Snareville II: Circles

by David Youngquist

  “Wait, what? Cindy…? Pepper? She’s goin’ to be okay?”

  “Yeah, just fine. Biggest problem is she decided to go into labor after they picked her up off the ground. Cindy and Tess seem to be back to normal. Tess just flopped into a pile a few minutes ago and is sleeping again. My guess would be Fred is dead.”

  “Shit. Yeah, he is.”

  Leary pulled another loop through the wound and tied it. “Good. Now I can concentrate on helping your number one wife.”

  Pepper squeezed my hand then yelped and pulled away from the needle as Leary sewed.

  “I’m sorry, Pepper. Just a few more and we can concentrate on getting this child into the world.”

  “Is the baby okay?”

  “Blade nicked open the uterus. That’s what I’m closing. We get the baby delivered, I can close the rest of it up with a drain tube. I don’t know what that bastard had on his knife. Problem is the muscle’s cut. It’s going to be a hard delivery. We might have to cut her again and do a C-Section.”

  “Do what you can, Doc. I trust you.”

  Leary grumbled under his breath. He put in a few more stitches. I knelt down next to the bed so Pep could see me. Her big brown eyes clouded over. They couldn’t give her much in the way of pain killer. “Are you crazy, Wife? You were on bed rest.”

  She swallowed as I wiped the sweat from her clammy forehead. “You were busy, Amore. Someone had to man the walls.”

  “Okay, Pepper. Jinks’ going to pack this cut and tape it close. We’re going to put you on your back and see if we can get this baby to come see his Mommy.”

  She nodded. Jinks went to work. Her hands shook, but she got control and did her job. Gently she and Leary rolled her flat. Pepper grunted as the weight shifted and more pressure was put on the wound.

  “What do you need me to do?” I asked.

  “Just be here and hold her hand, Dan,” Leary said. He met my eyes. “I have to check how far along she is.” He put Pep’s legs up in the stirrups. “This is going to be uncomfortable, Pepper. Just lay still the best you can and let us help you.”

  Pep nodded, Leary disappeared behind the sheet Jinks had spread over my wife’s knees. I had never felt so useless. The last two births went easy. Everything went natural and on time. It wasn’t an emergency situation like this mess.

  “Okay,” Leary peered over the top of the sheet. “You’re about halfway dilated. I don’t know if we can wait for you to come along fully. I don’t want to give you petosine with a damaged uterus.”

  He stood, whispered to Jinks. Leary left, called for Heather in the hall. Jinks pulled a few things from a cupboard.

  “You’re goin’ to get a shave, Pepper.” Jinks said. “Just don’t twitch if you don’t want to lose anything. Been awhile since I did this.” Pepper nodded, a twisted smile on her face. “Get out, Dan. I have to prep her.”

  I kissed my wife on the forehead, squeezed her hand one last time and stepped out. Leary came over as I stood there. Ella sat, quiet in chair. I walked over to her, gave her a hug. She wrapped her arms around me, held tight. “They’re both going to be okay, right, Daddy? Momma Pep and Momma Cindy?”

  “I won’t let anything happen to either one,” Leary said. “You’re going to have a new brother or sister here in an hour or so. Dan, come with me.”

  We walked back toward the small scrub room between the birthing room and surgery. He peeled down to his shorts, ordered me to do the same. We both put on surgical scrubs. I washed in the sink beside him.

  “I won’t lie, Danny. We’ve seen too much death together. I’m going to do my best not to let Pepper be one of them. But I’ve never had a birth like this to deal with before. I don’t want her to do much pushing. I’m afraid she’ll rupture her uterus. If this C-Section goes normal, you two will have a fine child to spoil and a great story to tell him when he gets older about how he came into this world. Heather tells me Cindy and Tess are both asleep. Their vital signs are normal. Now, let’s go.”

  Heather slid gloves onto both our hands. Pepper lay in the surgical room. A bottle of saline ran into her arm. Another bottle was piggybacked to it. She looked sleepy. I was covered in green scrubs and a mask. I took her hand in mine. Jinks and Heather both joined us shortly after. I could feel Pepper go through another contraction. She tightened her grip on my hand. Leary slid the needle into her belly where he was going to cut. We didn’t have much in the way of medical supplies and something like anesthetics was used sparingly. More of the local was administered.

  “Can you feel that?” Leary asked a few minutes after he put the needle aside. He poked her again with a finger, then with a small needle.

  Pepper shook her head.

  “Okay, we’re going to start. Just relax and breathe through it.”

  Pepper nodded, looked up at me. “Got a name picked out?”

  I grinned under the mask. “Been a little busy, Baby. We haven’t talked about it much. How ’bout you?”

  “Couple.”

  I glanced down. Leary was hunched over behind the sheet. Jinks leaned over beside him. She was pale, but still standing. She handed him a tool as he asked for it. Heather adjusted the flow of the drips, watched to make sure everyone was okay. Time was nothing. I had no clue how long we stood there.

  “Okay, hold on Pepper. We’re ready. Here comes the baby.”

  For a moment, there was a flurry of activity, then a baby cried.

  “She’s out. Here she is,” Leary exclaimed. “She looks okay. A little knick on the back. We’ll take care of that. You two have a beautiful, baby daughter.”

  “A girl…” I whispered. The little one looked like her momma: thick black hair, big hazel eyes, long body.

  “You make big babies,” Pepper said with a weak smile. “We got a baby girl.”

  Jinks handed me a pair of scissors. For a second, I looked at them, then realized what she wanted me to do. I reached over, cut the cord. My daughter let go with another squall. She balled up her little fists. They laid her on Pepper’s chest.

  “Jennifer,” Pepper said as she kissed the top of the baby’s head. She looked up at me. “Jennifer Danielle Jackson.”

  I smiled through the tears. “Jennifer it is.”

  “Out,” Leary said. “They’re both fine. Get out and let us fix your wife.”

  Heather led me to the door. In a daze I stumbled back over to Ella, who stood in the middle of a small crowd. I made the announcement I had a baby girl, gave them the name and collapsed in a chair to much cheering.

  Chapter 23

  For a week Pepper stayed in the hospital with Jenny. They were both healthy for the most part. Pepper was on total bed rest to heal. She had stitches in her in a number of places. Infection never came about. She was tender and sore and grumpy from being cooped up, but she was alive. By the time she was able to hobble to the bathroom by herself, Leary gave her release to go home, again, under bed rest.

  Dan spent the week taking care of his kids. He did bring them in to see Mommy Pepper more than once and their new baby sister. Rachel patted Jennifer on the cheek, saying “Baby, baby.” Michael didn’t seem to be much impressed, but he got the idea that he had a new sister.

  They had one more raid from the Mongols. Some well placed mortar rounds broke up the attack. Apparently the Mongols were used to catching people off guard and intimidating the hell out of them with the noise of their bikes and shooting a few as they tried to run away. Didn’t work on Raiders and Marines. Gibson offered to hunt them down, or call in an air strike. Dan told him no. The Horde might have been a collection of assholes, but they were breathing ones. They might eventually settle down somewhere, they might get eaten by zeds, but he wasn’t going to wipe them out.

  At the end of the week, Dan sat in his office. Those six Mongols who survived their first attack were marched into his office. He offered them seats. The women sat, the two men remained on their feet. They were dressed in plain clothes: jeans and tee shirts with jackets over the top. Tenni
s shoes. They’d all had a chance to shower and clean up. For the first time in months, they’d eaten well every day.

  “You can’t keep us prisoner,” the younger man said. “You ain’t got no jail from what I’ve seen. You got to let us go.”

  Dan stood. He walked to the side of his desk. “What’s your name, kid?”

  “They call me Scorpion.”

  Dan half-grinned. “They call me Danny Death.”

  Scorpion glanced sideways at him, swallowed hard. “So you’re the great Danny Death. I figured you’d be older.”

  “You get old fast these days.” He turned to the rest of the group. “Here’s the offer. You can leave, but there’s only two bikes left in running order. I haven’t seen the rest of your Horde in four days. We won’t give you anything but what you came in here with. You go back out on your own.”

  “How do you expect us to survive on that?” A woman asked. She looked at Dan. Sunlight glittered on the ring in her nose and bottom lip. “We were on a raid when you caught us. We didn’t even have any food on our bikes.”

  “Right.” Dan walked around the other side of his desk. “So, here’s where the choice comes in. You could stay here. We have the room, but you’re expected to carry your weight and follow the rules. We don’t ask much. We put in a day’s work in the fields or the shops. We don’t get into bar fights or cause trouble. We’ve got enough of that beyond the walls.”

  “That’s it? That’s all?” the girl with the rings asked. “We behave and help out and we can stay?”

  “What’s your name?” Dan asked.

  The girl thought a moment. Her blue eyes shot back and forth around the room as she looked at Dan. Her right hand roamed across the piercings on her face. “Penny. My name is Penny Johanson. God, it’s been a long time.”

  Dan smiled at her. “Yes, Penny. That’s all we ask of you. You behave and help out, you can stay.”

  “Bullshit, Cat,” Scorpion spat. Penny flinched. “They’re not going to let you be that easy. They’ll have you whoring for them in a week. Nothin’s that easy. I’m leaving.”

  “That’s fine,” Dan said. “Anyone else want to go?”

  “You serious in your offer, Death?” The older man spoke up for the first time. His long beard was mostly grey. His hair, pulled back in a ponytail, had been washed during the week.

  “You’re not thinkin’ of staying, are you, Horse?” Scorpion asked.

  “Boy, I’ve been runnin’ since I got back from the ’Nam. I’m tired. I’m old. I know the odds out there without the rest of the Horde.”

  “I’m serious, Horse,” Dan said. “We’ve got homes between here and the Mennonites that are open for someone to live in.”

  In the end, only Scorpion left. He was escorted to the north wall, given his shotgun and a bag of shells. A half-dozen Raiders covered him with their rifles. He was told not to load up until he was out of sight of town. With a one fingered salute, he roared north out of the valley.

  Mongols were spread out through town. For the moment, they weren’t given arms. Dan wanted them to adjust to being part of a community before he allowed them to have any guns.

  “You folks are welcome to stay, Horse,” Dan said. “But it’s not easy livin’ around here. Lot of work to keep ourselves fed.” They stood outside a small house on the edge of town. The wall cut through the backyard.

  “Don’t worry about me none. We’ll be fine. The rest of these kids you caught are recent joiners. They’re not the old guard. We picked them up along the way. Ace was the only other real Mongol was in that raiding party and your tattooed chick took him out.”

  “We don’t fuck around. You want to survive, you have to pull that trigger.”

  Horse grinned. “That ain’t no shit, Kid. You got sand. This little group might make it.” He stepped up onto the porch of his new house. He had a bag of groceries in one hand, his old Mongol vest in the other. “Think I’ll check out my new digs.”

  Dan nodded, turned and walked back toward his house. Pepper was home, working on the computer. He’d hesitated a minute about giving Horse a place out on the edge, but the man explained you didn’t want a crazy Vietnam Vet in the middle of the population. As he walked away he wondered if he’d made a mistake in letting this whole group in. Eventually though, they had to start trusting people again. Everyone was a little jumpy, a little mistrustful.

  Henry had come back from Geneseo. The folks there were fine. His girlfriend was pregnant, so he was going to move over there to be with her. He was in the process of loading what little he had into a canoe for the trip back down the canal. Dan asked how the Cock Blockers were getting along. They were a twitchy bunch. The group was adjusting. They took a section of town offered them by the people of Geneseo and made it home. Tammy was getting her mind back, but it was a slow process. They had been isolated for so long it was difficult for them to adjust to having people around that weren’t part of their group. The younger folks were interacting more, so it wouldn’t be long before the two groups were one people.

  He passed a group of soldiers as they jogged past in the other direction. The Sergeant called cadence to the troops. Dan grinned and waved as he saw Wallace jogging along at the tail end of the group. Wally waved back as they ran by. He turned up his street, paused on his porch. Inside he heard the babies playing. Ella was at school, Cindy was home, doing her best washing dishes. Her arm was getting better. Leary had her in what physical therapy he could give her. He heard Pepper shout for Cindy as he waited.

  “Wow, we have to show this to Dan,” Cindy said from the living room.

  “Show Dan what?” he asked as he walked through the door.

  “Come here, Amore,” Pepper said. She held the laptop across her legs as she sat in the recliner. The internet was still small and a bit crude, but it was functional. The world wide web was a much quieter place these days. Instead of millions of people blabbing on about nothing around the world, there were maybe thousands sharing tips for survival and making contact. Right now, Pepper had the page up that they had created to talk about gardening and canning.

  “Read this,” Pepper said as she turned the screen.

  Dan read what was there. A British official with the World Health Organization had posted on the bulletin board. A question about if they were actually alive. If there was anyone out there.

  “What do you think, Danny?” Cindy asked.

  “I think we need to get back in touch with this guy,” Dan said. “This is the first we’ve heard from anyone outside the States.”

  “I’ll post him back and give him our e-mail,” Pepper said. “You think O’Shea, Penmachan and Leary are going to want to be in on this?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” Dan said. “If this guy is a doctor, they’re going to want to have an assessment of things over there.”

  Pepper dashed off a quick private message to the man, sent it, then continued to a different page. She e-mailed the doctors and told them what was going on.

  “Wow. So there are people alive further out,” Cindy whispered.

  “Makes you wonder about the rest of the world.” Pepper said. “Usually we’re so busy around here, I don’t think beyond the county,” Pepper said. “I forget about oceans and what’s on the other side.”

  “Can’t be good over there, that’s for sure,” Dan said. “I’d hate to face down a swarm with nothing but clubs and swords.”

  Both girls nodded. Jennifer started to fuss from her crib. Dan went over, picked her up and with a little kiss on the forehead, he handed her to Pepper. She nuzzled her mother, who lifted her shirt. Jennifer found what she wanted, promptly quieted down and settled in for a meal. Dan scooped up Mikey, Cindy picked up Rachel and they all sat on the couch and softly spoke of the world.

  Chapter 24

  It was weird, talking to this guy in England, Doctor Riley Towne, on the chat box. Even thinking about it was hard to get your head around. We’d gotten a fast e-mail back from O’Shea at The Farm. He came do
wn with Tom on a helicopter two days after first contact with the man.

  “You sure this guy is legit?” Pepper asked. “I mean, just ’cause he says he’s some doctor doesn’t mean he is.”

  About that time, “Hello” came up on the screen in the little box on the site.

  “If he’s legit, he’s got the passwords to log in,” said O’Shea. He typed “hello” back with his sausage-sized fingers.

  A quick reply, comment on the weather came back. O’Shea exchanged chit-chat. Basically, they wanted to confirm they were who they said they were. Doctor Towne was in Wallingford, as London and the more urban areas were uninhabitable. O’Shea explained we were much in the same boat. He told Towne that Chicago was a cinder, along with a couple more of our towns.

  “So, you have survived this long?” Towne asked. “How many of you are left?”

  “Right now, around three hundred,” O’Shea typed back, “but we’re expecting more over the next few months.”

  “Survivors still trickling in?”

  “Births,” O’Shea answered.

  There was a long pause. We wondered if Towne was still there, thought maybe the glitchy system had booted him off.

  “Births?” Towne typed. “You are reproducing?”

  O’Shea chuckled. “Yes, we’re having babies. We’re secure enough over here for the women to be comfortable enough to want children.”

  “I have not seen an infant or pregnant woman for more than two years.”

  “We’re not totally safe, but we’re secure inside our areas. We’ve become a series of walled towns here.”

  “Do you know how many of you there are?”

  “No idea. Estimated in what we call our Alliance to be approximately five thousand people. That’s out of an area of what was millions.”

  “Understood. We are much in the same boat,” Towne typed. “There are but hundreds here. I know of no area that is totally secure. We are at the moment secure, but the hordes will follow us down from the north.”