by T A Williams
“Don’t worry Captain America isn’t about to start shooting anyone.” His eyes didn’t leave the soldier. “You see he expects everyone to run around and follow his every order because that is what is expected out of him, but he doesn’t realize not everyone here is an army man. So when someone doesn’t hop to his orders his only retort is to pretend he is going to do something with his little gun.”
The soldier’s face couldn’t turn any redder. He just stood there and this time he was the one who looked dumbfounded. He glanced out at the rest of the crowd and seemed to weigh his actions for a few seconds when he finally said something it sounded as if he was attempting to hold back a flood. “All three of you get out of this line now or I’ll make sure you’re kicked off this base before the sun sets.”
The bearded man let out a chortle and slapped his hand against his legs. “Son, if you’re going to threaten to take something away from someone make sure it is something they want.” The man gently pushed Jess out of line and Ally followed. “Come on you two I have plenty of food and you don’t need any piss stained cards in order to eat it.” He said just loud enough for the solider to hear.
Jess followed the man out of line and off towards the residential area. After a few minutes of walking in silence she came to her senses and stopped. The man noticed after a few steps and stopped as well.
“Well, ya coming?” he asked.
Jess shook her head. “We can’t get in trouble here, it’s all we have. We haven’t always been in here-“
“Well that’s your problem.” The man ran his hand through his beard. “If this place is all you’ve got then you’re not long for this world. These people can barely take care of their own let alone the unfed American masses. And for your information I don’t even live here.”
Jess was confused. The man was clearly not military and the only other people outside of military in the base were civilians, either family of the soldiers or someone waiting to be transferred.
“I live just outside this little safe haven. I’ve been here well before Uncle Sam decided this was a good place to set up base.”
Jess said nothing and stood there uncertain.
The man let out a soft sigh. “You’re right to be paranoid. You can call me Gruff, people I used to know said it fit me pretty well. And you’re name?”
“Jess.” She answered.
Gruff looked down at Ally who was hiding slightly behind her leg.
“No name huh? That’s sad but don’t you worry I got a good name for you, midget.”
Ally came from around Jess’s leg. “That’s not my name.”
“Hmm,” the man said pretending to be in deep thought. “You’re probably right, most midgets I know are at least a foot taller than you. How about booger? I’ve had a few that were about your size.”
Ally didn’t seem to know if she was going to be upset or laugh at the man. “My name is Ally.”
Gruff turned back to Jess. “You all stay here and give me about ten minutes. I’ll swing over to my place and grab something to eat for you and booger, deal?”
Jess nodded while Ally yelled out her correct name which Gruff pretended not to hear.
The man was gone for well over ten minutes and several times Jess considered heading back to the mess hall and seeing if she could patch things up with the soldier. At the very least she could smuggle some of her food out for Ally. About the time she was seriously considering it Gruff reappeared with several brown bags.
“You weren’t thinking of standing me up now were ya?” he gave Jess a knowing smile.
They found their way to a small wooden picnic table just outside the civilian residential area. Inside the brown bags were several large tubes of deer sausage, along with deer jerky and a couple of apples. It wasn’t until Jess’s stomach was screaming for her to stop that she realized she had just dove in and was eating like an animal. Next to her Ally was still doing the same while Gruff just sat back watching them with a slight smile.
Jess wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it, I’ve got plenty.”
“Where did you find it?” Ally asked with a mouthful of deer sausage.
“Find it? You think this sort of thing is just sitting around in the forest waiting from someone to come by and scoop it up?”
Ally shrugged and bit off a large bite of jerky to join her already crowded mouth.
“I killed the deer and made all this food you’re eating.” This didn’t seem to bother Ally. “I don’t depend on anyone for food. If I’m hungry I go find myself something to eat.”
Jess thought back to their recent days on the road and how they scavenged for everything.
“What are you going to do if these army men decide they only have enough food for themselves? Starve? Beg? You need to learn to take care of yourself because no one else is going to do it for you.”
“I don’t know how to hunt.” She admitted.
“Then it’s amazing that you made it this long. I figured most people would die the first year with no one to take care of them. The people who were good at scavenging would make it another six or seven months after that, if they lived in a big area, but even they would run out of things to scavenge after a while. The only people who are going to continue leaving in this world are the ones that know how to fend for themselves.”
“I want to learn how to feed for myself.” Ally said.
Gruff nodded. “Alright shorty if your mother is willing I will teach you all how to survive without the soldiers help.”
Ally didn’t bother to correct him but still have him a jokingly mean look.
Jess agreed. She didn’t want to go back to scavenging off of other peoples scraps if something happened to the military base. The man seemed nice enough but she knew better than to just trust him, she would be careful and learn what she could.
Alec
Alec looked out over the small corn field in awe. He had seen corn fields before but seeing one now seemed like a miracle. To be honest the entire town, outside of their distinct lack of hospitality, amazed him. They had a corn field, gardens, and orchards full of fruit trees and berries. They were like old school farmers, they only thing missing seemed to be cows and horses.
Malcolm and Margie were walking outside the corn row checking out the current crop.
“The only thing you all are missing are farm animals.” Alec gave words to his thoughts.
Malcolm let out his usually humph sound that he seemed legally obligated to make anytime he was getting ready to talk. “Used to have over 30 head of cattle.”
Alec looked confused.
Margie smiled. “Means we used to have 30 cows.”
Malcolm shook his head like it was a travesty he hadn’t understood him.
“What happened to them?”
He caught the quick look that Margie shot Malcolm.
“Uh, you know, we needed food for the winter so they had to go.”
Alec thought back to the winter they had spent in the old house. Nights going to sleep on an empty stomach, waking up to hunger pains, having half of cow probably would have lasted them the entire winter. Yet another lie.
“They’re doing better than I expected. Should be able to harvest them soon, may even be able to expand next year.” Malcolm said to Margie.
A loud bell began tolling somewhere in the middle of the town and a look of panic took over Margie’s face. Even Malcolm who seemed to have a scowl tattooed on his face showed a sudden look of concern.
“Alec get to the house now!” she yelled.
He didn’t argue, he sprinted back towards the house, past the garden, through the apple and pear trees and ran through the back door. When he got to the back room Trevor and Jamie were already there.
At first glance Trevor appeared calm but Alec could see the man’s set jaw and the tension in his neck, the man was ready for some answers. When Malcolm and Margie arrived the look on their faces seemed to relay to
him how serious of a matter this was.
“You all need to stay here.” Before anyone could ask she answered. “There are men coming, very bad men. They are going to want food and supplies. If we give it to them they will leave, if we don’t, well don’t worry about that, we will.”
Trevor walked to the door. “I can help.”
“No, you can’t.” Malcolm blocked the door. His voice softened and for the first time he talked to them like they were people and not mentally challenged. “They gave us rules. You all being here breaks those rules. Be quiet, let them take what they want and everyone will be safe.”
Trevor nodded and stepped back into the room.
“They’re here.” Margie said from the window.
Alec came up beside her and peeked out the side of the curtain. Three large trucks came down the road and stopped about fifty yards from the house. A group of seven men came piling out of the trucks. All of them looked exactly how Alec would expect. Dirty clothes, disheveled hair, and several with a large guns slung over their shoulder.
“I’ll be back and be quiet.” Malcolm opened up the closet, got out a large bag, and headed outside.
The town suddenly looked like all the other towns they had traveled through before they had discovered this one, abandoned. From a few of the windows he could see people peeking out but the streets were deserted.
Malcolm came into view and two other doors on the other side of the road opened up. Across the street an older man named Vincent came out with a bag similar to Malcolm’s. The other man Alec hadn’t met yet.
The outsiders just leaned back against their trucks and began talking as if they didn’t have a care in the world. When Malcolm and the others got closer a bigger man with a large tattoo covering his face stepped forward. Alec couldn’t make out what the tattoo was of but could clearly see an intricate design running along the right side of the man’s face down his neck.
Malcolm dropped his bag a few feet from the tattooed man and the others did the same. For a second the man just stared at them and then causally walked over and looked inside the three bags. When he closed the last one he stepped back and the men behind him came up and took the bags and threw them in the back of one of the trucks.
“Winter is coming.” The man’s voice was deep, deep enough that even though he was talking softly Alec could make out every word he said. The man spoke slowly and carefully as if each word was measured before being placed in his mouth.
It hadn’t been a question but Malcolm still nodded in agreement.
“Things got tough last winter and that’s something I want to avoid this year, do you understand?”
Again Malcolm nodded.
“How is the corn crop?”
“Good,” Alec could make out the stress in Malcolm’s voice. He suddenly felt sorry for the same man who made his every minute in this town uncomfortable. “It looks like the entire crop is going to make it.”
“That’s good to hear. I can’t promise anything but I’ll try to see if I can get a portion of that rationed out to you.”
Malcolm’s body stiffened. “But….last winter was difficult for us too and-“
The tattooed man took a step forward. His face remained calm but the gesture was obvious. “That is exactly why I am going to try and leave you a portion of the crop. Would you rather I abandon that idea?”
“No.” Malcolm turned his gaze to the ground.
The men in the trucks didn’t try to hide their smiles. Anger flared up in Alec.
The tattooed man looked around. “I don’t like the fact your people hide in their houses when we arrive. We are here to protect you all and you treat us like we’re the bad guys.”
“It’s not that,” Malcolm kept his head down. “Most of them are either working in their gardens or hunting. We’re just trying to prepare for winter.”
“It’s been awhile since we inspected your…holdings.”
“Feel free, we have nothing to hide.”
The man studied Malcolm’s voice for a long while then smiled. “Maybe another time. Is there anything we can help you out with while we’re here?”
“No.”
The tattooed man turned, got into one of the trucks and pulled away. The two men next to Malcolm turned without saying a word and walked back to their houses. Malcolm stood there unmoving for a while.
Alec and Margie sat back from the window.
“Who the hell was that?” Alec asked.
“Those men are the reason it’s not safe for you all to be here.”
Trevor stepped forward. “It doesn’t look safe for you all here.”
Margie shook her head. “We have an arrangement with them. We provide them food throughout the year and they provide us with protection. One of the rules we have is that we turn away any out of towners.”
“And why the hell would you do that?” Trevor’s voice was firm.
“We agreed that it was best not to take in any more mouths to feed.”
“You all agreed or they demanded?”
Margie didn’t answer him.
“Why are the only men in this town old?” Alec thought now was as good of a time to ask.
“Because they rounded up the rest and killed them.” Margie said matter of factly. She turned to them and her eyes were cold. “I’m not going to pretend that this is a voluntary arrangement. Dozens of them arrived last year. They killed all but the old men, and took most of our supplies. They told us what we needed to do in order to remain here and that’s that.”
Trevor shook his head in disgust. “What are you all still here?”
“Where would we go? You’ve been out there have you come across any safe havens?”
Trevor didn’t answer.
“A lot of people did leave at first, some came back. I don’t know what happened to the others. We leave here and we start completely over. We have fruit trees, we have gardens, and we have all these things that help us survive. All we have to do in return is give them food when they arrive.”
“And live in fear.” Alec said.
“When was the last time you felt safe? When was the last time you weren’t worried about either starving to death or someone coming along and killing you because there was a chance you had something they didn’t?”
Alec’s thoughts turned to the farm where his family was torn apart.
Margie read Alec’s face and her voice softened slightly. “If we follow their rules then we have a chance to keep going. It’s not much but it’s something. When we allowed you all to stay here we broke those rules. If they find out they won’t only kill you, they will kill us. They will drag us into the middle of town and they will put a bullet in our heads.”
Jamie nuzzled her head into Trevor’s side as if she could hide from reality.
“I’m sorry.” Trevor hugged Jamie to him tighter. “It’s not fair that we are putting you in danger like this.”
“Nothing in this world is fair anymore. If I didn’t think you were worth the risk then I would tell you to leave. I’m sorry we kept this from you for so long, but to be honest we were afraid you would try to be a hero and get the rest of us killed.”
Malcolm came back inside the house. He walked into the room with his head down, placed the bag in the closet, closed the door, and walked out the back of the house.
Margie looked towards the back of the house as if she could still see him. “We do what we have to do to survive. Doesn’t mean we like it and sure as hell doesn’t mean we think it’s fair or right.”
Alec sat his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.
Ben
The cold winds had picked up forcing anyone who went outside to bundle up in extra layers. Last year Ben had been allowed to stay inside and stay warm, this year was much different. His hands now bore the calluses that came along with swinging an axe for hours on end, but what had once seemed impossible was now much easier. Their garage was full of wood for winter and Ben took pride in the fact that a large chu
nk of it came from his very hands.
Things in the last month had been difficult but he felt like he had grown. Jack still treated him at times like he was a child but Mason seemed to believe in him. Mason still had his cast on and the last time they went into town Dr. Frank said he still had another 4-5 weeks before he felt comfortable taking it off. But that didn’t stop Mason from using his homemade crutches from getting around and acting like he was healed.
Ben came inside with an armful of wood and sat it down next to the wood stove. They had not started using the wood stove yet but it was only a matter of time and Ben wanted to make sure they had enough inside to last them awhile. Mason hobbled in and inspected the wood that Ben had brought in.
“Looks like we should be good for a while.”
Ben nodded. “Hope so. Where’s Jack?”
He went over to his place to catch some fish for tonight.”
Ben had never been a fan of fish and having it become such a large part of his diet over the last year had not helped in changing his opinion of it. But food was food.
Mason sat down in one of the recliners and sat his crutches to the side. “How are you feeling?”
Ben thought that was an odd question. “Good…I guess.”
Mason’s eyes stayed on him and to Ben it felt like the man was looking directly into him.
“I don’t know what-“
“It’s ok,” Mason said softly. “I’m not going to force you into talking about anything you don’t want to talk about. I know when we first met you were struggling with a few things. I’ve talked with Jack and I know what happened with your family. I was just offering an ear.”
Ben felt uncomfortable and just stood in place looking down at the ground. He didn’t see the point in talking about it. Talking about it wasn’t going to change the past it was only going to bring it back up.
“You’ve really stepped up Ben. I’m only able to hobble about and get in the way, Jack is up there and age, though you wouldn’t be able to tell by as much as he gets done, but you have really accomplished a lot.”