by A. American
Fred looked up and rolled her eyes. “I’ll see you guys later.” She paused and looked at the team leader, then back to Jess, in a high-pitched voice, she said, “Is she a good witch or a bad witch?”
Mary started to laugh, and Jess replied, “Definitely a bad witch.”
Fred quickly jogged off to where she was working. By the time the team leader passed them, Jess and Mary were hard at work sawing logs. They finished their day without having Singer complain about them, and though they were happy about that, they were both very tired from the extra effort to keep her at bay. Hard physical labor was new to both of them, and with the constant presence of the team leader and the security staff, there was no downtime. They were like an all-seeing eye, and they would quickly descend on anyone not carrying their weight. Work was touted as the road to a new life—after all, the nation needed to be rebuilt and everyone needed to do their fair share.
As they walked back to their cabin, Mary said excitedly, “We get to take a shower tonight!”
“I know. I so need it after today too,” Jess said.
Getting a shower was one of the real luxuries of being in the camp. While the time under the head was limited, the water was very warm, something most people these days simply didn’t have. The showers were in a large portable building that was open on all sides, save for small partitions between the shower heads. Once inside the trailer, everyone undressed. After everyone was in position the water was turned on—there was no individual control of the water. A timer would automatically shut the water off after seven minutes.
Jess was already dressed by the time the water cut off. She wanted to head over to the medical tent to see her brother as soon as possible. Without dropping her dirty laundry off, she headed straight there, humming to herself as she walked along.
Once inside the medical tent, she was met by a disinterested-looking young man behind a desk. He didn’t say anything, so after a couple of seconds of waiting she said quietly, “Um, excuse me.”
With a long sigh, he looked up from the papers in front of him. “What?”
“I’m here to see my brother.”
“Name?” he asked in a labored tone as he looked back to the sheaf of papers in front of him.
“Last name’s Reeves.”
The young man flipped through the papers, going back to the start a couple of times. After a moment, he stood up and said, “Wait here,” and walked off toward the other end of the tent. Jess tried to look down long structure to see her brother, but the lights were too low for her to see clearly. After what seemed like an eternity, a woman in scrubs came walking back up front. A stethoscope hung around her neck and she looked tired.
“Jess?” the woman said tentatively.
“Yes, that’s me. Is everything okay with my brother?”
The nurse pursed her lips tightly, and Jess’s stomach hit the floor. The nurse wrung her hands and said, “I’m so sorry. He passed away late last night. We tried everything we could to save him, but his injuries were too severe. I’m very sorry.”
Jess stood there dumbfounded, unable to form words.
“Are you going to be okay?” the nurse asked.
“Can I see his—” She paused at the thought of what she was about to say. “Can I see him?”
“I’m sorry, dear . . . but we don’t have the facilities to store them.” The nurse paused for a moment as well. “We have to bury them right away. I’m so sorry. You do understand, don’t you?”
Jess slowly nodded her head, and with great effort she turned and walked out of the tent. Once she made it outside, the tears started rolling down her face. She’d already suffered so much loss that one more death, that of the last living member of her family, was blunted by those that had gone before. She was becoming numb—one of the scariest feelings she had known. Slowly she made her way back to her tent, making sure to wipe the tears before entering.
Inside, Mary was sitting with Donna and Fred, carrying on a lively conversation. Jess went straight to her bunk and fell onto it, covering her head with her pillow. Mary called out to her, asking her to come over. When Jess didn’t respond, Mary walked over and plopped down on the bed beside her.
“Hey, girl, are you all right? How’s your brother?”
Jess didn’t look up, she just shook her head. For a moment Mary sat there, smile fading, “Oh, Jess, I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do for you?”
Jess simply shook her head, fighting back tears. Mary patted Jess’s hand and left her to be alone with her thoughts.
Chapter 10
I don’t trust those kids,” Mike said as we walked over to the cabins.
“Wha’daya mean?” Sarge asked.
“I just think they’re going to be trouble.”
We found the cabins as we left them, with one exception. Someone had tried to pry the locks off, without success. Mike took one look at it and muttered, “Bet I know who did this.”
We unloaded all the gear into the cabin as quickly as possible—we needed to make it back to the house to try for a second run. After all the gear was stored, we took a minute to set up the radio, stringing the antenna in a tall pine tree and doing a radio check. Ted answered right away, and the signal was strong and clear.
“How are we going to get that water to be safe to drink? I don’t want to get sick like that girl,” Jeff said.
“We’ll have to boil it for now. We’ll make a filter later,” Mike said.
“I should have thought of that. I’ve got the Berkey filter, but it’s not going to be big enough for all of us. I have a spare set of filters and enough buckets that we can make one that will do five gallons at a shot,” I said.
“That needs to be on the next trip,” Sarge said.
As we headed back toward the vehicles, we talked about a plan for the other cabins. For now, we would leave them secured with the locks on them. That way Mike and Jeff only had to worry about keeping watch over one. If and when we needed to bug out, they would open the other cabins for us. We set up a schedule for radio contacts throughout the day; if they had any trouble they were to call and we would do likewise.
“If you guys think of anything you need, holler at Ted and we’ll make sure to bring it on the next trip,” Sarge said.
The guys nodded and we hopped in our vehicles to head back to the neighborhood.
“I want to come stay here! It looks fun,” Taylor said.
“It would be an experience, that’s for sure.” This was a common phrase I used on the girls. I once asked them if they knew what an experience was and I told them that an experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. By that definition, they were getting loads of experience in this new world.
She just smiled at me and went back to looking out the window. As we passed Chase’s place there was no sign of anyone outside. The rest of the trip was uneventful, and once we got back, there was another pile of gear ready to go. Everyone pitched in and it was loaded in no time. I told Sarge that I was going to go and get the filter ready and we could head out as soon as it was ready.
I told Taylor I’d be right back, and ran home on Danny’s Polaris. I went into the shop and found the spare filters and the parts kit for the Berkey. The kit contained all the gaskets and grommets needed for the filters and a replacement spigot.
Little Bit popped her head into the shop. “What’cha doin’, Daddy?”
“Gonna make a water filter for the guys down on the creek.”
“Can I help?”
“Sure.”
Grabbing an empty five-gallon food-grade bucket, I cut most of the top out of lid, leaving enough of a rim so that a bucket could sit on top of it. Next, I needed to drill the holes for the filters.
“Can I do it?” Little Bit asked excitedly, hopping up and down on one foot.
“You can help.”
U
sing a cordless drill, we drilled four holes into the bottom of the second bucket, with her squeezing the trigger and me holding on to make sure it didn’t bind up. Next, we inserted the filter elements through the holes with one of the rubber washers on either side and a plastic wing nut on the bottom. To finish, we drilled a hole through the side about an inch from the bottom and attached the spigot.
“That was fun! I like to work,” she said. I smiled at her.
We could now pour the top bucket full and it would filter into a second bottom one. Having the black Berkey elements in this assembly would take out anything harmful and would filter thousands of gallons of water. Setting the buckets with the filters inside the other, I strapped them to the rack on the Polaris with a couple of bungee cords and climbed on to leave.
As we were just about to leave, Danny and Bobbie stopped by with the Suburban and waved. Bobbie stuck her head out the window. “Tell Mel and Lee Ann to come out!” Little Bit ran back in the house to get them, and a few minutes later, Mel and Lee Ann hopped in the back. Little Bit hopped back on the Polaris, and we got in line behind the Suburban. The load on Danny’s trailer looked as full as the first trip, but when we pulled up to the barn, we could see that Sarge’s trailer was empty.
“What are we doing here? Looks like you got a full load already,” I said as I helped Little Bit get off.
Danny replied, “Sarge wants to get a couple of the hogs moved out to the river as well.”
I looked at the barn, then back to him. “And how the hell we going to do that?”
“Catch ’em and tie up, toss ’em in the trailer and take ’em,” Reggie said.
I thought about it for a second. “Makes sense, I guess. Are we going to pen up against the river?”
“Yeah, taking that solar hot wire,” Reggie said.
“It still works?” I asked.
“Yeah, wanna test it?”
Danny and I laughed at the same time. “No, I’ll take your word for it. Thanks, though.”
We walked toward the barn, where Sarge, Ted and Doc were looking over the side of the one of the pens. All the girls were gathered around the picnic table talking when Sarge turned and called out to them, “You two bigguns come over here.”
Lee Ann and Taylor looked at me quizzically. I shrugged and we walked over to him.
Sarge pointed into the pen. “You two get in there an’ catch us a couple of them hogs.”
The girls were horrified. They looked at one another, and Lee Ann asked, “Dad?”
“Sorry, guys, don’t look to me for help,” I said with a smile.
They looked back at Sarge, who was as straight-faced as a gambler. “Come on, get in there. They ain’t gonna eat ya.” They were not convinced. “Come on, I’ll help.” Sarge opened the pen door and waited. They weren’t budging.
“Come on! Let’s catch some pigs,” I said and headed for the pen. They reluctantly followed.
“I can catch a pig!” Little Bit shouted.
“Just wait, let’s see if your sisters can first,” I said.
The process of catching the pigs was filled with squeals and shrieks. The pigs added their own complaints to the racket. At first, the girls were very reluctant to grab them, but after I climbed in, we cornered one. Grabbing it by the hind leg. I told Taylor to grab the other. It took her a minute, but she did, and we pulled it out. Sarge showed them how to loop the rope around their hocks and what sort of knot to tie. Those who weren’t involved in the wrangling were leaned over the pen laughing and shouting. For a few minutes, we were removed from the reality of our situation. It felt good to laugh.
Once the pigs were loaded into Sarge’s trailer, Mel and Bobbie asked to go see the cabins. They said that if they were going to have to live there, they wanted to see the place first. After a few minutes we decided the girls would go with Danny, Sarge and I.
Once again, Sarge would lead the way with Danny and Bobbie riding with them. At first Bobbie didn’t understand why they needed a ride in the buggy with Sarge, and he explained to them that it was for security. She shuddered a bit. This was one of the first times in a while that the girls had been outside of our neighborhood.
As we drove up to the corner store, Sarge turned off the road into the parking lot.
“What are we doing here?” Mel asked.
“I have no idea, but we’re about to find out.”
I pulled up beside him to ask what he was doing. He said he wanted to see if they had any gas that we could trade for, and asked me if I knew who was running the show. An old woman soon came out of store, giving us the stink eye. I nodded toward her. “I think you’ve found the ringleader of this circus.”
The boys she paid for security were watching Sarge carefully as he approached the woman.
“How y’all doing today?” he said, nodding at her and her detail.
“Fair to middlin’,” the old lady replied.
“You got any gas left in them tanks?”
“Gas, we got gas. What’cha tradin’?”
“Well, what are you takin’?”
“Beans and bullets, mostly.”
“How many of each do you need for fifty gallons of gas?”
The old woman rubbed her chin, looking from side to side. “I don’t know, that’s a lot of gas.”
“I’ll tell you what, we got to run down the road and drop this stuff off, and we’ll be coming back. How about you think on it for a while and tell me what you need.”
“All right, I’ll think on it.”
Sarge turned and started to walk back toward the vehicles, but after a few steps, he stopped. He took off his hat and made a show of scratching his head, and said to the old woman, “How about a live hog?”
The old woman squinted an eye again. “You got live pigs?”
“We got a couple.”
As the old woman’s tongue ran over her sunken lips, Sarge knew he had her.
“How big them hogs?”
“Come look for yourself,” he said, gesturing toward the vehicles.
The group walked over to Sarge’s buggy, where he pointed at the trussed-up hogs lying in the trailer.
“Big enough?”
The old woman looked at the boys with her. Their faces gave it away: fresh meat right in front of them. The old woman’s eyes darted back and forth from the hogs to Sarge. He knew it was time to make his play.
“Tell you what, I got one that’s bigger than these ones. How ’bout I bring by that one and five pounds of pinto beans, because Lord knows you can’t eat beans without some fatback in ’em, for say, seventy-five gallons of gas?”
The old woman looked at him. “You say it’s bigger than these?”
Sarge nodded.
“All right, that’s a deal.” The old woman stuck her hand out and Sarge shook it.
“We’ll be back later this evening with your hog.”
“And my beans,” the old woman said with a smile.
The old woman and her boys turned back to the store. As Sarge walked past me he smiled. “Not a bad trade, huh? One hog and some beans for seventy-five gallons of gas.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Not a bad trade at all.”
We pulled back on Highway 42 and continued into the forest. The ride was quiet; Mel and the girls seemed to be enjoying getting away from home. We turned off on the dirt road by Chase’s house, and as we passed by we could see the teenage boys sitting on the porch. As we rode by, they looked up, obviously bored as hell. Mel turned to the girls in the back and asked if they knew them. She got the same answer Taylor had given me earlier, that they were stoners and losers.
Jeff and Mike were hard at work when we arrived—sort of. Both of them had been down at the river fishing, and had fish laid out on the ground in front of them. When we pulled up, they laid the rods down and came to help unload.
“Nice to see you two enjoying yourselves,” Sarge barked as they walked up.
“We gotta eat, ya know,” Mike said.
Sarge gave him the hairy eyeball. “How’s the fishin’?”
“Pretty good actually, lot of fish out there,” Jeff said.
“Good, leave some for the rest of us. Let’s get to work.”
Mel, Bobbie and the girls went into the cabin to check it out. The interiors of the cabins were very simple. Bare plywood floors and walls made for a dreary feel.
“Hey, this is cool!” Little Bit shouted as she came through the door.
Mel and Bobbie were standing, taking it all in.
“What do you think?” Bobbie asked.
“It wouldn’t be my first choice,” Mel answered.
“You know how hard it’s going to be do anything without a table?” Bobbie said.
“We can do it like the Japanese do, and sit on the floor,” Taylor said with a smile.
“I’m not Japanese”—Bobbie slapped her knees—“and these old knees don’t like to crawl around on the floor.”
Looking around, Lee Ann asked, “Where’s the bathroom?”
“It’s called a hole outside,” Mel answered. Lee Ann wrinkled her nose.
“It smells like the cabins at my summer camp,” Lee Ann said.
Bobbie leaned close to Mel. “It smells like bum ass.”
Mel laughed. “Really? And how would you have a frame of reference?”
Mel and Bobbie walked to the front of the cabin. “At least the view is nice,” Bobbie said.
“Yeah, but can you imagine what the mosquitos will be like in the summer?”
Bobbie ran a hand over the screen in the window. “Thankfully, there are screens.”
Mel looked around. “Just the thought of being stuck out here . . . no running water, no bathroom”—she waved her hand in the air—“this, this isn’t a house. I don’t know what to call it, really.”
“It’s still better than sleeping in a tent,” Bobbie said gently.