Three days after finding Elijah wandering alone, Harper left the house in the morning, walking Madison, Jonathan, and Lorelei to the farm. Thus far, Madison hadn’t complained about farm work on what basically amounted to summer break from school. It still technically felt like a vacation since they could leave the farm about two hours or so earlier than class let out. Given the complete lack of television, movies, the mall, dance classes, or anything of that nature, having something to do ended up being a welcome thing—even if it was work.
Harper hadn’t told them much about the conditions she found on the farm in Kittredge. She couldn’t say for sure how those men would have treated them. Based on what Rain and Kelsey said, it might be that the convicts treated the kids reasonably well for being held against their will. It baffled her how they could have thought nothing of forcing themselves on the two women they held captive but didn’t mistreat the children, even giving them extra food. Cliff mentioned something about criminals having a weird code of ethics, the same reason kid-touchers often died in prison. Still, the day Madison, Mila, and Lorelei ceased being ‘children,’ they would have been in serious trouble.
“How come Carrie doesn’t do a job?” asked Jonathan at random while they walked down Hilltop Drive toward Route 74.
“She does a work,” chimed Lorelei. “Just at her house.”
Harper patted her head. “It’s not ‘does a work.’ She does work, or she has a job.”
“Oh.” Lorelei. “I said it bad?”
“It’s okay. You’re learning.” Harper smiled.
Lorelei beamed.
“What’s she do?” asked Jonathan.
“She and Renee are learning how to make fabric and clothes and stuff. Kind of like how people used to do it way back before they had factories. By the time you guys all grow up, you’ll be wearing clothes we made here in town.”
“Neat,” said Madison. “Hope they don’t make ugly stuff like in those old movies.”
“Or like primitive tribes. Guess they’re not gonna make jeans, huh?” Jonathan picked at his pants. “When these are too small on me, someone else can have them.”
“That’s nice of you.” Harper ruffled his hair.
“It’s stupid to just keep them and not wear them.” He shrugged.
Madison sucked in a sharp breath and grabbed onto Harper.
Without conscious thought, Harper yanked the Mossberg off her shoulder and followed Madison’s fearful stare to a young man walking down Route 74 toward them. His dark blond hair had grown out, half covering his face, but she recognized Zach right away. The look in his eyes reminded her of Tyler after he’d fallen off his anti-psychotic meds. Worse, Zach carried a handgun, though didn’t point it at them.
Shit. He looks like he’s on the way to murder someone specific.
Harper glanced to her right at a beige building, formerly Evergreen Fine Art. A wall behind a deer statue enclosed a mini porch, offering a decent amount of protection from stray bullets. “Take cover in there. Go on.” She nodded toward it.
Madison continued clinging to her for a few seconds before finding the nerve to let go. As the kids scurried out of sight, Harper steeled herself to confront the former spoiled varsity jock who tried to impress her by joining the militia—and failing disastrously. He’d shot Renee, mistaking her for a threat. Granted, Renee had been with a group of Lawless, though she didn’t do anything remotely aggressive. After he’d shot her best friend, Harper’s feelings toward him changed from simple disdain to active dislike.
Months ago when that happened, he’d had this ‘rich kid out of his element’ air about him, like his parents could just throw money at any problem he created to make it go away. Now, he seemed intent on causing damage and didn’t care what happened. Harper didn’t quite aim the shotgun at him, but held it in the same ready posture she used at the range while waiting for a target to pop up. If his gun hand so much as twitched upward…
“Zach, something wrong?”
He continued walking in the same slow, deliberate stride of a horror movie killer, turning his head toward her. It didn’t look like he’d been too concerned with personal hygiene as of late. His hair and beard went where they pleased, his clothes filthy. He shifted his attention from her eyes to the shotgun, then appeared to give her a ‘go ahead and do it’ stare.
“Where ya going with that gun, Zach?”
“Not against the rules to have a gun, is it?” He stopped about eight paces away, easy range for shotgun or pistols.
Harper tightened her grip, keeping her eyes on the 9mm Glock in his right hand. Cliff’s voice in the back of her mind whispered to watch the hands. She’d made that mistake once, when they’d found Summer Vasquez. Fortunately, Cliff had been there to shoot the guy going for a gun that she’d totally not seen coming. Presently, Harper had only herself to rely on.
“No. It isn’t. But, it’s a little concerning the way you’re carrying it. Like you’re planning to use it.”
He gave a disaffected laugh. “Probably will need to, but not before I’m out of town.”
“You’re leaving?” Harper stole a quick peek at his facial expression—defeated.
“Yeah. Hell with this place. I’m tired of learning how to be a goddamned plumber. It’s lame. I’m going home, even if I gotta walk.”
Okay, this might not end in gunfire. “Home? Like, you’re talking about where you used to live?”
“Yeah.”
She shook her head. “Zach, come on… there’s nothing there. Colorado Springs is gone. Like totally gone. It’s flat ground. And it’s probably radioactive as hell.”
“Don’t care. I wanna go home. I want to sleep in my bedroom again. Wanna live in my house.”
“Do you hear what you’re saying, Zach? Your house is even more gone than my old home. That place is full of mold because it had a giant hole in the ceiling. It’s gotta be collapsing already. Everything in Springs got vaporized. There’s nothing there.”
“Don’t care.” Zach started walking again.
“Hey.” Harper pivoted to keep facing him. “Wait. Are you going out there to die?”
“Not trying to, but so what if I do?”
She walked after him, still watching his gun hand. “There’s no reason for you to be foolish. Look, I get it. You’re used to being important. Had money. Parents were important. Probably had your own car already. But—”
“Yeah. Brand new. Only had it a month.” He looked down. “I miss my Mustang.”
Oh, there’s a shock. A kid like him had a Mustang. “Zach, that world is gone. There are no varsity jocks or rich kids anymore. We’re all just trying to survive now. You miss being popular and important.”
He sneered at her.
Ugh, this guy. “You can still be important, but not because your family’s got money or kids at school think you’re movie star handsome. Anyone who can preserve a slice of civilization is important. Working pipes, running water, working toilets… all of that is gold now.”
He laughed. “So what, I’m that guy from Mad Max running around in leather overalls, covered in shit, building the mess of leaky water pipes?”
“We’re not gonna devolve that much. People who know how to do things are going to keep us from losing too much. C’mon. You’re learning plumbing. That’s important. My only real skill is shooting stuff. You figure out plumbing, and you’re vital. Don’t be stupid and wander off to die. Seriously. You don’t even have any provisions or water.”
Zach stood there in silence, staring off down the highway.
“Even if you survive the radiation and whatever bad guys might be out there, you’re going to drop dead from dehydration in three days. C’mon. Don’t be stupid. The old social order is gone, but it’s not the end of the world—oh wait.” She offered a cheesy smile.
He looked over at her. “Pff. You wanted nothing to do with me. Now you’re saying I’m important? No girl’s ever said ‘no’ to me, especially not for a Mexican.”
She
clenched her jaw, trying not to let anger show too much on her face. “Look, even without the nukes, I never would have wanted to date the prom king. That’s totally not me. And, that whole ‘I’m better than the brown people’ thing is total bullshit. There aren’t enough people left alive in the country to give a crap how dark someone’s suntan is. I don’t know you enough to say if you’re like that because it’s who you are or because it’s what you saw from your parents and friends. But, in case you haven’t been aware of stuff lately, we’re clinging to life by a hair. We have to help each other no matter what the other guy looks like.”
Zach raised his right hand.
Harper swung the Mossberg up at his face.
He froze. “Whoa. Take it easy. Just putting it away.”
She stared over the gunsight at his eyes. “Guys like you have a habit of shooting girls who say no. Just being careful.”
“Heh. No one’s ever said no to me before.” Zach gingerly put the Glock in a holster. “There. Gun’s away. Maybe stop pointing that cannon at me?”
“You really need to drop that ego thing. Girls aren’t going to care about that in a world like this. Now, someone who can keep things working is sexier than perfect gelled hair and an expensive car. When no one is sure they’ll have food a week from now, perfectly white teeth don’t mean a damn thing.”
He turned away, again gazing off down the road. “I’ve never had a girl point a gun at me before. That’s a first, too.”
“You shot my best friend. Be glad I’m only pointing it at you.”
“So it’s about revenge, is it?”
“No. I don’t want revenge. You panicked. Renee was wearing a Lawless sash. But she also had her hands up and no weapons. If you want my honest opinion, mixing you with a firearm is a really bad idea. You’ve never had to live in a situation where your actions had any consequences or you didn’t immediately get what you wanted before. And roaming off into the desert like a dumbass isn’t going to change what happened. So what if you think being a plumber is ‘beneath you.’ There is no more Ivy League. No more high powered careers or fancy lifestyles. If we’re ever going to have anything like that again, it’s going to take a lot of people working their asses off for a really long time. You want to matter? Fix pipes. Learn how to do electrical stuff. Or hell, even work on the farm. That’s important. But there aren’t as many people who can make pipes work. You want to be important? Do something that matters to people.”
“If you hate me so much, why are you trying to talk me out of going away?”
“Harp saves bugs from the bathroom,” shouted Madison from the distance. “She can’t help it.”
Zach chuckled. “Did your sister just call me a bug?”
“Not intentionally. She just means I try to help everything and everyone—except those Lawless bastards.” She scowled off to the side, and finally lowered the shotgun back to a ready posture.
“No, that was intentional,” yelled Madison.
Harper forced herself not to smile or chuckle. “Whatever you think you’re going to find in Colorado Springs, you won’t. Trust me. It’s taken me nine months to stop wanting to run home to Lakewood.”
“Heh. Okay. I guess you might have a point.”
“That all you intended to do with that Glock? Self-defense on a long walk?”
He wiped both hands down his face, and groaned. “Yeah. No, I’m not gonna shoot anyone. Just had a bit of a meltdown. One day, I’m captain of the hockey team trying to decide between Cornell, Dartmouth, or Brown… now I’m standing up to my shins in someone else’s shit beating on a pipe with a wrench. It just… I dunno. Guess I snapped. Just had this moment of feeling like I didn’t care about anything anymore.”
“You wanted to go home, but not just your old house. You wanted things to be the way they were before. Like just walking out of Evergreen would somehow transport you back in time.” Since the freakiness had faded from his eyes, Harper let the Mossberg hang from her right hand, and put her other hand on his shoulder. “I totally get it. I’ve wanted to ‘go home’ so bad it hurts, but we can’t. We have to survive using what’s left. I haven’t known you all that long and what you’ve shown me so far hasn’t made me like you much at all, but I’d still risk my life to stop some shitheads like the Lawless from killing you.”
He finger-combed his hair and attempted a suave smile. “Am I really that bad?”
“You act like the entitled jerk bad guy from every teen drama ever made, plus a dash of racism.”
“It’s just shit we all said. I don’t really hate anyone. Just used to be cool to make fun of them.”
“I guess your old friends and people around you thought so, but making fun of minorities is not cool. Maybe if you stopped trying to play the part of homecoming king and just be Zach, it’d work out for you. Give it some time and I’m sure some girl will be interested in you.”
He half smiled at her. “If you could get the world back the way it used to be like the war didn’t happen, but to do that, you had to sleep with me, would you?”
She looked away and down. “That’s exactly the opposite from not being a pig, Zach.”
“I’m not trying to get in your pants. Just trying to gauge where I stand in general.”
“You’re making me feel cheap and selfish. How am I supposed to answer that? If I say yes, I’m a whore. If I say no, I’m being selfish. How can you even ask me to weigh the lives of millions of people on having sex with a guy I’m totally not into?” She scowled at him. “That’s a really shitty thing to ask.”
Hands on his hips, he sighed at the road. “Damn. I didn’t even think about it that way. You’re right. Sorry. Forget I asked. Guess I’ll go stand in shit again.” He walked off up the road.
“Zach,” said Harper a few seconds later.
He stopped. “Yo?”
“We’re all up to our knees in poop right now, but it’s not going to stay that deep. Especially if you get the pipes working.”
“Yeah. I guess. Anyway, thanks for stopping me from being a dumbass.” He waved, bowed his head, and trudged off.
The kids emerged from their hiding place and gathered around her.
“Is he crazy?” asked Jonathan.
“I don’t like that guy.” Madison glared at him.
“I forgot my underpants,” said Lorelei.
Harper pinched the bridge of her nose and laughed.
“No you didn’t.” Madison poked her. “You tried to forget, but I reminded you.”
“I know,” chimed Lorelei. “I just said it so Harp would smile.”
She sighed at the clouds, not knowing if Zach had really been suicidal, murderous, or simply having a brat attack. Either way, she’d probably prevented something bad. “Thanks. I needed to smile.”
“Can we go swimming after the farm again?” Madison grinned up at her.
As long as nothing goes wrong today… “Sounds like a good idea. It’s going to be warm again.”
The kids cheered, and followed her down the highway to the farm.
24
Stranded
Eerie silence saturated the residential area, so oppressive Harper began to question if some other apocalypse happened in the past hour that left her the last person left alive in the world.
Cars sat in driveways where they’d been at the moment of the nuclear strike. Some houses’ doors hung open as though the residents had fled in a panic only minutes ago. Here and there, a tricycle or toy car lay in the grass or on the sidewalk. Those, at least, usually moved from day to day. One house had an above-ground pool in the backyard, but the water had already turned green and nasty.
In the months since society disintegrated, Harper had become slowly accustomed to the oppressive quiet that came from a complete lack of cars, aircraft, radio, and television. At least in summer, birds made some sound. The absence of ‘modern’ noise more or less felt normal now, except for mornings like this where it struck her as unusually empty. She’d even started to ponder
what Darci said about the world being better off returning to a natural way of life. Cars and other machinery probably still existed in any country not targeted by nukes, but given the sheer amount of destruction likely to have occurred to the world as a whole, it didn’t seem likely anyone would have fuel. Cliff was pretty sure all of the petroleum-exporting countries in the Middle East had been flattened purely out of spite.
She wandered her usual patrol area, as comfortable there as she would have been walking around the block back in Lakewood. Thoughts of high school, home, past holidays, hanging out with her friends, and a thousand random moments she considered trivial and meaningless at the time replayed in her mind. They no longer brought on an overwhelming sense of maudlin sorrow, but a wistful smile. Happy moments to remember, but nothing more. She felt grateful for the time she had with her parents, friends, and First World life, but also cautiously optimistic that whatever the future held for her, it might bring more happy moments after all.
Like the afternoon she and Logan spent in that house. Or watching Madison be normal. Even Lorelei, as frustrating as she could sometimes be, always warmed her heart.
Harper walked counterclockwise today for a change of pace. She followed Interlocken Drive around the eastern perimeter of her patrol area, heading for South Hiwan Drive to go past the Evergreen Middle school. As she approached the corner, she spotted someone moving in the trees close to the road ahead on the left. The person didn’t appear to be running away or trying to hide as much as hadn’t noticed her. They also appeared to have made some attempt to conceal themselves, which struck her as odd.
Cautious, she approached, shotgun ready, and called, “Hello?”
A startled gasp came from the trees, the pitch that of a child. Rustling stopped for a second, then shifted direction, coming straight at her.
She felt awkward pointing a gun in the general direction of a kid, but Mila had killed two men—proof that children could still be dangerous. Harper neither aimed directly at the figure in the trees nor lowered it.
Evergreen (Book 4): Nuclear Summer Page 20