After the Blast (Soldiers of New Eden Book 1)

by T. L. Knighton

  The sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the old house, as did the footsteps down the hall and into one of the rooms upstairs. A moment later, Zack came down with another tactical vest. This one was flush with ammo. He dropped it unceremoniously on the coffee table in the living room and then returned to the kitchen table.

  Dinner was amazing. For the first time, I felt full and actually enjoyed eating. I was probably going to be sick after this, but who cared? It was worth it.

  “So Jason, where are you headed?” Lucy asked while we were eating.

  “Mountains. My wife headed toward her mom’s place up there, so I’m trying to head that way too,” I answered.

  “Think she’s still there?” Zack asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah, I’d think so. Her mom was into some stuff that would keep them safe, and she’s the only house on the mountain, so it’s not likely people would just stumble on the place,” I said.

  “Can I go?” Chloe asked.

  The sound of forks and knives scraping on china ceased in an instant.

  “Excuse me?” I asked.

  “I want to go with you,” she said.

  My eyes darted back and forth between Zack and Lucy. They were stunned.

  “Why would you want to go with me?” I asked. “You’re probably safer here.”

  She laughed mirthlessly. “Yeah, that was obvious,” she said.

  “Don’t you sass an adult, missy,” Lucy fired back.

  “No, I understand why she’s saying it,” I said. Chloe’s eyes shot up from the table for the first time. I could see the emerald green of her eyes, something I hadn’t noticed before. Not that there had been a lot of time.

  “You got hurt,” I continued. “You got hurt and you don’t think anyone here can protect you. I hate to break it to you but it’s worse out there. Out there, you probably would have been hurt worse, and it would have happened a while back. There are evil people out there, Chloe. Evil, evil people.”

  My words hung in the air for a moment, and then she said, “But you’re out there too.”

  I thought about it. I was out there. Sure, there were good people out there most likely. I mean, it couldn’t just be the evil, right? I wasn’t evil. Was I?

  “You’re right, I am. And I probably will be for a while, too,” I finally said.

  “Well, you’re not evil,” she said.

  “Some days, I’m not so sure,” I said.

  “Mister, you can’t be evil,” Mike said, snapping me out of a train of thought best forgotten.

  “Oh? How’s that,” I said with a smile.

  “You’re a hero. Heroes can’t be evil,” he said.

  #

  The next morning, I headed back out. I left before breakfast, but even so, a plastic sack full of canned meals was sitting next to my backpack. I left a thank you on a dry erase board on the refrigerator.

  Zack and Lucy had helped me get my bearings. I was only a few days away from Jesse and Ricky, provided I could avoid any more delays. I turned down the road and headed toward my family. I was sure they believed me to be dead, but maybe that would make the reunion all the sweeter.

  I was well west of Atlanta, and the devastation that it must have endured was absent here for the most part. Instead, it was just the dying plant life, which wasn’t any different than the dead of winter.

  The miles seemed to pass by quicker. I guess knowing I was closer helped.

  I stopped for the night in a copse of trees and brush several hundred yards from the road. I didn’t dare build a fire, but by this point I was actually used to eating cold food. Spaghetti rings weren’t so bad cold, once you got used to it, and I ate two cans. I had plenty of food for a change and was only a few days from Jesse. Provided, of course, she was still…no! I knew she was alive. She had to be.

  Sleep came relatively easy, though it wasn’t a deep sleep. Weeks out here had robbed me of the ability. It was that lack of deep sleep that let me hear them.

  “Keep it quiet,” someone whispered. They were only a few feet away from me. The stand of brush kept me hidden, so I kept still and listened.

  “Why? It’s not like there’s anyone out here,” someone else muttered.

  “You hope,” the first man whispered.

  “What’s the big deal, anyways? Roger had his panties in a twist over this. It’s not like there’s any rush,” the second man said.

  “They’re nomads, but they’re loaded down. Food, medicine, ammo, booze, even women from what I hear. Roger wants us to check it out before we hit ‘em,” the first man said.

  As the two men passed, I knew my sleep was screwed. I was only a few more days from Jesse. She was closer with each and every step, but I didn’t know if I could look her in the eye if I just laid here and pretended I didn’t hear anything.

  I carefully sat up, scanning the surroundings to make sure I was alone. I didn’t see anything, but the brush that hid me worked both ways.

  I gathered my belongings, placing everything in my pack so as to minimize noise, gathered up my rifle, put on my vest, and headed out. I wasn’t a tracker by any means, but there was no reason for these two men to do anything but go in a straight line. I did the same. Besides, it was still dark as hell. I couldn’t have tracked them if I wanted to.

  After only a few minutes, I was forced to stop. I didn’t know how the two men had been moving so quickly and quietly, but I sure as hell couldn’t. The undergrowth kept tripping me up and ripping at my already torn clothing.

  It seemed to take forever for the overcast sky to show the first bits of light. That was all I needed. I stood up and moved on.

  A few hours later, I learned that my gut had been right. Ahead of me, two figures were huddled behind some thicker growth. I paused.

  I had known that I had to deal with this, but did I? I didn’t know who these other people were. They weren’t Zack and Lucy. The fact that they were nomadic was now making me think that they were just another raider band. Did I really want to get in the middle of that?

  I skirted a few hundred yards from where I saw the two figures and moved up. I needed to see what this group was.

  Their camp was made up of a ring of cars that provided something of a fence. Inside the camp, the smells of food cooking started my stomach to growling.

  “Coming in,” a voice called out from within the camp as a small group of people came through the woods not far from my hiding spot. They were an odd collection. Every ethnicity seemed to be apparent in the small group, probably around fifteen people or so. They were carrying boxes and bags, except for three people in the group. They carried nothing and looked more ragged than the rest.

  A man and a woman came out from the circled cars and greeted the returning people. “Simon, this is Aggie, Mark, and Jim. They’re trying to head to Chattanooga,” one of the men said.

  The man stepped forward, his right hand held out. “Welcome. You three must be starving. We’ve got some food cooking. It’ll be ready in a bit,” he said. The three ragged people just looked at him.

  He dropped his hand and smiled. “I understand. It’s not a pretty world anymore, but you’re safe. I promise,” he said. “Go on in. We can talk later, okay?”

  As the group entered the ring of cars, I decided something that still makes no sense to me. I stood up, slung my rifle, and stepped out of the woods.

  In an instant, a dozen rifles were pointed at me over cars. I held my hands up. “I’m not a threat,” I said. This Simon guy had given me a good vibe. I’m not sure why, but he did.

  Simon was still outside of the circle, staring at me. Slowly, I walked toward him, my hands still in the air. When I was a few feet away, I said, “You’ve got a problem, but I’m not it.”

  Simon looked around, confused. “And that problem is?” he asked.

  “Over behind the brush next to that big oak tree are two scouts. They’re reporting to some dude named Roger. I overheard them last night saying they needed to do a little recon on your set up here,�
� I said. I recounted all of the events, including my concerns about this group.

  “I can understand that,” Simon said. “You got a name?”

  “Jason,” I said.

  Simon offered his hand to me, and I shook it. “Welcome to the Train,” he said.

  I entered the ring of cars. “So, where you headed?” Simon asked.

  “North of Rome. My wife and kid took off from home right after the blast headed to her mother’s place,” I said.

  “We’ve got a couple of other folks headed that way. When we get close, you’ll probably have to peel off from the main group, but we’ll try and get you close,” Simon said.

  “Where are you guys headed?”

  “Norfolk,” Simon said.

  “Virginia? Wouldn’t that have been nuked?”

  Simon shrugged. “You would think, but we’re getting transmissions from there. Apparently there’s still some government up there.”

  “Good luck with that then. I wouldn’t bank on it though,” I said.

  “Yeah, but it’s what we’ve got. We’re trying to hold onto what we are as much as we can, you know?”

  I shook my head. “Not really. I’ve kind of lost that.”

  Simon stopped and grabbed my arm, turning me toward him. “Only if you want to lose it,” he said.

  “Some of it, I do. Just some of it.”

  I thought about things that had haunted me for years. People who were being hurt and I just ran the other direction. Fear was my primary motivator for most of my life.

  However, that was before meeting Zack and Lucy, along with their kids. I had lost the fear. I was someone else. I was something else. The thing was, I think I liked it.

  Simon spoke with a couple of armed men, who promptly eased out of sight. A short time later, the two men I had followed were brought into the camp, bound and gagged. I smirked at the two bandits. Losing the fear was definitely a good thing.

  The group began packing up, loading things into the various cars. Simon directed me toward a car with a bit of extra space for me and my gear.

  As I walked up, the woman driving the car met me part way. “Simon said you were going to ride with us. That right?”

  “Looks like it,” I said.

  “Awesome. I’m Peggy,” she said. She was a small woman but had a hardness about her. Her hands were heavily callused, clearly someone who had done manual labor long before the blast.

  “Jason.”

  “A pleasure. Ready to load up?”

  I nodded.

  “Awesome,” she said, and then motioned toward the back of the minivan we would be riding in. “Throw your gear in the back, but hold onto your guns. We might need ‘em.”

  “Sounds good,” I said. Peggy exuded an infectious vibe, like she had never met a stranger and that feeling extended to anyone she was in contact with. For the first time since the blast, I didn’t really feel alone.

  I was offered the front seat, which I gladly took. The view is always better in the front seat after all.

  As the convoy pulled off, I saw the two bandits tied to a tree. “Simon left them a knife. It’s kind of dull, but it’ll let them free themselves before too long,” Peggy offered, seeing what I was looking at.

  “He’s a better man than I’d probably be,” I said.

  “Yeah, he’s still got a soft heart for the most part. He’s done plenty of fighting since the blast, but it’s not his way if he can help it,” she said.

  “He’s still trying to hold on,” I said.

  I could see Peggy’s nod out of the corner of my eye.

  We followed the road east for a couple of miles before turning north. Peggy explained that it would make it harder for the bandits to follow. After all, their men would see which direction we went. If they decided to follow, they would most likely keep going east.

  For the better part of the day, we traveled north before stopping for the night. We had never really built up much speed, so we only made a little more headway than I would have on foot. The upside was the complete lack of fatigue at the end of the day.

  The next couple of days were spent in camp, the cars pulled up into the circular formation. Teams were sent out to check the area for survivors and supplies. Few survivors were found, though more than I would have thought. Surprisingly though, tons of supplies were recovered.

  When I asked about it, Simon said that they had come from warehouses that apparently people had missed everything. A few boxes out of a warehouse were nothing, and surprisingly easy to miss when up against a wall in a huge vacant space.

  The bandits had been right about one thing. Simon’s crew had everything. Food was plentiful, at least for now. Medicine could be had if you needed it, though that was pretty low in quantities and jealously guarded. Even booze could be had, though drunkenness wasn’t really tolerated.

  When we headed out next, I and a handful of others took our leave. I was less than a day from Jesse, and I needed to move west while the caravan was heading north. I still had plenty of food from Zack and Lucy, so I was good to go.

  As we walked away, we chatted a bit about what all we had experienced. I didn’t bother to ask names, mostly because I didn’t want to know. We wouldn’t be together for all that long anyway.

  Their experiences mirrored mine, more or less. The difference was primarily that they were the same people they were before the blast. I wasn’t.

  We parted ways, and I continued toward my mother-in-law’s house. For the first time since I left my home so far in the south did I worry about whether or not Jesse would actually be there. I had to try, regardless.

  For the better part of the day, I kept trudging up mountain after mountain, my legs burning every step of the way until finally the house I was looking for came into view. I readied my rifle and steeled myself against what may be waiting for me.

  The house appeared to be fine. It and all of the outbuildings that made up her house had intact windows and closed doors. I crept forward, not sure of what was there.

  I was only a few yards from the tree line when I heard my mother-in-laws voice. “Ricky? Stay where I can see you, okay?” she called out. My heart jumped. My son was here!

  No longer concerned, I slung the rifle across my back and ran toward the back yard where the voice was coming from. I rounded the house and there he was, playing in a sandbox my mother-in-law had put in for him a couple of years ago.

  My mother-in-law spun at the sight of me. “Ricky! Come here! Now!” she called out, then turned her attention to me with a shotgun. “I don’t know what you want, but you’d better look somewhere else.”

  “Angie, it’s me. It’s Jason,” I said.

  Her jaw dropped, as did the shotgun’s barrel. “Jason? You’re alive?”

  I nodded. “Jesse’s car got fried in the blast. I had to walk it from there.”

  She sat down the gun. “Ricky, why don’t you give your daddy a hug,” she said.

  Ricky looked at me, then back at his grandmother. “That’s not Daddy! Daddy’s fat, and he’s not!”

  “Ricky-ticky? It’s me buddy. I had to walk a long, long way, and lost all that fat along the way,” I said.

  He looked at me skeptically before taking a step toward me at first, then ran into my arms. I had my son back, and that meant everything. I stood up, still clutching my son.

  “Where’s Jess?” I asked.

  Angie took a deep breath. “You’d better come inside and let me tell you,” she said.

  I was worried. Why would I need to come inside to find out where my wife was? Was she even alive?

  Angie’s house looked like it always had, though a bit darker without the overhead lights on. A fire burned in the wood stove, a pot sat on top that had some kind of stew in it if the smell was any indicator. She walked into the living room and motioned toward the couch. I sat as I had been instructed.

  “Jesse isn’t here,” Angie said. “She’s fine, but she’s not here. There’s this guy named Maximilian. He kind
of likes to run things in the area. Him and his thugs. They take what they want and damned if you need it to survive.”

  “So, he’s some kind of wannabe warlord or something?” I asked.

  “I guess ‘warlord’ is as good a word as any. Anyways, he took Jesse a couple of days ago. Said she belonged to him, to be part of his harem.”

  “My wife? To be part of some tin pot dictator’s harem?” I asked.

  Angie nodded her head. “Yeah. She’ll be taken care of, but I don’t think there’s much else that can be done. At some point, he might let her go. She knows the way home.” By the tone of Angie’s voice, she didn’t really expect to see her daughter again.

  “Where is this guy at?”

  “Why? Jason, I know you’re not a fan of conflict. Jesse said she always wish you’d stand up for yourself more, but I’m sure she’ll agree that this isn’t the time to start.”

  “I started weeks ago,” I said, sitting Ricky down as I stood up. “Where is he?”

  Angie told me the area that this Maximilian claimed as his own, and I loaded up. I left my pack because it was less than a day there and back, but I wore the tactical vest with its load of ammo.

  Maximilian’s camp was nothing spectacular. Dozens of tents and RVs scattered around a huge open area in the center. On one edge of the opening stood a single house. My guess was that would be where I’d find Maximilian.

  I decided to hide and watch the camp for a little while. I wanted to see what the deal was before I made any hard and fast plans. A half dozen men appeared to be on a roving patrol outside of the camp with another half dozen serving as pickets along the outer ring of the encampment.

  My estimate was that they had plenty of muscle, but the body language of the guards showed a lack of concern. They were the baddest boys in the mountains, so who would stupid enough to screw with them? Well, apparently, I was.

  I made sure the AR-15 was fully loaded and took careful aim. I was a little out of practice, but I put thousands of rounds through these type guns. I’d even had a couple of them, but they had been sold long before the blast to take care of some bills when times got lean. However, the lessons remained.