Annette burst a cut-off laugh and said, “I agree, but then I look at her and somehow the shoes shouldn’t fit.”
Dead serious, I said, “The shoes fit and damn tight.”
My tone caught her. “Okay, now I see the demon. Dang, you’re freaky.”
Flat toned, I said, “That’s why you two hang around me—for the freak of it.”
Annette said, “No, we’re in it for adventure and there’s no one better to be with.”
One Thumb asked, “Should we try to find any of the Indians that might still be alive?”
Annette answered, “It’d be a waste of time. I’m sure they’re staying well away from the people around here.”
I didn’t voice it, but for the Indians, ‘the people around here’ encompassed the entire country.
“We have a long time until dark. What’s next,” One Thumb asked.
Annette said, “We did say we’d check houses for weapons and ammo.” She glanced at the overcast sky. The promise of rain still hung heavy above us. “It could start raining any second. Let’s head back to the ranch and check along the way.”
Yeah, it was going to rain, but riding in the Humvee, unlike traveling in our open four-wheelers, we could avoid getting soaked.
One Thumb added, “Should we skip the first mile or so? The people here probably checked most of the houses nearby.”
I was beginning to realize that One Thumb enjoyed adventure, but she had a good head on her shoulders. “Yeah, we’ll skip the houses on the first mile and avoid side roads for now. We won’t have time today to check every place, but eventually we should have an idea about the population on the main road.”
Annette said, “Don’t you mean the ‘depopulation of the main road?”
I had to think about that, but went with, “It comes to the same thing, dud-head.”
While Annette fumbled for a comeback, One Thumb spoke.
“Hey, I meant to tell you, Doctor Robbins and Jeffry are going to make me a prosthetic thumb… I should say ‘try to make one’. They did all sorts of tests and measurements to see how much and in what direction I could move the pad my thumb connected to.”
Annette forgot about a comeback to my jibe. To One Thumb she said, “They’re both very talented men. They’ll come up with something.”
One Thumb agreed, “I think they will too, but I hope it’s not a bulky thing that takes forever to put on and adjust.”
Driving the road leading back to the ranch, Annette said, pointing to the skeletal remains lying in front of a mobile home, “Have you noticed we don’t pay attention to the dead bodies like we used to?”
I glanced at the bones that varmints had scattered near the front stoop. Nature and time had erased clothing, making it impossible from a distance to identify sex, but from the size of the bones, I assumed them from an adult.
“The actual bodies never bothered me. Bodies aren’t the person; but the stench of em while rotting, I don’t miss that.”
From the rear compartment, One Thumb said, “I know what you mean about the stink. We didn’t move the men you killed far enough from the building. We could smell them for over two months.”
Annette, done with that subject, pointed to a house on our right, a small cottage set near the road. “Okay, enough about stinking corpses. We’re far enough down the road. Let’s check that place.”
One Thumb said, “It’s so rundown and so near the road, I doubt we’ll find anything useful, but we should check every house from here on.”
She was correct, not only was it rundown, but it was unfurnished, perhaps unlived in for years. The next place, again on the right, was much larger, a doublewide in better condition. The ‘semi-noticed’ dead were present, but it took only moments to decide that scavengers had already been there.
That held true for the next five stops. Not a weapon or bullet did we find. Standing in the kitchen of the last of the five, amid already open cabinet doors and dumped drawers, Annette asked, “These places are a bust. Should we begin checking attics, barns and outbuildings?”
I pointed through a window to the open doors of a metal storage building. “It looks like the scavengers were thorough, but we’ll continue checking houses just to see if anyone is living in them, but listen; I remember Billy cautioning, “Familiarity breeds contempt. We slacked off on this place; didn’t even shout out until we were on the porch. That’ll get us killed.”
One Thumb said, “That’s because we’re impatient and caution slows us down. We don’t need to hurry. From now on, I’ll be in charge of caution.”
Annette chuckled. “Cool, girl; From now on, you’re our security commander.”
“Thank you. I’ll do a good job.”
She was so serious in her response that I almost laughed, but then realized she should be serious. “Yeah, keep us on our toes and frosty at all times.”
Salvaged, empty homes on Highway 22A held all the way back to the junction with Highway 100. At the junction, Annette stopped close to the stranded plane and pivoted in her seat. “Would you all mind watching the road while I check the plane?”
“What do you want to check?” One Thumb asked.
“To see if it can be repaired.”
It was easy to read the longing in her voice. I went ahead and broke the surprise.
“I know where there’s a Cessna three-fifty in prime condition.”
The surprise got her. Annette exploded, “No you don’t…, do you? Jesus Christ, Tempest; that’s the model we owned, I have over eighty hours flying time on the 350.” She couldn’t contain it, her enthusiasm made her unable to speak in complete sentences. “Where’s it—, how far away—,” Finally, “Can we go look at it; go now?”
“Yeah we can go. It’s five miles past where you were at the Ranger Station.”
That brought, “Oh goody,” from One Thumb.
‘Oh goody’, brought from me, “Dang, One Thumb, adventurers don’t say, ‘Oh goody. Toughen up your vocabulary.”
One Thumb, slightly pissed, responded with, “How about, ‘up yours’?”
I twisted in the seat to smile and say, “Now that’s tougher.”
Mocking my attitude, she said, “Oh goody, you approve.”
Annette, impatient, cranked the Humvee and said, “Shut up, you two. Let’s forget about checking this plane. Which way do I go?”
The sky opened up halfway there and doubled the twenty-minute drive to the hanger. Rain fell in such preponderance that the wipers struggled to open a view. I got soak through opening one of the wide doors of the hanger, ducked inside and aside as Annette drove in and stopped.
Skylights inserted in the metal roof dimly lit the aircraft it sheltered. Unable to contain her excitement, Annette left the Humvee and ran to it. One Thumb and I arrived as she climbed into the cockpit. One Thumb said, “It’s smaller than I thought it would be.”
Even though this was my second look at the plane, I had to agree, it somehow seemed smaller in such dim lighting.
From the cockpit, Annette shouted, “What an amazing find. All the certificates and inspections are current up until the war. The owner, a mister William Linden, had the engine worked to accept regular unleaded as well as avgas.”
“Is that a good thing,” I shouted back.”
“Hell yes, it’s a good thing. Lots of rural service stations still sell leaded gas.”
Referring to a large tank I’d seen on my previous trip under a metal roof outside by the runway, I said, “I believe he has a few hundred gallons in a tank.”
“That’s good. It takes almost a hundred gallons to fill this plane. Give me a few seconds to prep and I’ll try starting the engine. You all stand clear of the prop.”
A minute later, we heard a grind and the prop sort of quivered. Annette spoke as she climbed from the plane.
“Batteries are dead and the fuel tank is at a quarter full. Let’s get the batteries out and take with us. We can charge them at the ranch.”
One Thumb pointed
to a wheeled machine standing by a wall. “That looks like a charger. Didn’t you notice the dozens of solar panels on the roof of this building? Unless Mister Linden had commercial electric run underground, he probably used the power from the panels to run the hanger.”
A smile on her face that could stretch the length of Tennessee, Annette said, “I don’t see you rolling it over to the plane.”
The charger showed that the batteries were near dead. Annette asked, “Do you think we could come back tomorrow? If we can, I’d like to leave the batteries on slow charge.”
One Thumb said, “As cloudy as it is there might not be enough electricity from the panels to charge them.”
I pointed to the wall near where the charger had stood. “See the wiring coming out of the metal boxes mounted on the wall? They look like recycled battery banks from electric vehicles. I’m willing to bet they’re fully charged.”
Annette again asked, “Can we come back tomorrow?”
I said what I should’ve said to begin with. “The Linden home is close by. We need to check the status of them. If they’re alive, all bets are off.”
I could read the disappointment in Annette’s voice. “Yeah, we should go check on them.”
To mitigate her letdown, I said, “It won’t hurt to set up the charger. If the Lindens are still alive, they can unhook the leads if they want to. If they’re not there or we find em dead, well, the batteries will be charging.”
The Lindens were dead, all seven of em. We found the skeletons of three of the young children, a baby, toddler and maybe a three year old, lying on a bed in a bedroom. The remains of two grownups were in another bedroom.
On the living room floor lay two clothed skeletons, I think teenage boys. I checked those to see if I could find evidence of foul play; bullet shattered or blade scarred bones, but found nothing. The plague came to the Lindens and got em all.
“Jesus freaking Christ,” Annette said. “I feel like paying you two to stomp me. I wanted the plane, but not like this, not this way. Crap, I hate this shitty mess we made.”
She was right; we’d made the mess. In big and small ways, every human being had contributed to the catastrophe, either through direct action or through indifference to the signs leading to the calamity. Depressing me further, I knew that there were enough humans left alive to rebuild and follow the same self-destructive path.
I shuddered and then shook it off. To Annette I said. “I understand. I wish we’d found them alive.”
One Thumb said, “Let’s go. I’m soaking wet and cold and I don’t want to be here. Let’s forget checking houses and go straight to the ranch so we can change and get warm.”
That seemed like a good idea to me. “Yeah, I’m chilled and Annette’s shivering. Let’s keep the plane a secret for now. What do ya’ll think?”
“Yeah, the plane’s ours.” Annette started for the door, stopped and said, “You know what’s so bad about all this? There are so many dead that the task of burying them is overwhelming. Human bones will be the legacy of the next few generations.”
Rushing from the house to the Humvee soaked us again. The ride from there to the ranch was barely long enough to begin feeling the warmth from the truck’s heater. At the ranch, in front of the bunkhouse, Annette said, “Crap, another run in the rain. I’m stripping off these wet clothes and climbing in bed. I’m depleted.”
She did look blanched. To her I said, “They’re cooking at the pavilion. One Thumb and I are going to check if anything’s ready. Do you want us to bring—?”
“No. Lying around healing from my wound left me weak. Let me sleep. Come check on me in two or three hours. I can warm a ration and eat while we talk.”
Noting the fact that we needed to score umbrellas, I checked my watch. “We’ll see you around seven then.”
At the dining pavilion, some of the ranch residents were early. It seemed the incessant drumming of rain and the murky lighting depressed everyone’s energy; even the children sat listless at their tables. Vikas, sitting alone waved us to his table.
I moved a chair to sit as Vikas spoke. “Tempest, it is to you who I wish to speak.”
I took that to mean he wanted to speak alone, but I told him, “Speaking in front of One Thumb or Annette is the same as speaking to me alone.”
He glanced at One Thumb and then said, “You are the three muskets. I shall speak to you as though one.”
“The word is, Musketeers— from the book, ‘The Three Musketeers’.”
“Yes, the Musketeers; it is the movie I have seen, not the book read. Tempest, to you I speak of things spoken in meetings. No one has cautioned secrecy, thus I will speak what I have heard.”
I thought, ‘Boy, this will be interesting’. I told Vikas to go ahead.
“Please you will forgive if I am not clear and it is okay to ask for repeat. I have thought how to say short the many things said. Said, is that you are misfit here, that the children fear you. It is said that your methods with people cannot be allowed.”
It only took a moment to absorb the gist of what he said. “All right, I have the straight line of it. They had meetings. I’m considered a violent person and some, I won’t ask whom, would like to see me gone.”
Vikas nodded. “Yes, that is the ‘straight line’ of it. Soon they will ask you to leave. We do not voice it, but Preeja and I are very angry. Perhaps it is time for you and we to return to our cabins in the forest.”
One Thumb blurted, “Whoever says Tempest doesn’t belong—.”
I held up my hand to stop her. “No, cool your jets. I’m not surprised or insulted. I’ve seen the way the children, all but Sunil and Sania, avoid me. It is also a fact that I’ve killed a great many men who once were the husbands of the women and fathers of the children.” Unsaid, I had killed her husband and Annette’s father.
I continued, “I am uncomfortable here. This place is very close to self-sufficient and crowded as heck. It was never my intention to be a member of a group such as this.”
One Thumb wasn’t completely mollified. “Still, it seems to me they are forgetting the debt owed—.”
I stopped her again. “There is no debt owed to me.” Then to Vikas, “You were not selected to pass me the news?”
“No, I come as your friend to tell you.”
“I appreciate that you—, no, you honor me in your willingness to abandon this place and go back to the cabins, but this is the place for you. I have seen clearly that the people here treat you and your family with respect. I would ask you to do me a favor; pretend that you haven’t told me about the meetings. Will you do that?”
He made a zipping motion across his lips that he probably picked up from a kid. “I have not spoken.”
I turned to look toward the end where several women were preparing supper, Preeja among them. “Something smells delicious.”
Vikas said, “It is with the beef of cow we brought alive that they cook. Large roasts are in the grills.”
“Yummy, fresh beef, it’s been a long time. Let me ask, is there a meeting scheduled tonight?”
“Yes, at eight-thirty after the young ones are in bed.”
“Don’t tell anyone, but I reckon I’ll show up tonight.”
************
Disregarding Annette’s plan to eat a ration, While One Thumb related the conversation with Vikas, I enjoyed watching her devour a huge, juicy slab of slightly pink roast beef along with rice and vegetables drowned in delicious brown gravy.
There were a few times in the telling that she wanted to interject a view, but they came at times when her mouth was stuffed. Finished eating, she said, “Fuck em. We’ll set up a trailer or something off where we don’t have to deal with them every day.”
I checked my watch. “Yeah, we’ll do something.” I pointed to her empty plate. “Can you move after eating all that? They’re having a meeting at the dining pavilion in thirty minutes. We need to let them know about the deal with the bunch at Amazon. They’ll need to have the b
eef ready for us to deliver.”
Annette stood from where she sat at a desk used as a table. “Yeah, I can move.” She studied me for a long moment and then said, “There’s something off here. You’re not pissed.”
“I won’t lie, I am sort of pissed, but they’re right, I’m a misfit here. I’ll decide what to do later. Change out of your nightgown and let’s make the meeting.”
I tilted my head toward the ceiling. “It’s not raining right now. Hurry and we might make it to the pavilion without getting soaked.”
We arrived at the pavilion a few minutes early, but it seemed that all the adults were already there. Approaching the bright-lit open sided space, dozens of voices made a low murmur that carried. Another thing carried from there… the aroma of fresh-brewed coffee.
Stepping into the space, I told the other two to grab us a table and then went to the table holding the coffee makers. Jules was standing near the table talking to Jeffry. Jules turned and said, “Tempest, this is a surprise, you haven’t joined one our meetings in quite a while.”
I gave him a smile. “Yeah, meetings bore me, but we… One Thumb, Annette and I, need to relay the elements of the deal we made with a bunch that controls the Amazon Distribution center in Lexington.”
Jules said, “I didn’t know that a group had control of the center, or that you were going there, but you should make it a point to check with the planning committee before committing community resources.”
Jeffry said, “My fault. I forgot to tell you I asked her to check on the availability of Geiger counters while she was there. I told you about the radiation removal we had to do. We need a multitude of detectors to enable a sweep of our immediate area.”
Pouring coffee into an extra-large cup, I stepped in. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll keep the committee in mind.”
Jules said, “Er… that’s my mug.”
Walking away with it, I said, “Sorry. I’ll know next time.”
Searching for my friends, I caught One Thumb’s thumb-less hand waving in the air at the far end of the pavilion and went to join them at their table.
As I settled into my chair, I heard Jules call the meeting to order.
Tempest of Tennessee (Episode 3): Tempest of Tennessee Page 15