EMP Primeval

by S A Ison

  “I never thought of that, now I’m really excited to make the stoneware. If we pass any pools, lets check the mud there.”

  “Don’t you think you should weave a basket to put it in?” he joked and she punched him playfully in his arm. He waggled his eyebrows at her and made her laugh.

  They walked in silence for some time, it was usually their way to remain quiet so as not to give off their position. They stopped and ate berries and found more clusters of wild grapes, though these were a bit more sour, but refreshing. He took note that she was also wrapping quite a few bunches in large leaves and putting them into her pack. His brow went up in question.

  “I’m taking them some for maybe a trade. They gave us some of the medicine, the antibiotic ointment and the aspirin. Maybe they have something we could use, like wire for trapping, if not, a nice gift doesn’t hurt, so give them food.” She said softly, looking around the forest.

  “Good idea, the grass snares don’t really hold the prey.”

  “Or the prey eats the grass snares.” She laughed and rolled her eyes.

  “At least we have plenty of snakes, I’ve been trying to get all the venomous ones around our cave. Don’t want to stumble onto one in the middle of the night when I need to take a leak.”

  “Yeah, I appreciate that too. It is unnerving to walk up on a snake anyway, but when you know it could kill you with one bite, that kind of makes you wet yourself.” She said blushing. He laughed and figured she was talking from experience but didn’t comment on it. He was more intimate with her than he’d ever been with Becka. They had spent more time together as well. It was a forced togetherness though.

  There was no place for him to go, and he didn’t mind it. It felt natural. It had always been a production with Becka, planning this or that. When things didn’t work out, she got mad and would pout and then they’d fight. He never felt like fighting with Sarah, they seemed to be synced up. His eyes drifted over to her once more. He couldn’t seem to help himself.

  ¤¤

  After nearly three hours, they paused at the waterfall, drank and washed their faces. They continued walking and turned to head downward to the main camp when Grayson stepped out into their path and Sarah nearly screamed when she saw him, he was so filthy, his dark hair matted, his face haggard, though not from hunger and she could smell him from four feet away. She felt Aiden’s arm around her and pulling her behind him.

  “Grayson, where have you been? You look like hell warmed over brother.” Aiden said, his voice very calm, Sarah noticed.

  “I saw them, I saw them do it. They just killed her. I didn’t kill her, but they did. They cut her throat.” He said, his voice cracking, as though he’d not used it in a long time.

  “Who killed who Grayson?” she asked softly, her hand on Aiden’s back as she looked around him, into the dark wild eyes of Grayson.

  “Carol, they killed Carol. Connor and Matt. They were raping her and then they just cut her throat. Then I saw them cut her up. They said she didn’t have much meat, but she was better than nothing.” He said, and then he began to sob and fell to his knees, his filthy hands coming up to cover his face.

  “Jesus, they killed Carol and they planned to eat her?” Aiden hissed, he bent and put his hand on Grayson’s shoulder but the older man knocked it off, jerking and looked up at both of them, his eyes wild.

  “She didn’t even say anything when they raped her, she just laid there and when they cut her throat, she didn’t even scream. I hear her sometimes now, she blames me. She blames me.” He said and got up from the ground and wandered back into the woods. His gait was unsteady and he bounced off a tree.

  “Jesus Christ, do you think he actually saw Connor and Matt do that or do you think he’s lost his mind and has imagined it all?” She asked.

  “I think he saw it and then lost his mind. He disappeared when she’d gone missing. Maybe he felt responsible for her getting lost. What ever the case, Connor and Matt have friggen gone too far, rape and murder, not to mention cannibalism. Holy Christ all mighty. Maybe that was why Abby jumped, maybe they are raping the women.” Aiden said, fury in his voice. They picked up their pace and arrived at the main camp, taking note that all was relatively quiet.

  They were surprised to see Sam Lange sitting with Hunter. They’d not seen him at the gorge and assumed he was in Connor’s camp. They saw Leo and hailed him, he smiled and walked over, shaking both their hands.

  “Good to see you both, looking good.” Leo said.

  “Yep, we’re surviving. We saw Grayson a little bit ago, worse for wear. He told us some disturbing news, he said Connor and Matt have been raping the women and they killed Carol and were planning to eat her.” Aiden said, Sarah watched his face, it was like a thunderstorm had washed over him, his anger and rage palpable. His whole body was rigid and the muscles around his clenched jaw were bunching and un- clinching. She saw the red creeping up his neck.

  Leo shook his head and led them to Sam, who had lost a lot of his bulk, and looked about half the size he’d been when they’d first arrived, his face was almost a sickly gray from malnutrition and he had a sickly-sweet odor to him. Sarah could clearly smell him. His thick blond hair was matted down and greasy, and darker in color. He had deep purple bags under his eyes, and he looked as though he’d aged ten years.

  “Tell them what you told us Sam, about Connor and Matt.” Leo said, taking a seat in one of the camp chairs.

  The young man sat hunched forward, as though his spine could not hold his body up. There were deep creases and webbing around his sunken eyes. His face was very hollowed and thin. Sarah took in his disheveled condition and wondered at it. With water all around, he’d not even bathed. It was as though he’d let himself shrink and become filthy. Guilt? Grayson had nearly looked the same, though Grayson was clearly eating. He was thin, but not like Sam.

  “I had to leave those assholes, they’re crazy. They were making everyone go out and look for food and they’d just kick back and sit on their asses. They didn’t even try to look for food. Poor Carol was so weak, she couldn’t hardly walk. They kept raping her and Vana, I tried to make them stop and both jumped me and beat the shit out of me. Connor also gashed me with his knife.” Sam said and lifted his shirt, there was nearly a twelve-inch slash across his gut, it was crusted up with blood and red and angry looking. The whole of his torso and arms had blue, green, purple and yellow bruising, there was even a shoe print bruise where one of them had brought down their boot and stomped the hell out of him. It was a wonder they’d not broken his ribs.

  “I had tried to talk the girls into coming here, but they both refused. I don’t understand it.” His eyes filled with tears, and Hunter put his arm around the younger man. “Then Connor and Matt took Carol into the woods, their arms around her like old chums. And then a little while later, they came back carrying body parts, grinning and saying it was feasting time.”

  All the color leached out of his face and tears splashed down into his lap. His mouth was trembling so hard, it was hard to understand him. “I ran, I ran as fast as I could, I’d rather die then stay there and eat Carol. Those guys are animals.” He whispered, both of his hands clutching and shaking violently as though he were trying to hold on to his sanity and it was damn near getting away from him.

  “You think we should go up there and kill them?” Aiden asked in a deadly voice, his face unnaturally blank, his color going back to his normal tanned face, but his eyes were hot and nearly glowing with rage. Sarah could feel it pooling off of him. She knew it took a great deal of restraint for him to keep his voice calm and his face blank. When his face went like that, Sarah knew he was feeling great rage and was keeping a tight lid on it, so it didn’t explode on those around him.

  “That’s the thing, they have free will. The women refused to leave. His people, if you can call them that, came here two nights ago and attacked, and we repelled them easily. Christian got stabbed, and he isn’t doing so good, but the rest of us are holding our
own. I’d be afraid to bring any of them into this camp. So, do we outright kill them all? Or let them kill each other?” Marla asked, she’d walked up and joined them with Diana and William. Sarah noticed that Marla was thin, but not emaciated. As was Diana and William, they all looked thin but healthy.

  “If we go after them, try to kill them, then we also risk our own lives. We’ve talked about it as a group here. We pretty much voted to let them kill each other and if they come back, we’ll try to kill them when they do.” Leo said, shrugging.

  “But that’s crazy, they’re running lose and could take you guys out one at a time.” Aiden argued, his façade starting to crack.

  “We go in groups of three now. Each heavily armed with our home-made weapons. We out number them, and they are getting weaker. Even Vana attacked, so why would we consider going after them, they are about to implode on themselves. They aren’t welcome here, and we’ll kill them on sight.” Leo said firmly.

  Aiden shrugged, and Sarah watched, his lips thinning. She knew he didn’t like it, neither did she, but it was only the two of them and she figured they would just stay clear of them. She dug into her backpack and pulled out a large packet of grapes, smiling, she handed them over to Marla.

  “We found some wild grapes, they’re a little sour, but still sweet enough to enjoy. You might want to try making raisins. I’ve seen patches of them here and there along the upper slopes. I’m sure they’ll also go good with anything you cook.” She said smiling.

  “Thank you so much Sarah, we’ve been finding a lot of the tubers that you showed us and have even found the wild ginger root as well. Can we give you anything? Is there something you need?” Marla asked, smiling and showing the others the grapes.

  “I don’t even know if you have any, but if you have a three-foot length of wire, we’d be happy for that.” Aiden said, sounding more normal, the anger leaving him.

  Marla waved Tom over and asked him, “look in the equipment tent and pull out some of the wires and cables, Aiden and Sarah need some. Thanks.” Tom looked at her and Aiden and grinned a big cheesy grin and ran off.

  “Thanks Marla, that will really help trapping small game.” Sarah said happily.

  “I like the spears you guys have, is that a spear chucker like they have in Australia? You know, what the aborigines use?” Leo asked, admiring Aiden’s weapon. Sarah wanted to roll her eyes and laugh, men, they were the same all over the world. A new weapon, a new toy.

  Aiden grinned and handed it over, and everyone gathered around and looked at it and handled it. “It takes quite a bit of practice to get used to launching the spears, but we are getting used to it. We’ve been practicing for hours and perfecting our techniques. Sarah is pretty damned accurate. We’re going to try and hunt on our way back home. See if we can get anything. There are small deer around, but you gotta throw fast and true to get them. I’m hoping this launcher will help with that. You also don’t have to be as close up to throw it. It has a hell of a lot more distance on it than just throwing the spear by hand.”

  “I think we’ll copy the design, I think that will really help us out as well. Hope you don’t mind.” Leo laughed.

  “No, I don’t hold the patent on it. Besides, the more we share, the better we can survive this. Sarah is going to try her hand at making stoneware. We’ll let you know how that goes.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea. It would be nice to actually have dishes, that kind of thing. We made some wooden forks and spoons when the sporks finally gave out. I think I will give it a try here, maybe if we can perfect it, we can trade ideas. I’m assuming you’re going to make a ground kiln?” Diana asked, her eyes lively and she laughed.

  “Yes, we were thinking about digging a small pit, then find useable clay at one of the ponds or dirt from around some of the spots. Add a little water and you have some mud. I was also thinking about putting a little wood ash in it as well.” Sarah said, getting into her subject.

  “That’s a good idea. I’ll try the same here and if we get something usable. I’ll let you know on your next visit.” Diana offered. Sarah looked around, everyone was doing something. Henry and Gabe were relaxing, playing cards. It was good to see, it was too bad they didn’t want to go after Connor though. She was pretty sure it would come back to bite them in the ass. Connor’s kind never faded away, they were always a thorn in someone’s side.

  “What are you needing? We have some things. Is there anything you might want besides the wires?” Marla offered.

  “We could use a coffee cup, we make our tea, but we have to wait until it cools enough to drink from our little pot. And you wouldn’t happen to have an extra deck of cards, would you?” Sarah asked hopeful, she saw Aiden look at her quizzically and she shrugged, it couldn’t hurt to ask, her eyes said.

  Marla turned, grinning and went to her tent. She came back with a tall metal coffee mug and an unopened deck of cards. Tom walked up and handed over the wires and cables. He saw the cards and his grin grew bigger.

  “We’ll have to get up a card game next time you guys come for a visit. Make sure you bring something you’re willing to lose.” He laughed and waved goodbye to them as he left and went to watch Henry and Gabe.

  Aiden laughed and called out, “Just make sure you can pay up at the end of the game.” And Tom lifted a middle finger and Sarah saw his shoulders shaking with laughter. She grinned.

  “Thank you so much Marla, this really helps.” Sarah said and gave the woman a hug, squeezing her tight.

  Marla’s eyes teared a bit, “thank you again for helping us as much as you have. Hopefully Connor’s group will die off quickly and they won’t be an issue any more. I hope that perhaps Grayson will find his way back here.” She said, her dark eyes scanning the distant tree line.

  “I don’t know, I think his mind might be broken. He looked horrible.” Sarah said sadly. She felt bad for the older man, but he seemed to be surviving well by himself, maybe he’d rejoin the main camp at some point. She looked up and saw Christian come out of his tent. He was bent over, holding his gut.

  “Hey guys, how’s it hangin?” he said weakly, the smile on his mouth trembling.

  Sarah noticed that his color wasn’t good at all, and he looked to be sweating profusely. The front of his shirt was stained badly with old blood. There were dark circles beneath his blue eyes and she could see that he was in a great deal of pain, his body stiff with it.

  “We’ve used the antibiotic creams on him, but the knife must have been very dirty. The wound isn’t as deep as Sam’s but it just isn’t healing as well. It took several scrubbing on Sam’s wound to clean it out, but other than the redness, it is starting to heal up.” William said, worry in his voice.

  “Lucky me, huh? I wish I had some cocaine, that would fix me right up.” Christian laughed without humor and no one else laughed either.

  ¤¤

  Aiden didn’t like it one bit. Connor was a liability. Aiden couldn’t go after the man alone. Without Leo’s help, he’d let it go. He’d just stay the hell away from the main camp. Christ, Christian looked bad. He was dead already; he just didn’t know it yet. There was no help for the man and Aiden knew the poor bastard was in for a painful and excruciating death.

  That was the problem. There was no help, for any of them. An injury, easy to treat or heal in the real world was perhaps a death sentence here. Snake bite, poisonous food, simple things if you have a hospital at hand. Not here.

  A fall, a broken arm or leg and chances were good that death would soon follow. It would not end well, he was sure and the longer Connor was on the loose, the more havoc the man would bring. Once more he was happy that he and Sarah were far away from these people.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Christian laid in his cot, he was burning up and his body had uncontrollable tremors that wracked him constantly and there was nothing Diana and William could do for him. She could smell the gangrene that had raised its ugly head. The knife must have nicked his bowel, that was the cause of
the infection. The superficial cut was healing, but the deeper one wasn’t. Sam’s wound had healed up and he was doing a lot better now that he was with the group.

  Diana looked out of Christian’s tent, and she took a cleansing breath, trying to clear the stench from her nostrils. She watched all the activity around and smiled. They’d become a close-knit group and she was proud that everyone was working so hard together. Even over the top Christian had straightened out, but it was now too late for him. That morning, she’d talked to William, Marla and Leo, she suggested that they euthanize Christian, letting him lay here in agony and suffer wasn’t a kindness.

  “We can let him linger, but he will be in so much pain, and there is nothing we can do to help him or alleviate his pain, which is considerable.” She’d said at a meeting.

  “What do you suggest?” Marla had asked.

  “Simply put, we put him down. As gently as we can, but we will end his suffering. There is just no way he will survive. We don’t have anything remotely to help him. Each minute, each hour is agony for him. He is unconscious, but he moans and writhes from the pain.”

  “Who will do it? And how?” Leo had asked, looking at her and William. She had looked at William and had seen his reluctance, she knew it would be up to her. She didn’t mind, she knew she was doing him a kindness by easing him out of this world. Keeping him alive was a cruelty. They put animals down faster than they did humans.

  “I’ll do it, I’ll give him a big shot of air in his vein, that will kill him pretty quick.” She’d said, and they all looked at her and then nodded their agreement.

  She turned away from the tent opening and looked down at Christian, he was unconscious and moaning, nearly crying and writhing. She pulled out the syringe and pulled in the air, filling the entire syringe, she found a large vein in his arm and gently put the needle in. She pushed down the plunger and slowly filled the vein with air. She stood back and watched him.