by Leela Ash
Large cities were turned to rubble and most people didn’t dare go near them. Hundreds of thousands of house pets had taken over the urban areas. They had changed from comfort providing companions into radioactively-charged beasts. A few human survivors still lived in the midst of the chaos, though they lived in the underground, only coming out in the mornings while the beasts slept. Humans were no longer the top of the food chain. They had to learn humility in their new role in the world.
Humans now carved out small communities that were usually no more than a few hundred people, and they quickly learned to stay close together for safety. There were no governments, though there were leaders and followers as there had always been. Man’s evils still found their way into this new world, as they always had in the past.
1
Jessa sighed. It was going to be another hot day. She looked up at the sky and didn’t see a cloud in sight. There hadn’t been rain in weeks and the plants needed it. She resigned herself to fetching pails to water the garden instead. After she was done in her own yard, she still had to tend to the community garden in town. She braced herself for a long day.
They were always long days. She couldn’t remember it any other way. If only they still had those huge irrigation booms that she remembered passing in her childhood. She had passed by them as a little girl, riding in a car back then, with the wind blowing her hair back from her face. Jessa smiled from the memory.
After a few hours of watering, Jessa was finally finished, with that part of her day anyways. Her son was wandering around the flowers, looking for bugs. She had to smile at his antics. He was always happy, no matter what. She had feared that the death of his father would make him change for good, but after only a few years he was getting back to himself. Kids were resilient. Jessa sometimes wished that he could remember like she did, the way things were, but maybe this way was actually how it was supposed to be. Maybe it was easier for those that did not have the “before” memories to make the days now seem so much darker by comparison. Or maybe it was better to think of those memories of happier days as bright patches that lit up her life, however fleetingly, before the sun was blotted out again.
“Shane my love, time to come help me in the greenhouse, we have a lot of planting to do this afternoon.”
“Coming Mom.”
The rest of the day was spent under the clear plastic of the three greenhouses in the community garden. It was Jessa’s responsibility to make sure there were always new sprouts and plants to replace the old for the next crop. The village she lived in did not have a name, but they had taken her and her son in after her previous home became uninhabitable. Something had been present in the water, and it had killed most of the community. Her husband, Kraven had gotten them across what once was Mississippi before he died. Jessa found the small village twenty or thirty miles north of his final resting place. She was not sure what state she would be in now, maybe Kentucky would be a good guess, though it really didn’t matter where those once important imaginary lines were now.
The weather was decent there and with the rise in global temperatures, it was far enough from the equator to be habitable. Most gardens could be maintained all year round. There really were only two seasons at this point, the wet and the dry. For the moment, it was the dry season.
“Hey Jessa, are you coming by for dinner tonight?”
Jessa cringed a little inside, yet put on the fake smile that she had learned to add on in the morning when she brushed her hair. She could not stand Teresa and it seemed the women had annoyingly made it a point to make her a friend.
“Yeah. We will be over in a bit after we both wash up.”
“Okay, I have a friend coming over too. I think you guys will hit it off.”
Jessa had to smile to herself as she turned away. No doubt this was another one of her neighbor’s ploys to get her with someone. Why was it that everyone who was married or with someone decided that everyone else must do the same? She would never understand that.
Considering her general lack of any feeling of connection with her neighbor, she doubted that Teresa would ever choose someone that she would even actually consider being with. There were slim pickings in the town. There were quite a few men, but hardly any that were in any way her type. Men actually out-numbered women three to one and as a result it was seen as ludicrous to be a single woman in the new world. Naturally she should be adding to the population and be in the process of creating more babies, or so the prevailing wisdom went. With so many people lost in the last couple of decades, there was a constant push to procreate. But many women were lost in labor, as modern medicine was a thing of the past.
Relationships and sex were just not in her plans at this point. Jessa had lost her true love a few years before and she still was not ready to even think about starting something new. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to stay where she was. She had barely found anyone to talk to that she had anything in common with, and there was only one other child Shane’s age. But for the time being this was home to Jessa and her five-year-old son. She was trying to make the best of it. Anything would be better than being on the road, or heaven forbid being close to one of the old cities. Those were dangerous places in this new world.
Walking into the little house that Jessa was given when she moved into town, she instructed Shane to pour some water in the basin and wash himself. It was still warm enough outside to enjoy the cooler water and he happily went into the bathroom to take a sponge bath of sorts before they went to Teresa’s house. Teresa was also the mother of the one boy Shane’s age, Aidan, so Jessa tried extra hard to play nice with the neurotic housewife next door.
Sighing again when she saw her reflection in the mirror, she poured herself a small basin of water to wash up in. She grabbed a wash cloth and started to wash away the day’s sweat and grime and she quickly was able to see her face once again. The years had not changed her that much, though there were a few more lines from the last time she had cared enough to look. Deciding that her hair needed the same treatment, she refilled the basin with water and unwound her waist length hair to dip into the water. She quickly had her blonde hair cleaned and combed.
“Mom, are we going to Aidan’s tonight?”
“Yes honey, as long as you still want to go.”
“Yeah I do. Aidan found a new toy car yesterday and I have been dying to see it and he just got back this morning.”
“Well if you would spend some time looking, maybe you could find some new toys too. There are tons of houses that haven’t been searched up the hill that are safe to go to.”
“I know Mom.” The last syllable dragged out for emphasis.
2
Jessa decided on one of the dresses that she had not worn in a while. She did not know why, but she wanted to look nice for once. She even put on a little makeup before she brushed her hair out and left it down. The dress held close to her curves and accentuated the woman’s long legs. She usually did not dress that way so as to deter unwanted attention. As the new girl in town she got a lot more of it than she wanted anyways. They had been there almost 6 months in the town with no name and she still was receiving lascivious looks from all the wrong people.
About a half an hour later, Jessa knocked on the door of Teresa’s little villa style home with her son swinging his arms by her side.
“Come on in, dinner is almost ready.”
“Do you need any help?”
“Sure, come on in the kitchen, the men will be here soon. You look real nice. I don’t see you dress up much. Is it because of the fella I told you about?”
“Well there is rarely a reason to anymore, so I thought, ‘Why not?’”
“Isn’t that the truth.”
Shane ran off in the direction of Aidan’s room, knowing the way by heart. Teresa had one of the larger houses in the community and the two boys played there often. Her house was bigger, not because of her family size, but because she was married to the leader, Billy. He was a nice enou
gh guy, though Jessa didn’t like the way he looked at her when his wife looked the other way or tended to something in another room. That was just another reason to dislike Teresa. She was unable to keep her man on a leash.
Jessa couldn’t stand those types of men, one eye always looking for a woman on the side. Times had changed with so many more men to women, and as such, a woman had to be extra careful even going out of the community. There was no longer an option to be a victim or the luxury to leave personal safety in someone else’s hands. Luckily, Jessa was raised to defend herself from just about anything.
A person could not be over ten years old without a gun or some similar type of weapon. People used crossbows, spear guns, and sometimes just relied on hammers or crowbars. Whether it was a gun or a baseball bat, one thing you could count on was that everybody was packing something. While many would think this would make things more violent, it seemed to have the opposite effect. People respected each other and their space a lot more than they used to back when government and business ran the world.
Women had more of a choice in how they were treated, though they had to stick to groups to avoid becoming prey to some man’s indiscretions. In the few years since Kraven’s passing, she had been both in groups and on her own at times. She found the group she was with currently and had stuck around. It was just safer in numbers, especially for women. If you were an attractive woman, with a face like Jessa’s, and an ass to boot, you had to be twice as careful.
Jessa stuck with the group for many reasons. A group would typically accept anyone to boost its numbers, but her survival skills and planting and herb knowledge made her a valued member. The fact that she already had one son boasted towards her fertility as well, which was highly valued. She was 29, a bit older than society used to like, but she was a survivor. That was what was needed now, and had become more highly valued than a delicate figure. Of course she happened to be both skilled and hot. She was tall and lean, with a mind that was sharp and thoughtful. She could grow, preserve and cook food better than most and she knew the skills needed to thrive in the rough landscape. She was a prize in many eyes, yet she had no desire to give herself up to a man.
Still, she had to admit that there were some aspects of being with a man that she missed, and not just because of the protection such an arrangement offered. Her physical needs often drove her to consider a toss with one of the locals, though she hadn’t broken down just yet.
Jessa was in the kitchen next to Teresa. They were talking about their day and making final touches to the meal. In addition to being her annoying neighbor, Teresa was the local teacher to the colony. Shane adored her as a teacher, so despite her irritation with the woman in general, Teresa tried to keep it in check for his sake. And there was still something deep down that she liked to preserve – a sense of neighborliness that she missed from the world she had grown up in. Besides, as much as it pained her to admit, she could see that Teresa had the best intentions.
Teresa was a typical woman of the colony, soft spoken with a hidden strength in her eyes. She was about a half a foot shorter than Jessa and quite a bit smaller because she lacked the heavier muscles and body structure that Jessa had utilized for her own survival. Teresa had clearly not been on her own the way she had been, raising Shane after Kraven’s passing. To boot, Teresa had health problems that kept her from hard work and her skin and muscle mass showed it.
The new breed of women were either independent like Jessa, with bodies that showed it, or they were like Teresa, living from one man to the next to ensure their safety and survival. Jessa thought of them as leeches, and felt disgusted by their parasitic nature. It was shameless to rely on someone else for your survival, and inexcusable unless you were a child. It was too difficult for her to respect.
The two women used the two wood stoves to finish making dinner. They even added some meat, making this meal a treat that Jessa was excited to share with her son. Once, long ago, there had been meat in every meal and acres and acres of domestic pigs and cows to make such extravagance possible. That was a thing of the past now. At this point almost all meat came on the point of an arrow, though some chicken and milk cow domestication was still practiced. There were two milk cows, a couple of goats, and about ten chickens in the community. One chicken apparently met an untimely end just for this occasion, and was now the main dish of their feast.
“Jessa, can you grab that skillet out of the bottom cabinet? I just can’t seem to lift it.”
Trying not to huff, Jessa grabbed the pan and hoisted it up onto the top of the table. It couldn’t have been more than 20-25 pounds, she thought, struggling to mask her annoyance. Luckily she didn’t have to try long.
The back door swung open at that moment and Jessa looked behind her to see a few men coming through, led by Teresa’s husband. Jessa was about to turn back to what she was doing at the table, when she saw a stranger walk in. He was trailing along behind the rest of the men and came in last, closing the door behind him.
3
Michael walked in after Seth, James and Billy. He had crossed paths with Billy on his way across the country, and had come to join the community at Billy’s urging. Michael had been wandering for years, and had thought maybe it was time for a rest. Maybe if the quest he had begun hears ago hadn’t turned out to be a wild goose chase, he would have been able to find some kind of purpose to his life. Still, as fruitless and empty of satisfaction as his crisscrossing journey had been, he had nevertheless been unable to stop.
Staying on the move became his only comfort. He had lost his wife and small son ten years before to a raiding party, and the subsequent fast moving fire that swept through their home had left him wandering the world as a lone soul. Since then, he went from town to town, searching for the ones who were responsible for the deaths of his family.
All he knew about what happened came from a few bits and pieces from passing witnesses. A gang had raided his home, leaving no survivors. A burned out shell was all that greeted him when he returned from his hunting trip. He and the other men had only been gone overnight but that was long enough for tragedy to strike. In that one evening he had lost whatever semblance of peace he had been able to create for himself in the barren world.
He had a friend named Solomon with him who had lost his own family as well. The two men started out searching together, but Solomon could not take the quiet nights and had taken his own life years before.
All that Michael had to go on in his search was a half burnt leather jacket with a laughing skull emblem on the back that he found snagged on a nail on the burned out timbers of his porch. There were also plenty of motorcycle tire tracks in the dirt around his house. These were the clues, along with the words of those few witnesses, which set him on his search for the motorcycle gang. Bikes were easier to maneuver around clogged roads and had become the vehicle of choice for most nomads. With all the debris and the roads in disrepair, motorcycles were the way to go – if you could get the fuel that is. Surprisingly, there still seemed to be enough of that for those dedicated to go hunt for it.
Michael remembered the world before all the destruction. He was a young college student when the first bombs dropped. He had seen more death in his time than anyone “pre-bombs”, as they called it, could ever imagine. Sometimes it felt to Michael that he had seen more people die in those years than many had seen alive in their whole lives. He had spent the first couple of years burying the bodies of his neighbors after the short stint he had spent living in an underground bunker.
After a huge outbreak swept through his hometown, killing almost everybody he had ever known and loved, he decided to hit the road. He couldn’t handle the constant reminder of death.
Eventually, he found purpose again in the form of his wife. Her whole family had died on their way home from a scavenging run and she was left alone. She had hidden when a group of bandits appeared. When he came across her, she had smiled at him just right and had needed his protection. He needed someone to ne
ed him and her infectious, up-beat personality sealed the deal. A year later they welcomed their son Christopher into the world and Michael was happier than he had ever been before. But they say life is cruel, and he learned first-hand just how cruel it could really be.
Michael had not seen a soul in weeks when he ran into Billy. When the stranger suggested he join up with their group, he couldn’t deny how good a home cooked meal sounded. He was in need of a little conversation. He had other needs that needed to be satiated as well, but he had learned that it could be months before he might find a suitable woman on the road. So, in short, he had more than a few reasons to accept Billy’s hospitality.
Truth be told, the lure of good food had been the real persuasion for him to put his mission on hold and rest for a while. After ten years some of the urgency had faded anyhow. He had been looking for years and still questioned if he was just chasing ghosts or his own demons. He deserved a break. And more to the point, he actually needed one for his sanity. He really just needed something to take his mind off of the past.
Despite his latent desires, he had not been expecting her. His throat practically closed up when he saw the women in the black dress, standing by a wood stove with a pot holder in her hand. Not the sexiest setting, but she looked at him with the deepest green eyes he had ever seen and the faintest hint of a smile on her lips. He could tell his sudden appearance disconcerted her for a moment as well. For just an instant they locked eyes, and then just as quickly they both looked away. A quick, perturbed frown crossed her face before she finally turned back around to set the pot holder down on the stove.
Facing him again, Jessa walked the few paces up to the men to say hello.