Willy stopped talking, and they sat in silence for several minutes. Gina looked at Sam because this is the same scenario that he had predicted and Mark had warned them the riots and looting were widespread. It seemed the whole country was in a state of chaos with no end in sight.
Olivia sat up straight and peered at her grandfather. The look on her face told Gina that the girl had just realized she had answered her earlier question. “Grandpa, did Grandma come in with you?”
It was apparent by the old man’s expression that he wasn’t going to be giving Oliva the news she wanted to hear. His eyes glazed over with unshed tears and Gina knew any news he had was going to disappoint Olivia.
“She did, but when we found your parents, it was more than her heart could take. I buried her with Michael and your Mom. Did you see the cross we put up for them? Willy built the cross,” he said, indicating the youngest of the three men. We didn’t have any way to write on it, but as long as we know they are there, they won’t be forgotten.”
“Yep, that Zach was one of a kind and while he wasn’t religious, he did his best by the folks around here. Never turned them away if they couldn’t pay for something. Heck, he ran tabs for most of the people in this town.”
“Speaking of the town, I’m assuming that there are more people here than just the three of you. Where is everyone else? We didn’t see a soul when we passed by on the road, and we were beginning to think there was no one here anymore.”
“Well, you would be almost correct. We were a small town before they built that housing complex outside of town. A Premier, Gated Community, they called it. Luxury living at affordable prices…what a joke. The only people who could afford to live there were the transplants from other places, and they were also the ones the least equipped when the lights went out.”
“And they were the same people who robbed and beat Red to death,” added Glen. “They didn’t want to share what they’d stolen, but What happened next made me believe in Karma. It wasn’t but a week later when we heard what sounded like a small war going on out there. It was the next night while we were all asleep, that gang of men came and took what we had left. They tried to burn the fire station down with what was left of us locked inside.”
“So, you guys didn’t try to defend yourselves at all?”
Willy glared at Sam, “You have to remember that most of us are old and when all the younger people left or disappeared right at the beginning, they didn’t leave us with much in the way of guns. We had my old shotgun and a hunting rifle, but no ammunition for it. We were pretty defenseless, and I confess that none of us believed we had anything left worth stealing.”
“The gang took the little we did have, and shot anyone who tried to resist them.” Glen sighed, “I sure didn’t believe it could happen in America.”
“So, how many of you are there?” Gina asked.
Glen answered after silently counting names off on his fingers, “After the first of the town folk had walked out of here to find their families, there were over a hundred. As the days went by more people left to find their families, leaving about sixty or so. Thirty-three of us moved into the firehouse, and there’s eleven of us left now, and there’s only two who is under the age of sixty-five.”
“What do you want to do?” Gina asked looking at Sam. They couldn’t just leave the people to fend for themselves. She thought there had to be something they could do to either help them or take those that wanted to go, with them when they left.
“I’m staying here with my Grandfather,” Olivia said. There was no doubt by the firmness if her voice that she meant it.
“No, child. There’s nothing for you here. If you have found a home with these people, you need to stay with them.”
Oliva was shaking her head in denial as the old man talked, “I can’t go and leave you here. Why can’t we go out to the homestead? I can hunt for us, and I’ll look after you.”
“Child, the house is gone. A river of fire swept through and took it all. What the fire left, the quakes took. There’s nothing left to go back to, or I would have been there now, but then I would never have gotten to know that you’re alive. No, you need to stay where you are.”
“Then come with us. He can come can’t he Gina?” Tears were running freely down Olivia’s face, and there was no way that Gina was going to say that he couldn’t and neither would Sam.
Glen shook his head and sighed deeply. “I can’t. I couldn’t go off and leave my friends, and some of them are in no shape to travel. I’m not in any shape to travel either. I haven’t had any of my medications for my heart in months, and it’s only a matter of time for me. I want to stay here, and I want you to go and build a new life.”
Olivia was almost hysterical listening to her Grandfather telling her that she had to leave. It broke Gina's heart to listen to her sobbing. Gina got up and pulled Olivia to her feet. The girl clung to Gina still crying. “Let’s go find some of your things to take. We’ll let Sam talk to him.”
Gina looked back over her shoulder and implored Sam with her eyes, “Do Something.”
When he nodded his head, she knew he’d gotten the message, and she led the still sobbing girl to the house.
Chapter Nine; Staying behind
Sam sat in silence until Gina and Olivia were out of hearing. He wasn’t sure what he could or should say to these men. He did see the logic behind Glen’s words to Olivia, but he didn’t know how they could force her to leave unless they carried her off kicking and screaming. Sam had already seen how well she could defend herself and wanted no part in it. She had already been through so much in her young life, that he wondered how this last blow would affect her.
Making his mind up, “You could come with us, all of you. I don’t think that we can leave here knowing that we were never coming back. Thirty miles west of here, where we used to live, there’s a volcano that threatens every day to erupt. We are moving south to get away from it, and we have no conveniences where we’ll be going, and it will he hard, but you are welcome to join us.”
Sam knew that John would have made the same offer after giving the idea some thought. Having more people, and older people at that would make their situation as about as serious as it could get, but he couldn’t in good conscience abandon this town or the people who remained.
“You seem like a good man, but you need the whole picture before you ask us to go. I didn’t want to say anything in front of Olivia because I can see that she is fragile. When I heard those men had taken the young women and girls, I figured they were all dead. I’ve lived a long time, and some of it in the military, I know the debauchery that men are capable of, and I prayed for a quick and painless death for all of them. Our population has dropped from about four hundred down to eleven, and the three of us sitting here are the only three capable of getting around. I know there is no way that I can leave. I would ask that you take Willy. His health is good, and he can get around just fine, and he would be an asset to any community.” Glen was staring at his friend, and by his expression was daring Willy to say different.
“I can’t do that Glen. I am the only one who can still hunt. You wouldn’t last a week without me.”
“Oh, don’t go getting all high and mighty and placing a higher value on yourself than you deserve. You know that some of us won’t live another week, no matter how many squirrels and birds you bring in. Besides that, there are only a couple of shells left for your shotgun and then what?”
Willy looked crushed by Glen’s words. Sam waited for the man to gather himself together. He was shaking, and tears had formed in his eyes. Sam could only imagine how he would have felt in the same position. The man had obviously been doing the best he could with his hunting. It would have been impossible to get any larger game to feed them with only a shotgun. There had to be some way to help these people.
“Tell me about your group. Maybe there is some way for you all to go. I don’t think that we can leave here, knowing you people won’t survive alone.”
Glen looked toward the relative shade inside the open doorway of the building, “Can we move to a more comfortable location. These old bones can’t take sitting on the ground, and that sun is getting hot.”
Sam helped each of the men to their feet in turn and realized that Glen could be right. Willy was the only one who was able to rise without help. Glen was forced to get to his feet in phases. First to his knees and then to his feet. He stood with his hands braced on his knees while he caught his breath.
Puffing, he looked at Sam, “I can hardly get around anymore. My ticker is just about gone. Congestive heart failure and without my meds.”
He left the rest of his declaration unspoken, but Sam could hear the ending. Glen barely had enough oxygen to say the little he had. The act of getting to his feet had taxed him.
Sam helped the old man into the shade of the warehouse, while Willy let the other man lean on him and guided him over. Sam didn’t see what the other man’s problem was because he walked fine but had said little while they were talking. He let Willy lead him into the shade of the building. Willy saw Sam watching them, and pointed at his own eyes. Sam frowned, not understanding at first. In the gloom of the interior, the man felt for and then sat on a bale of the hay.
Sam arranged bales of hay so that each of them had somewhere to sit. When he looked at Glen, he saw a sheen of perspiration covering the old man’s face and wondered how far off the man was in his estimation of his own longevity. His complexion had grown gray as he sat, puffing harder than Sam thought he should have been with the short walk.
“I’ll be right back.” Sam got up and went to fetch a bottle of water for the men to share if they wanted. He grabbed a second for himself and the girls.
As Sam watched the old man, hand shaking with palsy, put the bottle to his lips, he wondered if these three were in the best shape of the townspeople, how bad the others must be. Sitting seemed to help in Glen’s recovery.
“Willy, why don’t you tell me what you guys are dealing with, and maybe there is something we can do to help.”
“Well, I don’t believe there is anything you can do unless you could heal their broken bodies and give some of them back their faculties. I went to the care facility to see my mother and to take them a couple of the pheasants I shot. I had been doing whatever I could to feed them all and discovered that, the last of the caregivers were gone and the patients left to fend for themselves. The conditions were deplorable.” Willy shook his head sadly, “They’re a broken lot of old people with not much longer to live.”
Sam felt sickened that trained caregivers, would abandon their post without a thought for the patients. He thought about what could have happened if Willy’s mother had not been in the same facility.
Willy chuckled, and Sam thought it was inappropriate considering who they were talking about, and he wondered how Willy could be so heartless about his own mother.
Willy held his hand up, at seeing the look of disapproval on Sam’s face, “Wait, before you condemn me, picture this, two old men pushing hospital beds down the middle of the road. We had to keep stopping for Glen to rest and he would lie at the foot of the bed. All I can say it thank God they had wheels, or we’d have never gotten them all moved.”
At hearing Willy’s explanation, Sam realized it was funny, and he had been prepared to take the situation out of context without knowing the whole story.
“Glen and I have been trying to make the others as comfortable as possible until the end. What Glen didn’t tell you is that two days ago we had to bury four of our numbers, and every passing day we lose someone else. We moved them down into the dining room of my restaurant where we were living. All but two of them are bedridden, and the two depend on wheelchairs to get around, but they ain’t there if you know what I mean.” He pointed to his head.
Sam nodded, he did understand and saw why they couldn’t leave. He also wondered if it might not be kinder to have left them at the care facility.
“I can see by the look on your face that you are thinking the same thing we have thought all along. It may have been easier on them to let God take them as he wished, but we couldn’t sit down here, knowing they were there. And the thought of my mother being there…I could have moved her and not the others, but that’s not how I operate, and neither does Glen. At least this way they get a funeral such as it is.” Willy placed the shared bottle of water into Jeffery’s hand and guided it to his mouth.
Sam frowned as he watched, “I can try and hunt for you. I don’t know that I’ll have any better luck than you, but I’d sure like to try.”
Glen shook his head, “It’s not necessary. I don’t think we have too many meals to worry about the way it stands. You could give us a hand and do some digging. We’ve had to leave it up to Willy to dig the graves, but he’s about worn out. I expect we’ll be needing to make use of at least two before the day is out if not more.”
They sat in silence while Glen’s words sank in. Sam decided to wait for Gina to get finished and walk to the restaurant and see for himself if there is anything that could be done for the people.
Glen, who looked much better out of the sun and with a drink of water in him, asked, “What brought you back here? If you were going south, this is a little out of your way, isn’t it? Not that I mind knowing that Olivia is okay and in good hands.”
“We came to find some things that Olivia thought her dad had stored, but as you probably know, it’s all gone.” Sam wasn’t sure if he should mention the guns or the antibiotics they found in the hidden room. He could give Glen a couple of weapons, but he didn’t see where the old man was capable of using them.
Glen chuckled, “Yes, I know about the things he had stored. We moved them right in the beginning when people were stealing anything they could get their hands on. There wasn’t much left of value, but there is some fence wire and a few bags of feed down at the restaurant. As for the other things, we didn’t touch them.” He gave every indication by his facial expressions and body language that he knew which things they had come to get. “I’ll leave it to Oliva to show you.”
Sam nodded, and he was sure the old man knew that Olivia had already shown them. As soon as Gina and Olivia got back, they would accompany the men to the restaurant and see how they could help.
“I can see you’re wondering about Jeffery.” When Sam raised his eyebrows and then frowned, Glen pointed to the third man. “That’s Jeffery. He can barely see you and never hardly talks. We think it’s because of his diabetes. It’s been months since he received any shots and he is a severe diabetic. Under those shoes, you can see where his toes are gone. Well, he still has them, but may as well not for all the good they do him. Gangrene.”
Sam nodded, “What does diabetes have to do with not talking? I didn’t think it would interfere with speech.”
Glen laughed, “Oh sorry, I can see why you misunderstood. He came walking in one day from out on the highway. His folks had a place the next exit east of here. He doesn’t talk because he either is missing something or he just plain has nothing to say. We’re not sure, but something happened out there, and it must have been bad. We think the gangrene and loss of his sight is a direct result of his out of control diabetes. Not much we can do for him I’m afraid. It won’t be long before it’s just Willy, and that boy’s as strong as an ox and healthy too. Or he would be with some proper food. He throws a mean set of horseshoes both on the playing field and on a horse. Best damn farrier in town. Course there ain’t no horses left but those three of yours.”
Willy’s face grew flushed at the praise from Glen. His brown eyes showed how much pleasure he took from Glen’s compliments. He looked at Sam and then turned his gaze to the horses.
“Willy, if you’re going to be with us, maybe you’d like to get to know the horses a little better. Maybe you could bring them in out of the sun.” Sam hadn’t seen the adverse effect the man had on the horses when he’d tried to grab them earlier and was surprised when Joe reared an
d threatened him by baring his teeth. Sailor stomped his front foot as if the man were a threat to him.
Willy held his ground and didn’t approach either of them. He stood with his hand stretched out until Sailor stuck his nose out and touched Willy’s hand. Only then did Willy step close and give Sailor and scratch on his cheek. Satisfied the horses would be okay Sam turned his attention back to Glen.
“I know you won’t go with us, but there must be something we can do to help you. There must be something. In good conscience, I can’t leave until I know your plans.”
“There is something besides digging some graves for us. Willy doesn’t know how bad off those people we’re looking after are. That’s why we were out walking when we spotted you. I was going to tell him, that I wanted him to leave here. I don’t think he can handle much more death. He’s already buried his wife and both parents. With these old people dropping like flies, there’s nothing for him here. I was serious when I said these people would all be gone before the week is out. I’ve watched him treat every one of those folks like they were his parents. He bathes them, feeds them and cries every time one of them leaves us. A man can only take so much, and he’s too good of a human being to be broken like this. You’d be doing me a favor to ask him to go with you. Call it a favor for letting you have all of my son’s guns and the rest of the stuff he’s got hidden up there.”
Sam bowed his head, “I would have asked him just because you asked me too. You didn’t have to use bribery. I would ask you to go too if I thought you would, but seeing as how you’ve made your intentions pretty clear, I won’t. You need to make Oliva understand why you’re not coming with us. I don’t want her thinking it’s because of me.”
“Good enough. Olivia knows that I have a bad heart and it wouldn’t be stretching it for me to say that I couldn’t make it that far. I do want you to leave me one of the pistols that Michael has stored up there, and a box of bullets.”
Beyond the New Horizon (Book 3): Living on the Edge Page 11