looking around. Yuma was pulling the packs out of the jeep and setting them on the ground. He then pulled out a small shovel and began to dig. Phoenix pulled grass and cleared the area around the pit.
“There’s plenty of barn wood on the ground.” Lydia said, looking around.
“Just be careful where you step, you don’t want to step on a board with a rusty nail. Or a sleeping snake.” Phoenix warned and Lydia shivered at the thought. She moved around carefully, supporting Demi with her hand. She picked up short boards and shards of wood and dropped them by the pit. Phoenix was doing the same. By the time that Yuma had scooped out a respectable pit, there was wood piled high. It would be their first fire in days. Lydia sat down carefully, not wanting to wake the child. She watched as Phoenix built a fire and could feel the comforting heat flow over her.
Yuma went back to the jeep and she heard him moving things around in the back. He came back with a grate. It was from Jael’s hibachi. They had used the hibachi to smoke the jerky.
“I will prepare hot water, for the child.” He smiled.
“Thanks, I’ve named her Demi, after my grandmother.”
“It is a good name.” Yuma grinned.
“God, I’m so tired, I could drop.” Phoenix said, sitting down heavily. He opened the bags that had belonged to the strangers and began pulling things out. There were rags that he laid to one side.
“I think they were using these as diapers. I think maybe we can cut up the rest of their clothing and uses those.” Phoenix suggested.
“Good idea. Yuma, can you dig out the soap? I’ll use one of the rags to clean her.” Lydia said as she took the pot of water off the grate. She dipped her finger in and it was hot, but not too hot. She laid Demi on the ground before her, putting a flannel shirt beneath the child. She began to strip the child and she had to swallow, seeing just how thin the baby was. The child blurred before her and she felt Phoenix hand cover hers. She looked up and blinked, her vision clearing.