by P. A. Glaspy
They headed toward the gate. Bob returned with the sheets. Ryan had been silent the whole time. When Bob started to cover Bill’s body, Ryan stepped up to him and held his hands out. “I’ll do it. He’s my brother.”
Bob handed him one of the sheets and Sara the other. While Ryan covered Bill’s entire body, including his face, Sara left Pete’s face exposed as she covered his body with trembling hands. She looked to us when she had finished.
“Tony will need to see his face. He’ll need that to believe it’s his dad and that he’s gone. I just want to cover up the blood and the wounds.”
She stood up, ran her hand through his hair, and turned toward the house. She started to walk back when Bob touched her arm. “Hey, let me go get him. As soon as he sees your face, he’ll know something bad has happened. It’ll freak him out, and that will probably radiate through all the kids. Let’s get him out here first, then we can tell the rest of them. He needs to be able to do this without a bunch of folks watching.”
Sara looked at him and nodded, with just a hint of a smile on her lips. “That’s a good idea. Thank you, Bob. I’ll just wait here with Pete.”
Bob went to the house to get Tony and was met by Ben and Rusty at the door. They had both been crying. We had forgotten they were upstairs. They would have seen everything from up there. Bob hugged them both and told them to go back upstairs; we’d come get them in a few minutes. He called to Millie in the basement and asked her to send Tony up, but keep the rest of the kids down there for just a bit longer. Millie and Janet had figured out something was tragically wrong, and now they knew for sure it involved Pete. Millie hugged Tony as he went through the door. Tony looked confused and concerned. Kids aren’t stupid. They know when something’s wrong. They just don’t normally assume it involves their parents. Unfortunately, “normal” had been gone for everyone since the pulse.
When he saw his mother’s face, Tony knew. His dad was gone. Without even seeing him, or perhaps because he didn’t see him, he knew their worst nightmare had come to life. He ran to his mother, who opened her arms to receive her son. He looked around her waist and saw his dad’s body.
“NOOOOO!!! Dad!!! Dad, nooooo!!!” Over and over, in a voice filled with anguish, he tried to deny what his eyes told him. Sara held him tightly as the rest of us backed away to give them a modicum of privacy, except for Ryan. Still dealing with his own loss, he went to the small family – smaller now – and wrapped his arms around them both. They returned the gesture, all needing comfort and sympathy for their loss and knowing that, at that moment, the three of them understood it more than the rest of us could.
****
Monroe and the guys met the sheriff at the front gate. With everything that had happened, they were disinclined to remove the large post to enable opening the gate, so they pushed the fake foliage aside to see each other, taking care to not get into the razor wire on top. When Gary saw the somber looks on their faces, he knew something was up.
“Hey Monroe, fellas. Everything okay?”
“No, Gary, it isn’t. We just had a run-in with some assholes, and they killed two of our people while we were working to get things ready for the townsfolk to start a garden. Ironic, ain’t it – we’re trying to help folks and lose some of ours in the process!”
The sheriff was taken aback at the forcefulness of Monroe’s remarks, as well as the words he had spoken. “What?? What happened?? Can I do anything to help??”
“It’s too late to help the ones we lost. The fellas think Ryan took one of them down, and that he’s laying outside the fence over there on the Thompsons’ side. If you want to go take a look, see who did this, we’ll meet ya over there. We’ve got a way to get there through the fence. I’m sure you can understand why we wouldn’t want to open the gate.”
“Sure thing, Monroe. I’ll meet y’all over there.”
Gary went back to his truck where Tim was waiting for him. They had decided to come out together today so that, more than anything else, Tim could see what had been going on while he was safe and sound in the sheriff’s office. While Gary didn’t fault him for it, he was disappointed that Tim hadn’t cared enough about anyone but himself to have at least checked on some of the folks in town to see if he could do anything to help. But that was the difference between doing a job because you loved it and were committed to your community, or doing it for a paycheck, he thought to himself. Tim was definitely in the latter group, and since he wasn’t getting a check anytime soon, he took his pay however he could get it.
He told Tim what Monroe had relayed to him, and that they were going to go see who had been left behind, to see if it was someone they knew. They had seen some unfamiliar faces in town today, and Gary had surmised that people were making their way further into the country, trying to escape what had to be horrendous conditions in the cities by now. He knew why, but that didn’t stop him from worrying about the path they would be going down very soon. With limited resources already, he didn’t see how they could handle feeding more folks than they had right now. It was something he would have to talk to the mayor about when he got back. Right now, they needed to deal with this situation.
When the sheriff told Tim what had happened, Alan immediately came to mind. Would he do something like this? Was he capable of cold-blooded murder? Tim was pretty sure the answer was yes. Gary also told him there was a dead body and they were going over to see who it was. Tim figured there was a fifty-fifty chance it was Alan, Rich, or Steve.
****
Clay was freaking out. How could he get over there and get Jay with the sheriff around? He’d ask questions about how this happened. What would Clay say? How could he explain how horribly wrong everything had gone today? All they were trying to do was get by. Yeah, they had planned on breaking into some houses, but only of the people who weren’t there and wouldn’t need the supplies. Yeah, he had tried to break into the Dotson house before but he learned his lesson on that one: don’t screw with people who are really good hunters, because there’s a really good chance they have guns in there they are really good at using.
It didn’t matter. He had to go over there to get his brother. The sheriff knew who they were and would be coming around asking questions at home. It‘s gonna be hard enough to explain to Momma that Jay’s dead. I don’t need the sheriff there making it worse.
He pulled in the drive as Gary was coming in from the other direction. He was heading to the spot he’d left the body. Gary pulled in behind him and followed. Might as well get this over with, Clay thought to himself. Looks like I’ll have some help after all getting Jay in the truck.
He stopped at the spot where his brother’s body lay and got out of Keith’s truck. He thought it looked like Jay was sleeping, except for the hole in his forehead. The sheriff stopped behind him, effectively blocking Clay from leaving without Gary moving his truck. He and Tim joined Clay beside Jay’s body.
“Looks like you’ve had some trouble this morning, son. Want to tell me about it?”
Clay slowly nodded and began telling the tale of what had happened that morning. When Tim heard Alan’s name, he wasn’t the least bit surprised. He was more surprised the body didn’t belong to one of his former high school buddies than that they were involved.
When Clay finished, Gary looked at Jay, then back to Clay. “Pretty high price your family paid today. Was it worth it?”
Clay became indignant. “Well, what are we supposed to do, Sheriff? Sit home and starve? Ain’t no stores selling food. EBT cards don’t work anymore. How are we gonna eat? How are we gonna live??”
“Like everybody else, Clay. You work for it. Do you know why that man you boys killed – the one on the tractor – was out there today? He was clearing land and a path in for people who don’t have yards, or seed, or tractors, or the know-how to grow food. Monroe Warren was opening up a section of his place to help folks like that. People who work the land will get a portion of the food for their families. You say you don’t know anything
about hunting? There are people who do know and can show you, teach you how to hunt, how to clean the game. But now, two of their people are dead. Do you think they’ll still be willing to help anybody else out?”
Just as Gary was finishing that speech, Monroe and company walked up. When Monroe saw Clay, he turned red with anger. “The answer to that would be hell no! How did I know you would be one of the ones involved in this, Clay Glass? You can’t shoot a squirrel or a rabbit, but you can kill a man who’s trying to help other folks out?? That man had a family; a wife and a young son. The other man you killed was the only blood family one of our folks had. Sheriff, I want him locked up. We need some kind of trial, a speedy one, so we can hang his ass in the town square.”
Clay’s eyes grew large at Monroe’s rage. “No, Mr. Warren, it wasn’t me; it wasn’t me or Clay. They made us come with them! They made us show them this place. We weren’t shooting at your people! We tried to get them to stop. They wouldn’t listen to us, even threatened to shoot us, too. We didn’t; we wouldn’t-“
Monroe interrupted him. “Don’t lie to me, boy! You threatened to come back to my place shootin’ just a few days ago! You may not have this time, but I believe you could and would do it. What are you gonna do about this, Gary?”
Sheriff Burns looked to be doing some serious contemplating. He finally looked at Monroe. “Honestly, Monroe, I don’t know what we should do here. As far as I can tell, there isn’t really any ‘government’ to speak of right now. I can’t house prisoners in the jail – I can’t feed them. I don’t know what my authority is right now.”
“I’ll tell you what your authority is, Sheriff. The sheriff is the supreme law in the county. He outranks state and federal forces. The state and the Feds seem to have forgotten that. With no other law enforcement, it falls on you to keep the peace. Since you can’t feed him, we need a speedy trial, just like in the Old West days, with a quick commuting of the sentence. All we need is a judge and a couple of lawyers. Surely there’s someone in town to fill those seats.”
Gary nodded firmly at Monroe. He turned to Clay. “Son, I’m gonna have to take you in. I’ll help you get your brother’s body home to your momma, but then you’re gonna have to come with me. Tim, you drive his truck once we get Jay in it. Clay will ride in mine.”
Clay started crying. “NO, NO PLEASE! I didn’t do anything! I can’t go to jail! Who’ll take care of Momma??”
Monroe looked at him, emotionless. “You should have thought about that before you took up with them murderous thugs, boy.”
CHAPTER 27
We laid Pete and Bill to rest the next day on the hill next to the spot Monroe had set aside for him and Millie. Monroe read a passage from the Bible, very fitting to the situation.
“The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity; he enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness.” Isaiah 57:1-2
Sara and Tony were supporting each other in their grief. To me, this was normal and healthy. It is never good to try holding all that pain inside. That was the very reason we were concerned for Ryan. The joking, grinning, fun-loving young man we had come to know had left us. In his place was a silent, brooding, dangerous-looking guy. Every effort we made to sympathize with him was gently but firmly rebuffed. He sought solitude rather than family.
As we headed back to the house, I pulled Russ and Mike aside and let the rest of our group go on. When I thought we were out of earshot of Ryan, at least, I shared my concerns with them.
“I’m really worried about Ryan. He doesn’t talk to anyone unless they point blank address him, and then it’s the bare minimum he can get away with for a response. He hasn’t eaten a thing since yesterday before it all happened. He insisted on taking his regular watch schedule this morning when we tried to substitute Carrie in his place. I don’t know what we can or need to do for him, but I feel like we should keep an eye on him.”
“I hear you, Anne, and I have been trying to keep up with him without being too obvious.” Mike’s face was grim as he continued. “He’s in a bad place right now, and he’s got to get through this in the way that’s best for him. All we can do is let him know we’re here for him if/when he needs us and give him space. I saw this when I served, when we lost men. Their best friends, brothers-in-arms, wanted nothing more than to make those responsible pay for the pain they were feeling. I think that’s where Ryan is right now. He’s hurting so bad and he wants those men to feel his pain. The best thing we can do is keep him from doing something stupid.”
We were so wrapped up in our conversation we didn’t realize Ryan had come up behind us. I physically jumped when he spoke. “I appreciate you guys worrying about me, I really do. I know you love me and consider me family. I feel the same. And yes, that’s exactly what I want: I want those fuckers DEAD. But, I’m not going to go off half-cocked trying to take them out by myself. Just promise me, Mike, that when the time is right, we find them and end them. I can’t stand the thought of them walking around, breathing, eating, laughing, or anything else when I just put my brother in the ground.”
He looked back up the hill to the spot we’d just left. The night before, Lee had made some really nice markers, waterproofed and sealed, and the morning sun was glinting off of the shiny surface that was the result of his hard work. Mike laid a hand on Ryan’s shoulder as we continued walking back toward the house.
“We will, brother, you have my word. Just not right now, not yet. We need to do some healing. We need to beef up security. We need to retrain everybody on protocols – NO ONE goes ANYWHERE alone again. EVERYONE we don’t know is a potential threat. We’re going to have to rethink how to keep our security in place and keep our people safe if we decide to go through with this plan to let folks from town in to work that land back there.”
We had caught up to the rest of the group and Monroe heard that last part. “I already told the sheriff I didn’t know if we were gonna go through with it. I absolutely am not comfortable with anybody being on our land that’s not a part of our group now.”
Millie, who almost always deferred to whatever the rest of us thought, felt or said, surprised us all. “Monroe, would you condemn all the people in town we could help with this new garden on the actions of a few bad men? I’m almost positive those men are not from town. I would think the ones who could be helped would be willing to provide security for the land that holds the garden, as well as the area between there and here, for themselves and us. Surely you can make that part of the deal? I’m sure Gary would agree with those terms. If not, then we close it back up; just take care of our own.”
Monroe leaned over and kissed his wife on the cheek. “Alright, Millie darlin’. We’ll try it your way. Gary’ll be back in a day or so. I think he wanted to give us time to take care of our business and simmer down some – not that it’s likely we’ll do that anytime soon. Plus, he has to figure out how to deal with that Glass boy AND try to find those assholes who did this to our people. We’ve all got stuff to do for now.”
Sara walked up to Mike, tears still glistening in her eyes. “I want you to teach me and Tony how to shoot. I don’t mean the target practice stuff I’ve been doing. I mean pistols, shotguns, rifles – all of it. I want both of us to be as comfortable with any kind of gun as you are. I was stupid to think we could go on the way things used to be, helping those less fortunate than us. All that got us was pain and loss. No more, Mike. Pete wanted to spend more time with you on gun training and I talked him out of it. I told him we were safe here, that it wasn’t like being out on the road and there were plenty of other people here who could handle that part. I was wrong; so, so very wrong. I was scared of guns; I still am. But I don’t want to be, not anymore. I’ve already lost my husband. No one is taking my son from me.”
Mike didn’t say anything, just nodded back at her. Sara then addressed the rest of us.
“I
owe you all an apology. I was blind to what the world is becoming. I didn’t want to see it for what it is: a place where no one is safe any longer. I see that now, though it’s too late for my husband. I hold a degree of responsibility for his death. I told him it couldn’t be as bad out there as you all were making it out to be. I told him WE didn’t have to resort to violence, that we were better than that. Again, I was very, very mistaken. If we never help anyone outside of the people here now, I’m fine with that. You are the only ones I care about now. I will fight by your side to keep us all safe from harm.”
I was speechless; I think we all were. Honestly, I had expected Sara to go in the opposite direction. You know, “See how dangerous guns are? No one should have them!” The path many people mistakenly take after an event like this, without considering that the bad guys would never give their guns up. Yet, here she was, eyes wide open, dots connected, seeing the world for what it was becoming – a scary, dangerous place.
Russ gave Sara a small smile. “No apology needed, Sara. None of us want to think about what the world out there is becoming, but we have no choice. We can try to plan for the worst possible situations, and we still won’t be ready for them. This is a perfect example. We were probably all too complacent, feeling a false sense of security. We couldn’t see the world outside the farm, so we thought it couldn’t see us. We were wrong. Starting today, we will prepare for the inevitable: people are going to die trying to survive. We don’t want any of those people to be one of us again. We will remain vigilant. We will take nothing for granted.”
“It’s going to get worse, folks.” Mike replied. “We’re far enough into this now that many people have died from illness and starvation. The scavengers have already been through all the empty houses. They’ll be starting on the ones that have people in them and taking by force whatever those people have left, which probably isn’t much. As the population dwindles down, we are going to be left with pretty much three factions: good folks like us, trying to eke out a life, working together for the common good, not bothering anybody else but willing to do what we have to do to insure our safety and keep our supplies; assholes like the ones who killed our people, trying to eke out a life by taking from others. By the way, those people will start forming gangs, to increase their numbers, in turn increasing their level of force. Problem is the more mouths they have to feed, the more violent they will become to get what they need to survive. They will be our most imminent threat.”