“No,” Arlene said. “You really will like them. A crayfish is nothing more than a Crawdad... Oysters? Clams? Mollusks too, sometimes called muscles.” She made a muscle with one arm.
“Nope. Never had them,” Cindy said.
“Oh, Honey. You have been sheltered,” Arlene said and laughed. “But, you're gonna love these. And we have so much we can take some back for the others too. Come on, Cindy. Let me show you how we do these.”
While the fish smoked, Arlene, James and Cindy worked on the crayfish and mollusks. The crabs were simpler. A large pot was already set up on rocks over the fire, waiting to come to a boil.
They collected fresh leaves from a few nearby maple trees, and dug for some more fresh leeks and radish. They added some clover leaves and used one of James's stone knives to chop it all up fine along with two hot peppers they had bought from their own garden. They mixed it with butter and cooked it all together over the fire in a heavy cast iron skillet, then used the mixture to baste the crayfish and mollusks as they were skewered onto sharp sticks. They added chunks of wild carrots and potatoes, pieces of sliced up peppers, and cooked it all on the skewers held over the fire.
They took several more of the crayfish and mollusks, smothered them in the mixture and then wrapped them in the Maple leaves and placed them at the edge of the fire to cook.
“How do you know all of this,” Cindy asked James and Arlene.
James looked embarrassed. “I read... This stuff is available to anyone who wants to read about it. Some my mother and my mother's mother taught to me.” He looked at the lake. “There are probably clams, eels, pike here as well, also good to eat.” He looked around. “The normal man, or woman,” he added, “would look at this and never see all that is here. Would not realize how much there is to eat. The woods? Herbs, mushrooms, ferns, bark, some leaves, woodchucks, rabbits.” He looked over towards the mountains in the near distance.
“Closer over to the mountains, goats, I mean mountain goats... People don't realize we still have them here. They watch television, or did, and think it's all in some other country, but they are here too. Bear will be there this time of year as well. Getting ready for their long sleep... Fattening up. Probably has a cave there somewhere. Moose... Nutria... More.”
“What's a nutria,” Sharon asked.
James smiled. “It's a rat, really, except they are all over in the south... Probably here as well. I've never eaten one, but they're supposed to be good. Beaver, Raccoon, wild pigs... You might as well say, what isn't here. Truly everything we could ever use is right here,” James concluded.
The conversation died down as everyone began to eat. Several comments of this is good, or I've never tasted anything like this before, punctuated dinner.
“So that's crayfish,” Cindy said. “Sort of like a salty shrimp.”
“Don't get me started on shrimp or we'll be hiking for the coast,” Arlene said with a laugh. “What did you think of the mollusks?”
“I liked them, and I think I was wrong. I did have them once before at a seafood place,” Cindy told her. “They came with something called a seafood platter. A little of this. A little of that. Huge piece of fish and a mound of fries big enough to feed ten people. Fried rice as well. What I remember tasted like that. The same as that,” Cindy finished.
“There are several kinds. The ones on the Gulf are huge. I used to love to go down to the Gulf. The seafood was unbelievable. A salt water mollusk is twice as big... and these were big for fresh water mollusks. I used to like to go down to the docks, Galveston to Mobile, I've been all through there. There are so many places to go. You could buy five gallon buckets of seafood. I mean huge five gallon buckets of all sorts of stuff. Live... You prepare it and cook it what ever way you want to. You never knew what would be in it. Fish, mollusks, crabs, shrimp, you name it,” Arlene said.
“You've been on the coast a lot,” Cindy asked. “Are the beaches really nice?”
“Some places were, some places weren't. I liked the out-of-the-way places. The commercial places were not my speed, but there are so many little places run by local people. Always good meals... Good seafood, even so what I really liked was the boats. I did a lot of day work on charter boats. Scuba diving. I didn't care, as long as I was on the ocean I was happy. Now? I'll bet the entire Gulf Coast is nice... I want to go there again some day.” She turned wistful.
The conversation went back and forth as the sun sank from the sky. They called the Cave on the radio and got an update from them and promised they would be bringing back enough crayfish, mollusks and crabs for everyone, even those coming. They had enough to feed an army of people, James assured Janna. He told her they would be heading back about mid day the next day so they would be back in time for dinner with them.
~
The dogs alerted them before they had even realized anyone was nearby.
Katie, Amy, Lilly and Janna had been standing by the low rock wall that ran along the edge of the ledge, watching the light bleed from the surrounding sky. The sun itself was already setting below the mountains behind them. The Dog and Angel both appeared to be fixed on the lower end of the valley.
They were too far away to be certain, but it appeared there were four of them. They had somehow entered the valley and were following the stream as it meandered across the valley floor.
“Kate,” Janna said quietly. “I think we have visitors.”
The Dog huffed, Angel growled low in her throat. Katie squinted into the fading light. This was not someone returning from the fishing expedition. They would have told them to expect them. They were four. They were still too far away to tell much more with any certainty. They looked to be carrying packs. One larger figure bought up the rear. His pack seemed larger than the others.
The sun, what was left of it, would be in their eyes, Katie thought. “They probably can't see us,” she said aloud. She patted her side, but she was carrying no weapon. All four women ducked back inside the cave and came back out moments later with their weapons. They let Susan, Sandy and a few of the others inside know there were people coming. They came back out, checked their weapons and clips and then settled back in the fading light to wait.
On The Road
The three trucks came to an immediate halt when Conner stepped from the circle of trucks into view. It may have seemed a risky move to those in the trucks, but every gun from Conner's party was aimed at the trucks. If anyone seemed about to shoot, or a window so much as rolled down they would be on it.
Aaron stepped out into view, then Adam about fifteen feet further away. Dustin and Richard stepped out another twenty feet along like ghosts materializing from a mist. Josh stepped around the end of one of the big trucks, about ten feet from Aaron. Chloe stepped out into full view last, her machine pistol raised and aimed at the windshield of the lead truck.
Everyone held their machine pistols ready. Trying not to be overly aggressive, but taking absolutely no chances at all. Two young women sat in the front seat of the lead truck. They both looked frightened.
Chloe shifted to the side of the lead truck and looked back at the other two trucks. With Dustin and Richard on the opposite side they had a complete view of all three vehicles between them. The second truck held three men and two women. The last truck three men and a young woman. As she came up alongside the lead truck, Chloe noticed there were two men in the back seat of the extended cab.
The woman in the drivers seat of the lead truck, raised both hands into the air, turned them over and then upright once more. Her dark face wore a neutral expression. Chloe nodded at her.
The hum of the electric motor came to them all clearly as she rolled down her side window. The young, dark skinned woman leaned out. She looked from person to person... “We don't want any problems. We didn't know anyone was here... We can simply turn around and leave... We really don't want any problems.” She looked from Chloe to Conner to Aaron to Adam, and then allowed her eyes to drift further over to Dustin and Richard.
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“We're not looking for any trouble either,” Chloe told her.
“Just being careful,” Conner told her.
“I can see that,” The woman answered.
The silence held for a short space. Aaron and Adam stepped forward. “Feel free to stay if you want,” Aaron said. He and Adam both lowered their machine pistols. Chloe and Conner followed suit. Richard, surprised he had even been handed one lowered his own and looked over to Josh. Josh nodded. His own weapon at his side, but still in his hands.
The young woman opened her door and stepped down onto the asphalt. The others in the trucks behind her followed suit. They were all heavily armed too, but their weapons were slung over their shoulders or holstered. The five from the second truck were all dressed in military fatigues.
“Who's in charge,” The woman asked.
“I am,” Conner said as he appraised her. “Conner.”
“Debbie... Deb,” she said and stuck out her hand.
Conner released his machine pistol and shook her hand. She allowed a small smile to creep onto her face.
“I meant what I said about leaving,” she said. “The last thing we want is trouble.”
“No... No,” Conner said. “We've just been through some trouble of our own the last bit,” He told her.
“We've seen some ourselves,” she agreed.
“Come on,” Chloe said. “We'll make some coffee.” She looked around. “We'll make lots of coffee,” she amended.
It turned out that they had been traveling all night as well. Coffee turned into breakfast. Breakfast turned into conversation. Both groups telling each other exactly what they had been through the last few days.
“My God,” Debbie said. “Where did the guy come from?”
“We don't know... Some crazy,” Aaron said. “There was a guy we had passed earlier in the day, but there was a woman with him. There was no woman with this man. And we had a little run in with them, but it makes no sense that he would come after us. What for?”
“We had passed them by on the highway... Camped right out in the middle of the road,” Chloe said.
Debbie was nodding. “Okay. Saw that. At least I think so. About eighty miles back... Yesterday. Camped right out in the road. Big old Harley...”
“Tipped over onto a couch,” Aaron supplied?
Debbie nodded once more. “Skinny woman? Tube top?”
“That's her,” Conner agreed.
“Dead,” Debbie said. “Her and a couple of others.”
“There was only her and the boyfriend when we were there,” Adam said.
“These were dead... Dead for a while too. Hanging around. We stopped and they came from the woods. Desperate, I suppose. Six all together. Took them all down, but we lost one of our own too... Got bit,” she cleared her throat. “Thought one was done... Wasn't... They aren't stupid... They were at first, or seemed to be, but they aren't now.” She thought for a second. “Anyway... That might have been your woman. Sounds like her. But there was no guy there. If it was your guy he was gone, and she was dead.”
“Sounds like the same place,” Aaron shook his head.
“Hey. Even if it was, who chases someone for knocking over a bike,” Conner said. He could see the wheels turning in Aaron's head.
“Besides,” Chloe said. “I knocked over the bike. I hit it with the mirror of the truck. It went right over.”
“That's because it wasn't all the way up on the stand,” Aaron said.
“Aaron, maybe it was that guy, maybe it wasn't. Nobody chases somebody down for knocking over a bike. They're free now for Christ's sake,” Adam said.
“It's probably something else. We looked around. There was a lot of blood on the road. Big pool of it. The woman was covered in blood too. Stuck to her clothes, hair, plastered to the side of her face. She couldn't have been dead long at all. But there was no guy and she was already dead, so unless your guy killed her, it probably wasn't the same people at all. Probably your people moved on. These people came along... This woman maybe... Gets herself killed, maybe the zombies got her. Then we come along and chased them off. All the blood though, maybe someone else got killed there. Maybe your guy and he just didn't come out of the woods.” She shrugged.
Conner nodded. “That I can see. I mean the guy wouldn't even get up for us to pass... Maybe she shot him. He shot her. They killed each other. Or maybe they took off and these are other people. I just can't believe the guy would have any reason to come after us.” He turned to Aaron and Chloe.
“You guys are trying to take blame that doesn't belong to you. I'm sure it wasn't the same guy, but even if it was, you can't control someone else.” He paused again. “I think it was some crazy that came along... Hell, for all we know he thought we were some Undead... Whatever it was, it wasn't your fault. That's something I'm not going to stand for. Not after what we've been through. The world out here is crazy. We came here and bad shit happened, but we’re going back where it's sane, and both of you are going too. There's no blame of any kind going back with you.”
They both still looked sick, but they both nodded.
“Where,” Debbie asked.
“Where what?”
“Where is it sane,” She asked. Her face was serious. She leaned forward to listen. Hope in her eyes.
Conner told her. The others joined into the conversation as it went on. Several more from her party were listening raptly by the time Conner was done.
Then Debbie told her story. It turned out that what they had taken as one group was not. They were three separate groups. The four in Debbie's group had come across from the East Coast. They had stopped in a small town in Pennsylvania and there they had met the other two trucks.
The last truck in line was driven by a man named Brad. He had come down the coast from Vermont. A little town by Lake Champlain. The young girl in his group was his sister, Alice. Darren John and George Dell rounded out their group. They had picked both of them up along the way.
The other woman with Debbie was Lisa Stevens, who looked like she had just stepped out of some high fashion magazine. She had that super model look. She told them she used to be a dancer. The other two were Joe Stevens, her brother, and his friend Stephen Choi.
The other truck, the second in line, held some military types that Conner just couldn't warm up to. It wasn’t him only. Aaron and Adam both seemed to keep them at arms length. It was when Debbie also seemed to keep them at arms length that he realized they were not one group at all.
The five of them simply introduced themselves by their last names: Rodriguez, Melendez, and Roberts were the three men, although Conner could not have told which was which. They all wore the same mirrored sunglasses, Khaki fatigues and carried military issue weapons. The two women were Smith and Patrick. None of them had name-tags, ranks or stripes, or whatever the hell it was he would have expected they would have had, had they come from some real military group. Five months was a long time to hold a group like that together if they were indeed regular Army, Conner thought.
They didn't actually worry him. He didn't sense a threat from them. They simply had this air of superiority. They were aloof and held themselves apart, and they made it clear they were headed for the other coast.
“Only place to live, Man,” Rodriguez, Melendez or Roberts had said. “The chicks, the surf... The weather.” He smiled, but it was hard to tell if it touched the eyes behind the glasses.
“But it would all be gone,” Chloe tried.
“Just leaves more of what is left for us. Know what I mean, Girl,” the guy had said.
“Yeah,” one of the others echoed.
Debbie stared down at the ground, when her head came up she exchanged a meaningful look with Conner.
Chloe ignored them after that. She said nothing at all, but Conner had seen her face when the guy had called her girl That was one no vote if they had wanted to join. They didn't, and Conner was glad they didn't. He didn't want them and he was positive that Adam, Aaron and Josh
felt the same way. Dustin had said nothing. But Conner was sure it was on his mind and he would hear about it later. Or Aaron would. It didn't appear that Debbie wanted them either. Possibly she had only tolerated them. Conner didn't want them to corrupt what they had.
He thought about it and realized the thought was true. What they had was special. He didn't want these people in it. These five. One bad apple could spoil the bunch. An old analogy; his aunt Ellie would have been surprised he had used it, but he had heard it from her all of his life. It had sunk in. One Bad apple... It only took one. And what they had was too good to risk. The others? Yes, if they wanted to come, but not these five. As he let his eyes travel from person to person he was positive no one else did either.
It was a good thing, he told himself, that they had not been in the lead vehicle with their military get ups and smarmy attitude, he told himself. He put them out of his mind and listened as Debbie told her story.
Debbie and her party had come up from the city, New York, and cut across the state. The city was a horror, she said. The gangs ran everything that was left. But the dead were picking away at them. The dead were one of the few groups that were thriving in New York. Most of Manhattan was destroyed, more than half of Long Island was submerged. There was a quasi group of ex-cop types who had tried to retain control of what was left of Manhattan, but they had ended up caught between two rival gangs and slaughtered. Harlem was barricaded, gang controlled maybe, or something else, there was just no way in to be able to know.
Earth's Survivors: box set Page 91