“Thanks.”
“Guess we’re both war orphans then.”
She closed her eyes as the last few minutes of Mom and Dad’s life replayed in her thoughts. Except for one cheerleader, every teen on that bus lost their whole families. The two she’d caught having—rather after—sex had lost their parents, too. ‘Orphan,’ though technically true, didn’t feel right. The word made her think of a lost, helpless child unable to fend for themselves—like Lorelei had been, or Jonathan. Some part of her still felt like a lost little kid not ready to be on her own. Hell, she hadn’t wanted to go to any college too far away to keep living at home. But, she didn’t feel helpless anymore. Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen in this new world had become adults, not orphans.
I’ve killed at least five, no maybe ten people, but I’ve never… She blushed. Am I still innocent? I’m not an orphan. Orphan sounds like it should be someone innocent.
That girl, Beth, hadn’t ever killed anyone, but she and Jaden had sex. Did that make her more or less innocent than her, a virgin with multiple people’s blood on her hands?
Madison had neither killed anyone nor had sex. She didn’t even fathom the concept of it yet. But she’d watched their parents die. Did she still count as innocent? And what about Lorelei? That girl appeared to lack any understanding of evil—or maybe she understood it too well and had chosen to simply ignore it.
What defined innocence?
Did any of it matter anymore?
Why did she care how she ‘ranked’ on some scorecard of innocence?
No one seemed to care that Harper had shot people. Of course, she only defended herself. She figured the townspeople wouldn’t approve of her running around randomly blowing people’s heads off.
“Umm?” Harper kicked at the ground.
“Yeah?”
She looked up at him. “What do you think it means to be innocent?”
Logan leaned back, squinting at the sky, lost in thought for a while. “I think we stop being innocent the moment we understand that we’re going to die someday.”
“Wow…” She exhaled. “That’s… deep. Going to have to think about that for a while to process it.”
“Not the answer you were expecting?” He crouched and set the possibly-turnip bundle in the ground. “My dad used to say stuff like that all the time. Drove my little sister nuts. She used to call him ‘fortune cookie.’”
She cringed. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. He’s somewhere better off now. Always said he hoped when his time came it was fast and he didn’t feel anything. He pretty much got his wish.”
“I’m really sorry…” Harper shivered, thinking about losing her sister. “I know everyone says Springs got leveled, but maybe they could’ve made it somehow?”
Logan looked up at her with a doubtful expression. “Yeah, I suppose.”
“Harp!” shouted Madison in the distance.
She glanced over at her little sister, leading a charge of kids heading her way: Jonathan, Lorelei, Becca, and Mila—though she didn’t run as much as tolerate being pulled along.
“Guess they’re free for the day.” Harper looked at him, bit her lip, and glanced away. “Gotta get them home. Nice meeting you.”
Logan picked up his trowel and dug a hole for the next plant. “Great meeting you, too. Maybe we can share our stories sometime.”
“Yeah, I think I’d like that.”
Madison skidded to a stop next to her. “You have a boyfriend?”
“Uhh, no,” stammered Harper. “He’s just a friend.”
“Hi!” chimed Lorelei, before leaping to hug him, almost knocking him over.
He laughed, springing to his feet and spinning her around a few times before setting her down. “Hello there.”
“He’s going to die,” deadpanned Mila.
Everyone except Lorelei stared at her, aghast.
Mila teased her foot at the turnip leaves. “Eventually.”
“Why do you say stuff like that?” whispered Jonathan.
“I dunno,” mumbled Mila.
“If he isn’t your boyfriend, why are you blushing?” asked Madison.
“Because you’re assuming too much.” Harper couldn’t look anywhere near Logan. “Uhh, see ya around.”
“Later.” Logan smiled at them, picked up another bundle of greens, and stuffed them in the hole he’d dug.
Harper set off across the field toward the highway. As soon as she reached the road, she swung the Mossberg off her shoulder and held it at the ready. She hated that walking home felt like navigating a dangerous environment. Evergreen wasn’t supposed to come with constant worry, but until she had an answer for who or what lurked around spying on kids and breaking into houses, she couldn’t let her guard down.
Not even for a moment.
13
So Much for Safe
The next afternoon, Harper headed over to the quartermaster’s building.
Based on where people lived in town, everyone had specific days, once a week, to request food. This controlled traffic at the center and prevented chaos. Harper’s house on Hilltop Drive fell in the Wednesday band.
A small sign on the grass next to the road leading up to it read Life Care Center. The place had been some kind of senior citizen facility before the war, but no one mentioned anything about it, and no elderly people still lived there.
Guess the Army took them somewhere.
The map on the wall in Mayor Ned’s office showed the huge Y-shaped building as the largest in the vicinity, probably why the town chose it to house the food. That, and it had an industrial kitchen. If ever they managed to get power working again, ‘town meals’ would become more common. Far easier to electrify one big kitchen than provide juice to every house.
As no recent scavenging runs had come in with an entire tractor-trailer load of provisions, the place didn’t look outwardly special. That meant the food thief somehow knew where to go without simply seeing a pile of stuff outside. Then again, they might have observed the townspeople going in and out of the place like a supermarket.
After a brief glance around in search of someone hiding nearby, she entered and headed down the hall to the large room set up for distribution. Numerous tables bearing pre-assembled bundles of foodstuffs based on family size filled the space behind an improvised ‘counter’ made of more folding tables placed end-to-end across the room as a barrier. Three men, two women, and Beth worked there. The instant the girl saw her walk in, she turned scarlet in the face and hurried to the back of the room, avoiding eye contact.
Harper almost called out ‘how’s Jaden,’ but kept quiet despite her being sincerely concerned about him; she worried the girl would take it as a taunt.
Liz Trujillo, the official quartermaster, sat at a desk all the way to the right, going over entries in a logbook. Harper waved at her in greeting and approached the counter blocking off the rear two-thirds of the room. A group of about fifteen people, some with toddlers in tow, waited their turn in front of it. The six clerks lined up on one side of the counter, checking people off on the food tracking sheets, then running into the maze behind them to fetch an appropriate bundle.
Ugh. I’m going to be stuck here past when school lets out. She considered bailing and coming back later for the food, but couldn’t risk missing the day. Not like they’d deny her food if she showed up on Thursday instead of Wednesday, but she didn’t want to make a scene or be yelled at—thanks to a trace of old, timid Harper poking out from beneath the new outer shell she’d been growing.
More people filled in behind her as the ones in front approached the table and left carrying their allotments. Crap. If I leave, I’ll be here all damn night. She closed her eyes and asked the universe to watch over the kids for the few minutes they’d be alone. They knew that if she didn’t show up at the school to walk them home, they should go straight there and stay inside. Being on the militia, she might have to deal with an issue that wouldn’t simply let her ‘clock out’ because kids had to go home f
rom school.
Finally, after almost an hour, her turn came. By then, some sixty other people had joined the queue behind her.
Patricia Rivera, the clerk she approached, looked up with a smile.
“Hi,” said Harper. “Here to pick up.”
“Oh, hey.” Patricia traced her finger down a sheet of handwritten notes. “Four, right?”
“Five. We took Lorelei in… months ago.”
“Oh. Duh. Sorry. That’s right. There it is. Under Cliff Barton?”
“Yeah.”
“Be right back.” Patricia walked back from the ‘counter’ in search of a bundle appropriate for a family of five with three kids.
Liz approached. “Hey, Harper?”
“Yeah?”
“Has anyone over there made any progress figuring out who the hell is stealing? Stuff has been disappearing, but no one is admitting to taking anything. Can’t find any sign of a break in, and none of the locks or windows on the place are broken.”
“They didn’t bust out the locks?”
“Apparently not.”
“No I mean the town,” said Harper. “Like they did to most of the houses.”
“Oh… no. The sheriff’s office had a full set of keys for this place, so did the fire department. You know, in case anything happened and they had to evacuate the elders who used to be here. Thought they’d tell you that. Anyway, between its size and security, they figured we’d use it to keep the food. Either that or the high school, but no one wanted to walk all the damn way south to eat.”
Harper laughed, thinking about the day she spent getting a ‘tour’ of the south part of Evergreen and meeting Janice Holt, the militia’s second in command. Evergreen High School sat way the hell south from here, basically at the southernmost end of the town, beyond Evergreen Lake. With a few exceptions, pretty much the whole area south of the Safeway on Route 74 consisted of individual homes. Janice operated out of the old sheriff’s department building, managing the forty or so militia volunteers who patrolled down there. She cringed at the thought of having to cover such a wide area, but on the other hand, one air horn bleep would attract like a dozen people for backup, whereas up here, she’d be lucky to have three show up.
“Yeah, that’s a haul,” said Harper. “Too far to walk carrying a box of food. But the people who live down there have to come all the way up here… so, yeah. I guess since this is right next to the farm, it makes more sense.”
“That’s true. Could be we end up splitting into two distribution centers eventually. Assuming we don’t get cleaned out by thieves.”
“Sorry. I haven’t heard anything yet.”
Liz sighed in a ‘figures, you’re just a kid, didn’t expect you to know much’ way. “At first, I thought it might’ve been one of the clerks helping themselves as there’s no damage. That doesn’t fit with me though. I trust my people. But, someone’s gotta do something since shit’s gettin’ real.”
“Getting real?”
Patricia returned with a pair of cloth shopping bags. “You know the drill, hon. Gonna need the bags back.”
“We’re already rationing tight,” said Liz. “People keep stealing, we’re gonna be finding ourselves short. I give it another week at most before we’re at calorie levels where no one is eating enough. Think people are complainin’ now, you ain’t seen a damn thing yet.”
Harper winced. “I’ll let Mr. Holman know it’s getting bad.”
“Oh, I already did that. Twice today in fact. Keep your eyes and ears open huh?”
“Sure. I will.”
She collected the two bags of food—mostly canned goods, some boxed pasta, and a loaf of Bobby’s handmade bread. Scavenging runs had brought back a good amount of flour in addition to cans. Thinking about all the frozen food, produce, and meat that spoiled in the aftermath of no electricity made her sad. So much food wasted. Of course, as Madison so often pointed out when things had been normal, restaurants and cafeterias—especially the military—used to throw out enough edible food to feed every homeless person ten times over every day.
At least no one’s homeless anymore. A place might not have power or heat, but there’s plenty of empty houses for the taking. A person didn’t own a house or land anymore because some bank somewhere said so—they owned it because their firearms did the talking. Or, like Evergreen, some combination of a small government and firearms.
Harper trudged at a rapid walk down Route 74 to Hilltop Drive. The allotment bags didn’t feel as heavy as they had even last week. Clear evidence that the town ran low on food worsened her worries. As much as it would horrify Madison, she hoped the guys would be successful while hunting soon. A deer or five would go a long way to helping everyone not starve.
The second she entered the house, Madison, Jonathan, and Becca jumped up from the couch and proceeded to all talk at the same time, in the middle of a freak-out. Lorelei sat on the recliner where Cliff usually read, playing with two dolls, a perfect picture of calm.
“Guys, guys, guys,” said Harper, holding the food bags up. “Give me a second.”
She waded among the kids and headed to the kitchen.
“Harp!” Madison pulled at her. “You’re not listening.”
“I can’t listen to all three of you screaming at once.” She set the bags on the counter. “What?”
“We saw someone watching us walk home from school,” yelled Madison, her hazel eyes huge with fear.
Jonathan nodded. “Yeah, he started following us, too. So we ran as fast as we could.”
“It was so scary,” said Becca.
Shit! There really is someone… Lori’s going to run right over and hug him. She looked around the kitchen, as if an answer sat in one of the cabinets. Part of her wanted to race out there with her shotgun and hunt the guy down. Son of a bitch, I should’ve kept looking the other day. I know I heard someone. Leaving the kids here while she went hunting didn’t sound like a good idea. Bringing them with her while she went hunting sounded like a worse one. She had to take it to Walter. But didn’t want to leave the children alone even to do that. Dragging them with her to the militia HQ shouldn’t be too risky. Since the HQ was close to the quartermaster building, she hastily unpacked the shopping bags, figuring she’d save a trip and return them now.
“What did he look like?”
“Umm. He was black,” said Madison.
“A black guy? How old?”
“No.” Madison shook her head rapidly. “Not a black guy, he was black. Like… umm, a shadow man.”
Harper fumbled and almost dropped a can of Spaghetti-Os. “What? Are you serious?”
Madison huffed. “I don’t think he’s a ghost. He just looked like one. Like totally black.”
“Could be a ninja,” said Jonathan.
“That’s less believable than a ghost. There aren’t any ninjas in Colorado.” Becca flailed her arms.
Jonathan grabbed at the second bag, helping unpack it. “Some guy wearing all black clothes doesn’t mean he’s a real ninja.”
Mila’s been talking about the Shadow Man for as long as I’ve been here. She’s probably seen this guy. She’s also nine, so black suit equals ghost. Okay, that makes more sense.
“I don’t think he wanted us to see him. He jumped when Maddie pointed at him.” Jonathan grinned. “He maybe chased us because he was mad.”
Harper looked out the windows at the back yard. “Did he follow you all the way back here?”
The kids all shook their heads.
“Dunno,” said Madison. “We ran like hell, screaming. Didn’t look back.”
“They were screaming, I wasn’t.” Jonathan climbed up onto the counter to pack away ravioli cans.
“You did too scream.” Becca poked him. “Louder than me.”
He pointed a can at her. “I was shouting, not screaming.”
Harper rushed the process, jamming food here and there in cabinets without much care for organization. She could spend an hour tomorrow or later rearrangin
g stuff. As soon as the bags emptied, she bundled them into a wad and handed them to Jonathan.
“Follow me, stay close.”
“Where are we going?” asked Madison.
“I need to let Mr. Holman know about what you saw. And I’m not leaving you guys alone until we catch this guy.”
All three nodded.
She went into the living room. “C’mon, Lore. Gonna go for a walk.”
“Okay!” She set one doll down, keeping her favorite in hand, and scampered over.
Harper went out the front door with the Mossberg in a two-handed grip. Madison grasped her belt, holding on like she’d done the day they went into the mall months ago, gripping Becca’s hand in her left. Jonathan kept a death grip on Lorelei’s wrist, scanning the area for signs of danger.
That her little sister had become frightened enough to cling again made Harper furious. Evergreen should’ve been a safe haven, a place the kids could’ve been kids again, not worry if someone would try to kill or abduct them at any moment. Fortunately, the path to the militia HQ couldn’t have been easier or more open. She followed Hilltop west to Route 74, and a little more than a hundred feet north to the building with the weird little ‘castle tower’ thing on the end.
A row of telephone poles crossed in front of the place. Unlike the poles she’d seen in Lakewood, these didn’t show obvious signs of scorching, which offered some hope that Jeanette the electrician could get at least some power back. Solar panels probably wouldn’t last forever, but it would be nice to enjoy electricity for a little while before the world fell totally into the past.
They followed the curving road around the side of the building to the doors. Harper went straight into Walter’s office, tapping the door with the most cursory of knocks on the way past it. Walter, a grey-haired fifty-year-old former sheriff’s lieutenant, looked up from whatever he’d been reading, and offered an almost paternal smile. When he noticed the four children in tow, he tilted his head like a bewildered German shepherd.
“Harper? What’s wrong?” He leaned back, favoring his left shoulder, still sore from where Tommy had shot him three months ago.
The World That Remains (Evergreen Book 2) Page 14