World of Ashes

by J. K. Robinson

  The convoy pulled up to the north outpost an hour later and rode back to town in an everlasting silence. The crew of the C-130 was devastated by the news of the death of their pilots and crewman. So were the leaders of the convoy of Texan Marines detailed to retrieve the stranded men.

  “Sorry we couldn’t bring them back.” Ethan said to the Marine Major when their path’s crossed at the truck stop. “We were too late. An infected person got in.”

  “Your brother told me. I appreciate your efforts.” The Major sighed, “Lost the cargo and the pilots.” He looked over at Kenly, who didn’t seem very happy with being stared at. “Look, if your Mayor doesn’t throw a fit this time, I can have more munitions flown up here for us to take out that gang. After we do that, Texas is always looking to lend military aid to outposts as far North as possible.”

  Sabrina and Tammy happened by at the tail end of the conversation, already dressed in the simple jeans and brown jacket the town issued to all the new residents. They stopped, not expecting to actually see a Texan, let alone one of their officers.

  “Good afternoon, Sir. We’re out of uniform, because ours are in the wash, but I’m Staff Sergeant Sabrina Johansen, Missouri Army National Guard. You’re from Texas?”

  “Well, Sergeant, I’m afraid there hasn’t been a Missouri Army National Guard since about a year and a half ago. We’ve heard of holdouts in remote armories, but we never went to check them out. We just don’t have that kind of manpower.” The Major admitted. “Resources for those sort of things are scarce, and almost unjustifiable without evidence of occupation of a population over the five hundred mark.”

  “We were the last armory besides Jefferson City, anyhow. We’d have left a long time ago if we weren’t surrounded.” Tammy said.

  “Well, you’re here now.” Kenly joined the conversation. “You can stay or go if you want. We could always use more soldiers. It’s either that or help build the wall.”

  Kenly walked away, but the Major stayed. “Which brings me to my next point.” He said, watching Sabrina’s ass as she and her girlfriend walked away. Tammy caught him staring and pinched Sabrina’s rear while looking the Marine straight in the eyes. He returned he attention to Ethan. “You were there, at the hotel in Washington with the Marine Squad under Master Gunnery Sergeant Judge, right?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  The Major tensed. “Over there, by the chow hall seating, someone needs to talk to you. After you do, either way this turns out, I still wanna talk to you.” The Major’s tone was subtle and threatening at the same time.

  Ethan didn’t feel like arguing. “Fine. You just calm your ass down though. Remember who the law is around here.” Ethan like being able to tell commissioned officers to go fuck themselves. It was like a hobby or something. He stood and walked over to the far side of the seating area, not seeing anyone at first. He turned around and saw Corporal Mary Hoffman sitting behind a support pillar. Only she wasn’t wearing corporal rank, or even a uniform at all. “Hey, Mary. What are you doing here?”

  Mary pursed her lips and motioned for Ethan to sit down. She pushed her coffee away at first, but then pulled it back and sipped it before speaking. “I have… two choices Ethan.” She started, setting her coffee on the table again. She didn’t seem at all out of place in a black leather biker jacket and a pair of jeans and dingy Converses.

  “Okay?”

  “I can either take the next train to Texas, which means a twelve hour ride out of here, or I can stay here. With you.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Mary smiled, “…not very clever…” She said under her breathe.

  “Look, I’m tired. What is-”

  “I’m pregnant, Ethan. And you’re the only man I’ve had sex with since being stranded at that power plant.” Her voice was quiet, and somehow singsong in a condescending way. Ethan should have guessed.

  “Shit.” Was all Ethan could mutter, leaning back in his chair.

  “Yeah… Because that was the reaction I was hoping for.” Mary reached down to grab her bag.

  “No. No wait.” Ethan reached out and gently grabbed her arm. “How long can you stay for?”

  “Forever… Or until the truck leaves, which is in like twenty minutes.”

  Ethan looked off in the distance for a moment, Mary’s eyes never leaving his, impatience on her face. “I guess it’s time to let go, huh?” He said at long last.

  “I had to let go of my fiancé too, Ethan. He was a good man. I had to accept I was never going to see him again. I’m not asking you to do the same for your fiancé. It’s not easy to love someone enough to marry them, then to have to let them go. I will even leave if she comes back… But if I get on that truck, I’m never coming back, Ethan. I’ll just be among the millions of single moms trying to make a living in the last human land on Earth, constantly wary of attack by Mexicans and corpses alike…”

  “You never considered a…” Ethan felt bad for saying it, but his analytical mind wouldn’t let it go.

  “An abortion? It’s not like I didn’t think about it. But we’re too far from a real doctor. I’m having this baby, Ethan. Yes, or no?”

  “Yes. Of course, yes. Sorry, I didn’t mean to… I can’t let you go it alone. I don’t wanna be a pessimist, but even if you come to hate me at least I can see my kid once in a while.” Ethan found he had tears forming under his eyes. He hadn’t devoted one iota of thought to having children since he’d been drafted back into the service. Now he was going to be a dad one way or the other, and he’d only met his child’s mother once. Somehow, that scenario didn’t surprise him as much as he thought it should.

  “Good. Because this bag is all I got in the world.” Mary kicked her duffel bag.

  “C’mon. I gotta go get yelled at by your Major.” Ethan stood.

  “Who, Major Donovan? Whatever. He wanted to yell at you for leaving him another Marine short. As if he won’t end up pressing those flyboys into service until a train brings more Marines.”

  “Yo, where’s my fucking car?” A deputy said as soon as Ethan walked out.

  “Oh, hey Clyde.”

  “…like…dude…”

  “How about I go out on missions until I find a replacement for your car.”

  “Fuck… man.” Deputy Roberts tossed his hat on the ground. “I fucking left my girlfriend’s birthday present in the trunk. She’s gonna be pissed… Oh well. I want a Grand Prix GTP this time. It has a supercharger.”

  “Dude, shut the fuck up.” Mary butted in as Ethan tossed her duffel into a truck bound for the Police Station where Ethan’s Crown Vic was parked.

  Lieutenant Rowe was waiting outside the station as Ethan helped Mary down off the shuttle truck. “Your brother called. He wants to know where you went.” These days Rowe more resembled the busty blonde cop from Reno 911 than the chubby woman she’d been when Ethan had first come home. She was flirting with a black man he didn’t recognize, but the guy had an old church bus with armor and bullet proof glass and four kids in tow, so he couldn’t be all bad if he put that much effort into keeping his kids safe.

  “Tell him I’ll be at home the rest of the day. He can catch me there.”

  “Who’s this?” Rowe smiled at Mary, extending a hand and pausing her conversation with the man and his kids.

  “This is Mary Hoffman. She’ll be staying with us for a while.”

  Shrugging, Rowe returned to her conversation. “Just make sure you file a residency form with the office.”

  “Yeah, in triplicate or whatever.” Mary rolled her eyes.

  “You’re gonna love it here.” Ethan cracked a smile as they piled into the ancient Ford Crown Victoria from his parent’s shed.

  “I hope so.” Mary said as they took off. Once back at the house they were in time to catch Keith and Paula loading a few more boxes into Keith’s new truck.

  “You ever gonna stop by and see the house?” Paula asked as Ethan got out of the car. By habit he scanned the area with his hand on h
is gun, but saw nothing but the waving grass of the local fields in the floodlights Lee had installed. The forests were reclaiming land by miles and miles a day it seemed.

  “I’ve seen it before. My seventh grade teacher used to live there.”

  “Ah.” Paula nodded, “Well, the town lists her as, for sure, Deceased. It’s sad, but we’ve got it now and I couldn’t be happier.” Paula saw Mary get out of the car.

  “And who’s this?”

  “I’m his…” She looked at Ethan and made the decision for him, “I’m his girlfriend, for better or for worse.”

  “You knocked her up, didn’t you?” Paula narrowed her eyes at Ethan.

  “Because you have room to talk, honey.” Keith came to Ethan’s defense as he pushed a box into the bed of his truck.

  “Well, it’s complicated.” Ethan admitted.

  “Yeah, Allen told us how complicated it was.” Keith smiled, “You could at least have given him his shirt before throwing him out of the room.” He said to Mary.

  “And he could have answered the door with pants on.” Mary shrugged, hauling her bag from the car.

  “Right.” Keith opened the door for them and they all went inside. “So now what?”

  “We don’t know.” Ethan admitted. Mary agreed.

  “We have a lot to talk about.” Mary decided for them again.

  “Well, we’re staying for dinner, if only to see the look on Lee’s face when he hears he gets to put up with crying all the time now.” Keith laughed. “I think he was ready to see the last of Serenity caterwauling at all hours of the night. He’s been sleeping at the barracks a lot lately. Probably because of that exactly.”

  As expected Lee wasn’t happy. “Well that was really fucking smooth.” He said, but found he didn’t have much to complain about. He wasn’t at all upset about being an uncle and refused to comment on the future crying. He just wasn’t any better than Ethan at accepting change, or that he couldn’t leave knives and guns and booze around the house anymore. He did however, bring up the fact that the wall was going to block off their road to home and they’d soon be issued a house within the boarder of the town proper. The Cally brothers didn’t relish the idea of abandoning their home, but it didn’t have to be forever. Ethan and his brother were both excited that Mary, at least, could cook. This would spare them from the slop at the chow hall.

  “I guess I just wasn’t ready to hear that we’d have to leave the house so soon.” Ethan said as they finished prayer before eating. “I spent so long just trying to get back, and now I have to leave again. It kinda feels like giving up, ya know?”

  “But won’t we be safer?” Mary asked.

  “Much safer.” Lee said. “I don’t want to alarm anyone, but no one has seen Newton at all. It’s been a week since anyone can confirm seeing him, and he’s not at home. I think he might have been kidnapped, or we’d have found a body by now.”

  Ethan sighed, “Forgive me if I sit this one out.”

  “Yeah, I figured you would. Those two soldiers you rescued from the St. Clair armory are applying for your department, by the way. I think you made an impression on them because they weren’t even interested in First Cav.”

  “They’re a cute couple.”

  “Wait, they’re lesbians? That’s fucking hot, bro.” Lee was probably serious.

  “I reserve judgment until I’ve seen the goods, but I think I can find work for them.” Ethan flopped down on the couch. He’d have to leave it too. The ugly brown monstrosity that was already used when his parents got it in the late to mid 1980’s hadn’t moved in twenty five years, the floor even warped toward it slightly if you spilled a drink, it’s frame solid Missouri oak and probably better built than a hybrid car.

  Keith interrupted Ethan’s wandering thoughts. “Have you been reading the paper? There’s been two political parties forming in town. Basically there’s the classic liberals and conservatives again, but, it’s more like the Hippies and Libertarians on one side versus the Spanish Inquisition on the other. There’s no Right, just Left, Middle and the Salem Witch Trials.”

  “That fucking cult that set up out past the high school?” Ethan narrowed his eyes, looking backwards over the armrest of the ancient wooden couch. Mary picked up the paper and sat on the other end. She leaned against the heavily varnished lumber, the faux felt cushions a mottled collage of browns and tans in the pattern of a windmill and wheat fields. Almost any home that had been in the Missouri region before 1970 had had at least one of these heavy framed thrones. It was Ethan’s favorite couch, even if it sagged and needed to be sanded desperately. Thirty something years of gum, lost coins and probably even some dried pizza gave it that familiarity of home one longed for after a hard night of drinking. Mary just looked uncomfortable.

  “Yeah, those fuckers.” Lee tossed his fork onto his plate. “They want to reform the government into something resembling the original Puritan colonies, with elders and forced Sunday mass and strict biblical laws. They have some pretty ludicrous ideas if you ask me. There’s only about a hundred of them, but in a town of only five thousand that can carry a lot of weight.”

  “Sounds like the Christian version of Sharia Law to me. Should I go back and try to catch that truck?” Mary joked. “How can anyone listen to that? I’m not against religion, but I look at it like its a penis. It’s cool to have one, but please don’t shove it down my throat.”

  Everyone laughed. “Trying to tell us something about Ethan?” Lee said.

  “Shut up.” Mary’s eyes were fiery, already at home with the idea that Lee was family now, and not a superior. She felt very protective of Ethan now. It could have just been the hormones, but maybe it was more. Could it be more? They would have to try to make it more, if only for their child’s sake.

  “Kenly’s Constitution Party wants to enact a strict adherence to the US Constitution. It basically boils down to Laissez Faire markets and Small Government. Nothing but the Police, Fire, Ambulance and Army, and a few smaller municipal services and the rest Kenly wants left up to the private markets. He even has the plans in rough draft for Direct Democratic Control of the government through votes cast on local issues at three month intervals. That would reduce the need for Representatives and give more control to the people.”

  “How many of the old U.S. laws are Kenly and his party planning to enforce?”

  “Very little outside the actual Constitution and Bill of Rights. There’s the basics, don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t beat your wife, don’t beat your kids unless they deserve it, no drinking or doing drugs while driving, no shooting in crowded areas unless it’s self defense.” Lee rambled off laws he knew were already being enforced, as if Ethan didn’t know, he was on the front lines of that fight. It was all for Mary’s sake to hear them discuss it. “I think Kenly is intentionally leaving laws on drugs open to your discretion, Ethan. We already know how you feel about methamphetamines, but there are also no laws about the incredible amount of prescription pills out in the wild. Kenly wants you to come up with a policy to be voted on that would only put the most physically harmful drugs on a Contraband List. Meth, Crack Cocaine, Heroin and other Opiates. He doesn’t want alcohol, pot, or tobacco on that list though. He knows you’re not going to enforce those anyhow.”

  Ethan considered his words, and what color underwear Mary might have on. Was it just him, or did she smell delicious? “This whole end of the world business has really made parents step up to the Ol’ Responsibility Plate. They seem to be acting like, you know, parents, forcing social graces and education upon their children. It’s gone lightyears to correcting the destructive behavior of modern kids. Since we have to have guns and large knives to protect ourselves we have mandatory firearm and fixed blade tool use classes for anyone who is going to carry in public. There’s no license for it, but you only get three warnings before we kick out of town if you use them irresponsibly. Haven’t had to do that much. I figure it’s because most of the stupid people who couldn’t handle life
without their iCrap or having to use a gun every day have been weeded out by natural selection.”

  “What’s the major problem in town, besides Zombies?”

  Ethan had to consider that for a moment. “Most arrests involve fighting under the influence of alcohol in crowded communal homes. I think if people could fan out in town a little we’d see a lot less restlessness. I plan to enforce a drinking age at 18. If they can vote and carry a rifle then they can have a beer as far as I’m concerned. We need to make it socially unacceptable to be drunk in public, though. Spain used to do that, and they could serve beer at McDonalds and in schools. The last time we found someone who had any significant amount of marijuana on them, it was a thief, and he’d pick pocketed the baggie off of an elderly woman with cataracts. To be honest, I think the only things we have to worry about are really hard are Zims and the Cultists.” Ethan smiled and quoted the Beach Boys. “The bad guys knows us and they leave us alone.” Lee rolled his eyes, unsure what his brother saw in “Oldies” music.

  Mary was nursing a cup of coffee, though there were other things to drink. “Maybe I should have gone back to Texas. They don’t let religious groups step out of line down there anymore. Too many Arab immigrants got to starting trouble over imposing Sharia Law, claiming US law had failed and all that, thinking the Zims gave them free reign to do as they pleased. They weren’t even hiding honor killings or that they were attacking Christian churches and government facilities. This fuckin’ Texas general named Vierling lined a bunch of ‘em up outside the Houston court house and shot ‘em all with his own gun. Said he’d do it again in every major city until they stopped rioting over Islamic law in America and Texas. Then I’m pretty sure someone else in the congress deported a bunch of em too.”

  “To where?”