by M. C. Allen
The leader nodded to one of the women and the Hispanic gentleman with the shotgun. The two left and took up positions in the woods nearby. So far, the large black man had kept quiet. He was studying us carefully. Sizing us up. That was fine with me; I was doing the same.
I decided to break the ice and began. “Let’s start with introductions. As I said earlier, I’m David. These four young ladies and gentlemen represent my entire team.” I started with the largest member of my group. He was close to six feet with very dark skin and the skeletal looks that we all shared. At one time, he was a decently handsome kid with a quick smile and a gentle laugh. Slung on his shoulder was an AR-15, and around his waist was a thick green belt with pouches for the magazines. “This is Kofi Boeting, my second in command. He should be far away from here by now, but he didn’t follow my orders.”
Kofi, looking down at the ground, quietly said, “Sorry Mr. M. We decided to come help instead. You always tell us to run away at the first sign of trouble, but we just couldn’t.” I could tell he was ashamed of his actions, but I needed to get him off the hook in front of these strangers.
“Look, Kofi, I understand. I should have gotten on the radio and told you to get out of here, but I dropped the ball. I’ll do better next time letting you know what’s going on.” I hoped that helped him. His confidence had been lagging since the shootout back in the neighborhood. He carried a huge weight, but if there was anyone to blame, it should have been me. I should have had a better escape plan; however, there was no time to dwell on that.
“Next, we have my logistics specialist and Kofi’s little sister, Regina Boeting.” She was absolutely tiny. Regina was a little darker than Kofi, if that was possible. She was carrying my long-range Remington 700 slung across her back, as well as her personal weapon. “I call her my logistical specialist because she insists on toting that heavy mother wherever we go as well as her own gear.”
Regina, instead of looking at the ground like her brother did, simply smiled and waved. The smile didn’t really reach her eyes. She was looking at the other group, figuring out who she’d have to drop first if things got violent. The heavy sniping rifle across her back was not her primary weapon. She carried a .22 rifle that sported a removable suppressor and was topped with a simple hunting scope. She took a lot of small game with that little rifle, and she was not squeamish about using it. She was only ten, for goodness sake. Heck, Kofi was only fourteen. They really were just children. Children who had to grow up too quickly. I tried to keep Regina out of any major fight, but sometimes trouble just found us.
I pointed to a skinny boy armed with my other AR-15. “This young man is Dale Childress. He was one of my neighbors’ kids back home. I’ve known him the longest of all in this group.” The redheaded and heavily freckled boy gave a simple wave. His blue eyes were red rimmed from the sun. “Please don’t call him Ginger. I would like to keep the peace.”
He sputtered at that crack. “Really, Mr. M? Can’t I go anywhere without you making fun of me?” It was a standing joke between us. Of all the kids, only Dale showed any sign of his humor still being intact.
Dale had been a little sheltered for the first two months of the fall. The last four weeks had slowly started to eat away at his good nature, and nothing I did could save him from what we had already seen. I tried, but it was everywhere we went. Only the most remote forest offered a break from all of the death. Well, that was the plan.
“The last member of our team of misfits is Alexsandra Hernandez, or Alex.” I pointed out the striking young lady with jet-black hair and dark eyes. She was carrying my AK clone with the stock folded and a seventy-five-round drum magazine inserted in the magazine well. Of everyone here, she probably carried the most emotional baggage. She didn’t smile or wave. She simply stared at the assembled group. She rarely spoke, but she hadn’t always been that way. I missed seeing her dimples when she smiled. We all had lost pieces of ourselves when the pulse changed the world.
“That’s it. All five of us. Not much of a squad, but we are more like a fire team from the Marine Corp, except for the fact that not a single one of us was ever a Marine.” I waited for a response from the leader of the group facing us. He waited a second before saying anything. He definitely had a way with those pregnant pauses. That is a unique ability; just wait a little longer than usual to get the attention of your audience.
Finally, the leader shifted and asked, “How many fights have ya’ll been in?” He had a light southern drawl.
I sighed before responding. “Do you mean running gun battles, random sniper fire, or just general mayhem by highwaymen? I really don’t know. I lost track after the first few times. It became just background noise after a while. I take it we are quite a sight, but we do clean up nicely. Just don’t sneak up on us or anything like that.”
That got a nod from Kofi, and a little “no kidding” from Dale. Regina and Alex were both silent. They had seen me react when startled from a dead sleep. I sometimes swing at the person trying to wake me.
The large man finally responded. “My name is Joseph Wright, my son here is Jordan Wright.” The small kid with the Russian rifle, which was taller than he was, nodded to us.
I had to comment about our earlier encounter. “So, Joseph, what the heck? Why did you have Jordan try to shoot me?” I hoped the answer was what I thought.
“Jordan was instructed to fire one round over your head and to drop down out of sight. We want to get a feel for people before we let them get too close. If you had started blasting away at the forest, I would have simply shot you dead.” His reply was devoid of all emotion, for he was stating a simple fact.
I nodded at that. “Well, that’s what I was thinking too. How else can you know someone you just met in the forest carrying guns? No hard feelings from me. I knew that first shot was not intended for me. What about that shot at my feet?” I asked.
“Oh, that was to get you to stop. I couldn’t have you running all over the forest causing trouble,” he replied mildly.
“How many times has this scene played out here in these woods?” I asked.
Joseph paused again before answering. “A few, but this is one where we didn’t have to kill anyone.”
Crap, there was no telling how may shallow graves dotted this patch of forest along the dusty creek bed. How many had died already from a simple misunderstanding? How many have died from starvation or dehydration? I didn’t want the job of census taker if we ever got back to normal. The numbers would just make me cry.
CHAPTER
TWO
After that, we were introduced to the rest of Joseph’s people. The two ladies with rifles were sisters Pamela and Ashley Grossman, but their features did not look familial. They could be stepsisters, but this was not the time to start discussing family trees. I didn’t even bother to crack jokes about their last names. That would be juvenile. They did look at my filthy little urchins with sympathetic eyes.
The last member, Angel Guzman, was quiet and only said a few words. We must have made a positive impression on them because they seemed to trust us. They let Kofi and Alexsandra go back into the woods to retrieve the packs they had dumped as soon as they heard the first shot. I had stupidly kept mine with me, and even pointed out my mistake with the kids. I went back out there and secured the heavy pack and my rifle. They didn’t give me too much of a hard time since I was the one being shot at directly. The team cut me some slack sometimes. Regina was the only one to haze me.
“So if we get shot at, we are supposed to keep our bags? That isn’t that what you taught us. You always said, ‘drop your pack and get to cover, you can come back for it later’ but you tried to keep it with you and it slowed you down.”
I sighed at my own mistake. “I screwed up, Regina. If it makes you feel any better, I did pee myself just a little bit.” That got a small laugh from Kofi. Nobody else responded. It had happened to all of them at one point. “Hey, I was just amazed I had any urine in me. I’m bone dry.”
“Hey, somebody has to keep up with morale among the troops. I elected myself the unit funny man.” I was just messing with them, trying to lighten their mood.
Once we were all assembled, we started moving along as one large group. I could tell that Joseph’s crew was not just watching our flanks. They were keeping an eye on us. I thought that was wise. We could be here to steal their food and cut their throats, and nobody was trusting of strangers these days.
We continued following the dried up creek again but on the other side from where the “ambush” took place. The embankment was higher on the eastern side than the west due to the natural topography of the area. The creek was at the lowest point here, and it meandered down from the north in a generally southern direction.
Pamela and Angel had moved into the forest behind us to resume their watch. The two shots from earlier may have drawn in scavengers looking for a free meal. Joseph pointed out that it had become common for hunters to make a kill in the woods only to be shot at by people looking to steal their dinner. It had gotten to be a serious problem.
“Not to be too nosy, but how many people are you trying to protect here? I didn’t even know there were any towns nearby. If I did, I would have gone another way.”
“We have a decently large group of people here that we are trying to feed and protect. We have several children, some who are just toddlers, and their parents. We even have two elderly people here that pitch in to help with the youngsters. As it is, we may not be able to survive the winter. Most people here walked in from the city like you did. Only a few had any food at all.”
I watched Joseph as we made our way through the forest. He was being a little elusive with his numbers, but I would have done the same with a group of armed strangers. I pointed through the trees to the browned fields to the west. Without a drop of rain in the last two months, there would not be a lot of food from those once bountiful fields.
“What are your options? Do you have any crops or gardens planted?” I asked, but I was afraid what his answer would be.
“We tried gardens, but keeping them irrigated has been a problem. We even scrounged some seeds on one of our supply runs. You may have noticed that it hasn’t rained in a while.”
“I know, that’s why I was following this creek. We are running out of water and hoped we could find a pool that we could filter and boil to drink. Just about every lake, river, and pond that still has drinkable water in it is guarded by people who are not willing to share. That water would still need to be boiled, but you can’t be expected to drink sand.” I kept the desperation out of my voice. I wanted him to say that they had flowing water and showers and birthday cakes. Instead, he just grunted.
“We have a water source. It’s a spring; we figured out we needed to dam it so we could build up a reservoir of water. Right now, it’s down to the size of a small swimming pool. The flow into it is starting to peter out, and we may be using it faster than it can recharge. It will need to be boiled to drink but you’re welcome to it. Don’t jump in it and start doing backstrokes. We don’t want to stir it up if we don’t have to.”
I was shocked that he would so readily agree to let us, not just come close to his camp, but he would offer us water. Most people have an angle. I waited for the bad news, but I acted appreciative. Please don’t let these be cannibals. I hated dealing with those. They could act all nice and convincing right up until they try to put you in the pot.
“My kids will appreciate it. Regina has a pot we use to boil our water. For that matter, we all have little aluminum pots for that, but it’s faster when we use the big one. I have a really nice filter unit for really nasty water, but I don’t think anyone is making replacement filters for it anytime soon. Do you mind if we go there first? I know we could all use some water and a place to just sit and cool off for a bit. This August heat is a killer. Hey, is it still August? I think I’ve completely lost some time somewhere.”
Joseph chuckled at that, but his face went serious. “We all have lost some time, and in some cases more than a little.” He pointed to a bend along the creek. “I’ll show you the way. It’s not too far. If you had kept going, you would have eventually found it anyway. Kind of why we patrol along here. People will follow a dry river if they are thirsty enough.” Joseph let that comment hang in the air a bit. He was asking me something but didn’t quite come out and say it.
“Joseph, do you need help protecting your little waterhole? Is that why you are so ready to accept us, or do you have other plans? Please just put all the cards out there for me. I’m too tired for games. No offense, Joseph.”
Joseph shook his head but didn’t deny my claim. “David, we need a lot of things. Last week, raiders infiltrated our camp at night and killed two of our people. They dragged the bodies away. We followed the drag marks, and the amount of blood loss told us it was a lost cause. Now why the hell did they drag away a dead body?”
I cursed under my breath, and I looked around to make sure Regina and Dale were out of earshot for what I said next. “I think you already know the answer to your question. Yes, desperate people will go to any lengths to survive. Don’t forget that there were a lot of crazy individuals out there who are now off their meds and out of control. I saw some insane stuff back in the city. We had a neighborhood blocked off and armed patrols day and night. We still had people come up missing with no clue where they had gone. After a while, we had to shrink our area down so we could keep a better watch. In the end, we were just too few.” I stopped talking abruptly.
Kofi and Alex both looked at me but didn’t say anything. They knew how close it had been, and how I still thrash around at night. My little family knew I was just as broken as they were, but I had to keep going. Dale and Regina checked their areas for threats, but by the tension in their movements, I knew they had heard some of the conversation. Joseph took this all in but thankfully didn’t press that any further. He must have understood that we needed to talk about some things without the kids nearby. They didn’t need to open those wounds just yet.
I changed the subject. “I know you don’t really know us that well, but we are good people. You don’t have to trust us right away; however, we won’t lay down our guns if you ask us to. Just so you know. If that comes up, we will just leave your area and never bother you again.”
I stayed quiet until we got to the glorious pool of spring-fed water. We could smell the moisture in the air when we were close. We also heard voices nearby. Obviously, this was where a lot of people congregated during the heat of the day. The temperature was a little cooler here. A mosquito buzzed my ear and landed on my face. I waited a second until it had latched on good before smashing it with my hand. I only needed to do that a few billion times to make a dent in their population. As we headed further into East Texas, they would only get worse, but right now, they were just an annoyance.
At the pool, we saw a group working together and collecting water in buckets on the sandy bank. They were careful to gently dip the white five-gallon buckets into the water with the smallest of ripples. They then scurried back to the campsite with their obviously heavy buckets. Men and women were both working with each other.
In the past, we had observed groups forcing the women to do all of the “camp duties” while the men provided “security.” They didn’t seem to have a problem with that here, but that was just based on initial observations. They could have been raging misogynists and only did that when company was over. I hoped not. I generally liked working with people instead of having to kill them.
Joseph commented, “Like I said, try not to stir the water up too much. While you’re here, can you help out with security a bit?” He was looking at me directly, waiting for an answer.
“Do you trust us enough to go around here armed? What if we run into so
meone we don’t know with guns coming at us? I mean, we don’t know all of your security forces yet.” I was thankful for the hospitality, but I really didn’t know what I was getting my kids into.
“I understand your reluctance, but just so you know, Jordan, Angel, Pamela, and Ashley are the only other security forces we have. Angel only has a few shells for his shotgun. Pamela’s rifle only came with the rounds in the magazine when we found it. That means after three more shots, she has a club with a telescope. Ashley has a twenty-round box of ammunition for her rifle. Too bad it’s a different caliber, otherwise she could share with Pam. Jordan’s beast has close to a hundred rounds for it. That’s why he was the one to fire the warning shot. I had a combat load for this AR plus some extra rounds, but that was in the beginning. I’m now down to just two magazines’ worth; I only have fifty-seven rounds left. You and your team represent the most firepower in our little camp. We could use a little help.”
“Do you have anyone strong enough to make a thirty-mile hike carrying a load?” I asked.
Joseph looked at me curiously before replying. “We do; what might you have in mind?”
“When we left Arlington, we were heavy on bullets, but light on beans. When we ditched our ride about thirty-five miles back, we unloaded what we could carry, but we buried the rest. We took all of the food and water, but there is a nice cache back there just waiting for us to come back and retrieve it.”
Joseph looked stunned. “How much is there?”
“Let me just say that our truck was almost bottomed out when we were hauling tail out of there. I distributed a lot of my collection to the neighbors for common defense, but I held some back just in case it was needed down the road. I also reload, so I have a lot of powder, primers, bullets, and brass, as well as the tools you will need to keep most of the guns running. It was too heavy for us to bring with us cross-country, but with your manpower, we might be able to get it here to help. You should be very thankful for not shooting me.”