by T A Williams
“No need,” Whitford said. “We’re only bringing a few, don’t want to spook these people.”
Alec glanced at the girl again and she was looking directly at him. For a moment their eyes met and his brain turned numb. She smiled sheepishly at him and looked back to Whitford. It took Alec a moment to realize his face was covered in a goofy grin but he wiped it away as quickly as he could. It wasn’t quick enough as Mark noticed and looked from Alec to the young girl. Whether purposefully or not he put his arm around her and pulled her tight.
“Sorry Alec, I don’t think you’ve met them yet. This is Mark and his daughter Bethany,” Whitford said.
“Nice to meet you,” Alec said softly making a point to only look at Mark.
The man returned his gaze warily.
“Alec lives in the community just outside of here,” Whitford continued. “I don’t think we would have survived last winter if it wasn’t for him and the place he helped build out there.”
Mark’s gaze softened slightly and he nodded at Alec.
Alec realized too late that he probably should have said something but instead he just stood there. He frantically tried to think of something to say but the only thing that popped in his mind were those green eyes.
“Uh, anyways,” Whitford said slowly, “We’re going to head out, hopefully we’ll be back in an hour or so.”
Alec was walking away before Whitford had finished his statement. What the hell had just happened? He had suddenly gone deaf and dumb because of what? A pretty face? No, the most beautiful face he had ever seen. He knew his face was red because as he walked past the back of the truck Margie called out to him.
“You alright, Alec? You getting too hot?”
He ignored her and got into the passenger side of the truck. After a few moments Whitford opened up the door and sat down in the driver’s seat. They sat there for a few moments and finally Alec looked over at Whitford. The man had the biggest shit-eating grin on his face.
“Shut up,” Alec said.
“I didn’t say anything,” Whitford said playfully.
“I said shut it.”
With another laugh Whitford started the truck and they pulled out towards the highway. They continued down the crumbling road that nature had nearly taken over. The road was broken into chunks in several places and what had once been the shoulder of the highway had now been taken back over by the nearby fields.
“I can introduce you if you’d like,” Whitford interrupted. Alec shot him a look and the man let out a bellowing laugh and threw his hands in the air. “Alright, now I’m done.”
The town of Sturgeon was only about twenty minutes away in the old world when the roads were in better condition. With the roads’ current state it took them a little over thirty minutes. They passed by worn out billboards, abandoned rusted out cars, and a single home just off the road, the roof having caved in long ago. They arrived at the turn off to Sturgeon, a single road shooting from the main highway with fields on each side.
“Heads up,” Whitford yelled to the back of the pickup. “Keep an eye open and your guns down. We don’t want them to think we’re here to cause trouble.”
They made their way through the curvy road until they came upon a roadblock. Several cars blocked the highway and several large tractors sat behind them making a nearly impassable barricade. Two large brick buildings sat on opposite sides of the blockade and Alec was the first to notice a man in each window with a rifle pointing in their direction.
“Looks like they know we’re here,” Alec said gesturing towards the men.
“Fantastic,” Whitford said under his breath.
They both got of the truck with their hands raised in the air.
“We’re not here to start trouble,” Alec yelled as loud as he could. “We’re from Centralia. We were hoping to talk about possibly trading.”
The men in the window didn’t move a muscle or say a thing. Alec glanced back at Margie and the others in the trucks and they sat there unmoving.
“We don’t have any interest in trading.” The rough voice came from behind the tractors. After a few moments a man stepped into view. The man was large, easily over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and a face full of hair. Alec noticed that behind the beard the man looked young but his eyes were cold. “You can turn your ass around, we don’t need anything here.”
Alec wasn’t surprised by this reaction. If someone had pulled up their driveway he would have probably said the same.
When Alec didn’t say anything Whitford stepped forward. “Fair enough. Just to let you know we have plenty of food to trade and even some livestock to spare. If you ever have any interest in trading you know where to find us.”
“Who told you?” The man asked.
“Told us what?” Alec asked.
“Who told you about the supply drop?”
Whitford looked at Alec with a strained look on his face. Centralia had been promised supplies by Mason before he had left, but they had not come. Apparently this town had managed to get one.
“We didn’t know,” Whitford attempted to say calmly.
The man studied both of them. “Hmm. Well there is only enough for us.”
“If you have extra medicine we’re willing to trade for those,” Alec said trying to allow Whitford a few moments to collect himself. “Like we said we have food to spare but don’t have much in the way of medicine.”
“Like I said earlier,” the man said clearly agitated. “There is only enough for us.”
There wasn’t anything else to say. Alec turned around and began walking back to the truck when he noticed that Whitford hadn’t moved. Whitford stared at the beard man and the man stared back.
“We going to have a problem here?” The man asked.
Alec walked back to Whitford quickly. “No problem.” And he turned Whitford around and they walked to the trucks. “Keep it together,” he whispered to Whitford.
They loaded back up in the truck and headed back home.
Whitford just stared ahead at the road calmly but his knuckles were red as he squeezed the steering wheel tightly. “He said we would be getting a supply drop.”
“I know,” was all Alec could say.
“He either lied to us, or they got our supplies.”
“We’re good. We are providing for our people. We don’t need those supplies.”
Whitford shot Alec a look of irritation. “Don’t give me that shit, Alec. We have food and we have some livestock but that supply drop probably has a shit load of medicine and other supplies we need. More than that small town needs.”
“We’ll trade with others. We’ll figure something out.”
Whitford let out a long breath. “Yeah. We’ll figure something out.”
Alec studied the man’s face but couldn’t tell what he was thinking. They drove home in silence.
Ben
Two weeks had passed.
Their meager food supplies had been exhausted long ago and their only source of food came from the snares Ben had set up around the neighborhood. Setting snares had always been someone else’s job so his were poorly set up at best, but so far he had caught a couple of raccoons. Better than nothing. While their stomachs ached for food their bodies had begun to heal. Ben’s shoulder no longer bothered him and the aching in his back had finally subsided. Mason’s arm was still in a sling and would be for quite a while, but the swelling in his ankle had gone down and he was able to walk about normally.
Mason sat in the living room on the couch slowly and methodically cleaning his gun. It was what he did whenever he was bored. And he had been bored a lot. Ben sat at the window looking out at the empty world in front of him. On a clear day if he went to the far side of the neighborhood he could make out the skyscrapers in the distance. The sound of explosions and far off gunshots filled the air more often than not. The world felt empty, but those were reminders that it was far from it.
“What’s on your mind?” Mason asked setting his gun
to the side.
“Nothing,” Ben said a little too quickly. Mason’s knowing look didn’t waiver. “Just bored I guess.”
“Boredom is the greatest enemy of a soldier. It forces you to remember all the things that you would prefer to forget, and forces you to look ahead at what awaits you. I prefer action.”
“How many people were in the helicopter with us?” Ben asked. Part of him didn’t want to know but it felt wrong just trying to forget.
“Too many.” Mason started to pick up his gun then stopped himself. “We’ve decided to be here. Every soldier who has decided to pick up a gun for this country has accepted that their lives could be sacrificed for the greater good. Is it easy? No. Is it fair?” Mason sat back on the couch. “Hell if I know.”
“Sorry.”
Mason’s face went soft. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about. You honor the people that didn’t make it by doing your job. Sitting around and feeling sad for them would be a disservice. It puts you and everyone around you in danger.” Harsh words said caringly.
“I guess I should be used to it by now.”
“Same thing as killing. You never get used to it. Every person you lose should cause you pain. It’s not about being indifferent to death, it’s learning how to accept it and move on.”
Ben’s mind touched on the people he had lost but he quickly pulled away. There was no point on focusing on that right now. “You’re right.”
“I’m always right,” Mason said smiling. “It’s my curse.”
“How much longer should we wait on Zima?”
The smile disappeared. “We give him a couple more days. Hopefully the snares will snatch a decent amount of food and then we can head out. My ankle is still a little sore but it shouldn’t slow me down much.”
Ben wasn’t sure what scared him more, the thought of a life of constant boredom, or the fact they were going to be heading towards the source of the explosions and gunfire.
A loud knock hit the back door, followed my two more in quick succession. A bright smile appeared on Mason’s face and he turned to Ben. “Took him long enough.”
Mason walked over and unlocked the door and there stood Zima. The cut on the side of the man’s face was still evident and a weary smile covered his face. “What the hell are you all doing sitting around? It’s time to go to war.”
Alec
Alec knew there was going to be trouble as soon as he saw Whitford riding up the road on horseback. The man normally had a kind face, but when Whitford was upset it was written all over his face. The man was stiff in the saddle and determination shone brightly on his face. Because of this it took Alec a second to realize the man had not come alone. Traveling slightly behind Whitford’s horse were two other horses. It took Alec a second to remember the face of the older man but as soon as he did he knew instantly who the third person was. His stomach dropped and his palms instantly became sweaty.
Whitford stopped his horse a few feet from Alec and the young girl and her father did the same. The hard look on Whitford’s face cracked slightly when he noticed how uncomfortable Alec was.
“Sorry to drop in on you all unannounced, just wanted to see if you all have a moment to gather the council. I have something I want to talk to them about.”
Alec had forgotten Freddie who had been at his side the entire time. The man said he would notify the others and ran off leaving Alec standing there alone staring up awkwardly at them.
Silence.
“I’ll put up the horses and meet you and the council,” Whitford said still hiding a smirk.
Alec nodded and started to turn away when Mark stopped him.
“You don’t mind if we hang out here, do you?”
Alec stared at him blankly for a second as his mind tried to focus on what he was asking. “Yeah, of course. If there is anything either of you need just let someone know.” He glanced at Bethany for a brief second then turned away again.
On the way to the house he cursed himself. The world had been plunged into darkness, his family had been scattered to the wind, and he was fumbling his words in front of a pretty girl. Oh how far he had come.
He walked inside and the look on Whitford’s face snapped him back to reality. Something was obviously weighing on the man. Everyone arrived and took the seats around the table. Whitford was offered a spot but chose to stand.
“This won’t take long.” He told them. Once everyone was settled in Whitford began. “I’m sure everyone here is already aware of the supply drop that Sturgeon received and their decision to keep it all to themselves?” Everyone nodded as Alec had already gotten them up-to-speed. “I’m here to talk about that.” Whitford stopped and the silence was deafening.
“Uh,” Margie interrupted the silence. “Ok, what about it exactly? We can’t make them trade with us.”
“We’re already looking to start making some specialized items,” Trevor said. “Hallsville has a lot of sheep and we’ve already talked about possibly trading for a few of them. That would open the door for some of our more handy community members to start making some clothing we can trade. Gretchen even found some old bee keeping supplies she hopes to use to start a few hives. That will give us a supply of honey as well as the ability to start making out own candles. We’ll have to start slow but I’m sure we can convince Sturgeon to give us a chance.”
Whitford’s jaw clenched and he shook his head. “They don’t get to decide what they do with those supplies. They weren’t air dropped for that town specifically. Those supply drops are meant to help out everyone. We fucking know this because a member of the military used to be in this town,” he said, referring to Mason. “And now just because it landed in their area they think they have the right to keep it all to themselves?”
“What options do you think we have?” Malcolm asked simply. The old man’s eyes stared at Whitford knowingly. “If they don’t want to trade with us, and you’re not willing to let us slowly earn their trust, what are you proposing?”
“I’m not proposing anything. A couple of my people scouted them out and there are maybe forty or fifty people there tops. Mason said those airdrops were typically meant for hundreds if not more.”
“You had people spying on them?” Alec asked.
“Not spying,” Whitford said catching himself. “Scouting. They didn’t exactly come off as friendly so I wanted to make sure they weren’t a threat.”
“And are they?” Malcolm asked.
“No. They seem to have maybe a dozen people that patrol and serve as security. Basic rifles, nothing fancy.”
Alec didn’t like how this felt. Whitford talked about spying on them so casually. “You didn’t answer Malcolm, what options do you think we have?”
Whitford was quiet and surveyed the table, likely looking for supporters but didn’t seem to find any, which just made him angrier. “How many people did you all lose last winter?”
The question caught Alec off guard. He thought back to last winter and sitting at the bedside of Jamie and being helpless as she passed away. They had plenty of sick but she had been the only one that had died. Whitford already knew this.
“Centralia had ten people who died due to sickness last winter. Ten people who, honestly, would still be alive if we had basic medical supplies.” Whitford’s eyes were watery and his face grew red. “One of those was a nine year old. He didn’t have to fucking die.” He turned to Alec. “The first winter after the power went out you and your father came to my town asking for medicine for your sick sister, what would you have done if we had not given you some?”
Alec could still remember how sick his sister had been. All she had done was sleep and they had not been able to keep food in her. They had finally come into town and traded a gun for some medicine, but they had never discussed what they would have done if Whitford and the others had medicine they would not have traded. “Truthfully, we didn’t discuss it.”
“Exactly, there should not have been any reason a human being wouldn�
��t give another person medicine to survive, but that is exactly what they are trying to do.”
“Whitford,” Trevor said evenly. “If someone gets sick we can go to them again and explain the situation.”
Whitford threw his hands in the air and turned away from them for a second. When he turned back around Alec could see the man was losing the battle to keep calm. “They have no intention of trading with us, sick people or otherwise.”
“Then what?” Malcolm asked. Whitford just stared at him. “You don’t want to wait. You admit they have no intention of trading. Why are we here?”
Whitford looked at each of them and Alec finally came to grips with what the man was about to propose. “No,” Alec said as forcefully as he could. Before he knew it he was on his feet. “We are not going to attack that town and steal their supplies.” Whitford didn’t even flinch. Part of Alec had been hoping he had gotten it wrong and Whitford would call him crazy and deny that was his intention but the man just stood there. “How in the hell can you even suggest something like that? Your town was attacked by people like that, the people who came here with me lost their home because of people like that, and you sure as hell know what happened to my family.”
Whitford dropped his head but didn’t seem to lose his resolve. “I have to protect my people.”
“By killing others?”
“If those people are willing to hurt us, and don’t doubt for a second that keeping all the medicine to themselves isn’t going to hurt us.”
Alec sat down in the chair and covered his face with his hands. He considered Whitford a friend not just because of everything they had been through together, but because he thought they were one and the same. But Alec never would have considered this.
“I agree with Alec, this isn’t something we are going to consider,” Trevor said.
“I have to do what is best for my people,” Whitford said.
Anger once again surged through Alec and he found himself on his feet again. “If you attack those people you are no different than all the scum out there killing and raping.”