by T A Williams
He looked at her as if seeing her for the first time and smiled. “You’re an amazing little person, you know that?” Before she could ask him what he meant he finished. “I needed that. Thank you, Ally. Now what do you say, ready to catch some rest?”
Ally nodded and they put to rest a very long day.
Alec
Alec couldn’t remember the last time he had smiled this much. In the small fenced in lot in front of him Bethany and Mark were trying, and failing, to teach Trevor how to ride a horse. They had been at it for nearly twenty minutes and the man still hadn’t managed to make his way onto the horse.
“All you need to do is put your foot in the stirrup, grab ahold of the top of the saddle and pull yourself up,” Mark said slowly, apparently hoping the slower he talked the easier it would be for the words to seep into Trevor’s brain.
“I did! The horse keeps moving whenever I put my foot in there,” Trevor blamed the horse.
“She’s not moving, she’s standing still,” Mark said defending the horse.
“She’s moving. Ok, maybe not moving but she is definitely shifting.” Trevor looked to Alec who was still leaning against the fence enjoying the spectacle. “Alec, you can see, tell them the horse keeps shifting.”
“I think there might have been a slight shift in there,” he said with a smile.
Bethany shot him a playful look. “If the horse starts to shift just steady yourself by hanging onto the horn on the top of the saddle.”
Trevor stood where he was and stared at Bethany like she was crazy. “The horse doesn’t like me. It’s trying to get away every time I try to climb up.”
“Come on dad, it’s not that hard,” Jamie said just outside the lot. Trevor turned to argue with her but the young girl was sitting atop one of their other horses calmly watching the pathetic display.
“Alright, you know what? I think its Alec’s turn,” Trevor said.
The smile on Alec’s face instantly vanished. He had no intention of jumping onto one of those massive beasts. Bethany must have sensed his hesitation. She came running over and grabbed his arm.
“I think he’s right, Alec. It’s about time you learn to ride.”
The butterflies that jostled around his stomach due to her touch were no match for the overwhelming feeling of dread he felt when he imagined himself on top of the animal.
“I’m busy, I just came over to see if you all needed anything,” he lied.
“Nice try,” Bethany said as she tried to pull him through the fence. Her father stood in the background just laughing.
Alec considered making a run for it when he heard the sound of a vehicle in the distance. Being surrounded by empty fields meant that sound traveled easily and it wasn’t uncommon for them to hear someone from Centralia driving towards them a minute or so before they arrived, but it sounded like this vehicle was running from something. He held his hand up to quiet everyone but they had already noticed the sound.
“Trevor, alert the guards,” Alec said pointing to Trevor. “The rest of you get inside and tell anyone else you see to do the same.”
The sound of the vehicle was almost at their driveway by the time he made his way to the front of their main house. He was all too aware that he was standing there unarmed but felt comfort knowing that Trevor and the others should be in the process of arming themselves in case they were needed. The racing vehicle skidded sideways down the road and into their driveway barely slowing down. Alec instantly recognized it as one of the trucks that Whitford and the others used, so if it was here in such a hurry than something was very wrong. The truck skidded to a halt a few yards from Alec and a young man that Alec barely recognized, he thought his name was Holt, hopped out.
“Alec, you’ve got to come into town,” the young man was out of breath and had to take a second to steady himself. “There’s a problem.”
“What problem? What’s going on?”
The kid shook his head and then glanced at what sounded to Alec like Trevor and the others running up behind him. “People arrived, Army people.”
The fear in the pit of Alec’s stomach disappeared. They were saved. The military had arrived and with it had to be more supplies along with proper protection. If the military arrived than it might have been Mason that sent them, which meant it was possible his brother was with him. But if that was the case, why was the kid so clearly terrified? Then a dark possibility entered his mind. “Our army?”
The kid shook his head no.
Alec turned around and behind him stood Trevor, Freddie and Margie, all of them had heard that last part and the color in their faces drained.
“Alec, what does that mean?” Margie asked.
He didn’t answer. “Freddie you’re with me, bring one of the rifles. Trevor, Margie get everyone rounded up and hunker down until we get back.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, why would another country’s military be here?” Margie asked.
“It could be one of our allies delivering supplies.” Trevor said wide-eyed. “Did they seem friendly?”
The kid shrugged his shoulders. “They just started pulling up in these large trucks and parking in the old fairgrounds. There was a tank.”
“Guys, do it,” Alec told the others and he loaded up in the truck with Freddie and Holt.
The kid hit the gas and the truck peeled out and shot down the driveway.
“Slow it down,” Freddie said.
Holt glanced at Alec who nodded. “There is no point getting in a wreck and having to walk into town.”
Holt let off the gas slightly.
“So where are they from?” Freddie asked.
Again Holt shrugged. “They look Chinese. When they started pulling up Whitford yelled at me to come get you, so I left.”
They rode the rest of the way into town in silence. Holt pulled down a side street into the center of town and they got out and ran into the town square. Sitting on the far side were four military Humvees along with close to two dozen soldiers standing at attention. There were a handful of people talking near the Humvees and Whitford appeared to be one of them.
They slowed to a walk in order to not draw unwanted attention and approached.
Alec turned to Freddie. “Stay back and out of sight. If things go bad then head back.”
“And leave you here?”
“If things go bad then they are going to go bad in a hurry. I don’t want our people wandering here after us and getting killed. Trust me, one more gun isn’t going to help in this situation.”
Freddie was quiet for a moment then finally answered. “Ok, be careful.”
Now it was only Alec and Holt slowly making their way up to the collection of military vehicles. There were still a few curious people out in the open watching everything but everyone else was hiding inside. As they got closer Alec got a better look at the soldiers. They wore green fatigues and stood at attention with their guns at their sides. He could make out what looked like a large star on their hats but outside of that they were pretty non-descript. Holt had been right, though; they were Chinese.
In front of the convoy stood another soldier, this one different from the others. His fatigues had several medals on the right hand side and he stood more relaxed and his eyes were clearly taking in the area. Next to him was an American and he was talking with Whitford and a few others.
“I understand that, we have plenty of room. I just don’t want to put the people here in danger.” Alec heard Whitford say as they approached.
Alec walked up casually and stood to the side of Whitford. The soldier who appeared to be in charge watched him approach the last couple of steps but said nothing.
The American translated what Whitford had said to the man in charge and he answered back quickly. “General Gao understands your concerns and assures you he will not bring any trouble into your city.”
Whitford noticed Alec and nodded quickly then turned back to the translator. “How long do they have to stay?”
; The translator was a skeleton of a man who barely filled out the military fatigues on his body. His head was shaved, there were bags under his eyes and seemed to be under the most stress of anyone there. He didn’t even bother to translate Whitford’s question to the General. “Only a short while.”
The General began to speak and the translator stiffened up and listened. “The General says he has basic supplies that he is willing to share, all he asks is your cooperation.”
“Do we have a choice?” Whitford asked.
The translator paused and shot a side glance at the General. He frowned and shook his head no.
“Then tell the General they can camp at the Fairgrounds for the time being. All I ask is that his people stay there and we will stay here.”
He translated and that caught the General’s attention. The General stared at Whitford and smiled, there didn’t seem to be a lot of kindness in that smile. Then just as quickly he turned around, shouted something and the men began to load up in the Humvees. The translator paused and looked like he wanted to say something but stopped himself and went scurrying after them.
“What the hell was that?” Alec asked.
Whitford didn’t take his eyes off the Humvees pulling away. “They need a place to rest and resupply so they asked if they could stay here.”
“Who are they?”
“Chinese military.”
While Alec hadn’t been a good student in school, he had not been a bad student either. He didn’t remember the U.S. and China being close allies prior to the power going out. “Are they helping our government?”
Whitford looked to Alec and the weight of the world seemed to be on the man’s shoulders. “I don’t think so.”
The enormity of the situation hit Alec and he took a step back. Not only had the United States been invaded, but the invaders were literally in their own backyard. “Whitford, if we’re at war-“
“I know,” Whitford said interrupting him. “If we are at war then our town has just been occupied and it has put all of us in the cross-hairs.”
It didn’t make any sense. How could they be at war and not know about it? He instantly realized that was a dumb question as he didn’t know anything that was going on outside of their town, let alone in the rest of the United States. “What the hell are we going to do?”
“Pray they’re telling the truth and are just stopping here to resupply. Otherwise, I have no fucking clue.”
Ben
It looked as if someone had put a dress on one of his old school’s skeleton models. The woman walked across the street with her head down. Her hair was in disarray, her dress was torn and dirty and yet she seemed to be in better shape than a lot of the people around him.
Ben clenched his jaw as he walked through the refugee camp. This hadn’t been the first time he had been to one of these camps but this one was the worst by far. They were just a few blocks west of the northern part of Central Park. A few soldiers were tasked with guarding a group of people who used Central Park as a giant garden, but one that would never have enough food to feed all the people who needed to eat. Ben, Zima, Ty and a few other soldiers had swung through on their way to another base in Northern Manhattan.
A small child, probably no more than four or five came running up to the soldiers. The little girl’s hair was matted up and the shirt she wore would have been too big for someone twice her age, despite all that she wore a bright smile.
“Do you guys have any candy? The last soldiers had candy. Can I have candy?”
“No little rat, we don’t got no candy.” Ty said swinging his arm at her.
“We don’t have any food or candy, sorry.” Ben said more gently.
The little girl stopped in her tracks and pushed out her lower lip in a pouty face. It reminded Ben so much of Ally that it hurt. He started to reach back for his pack to give her the last of his MRE when Ty grabbed his hand and stopped him. Ben started to pull away in anger.
“Chill. You get out your pack and give her something we’re going to be surrounded by dozens of others demanding food.”
“Then we’ll tell them we don’t have anything else,” Ben said through clenched teeth.
“You can do that, man, and we’re armed so they won’t try to push it. But you better believe homegirl here isn’t going to get far with what you gave her.” Ty’s face was blank.
Ben looked to the little girl who was still pouting and then looked behind her where there were several other people watching quietly, patiently. “Sorry, we don’t have anything.”
“I don’t like you!” the little girl screamed then ran towards a group of people. Again not much different than Ally.
They continued walking and Ty fell back with him. “Hey man, I’m not trying to tell you want to do and all, I’m just telling you from experience.”
Ben nodded his head. “You’re right.” It was sad admitting as much. “How often do they bring supplies here?”
“Every week or so. It’s not much, probably only enough for a couple days of decent eating but it’s something.”
Ben didn’t say anything else. His time in New York had been filled with the sounds of explosions coming from Long Island, stale MRE’s and a feeling of hopelessness. The feeling of hopelessness seemed to be soaked into the very concrete of the buildings that surrounded them, the wind was tinged with it. Soldiers from their base would be sent to Long Island and soldiers from other bases would take their place, meanwhile no one knew what was going on. There would be days when everything was quiet than there were days when the sound of explosions and gunfire never seemed to let up. Mason was still in Central Park with a few others. They had put a cast on his arm when they first arrived. It was supposed to be taken off in a few days, then he would met back up with the rest of them.
Zima stopped where he was and turned to Ty and Ben. “You all set up here. We’ll go up ahead. Don’t worry this drop-off should be quick, than we can move on.”
“You the boss, boss,” Ty said as he put a toothpick in between his teeth.
Ben and Ty stopped at the street corner just below a giant white sign that had been blackened by ash and age that read Just Do It with the Nike Swoosh going across it. Just across from them was an empty brown shopping cart with a single child’s shoe being its only contents. Ben didn’t want to know.
“So what’s your thing, B?” Ty asked him.
“My thing? What are you talking about?” Ben asked.
Ty rolled his head back and forth. “Come on man, you know what I mean. You all uptight all the time, what’s your story?”
Ben found it hard to talk about his story with Mason, a man he trusted, he wasn’t about to attempt to tell it to Ty. “No story. Just a soldier.”
Ty frowned at him for a second then just nodded his head. “Alright, you do you.”
From the alleyway across the street came the figure of a middle aged man, wearing a long coat with what looked to be nothing more than tattered rags underneath along with a boy of about five or six. The young boy wore a dirty blue shirt with the Superman logo displayed on the front and had a grimy Yankees baseball cap on his head. When the middle-aged man saw them he nodded towards them and walked over.
“I don’t mean to bother you, I was just wondering if they are bringing food today?” he asked sheepishly. The little boy at his side eyed both Ben and Ty.
“Yep, the trucks will be coming down this street and unloading three blocks up. You all better hurry though, you know that stuff never lasts long.” Ty said.
The man nodded and began to walk off when Ben stopped them. He glanced about and didn’t see anyone else around or watching so he took off his backpack, pulled out his half-eaten MRE and handed it casually to the man. The man’s eyes got big and he nodded his head.
“God bless you.”
“Don’t worry about it. Keep it hidden, don’t let anyone see you with it.” Ben said.
The man nodded and thanked him again. As he turned to leave the little boy looked up a
t Ben and the corner of the boy’s mouth started to form a smile. Ben winked at him just before he was pulled away.
“You a softie, dude.” Ty said laughing to himself. “You watch, probably somebody up in one of these windows saw that and they are going to come down looking for him.”
“The food truck is coming, they won’t have a need to steal from each other.”
“I know you’re not that naïve. Even if the food we bring could feed everyone, and don’t get it twisted, it can’t, that doesn’t mean people aren’t going to be jacking each other. They act nice when we looking but when we’re not,” Ty looked up at the sky and shook his head. “That’s when shit gets crazy.”
Ben didn’t want him to be right but part of him knew he was. “Why don’t they start shipping people out of here again?”
“Resources, or lack-there-of. Plus a lot of these people don’t want to leave. NY is their home.”
“It doesn’t make sense to stay somewhere where you can’t take care of yourself.”
“You don’t have to explain that to me. Course some of the people on these streets have been taking care of themselves well before the power went out. They’re just learning to do it a different way now,” Ty said.
The sound of rumbling emerged in the distance and it wasn’t long until three large supply convoys popped into view down the street. All around Ben were apartment complexes whose rooms cost millions of dollars to buy but now sat powerless with people using them as temporary shelter. As the sounds of the convoys got louder people began to walk out of the buildings heading towards the drop-off. The few people turned into a dozen, that dozen into dozens and soon the street was filled with gaunt skeletons all heading down the road either following the convoys or heading towards their final destination point. A terrible sadness filled Ben at that time as he realized just how right Ty was. The street was filled with over a hundred people, there was no way the convoys had enough food to feed them all.