“Maybe a year?” suggested Luke. “Shall we take a vote then? All those in favor of Isaac, Indigo, and myself being our first triumvirate, raise your hand.”
Everybody’s hands went up.
“And voting every year?”
Again the vote was unanimous. I guess that vote was the first step we took to planning our future. The very fact that we’d been in the Valley for just a few hours and were already scheduling something in a year’s time displayed the sense of optimism we all felt.
Over the next forty or so minutes, we managed to assign jobs and tasks for everyone and also decided it would be wise for the time being to set a nightly watch, just in case there were other not-so-friendly inhabitants in the area. Beau volunteered for that night’s first shift and it was agreed he would wake Paul at 3 A.M. to take over until morning.
It was Indigo who brought up the sleeping arrangements.
“So, what shall we do about the bedrooms?”
“Um, girls sharing with girls and boys sharing with boys,” I said, too fast.
I could feel my face burning. I had decided earlier I would suggest that arrangement, so why was I embarrassed? Probably because of Luke’s wicked grin and my own teenage awkwardness.
Of course, as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I started to think that maybe Indigo would think I didn’t want to share a room with her. I mean, I had just assumed she wouldn’t want to share with me, but I definitely didn’t want her to think that I didn’t want to share with her ... just in case she did want to! I was very confused.
She came to my rescue.
“Okay,” she said, a little smile curling her lips. “Sounds good. Brooke and I can have the room with the single beds and Ava and Allie can bunk together in the big room.”
“Are you sure?” asked Ava. “I can have a single bed if you want.”
“No, don’t be silly” said Brooke. “In your condition, I think you deserve the big bed.”
“Okay cool,” I said, the roaring flames of my embarrassment slowly dying to embers. “I’ll share with Luke.”
“I’ll share with Beau,” said Paul.
“Excellent! I’ll have a room all too myself!” said Ben.
After that awkward conversation, I brought up a far more serious one.
“It’s been a few days now since the Professor’s drones went out. I want to take a small group scouting to see what’s happened. I plan to head back to Plymouth on foot to survey the damage ... if there is any. It shouldn’t take more than a day and night. We’ll leave before dawn the day after tomorrow. Any volunteers?”
Ava was the only one who didn’t put her hand up. Given her condition, I wasn’t surprised.
“Not you, Luke, you only lost your hand a few days ago. I want you to rest up and let it heal properly.”
For once he didn’t argue.
“Ben and Paul, I’ll take you two. Indigo and Brooke, I’d rather you two stay and help Allie make sure everything runs smoothly the first few days. Beau, I want you to start getting the farm and the animals we have into shape. Luke can help as much as he can. Ava, you just need to rest up and look after you and the baby.”
I told them I would organize the mission the next day and we began discussing our plans for the farm and writing the list of chores for everyone to do. Among us, only Beau had any kind of farm experience. During our journey to the Valley, he had told us he had spent many a summer holiday on his uncle’s farm in Vermont.
We had an ample water supply. The pond at the rear of the property was huge and there was also a large rainwater tank adjacent to the farmhouse. Luke informed us the tank water would be okay to drink but we should still to go through the process of boiling our drinking water. Of course, we would have to do the same with the pond water if we ever needed it. We set up a roster for someone to collect water from the tank and boil it every day.
Like the chicken coop, we had found the gates to the pig pen open when we arrived and one of the girls had since spotted the escapees roaming the farm. With a bit of luck, they would all be on the farm somewhere. Beau’s first task would be to catch the pigs and the chickens with the help of a few volunteers.
The cattle were in good shape, grass being in plentiful supply. There were four cows, a calf, and a bull, but only the mother was giving milk. Another was pregnant and Beau informed us she would be ready to milk after she gave birth.
“The other two are kind of useless for milk unless they become pregnant. Two should produce plenty of milk for us, though.”
“That bull’s been a busy boy,” opined Ben. “Maybe he’s taking turns.”
“Yeah ... well, we’ll have to get him into another paddock so we can work with the cows. We’ll take care of the pigs first, though.”
Much to Luke’s amusement, Paul, who had actually put us on the path to the farm, was horrified at the thought of milking a cow when it was suggested we make a roster for that chore, too.
“Dude, it’s easy,” said Luke, demonstrating. His arms moved up and down, his good hand squeezed air while his bandaged stump moved up and down in sync. “You just grip and squeeze ... grip and squeeze.”
We all laughed. All except Brook. I noticed a tear glinting on her cheek in the candlelight. Luke noticed, too. His smile turned rueful and he brought his stump up and looked at it.
“Yeah, I miss it, too. It’s like my hand is still there sometimes. It aches and I swear I can even feel my fingers, but when I check ... well, it’s just old stumpy here. Which reminds me, I think bionic hands are in short supply these days, so I will need a hook. That’s my first order of business.”
“No badass post-apocalyptic survivor should be without one,” said Ben, trying to lighten the mood. “I was pretty handy at metalworking at school, so when we get back I’ll help, if you need it.”
“Thanks, that’d be cool.”
As we were saying our goodnights, Ben took the opportunity to give Brooke the crystal reindeer.
“Oh! Thank you, Ben, it’s beautiful.”
She kissed her brother on the cheek looking happier than she had a few minutes before.
It had been another long walk to reach the farm and now the excitement had worn off and we were all tired. Still a little awkward from the discussion about sleeping arrangements, I hung back awkwardly as everyone got up and went their separate ways. Indigo wasn’t awkward though, she made her way between bodies and grasped my hand in hers before whispering in my ear.
“You’re so cute.”
I blushed again, secretly pleased at her compliment as she pulled me towards the hall doorway. We made our way up the stairs hand in hand and, at the top, she kissed me gently on the lips. “Get a good night’s sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay,” I said, a sense of well-being washing over me. This new stage of our adventure had started off better than I could have imagined.
2
The next day was busy, but a lot of fun. In the morning, we all pitched in to catch the pigs and chickens. It took at least three hours and, by the time we were done, all of us were dirty, tired, and, in some cases, bleeding from our efforts.
We congratulated ourselves as we ate a lunch of Spam and mustard on Indigo’s homemade bread. The sandwiches were tasty but a little hard to swallow without a swig of water.
“Sorry, they’re so dry,” said Indigo, as she washed down a mouthful. “We have no butter.”
“I’ll make some this afternoon,” Beau promised.
Our morning tally of recaptured animals came to three pigs and seven hens. We were pretty confident we had all the pigs, but there had been sightings of more rogue chickens.
“Now the hard part, time to get the bull out of the cow paddock,” said Beau, as he licked a final few crumbs from his fingers.
“This should be fun,” said Luke. “I’ll meet you there.”
He jumped up and ran towards the farmhouse.
“Where is he going?” Beau asked.
“Best not to a
sk,” Brooke laughed. “He’ll probably come back dressed as a bullfighter.”
We all laughed, but in the end she wasn’t far wrong. Luke joined us at the gate to the main paddock carrying a small, bright red towel as we eyed the massive beast nervously. At his arrival, the bull swung his heavy, impossibly large head around and looked directly at us. The three cows and the calf didn’t pay us any mind as they chewed grass happily.
“Dude! Put that thing behind your back, will you?”
I know it was impossible, but the look in his baleful, black eyes told me the bull knew exactly what we were up to.
“Whoa!” said Luke. “He looks even bigger today.”
He carefully slipped his good hand behind his back, tucking the towel into the waist of his jeans.
“I thought it was a myth about them not liking red,” Indigo said out of the corner of her mouth. Her eyes were glued to the beast.
“It is,” Luke said shrugging. “But you gotta keep traditions, right? Okay, who is doing this with me?”
He walked purposefully to the gate and grabbed the handle, ready to pull back the bolt. I stood up and so did Ben.
“Right, what’s the plan?” asked the English boy.
Beau pointed to the far end of the big paddock.
“There is the gate you need to get him through. Once he’s through you can close it and he’ll be stuck in the smaller paddock all on his own. I’ll go around and unlatch it. I’ll swing it open when you get him there.”
Thankfully, the bull seemed to have forgotten about us and had gone back to his grazing.
“Okay,” said Luke, sounding much braver than I felt.
He pulled open the gate and we three walked slowly in. Luke closed the gate and reached over and shot the bolt home. Beau was already running quietly along the other side of the fence to the other paddock.
“Okay, let’s walk part of the way to the other gate. For the moment, stay close to the fence,” Luke whispered.
We must have looked comical as we began to tiptoe through the long grass not taking our eyes off the bull.
“Be careful,” Allie called from behind us and the bull’s head shot up.
Now, we’ve all heard the saying scared the shit out of me. I don’t know if that’s actually possible, but right in that moment I think I came the closest I’ve ever come to doing just that. My guts felt like they’d turned to water and my heart hurt with the shot of adrenalin that jolted me.
“Don’t move,” Luke whispered, as we all froze in place.
A few seconds went by as I willed the bull to go back to his grazing. He didn’t. He took one heavy step, then another towards us, and paused and snorted. I felt relief. It was short lived. The bull stamped the ground twice and then charged. He reminded me of a steam train my dad had taken us to see once. He started off slow, seeming to struggle with his own weight, but soon he was steaming along invisible tracks towards us.
“Run!” Luke shrieked, unnecessarily.
I was already in motion. Beside me, Luke pulled the red flag out of his jeans and began to wave it around screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Come and get me, you big, ugly bastard!”
I didn’t even look over my shoulder, I was too focused on getting the hell out of there. It wasn’t until I heard screams of terror behind us that I looked back. Ben wasn’t with us. In fact, he hadn’t moved. He was frozen in fear against the fence, his mouth agape as the bull barreled towards him. We stopped and looked helplessly at our friend.
“Ben! Run, you idiot!” I yelled.
It was too late. If he ran now, the bull would mow him down like a steam train rolling over a rabbit.
“Fuck ...” Luke moaned.
I scrunched up my face in anticipation of the impact. Miraculously, at the last possible moment, Ben seemed to come to his senses and, squealing like a girl, moved quicker than I had ever seen him move before. He turned and almost without touching it, scaled the gate, falling on his face behind it as the bull collided into it.
Not only the gate but the whole fence shook and trembled with the terrific impact. For a second, I thought it might fall, but it held. The bull reeled back, almost falling to its haunches before shaking its stunned head in a very human way as it steadied itself on four wobbly legs.
I sighed in relief at Ben’s escape, but barely had time to draw a breath before Luke again called out.
“Run!”
The bull was already charging again and I turned on my heels and ran for my life ... literally. Luke was waving the red towel and yelling obscenities at the bull. If I’d been able to, I would have told him to shut up, but I didn’t have breath to spare.
I could see Beau at the gate about thirty yards ahead. He had already pulled it open and was yelling with a look of horror on his face, beckoning wildly for us to hurry. Luke had stopped yelling and waving the stupid towel and was concentrating on pumping his arms in order to get as much velocity as he could. His look of horror mirrored how I imagined my own looked... and if the situation hadn’t been so potentially deadly, I probably would have laughed.
It felt like we had run a mile as we closed on the opening and I would have felt relief, but the thundering of hooves directly behind me told me I was in imminent danger. I heard faint screams behind me and in front Beau sprinted out of the opening to the side ready to slide the gate back home when the bull was through.
The thud of the hooves closed on me and I could now hear a rhythmic snorting, like the bellows of a steam train. I envisioned two sharp horns closing in on my butt and pushed my chest out like a runner about to break the ribbon of a finishing line.
If it had been a race, Luke and I would have tied. We crossed the threshold to the other yard in a dead heat and I veered right as he veered left, the direction Beau had gone. I heard Luke whoop and I was about to do the same when something hard connected with my hip and sent me flying. Luke swore later that I flew at least ten feet. My legs were still pumping as I landed and was carried face first into the grass by my own momentum. Behind me, I heard a mewling kind of roar and a heavy thump and skid.
On hands and knees, my chest heaving, I glanced in the bull’s direction. When I had veered right after passing through the gate, the bull had swung its head and struck me a glancing blow but in the process had knocked itself off balance and skidded into the turf. Now it was struggling back into a standing position.
My hip throbbed, but apart from that I was relatively unscathed. I wasn’t about to stretch the friendship any further and quickly rose on wobbly legs and ran back towards the gate.
“Hurry up, dude! He’s coming!” called Luke.
Once again I heard the horrible, thumping pursuit of hooves and found an extra burst of energy. I passed through the gate and the boys slammed it home. The bull pulled up clumsily, just short of crashing into the gate, apparently having learnt a lesson after his earlier collision.
A wave of relief washed over me and I fell to the grass and rolled onto my back, peering at the sky as I got my breath back.
Luke and Beau soon fell to the grass behind me. Luke was the first to giggle.
“Dude, the look on your face ...” his giggle turned to a laugh and soon Beau and I joined in, slowly at first, then more heartily. Pretty soon we were all holding our stomachs and squirming on the grass in helpless amusement.
Our friends, who had been watching on helplessly, were less amused and Luke and I both received a scolding.
3
After our close encounter of the bovine kind we headed back to the farmhouse, where Ben, Paul, and I sat down and put together a plan for the mission into Plymouth.
We would leave at dawn the following morning, each of us armed with handguns and also carrying a few spare clips of ammunition in our backpacks. If the virus had been effective and had done what it was designed to do, we expected to return with more weapons and ammo and whatever supplies we could bring with us. Our success would all depend on what had happened over the past few days. If
the Chinese were unaffected, it was unlikely we would be able to bring anything back, but at least we would have the intel.
The three of us had an early night that evening, going to bed just after dinner and sleeping in the same room so as not to disturb the others when we were woken by Indigo, who had volunteered to wake us just before dawn. I took this as a sign she couldn’t bear for me to leave without saying goodbye and I fell asleep thinking of her.
I was tired and felt like I had barely been asleep a few minutes when Indigo’s gentle shaking woke me.
“Time to get up, sleepyhead,” she whispered, and kissed my forehead.
Remarkable what a little kiss can do. I suddenly didn’t feel so tired anymore and jumped out of bed, regretting it instantly as my bruised hip protested loudly. I swallowed the discomfort and helped her wake the other two before grabbing my coat and boots and following her downstairs.
We each ate a can of SpaghettiOs and a slice of Indigo’s homemade bread for breakfast. Not as nutritious as it could have been, but I had turned down her offer to fry us some eggs. I wanted to get going as soon as we could.
“I cannot wait for that cooked chicken you promised when we get back, Indigo,” said Paul, looking distastefully into the bottom of the SpaghettiOs can. Despite the look, he was doing a fantastic job of getting every last drop of sauce out of it.
“Yep, I’ll get to work on it while you’re gone. Tomorrow night, hopefully,” she said.
I wolfed my SpaghettiOs down. The two cooked meals we had enjoyed since arriving hadn’t yet killed off my instinct to eat as much as I could when I could. I grabbed a small backpack and began to stock it with the cans of food Indigo had gathered for us. We also had enough water to get us through the next twenty-four hours.
“If it’s safe, I’m hoping we can bring more food back with us, too.”
“Amen,” said Ben. “And I want some boots. These shitty canvas shoes are just about done.”
“Good thinking. We’ll try to bring back clothing, as well.”
The After Days Trilogy [Books 1-3] Page 49