After the Fall (Book 2): Catherine's Tale (Part 1)

by David E. Nees

  When he left he found they hadn’t searched his backpack. He went across to the militia complex and got a key to his assigned room, and asked a lot of questions about how things worked in town. Then he walked back out to the city gate, handed the guards Goodman’s note with a victorious smile on his face, and picked up his rifle. The guards looked disappointed.

  Billy spent a few days wandering around Hillsboro, getting shouted at occasionally by the militia. However, his pass indicating he was a hunter, which allowed him to go in and out of the city, kept the harassment to a minimum. Coming from the quiet and isolation of the valley, he found the bustle and activity in town somewhat disorienting. Even without mechanization, the noise level was far above the valley’s stillness.

  Some aspects of life in the city Billy didn’t think were very good. There was no well handy for washing or getting a drink of water. Washing meant hauling water in buckets to store in your apartment. Then you went outside and did a sponge bath, without much privacy. Eating was done communally at the food centers set up around town. The food usually consisted of a stew of wild plants, with whatever the hunters had killed cut up and thrown in.

  Your ration card got you in, and your work got your ration card renewed. No working meant no eating. He asked what happened if you were sick or injured, and was told that allowances were grudgingly made but there was always pressure to weed out malingerers. Those who chronically came up short were threatened with expulsion. The prospect of trying to survive out in the wild and dangerous countryside kept people in line.

  Billy had eaten worse than what they served in the food centers, though not often. He felt safer inside the wall than he had felt on his overland journey. But the feeling of freedom he had felt, both in the valley and during his hike to town, had faded. He began to wonder what he had let himself in for.

  “I haven’t found out anything about Donna. Don’t know what’s become of her, but I’ll keep after it.” Charlie knew the discomfort in his voice gave him away even as he busied himself with his bowl of food.

  “Nothing?” Mary said. She shook her head. “That’s so odd! There’s not that many people in Hillsboro anymore and no one leaves. Where would they go?”

  “I don’t know. People probably still leave, for all I know. We don’t keep tabs on that.” He cleared his throat. “I did find a picture of the family and had an artist make me some drawings. I have some of my men looking out for them. We have to give it more time.”

  “What about the boy? Did you check the school? He’d be too young to work.”

  Charlie nodded.

  “And?”

  He was quiet. He stirred his spoon in the soup bowl.

  “Charlie? What did you find?” Mary looked sharply at her husband, her voice betraying her stress.

  Charlie sighed. “Look, what I’m about to tell you can’t be repeated. I’m investigating this quietly, you understand?”

  Mary looked at him. “You’re beginning to frighten me.”

  “Just keep this between us…promise?”

  Mary nodded.

  “I found the boy still in the school. Right where he’s supposed to be.” Mary stared at him. “So the family didn’t leave town. We can be pretty sure of that. They wouldn’t have abandoned him. If they were leaving, they would have just all gone together on a weekend.”

  Mary put a hand to her mouth. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know. I can only guess.” Charlie’s teeth were clenched. He remembered Joe telling them about the engineer he’d questioned. The sighting of Donna in the militia complex. There was nothing he could say that wouldn’t panic Mary.

  “Well, where are Donna and Jim? They wouldn’t go off and leave their son.”

  “I just don’t know.”

  “My God, Charlie, what’s going on? How could this happen? They’re good people. You know Jim, he did work for you.”

  “I know. Something’s wrong, but I don’t know what. That’s why I want to keep this quiet while I try to find out.”

  “Does Frank know about this? Can he help you?”

  Charlie looked down at his bowl and paused for a moment. “I don’t want to bring anyone else into this until I know what’s happening and who’s behind it. I know this isn’t right, but I have to be careful until I know more.”

  “Oh Charlie. This scares me. You don’t think Frank is involved, do you?” Charlie shrugged. She went on, sounding confused. “I know we have martial law, no real rights as citizens, but the people in power, you and the others, are honest. You’re doing what’s best for Hillsboro, not harming good people.” She paused. “Is that Joe Stansky behind this?” Her tone grew more critical. “You know I’ve never liked him or how you cater to him. I didn’t like him, even when he was just a sleazy bar owner—”

  “Please don’t start on that again. I told you I don’t know. For God’s sake, let me find out more. Then I’ll know what to do…for us and for them.”

  Mary got up and came around the table to hug her husband, wrapping her arms around his chest and putting her head next to his. “You’re a good man, Charlie Cook. I’m not angry with you. I know you’ll do the right thing. Just be careful.”

  Charlie wondered how good a man he was. He sensed that things were getting bad—and he might be caught on the wrong side. He stood up and turned to hug his wife back. Their kitchen, their house, their comfortable life suddenly seemed very fragile.

  Chapter 17

  Success on a hunt always meant more work for Billy. The problem was distance—and weight. He would field-dress whatever game he bagged and then have to lug it back to town, in his pack or over his shoulder depending on its size. The trip back could be more work than all the rest of a hunting trip.

  Billy liked going hunting more than ever now. It got him out of town and into the quiet of the woods to the south and west of town, Sometimes he was lucky and found game in the overgrown yards of the abandoned neighborhoods beyond the wall which had been re-colonized by wildlife. If he was quiet, he often came across small herds of deer. The other hunters didn’t recognize this possibility and so missed these easy opportunities by scaring away the game on their noisy trek through the neighborhoods on the way to the woods.

  Even when he did have to go all the way to the forest he wasn’t upset. He enjoyed being in the familiar surroundings of the woods, with their peace and beauty. Those times always drove home the stark difference between the countryside, with its forests and fields and quiet, and the town with its streets and buildings and noise.

  Now he didn’t have to worry so much about ammunition. Goodman had offered to have the militia set him up with a different rifle, but Billy liked his .30-06. He was happy to accept a scope for it, an adjustable-power one that he could use in the woods. It had taken him a box of ammunition to set it up, even with some instruction.

  This evening he had done very well, and at the moment he was almost regretting it. He had bagged a large deer, and now the carcass was draped over his shoulder as he made his way back into town. He carried more game in his pack. He had not gone far before he had shot the deer. He was thankful for that as it gave him a shorter walk back to drop the carcass off at the main food center. He looked forward to heading back to his room after that to crash for some much-needed rest.

  His route took him through a rundown-looking part of town. He was often unsure of exactly where he was, but he knew the general direction to go until he could find some landmarks. He had been trudging along under his load for perhaps fifteen minutes since re-entering town when, turning a corner, he saw the four men halfway down the block. They were crowding around a small girl in the middle of the street. It was early evening; the light was fading, but there was still enough that he could see them clearly. There was talking back and forth, and then suddenly one of the men grabbed the girl’s arms from behind and put his hand over her mouth, cutting short a scream. Another stepped up to the struggling girl, reached out and tore open her pale blouse. She started kicking
and he slapped her face. Billy could hear it half a block away. The man then ripped her bra off, exposing her breasts. The girl was older than Billy had thought.

  Billy stopped in his tracks. A rush of emotions surged through his body. A protective instinct kicked in. He set the deer carcass on the ground, slipped off his pack, and unslung his rifle.

  “Hey!” he yelled, aiming at the man who had torn off the brassiere. “Stop that. Whaddaya think you’re doing?”

  The four men turned to look at the lone figure pointing a rifle at them from about sixty yards away.

  “Better move on if you know what’s good for you. This ain’t none of your business,” shouted the man in Billy’s sights. The others looked less certain.

  “You stop and let her go.” Billy yelled. He couldn’t think of anything more forceful to say.

  The men were all focused on him now. The one holding the girl still had her in a tight grip, his hand clamped over her lower face.

  The man who had called to him grinned and flashed a knife. “You don’t want to get cut up, do you?”

  The man holding the girl from behind took his hand from her mouth and pulled a knife of his own, putting it to the girl’s throat. “She could get her neck cut if you don’t get outta here,” he shouted. The girl started to yell, but he jerked the knife up against the bottom of her jaw and hissed something into her ear. Billy thought he saw a dark trickle start from the knife point.

  “So what’s it gonna be?” the man called, grinning. “You want her to get cut from ear to ear? Better get along and she won’t get hurt. We’re just gonna have a little fun with her.”

  “Yeah, she won’t act so uppity after we’re done,” another said.

  Billy slowly swung his aim over to the man holding the knife at the girl’s throat. The man was shielded by the girl, but he stood a head and a half taller than her.

  “Don’t leave me with these pigs,” shouted the girl.

  The man scowled down at her and the knife started to move. Billy had the man’s head centered in his scope. Without hesitation, he gently squeezed his hand and the rifle bucked against his shoulder with a sharp explosion of sound and flash. The .30-06 bullet struck the man’s forehead. He never heard the sound. The hollow point delivered the maximum amount of kinetic energy to the target. The back of his head exploded, scattering brains over the concrete. He snapped back, his hands losing their grip as signals to the muscles were abruptly shut off. He was flung to the ground.

  The other three froze. Billy worked the bolt action in a fluid motion, chambering another round. He shifted the rifle to the man standing nearest the girl. The man saw the barrel swing towards him and jumped to the side, turning tail and running down the street. The other two followed. They were soon around the next corner.

  “Holy shit! That was some shot,” the girl exclaimed. She bent down and peered at the sidewalk. “That asshole tore my buttons off. You can’t find buttons nowadays, and this is still a good shirt…Fucker.”

  She stooped and picked up three buttons, kicked the dead man in the side, and trotted up to Billy. Her sky-blue blouse flew around her, and Billy’s eyes were caught by the bounce of her breasts, now covered, now uncovered. He stood transfixed.

  “You’re a hunter,” she observed, looking down at the deer carcass. “What’re you gonna do with that?” Billy just stared at her. “Oh, my name’s Lori Sue, what’s yours?”

  “Billy. Billy Turner.”

  “Glad to meetcha.” She stuck out her hand. “Very glad to meet you tonight.”

  “What were they doing?” Billy asked. He didn’t really know what to say.

  “Whaddaya think? They were getting ready to rape me. They’re pissed ‘cause I won’t give ‘em a tumble. Wouldn’t even if they had something to trade. Shit, I got standards.” The girl looked over her shoulder at the body lying on the sidewalk in a pool of blood and brains. “That bastard in particular. He’s probably got the clap. He sure does stink.”

  She turned back to Billy. “We better get out of here. Someone coulda heard that shot. They might be coming soon.” She reached for his backpack. “Let me help you with that.”

  “No, uh, I got it.” Billy put on his backpack, knelt, and hoisted the deer carcass back over his right shoulder.

  “Follow me.”

  She led Billy through a maze of streets and alleys, off to the right from the direction he had been heading, until she took them into a five-story apartment building. It had probably looked seedy even before the EMP attack, and now many of the first-floor windows were broken. The front hall was filled with wind-blown trash, and when the girl pushed the door shut it didn’t close properly. A horrible reek hit Billy, and he quickly held his breath. There were piles of feces in the corners.

  “It’s worse when it’s fresh. The stink goes away a bit after it dries out,” she said as she led him to the stairs. Billy was about to put the deer carcass down, but she told him no. “Someone’ll steal that, sure as you’re standing there. That or some dogs’ll get it. There’s a few dogs left…don’t know how they survive. Come on,” she said and started climbing the stairs. On the fourth floor she stepped into the hall and went halfway down it, pulled out a set of keys, and unlocked a door. “Come on in. We’ll be safe here.”

  Billy stepped in and set the carcass down against the wall inside the door. He unslung his pack and set it next to the deer, along with his rifle. The door opened directly onto a living room. There was a red corduroy couch with tears in the arms and cushions, and across the room from it a table and two similarly broken-down stuffed chairs. To the left he could see a small kitchen with pots and pans lying out, unwashed. A short hallway led off to the right.

  “It ain’t much, but it works,” Lori Sue said. Her smile looked a little embarrassed. “No one wants to live in this area of the city, so I can be pretty much alone. There’s only two others in the building, older people on the second floor. No one wants the first floor, too easy to get robbed. And I got the keys to the whole building.” She held up a set of keys on a large ring that had been lying on the table and smiled at her declaration of victory over landlords and building owners.

  “But you can’t lock the front door.”

  “Yeah, that’s a pain…but I can open up every other door in the building.” She smiled at him.

  “I got to take this deer to the central feed station.”

  “Can we take some meat off it first?” She had an eager look on her face.

  “No, I can’t do that,” he said, surprised. “They expect the whole deer. That was one thing they made a big deal about, taking meat for myself.”

  Lori Sue knelt and began to rummage through Billy’s pack. She pulled out two rabbits. “Looky here. We could keep these. How’ll they ever know?”

  “I’m supposed to bring all the meat to the center.”

  “I hear you, but I ain’t had a good meal in two days. And don’t almost getting raped qualify me for a good meal?”

  Billy didn’t have an answer. “Look,” he said awkwardly, “I gotta go drop this deer off.”

  “Okay. But leave your pack here. I’ll keep it safe.” Billy shook his head. “Well, leave one of the rabbits at least and I’ll cook you a meal you won’t forget when you get back.” She stuffed one of the rabbits back in.

  Billy hesitated. “Not sure I should do that.”

  “No one will know. And it looks like you could use a meal yourself. Come on. We’ll have a good meal when you get back, and I can repay you for saving me.” She stepped up close to him. His eyes kept shifting from her face to her now-and-again exposed breasts. She reached up and put her hands to the sides of his face. “You’ll be happy you returned, believe me,” she said, her voice now husky. “I want to thank you properly. You saved my life.”

  Billy swallowed hard and nodded. “You know how to skin that?”

  “No, but I’ll get a fire ready. I’m sure you can do it when you get back. Hurry, I’m hungry.” He pulled his pack back on and pic
ked up the deer carcass while she darted to the kitchen to set the rabbit on the counter. When she got back he could see the hunger in her face.

  “The sooner you get back, the sooner we get to eat,” she said as she pushed him out the door.

  Billy returned in a half hour. Lori Sue had thrown on a gray sweatshirt, and when Billy knocked she grabbed the rabbit and led him up to the roof of the building. The little fire she had built out of scraps of wood was crackling merrily on a piece of sheet metal she had taken off the side of an air conditioning unit. “We can cook up here. Anyone who smells it won’t know where it’s coming from.” She held up her key ring. “And no one can get to the roof but me. See, I’ve got the keys.”

  Lori Sue had torn off a piece of an old TV antenna to use as a skewer for the rabbit. Billy expertly skinned the rabbit and impaled it on the metal shaft. They sat back against the air conditioning unit, with one of them turning the spit every minute.

  “How long you been in town?” she asked.

  “How’d you know I’m not from here?”

  “You’re too country.”

  Billy looked hurt at the comment.

  “I didn’t mean that in a bad way,” Lori Sue hastened to add. “It’s just that you have a…a woodsy way about you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I don’t know. Shit, don’t give me a hard time. It’s just that you know how to shoot and clean a deer, catch a rabbit and skin it…how the hell do you catch one anyway?”

  Billy smiled. “A rabbit? You set a snare.”

  “What, like a drum?”

  “It’s a loop of wire. You set it out where the rabbits usually run, and when they go through the loop they snag it and the loop closes and catches them.”

  “You hang ‘em?”

  “Like in the air? Not quite, but sometimes they get their necks broke or choke to death.”

  Lori Sue felt a moment’s sadness. Then she inhaled the aroma of the rabbit wafting over her. “That’s gonna taste real good.” She snuggled up close to Billy.