Smith

by Wade Adrian

  “Well that’s dull.”

  Ross leaned in beside Baron, looking out the window. “Rumor mill says Mary was finally on her way out and you stopped her. One of those Green eyes outside would have been the end of her.”

  Morei’s eyebrows crawled up. “That makes a bit more sense.”

  Smith shook his head. “Tell all the rumors you like, I was there.”

  Ross returned to the couch and retrieved the clipboard. “Enough with the chatter. Time to get to work.”

  Morei nodded. “Capital idea.”

  The sun was creeping into the sky when Smith found himself ever so carefully climbing down from the roof. He lost his footing a few times, but managed to recover. Rain the night before had left the whole place slick and the sun was dragging its feet on drying things up.

  Smith tried to fix the location of the house in his mind relative to everything else. There was a tall flagpole out front. It seemed pretty novel next to the blue house.

  Morei and one of Baron’s hunters were assigned to smith. The young man knew the place best, so he could get Smith where he needed to be.

  The scout lead the way. Smith followed. “So, you’ve seen lights, huh?”

  He shook his head. “I was told I didn’t. So I didn’t.”

  “Ross wasn’t here. He didn’t see what you saw.”

  Morei shrugged. “No real evidence. Keep your eyes open, though.”

  “Right. Totally have time for that.”

  “How long did it take you to get here?”

  “Just short of two weeks.”

  “That sounds about right.”

  “Wait… you’ve been alone here for a month?”

  “I guess. Got kinda samey to the point I’m sure I forgot to notch a few of the days. Honestly, the odd gang raid would have been a nice diversion.”

  “Well, for the record winter isn’t far off. So we’re not supposed to dilly dally.”

  “Guess my vacation is over, then.”

  “I’m sure Baron can put you to work just outside the walls.”

  “Nope, nope.” Morei shook his head repeatedly.

  Smith tilted his head a bit. “Why not? He seems like a stand up guy.”

  “He is. I have nothing against him or his people except for that part where hunters hunt things.” He was quiet for a moment, his usual jovial tone fading away. “I don’t do that.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Smith nodded a few times. “I was more of a gatherer than a hunter myself before I found the place.”

  Morei pointed up the street. “Getting close. Eyes sharp.”

  Smith noticed a few green cloaks moving about in the distance on either side, well beyond earshot short of a yell. They had their own mission to see to.

  The street looked abandoned. Well, as abandoned as anywhere else, though a bit more abandoned because none of the cars were burnt and most of them still had glass.

  Storefronts still had glass, too. Lots of it. Giant windows leading in. Several had doors hanging open, as if someone had just popped out to get something.

  Open signs decorated a few places. They hung askew, but they were still there. Determined.

  The pavement had cracks packed with vegetation, but the place was strangely clear of litter.

  Back in the day most people had made quite a mess in their haste. Others had hunkered down in one spot, leaving evidence of their time by the remaining slapdash construction. The edge of town had some old cans tied to a string stretched across the streets and a few doorways. They were rusted, the strings threadbare. Easy enough to avoid. Morei had apparently cut several down already just because the sound of them clanking in the wind at night annoyed him.

  Further in it looked like all the people had simply disappeared one day. Got up, went for a picnic, and forgot their way back.

  “Eerie.” Smith glanced about, following a bird flitting around the roof line.

  “Yeah, no shit. Didn’t take much to get me to agree to watch the place without wandering in. Something is very wrong here.”

  “Except, it’s not.” Smith tugged on his beard. “Everything is essentially right here.”

  “Which, I’m sure you’ll agree, is spooky.”

  “Certainly.”

  The hunter following them rolled his eyes. “Less chatter. Listening here.”

  Morei shrugged and pointed ahead. “Hardware store. You want to stop there, or press on to the pharmacy? I’m going to slap you if you say ‘Split up.’ We don’t follow the Scooby Doo school of detecting.”

  “Well you’re no fun.” Smith shaded his eyes from the rising sun glaring off all the glass. There could have been a small army in some of these places and he wouldn’t see them. “Guess we do hardware store, since it’s closer.”

  “Right.” Morei glanced back at the hunter. “You handle the street view while I babysit?”

  The hunter nodded.

  Smith’s shoulders slumped a bit. The guards back in town had just gotten through babysitting him. First he was a potential threat, now he was so little of a threat he was potentially a liability.

  The hardware store had the same “everyone is out to lunch, please leave a message” look going on. The shelves were on the bare side, but everything present was in order and where it should be. The only things out of place where some dead leaves that had blown inside the open door.

  The hunter stationed himself with his back to a wall, the large glass windows to his left, and the store to his right. He leaned back and casually crossed his arms. His eyes scanning the street said none of his actions were casual.

  Morei picked up a small red basket with two handles from beside the register. “Got a list, or we just browsing?”

  Smith narrowed his eyes at the scout, his large knife already in hand.

  The scout shrugged. “Sorry. Serious business, I get it. We’ll do a sweep first, then you can start an inventory.”

  “Right.” Smith held his knife high as he wandered into the store, trying to keep his footsteps light.

  It didn’t work very well. His feet clunked along as he glanced down each aisle.

  Each time he waited a moment, then sprang forward. He didn’t want to give anyone time to get a bead on him.

  Morei just walked, casually casting glances about.

  They met up at the back wall beside a set of double doors that lead to the back. There was a sign that clearly stated they were not welcome since they weren’t employees. Smith made a series of gestures, pointing at Morei, holding his hand low, then at his own eyes, then hooking his thumb at the door. Stay low, take a look.

  Morei walked inside like he was heading to the break room.

  Smith sighed and followed. Either professionalism was dead, or he was grossly misinformed about how scouts were supposed to operate.

  While the back was less organized, its larger shelves made it a lot easier to see around the room. Smith only had a few blind corners to leap around, knife at the ready.

  Morei checked out the doors at the back, one human sized and the other meant for cargo. Both had locks that seemed to still be working. He nodded a bit after testing them. “Okay, I think we’re good. Do your thing.”

  Smith was already poking around.

  It was like a candy store. Hammers, files, saws, chisels… every sort of hand tool he could imagine. Quite a few power tools, too, but those were problematic in the long run. Some even in the short run. Several just required too much power. Smith could get his work done without them, so best not to use up whatever gasoline they had left. That, and they were heavier than hand tools.

  Morei rolled up with an empty shopping cart. “Ta-da.”

  “Thanks.” Smith had a small pile of stuff already. He pulled a packaged tarp from the shelf, opened it up, and draped it in the cart before picking up his pile of junk and transferring it over.

  Morei watched, a perplexed look on his face.

  “It’s been raining.” Smith shrugged. “Better to be safe than sorry.”

  Most o
f the hammers on offer still weren’t meant for metalwork, but they were heavy enough to serve and their fancy modern handles would hold up better in the long run than more traditional wooden ones.

  While it would be simple enough to just sweep his arm and dump shelves into the basket, he’d never be able to get it all back. They might end up carrying most of this by hand if the weather or road didn’t agree with them.

  He referenced Wilson’s list as he wandered up and down the aisles out front and those in the back. Guy wanted a lot of things that had long wooden handles. It was going to make transporting them difficult. Guy wanted three different kinds of shovel. At least they didn’t stick as far out of the cart as the rake. Smith tossed in a collapsible shovel, too. Seemed like a better idea and saved some space.

  No such luck getting lightweight solutions to other things. He added a pickaxe and a maul with an axe blade on one side and a hammerhead on the other. It would split wood and serve as a sledgehammer… and only seemed to weigh as much as both of them. Efficiency of carrying won out on that one.

  He grabbed a few roofing hammers as well. They did well enough for normal construction. Several boxes of pristine nails helped keep the tarp flat on the bottom. He found one power drill with two spare batteries and a charger. If worst came to worst, they could drop it in the mud. Drilling by hand was a pain.

  “Well that’s a bummer.”

  Smith looked up from the cart.

  Morei was standing in front of a display rack for seed packets.

  It was empty.

  25

  Smith sighed as he joined the scout. “Guess that was too much to hope for.”

  “This was probably cleaned out before everything went to shit.”

  Smith looked around in the display. Something might have escaped notice… the plastic grid dividing the box came lose when he pulled on it.

  A few loose packets were waiting. Cherry tomatoes and whatever the hell arugula was. The cardboard sides hid a few more packages, folded in when it was put together, or that had managed to get stuck over time while the thing was in use. Green onions, red peppers, spinach, and cucumber. Only one packet of each, probably not enough to make a difference… at least not for a few generations of the plants making their own seeds.

  If any of them actually sprouted. He wasn’t familiar with farming. The seeds might be too old or something.

  A handful more were under the display itself. Broccoli, pumpkin, and watermelon.

  Smith stuffed them into the pocket of his coat. “Guess that will have to do. Keep an eye out for more. Maybe the pharmacy will have something.”

  “Um, why? Medicinal shrooms?”

  “A lot of pharmacies have a storefront with random brick-a-brack. Something for people to look at and impulse buy from while waiting for their prescriptions.”

  “If that’s what you’re after, there’s a gas station at the far end of town.”

  Smith tilted his head a bit. “Huh. Any gas?”

  “I wasn’t exactly equipped to find out. No power… obviously.”

  A stand covered in books caught Smith’s eye. “So if you don’t hunt, what have you been eating this whole time? Twinkies?”

  “Some of these people kept gardens. Most have grown over into crazy messes now, but a few of them still have things other than weeds prospering. Couple strawberry plants not far from the loft, and an apple tree. Random vegetables most days.” Morei picked up a box and turned it back and forth. “Huh.”

  “Find something?”

  “Speak of mushrooms…” He held up the box. A mushroom growing kit.

  “Cool. Maybe. Toss it in the cart.” Smith flipped through the first book he found. It was on backyard gardening, but that might apply to farming. “Maybe we can dig some of those plants up, take them back.”

  “Or, you know, a few berries since they’re covered in seeds.”

  “A plant would be faster.”

  Morei grumbled something about keeping a plant alive for two weeks on the move. He kind of had a point.

  Smith set the book on the counter beside the shelf. He wasn’t sure he wanted it yet. Only the best. The absolute most informative, and with pictures if he could get them. The less room for error the better.

  He ended up with a book which covered gardening, caring for livestock, including horses and cows, as well as bits about building appropriate places to grow plants and house said livestock. It seemed the most useful for the weight. He grabbed a few more on home renovation and one specifically about back yard wind and solar farms.

  The hardware store was definitely worth the trip. He had tools to keep himself busy for quite a while. He also made sure to grab enough files to replace all the old ones so he could make them into more useful things without having to carry back scrap metal. He’d found most of what Wilson wanted, too. He should be able to whip up the last few things once the forge was up and running, between the diagrams and Wilson no doubt watching over his shoulder.

  The cart was already getting a bit heavy, so he wrapped the tarp over the top and started wheeling it towards the door.

  His pace slowed to a crawl as his eyes caught a knocked over display. Boxes and boxes of completely inedible useless junk when things went wrong…

  Solar walkway lights. He picked up a box and popped it open.

  It seemed to be in tact. He carried it to the window by the long spike meant to be stuck in the ground and held the panel on top up to the light.

  Morei stuck his head over Smith’s shoulder. “No way that thing works.”

  “Shh.”

  “Like me talking is going to disturb it?”

  “It’s disturbing me.”

  He gave it a few minutes of solid daylight before holding his hand over the panel and the little hole in the top that must be the sensor.

  A tiny spark of light appeared in the middle of the bulb.

  “No way.”

  Smith smiled. “Get them out of the boxes, we can get more in the cart that way. Looks like they are plastic enclosures anyway, so no worrying about glass.”

  A few of them were broken, but Smith took them anyway for parts. If he took apart a broken one he might figure out how to fix others down the road.

  Morei shook his head as he stuck two lamps in. “Crazy that no one took these.”

  “They were trying to survive, not light their driveways.”

  “True. This is a game changer for back home.”

  Smith nodded. “Should mean lamp oil lasts a lot longer anyway. Keep it for emergencies.”

  “Or, ya know, indoor use.”

  “You could set one of these outside during the day and take it in at night. It would give light for a few hours at least.”

  “I guess. If you want to be silly.”

  “Now you’re just being disagreeable on purpose.”

  “It’s part of my charm.”

  For all the plastic landscaping lights stacked up to practically overflowing… the cart didn’t really weigh all that much more. All the metal tools had its wheel creaking anyway. They could rearrange things later. This wasn’t a find he was willing to leave behind. There were a few motion activated lights for doorways, too.

  Smith used a few bungee cords of assorted colors that were lying around in odd places to tie up the cart before rolling it outside.

  “If you’ve got a plan to get that into my loft…” Morei scratched at his chin, “I’d love to hear it.”

  “You are going to carry it all up and back down a piece at a time.”

  “Really?”

  “No.” Smith shook his head as he pushed the cart down the street. “We’ll put it in the house’s garage or something. Or in a place difficult to see from the ground, but easy to keep tabs on from the attic.”

  “Loft.”

  “Attic.”

  The hunter following them pointed. “Pharmacy should be just up there, according to the map.”

  “Of course it is.” Morei raised his chin into the air. “I th
ink. Never actually been this far in.” He knelt down and cut another cord with a few cans tied to it, gently lowering it to the ground out of the way of the cart.

  “You know,” Smith had to lean forward a bit to get enough leverage to get the thing moving again, “I’m fuzzy on why I am pushing the cart.”

  “Because you filled it. I wouldn’t want to upset the delicate balance.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “How about… you’re not ready to respond to hostility at a moments notice? We are. It’s our gig. Something goes down, just hide behind the cart. All that junk in it, it should be bullet proof.”

  “At least that’s a better excuse, I guess.”

  The pharmacy still had its mortar and pestle sign hanging out front, so it wasn’t difficult to find once they turned the right corner. It wasn’t on the main street, but only by the length of another building that was. Nothing was far from main street here. It didn’t have one of the glass front store spaces, instead it was solid brick construction with high windows all the way around and a few lower ones just for displays.

  Morei removed a few more of the tin can lines, shaking his head. “No one would ever run into these. Someone wasted a lot of time.”

  Smith stopped the cart out front and shifted a broken bit of sidewalk to stop the back wheel from moving. “It was a bad time. People needed to find things to occupy their minds.”

  “Can strings isn’t what I went to, but to each their own, I guess.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I drank like a fish.”

  Smith tilted his head a bit. “You look too young for that to have been legal.”

  “Juvie was closed that day.”

  The hunter held up a hand, his eyes scanning the inside. “Shh.”

  Morei frowned, his hand moving to rest on the gun at his hip.

  Smith pulled his knife. He hadn’t cleaned the gun in ages. Probably shoot himself in the foot if it worked at all.

  The back of the hunter’s hood moved about for a few moments before his shoulders relaxed. “Huh. Must have been nothing.”

  Morei moved closer, still ready to draw his sidearm. “What did you see?”

  “Thought I saw something moving. Nothing now. Maybe a broken window letting in the breeze.”