“I would like to ride in with you, if you don't mind. Brent said that he had something to show me, if I happened to come into town on one of the trips,” she said.
“Always glad for your company, pretty girl. When we get to the neighborhood, we we'll see if Wayne is around, maybe Clayton or Jacob. We've pretty much all agreed, especially since Dana got hurt, we should travel in groups when possible,” said Dan.
She opened her mouth to object and her uncle continued, “It's not a chaperone thing, Allie. It's just for safety, someone to know where you are and maybe be nearby. Brent is a nice young man, but we all need to look after each other.”
“Yes-sir, I know. I'll be back in a minute,” she bounced off towards the paddle wheeler. When she returned, Dan and Louis waited for her in the wagon, the horse snorted out the cold air and pawed at the ground. Her thick hair was piled up on her head, encircled with one of the combs that her mother always used to hold her own auburn curls. She wore her usual boots and jeans, underneath her jacket she wore a bright yellow sweater over a green polka dotted shirt. Since she was a little girl, she loved color and she did not like her clothes to fit too tight. Her small pistol rested in an inside pocket of the jacket and her small fingertips stuck out from gloves that she had cut the ends out of. She hopped up in the back of the wagon, with a loud, “Ready!”
Louis looked back at her, “There's my baby, how's Allie girl this morning?”
She huffed, “Louis...I am not a baby.”
He just smiled at her and winked at Dan, “No, girl. You're sure not a baby anymore.” With a he-yah to the horses, the wagon headed for their well worn path through the woods.
At Wayne's house, Brent saw the wagon pull up and spotted the shiny head of hair in the back. A big smile cracked his face, he yelled to his father and Chris, “Hey, we have company!” They still managed to find a bit of coffee here and there, sometimes just an old jar of instant. Chris somehow seemed to be able to brew a decent cup. Her dad, Dan and Louis carried a cup with them and they all walked over to Clayton's house. Allie and Brent trailed behind, in deep and animated conversation.
The youngster's told about their destination, the old theater. Jacob, who fretted much more than he let anyone know about the safety of Allie, said, “I'll join Wayne. We can hang around the old plaza and downtown, stay within shouting range.” Chris planned to go with Dana and spend the afternoon at the clinic. Clayton and his dad would got out to the big warehouse and the militia headquarters. Everybody agreed to meet back at the clinic in the late afternoon.
This is how the two young people came to be in the dark movie theater, exploring around with their flashlight. They located the projection room. “Look Allie, this is interesting,” he pulled some manuals from a shelf on the wall in the tight room. Flat metal cans, labeled with movie names stacked on the shelf also. His light flashed around to the big projector that pointed out of a hole in the wall, towards the large theater screen. “There are books here that tell how to run the projector and show the movies on the screen.”
“The projector?” said Allie, not understanding.
“Yeah, look...this big machine. If we can figure out how to run it, we can show movies.” His mind turned, “Of course, the power police have to allow power here. Maybe we can convince them, once a month or even once a week.”
Allie caught his enthusiasm, “That would be great and we could...ee-eek!” another rat slinked from behind a cabinet and scurried by, she squealed and said, “Oh crap.” Her short arms wrapped around his waist and she buried her face in his chest. “We've got to do some cleaning out of this place first,” she mumbled into his jacket.
That was about all that Brent could take, he lifted her face and awkwardly searched for her lips. Her glasses went all crooked and he stepped on her booted foot. A little breathless, she whispered, “Ow-w,” and raised her pretty face to him.
Just about the time their lips met, a voice echoed through the theater, Wayne shouted, “Brent...Allie, are you here...where are you?” Bumping heads as they stooped to pick up the flashlight that rolled across the floor, they nervously laughed.
Brent yelled back, “Up here, Dad! Be right there.”
***
The warehouse and headquarters loomed against the smokey colored sky. In a corner room, a wood stove burned, Clayton and his dad sat on old lawn chairs and talked with the militia leader. The leader pushed another piece of wood into the stove, “Remember the guy that we ran out of town after your daughter got hurt?” he looked at Dan. After the incident, Clayton and his father removed the body of the attacker from the old store downtown and buried it. They searched around and found no sign of anyone else still around. About two days later, two of the power police spotted the man in an abandoned house and reported it to the militia. They captured the man and questioned him intensely.
Ironically, in this day and time, the wanderers experienced plenty of pain and suffering. Pulled out toe nails did not get information nearly as effectively as an old can of ravioli. In this world, you either slowly wasted away or you found some thing or worse, some one to eat. The man had been interrogated by the pasta method, taken to the edge of town where a vulture picked body hung from a tree. The warning sign beside the near skeleton read, Those that abduct, molest or traffic in humans, especially children, will suffer the penalty of death, in this city. He was warned to leave the city and not return unless he relished his body as a fresh display.
Dan said, “What about him?”
The militia man continued, “We got some troublesome information out of the scum. I figured it was about time for those supposed representatives of Uncle Sam to show up. You know, the military looking small armies that come to collect the taxes? The guy claimed that he and his partner spotted one of the groups a few hundred miles to the north and moving in our direction.”
Clayton said, “Especially since the encounter at the farm, I have my doubts about the military part. Wayne told me his opinion about the collectors being sent from our government. He believes that the maruauders just use that guise to make it easier to rob the survivors. Surprised that those two slimes got so far ahead of the army...or do you think they are close?”
“No, the guy claimed that he and his partner stole a horse and moved on. The army seems to have a couple of old vehicles, but mostly they are horseback. Your guess is as good as mine, as far as where would they find fuel. He said that the marauders move in a zig zag direction, look for towns where there is anything to plunder. Sometimes, he said if a place is doing pretty good and there are women there, they stay for a few days.” The man walked over to a worn out old sofa that sat on a faded and stained rug. He pushed the sofa over, threw the rug back, a long trap door was in the floor.
He lifted the door and took a lantern from the wall, “Follow me,” he said to the other two men and walked down a flight of steep stairs. When they reached the bottom, he flipped a switch on the wall and about a half dozen dangling light bulbs came on, illuminated a huge underground room. Rows of shelves with food and other emergency supplies lined the room, cots and blankets and large storage containers of water sat in other areas.
“How in hell did you get all of this?” said Clayton, amazed at the amount of stores.
“Way back before we tried to organize, the tax collectors cleaned all of us out, more than once. My old man raised cane from the very beginning, said they were not from our government. Funny, because he hadn't really trusted in the government for several years, he still didn't believe that the American government would send an army to rob us. Anyway...”
Dan walked over, after he looked up and down the aisles. “I remember your father, is he...”
“He died about six years ago, when everybody was getting sick and there was no stopping it. He was very active in the city government. After everything fell to s—t, he showed me this underground bunker. It was meant to be a city storm shelter, a disaster preparation. There was a fair amount of stores down here, nothing like now
. When some of us started organizing, when we started to collect some payments for the limited restored services, we made a plan,” said the leader.
“Uh-huh, smart thing. The upstairs supplies are just for the tax army,” said Dan.
The man smiled and said, “You are right. For every one thing we put up there, we put four times down here. There are some gardens in the city in the growing season and food is canned. We also have some teams that travel out from the city and scavenge and trade. It is really dangerous, but they volunteer. This is for the good citizens and we try to be sure no one really goes without food,” he looked at the two men, “The reason that you have not known of this before is because you have taken care of you and yours. Not everyone is as strong or capable, though. Let's get these lights off and go back up.”
Upstairs, the sofa and rug back in place, Dan said, “You mentioned that you have some teams that go searching for supplies. I have never seen anything but that one old tractor and wagon that picks up bodies, how do they travel?”
“We have an old panel truck that we keep mostly out of sight. Fuel is just about not findable these days.”
After a glance at his father, to be sure he could bring it up, Clayton said, “Dad and one of the other men have been working on a still to make alcohol. They have already converted our old truck to run on it. What if we could get your truck to use that fuel?”
“That would be great.” The young head of the city militia paced around for a few moments, fed the fire. “I have to give you both fair warning. We have gone along, pacified and tricked the so called army for a long time. As soon as we feel that this hometown army is strong enough and well armed, that will stop. There will be a battle, here in the city, before it is said and done.”
Clayton stuck his hand out to shake, “I will stand with you, friend.”
Dan looked at the man and at his son, “You will have all the support that we can offer from the farm,” he declared. “If you'll bring the panel truck to the barn, we will work on getting it converted.”
The afternoon had drifted away. The two men shook on the agreements of alliance and moved back towards the clinic.
***
At the clinic, Chris spent most of the day, learned some basic first aid from some of the more experienced volunteers. A lot of books were in the clinic library, books on medicines and their uses and how to handle them, she and Dana both planned to do some studying. Of course, everyone that worked at the clinic helped with the clean up, sterilization and maintenance.
In a small room, down the hall, the young apprentice doctor checked out Dana's leg. The room slowly filled with Clayton and Chris, Jacob and a couple of the young women volunteers and Brent with Allie at his side. The two youngsters excitedly told the others about their idea to get the movie house functional. Jacob sat his back pack down, heavy loaded with books. He located the city library on the downtown square, personally he was more interested in the books he found that might help him better understand the electric plant and water works. Still, the idea to get the old movie theater operational intrigued him and the young adults all threw out opinions and suggestions.
Wayne, Dan and Louis sat in the waiting room. Dan said, “The young doc reported that Dana's leg looks good. She may have a very slight limp, it was a deep cut through a lot of muscle. He said though, as stubborn as she is and hard as she works at rehabbing, it will probably be minimal.”
Laughter floated out down the hall. Louis said, “It's great to hear them all having a good time isn't it?”
Wayne sat with his elbows on his knees, “Yeah, for a moment makes you believe that the world didn't fall apart, doesn't it?” he sighed, “It did though and we have a lot of work to do.”
Dan told the two men about the visit with the militia leader. He told them about the underground bunker, the teams that ventured out from the city and his intention to try and get the city panel truck converted. Also, about the marauders on the move.
“It sounds like it will be unavoidable. There will have to be a stand made eventually, to permanently get rid of the raiders. It's going to take a lot of work and preparation to build up the city defenses,” said Wayne.
Louis spoke, “The young people are all strong and competent. Right now, their heads are full of restoration and making something like a real town again. That is great, we need that optimism and enthusiasm. I fear it is true, however, there will have to be a battle to secure the town. The more we re-build, the more the outsiders will want what we have and the tax army, for sure.”
“Remember a couple of years ago, we made contact with that Texas community?” said Dan.
“Yeah, I do,” said Louis, “Now, what was that man's name?”
“It was Jack. They called their town Unity, it was somewhere in East Texas.” Dan looked over to Wayne, “I talked to Jack a couple of times. When things went crazy, he gathered his family and fortified his place, created a compound. They slowly brought some more folks into the area, and formed about a three mile square town. There was a pretty big skirmish on their border with raiders, a large group of bad guys, plundering to survive.”
“They were victorious though, they eliminated the threat because they were unified and they were prepared for the attack,” said Louis. “The last time that we were able to make contact, they had a population of about 90. A stable and functional small town was established. I have often thought about them.”
Wayne said, “I suspect such battles between the good and the evil are happening all over this country. We can't save the country or the world, but we can try to preserve our little town for the good.”
The young people joined them, still made noisy conversation as they walked down the hall. Clayton said, “Guess, it's about time to load up the wagon, Dad.” The doctor said goodbye to them all, perhaps lingered a little bit longer with Dana and walked back down the hall.
As the wagon pulled up to the neighborhood houses, Dan said to Wayne, “You know that warning system we talked about, bells..sirens, some type of alarm? Old Doc told me the other day about a bell that used to be at the big hospital. There was a nunnery attached to the hospital, the facility was church supported. He said there was a quite large bell in the courtyard, it was used as a call to prayers for one thing. When they cleaned out the hospital the elderly priest had already passed away and one of the nuns. Only two or three nuns left in residence, he doubts that anyone remains there.”
Louis said, “I remembered that the Annie Bell, the old paddle wheeler has a horn. Damn, that thing is loud. It is an air horn and we would have to remove it from the boat, set it up. Maybe use our air compressor. I think we can make it work for emergency warnings at the farm. The town has the big bell in the church on the square. If you and Clayton get the bell from the nunnery for the neighborhood and we make some sort of simple code system, the town would have a decent chain of warnings.”
Wayne climbed out of the wagon and said, “Sounds good. Clayton and I will go to the old hospital and see if we can locate the bell.” The neighborhood folks all left the wagon. Brent was the last to jump down. He managed to steal a kiss on the cheek, before he left Allie. Everyone just ignored it, amused, except Jacob. He narrowed his eyes at the young man and gave him a you better tread lightly look. Allie adjusted her crazy little specs and blew her protective brother a kiss, with a mischievous giggle.
CHAPTER FOUR
Shadows
Clayton drove the wagon, Wayne and Chris bumped along in the back. They rolled through the old square, past the clinic and on towards the hospital. The biting wind whistled today, they all wore more than one layer of clothing under their heavy coats. Soon, the abandoned medical facility loomed ahead of them. Chris wouldn't have said it out loud, but she thought thank goodness it is broad daylight. The huge building up ahead made an eerie sight. Sprawling over nearly a city block, it was five stories tall, with a huge white cross on the top that stretched up into the sky. A vague vision of that cross as it sparkled with silvery ligh
ts at Christmas time, a bright beacon in the night sky, still was in her memory.
The vines curled and snaked up the brick walls, in and out of broken windows. Built on a hill, random cars still filled the parking lots, ambulances lined up under the emergency entrance, doors agape. A many eyed monster rose high above the city. Doc had said go around to the west side of the hospital, across a small private parking lot. A six foot wall enclosed the courtyard of the nunnery and the bell was in that courtyard. The horse drew the wagon up in front of a cracked plaster wall with the paint peeling. A heavy bar and padlock on the inside secured a heavy wrought iron gate. Clayton tied off the horse and Wayne dug around in the tools they brought, in the back of the wagon. He pulled out a big pair of bolt cutters.
It took a while, but Clayton finally manipulated through the bars of the gate and got the padlock cut. Chris scolded herself but could not refrain, she looked up at the dark window eyes of the building and expected someone to look down. The weighty and rusted gate swung open with a loud creak. A few inches of snow covered the courtyard, once lush and serene with green grass, flowers and stone paths, today the frosted sun cast sparkling shadows across the white blanket. A large fountain was in the center of the yard with a tall statue of Saint Francis of Assisi, now spotted with black and green mossy growth. The hospital dwarfed the one story nunnery. A large wooden door with a torn and faded canopy over it was flanked by rows of small square windows. In one corner, where the fence met the building, a statue of an angel with outstretched wings reached as tall as the fence. In the opposite corner next to the building, stood the silent bell, mounted on a thick metal pole with a circle of flat stones around it.
Clayton and Wayne checked out the mounting of the bell, figured how to free it from it's brackets and load it in the wagon. The bell was perhaps only a foot across at it's base but heavy cast and would not be light weight. The roof of the building extended out and left a concrete walk along the front, mostly free of snow. Chris walked along, noticed that the windows here were not broken. She stopped at the wooden door, it had beautiful intricate wrought iron trim, a cross in the center. Past the door, towards the angel in the corner, she felt something crunch under her foot. She squatted and picked up some tiny pellets in her fingers. It's...hm-m, she brought it to her nose and sniffed, rubbed it between her fingers, it's seed, just bird seed. A thin blanket of seeds spread out around her, on the walk and out across the snow. In the white fluff, small bird tracks made designs.
The Days After (The Tenth Year) Page 5