by Muga, D. M.
Ben understood that people were naturally scared of change and anything new is usually met with fear and overreaction. Nonetheless, he thought this situation to be different. Despite the instance that there were no real threats in the second transmission, it still seemed threatening. Ben’s thoughts over the last seven weeks and their path ahead were cut off by Eileen.
She points out the window. “There’s a parking spot open right there, Ben.”
Ben looks over at the beautiful woman sitting next to him in his black Dodge 2500 truck, with her bright green eyes.
Well, I suppose it most certainly could be worse. He thinks to himself as he looks Eileen over on this warm day in July.
He pulls into the spot between Lake Drive ACE Hardware and Lake Drive Camping, Fishing, & Hunting.
“Perfect. Nice parking spot find, Eileen. Everything we need, right next to each other.”
Eileen opens up her door and hops down. “Did you expect anything less than perfection from me, Benjamin?” She smiles at him, winks, and slams the door shut, walking to the front of the ACE Hardware store.
Ben laughs at her as he exits the truck, grabbing the pack from the back-cab and slinging it over his shoulder. “A little high and mighty, aren’t we today.” he walks around the truck and meets her in front of the storefronts.
She smiles at him. “I’m not sure if it’s the sunny weather returning to us after a week of straight rain, or maybe it’s reminiscing on saving your butt at the MS13 battle.”
He grins at her, looking her up and down. It was warmer than it had been outside. Mostly due to the constant rain for the last week. She stood next to him in hiking boots, jeans, a black t-shirt, one of his, with her M&P Shield on her right hip. Ben could not help but be thankful for what he had gained since the Radius, despite the adversities they had faced and will likely have to face soon.
“You’re not going to let me live that down, are you?” He replies.
She looks to the storefronts, “Not a chance in hell, good looking. It’s my hope that if I keep bringing it up… you won’t be so reckless next time.”
Next time… So, she feels it too. Like there’s something coming, something big that we have to face again.
Ben scratches the back of his head and grins. “You may have a point there. Look at you, still looking out for me.”
He chuckles at his own joke and she gives him a look. He adverts his stare to his right, toward the post office.
“Looks like they caught another one stealing or something else that chops up to a petty crime.” Ben points toward the parking lot of the post office, to the young man in a set of stockades that was set up with two other sets in the post office parking lot.
Eileen shakes her head. “What an idiot… I’m sure whatever it was that he wanted, he could have asked someone and they would have helped him out.”
Ben’s still looking at the young man in the middle set of stockades, remembering when they were put up about three weeks ago. He recalls the first guy having to be chained to the flagpole for a full 24 hours. The next day, Sheriff Patterson had three sets of stockades cemented into the parking lot of the local post office. He had given a big speech about it and told those around to pass on the word.
The big man had bellowed his voice, but he had sounded pained at having to resort to such laws. “We don’t have the time, man-power, or room to be housing people that break the laws. Therefore, punishments will change, effective immediately. Small crimes will be met with the stockades. Serious crimes will be met with a bullet. And before you all ask… murder, rape, and mayhem are serious crimes in my book. In short, if you play stupid games, you’ll win stupid prizes.”
Eileen brings him out of his memory. “I get why we have to do these things, especially after what happened just before the rain started… But it just seems so barbaric, don’t you think?” She asks him.
He looks over at her. “Yeah, that was a real shitshow, with those teenagers and that poor girl and her mother.”
He pauses thinking about the two young men, no older than 19 years old, that saw it fit to rape a young girl, who Ben had found out was 14. The poor girl’s mom came in during the rancid act, distracting the boys and allowing the young girl to escape. In haste and fear of being caught, the young men killed the mother with a gun they had brought with them. The young girl made her way to a neighbor's house and the boys were cornered back in her house. One was killed in the confrontation and the other one gave up, only to be swiftly executed by Sheriff Patterson. Ben had heard the story from Todd, who was his childhood friend and a Deputy as well.
Eileen continues. “No, yeah… I get it, with those monsters. But that poor guy looks like he has been there since yesterday.”
Ben’s still staring at her, thinking of Todd and how he had lost his twin brother, Jim, during the MS13 Battle.
“Earth to Ben. Correction, Earth One to Ben!” She blurts out at him, and he snaps out of his own mind.
He chuckles at her joke. “Yeah, sorry about that. I was thinking about Todd and Jim.”
She pauses and sighs heavily. “Yeah. I was talking to his wife the other day on the phone. Jamie says that he’s distant but seems like he’s getting better. He goes and visits Amanda and Jim’s daughter a lot. To check in on them.”
Ben nods. “That’s good of him. I haven't talked to him much in the last couple of weeks.”
Ben looks over at the young man in stockades. “I get it’s barbaric, but what are our other options? Apparently, people have thought twice before rape and murder since those two dipshits. We have had multiple people in stockades… what like seven? But they’ll get the hint, eventually.”
He looks back at her and she replies. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right… this time.”
Ben smiles back at her.
“Alright!” She blurts out. “Enough doom and gloom on this very nice and warm day!” She claps her hands together. “Hardware store or camping store first?”
Ben shrugs. “You’re call, beautiful. I’ll follow you anywhere.” He says the last part with a prominent hint of sarcasm.
She gives him a stern look. “With that kind of rude attitude, you may just get cut off, Benjamin.”
Ben puts his hands up and smiles. “What?! I was being sincere.”
She grins. “Uh huh…” She looks at the camping store. “Let’s go in there first. I really need some clothes that are my own.”
“So, you’re saying you don’t like wearing my shirts and re-wearing your only two pairs of jeans that you have up here?” Ben says to her.
“You’re pushing it Ben. I’m warning you… cut off.” She faces him and crosses her arms over her chest.
He can’t help but laugh at her. “Alright then. Let’s go shopping. And find you something pretty to wear.”
She laughs at him. “You’re such an ass sometimes… I swear.”
He laughs at her and shrugs.
Eileen shakes her head and they wander into the camping store on Lake Drive Marketplace.
Entering the store, they are greeted by a man with a revolver on his hip. Ben didn’t even think twice when seeing that the man carried. He was likely the owner and everyone was armed these days. Gone were the days when people concealed their weapons or thought that guns were not needed.
The man waves at them as they cross the threshold from halfway through the store. “Good morning! Welcome to The Camping Store. Name’s Dave Stine. You all let me know if you need any help!”
“Good morning!” Ben replies. “My name’s Ben Reilly, and this here is Ms. Eileen Rivera… We have silver, ammunition, and gold to trade with. Is that sufficient?”
Dave Stine replies. “Yes, sir. That will be good by me. Nice to meet the both of you!”
Ben nods to the man and Eileen asks, “Which area has the women’s clothing, Mr. Stine?”
Dave Stine nods. He points off to his left. “That area over there should have a good selection for you, miss.”
“Thank you
.” She replies and turns to Ben. “I’ll be over there. You go grab that cold weather stuff you wanted to grab for you and the guys. I’ll grab some extra clothes. What’s our budget?”
Ben points his thumb to the pack on his back. “With how heavy this thing is, I’m not too worried about it. Grab what you need, Eileen. You sure you don’t want me to come over there with you?”
She gives him a smile. “Ben, it’s literally thirty feet away and you can see me. I think I’ll be fine… Plus, shouldn’t I be the one to come with you, to make sure you’re alright?”
Ben chuckles. “Hey, just trying to be gentlemanlike.”
She leans in close to him, kissing him on the lips quickly, but firmly. “I know you were. We’re in line of sight, so we should be good. I’ll be quick though.” She backs away and heads in the direction of the women’s clothing.
Ben watches her go, and then heads over to the men’s section.
He looks through the shelves and racks for five or ten minutes, deciding on what exactly he should get. He finds three cold weather jackets, six pairs of cold weather socks, four beanies, four sets of snow gloves, and four face shields.
He’s wandering over toward Eileen, looking through the shelves and racks along the way. He passes by a shelf of snow pants and pauses.
They would be useful. I mean, once denim’s wet… it stays wet, and cold.
Already having a pile stacked on top of his arms, he tries to grab some of the snow pants and ends up dropping everything. He hears Eileen laughing from behind him, right behind him.
“I knew I should have come with you. Why didn’t you grab a basket?” Eileen asks, still chuckling.
Ben looks down at her basket in her left hand. She had found a snow jacket, some gloves, a couple pairs of jeans, several shirts, and even some snow pants.
Ben scratched the back of his head. “Didn’t think about it, I guess.”
She shakes her head and walks off toward the front of the store, returning with another shopping basket. “Here. Put the smaller items in here… so you aren’t dropping everything constantly.”
Ben starts doing as she says, holding the larger items over his other arm. “What would I do without you, Eileen?”
She grins at him. “Oh, you know... probably just fail at life in general.”
She laughs lightly, and then looks over her basket. “I’m good, if you are.”
He smiles at her. “Yeah, I think for now. If there’s more we need, we can come back another day.”
She nods and they head to the counter at the center of the store where Dave Stine’s waiting for them. He sees what’s in their baskets. “You two do know that summer’s just around the corner, right?”
Ben nods. “Yes, sir. Does that cut us any kind of deals, since its off-season?”
The man looks him over. “Depends on what the offer is?”
Ben nods. “Looking at what we have here, I’m guessing we have close to 10 Gold $5 American Eagle coins worth here. I have that many on me, at 1/10 ounce each.”
The man behind the counter whistles. “Well! With that kind of offer and considering the season and all… I’ll throw in a few of my winter sleeping bags.”
Ben replies, “Would four of them be asking too much, Mr. Stine?”
The man extends his hand. “It’s a deal, good sir!”
Ben shakes the man’s hand. “Alright, let me bag that up for you. Then I’ll grab the sleeping bags from in the back.”
Eileen and Ben hand over the clothing and Eileen looks over at him with a questioning look.
As he takes his pack off his shoulder and pulls out a small cloth pouch. He then pulls out a tube of coins. He opens it and counts out 10 Gold American Eagle Coins, then places the small coins, each in their own protective plastic case, into her hands.
“Each one of these is a tenth of an ounce of gold. Depending on the market, they are worth anywhere from $140 to $260, each… and that’s when the market was around.” Ben explains.
“Well then… are we getting the bad side of this deal?” Eileen questions.
Ben shakes his head pointing to their baskets. “Although the stuff that we want is out of season, it’s expensive. Ten of these for all of this and cold weather sleeping bags is a good deal, for sure... Especially if it makes the difference of us freezing to death this winter or not.”
Eileen looks at the coins in her hand and then at Ben. “Hmmm, that’s pretty darn useful of you Ben. Freezing to death does not sound like very much fun.”
Ben smiles and shrugs. “Eh, I do what I can.”
Eileen looks at his pack. “But you said it was heavy. That small tube of coins doesn’t seem too heavy.”
Ben grins at her. “We have more… and the silver is heavier than the smaller gold coins, and they look like the actual coins you are used to. Plus, ammo is much heavier. I’d just rather not trade ammo if I don’t have to. Gold and silver we can find more of in the years to come. We can melt it down and measure it out. But one of the things I never got around to learning was how to reload and make my own ammunition.”
Eileen replies. “Well... maybe, we’ll just have to learn.’
Ben nods. “Yeah. We could. But I hear it’s best to learn from those that already know. Coming across someone like that, in times like this… may prove difficult.”
“You Uncle doesn’t know that sort of thing? He seems like the type.” Eileen asks.
“No, yeah. He does seem like the type. But he doesn’t either. He said he always steered clear of it after hearing some horror stories of some yahoos injuring themselves pretty badly.”
Eileen nods. “Yeah, that makes sense, with gun powder and all.”
Ben responds. “Right! That kind of put me off on it, too. Not going to lie.”
Dave Stine returns with their sleeping bags and his eyes go to Eileen’s hands with the coins. Eileen catches on, and hands them over to the owner of the camping store. “Here you are, Mr. Stine.”
The man takes them gratefully. “Pleasure doing business with the two of you. I look forward to seeing you in the future.”
Ben nods. “I’m sure we’ll be back. Have a good one!”
Ben and Eileen acquire their new belongings and head out of the store and to the truck to drop off their cold weather gear and Eileen’s extra sets of clothes. After they’re done, Eileen turns to Ben.
“So, what else do we need?” She asks him. “Oh, and thanks for getting me something pretty. Aren’t you just the sweetest...” She says this last part with a hint of sarcasm and a smile.
He chuckles. “Least I can do for my guardian angel.”
She smiles and Ben stares at her in the midday sunlight, with her light-skinned complexion, brunette hair, and bright green eyes.
“What are you staring at, mister?” Eileen asks, squinting her eyes.
“You.” Ben responds and watches her blush.
“Alright McDreamy… What else do we need? I was thinking we could stop by Todd and Jamie’s place on the way back home.”
Ben nods. “Sounds like a fine idea. We just need some lumber, nails, some Gorilla Tape, and few extra propane tanks would be good too. That and swing by a butcher on the way back for some more meat.”
“What’s the wood and tape for?” Eileen asks.
“For the windows, if it comes to that. We may need to board and tape them up.” Ben replies.
This gets a look from Eileen, and Ben adds, “It’s just in case. I’d rather have the supplies to fortify and not need them, then need and not have them.
She eyes him. “I guess so… You are the crazy prepper guy.” She grins at him.
“Hey!” Ben tries to look hurt. “This crazy prepper guy has got us this far, hasn’t he?… and I’m not even a full-blown prepper.”
She responds, “Uh huh. Whatever you say Benjamin.” She laughs at him as they go into the ACE Hardware Store and spend the rest of their morning shopping at the Lake Drive Marketplace.
2
Alexander Mathis
It was Saturday, July 6th, 3433, and Alexander was sitting shotgun in Steven Reilly's Chevy Blazer, driving along the 18 Highway heading east toward Lake Arrowhead Village. It had been roughly seven weeks since the onset of the Blue Hole Radius, which Alexander had a hand in creating. Seven long weeks since he lost his family and everyone else that he had known. 1,410 years had passed by, along with those years, his family had lived on and eventually passed away.
While Steven Reilly is driving the old highway that overlooks the valley, Alexander remembers what he found out about his family that he had left behind.
Alexander had put off looking up his wife and daughters on the SuperNet as long as he could. The second message from Earth Two was an excellent distractor in the first couple of weeks. Nonetheless, around the middle of June, Alexander could not hold back his curiosity and sense of guilt any longer.
Steven, Eileen, and Alexander took turns standing watch at night ever since the MS13 Battle. Whereas, it had been relatively quiet since the MS13 Battle, the small group was not taking any chances with the security of the future. Alexander still had dreams and nightmares of that night's events.
During one of his nightly watches, Alexander searched up his wife on the SuperNet, Michelle Mathis, on his iPhone and in the cold dark night. He was able to find out some information, but she dropped off of the SuperNet and social media by the middle of 2024.
After frantically worrying if something horrible had happened to his wife and two daughters, Aliyah and Sydney, the thought occurred to him to use her maiden name. Having searched up Michelle Wyatt, he was able to regain access to her life and what had occurred to his family 1,410 years ago.
Alexander still feels guilt and a sting of pain upon remembering her changing her name back to her maiden name.
She must have done so to avoid attention and blame through association. I'm quite positive that the media spin on the Blue Hole Radius was far from positive. It must have been incredibly difficult on you and the girls, Michelle. I'm so very sorry.