Cameron, standing on top of a bus behind a steel barrier, smiled down at him in a way that made Madison think he’d already seen the approaching people in his rifle scope. “Great work, Jonathan. Thanks for the heads up.”
Madison pulled Lorelei around behind the buses, not caring they couldn’t see the road due to metal plates covering all the windows facing away from Evergreen. She didn’t expect violence from a group of two, but also felt safer having a wall and three adults between her and strangers. Eva, Becca, Christopher, and Mila gathered around her in a cluster.
Annapurna and Fred Mitchell walked out in front of the buses to meet the newcomers while Cameron remained up high to observe. A few minutes later, the clop of hooves on paving became audible.
Jonathan peered around the end of the bus.
“Afternoon,” said Fred. “Welcome to Evergreen.”
“Hello,” replied a sweet female voice. “I’m Cerice. This is my associate, Wade. We got wind y’all had a settlement here.”
“We do. Looking for a place to set down?” asked Annapurna.
“Got that already,” said the man… probably Wade. “We’re from the Express. You folks got anything like a mayor here? We’d like to talk to whoever’s in charge about setting up an outpost.”
“Express?” asked Fred.
“Sort of like the old Post Office,” said Cerice. “We carry messages or small items between settlements.”
Jonathan stopped peering around the bus end and jogged over to the group of kids. “Just people who carry mail. No threat.”
“We can hear them from here.” Mila folded her arms.
Madison snickered.
“Hey, wanna go to that house with the pool table and stuff in the basement?” Christopher held his arms out to either side. “Let’s do something fun.”
Lorelei looked up at Madison. “How did someone put a pool in a table?”
Mila giggled.
Becca narrowed her eyes at Christopher. “Don’t say it.”
He blinked, confused. “What?”
“Her hair.” Becca folded her arms.
“Oh. Lorelei says stuff like that all the time. It’s not a blonde issue. It’s a being little issue.” Christopher waved for the others to follow him and rushed off.
Chuckling, Madison tried to explain ‘pool table’ to Lorelei on the way to the sweet house with all the games in the basement.
13
The Express
Harper squinted up past wavering branches, gauging the position of the sun.
Close enough to noon…
Today had been quiet and kind of lonely. Having Darci with her yesterday made time go by quick, though admittedly cost her some awareness of her surroundings. Patrolling with a friend along probably equivocated to driving and talking on a cell phone. People having issues would remain obvious, but she might not have noticed a hostile party laying in ambush. Then again, idiots trying to raid Evergreen wouldn’t exactly set a trap for a wandering sentry they had no way to know existed.
She still thought attacks would be most likely happen along roads or at the farm. The residential neighborhood surrounding the Hiwan Golf Club (now secondary farm) concealed the presence of edible crops from distant eyes, unless they climbed up onto the hills to the northeast. If an organized group of hostiles wanted to make trouble, they’d send in scouts first. Harper’s job included noticing any potential spies.
However, she knew she couldn’t shoot someone in the back for simply running away from her. Maybe she could shoot them if she knew for a fact they ran to alert a larger force of killers, but how could she tell what a person who bolted at first sight intended to do?
She kept going, eyeing the sun every few minutes or so until Sadie Walker emerged from a side street, apparently confused to see her. The woman still carried an AR-15, which meant the militia hadn’t yet run critically low on 5.56mm ammunition. Fortunately, ever since the convicts who’d taken over Kittredge decided to attack Evergreen—not realizing a well-armed militia waited for them—things had been fairly quiet. No one had much reason to fire a shot. The hunting parties had taken to using compound bows as much as possible to save bullets for defense.
“Wow, did I lose track of time?” asked Harper once they met at the intersection.
“Either that or I’m a little early.” Sadie shrugged. “Anything happen this morning?”
Harper shook her head. “Nope. All quiet. No trouble.”
“Great.” Sadie exhaled. “Well, I’m already here. You might as well head on out. Oh, I think I saw Maddie and the others walking south on 74, going past Chestnut.”
“They’re probably heading to that place on Tanoa Road… they found a house with all sorts of game tables in the basement. Ping pong, skee ball, a mini-basketball game, and one of those tables with the little football players on sticks. Whoever lived there must have worked in an arcade or something.”
Sadie chuckled.
“Anyway, gotta grab food today. Gonna get going. Be careful and good luck.” Harper slung the Mossberg over her shoulder on its strap.
“Thanks.” Sadie waved.
Harper hurried southwest, cutting across woodland spaces between houses, taking as straight a line as possible, emerging a few minutes later from the trees at the intersection of Lewis Ridge Road and Route 74, not far from the bus barrier. She raised a hand to wave in greeting at whoever happened to be stationed there today, but froze in confusion at the sight of a pair of horses loaded up with saddlebags and other gear.
Curious, she walked over.
Annapurna, Cameron, and Fred wrapped up a conversation with two newcomers. The man looked to be in his late twenties, the woman a bit younger. Their long coats and hats almost made Harper laugh.
Where are the cameras? Are they filming a cowboy movie?
When Harper got a little closer, amusement shifted to being impressed. The coats didn’t look like costume pieces. Someone hand-stitched them recently, exactly the sort of thing Renee and her team tried to figure out. Under the coats, both wore normal T-shirts and jeans. The guy had cowboy boots while the woman rocked a pair of hiking shoes.
Annapurna led them away from the barrier into town, probably heading to the medical center for a checkup—as they did with all newcomers—then to the southernmost building in the old La Plaza Office Park, which they’d repurposed into City Hall.
Harper jogged to catch up, falling in step beside Annapurna. “Hey, new arrivals?”
“Not exactly.” Annapurna smiled. “Wade and Cerice are Express riders, asking to see Mayor Ned about setting up an office here.”
“Whoa, seriously?” Harper blinked. “I keep thinking like we’ve gone back to the 1800s but never thought anyone would take it so literally. Pony Express?”
“Never heard of it.” Wade shrugged. “But you probably remember it since you were still in school when the bombs fell. Been a while since I sat in a history class.”
“Listen to this guy talking like he’s some kinda old man.” Cerice jabbed her thumb sideways at him.
“You guys ride horses to basically carry mail between towns?” asked Harper.
Wade nodded.
“Yeah. Pony Express. Basically.” She offered a hand. “I’m Harper. So, are there really other survivor towns out there?”
“Sure are.” Cerice grinned. “We know of about a dozen. They crop up here and there, mostly smaller places up in the hills far away from anywhere hit by nukes. Evergreen’s the nearest one we’ve found to Denver. Didn’t think anyone had the balls to settle this close to ground zero.”
Harper’s eyes widened. “Do you guys know how bad Colorado Springs got hit?”
“I’ve never been down that way.” Wade scratched above his right ear. “Pretty much every major city took a beating.”
“It’s about the same as Denver, I hear,” said Cerice. “Some parts are wide open nothingness where there used to be buildings. Other parts, not so bad. Ol’ Lewis back at the main office thinks whoeve
r hit us either didn’t know about Cheyenne Mountain or knew enough to realize it was mostly decommissioned and not worth a bomb big enough to crack it—if anyone even had one.”
“Umm, so wait…” Harper pressed a hand to her chest before her heart jumped out. “Are you saying Springs wasn’t entirely vaporized?”
“Don’t know for sure.” Cerice offered an apologetic smile. “Sure, I’ve heard people say it’s nothing but a radioactive parking lot or ‘turned to glass.’ One guy said it’s a shimmering field of sparkling bits. ’Course, I also heard tell Denver looked like salt flats, and it ain’t all the way gone. Some parts are pretty cleared out, but there are lots of ruins. Some places just a little messed up.”
Harper exhaled. “Yeah… I used to live in Lakewood. My old neighborhood was all smashed up, but not too bad. Bigger problem is the Lawless. You guys should be extremely careful if you get close to Denver. Anyone with a blue sash around their neck is part of the gang. Better off shooting before they get close enough to realize you’re a woman.”
Cerice cringed. “That bad?”
“Yeah… they tried to grab me and my kid sister. They did kidnap my friend, Renee. Killed my parents, too.”
“Sorry.” Cerice bowed her head. “We haven’t gone anywhere near Denver—or any big city for that matter. No plans to yet. Thanks for the tip, though.”
Harper couldn’t quite smile with thoughts of Lawless in her head, so she nodded once like some old Clint Eastwood movie cowboy. “No problem.”
Wade looked around. “This here’s gotta be the biggest, most organized settlement we’ve seen. Couple are close in terms of organization, but nowhere near the size, population wise anyway. Cameron back there says ya got about five hundred souls or so?”
“Yeah, something like that.” Harper tried not to grimace. Evergreen being the biggest-slash-nicest town in the area didn’t say good things about the other settlements. Perhaps it ended up being a good thing they presently lacked electricity. Rumors of them having an operational power grid (even if it only covered a small area) might make the town a target. “People keep trickling in. Farm’s doing decent. We ran out of canned food and stuff months ago. Everything we’re eating now, we’re either growing or shooting.”
“’Bout the same story as most places,” said Cerice. “Like the severance package civilization gave us has run out. Sink or swim now is on us.”
Harper hesitantly reached for the woman’s sleeve. “Mind if I touch your coat? Curious where you got it.”
“Go ahead, hon. Got some people at the main office make these coats for us. They’re only for Express riders. Sort of our badge of authenticity.”
She briefly examined the coarse, thick cloth. “What’s it made out of?”
“Alpaca wool,” said Wade. “Weird animals. Got a whole bunch of them up in Granby where the main office is.”
Hmm. Wonder if they’d be willing to trade for a mated pair? “Cool. So, wow. We’re really the most organized place you’ve found?”
“Pretty much.” Wade grimaced. “Except for Goodland, over in Kansas. Except for not having electricity or working cars, place doesn’t look like the war even happened.”
“Not even nuclear bombs want to go to Kansas,” muttered Cerice.
Wade chuckled. “It’s an okay place if you can deal with the crazy. Fairly big, for a survivor town, surrounded by miles of farms. They ain’t hurtin’ for food but so damn creepy.”
“Creepy?” Harper tilted her head. “How so?”
Cerice pursed her lips. “The people who live in that town think God spared them, so they’ve made religion mandatory, fearing if they aren’t devoted enough, the nuke that ‘should have’ hit them will come back and end it. They’ve publicly executed ‘heretics’ and ‘godless free thinkers’ in the town square. They went all sorts of old school. Women aren’t allowed to talk to outsiders, especially men.”
“Ugh.” Harper frowned.
“They’re real nice people,” said Wade. “Give ya the shirt off their backs… as long as you tell ’em you believe in their god and don’t get caught too close to a woman unless her husband or father is there to observe.”
No way am I ever ending up a man’s property. Note to self: do not visit Goodland. She bit her lip. Sounds like something from a dystopian movie. Why are the crazy psycho cults always in places named things like ‘Goodland?’
Weird nuclear-god cults aside, the idea of numerous other settler towns existing intrigued her. Not in the sense she had the sudden desire to go traipsing around exploring towns like some manner of adventurer, but it gave her hope. If other settler towns had already established themselves, the recovery of civilization sounded more possible. Provided, of course, nutjobs didn’t start another war. The people in Goodland would hopefully keep to themselves and not raise an army to forcibly convert nearby towns.
They walked down the road toward Mayor Ned’s office.
“Umm, can I ask a dumb question about the Express thing?” Harper smiled at the riders.
“Of course, dear.” Cerice returned the smile. “It’s why we’re here. To answer questions and get a feel for your town.”
Harper gestured at the horses. “You guys take letters and stuff to other settlements… how do people know where to send things to? There isn’t any way to communicate between places anymore. No phones, no internet…”
“Good question.” Wade grinned. “We’re collecting lists of names and keeping them in a big book at each Express station. It’s not a list of everyone in a place. It’s people who are looking for lost family or friends. They ask to be added to ‘the book,’ and copies are sent out to every office.”
“Yeah.” Cerice nodded. “The woman who started this whole Express thing figured only people who had family or friends in other places would need to send mail at first, so she didn’t see the point in trying to collect every name from a town. Only the ones who thought they might have people out there looking for them.”
“It’s all handwritten, so it gets a bit tedious.” Cerice whistled. “Glad it ain’t my job to make new copies. Eventually, a person will be able to go into any Express office and hunt through ‘the book.’”
“Do you have a copy with you?” asked Harper, her voice rising on a wave of hope.
Both shook their heads.
“Not yet.” Wade gave her a sympathetic look. “We don’t copy the registry until we know for sure there’ll be an office. Gotta ask your town if it’s okay to set one up here first.”
“Oh.” Harper slouched in disappointment. “Well, I don’t think Mr. O’Neill will mind. It sounds like an awesome idea. Civilization slowly coming back.”
“Little bit at a time,” said Cerice. “Some towns aren’t much more than big campsites. Others feel like we’ve got a decent shot of finding some kind of new normal.”
Harper walked with them to Mayor Ned’s office, thanked them for talking to her, and headed across the street to the quartermaster’s to pick up her weekly food allotment, her head spinning from anxiety and anticipation. Assuming the town management liked the idea of an Express office, she might learn if any of her other friends survived the war and ended up in settlements.
Great. I’m not going to be able to sleep for weeks.
14
Just Camping
A few days after the ‘exciting’ arrival of a pair of mail couriers, Cliff got the idea to go fishing.
The closest Harper and Madison had ever come to ‘going fishing’ involved standing behind Mom or Dad in the supermarket while they selected haddock, tilapia, or salmon from the seafood case. At least on a Saturday, Cliff had the whole day off. Spending it—or at least several hours—with the family on the shore of Evergreen Lake sounded nice, the sort of things families used to do before technology took over.
It took about an hour to walk there, a bit more than two miles from their house. Not like they could get lost, after all, as they had only to follow Route 74 south directly to the lake, and veer right
a little.
Opposite a former restaurant named ‘Lakepoint’ according to a sign on the lawn, a narrow wooden bridge crossed the creek coming in from the west to a long, narrow strip of island near the northwestern shore. It appeared to be the start of a hiking trail circling the entire lake. Cliff decided to try fishing from the island, climbing over a wooden fence not far past the other end of the bridge, ignoring signs warning people to ‘keep out’ of the sensitive area.
Harper stopped at the fence. “Is it safe? What’s it mean by sensitive area?”
“Where do you think the town’s drinking water comes from?” asked Cliff without looking back. “That or some wildlife thing.”
“Eww,” said Madison.
“What do you think reservoirs are?” Harper poked her. “They have filtration.”
“Which doesn’t work too well without electricity.” Jonathan put a hand on his stomach. “Maybe we should start boiling water before we drink it?”
“We could, but good chance the radiation already killed the germs,” called Cliff.
Everyone stared aghast—until he started laughing.
Harper didn’t know too much of what went on in the water treatment place. She’d ridden by it once while visiting south Evergreen. For all she knew, someone had already hooked up solar panels to power the plant… but it didn’t seem too plausible. A place like that would take far more power than an improvised solar farm could generate.
What did people do for drinking water before they had plumbing? Wells?
Carrie, Harper, Madison, Jonathan, and Logan climbed the fence to follow Cliff. Lorelei ducked under the top rail. The little one started pulling her dress off and running for the water, but Carrie caught her.
“Not swimming today,” said Carrie. “We’re fishing. If you jump in the water, it will scare the fish away.”
“Aww.” Lorelei looked down.
“If she doesn’t splash around too much, she could swim in the water on the other side of the island, near the bridge,” said Cliff while handing out fishing poles to Harper, Logan, Jonathan, and Madison.
Evergreen (Book 5): The Nuclear Frontier Page 11