Farmer's Creed

by Christopher Woods

  We’d picked up forty more volunteers before finding Orthodox Street again to continue toward the new water plant. Most people had heard of us by this time, and this zone was no different. We had a welcoming party standing in the street between the two- and three-story business offices that lined the street.

  “Guess that’s my cue,” I said and raised my hand to stop the wagon train.

  I rode forward and stopped before the four men and two women standing in the street.

  “My name is Zebadiah Pratt, and I get the impression you know why I’m here.”

  The woman on the far left stepped forward. She was dark haired, with a dark complexion, and the high cheekbones of a Native American.

  “I am Leandra Hiddle, this is Travis Dee, Kevin Jackson, Olliver Kendrickson, Tate McQuire, and Mantha Kirkland. We’re the Consortium. The surrounding ten blocks are under our control, and we’re aware of who you are. By rumor, of course. Hopefully the rumors are true.”

  “If the rumors say we’re here to provide a certain amount of supplies to each person in the zone and possibly trade for more, then they’re true. We aren’t looking for trouble, but we’re also well able to handle trouble if it comes. We prefer to do our business in peace and repeat that business on a regular basis.”

  “Then I am relieved,” she said. “There are several rumors concerning your people. Taking people is one of them.”

  “Some folks have left with us, and others are welcome. We don’t take anyone against their will, but we won’t leave anyone against their will either, if you take my meaning.”

  “We are not slavers, Mister Pratt.”

  “Good,” I said and stepped down from Dagger’s back, “because I have little use for slavers.”

  “If you head south down the river, you may have problems, then.”

  “Well, south is the direction I plan to travel. Maybe they won’t be too troublesome.”

  “A lot of the riverfront is empty, but if you get to the Sugarhouse, there’ll be trouble. The reason the riverfront is empty is because Galloway snatches anyone who gets anywhere near the casino and sells them to some of the warlords to the west. Anything south of the Port of Philadelphia is empty or owned by him.”

  She gasped as she saw something beside the wagons. “You have Genofreaks with you? Don’t let Galloway see them, or he’ll take them for sure.”

  “They don’t really like that term,” I said. “Galloway won’t be taking anything.”

  “I apologize,” she returned. “You already know about him, don’t you?”

  “I’ve heard some rumors,” I said.

  She looked closer at the caravan. “You have a lot of guns.”

  “Yes, we do,” I said, “and a lot of ammo.”

  “I think you may have lied to me, Mister Pratt. I think you are indeed looking for trouble.”

  “I’m not looking for trouble here, ma’am,” I said, “but the slavery we’ve run into since coming into the city is astounding to me. We lived in the greatest country in the world, and this is what we’ve become?”

  “I happen to agree with you, Mister Pratt. I also have no way of changing things. We have enough guns to protect our small area, but the ammunition will be gone one day, and we’ll be defending ourselves with clubs.”

  “It’s not a day I look forward to any more than you,” I said. “Nevertheless, some things need done.”

  “And because you can do a thing, you have the right to do it?”

  “Depends on the thing you’re doing,” I said. “Because I can do it, I feel it’s my moral obligation to do what needs doing. There are some things that should have no place in the world, even a Fallen World.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 35

  “Good luck, Mister Pratt,” Leandra Hiddle said. “Galloway has a pretty large force under his command. He came from the naval yard to the south. He was one of the General’s men.”

  “The General?”

  “It’s a naval yard.”

  “Haven’t met any of them yet,” I said, “but the Navy I remember doesn’t have generals.”

  “It does now. He’s a piece of work from what I’ve heard. Galloway deserted immediately after the Fall and moved himself and a good number of the men from the yard into the Sugarhouse. Then the General came into power, and no one deserts anymore.”

  “Good leader?”

  “This is all rumor, but they say no one who tries to leave survives the attempt.”

  “Slaves?”

  “Not that I know of,” she said. “More like enlisted.”

  “This just gets better and better,” I muttered.

  “While we talk about rumors, there’s a rumor of some pretty scary things going on at the U. S. Mint. People go in there and never come back out. I’m glad we’re at a distance from some of the things that happen here. Then there’s the group just west of us. Vegetarians or something. I think there’s something going on with them, but I can’t get any confirmation.”

  “Vegans,” I said. “I met them. Strange bunch, but I couldn’t find anything too far out of the way with them. Got their own brand of crazy going, though.”

  “That I can agree with.”

  “The bunch at the Mint are calling themselves the Circus,” I said. “Met them recently. Steer clear of them. They’re a whole level of dangerous you don’t want to mix with. Corporate dangerous, if you know what I mean.”

  “I’d hoped that was a thing that fell with the bombs,” she said.

  “Most of it seems to have gone with the Fall,” I said, “but there are some pockets out there that haven’t accepted Obsidian is gone, Teledyne is gone, and JalCom, Delik U, and all the others are gone. All that’s left is us, and we have to work together or we’re gone in a few years. The city is just discovering that we may have a future. I hope we can work together and survive all this.”

  “Me too, Mister Pratt,” she said.

  “It’s Zee, Ma’am. Mister Pratt is my dad.”

  She laughed, a rare thing to hear in the world we lived in. “Then you can call me Lee, and stop with the ma’am. I may be in my forties, but you don’t have to keep reminding me.”

  “Nothing wrong with forty,” I said. “Turned forty-one this year.”

  “You carry it well, Mis…Zee. You look like you’re in your twenties.”

  “Sometimes I forget,” I said.

  “That sounds like it might be an interesting story,” she said with a slight smile. “Join me for a drink? We went through most of the alcohol pretty quickly, but I kept a Bourbon for special occasions. I think the prospect of surviving past the end of the year might suffice. And perhaps you’ll reveal the secret of looking so young if I ply you with enough of it.”

  “I’ll take a rain check on the drink, if you still want to have it when I get back. I need to ask you for something first.”

  “That sounds a little ominous.”

  “Nothing too hard,” I said. “We take recruits with us from most of the zones we go through. Now I know there’s going to be some fighting ahead of us, and I really don’t want to bring a bunch of innocents into the line of fire. You and your Consortium are the best folks we’ve encountered this trip, and I would like to leave the others with you until we finish what we came to do to the south. I’ll leave the supplies to feed them with you.”

  “And what if you don’t return?”

  “The Farmers will come through in another month or so,” I said. “They’ll need to know what happened, and they’ll take the folks out to the Farms.”

  “You’ve thought this out?”

  “I have,” I said. “I expect to have a fight on our hands, and I’ve stacked the deck as best I can. There’s always the chance I’ll lose, but it hasn’t happened yet, and a lot of folks have tried.”

  She stared at me for a moment. “There’s a very dangerous look in your eyes, but I think you’ll be back, Zee Pratt. I’ll have the bottle ready when you return, and I’ll keep your people safe.”


  “If we have any more volunteers as we head south, we’ll send them to you as well,” I said. “I can’t see putting new folks into a firefight before we have a chance to train them.”

  She nodded.

  “Thank you, Lee,” I said.

  “How could we do any different?”

  “You’d be surprised how few would consider it. I consider myself a pretty good judge of character, and you’re a much better person than what we usually find out here.”

  “Thank you, Zee.” She smiled. “Those traits aren’t as common in this city, and the Consortium tries to live up to a set of standards.”

  “Not as common in other places, either. Even on the Farms. We’ve got some really good people out there, and many would let the city burn. Hell, I was one of them after they killed my…” I stopped for a moment. “Anyway, Pop started this, and I’ve come around to the idea as well. So we do what we can.”

  “I’m guessing that sentence would end in the word ‘wife.’ Or perhaps ‘love.’ I’ve seen so many people with that statement on their lips. We live in a world of loss, Zee Pratt. Loss isn’t new to any of us, and sometimes we get a chance to forget for a few minutes.”

  She stood up from the seat she’d been sitting in. “Perhaps one day you’ll wish to forget for a few minutes. Perhaps you’ll remember that someone else would love to forget for a while, too.”

  I watched Lee Hiddle walk away with new eyes. She was a beautiful woman with a good heart. Then I looked south, and my eyes hardened. Neave had shown me I could be something besides the killer I’d become. Then they took her from me, and the killer came back. The time since Neave had died had shown me that I wasn’t just the killer anymore. Whether she was here or gone, she’d changed me into someone else. Someone better.

  “One day, perhaps,” I muttered, turning back to watch Leandra Hiddle walk away.

  She and her Consortium were an island of hope in the sea of awfulness this city had become. I think maybe it was more because of her than the others in the Consortium. I had met the others, but she was the one who stood out. And she was a rare find in this Fallen World.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 36

  “Did I see something back there between you and the head lady?” Phil asked. “I could swear I saw some sparks there.”

  “She’s a hell of a woman, Phil.”

  “I knew there was something there,” he said with a grin.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “We’re going to have a drink when we come back for the others.”

  He nodded and kept grinning.

  “Just watch where you’re steering the wagon, you grinning bastard.”

  He turned his head forward, but I could still see the grin on his face. I lightly kicked Dagger’s ribs as I shook my head. “Let’s go, boy. Too much dumbassery going on back here.”

  He snorted.

  “You too?”

  He snorted again, and I patted his neck.

  “Yep,” I said softly. “I like her.”

  We rode up to the gate of the newest water plant that had been built just before the Fall. To our right was what used to be a large body shop, to the left the Orthodox Water Treatment Plant. The gate opened up, and I found myself facing Mardin and his Agent. There were another ten or fifteen men and women around the entry. All were armed.

  Mardin waved, and the others faded back into the shadows.

  He strode forward. “Mister Pratt! Good to see you made it. I just had to make sure it was you.”

  “And you wanted to show me you had armed men and women watching,” I said. I pointed at O’Neal. “He already knew who was coming.”

  O’Neal grinned.

  “Told him it would be useless anyway after I saw your brother. I’ve met him before, and I have an idea who’s been imprinted on him. How the hell you keep that crazy bastard under control I have no idea.”

  “He’s got the skills of the guy you’re talking about,” I said. “Fella named Gaunt. But he’s got my brother’s memories.”

  “That might even make him more dangerous,” he said. “All the skills and none of the crazy?”

  “Something like that,” I said.

  “Then I was right,” he said. “None of the posturing would do any good anyway. If ordered to do it, I could do a lot of damage, but I’m no match for that.”

  “We’re not here to fight you,” I said. “We’re here to feed you.”

  Mardin smiled. “I’m used to dealing from the side of strength. Sometimes I have to do the dance to keep things civil.”

  “I know how that goes,” I said. “We’ve been dancing that dance for months. So what say we skip the first steps and get right to it. I’ll work with your people as best I can, but our policy on slavery is simple. If someone wants to join us on the Farms, they’re welcome. Slaves tend to want to leave those holding them against their will.”

  “We’re not slavers,” Mardin said, “and we’re familiar with the deals you give the others you’ve met with. We have nothing to hide, and if any of ours wish to join you, they’re welcome.”

  “Then we should be good to go,” I said, waving to Phil on the lead wagon. “We’ll pull the wagons inside the gates and get set up.”

  He nodded, looking at the second wagon with the fifty with a frown as it came through the gate.

  “So far we’ve had to use that a couple of times,” I said. “I expect we’ll have to use it again, but not here. I expect we’ll need it when we go south.”

  “I expect you may,” he said.

  O’Neal nodded. “Nothing much to the south anymore until you get to the Sugarhouse. There’re a few port businesses and KML.”

  “KML?”

  “Used to be Kinder Morgan Liquids,” he said. “Fuel supply.”

  “Now that’s something I’m very interested in.”

  “There’s still fuel there, but nothing left to put it in. The city’s dead. Not too safe to try driving anything through.”

  “I imagine,” I said, “but we’re desperate for fuel out on the Farms. If we had a steady fuel supply, we could produce so much more than the city needs.”

  “Then perhaps that should be what you focus on instead of what I think you’re planning,” O’Neal said.

  “Why not both? We brought the guns and everything.”

  He grinned. “Spoken like an Agent. Which could or could not be a compliment.”

  “You’re more than welcome to join us,” I said.

  “I have enough on my plate helping Sam,” he said.

  Mardin shrugged. “We do have a great deal going on at the moment, Mister Pratt. I don’t care to risk our greatest asset on something that won’t make any difference. Someone else will take their place.”

  “That’s fine, Mardin,” I said. “I’m not asking you to help with those assholes to the south, I’m just here to trade. Let’s focus on that for now.”

  He nodded. “Perhaps we can help in other ways, Mister Pratt. What you’re doing here is worthwhile. Never think I don’t understand it. We have our own conflict going on under the streets. We’re trying to keep the city alive, as much as you and yours are trying to do the same on the surface. If the water doesn’t flow, the city dies.”

  “I agree,” I said, “and I have no doubt the fight is just as important under the streets as it is up here in the open. I think we can find some useful ways you can help us in other areas, and I’d say we have a few things we can do to help you, as well. What say we delve into that a little later, after we establish what I think might be a beautiful friendship.”

  “Friendship sounds good,” he said, watching the second war wagon roll through the gate.

  A person needs friends in this Fallen World.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 37

  The wagons rolled south down Delaware Avenue.

  “That’s a lot of trucks,” Phil said. “If there’s diesel down there, we might use the trucks.”

  “I was just thinking that,” I s
aid as we rolled past the building that said A&R Logistics. There were both trucks and tanker trailers inside the lot of the deserted building.

  “Maybe we’ll get lucky,” he said.

  The road crossed a bridge ahead, and there was a roadblock across both ends of the crossing. They had several cars blocking the road and several men with guns behind the cars.

  I rode forward to stop about thirty feet from the cars. “I’d appreciate it if you moved the vehicles so we can pass.”

  “There’s a toll to cross this bridge,” one of the men said.

  “You have no idea,” I said as the first war wagon rolled into view. Alongside the wagons were over two hundred Guardsmen in long coats with Teledyne weapons and body armor.

  “On second thought,” the man said, “perhaps we’ll move the cars.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “As the last wagon crosses the bridge, meet me here, and I’ll give each of you thirty of these.”

  I tossed one of the MREs over the car to one of the men.

  “Thirty each?”

  “Yep,” I said. “Let’s get these cars moved so we can get through.”

  The man stood and looked down at the MRE. “Never thought I’d be happy to see these again.”

  He raised his hand and signaled the guys on the other side of the bridge. “Alright, boys, let’s move the cars.”

  The last wagon rolled across the bridge, and I opened the back when it reached the other side. Ray Donovan began passing the MREs out to me, and I passed them on to the seven men and four women.

  “I’ll be back this way in the near future; I’d appreciate if the bridge was open.”

  The leader nodded, but I was pretty sure they’d move the cars back into place as soon as we got out of sight.

  I looked him in the eyes. “Understand this, I didn’t just pay a toll, and I’ll never pay to cross this bridge. I gave you what we’re giving every man, woman, and child we find inside the city. When I come back, if you try to extort me, I’ll leave corpses in my wake instead of feeding you.”