by Kip Nelson
Grace and Luis reluctantly prepared to leave and soon the group were on their way again. Mack didn't seem to show any sign of fatigue and this spurred on Grace and Luis. They didn't want to show weakness in front of Mack, and Luis didn't want to show weakness in front of Grace, either.
The scenery was mostly the same as they walked along, and they enjoyed breathing in the fresh fragrance of summer after being stuck in the bunker. In the distance they could hear birds chirping, and occasionally they heard the rustling of leaves. Yet they still had not seen a wild animal and Mack was beginning to wonder if they all had banded together to hide from humans. The trees were less dense in this particular area, so they spread out a little. Mack told them to watch out for any activity as they were getting closer to the buildings they were heading toward.
While they were walking, Mack continually glanced at the other two to make sure they were holding up alright. Luis seemed okay, even though he seemed prone to the odd daydream, but Grace was another matter. At first glance she seemed focused and determined to take notice of the things around her, but the more Mack looked the more he saw her hands actually were shaking. It wasn't very visible, but her fingers were tapping against her sides and she was wringing them together as though she was aware that what she was doing was unnatural.
“Are you okay?” Mack said in a low voice as he moved toward Grace. She looked up at him, surprised as she had been thinking of something else. Her eyes darted away from Mack.
“I'm fine,” she said. Mack continued to look at her disbelievingly, and she felt the weight of his gaze upon her.
“Okay, so I'm not so fine. It's just...being back in that bunker reminded me of my old life. Surrounded by computers, my hands resting on the keyboard, it felt right. I guess I just miss it is all.”
“So you're still feeling a little disconnected?”
“A little bit. And I'm sorry if I'm too quiet sometimes. It's been a while since I've had this much human contact without a break.”
“It's okay. If you need to be quiet for a while just let me know. Can I ask you a question though?”
“Sure.”
“What made you do what you did?”
Grace was about to say something when Luis came over, not wanting to be left out of their conversation. As soon as he did she clammed up and Mack stepped back. Luis took the signal and fell back into the line, and the three of them continued in silence. None of them knew what was waiting for them and the closer they got to their destination the faster their hearts beat. Fear seized them; not just fear of the unknown, but also the fear of hope. It was almost too dangerous to open up their hearts to taste hope in case it was dashed again. There was only so much disappointment any person could take. If this plan didn't go as they hoped they would have to be on the run again, when all they really wanted was a respite from the sadness and misery.
Mack slowed and held up his hand, then pointed with two fingers to the right. Beyond the trees they could see bits of a building, corresponding to the location on Mack's map. The three of them huddled together and moved slowly as they approached the farm from the rear. The house was large, and near to it was a barn. There didn't seem to be any signs of life as yet. They walked to the back of the house and stood with their backs to it. Mack felt the comforting weight of the pistol pressing into the small of his back. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to use it, but he was glad it was there, just in case.
“Stay near the door. If anything happens, run in that direction and make your way to the river. We'll rendezvous there,” he said. The mere thought of them having to separate made Grace's heart thud.
“What happened to your faith in humanity?” she said, trying to make a joke to lighten the mood and take her mind off her anxiety, although it didn't really work.
“I'm just trying to be cautious. We still don't know where the people who attacked the bunker are based. For all we know they could be here. I doubt it, but there's no harm in being careful,” he said, and then moved around the side of the house.
As they came around the corner the front of the farm opened up to them and they saw a wide pasture. There was a huge field of crops to one side, and another building to the right of them. There was also the sound of chickens clucking, although a chicken coop was not in their sights yet. A wide smile broke out upon Mack's face, for he had found one of the little pockets of humanity left.
“Stay back and get ready to run, just in case,” he said as he prepared to knock on the door, but just as he rounded the corner he heard the click of a shotgun, and his heart leaped into his throat.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MACK STOOD at the corner of the house and held up his hands immediately. A burly man stood on the porch. He was a tall man, and the fact that he was standing on the porch made him look even taller. His hair was wild, but his beard was thick and neat, coming down to rest upon the top of his chest. He wore a plaid shirt with brown suspenders. The shirt was rolled up at the sleeves, revealing thick, hairy arms. His jeans were stained, as were his shoes, and Mack knew him to be a hardworking man. Luis and Grace came out and cowered behind Mack, scared that they were being held at gunpoint once again, and the shotgun was a more terrifying proposition than the pistol.
Mack made some quick calculations in his head. Even if he was able to duck down quickly enough to avoid the first blast and draw his pistol, Grace and Luis wouldn't be able to react as quickly and any move he made would hurt them. Speaking slowly, keeping his tone nice and calm, he smiled at the man and said hello.
“Stop right there, get to where I can see you properly,” the man said, frowning as he wasn't sure what to make of Mack's reaction.
The group shuffled to the right so they were standing in the open. Grace and Luis had rounded shoulders and their arms were shaking as their held them up, mimicking Mack, while Mack looked relaxed. Well, as relaxed as one can be while having a gun pointed straight at one’s head.
“What are you doing snooping around here?” the man growled.
“We just were being cautious. We've had some bad experiences with strangers before and we wanted to see if anyone was around. We're just looking for some shelter and hospitality. I apologize if we gave you the wrong impression. We don't want any trouble. You can search us, if it'll set your mind at ease.”
He maintained eye contact with the man and tilted his head to the right. This was an old trick he had learned in the first week he had started his job. By tilting his head to the right he exposed his neck, and the carotid artery that lay underneath the skin, which showed vulnerability. As if on cue, the man holding the shotgun relaxed a little; his shoulders dropped and his finger was pulled back from the trigger.
Behind him, Mack was aware of Grace and Luis' heavy breathing. He wished he could turn to them and reassure them, but he knew his movements had to be made carefully. His first impression of the farmer was the man didn’t want to shoot people, he just was wary. Mack wondered if he had come across anyone else and had had bad experiences, as the three of them had.
“Just a sign of the times, unfortunately,” the man said.
On the porch behind him was a rocking chair and a bench. A potted plant stood at the corner of the porch as well. The door behind the man was closed, and so far, nobody else had presented themselves. Yet the farm seemed too big for just one man to occupy. Mack looked past the man, trying to see into the windows, but from the angle at which he was standing it was impossible. However, he was sure whoever this man was he was not associated with the group that had attacked the bunker as they had been from a small force.
“We've all got people to protect. Look, I'm Mack, this is Grace, and that's Luis. What's your name?”
The man chewed his bottom lip for a moment as he considered whether to answer, but it didn't take him long to disclose his name. “I'm Willie,” he said.
“It's nice to meet you, Willie. We've been walking around for a while, trying to figure out what to do next. We're just looking for some shelter and hospita
lity. We'd be willing to help out on the farm as payment, looks like you've got a good bit of land to work on. If you'd put down the gun I'd love to talk things over with you,” Mack said.
Willie stared at him for some long, dragged out moments, but Mack breathed a sigh of relief when he pointed the shotgun at the floor. Mack raised his eyebrows and wiggled his fingers at Willie, and the burly man nodded. Mack let his arms drop by his side, and the other two followed suit.
“I'm not really the manual labor type,” Grace said in a low, warning tone, but Mack merely smiled.
“Take my warning, though. If there's any trouble I won't hesitate to shoot. I might live on a farm but I ain't simple.”
“We'd be grateful for any help you can give us,” Mack said, still smiling.
Willie ambled down the steps of the porch and held the shotgun under his arm as he walked up to the group. He smelled of sweat and earth, and his face had the ruddy complexion of a man who worked hard.
“So, you people ever worked on a farm before?” Willie said, eyeing them one by one. He also walked around them and tugged at their packs.
“Not really. I used to be in the army, though. So I'm no stranger to hard work. We're willing to help you out with whatever you need if you'll give us shelter and food.”
“What have you got in these packs?” Willie asked, squinting as the sun moved across the horizon.
“Just the usual things. Some food, a little water, other supplies that we picked up throughout our travels.”
“You been out here long?”
“Me and Grace were in a plane that crashed a few miles away. You might have seen it through the sky. We picked up Luis after running into some people who weren't so nice, so you can understand why we wanted to be careful. Funny enough, we were trying to be quiet so we'd avoid having a gun pointed at our heads again,” Mack said, chuckling a little. He was pleased when he saw Willie's mouth curl up into a wry smile.
“Well, I'm sorry about that, but you never can be too careful. You have to be careful when there's no law anymore.”
“Have you met anyone else since this all happened?” Mack said. Willie shook his head.
“No, guess most folks are around the city. We're just trying to make it through as best we can.”
“We? So there are more of you?”
“Just me and my family. Only found out that things had happened when we went to call a friend in the city and realized the phones were dead. Thought it might have been some squirrel that shorted out the wire. So went to get in the truck to check it out when that wouldn't start, either. Soon after that we realized something had gone wrong with the electronics.”
“Looks like you're able to survive well enough, though.”
“Yeah, funny thing is that before this happened we were struggling to make ends meet. Y'know, one bad harvest and it can spell the end for places like these. But now that we got no bills to pay we're in a pretty sweet place. Still, that means we gotta be careful of people trying to take it from us. Luckily, we're out of the way, but I guess if there are more people trying to find someplace, like you were, we might have to prepare for more visitors.”
“I don't want to frighten you, but I feel like I should tell you something we found. There was a military bunker a few miles back that way,” Mack tossed his head in the direction from which they had traveled.
“When we got there everyone had been killed and the place was ransacked. I think there might be some kind of group in the area looking to take things by force. Hopefully they won't come around here, but you never know.”
“I appreciate the warning. You never do know who you can trust in situations like these,” Willie said, and for a moment Mack thought he had lost the progress he had made.
“No, you can't, but that doesn't mean we should stop trying. We only have each other right now,” he said.
Willie examined them with his dark eyes and took a long time to reply. He exhaled deeply and turned his back on them. For a moment the three of them thought they were going to be turned away, but as Willie pulled himself up the porch steps he gestured for them to follow.
“I hope you know what you're doing,” Grace said in a low voice as the three of them walked toward to the door.
Willie still was holding the shotgun, but in a way that showed Mack he had no intention of shooting it, and probably never had. It was more just for a show of force than anything else. Willie placed his large hand on the doorknob and turned it, then pushed the door open. Darkness awaited them as they stepped through into this new place. The house reminded them of Kathryn's, but there were a few homely touches that made it more personable, like a welcome mat, upon which they wiped their feet, careful not to bring muck into the house.
Before he went in, Mack took a moment to look back out onto the landscape of the farm and breathed in the sight. At one point he would have liked to retire to some place like this, where he simply could have been alone with his family and enjoyed each day as it came, watching the sun rise and set with every passing day. Willie was a blessed man, but as pleasant as the surroundings were, Mack could not linger at the farm for too long because there was still too much to do.
With a last breath he turned back and followed Willie into the house, hoping this time his instincts were right.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
WILLIE LED THEM DOWN A HALLWAY.
“It's okay!” he shouted, and as he did so doors opened, and suddenly light from outside spilled through the house.
The house was large, and at the end of the hallway a set of stairs led to another floor. There were three rooms on the ground floor, and the place was filled with flowers, which gave the place a nice smell. It felt very homely, and at first glance it was easy to forget that the world had ended because this was a piece of Americana, like something out of Little House on the Prairie. Willie stretched his arms to put the shotgun back up over the door, but as he did so he paused and looked back at Mack, then he continued and rubbed his hands together. The four of them were standing in the middle of the hallway. Grace and Luis were feeling rather awkward as they hadn't yet said a word, but they were happy to let Mack continue doing the talking.
Through the open doors came Willie's family, three of them.
“Looks like we have some visitors. They've offered to help around the farm a little bit and I figured it'd be nice to have a little bit of company. Come on out here and we all can get to know each other a little bit. Now this here is Mack and Grace and Luis, and they've been through a lot. This is my wife, Elaine, my daughter, Margaret, and my son, Luke.”
It was a slightly awkward meeting as hands were thrust over hands and everyone said hello. Elaine was a thin woman whose aging skin was wrinkled, and Mack was surprised she didn't snap in two when Willie hugged her. The married couple were of a similar height but opposite builds. Elaine wore a cross around her neck and a simple gold band on her ring finger. Mack imagined these people never had been wealthy, but they seemed to make up for it with a close-knit family. Elaine was polite and welcomed them all in, offering everyone drinks, which they accepted gratefully. She had a singsong voice and smiled a lot, and when she did so her eyes lit up in a way that made anyone feel like they were home. Luke was much like his father, although his beard was shorter, and he seemed to be one of those people who looked middle-aged even though he still was fairly young. He seemed more reticent than the rest of his family, and Mack noticed he exchanged a glance with his father. Mack took this to be a signal between the two males of the family to check if everything was fine, and he was glad to see that Willie nodded.
The other member of the family, Margaret, was much like her mother. She had a heart-shaped face and a friendly smile, with two dimples on each cheek. Her long hair flowed down her shoulders, but she had the same posture as her father, and from the way she held herself it was clear she had been used to helping out on the farm. She wore jeans and a loose T-shirt, and her blue eyes sparkled. She also was looking at Luis intently, and e
ven Grace picked up on this, and felt a twinge of jealousy.
As soon as she heard they had offered help Elaine was effusive with her welcome. “Any help would be appreciated. It’s been a real struggle with just the four of us. As you can see, the place is pretty big and, well, with all the electronics gone we've had to work harder than before. Still, farming is in our blood, and if our grandparents could do it then so can we. Willie, have you shown them around yet?” she asked.
“I haven't really had a chance.”
“Well, shame on you, let's not be bad hosts. Come on, take off those heavy packs and we'll show you around.” Elaine promptly led them all around the farm, taking Mack's arm in hers and asking him all about the events that had led them here.
She was the type of person Mack enjoyed talking to because she was happy to talk about anything and there was never any dead silence. She also reacted to everything in a dramatic way, so when Mack told her about the plane crash and the bunker she gasped and howled with shock and awe. Willie and Luke hung back at the house, while Margaret stood by Luis and Grace. Elaine spoke so quickly that there wasn't much opportunity for anyone else to say anything, and even when she asked a question she usually answered it herself.
“This farm has been in our family for generations. It all started with Willie's great- great- great- grandfather. At least I think that's how many greats it was, you tend to lose track of these things over the years. Now, he actually won it in a poker game, not that I ever would condone such behavior, especially in this house. We have strict rules, isn't that right Margaret? Yes, there will be time enough to get you used to those, but just behave and be respectful and you'll fit in fine. We don't ask that much of people here, but you'd be surprised at how many people these days don't have manners. Although, I suppose in the army you don't get away with having bad manners. Anyway, yes, he won it in a poker game, and by trade the Dartmouths had been blacksmiths. There was a little controversy when old Norman kept the farm rather than selling it, but turns out he had a natural knack for farming and that was passed down through the years until Willie got it.