Fifty Falling Stars

by Wesley Higginbotham

  “Me too.” Kirk agreed. “We just have to do it carefully and hope they don’t shoot first and ask questions later.”

  Kirk led the family a couple hundred yards back down the hill. He filled them in on what he and Clay had seen. When he finished, he could see Scott was agitated. He pressed on and suggested that the family develop a plan to approach the town.

  “I don’t like it. I doubt they’ll take us in. Even if they do, we’ve been in places that offered safety before. They’ve all failed. Why should this place be any different?” Scott said. “I think we need to keep going to my brother’s down in Alabama.”

  Kirk knew that Scott had changed when Tara died and had expected some eventual resistance. He just hadn’t thought it would be over something like this. “So, what’s so great about you brother’s place?” Kirk asked.

  “It’s remote. We can farm there and live off the land, like you’ve taught us. We’ll be safe there.”

  “Assuming your brother is still alive and his farm hasn’t been ransacked by roaming refugees or that your brother himself hasn’t left the farm, how long do you think we will be able to survive there?”

  “As long as it takes.” Scott answered. The rest of the family listened to the debate. They could sense their future being decided by the group’s leaders, one who had the foresight to lead them away from danger in the beginning of the collapse and one who had the ability to keep them alive in the wilderness.

  “As long as it takes until what?” Kirk prodded.

  “Until everything goes back to normal or at least stabilizes.”

  “And what if it never does? Have you thought that far in advance?”

  “It will. It has to.” Scott said.

  “I agree with you, Scott. Everything will eventually come back together. I’m just not sure it will be in our lifetime.”

  “What do you mean?” Clay interjected.

  “When Rome fell, it took almost a thousand years for things to get back on track. We call that the Dark Ages. I’m not saying that this is on that scale, but I don’t know that it’s not. Look at all of the shit we’ve seen in the last couple of months. Things definitely seem medieval to me out there.”

  “Surely it can’t take that long.” Scott said.

  “But what if it does?” Kirk asked. He knew his next question would hit a nerve, but he didn’t see a way around it. “Would you condemn Jimmy and Lucy to live out in isolation with no prospects of finding love or having a real life, just taking care of us old guys until we died and they were left alone?”

  “Of course not!” Truth be told, Scott had never thought that far ahead. Could Kirk be right? After all, wasn’t Scott the one that had said all along that this may be a permanent problem?

  “It’s not what Tara would have wanted either.” Kirk said.

  “How the hell would you know what she wanted? You only spent a couple of weeks with her. How dare you bring her into this!” Scott almost yelled.

  “She never told you about the night we became friends, did she?” Kirk asked.

  “She said you two had a heart to heart, and once she got to know you, she thought you were an ok guy. It took her a while to convince us of that.”

  Kirk laughed. “Let me tell you the real story. I was on watch that night. After you went to sleep, she came to talk to me. She thought I was a threat and didn’t know what to do with me. Anyway, she came to me that night with that pistol Jimmy is carrying. I truly think she intended to kill me that night if she didn’t like my answers. We both knew that she didn’t have a good chance, but she was willing to try, even if it meant her life.”

  “She wouldn’t do that.” Scott said. “Tara didn’t even like guns. Even with everything that had happened, I just can’t see her actually killing someone.”

  “She was a strong woman.” Kirk said. “Sure, she was the kind that sat quietly while the world crashed around her and didn’t make a big fuss; but when it came to her family, she was willing to do anything to protect them. That’s how a lot of women are. They hide their true strength until they face a real threat. She got over her fear of the gun, of me, and the idea of killing someone because her family was in danger. Or so she thought. That’s how I got to know your wife.”

  Kirk paused. He locked eyes with Scott. “So, yeah. I can say that she wouldn’t want to force her grandchildren to live out in isolation and miss out on a chance to have a life. I can say that she’d do anything to give Lucy and Jimmy and Sherry the kind of life they deserved, the kind of life where they would have a chance to be happy.”

  “So why do you want to go down to that goddamned town so bad?” Scott spat.

  “Because, there’s safety in numbers, if they’re the right kind of numbers. I think those people are the right kind, not only for what they have, but for what they’ve done with it. Those people have fortified the town with multiple levels of defense. They have started farming and building new buildings. They seem to have electricity. I think those lights Sherry and I saw the other night were the streetlights from the town reflected off the clouds. Whoever’s in charge down there has the right idea. They’re not just building to survive this disaster. They’re building something that can last. They’re laying the groundwork to thrive.”

  “That’s taking it a little far.” Scott said.

  “I don’t think so. They’ve got all of the right ingredients to establish a thriving community. They have security, food, water, and from what we could tell at a glance, the drive to make it into something more. Hell, in times like these, that’s the jackpot. They’re building a place where Lucy and Jimmy can join a community, grow up, have a family, and some stability in their lives. In all of our travels put together, we haven’t come across a place like this. A place with a real chance. I think it’s at least worth looking into.”

  “Well, I don’t. I say we keep avoiding the towns and people like you’ve been suggesting.”

  Kirk studied the ground in front of him and sighed. He knew this was a big gamble. This would either split the group or put control of the back into Scott’s hands. He liked Scott, he really did; but Scott just didn’t have the background to see them through their journey, or to end it when they found the right spot. If it all went badly, Kirk could only hope that the training he had given Lucy, Jimmy, and the rest would give them a chance. “Then I guess this is where we part ways.” He said to the ground.

  The family took in a sharp breath, stunned and hurt by Kirk’s words. “You can’t!” Sherry said. “How could you even say something like that?”

  “Because,” Kirk said, “as good as we’ve had it out here in the woods, we have to find a home. Things won’t always go so well living out here. We’ve been extremely fortunate this far. When winter comes, we’ll need to be settled somewhere. It’s hard to live out like this when it gets cold. It’s a whole other ballgame. Things that are an inconvenience now, will become unbearable or life threatening. Even if I was alone, I would probably find someplace to winter by the middle of fall and start preparing. This place looks as good as anything we’re going to find.”

  “Well, I wish you luck.” Scott said.

  “Dad, no!” Sherry protested.

  Clay and Leesha had been watching the whole interchange, not feeling they had a place in it. They knew that they did, but the feel of the conversation seemed an internal family dispute. Clay guessed that was right since Kirk and Sherry were now and item. He made his mind up without speaking. He walked over to stand behind Kirk. Leesha followed him.

  Sherry watched Clay and Leesha make their feelings known. She couldn’t believe that Kirk would leave them. She wasn’t about to let him. “Then me and the kids are going with Kirk.” She announced.

  “No.” Lucy cried as she ran over and put her arms around Scott. “I’m going with Grandpa.”

  That hurt Kirk more than he cared to admit. He looked at her and Scott.

  “What about you, Jimmy?” Scott asked.

  “I’m going with mom and K
irk.”

  Scott looked on the verge of tears. Kirk knew that he had hurt the man. He just hoped that Scott would be able to forgive him one day. Scott looked down at Lucy. “Sweetheart, we can’t go on by ourselves. As much as I don’t trust this town, the family seems to have spoken; and we need to stick together.” He looked up at Kirk. “You better be right about this, Kirk.”

  Chapter 26

  Will stood in the northern watch tower of the eastern gate to Celina. The barricade stood on the western bank, allowing a clear view of the fifty-yard-long bridge and the road beyond for another two hundred yards. The last ten days had been exciting and troublesome. The town sat on edge since a group of thirty-five refugees had tried to gain access. The guards tried to turn them away since the group didn’t contain anyone that possessed any skills the town needed. The group had not reacted well, threatening to attack the wall. The guards had been forced to fire on them. Seven of the refugees died before the group fled.

  Will felt bad about turning people away, but food supplies had begun to run low in town. The stockpile that the town had stored away had dwindled quickly. The town had reached the limit of people it could support. The sheriff had instructed the guards to turn everyone away who didn’t have specific, useful skills. The city council placed everyone on half rations until the crops began to produce. Joey estimated that the first harvest was still over a month and a half away.

  Will let his mind wonder as he watched the road. He marveled at how people, who had operated outside the bounds of seasons and natural cycles only a few short months ago because of their vast shipping networks and preservation methods, had been slapped back to a very real, very dependent relationship with Mother Nature. Before, the seasons had meant little besides vacations in the summer. Nothing had been unobtainable or out of stock because it had been shipped in from some place where it grew that time of year. Now the seasons meant toil and work during the good times to prepare for the bad times. As his mind worked through scenarios the primitive lifestyle would bring, Joey climbed the tower.

  Joey jolted Will out of his mental meanderings. “Hey, bro. What’s going on?”

  “Nothing much. Things have been pretty quiet. I don’t think that group is going to come back. What brings you out here?”

  “It’s kind of a slow day; so we thought we would check the condition of the walls and list any repairs that they need or ways to improve them.”

  “Like you did when you convinced the council to weld the hoods and trunks of cars to the front of the wall to make it harder to climb?”

  “Something like that.” Joey said with a grin. “So, have you and sis thought about any names for the bab…” Joey trailed off. “Holy shit! Will, I think that might be one of our refugees.”

  Will looked down the road as a single man dressed in camouflage stepped into it about fifty yards shy of the bridge. The man didn’t seem to be armed but carried what looked like a stick with a white cloth fastened to the end of it. After a few minutes of just standing there, waving his white flag to make sure that he was seen, the man walked toward the wall. He stopped as he approached the bridge. Will looked at the other guards on the wall and the other guard tower. All of them had their weapons ready, but no one had taken aim at the man. They were as confused as Will. None of the other refugees they had encountered had ever approached in such an unthreatening manner. They had all clung to their guns or some other weapons for fear something might go wrong. Only a few of them had been dressed in camouflage. Maybe the man was concealing a weapon that Will couldn’t see. Will raised his binoculars and studied him. He had first assumed that it was a black man, but Will now saw that this guy wasn’t black. He had painted his face and hands in camouflage paint. The man’s camouflage and bearing gave Will an impression of professionalism, odd for a simple refugee, even if he had been an avid hunter or woodsman before the collapse.

  As the man stood at the foot of the bridge with his arms held out to his sides, the pole with the white flag gripped in his right hand; Will’s mind raced. Surely this guy’s not part of the other refugee group. From what he had heard from the guards that had fended off the refuges, they had been a starving, rag-tag group. This guy didn’t look to be starving or disheveled. He looked hard. Will wondered why this guy would come out in the open like this. Perhaps he was a diversion for a larger group that might try to get into town from one of the other posts. Because of his military experience and his role at training the men to fight in town, Will was the senior guy at the guard post. He called down to one of the men on the ground. “Toby! Get on the radio and tell the other guard posts what’s going on here. Tell them that we have a guy who may be a diversion for another group that might try to sneak into town. Get the roving guard detail to get some more men and do a sweep of the perimeter.”

  “Will do!” Toby called up as he got on the post’s CB radio and relayed Will’s message.

  “You really think this guy’s a diversion?” Joey asked.

  “I have no idea, but this is weird.”

  Kirk looked across the bridge at the wall and the twenty or so men who guarded it. He couldn’t make out most of them since they were on the ground level behind the wall. He just caught glimpses of them through small cracks and open firing ports cut into the wall. So, far so good. At least they haven’t shot me yet. That’s got to be a good sign. Now for the hard part. Kirk lowered his pole and laid it on the ground. He bent back up and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Thank you for not shooting me. I would like to speak with whoever is in charge.”

  A man in the north tower lowered his binoculars and shouted back. “I’m in charge of this gate. What do you want?”

  “I would like to discuss the possibility of joining your town or trading for some supplies.” Kirk felt uncomfortable being out in the open. He had watched the town for two days before deciding that being up front and honest was the best course of action. He knew the guard change times and noted the routine paths taken by the roving guard patrols. He knew that he could make his way into town undetected and take whatever he wanted; however, he doubted that would get his family a new home.

  “Are you alone?”

  Kirk hesitated. He had hoped to get more information out of the guards before he exposed the family. He had taken a risk by stepping out in the road. So far, that had been the correct move. While he had made his peace with risking his own life, he hated to do that to the rest of the family. “No.”

  “How many are in your group?”

  “Seven.”

  “Where are they?”

  “Hidden in the woods.”

  “Bring them out in the road with you.” The guard said.

  Shit. He wasn’t ready to do that. “Will you let us in if they come out?”

  “It depends. We’re not taking any more refugees right now, unless you have skills that we need. Right now, those are pretty few and far between. Bring out the rest of your group.”

  “How do I know they’ll be safe?” Kirk asked.

  “What made you think you were safe stepping out in the road?”

  “I didn’t. But it’s a different thing to ask me to risk my family.”

  The man in the tower turned and conversed with one of the other men in the tower. He addressed Kirk again. “Listen, mister, we have a protocol to follow. I’m going to explain it to you. If you don’t like the terms, you can fuck off.”

  Kirk bristled at the attitude. Maybe this hadn’t been going as well as he thought, but the fact that the town had established a protocol gave him a sliver of hope. The man in the tower continued. “If you want to be let in, bring out your family and walk half-way across the bridge. Sling or holster all weapons. We will ask you some questions to determine if you have any skills that we need. If you do, you can join our town. We’ll take all of your gear and weapons and hold them for you until you complete a three-day quarantine. After your quarantine, we will return all of your equipment to you and you will be settled in town.

  “If
we decide not to let you into town, you will turn around and walk past the bridge. If you do not withdraw immediately, you will be shot. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.” Kirk yelled back. “If we don’t get into town, will you still trade with us?”

  “We will see. Now, bring out the rest of your group.”

  Kirk did not like this asshole in the tower directing him around. He tried to imagine what he would do if he was the man in the tower. After a few seconds of thought, he decided that the guy wasn’t that bad. Kirk would have probably told any refugees seeking aid to piss off. He picked up his pole with the white cloth tied to it and turned toward the east. He waved it two times on either side of his body to signal to the rest of the family that it was ok to come out.

  Clay and Leesha stepped out of the trees, followed by Sherry and Lucy. Scott and Jimmy brought up the rear, carrying Kirk’s equipment. The group walked up to Kirk, and he filled them in on what was about to happen. “I don’t know what kind of questions they are going to ask, but I think we should be honest with them.”

  “What do you think our chances of being let in here are?” Clay asked.

  “I have no idea.”

  “Do you think you’d be better off without me and Leesha?” Clay asked nervously.

  Kirk didn’t understand. “I don’t see how we would. You thinking of leaving us?”

  “No, man. It’s not that. It’s just that…well…Folks in this part of the world aren’t exactly known to be overly accommodating to brothers. They might not let us in. I’d hate to be the reason that they didn’t let you in.”

  Holy shit! I never even considered that. Kirk thought. I wonder how long they have felt that way? He looked at Clay and Leesha and saw their trepidation. “Listen, man, whether you realized it or not, you saved my ass that day we met. I won’t ever forget that. If you hadn’t wasted that asshole that got the drop on me in front of that truck, that would’ve been my end of story.” He paused, looking at each in turn. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re as much a part of our little family now as any of us, definitely more so than me. So, if they won’t take you in because of that, then they can go fuck themselves. That’s not a place I want to call home, no matter how pretty their walls and fields are.” Clay and Leesha smiled. Jimmy giggled. Lucy blushed. Kirk had been trying to curb his use of profanity around the kids. It was a hard habit to break.