Fending Them Off

by Max Lockwood

  Clara drove for a while and was glad, by the time the car in front of her started signaling for a stop, that she hadn’t accidentally crashed into its rear end. She was an okay driver, though maybe a little cautious in her seat, and even then still getting distracted by dark thoughts of her last moments in her home. The image of all those people, getting herded out of their homes and lined up on the street just wouldn’t leave her, nor would the sound of gunshots. She had to be grateful that she was too exhausted, emotionally and physically, to have a nightmare when she fell asleep.

  When the car ahead came to a stop, she did the same, having signaled the cars behind them. She got out of the car, stretched her muscles and looked around.

  “Let’s go check out over there,” the driver from the car ahead called back, and she nodded.

  They didn’t all go, a few stayed back with the vehicles. They went in and found a few stores. She had to wonder at their luck, as they picked up camping supplies from one of the outdoor stores. There was nothing like food and water to be found, but their own wasn’t nearly out yet, so that wasn’t too bad. They took what they needed, and left.

  It wasn’t a safe place to stop, so it was a unanimous decision to get in their cars and start driving again. Cooper insisted on taking her place, but she didn’t put up too much of an argument. They drove until it became dark, and the car in front pulled over, Cooper following suit. She left him to go speak with the guys from the other vehicles, as she helped her sister unload, with Alice and her kids, Felicia, and Barbara sticking around her in a group. Cooper was back a moment later.

  “We’ve decided to make camp,” he said, taking their stuff from the car. “They think it’s better than going any further right now.”

  It was still pretty early in the evening, but she didn’t argue. Clara wearily helped the others pitch some tents and dish out some food. She was a little worried by the increase in their number and how long the food would last, but she didn’t say anything. Cooper sat beside her, looking worried.

  “What’s on your mind?” she asked quietly, looking around to make sure no one else was close enough to hear.

  They hadn’t had much time to talk, just the two of them alone, since before they went out on their failed attack on Mawdsley, and she had a feeling they wouldn’t for some time.

  “I’m worried about food shortages. There are too many of us and the food we have… we took everything, so it’s a lot, but it still won’t last long.” He sighed, then looked down at her with a slight frown. “How are you holding up?”

  She ached her eyebrows at him. She could have told him she had the same concerns he did, she could tell him about the last thing she’d seen before Felicia made the decision for them to run away. She could have told him a lot of things. Instead, she knocked her shoulder into his and quirked her lips into a mockery of a smile.

  “That’s a stupid question, Cooper,” she said bluntly.

  He smiled back and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She let him pull her close, feeding on his warmth.

  The group was quiet and withdrawn, and Clara decided pretty quickly to go to bed. She had enough on her mind; just sitting in such a somber group could only be worse for her mood. She clambered into a tent with Tessa and Cooper following behind her, wondering if that was all their lives would be from then on—waiting for life to improve.

  Chapter Two

  Clara woke up with a hungry stomach.

  In the night, she’d moved so she was sleeping on her back. The position was uncomfortable, pressing the back of her head to the hard ground. There was a low ache in her head, too. Not bad, though, just something she figured would annoy her for some time.

  She could always ask Felicia for some painkillers later. Clara wasn’t positive, but she was pretty sure the other woman, being the good nurse that she was, would have thought ahead and packed a few medical supplies. Well, the few that weren’t lost to their attackers when they looted the hospital one time and took practically everything.

  Her stomach growled and she fought back a groan, remembering she wasn’t alone in the tent. She didn’t want to wake the other two yet, but closing her eyes and trying to force herself back to sleep wasn’t doing anything at all. After a few minutes that felt like they lasted way too long, her eyes popped open again and she scowled at the wall of the tent.

  She had actually had a good sleep, even if it was on the ground. She had her two most important people with her, and though she hadn't tried to cuddle with Cooper because she knew her sister was right there next to them, just sensing he was nearby set her mind at ease, as usual.

  But then hunger ruined it.

  It can't be helped, she thought to herself.

  Food was scarce as it was. If her family had had the option of remaining at home and in one piece, they could have lived with a feast every day for a few months, before their food stores ran out. They had been keeping it quiet from the rest of the town, even knowing the town’s leaders were negotiating food with other towns in an effort to feed everybody. Clara had even been a part of it, in her earlier volunteer work with the police, though she had to stop doing that because the man she dealt with was a cheat.

  Only, there was no way they could have shared their food. If they’d shared with the whole town, it wouldn’t have lasted days, and, honestly, as much as she’d tried to hide behind excuses, Clara didn’t mind keeping it to themselves, because then it meant she wouldn’t have to worry about their family. And it was thanks to her sister, Tessa, that they had the food in the first place.

  But with the need to leave home in a hurry, there was no way they would have left the food there for their attackers to find at their leisure. They packed it all up into the cars, most of it going into the vehicle with the most space. Her own car didn’t have all that much, but as long as they stuck in a group, it would be fine.

  Her stomach growling again, and feeling like it was going to cave in on itself, had her curling into a fetal position as she gritted her teeth not to groan. Even with all the food her family had, to stretch it as far as possible, they’d been taking rations. She’d thought they would be in their town for years, not just a few months. Though, back then, she’d still held out some hope that their world could return to “normal” if something could be done to reverse whatever the EMP attack did.

  But Clara gave up on that a long time ago.

  Now that they were on the road, their rations were a lot less, considering they only took short breaks every now and then so everyone could relieve themselves, or stretch their legs after hours of sitting in a cramped car. She didn’t get to eat much during the trip, since most of the food had been left in the trunk, and they tried not to eat a lot when they weren’t all together so everyone could get their fair share.

  If anyone had been surprised when all the food was brought in from Clara’s house, she wouldn’t have known, but what she did know was several of them were relieved. Food at home was hard enough to come by—food on the road would have been a major problem.

  But the ache in her stomach wasn’t dying down like she wanted.

  Just give it another hour, she almost pleaded with herself. Minutes?

  Exhaustion was pulling at her, even as her stomach growled again. Though she realized part of that was because of the reduced amount of food she had been taking in, when it had been low enough to begin with.

  Well, I guess I can't put it off. She was growing used to small portions, but just lying there wasn’t going to help her any. She moved to push herself up, only her arms trembled slightly and she immediately stopped.

  She didn’t feel like moving at all. Sensing how weak she’d gotten, she realized she needed energy for what was to come. Life on the road wasn’t going to be a picnic, and if she was going to be alert for as long as possible, she needed to eat better, even if just by a little bit. Once everyone was awake and they took everything down, they would be on the road again for who knew how long.

  She did wish that they could
all just come together and talk, but she didn’t personally know some of the people they were traveling with. After the failed attack on Mawdsley, when they got back home to find their own home under threat, she wasn’t going to be standing up and giving opinions any time soon. She’d just have to depend on the others to do that much. Besides, with everything that was going on, she really would like some time just to herself where she didn’t have to make so many big decisions.

  Her grandmother was dead, they had no roof over their heads now, and they couldn’t exactly live on the road forever. Eventually, they would need more food, or more fuel for their vehicles. The question was whether or not that was possible before they were struck by another disaster. Everything had been uncertain before, but somehow, away from home, it had only gotten worse.

  She glanced around at her best friend and her sister. They were still asleep and she didn’t feel any need to wake them. She couldn’t hear very much activity from outside, so there probably weren’t that many others awake yet, or they were being very quiet. She wanted to avoid other people, frankly, but she headed out of the tent.

  Like she’d suspected, there wasn’t anyone in sight outside. But after she shifted a little, she did spot some people. They were at one of the cars. She was about to turn away and mind her own business, when she noticed them coming out of the car with food in hand. She frowned. Someone was stealing food.

  Her first reaction was anger. It wasn’t someone she recognized, but the least they could have done was be grateful they had received any help at all. She knew it was one of the people they’d picked up on their way out of town the second time, and she was striding forward before she could think about the actions she needed to take. Of course she was going to call them out for being an asshole.

  “Hey,” she yelled when she was a few feet away. “What do you think you’re doing? Leave that alone!”

  The person froze, not even bothering to turn around. She scowled and hastened her steps. They must have heard her getting nearer, because suddenly they were shoving the food back. When the person came back out, she saw it was a man, one she hadn’t seen or met before. It worried her, having so many people she didn’t know with them, and this action didn’t make that worry any easier. If any of them really wanted to, they could pick a car, load it with stuff and drive off. Clara was only vaguely sure of her family, Dante’s, and Felicia’s sticking together, but not so sure about the others.

  “I’m sorry,” he tried to say, “I was just hungry and I wanted to take some food—”

  But Clara didn’t want to hear it. She was hungry, too, she’d intended to get something to eat, as well. A part of her was a little possessive, most of the stuff they had did belong to her family. But she was okay with sharing, and she wouldn’t just take for herself, not the amount of food he’d intended to take.

  “I get that you’re hungry,” she said, trying to keep her tone civil, because she could guess what they were all going through wasn’t so different from herself. “But you can stand to wait just a little. The food has to be rationed, and equally. I’m hungry, too, but you can eat when everyone else wakes up, so it’s fair.”

  He just nodded, his eyes shifting, looking anywhere but at her. She sighed and moved away from them, showing the conversation was over. He scurried away, back to his tent, and Clara watched him go with narrowed eyes.

  Clara thought about the selfishness of people and how they would do anything for their own comfort. He probably hadn’t been thinking in the long term and the problems they would all have to face if they ended up without enough food for such a large crowd, especially with children in the mix. She remembered doing the same herself, hiding food in their shed while other people had to struggle.

  But it wasn’t like she’d stolen it. The food had been theirs, and she hadn't shared it, but she’d volunteered to do work for the town. While many probably wouldn’t view it as enough to pay them back for what she was doing, it was the best compromise she could come up with.

  But just taking… or, worse yet, doing it forcibly just because you wanted something, was completely wrong.

  She vowed never to do anything like that, to put her own comforts first, ahead of her friends and family. The world was going to hell and all they had was each other. She wondered how long it would take for some of the people in their group to consider this, and it worried her to think it wouldn’t take long.

  The campers started waking up not long after, and the food was shared, as promised. The guy she caught stealing shot her looks, like he feared she would say something about it. Maybe she should have, but they had bigger problems at the moment. Pretty soon, they were cleaning up and packing their things.

  Clara went to Tessa, who was standing near Felicia and Cooper, looking after Alice’s and Dante and Michelle’s children.

  “Hey, Tess,” she murmured to her sister, sending a smile Cooper’s way as she watched him bouncing two young girls in his arms, then shaking away the image it brought to mind.

  Cooper, as a dad; the two of them married. With the world as it was, building a family was the last thing on her mind, when she was having a tough time looking after the family she had left.

  “How are you?” she asked, shifting her eyes to Tessa.

  She’d packed her sister’s medication, but there wasn’t much of it left, and now they didn’t even have the option of a refill, unless they could find a place on the road that hadn’t already been looted. She didn’t think they’d be so lucky, even though everything had been okay so far.

  Tessa frowned, but she answered, “I’m doing all right, but I can’t say I’m great. I really wish we didn’t have to leave home.”

  Clara felt her heart clench. She didn’t want to leave either, especially considering they had buried their grandmother’s body in their backyard not that long ago.

  “I know what you mean, but it wasn’t safe there. To be honest... I wanted to stay, too.”

  Tessa crossed her arms over her chest and looked down. “But something happened, right? The reason why we couldn’t stay. You’re sure that it was dangerous?”

  “Tess,” Clara started, only to stop because she didn’t know how to continue—she didn’t want to continue. It wasn’t exactly a happy story, and maybe if she could push it out of her mind, she wouldn’t have random thoughts popping into her head. “Just trust me when I say you wouldn’t have wanted to see. I regret leaving Viola behind, too, you know that.”

  She bit her lip, but eventually sighed and nodded, looking up. “You’re right. You’re better at recognizing threats than me, I guess. I just wish we would have had some time to pick up some of her things to take with us.”

  “We were in a hurry,” Clara said quietly. “I can swear to you, Tessa, that our lives depended on it. Or I would have taken some things along, as well.”

  “I trust you,” Tessa commented, sounding completely sincere.

  Clara smiled, because she couldn’t bear not to.

  Their relationship hadn't exactly been the best recently. She could almost remember the time when they were younger, before things changed, when Tessa acted like a proper big sister and Clara could actually rely on her. But ever since Tessa was fifteen, she had stopped being the strong, outgoing older sister she’d known up to that point.

  There had been instances recently when Clara thought she might have gotten her sister back, not quite as she was before, but close enough that she wouldn’t have minded. But it didn’t last long, so Clara had stopped being optimistic. And she was still grateful for the closeness they shared now that Tessa was willing to let her in.

  It was mostly due to the grief still left over from their grandmother’s death, but she would take anything she could get. And this time, she planned to share the grief and not let Tessa take it all on her own. Even Cooper, who had been there with them to bury their grandmother, would join in without question.

  Somehow, it happened without Clara even realizing it, but their grandmother had wormed he
r way into Cooper’s heart. She already knew he had a big heart, but he’d said things when they went to bury Viola that had nearly left Clara in tears.

  “If you’re sure you’re feeling all right,” Clara said, “would you mind coming to sit in front with me?”

  Her sister’s eyebrows shoot up in confusion. “Why?”

  “So we can talk, silly,” Clara teased lightly. “Or, if you’d like, you can just sleep there. The extra space makes a difference, though it’s still a bit uncomfortable, depending on how you’re sitting. The others don’t really mind where they get to sleep, as long as they actually get to sleep, so they’re okay with the back.”

  “But… I haven’t done anything. There are others more deserving of the seat, right? Have one of them sit there.”

  Clara just rolled her eyes. Tessa trying to be nice was still something new, but she was glad, and it was something she could get used to. But this time, it was misplaced. Cooper would probably like the free space, as the only guy, and being the largest person in the backseat couldn’t be very comfortable. But if Clara mentioned to him that she wanted to put Tessa in the front seat, he wouldn’t hesitate.

  She wasn’t usually one to make friends, but she would never stop celebrating the day she decided to keep him around, because it turned out to be the best decision of her life. Instinctively turning to watch, as her thoughts strayed to him, she saw he was standing up with a child around his shoulders and two more in each arm. Clara appreciated the view and smiled. Having children with them just complicated things, but Clara wouldn’t have left them and their parents behind, considering all the help she’d received from them all at one point or another.

  Then she turned back to her sister, her face serious. She didn’t just want her sister up there for her comfort, or to speak to her, as Clara had said. Her reasoning was partially personal.