by Stalter, D
“Hey,” Curt broke in. “Have you heard anything about getting power back?”
“No, have you?”
“No. Last I heard they thought a couple months. It’s been a couple months. We could live like this forever, but I’m still kinda missing that central heat and our stove and fridge.”
Will laughed. He looked over at Riley. “Well,” he said. “you ready to go check on Phil?”
“Ready when you are.”
They said their goodbyes, reminding Curt and Linda that they should stop by the farm sometime soon.
A half hour later they stood at the end of Phil’s long driveway.
“Think he’s still alive?” Riley asked.
“Don talked to him a week ago. Said he was fine.”
They walked down the driveway until they got to the post that they knew held a hidden driveway alert. After activating the alert, they stood in the middle of the drive waiting for Phil to see them.
Will glanced over at Riley. “Okay,” he said.
Riley rolled his eyes.
“What?”
“I know that look on your face. You’re going to tell another stupid joke.”
“Hmf.” Will crossed his arms. “Surprise is on you cuz this one isn’t stupid. Okay… A guy walks into a bar and finds a horse serving drinks. The horse asks, "What are you staring at? Haven't you ever seen a horse tending bar before?"
The guy says, "It's not that. I just never thought the parrot would sell the place."
He was still laughing when Phil came out on the porch and waved them in. “Hey, you guys are a sight for sore eyes. How you been? Come in. I got something I want to show you.” He shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “Well, hurry up. Come on.”
The house was different from the time they had stayed there the first week after the flare. The living room was missing the sofa. A green overstuffed chair sat in front of the fireplace. A twin bed was placed against the wall next to the fireplace. Heavy quilts covered all but the south windows and more heavy quilts lay on the floor under those windows.
A large TV was mounted on the south wall. A shelf next to it held a DVD player.
A desk sat on the far side of the room, close to the secret door that Will and Riley knew led to a hidden room. Under the desk sat six big batteries. Heavy wires from the batteries ran along the wall and out through the window.
Phil saw Riley looking at the set up and explained. “I have some solar panels out here. I don’t have enough propane to run the generator for more than a couple hours a day, so I turn it on in the morning and use the kitchen and furnace to heat the house. The solar batteries give me enough power to watch TV and run some fans to move warm air from the fireplace to the kitchen.”
“Watch TV? You can’t tell us that there are stations being aired.” Will’s mouth dropped.
“Oh no.” Phil stepped to the bookcase and slid a door open exposing shelfs with hundreds of DVDs.”
Will whistled. “Nice!”
“Better than nothing. It’s still gets awfully lonely here.” He looked around the room with a sad smile.
“Have you had any company? Any bad guys bother you?” Riley asked.
“Twice I had the alarm go off. Once there were three people coming up the driveway. I went out and told them to turn around or I’d shoot them. The other time there was nothing there.”
“You actually turned people away?” Will asked. “Good for you!”
“Well, they didn’t look like my kind of people.” He reddened. “I mean, I’m not prejudiced or anything like that. I’m not! But they kinda scared me.”
Riley clasped him on his shoulder. “It’s always a good idea to follow your gut. Learn to listen to it and do what it tells you.”
“Are you doing okay for food and water?” Will asked.
“Doing good. I’ve got plenty to last until spring. Maybe by then, I can find some good people to share my house like Allison did. You know, she was really smart to go find the best people when this first started. I wish I’d had time to do that.”
“Allison deserves a lot of credit for jumping right in there, but I think it was more luck than skill. It could have gone very badly. The reason she was able to pull those people together was that her husband owned a business in a small town where everyone knew everyone else. They trusted her husband and each other. She would not have been able to do that if she’d lived by a big city. It definitely would have gone bad. She’d have gotten the wrong type of person.” Will crossed the room and looked in the kitchen.
“Where’s your fridge?”
Phil grinned. “I put it on the porch. I kept putting stuff in it without thinking. The next day it would be spoiled and the fridge stinks. I’m going to build shelves there.”
Phil turned away from the kitchen. “Come here. This is what I wanted to show you. I just got it set up this morning.” He led them across the room to the desk where a sort of radio was set up. A cord was attached to the front and ended at a handheld microphone. The microphone had a button like a CB radio, but had more buttons on the front.
“Is that a HAM radio?” Riley asked.
Will nodded.
“Was this one of your preps? Why’d you wait til now to set it up?”
Phil looked at the floor.
“You looted, didn’t you?” Riley asked.
Phil didn’t look up, he simply shrugged.
“Phil?”
When he finally looked up, his eyes darted from Riley to Will. “Looting is when you crash into a store with a bunch of people and take anything you can get your hands on. I’m not a looter. I’ve explored a couple times. I don’t bother anyone. But, if a house looks deserted, I’ll go knock on the door. A couple times people told me to go away and I did. But sometimes the house is empty so I go in and see if here is anything I can use.”
“How do you break in?”
“A window usually.”
“So, where’d you find this?” Will was bending over looking at the radio.
“A house about three miles north. There were no cars in the garage and no one was home. They probably didn’t make it home. The fridge was full of rotten food. And there was a skinny, dead cat in the kitchen.”
“Have you tried using it yet?”
“No. I told you I just got it set up. I was getting ready to try it when you guys set off the alarm. It’s set up. I think you just turn it on and then turn this knob here.” He reached across Will and turned it on, dialing the knob on the right until he heard a soft hiss.
Picking up the microphone he pressed the button. “Anybody out there?”
There was no reply. He turned the knob again and pressed the button. “Anybody out there?”
On the fourth try, there was an answer. “This is…” an old man’s voice recited a list of letters and numbers. “Over.”
Phil eyes widened. “This is Phil.”
“Push the button,” Riley suggested.
Phil’s mouth dropped. He looked from Riley to the microphone. Then pressed the button and said, “This is Phil, hello?”
The voice came back from the radio. “Phil, these radios run a little behind. You have to hold the button down and wait a second before you start speaking, okay? Otherwise I only catch the last couple words. Over.”
Phil stared at the microphone, then pushed the button and waited before asking, “Where are you?”
“I’m in Tennessee. Where are you? Over.”
“I’m west of Chicago about seventy miles.”
“I see. Have you got your power back? Over.”
“No. Have you?”
“We never lost power. Well, it did go out, but we got it back within a day or two. I heard it’s still out up north. Over.”
“Yeah. It’s still out. So, life is back to normal in Tennessee?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. We do have power, which I’m grateful for. But food is in short supply. They’re having trouble getting food deliveries. Lots of bad guys on the roads down here hijacking
trucks. And, the south depends on the Midwest for food. The Midwest wasn’t able to harvest, so anyone down here who didn’t have big gardens is SOL. You got plenty of food? Over.”
“I got enough to last until spring but then I’ll have to start gardening. Or maybe I should move down there.”
There was a pause before the old man came back over the radio. “I wouldn’t advise that, Phil. Over.”
Phil looked from Riley to Will, then back to the radio before asking, “Why not?”
“Well, I’d venture to guess that it’s a lot safer up there than it is down here. Over.” The old man’s voice sounded sad.
“How so?” Phil asked.
“First,” the old man began, “I live outside a small town of about 3,000. Our mayor, in his infinite wealth of knowledge, agreed to take survivors from the north. They bussed them in from the Chicago area. Now, our wonderful town has grown to three times it’s size. The residents are outnumbered by survivors two to one. The survivors don’t seem to be very mindful of the law. And our police force consists of three part-timers. Oh, they’re full time now, but they can’t deal with all the rapes, robberies and murders. It’s just not safe here. Over.”
“I’m sorry,” Phil replied. “Are you safe?”
“Yeah, I’m safe. They don’t mess with me. Over.”
“Have you heard any news about when this will be over?” Phil asked.
“Yeah, I heard that the east coast is slowly coming online. Most of the big cities have limited power. Even cities like Chicago have restored some power, but they can’t let residents back because of the biohazards. Over.”
“What biohazards?”
“Well, when all this happened, the cities were overrun by the type of people who thrive on violence. They left thousands dead. Who am I kidding? They left millions dead. All laying around the cities rotting. And then the government moved those violent assholes to my backyard where they thought they could do the same thing. Over.”
“Holy crap! I never thought about that. Can’t the police do anything?”
The old man cleared his throat over the radio. “The police have their hands full, but we take care of our own around here. My back is getting stiff from all the digging, but that’s all I’m gonna say about that. Over.”
Phil looked up at Will. “I think he means he’s killing people,” he whispered.
Will nodded.
The radio came to life again. “’Nother thing I heard just the other day. The government guys were trying to get some of the survivors to join a workforce. They promised them apartments with power and food for their families in exchange for labor to clean out the cities. They offered to provide everything the families wanted and protective gear for workers in order to start cleaning out the cities to allow people to move back in. Far as I know, they got no takers. These jackasses don’t want to work, they just want someone to clean up the mess, move them home and give them what they used to get. Got news for them. We ain’t takin’ it anymore. They gonna leave one way or another. My back will just have to hold out a little longer. Over.”
Phil was staring at the radio as if it were a King Cobra. He slowly reached for the microphone and pressed the button. “Uhm, okay. I’m sorry for what your family is going through. I’m glad you have power, but… well… take care.”
“You too. Seventy-three.” The radio went silent.
“Was that secret code?” Phil asked.
“I think it was the way he signs off,” Will replied.
“Did you hear that he said Chicago has power? Do you think it’s true?”
“It sounds plausible, but I can only imagine the horror of millions of dead left rotting in the street in the heat we had when the flare happened.” Will was looking at Riley who had walked to the front window and was looking down the driveway. “See anything?” he asked.
“Thought I saw a flash of red out by the road, but can’t really see much through the trees. Might have been a cardinal flying.”
Will stepped next to him and looked in the direction Riley pointed. “Probably just a cardinal. You can’t see all the way to the road.”
“We should be heading back,” Riley said.
Phil looked dejected. “Aww, you guys just got here. I can fix lunch. Can’t you stay for a while? It gets so lonely with no one to talk to.” His eyes bounced from Will to Riley.
“Can’t,” Will said. “We’ve already eaten. And we have a few things we have to get done today. Just wanted to check on you. But, we’ll be back,” he added after seeing the pained look in Phil’s eyes.
“We’ll stop back soon,” said Riley. “And I hope you’ll serve us lunch.”
“Any time!”
Chapter 9
The sky had darkened in the short time they’d been inside. Heavy clouds hid the sun. They strolled down the driveway. Just before reaching the road, Will held his hand up. Riley froze.
“A flash of red,” Will said in a low voice. “There.” He pointed into the trees just east of the driveway and well off the road.
“Take clean up.”
He moved towards the color choosing a route that kept the most trees between him and his target. Riley waited until he’d disappeared and then followed carefully.
About thirty yards into the trees, Will stopped and peered around a huge pine with branches that scraped the ground. Riley caught up with him.
“Four people,” Will said quietly. “Looks like a mother, a father and two boys.”
Riley raised one eyebrow and shrugged.
“Stay here in case it goes south.” Will stepped into the open and cleared his throat. The man immediately dropped his hand to his waist.
“Don’t,” Will said.
“What do you want?” the man asked.
“I want to know what you’re doing here.”
“My family and I are just passing through. We stopped to make some lunch. We’ll be gone shortly.”
“It’s good, Riley,” Will called.
Riley stepped from behind the tree. He held his rifle at the low ready. The man watched with fear in his eyes. “How many of you are there?”
“Just us two and a friend in the house.”
“We thought we were far enough from the house not to be seen.”
“If you don’t want to be seen,” Will said, “you might want to tell your wife not to wear red.”
The woman’s mouth formed an “O”. Her husband spun around and looked at her before shaking his head.
“We didn’t have any winter clothes with us. We picked these up at abandoned houses along the way. I can’t believe we didn’t consider that. I’m a hunter for Pete’s Sake.”
He stepped forward and held out his hand. “William Mead.”
Riley brought his rifle up. Will dropped his hand to his waist.
“What?” the man stuttered. “Is there something wrong?”
“Got any ID on you?” Will asked.
“Over there, in my pack,” the man said.
“Walk over, pick up the pack with one hand and carry it over here.”
The man did as he was told.
“Now, keeping one hand where I can see it, reach in and get your ID.”
The man fumbled with the zipper, then reached in and pulled out a worn wallet which he handed to Will.
Will opened it, thumbed through the card slots and pulled out a driver’s license.
“I’ll be damned,” he said, handing the wallet to Riley.
Riley glanced at the driver’s license, raised his eye brows and shook his head. “That’s just unbelievable. William Irvin Mead. It says so right here.”
“What!” the man demanded. His wife bit her lip.
Will reached in his pocket and pulled out his own wallet. Pulling his driver’s license, he tossed it to the man.
“Holy shit!” the man exclaimed and then looked at Will and grinned. He held his hand out again. “William Irvin Mead.”
Will took it and gave it a firm shake. “Nice to meet you, I
’m William Clayton Mead.”
His wife looked from one to the other. Her forehead wrinkled.
“Uh, your middle name is Clayton. Any chance your family came from the Mercer County area?” the new William asked.
“Not as far as I know. My parents and grandparents farmed a little north and east of here. I don’t know where any ancestors came from.”
“That fits,” the new William said. “Your ancestors settled in Mercer County. His son moved to this area. I think they had three sons. His grandson was Stephen who had twin boys named Lewell and Lowell. I think it was Lewell who had a son named William Clayton Mead. I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts you are from that line of the Meads. There’s actually another line of Meads that settled within ten miles of here. The founder of that family was Oscar, I believe.”
“So, who are you?”
“Our families connect way back in the 1700’s. One cousin, my ancestor, moved to Iowa. Another cousin, your ancestor, moved to Illinois. William is a common name for the Meads. William Mead was born in England in 1600 and came to the colonies with his wife, Martha. He helped settle the colonies.”
Will handed back the drivers license and took his in return, placing it in his wallet and sliding the wallet into his pocket. “So, we are cousins.”
“Many times removed, but we come from the same stock.”
“How do you know all this?” Will asked.
“I’ve been doing genealogy since I was a kid. My mom had the whole tree researched back to the 1400’s in England. The Meads were a hardy, adventurous bunch. A good family to be part of. I’ve spent the last twenty years filling in the blanks and creating a family history. I feel like I’ve known you all my life.”
Will looked at the wife who was watching with interest, and the two boys who were huddled together.
He shot a look at Riley, who shrugged.
“How long’s it been since you’ve had a hot meal and a bath?”
William closed his eyes, then opened them. “We had a hot meal two days ago. Haven’t had a bath in a week. And that was a cold bath.”
“Come on. We’ll introduce you to our friend, Phil. I’m sure he can fix you up with both.”
The smaller boy jumped up and grabbed his pack. Riley’s brows wrinkled.