by Jack Hunt
“He’s busy. He’ll see you later.”
The women were persistent. I leaned back on my elbows and felt a heavy wave of tiredness hit me. So much had happened in the span of twenty-four hours. My thoughts drifted to Brett. It was hard to imagine that he was gone. Though we had never really formed a close bond, he was the first foster parent that had treated me with some degree of respect and decency. I watched those with medical experience come and go. I offered the mound that I was on but they told me they were fine.
An hour passed before Hank returned. When he did, Ally and Kiera were with him. They were drinking from metal cups. Spirals of steam swirled above.
“Brought you some soup.”
“Soup?”
“Nothing fancy just MRE potato and cheddar soup.”
“After what we have eaten over the past month, I’m grateful.”
I nursed it between my hands and every now and again I would wince at the pain in my arm. Hank took a seat across from me and brought out a pipe, and a leather pouch. He stuffed the end with tobacco and lit it. The area filled with a sweet smell.
“So you are from Mount Pleasant, Ally was telling me.”
I looked over at her. Kiera was gazing around. She hadn’t said hardly anything over the past six months. I actually wondered if she would ever talk again.
“Yes, we, uh, were surviving in a bunker just east of here. But our supplies ran out and we had to fish, trap and hunt for new supplies.”
“They killed your friends?”
I nodded taking a sip. It burned my upper lip.
“Sorry for your loss.”
I shrugged. “What about you, you lose anyone?”
He blew out a mouthful of smoke and leaned back against the side of the enclosure. “Many. Family. Friends.”
“Why are you in the woods? Why not seek out a town nearby to stay in?”
“We did. There are problems everywhere. If it’s not the Commander and his men we are running into it’s—”
My brow knit together. “Commander?”
He nodded. “The one in control of Hayden.”
“What happened?”
He breathed in deeply. “Well. After the blackout occurred, the community worked together to try and make sure everyone was taken care of.” He snorted. “Actually it was pretty impressive. I mean the town was always a close-knit group but I’d never seen anything like it. To think that it took a disaster for all of us to get to know each other, seems like a joke, right?”
I took a sip of the soup. Oh my god, it felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Potato had never tasted so good. It wasn’t creamy like the kind found in cans. Obviously it was homemade. They had added something to it, to give it some flavor. Maybe herbs or salt?
“Anyway, the town wasn’t that big to begin with. After a month, some left hoping to see what was happening in other towns. They never returned. When the Commander and his group breezed into town, we thought we were saved.” He shook his head and looked down. Every few seconds I would see the tobacco in his pipe go a deep orange. “When he… um… arrived, we were told that they were the clean-up crew. Government had sent out teams of people, the Army National Guard, and those who had survived. They ordered everyone to hand over their weapons.”
“What was their reason?”
“They didn’t need one. When we demanded to know they said it was a mandate given by the United States government. Just temporary they said, until they were certain that no one was a threat. Some agreed. Others didn’t. Those who didn’t were arrested and taken away. No one was ever shot in front of us as I think they want to avoid a revolt. But we know people died.”
“And your family?
“They killed my son.”
His chin dropped.
“I’m sorry.”
There was silence for a minute, maybe two as he tried to collect and reel in his emotion. How many others had been affected this way? How many others had died trying to hold on to their rights?
He continued. “We were arrested and brought into a house. At first they were using homes to hold people who were dissident.”
“Keith mentioned that.”
“Keith Landers?”
“Yeah.”
“He got out?”
I nodded. “We met him along the way. He was the one that told us about the town and well, our friends are there. Ally’s father and Kiera’s mother.”
He blew smoke out the corner of his mouth and squinted. “And you thought you were just going to breeze in there and get them?”
I coughed and looked over at Luke who was still out.
“No. One of us had a different idea. One thing led to another and…” I trailed off. “Anyway, I appreciate what you did for us out there. We would have died had you not shown up.”
Hank acknowledged what I said but he didn’t seem to gloat or revel in it. I had the sense that he wished that none of this had happened. What they were doing was being done out of necessity not because any of them had a hero complex.
“How did you all manage to escape?”
“In the beginning they were unorganized and spent more time dealing with people like myself who refused to hand over weapons and those who wanted to know where they were taking some of the women.”
“The women?”
“They would take a few of them in under the pretense that they wanted answers to questions. They didn’t want answers. They wanted women for their men.”
I frowned thinking back to what the skinheads had done. Even though some might not have wanted to believe it, it was reality. Without the law, some men, depraved ones, would do whatever the hell they wanted with whoever they hell they wanted.
“Those that did return were told not to say anything otherwise they would make it worse the second time around.”
“Then how did you find out?”
“A friend of ours. His wife shared what had happened. Then when they made us build the fence people wanted to know why. They made up some cock-and-bull story about mutations. People who hadn’t died but had been affected in the worst way by the radiation.”
He re-lit his pipe and I studied his face to see if there was a crack in what he was saying. I expected him to burst out laughing any minute but he never did. He had a dead serious expression.
“Do you believe him?”
“No. Come on. Mutations? Are you kidding me?”
I shrugged. I had no idea what the effects were of the radiation. Could there have been something else inside of the bombs? A biochemical weapon? Had Russia created a weapon in the Cold War that could destroy, kill and burn but also change the very DNA in people? Hank got up and walked around the room looking at some of the others he had brought in. I saw him clasp the hand of a young lady who must have been in her early twenties. It looked as if they had amputated her leg from the knee down. He leaned over her and muttered something and she smiled, then a tear fell from the corner of her eye.
“So you think it’s just a way to control those inside?”
“Of course. No one can get over those fences without a ladder and besides they have men patrolling the streets twenty-four seven; armed guards at the east and west. It’s a compound where the Commander gets to act as though he’s president. His own little world.”
I got up and worked out my aching limbs.
“Do you think that it’s happening in other towns?”
“Who knows? I’m sure they sent military out to rein in the situation but I don’t buy that these guys are operating under some mandate. I think eventually when Canada and other nations get involved, the country will return to some sense of normality but that’s not going to happen overnight, in a week or even a year. Until then, there is no one to oversee lawlessness. We are the ones who are going to have to do it.”
I nodded contemplating what he’d told me.
“Did you have skinheads?”
“No.”
“So you don’t know who attacked the U.S.?”
H
e frowned. “It was some Middle Eastern group, wasn’t it?”
I glanced at Ally then back at him. “No. It was white supremacists.”
He scoffed and shook his head. “Seems everyone wants something of this country. This country used to be great at one time. Not anymore.”
“I don’t know about that. I think it all comes down to the choices people make.”
He nodded and smiled slightly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of matches and lit his pipe again. The tobacco hissed as he took several large pulls on it.
“You wouldn’t have a cigarette, would you?”
“I don’t smoke, kid. Bad for your health.”
I smirked looking at the pipe.
“All those people out there. Are they from the town?”
“Some are, others are from Stockdale.”
“Anyone still in Stockdale?”
“It’s a small town. If you blink you would miss it. We could stay there but a lot of the homes have been destroyed. We only went there to get supplies and to get help from others.” He turned to Ally. “We’ll help you get your family back, for now, rest, eat and get some sleep. Tomorrow we need to be ready.”
He patted me on the shoulder and headed towards the door.
“Hank. What did you do before this? I mean, career?”
“I was the chief of police.”
CHAPTER 15
Hours later I stepped outside into the cool evening. The air smelled of pine and burning bark. It was dark and the glow from a nearby fire illuminated a cluster of figures. Ally and I strolled over to get warm. That’s when the group of strangers turned. I couldn’t believe my eyes, standing before us were the six guys from the campsite. The same ones who had taken our food, the same ones we had locked inside an old barn.
“You!” one of them spat as he charged towards Ally and myself.
“Reynolds.”
Hank shouted but he wasn’t listening. Thankfully, he didn’t get within two feet of us before Ally pulled a gun on him.
“I was really hoping we didn’t have to do this again,” she said, her lip curled at the corner.
He glared at us with disdain in his eyes. “Hank. Who brought these people in?”
“They are guests.”
Hank came over and immediately got between them and us and told Ally to lower the Glock.
“They are the ones that stole our food.”
“Stole?” Ally shot back. “That was our food. You took it out of our traps.”
“Bullshit, we caught it.”
“No you didn’t,” I said, “because we laid the traps and watched you and your men stroll up and take it out.” Hank looked dumbfounded.
“Well, is it true?”
The man they called Reynolds scowled at us. He was a broad fella who had his hair back in a sharp ponytail. He was chewing on what looked like gum then he spat to one side and I could see it was tobacco.
“It’s a lie. We hunted, and caught it.”
I snorted. “No, you mean you hunted for something that was already caught.”
Reynolds pushed forward but Hank forced him back. “Go settle down. Have a drink. I’ll have words with you later.”
“You’re not chief anymore, Hank.”
Hank shook his head and Reynolds wandered back to the fire where the other five were nursing bruised egos. They sneered at our group. Billy and Corey were originally by the fire but they opted to join us when their group pushed their way in to get some meat cooking in a pot.
“I’m not going to get into whether it’s true or not. I expect it is,” he cast a glance over his shoulder. “You might want to stay out of his way for a few days. He’s been high-strung ever since we left town. Now are you guys hungry?”
“Famished.”
“How’s deer sound?”
“Is it ours?” I asked.
Hank laughed and trudged over to the fire. We gathered together as a group. Luke was still unconscious and being taken care of by those with medical experience.
“What are the chances of us ending up in the same camp as those assholes?” Billy muttered.
Corey held a small bowl in his hand, Ally leaned in and sniffed it. “Smells good. How’s it taste?”
“I don’t know. This is for Kiera.” With that said, Corey went inside the makeshift tent.
“Hey, I think we should head back and get the truck,” Billy suggested.
“Do it in the morning. You heard what he said, they could be out there.”
It was hard to tell how many people were in the camp. Some sat around two fires eating, while others were in makeshift tents and the rest, according to Hank, were positioned out in the forest, up in trees and on the ground, keeping an eye out for intruders. They worked in shifts around the clock. We came to learn they had been out in the forest for over two months. Those who stayed awake at night slept in the day. While it must have given those who were sleeping some comfort to know that they wouldn’t have their throat slit in the night, I wondered why the Commander and his men hadn’t attacked. Surely there were more of them than those in the forest?
I took a seat on a log that had been stripped of bark. Every few minutes I would feel pain spreading down my arm. Scooping spoonfuls of the meaty broth down, I was beginning to feel like myself again.
“So why haven’t they attacked?” I asked Hank. He had just finished up his food and was back on the pipe again.
“They did. Once. Back when we escaped the town, they gave pursuit the following day. They lost a considerable amount of men in the process. I don’t believe they want to lose any more. They need them on the gates. The Commander might be a depraved individual but he’s a smart man and he knows that without them, he’s exposed. It’s easier for them to take a defensive approach than to attack.”
“And you?”
“We have nothing to lose. They’ve taken everything we have. Look around you.”
I gazed at people’s faces. Most looked tired as though they had prematurely aged.
“All these people are relying on each other to make it through another day. I know Reynolds is a bit of an asshole but he and his men have been key in hunting. Without them we would have probably died months ago. Everyone in this camp does a job. Hunt, protect, build, whatever needs to be done. We are in this together.”
“Again, why not just head to Mount Pleasant or one of the other towns?”
“Some have. Our group was twice the size when we first escaped. Some chose to move on and seek out shelter in one of the towns further south. Everyone else that you see here, was born and raised in these parts. We grew up together. We’re not leaving. They forced us into this position and we will take back that town.”
I was reminded of those in Mount Pleasant. The ones who had taken up arms against the skinheads and those that chose to make a run for it. Did they survive? We hadn’t been back home in over six months. There was nothing there for us, at least for me, Luke or Corey. I didn’t want Ally or Kiera to have to go through what we had. There was no telling if Murphy and Shaw were dead until Luke went in there. I looked back through the tent at him. Who in their right mind would have allowed themselves to be taken in by a maniac that had killed others, just to see if Murphy and Shaw were alive? There was more to him than he let on. He acted as though he didn’t give two shits about everything but I could tell he did. We all did. That was the thing about an apocalypse, it unraveled our world and now we clung to even the smallest ray of hope. Right now, that was this camp and the knowledge that Murphy and Shaw were still alive.
“You want a drink?”
“Sure.”
Hank got up and walked over to a cooler and returned with a beer.
“Not sure I’m exactly the right age.”
“It’s all we got. And, I don’t think at this point age matters.”
He cracked the cap of his and chugged it down.
“Where did you find these?”
“In Stockdale. It’s not much. Early on we ma
naged to salvage food, weapons, medical supplies and livestock. Some of it we left there as there are still a few families trying to make a go of it.”
“They have a hunting store?”
He nodded. “Most of what we have here came from there. Again, whoever was there before us took the bulk of—”
A sudden snap of gunfire made us swivel. Several people in the camp jumped up and grabbed their rifles and vanished into the darkness. I was about to join them when Hank told me to relax.
“Probably just a false alarm. There are animals moving through the forest all the time. Some of the folks out there are a little nervous.”
It was strange to see how at ease he was at the sound of gunfire. It reminded me of the way Dan was when he was alive. As I stared into the fire I thought back to when we had first arrived at the bunker and he sealed the lid close. There was an overwhelming sense of relief that we were still alive and yet an ever-present awareness that life would never be the same again. With more than enough supplies to last for months there was no need to venture out. The underground shelter used a Swiss-made MBC system that was built for nuclear and biological filtration. With two turbines close by, he had the entire thing rigged up with its own electricity, and for a time things were good but like anything, in time we began to feel trapped inside the very thing that was protecting us.
And though he was gone now, I had a sense that he was still watching over us, making sure that we didn’t screw up. If we managed to make it through this hellish nightmare, it would be because of him. Because of what he had taught us. Not just how to survive physically but mentally. He would say it was all in our heads; the difference between those who would live and those who would die. My lip curled up as I gazed at the fire thinking about how he would repeat that over and over again while tapping his temple.
“Are you sure they don’t need us out there?”
“Sam, there will be plenty of opportunity for you to help out around here if you decide to stay. Tonight you need to rest up. I still can’t believe your friend walked in there and escaped.”
“Neither can I.”
I rose from a log and patted him on the shoulder. “Thanks, Hank.”
“Don’t mention it.”