“No doubt,” Johnny agreed. “But what if we did something that made it just as useful all year round? It would make your truck a formidable zombie-killing machine.”
Sadie was intrigued. “What’ve you got?”
It was a very long length of chain, with dozens of spikes welded through the links. “String this up on that plow, and watch out,” Johnny said. Sadie pictured it, imagined plowing through a group of zombies with ease. It wasn’t exactly practical this far north, where the creatures were rather few and far between and a rifle was usually sufficient protection, but Sadie wondered where she might get good use out of it, where she might find herself in the old black truck…
She and Johnny spent some time negotiating, and Sadie was able to pick up more than enough fuel, wood, and food to get them through the next couple of months, as well as an almost completely full first aid kit, and still get the chain. She and Johnny shook hands.
She didn’t ask about Manny until they were loading Sadie’s haul into the back of the black truck. When Johnny frowned, he looked a lot like his older brother. “Crazy,” he said. “But I been hearing people say, BC’s where it’s at.”
“Where what’s at, though?” Sadie asked. Johnny shrugged. “Would you go? I mean, if you had hard evidence of some kind of, like, safe place, would you drop everything and go?”
Johnny chuckled. “Don’t think I haven’t thought about it,” he said. He shook his head. “It’s crazy,” he said again.
“I know,” Sadie said, but she wasn’t quite convinced of that anymore.
“I think I would,” Johnny admitted. He nodded. “Me and Remy, we don’t blame her for going.”
“Yeah, Remy said so.”
“Did she tell you she was leaving?” Johnny asked.
Sadie shrugged. “She just kept saying she wanted to,” she admitted. “Not any more than what you all would have heard.”
Johnny nodded again. “She was always talking about leaving.”
“Hey,” Sadie said, “I’m not in a huge hurry to get back to the farm. Want to try a little of the stuff with me?” She was inviting him to sit in her truck and smoke a joint. Johnny climbed in. Sadie had the truck fueled up about half full, more than enough gas for the next three trips to La Ronge and back, she figured. She dreaded the day she wouldn’t be able to get it anymore. But for now, she felt comfortable enough to start the truck and run the defroster as she and Johnny Charles sat together and smoked.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you,” Sadie observed.
“I was kind of staying with a friend in town,” Johnny admitted. “This guy I went to school with, he and a few others have stuck around, like us. But he…” Sadie looked away as Johnny stared out of the windshield. “He buried his sister. The sister was sick, died, you know the whole deal. The family got together and tried to have a proper burial, you know, and…” Johnny shook his head. “The whole family got ripped apart.”
“Oh, my God,” Sadie gasped.
Johnny shook his head. “I was gonna go,” he said. “But I told them to burn the body. He got upset, said it was against their religion. Shit,” he chuckled humorlessly, shaking his head.
It really could happen. Glenn was right. “I’m sorry.”
“What people need to be doing, is spreading the word about this sort of thing,” Johnny went on. “Religion and all those beliefs and shit, they don’t matter anymore. Not in this world.”
“Yeah,” Sadie agreed emphatically, thinking of all of Glenn’s preaching and ranting. Sadie didn’t particularly care if there was or wasn’t a god. She was too busy just trying to survive each day, each season. If there was a god, he either didn’t give a shit, or he was an asshole. Either way, Sadie didn’t waste much time thinking about it.
“People get on the radio all the time,” Johnny said. “You get the radio in here?”
Sadie shook her head. “Glenn took it out years ago to pay for something,” she said. A crib. For Christian. “But we’ve got this little battery-powered thing up at the farm.”
“I’d get on the radio and tell people, burn your dead,” Johnny said.
“That’s very practical,” Sadie said. But she didn’t want to think about the day she had to burn Glenn, just hours after he died on a cot in front of the fireplace. It made her stomach feel queasy all over again.
“If there’s people out there rebuilding civilization, or whatever, you’d think they’d be getting on the radio,” Johnny said.
“That’s a very good point,” Sadie said. But she felt her heart sink at those words. Of course he was right. A few loonies in Winnipeg spreading rumors didn’t mean anything. She knew that.
Sadie and Johnny slapped and shook hands before he climbed out of Sadie’s truck. “Take care up there,” Johnny said. “You’ve got yourself a pretty sweet situation, you know.”
Sadie nodded. “Uh, tell Remy I said hello.” She waved goodbye and pulled away from the Charles family store, now run by the only two Charles family members left, and headed back to the farm.
The drive was quicker than earlier in the winter. There was a bit of snow to clear away, but it was starting to melt some, and the roads were just a little wet as Sadie carefully drove the old truck home. Its engine and parts were in top shape, and the tires weren’t very old, but she hardly had any replacement parts. She knew she’d have to talk with the guys who ran their rinky-dink auto shop in La Ronge, offer up a little weed if that’s what it took.
Amelia was in the living room when Sadie arrived, but she came out to greet her. She was still in her robe, not a particularly good sign. But she smiled and kissed her hello. “How was it?”
Sadie shrugged. “Got enough. And, uh, something interesting for the truck.”
Amelia cocked her head. “I should change and come help you unload.”
“Nah, just relax,” Sadie said. “Put the kettle on. I got the last of Mrs. Charles’s tea.” She shook her head for a moment before going out to the truck to grab another box of supplies.
As Sadie grabbed a box of canned food, Christian came out of nowhere, bundled up in his coat and hat. The tip of his fair nose was pink from the cold. “Where’ve you been?” Sadie asked.
“Just around,” Christian said. He didn’t have to be told to grab something and help unload. He carried one of the lighter boxes, and Amelia, still in her robe, put the supplies in the pantry.
“We should be okay until the spring vegetables come in,” Amelia said.
Sadie nodded. “Yeah.” As Christian started back out the door, she asked, “Where’re you going?”
“I’m just gonna go out,” Christian said, gesturing to the farmyard.
“Stay inside,” Amelia said. “You’ve been wandering around since this morning. What’re you doing out there?” Christian shrugged. “Go on, now. Go read a book or something.”
Christian sighed a little. “Okay, Mommy.” He retreated to the office, his second room. Sadie knew that the boy needed to have his space. She understood what that was like.
As Sadie and her lover sat and had tea, she described the spiked chain she was going to wrap around the plow come spring. “I’ll probably never get to see how it works, but it’ll look pretty cool,” Sadie laughed.
Amelia shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt.” She took a sip of her tea before she added, “The first aid kit was a good find.”
“That was your sweaters,” Sadie said. “Too bad the yarn’s gone.” Amelia nodded. As they sat and sipped their tea, they each reflected on their unvoiced worries.
*
Glenn was bedridden for three months before he asked to be put out by the fire. “It’s cold in here,” he whispered to Amelia.
Amelia needed help getting Glenn out to the cot by the fireplace, though he’d lost at least 10 pounds since he took to his bed for good. Sadie and Amelia supported Glenn on either side as they took him slowly out to the living room. They eased him onto the cot, and Amelia hurried to retrieve a blanket. Sadie stood awkwardly ne
xt to the cot and avoided looking down at her weakened father. She’d been avoiding him for months…well, for years, actually, since he’d taken up with Amelia. But it was especially difficult to look at him now, for a number of reasons.
Amelia seemed to sense that the end was coming. Out of love, or guilt, or probably some mixture of the two, she stayed by Glenn’s side, sitting on the hearth and reading to Glenn from the Bible as he shivered beneath his layers of quilts. Sadie continued to avoid him.
Sadie was sitting out at the table, sipping a mug of tea, thinking about going out to the garage and having a joint, when Amelia came out, looking anxious. “Your father’s asking to see you,” she said. “I think…I think it’s almost time.”
Sadie stood up and opened her arms. “Come here.” Amelia stepped into her embrace, and Sadie held her close. Amelia put her head on Sadie’s chest and sighed.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Amelia said, pulling on her coat. “This would be the time to say whatever you need to say to him, I guess.”
Sadie nodded, not moving until Amelia went out through the back door, heading toward the chicken coop. She went to the living room, where Glenn was lying on the cot, his face turned towards the fire.
“Dad,” Sadie said. She stood over him. Glenn turned to looked up at her, and she frowned at how much he’d aged in the last few months. He aged a lot after they first left Iowa City, too, but now…well, he looked like a dying old man. Sadie tried to remember how old her father was. 54? 55? Not old enough to look like this, she thought.
“Save your strength,” Sadie said before Glenn could open his mouth to speak. “I’m sorry we’ve…we’ve been distant. It’s been so hard. You’ve done so much to protect us, and I didn’t…”
“Take care of Amelia and Christian,” Glenn croaked out. “They need you.”
Sadie nodded. “I know.”
“I know how much you love Amelia,” Glenn whispered, and Sadie looked away from him for a moment. “We did our part,” he said. “We created life.”
Sadie felt her cheeks flush. “So, what, you’re giving me permission to have her now? You’re…fuck, you’re sick.”
Glenn frowned, but Sadie went on. “I already have her,” she pointed out. “If you didn’t already know. And I’ll take better care of her than you ever did.”
“I know you will,” Glenn whispered, and Sadie shook her head. “I’m sorry, Sadie,” he said. Sadie was about to demand to know what he was sorry for, make him say it all, but he started coughing. She felt bad, a little, for her tirade, and she went to get him a fresh glass of water.
Sadie never spoke to her father again. He died that night in front of the fire, Amelia by his side. Sadie didn’t know until Amelia came into her bed. Sadie woke up when she felt Amelia, now her lover, beside her. “Hi,” she whispered.
“He’s gone,” Amelia said. Sadie reached out and touched her face. She wasn’t crying. “He looks…peaceful.”
Sadie nodded. “He’s okay.”
Amelia leaned in and kissed Sadie. “He was a good man.”
“Yes, he was,” Sadie agreed. “We’re gonna have everything we need, thanks to him.” Amelia nodded. They held each other and slept, and Sadie got up early the next morning to burn up her father’s body.
*
As soon as the weather warmed and the days got longer, Sadie and Amelia were out in the garden for hours at a time, planting weed and vegetables, all the things they’d need to eat and trade and survive through the next year. Christian was helping out more and more, but when they weren’t working in the garden, he was off stomping the grounds on his own.
Sadie was in a good mood as the weather improved. She always loved summer. It was never too hot in northern Saskatchewan, and she enjoyed being outside. There was plenty of fresh produce to eat, and when it got warm enough, Amelia would strip naked and lay out in the farmyard again on one of the quilts, sunning herself…
On her next trip to La Ronge, Sadie didn’t have much to take for trade, just a few ounces of weed and the last of the winter preserves. But she’d purchased on credit with the Charles brothers before. Whatever she couldn’t quite afford, she’d make up for with the first vegetable harvest. She felt pretty good as she drove to town that morning, the sun just rising, the plow tricked out with the intimidating chain. She saw no undead creatures on her way in, and was almost disappointed by this.
Sadie was able to carry her two boxes up to the door. She knocked and waited. With only Johnny and Remy running the store (and often just one of them if the other was out of town getting supplies), it was taking a while for someone to answer anymore. So she was surprised when the door sprang open right away, without anyone even checking the peep hole.
Sadie gasped and dropped her boxes, hardly thinking of any broken jars. Manny stood there, grinning. “Oh, my God,” Sadie said, and she hugged her close. “Oh, my God, you’re here. You’re okay.”
“Of course I’m okay,” Manny said. “I’m great.” She frowned at one of Sadie’s boxes. “You dropped something.”
Sadie knelt down and saw that only a couple of jars of raspberry preserves were fucked. The rest could be wiped down, good as new. “I just can’t believe…”
“Here,” Manny said. She helped Sadie to her feet and picked up one of the boxes. “Let’s talk.”
Inside the store, Sadie noticed that the shelves weren’t nearly as well-stocked as usual. She felt her heart sink. “What’s going on?”
“We’re closing up shop,” Manny announced proudly. “I talked my brothers into coming back with me.”
“Coming back where?” Sadie whispered, but she knew the response. Knew it, but could hardly believe it.
Manny reached out and took Sadie’s hand. “Come on,” she said. “Come upstairs. There’s someone I want you to meet.”
Sadie had so many questions for her friend, but she was speechless as she followed her up to the Charles family’s living quarters. In the kitchen, a large man sat at the round table. He stood up to greet them.
“Sade,” Manny said, “This is my husband, Hank.”
“Your husband?” Sadie was so dazed that she could only stare at Hank’s large, outstretched hand for a moment before she remembered what she was supposed to do.
“Hank and I went to school together,” Manny said as she bustled about, preparing tea. “Sit down! We’re gonna tell you all about Sanctuary Coast.”
Sadie was in shock as she joined Hank, Manny’s husband, at the table. Manny was the one who did most of the talking. About the fully-fortified community that had taken her in, given her a job and a house. “A house, Sade, a cute little green one near the beach. I mean, it’s not like we can swim in the water or anything, of course, but it’s a nice view.”
Manny was given a job at the bicycle shop. “Everybody rides around on bikes there,” Manny went on. Sadie didn’t touch her tea as she struggled to wrap her mind around what Manny was telling her. “They’ve got this whole section of shops that sell, like, food and books and anything you’d need for your home. No one goes without.”
Hank finally spoke up then. “They’re trying to bring more people into the community,” he said. “They sent us back here in an armored car to recruit people from the area to come back with us.”
Sadie leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “What’s the catch?” she asked. She looked directly at Manny.
Manny had been smiling brightly since Sadie’s arrival, going on and on about how great Sanctuary Coast was, but her smile faltered a little under her friend’s hard look. “Okay,” she said, “So SC’s been up and running for almost a decade now, right? They’ve had people scouting around all over the continent, looking for possible survivors. They’ve, uh, they’ve got this estimate that there’s, maybe, a couple million people alive in the U.S. and Canada.”
Hank took over. “Most of those people are gonna die out from disease or…well, you know,” he said, offering a small smile. Sadie’s arms tightened over her
chest. “The human race is endangered.”
“So the one thing about SC,” Manny said, “Is you gotta get married and make babies.”
Sadie gaped at her. “So that’s why you’re married to a man?” She glanced at Hank. “Does he know about…?”
Manny frowned. “Yes, Sade. My husband knows that I’m bisexual.”
“Well, that sounds just great,” Sadie said. “But I don’t think I’m interested in going anywhere and being used as a baby machine.”
“Baby, can we have a minute?” Manny asked her husband. Hank nodded and stood up. He had to stoop a little as he went through the doorway to the hall, heading down to the store. “I’d love a smoke,” Manny admitted. “There’s no weed in SC.”
“You’re really selling that place. Sounds like paradise,” Sadie said. Manny ignored this as she got some of Sadie’s weed and rolled a joint. Sadie said nothing as she watched her friend, still unable to believe everything she’d heard. A safe place, with electricity and jobs and houses…but at what cost?
“It’s this religious group that runs the place,” Manny finally said before she took the first hit off the joint. She passed it off to Sadie. “But it’s not what you think, you know? You go to church once a week, you get married and have a couple of kids…otherwise, you can do what you want. It’s a really nice place.”
“You’ve only been there, what, two months? And they made you…?”
Manny chuckled. “Hank and I connected right away,” she said. “We got to talking about school and everything, people we remembered…he’s the only person I’ve met from the old days there, you know, besides the people I followed out there. He’s a really great guy. And he’s cute, don’t you think?”
Sadie shrugged. “They’ve got these scientists there,” Manny went on. “They’re building this big lab, and they’re gonna try to find a cure for the virus…and how to kill the zombies, too.”
Sadie frowned. “If this place is so big, and has so many resources, why am I only now hearing about it?”
“Look, the main goal behind SC is the rebuild the population,” Manny said. “‘Be fruitful and multiply,’ right? But they gotta be a little bit choosy about who they let through the gates.”
In Another Life Page 10