After the Blast (Soldiers of New Eden Book 1)
Page 4
He figured they didn't want to tell him anything, but Jason was used to that. While years of what he had always described as office work was a liability immediately after the blast, Jason Calvin had been a pretty good journalist. He knew how to draw information out of people.
Before they realized what they were saying, they were answering his questions and filling in most of the blanks. The couple flatly refused to talk about the last several months though, and Jason decided it best not to push.
The road circled around one of the many mountains until a small settlement became visible in the valley below. Even from up here, the hustle and bustle was obvious.
"That," Jason said, pausing dramatically, "Is New Eden."
The highway snaked its way down the mountains, switching back and forth as it worked its way down into the valley. As they approached the settlement, the outline of houses became clearer, revealing their unusual construction.
"What are they made of?" Megan asked.
"Old fashioned wattle and daub mostly," Jason answered. "A few are a little different. My place is cob."
"Huh?"
"Basically, it's mud slapped on a woven frame shaped like a house. Then we roof it with whatever we can manage. Cob is a little different. It's like building with adobe, only you skip making bricks and just build the wall straight up."
"Do either of 'em work?"
Jason shrugged. "About as well as anything else we've thought of. What I'd give for central air though."
Megan's eyes widened momentarily before returning to normal, then nodded. Odd. Something there. Might need to poke around a little later and see if they'll talk more, he thought.
The group wove their way through a maze of haphazardly placed homes, all of different shape, along the dusty road. As they went, Jason commented on the person who lived in that home, or how that was actually a shop where one could get whatever.
They stopped in a large open square in the middle of town. People filtered in from every direction.
Jason looked at one of the townspeople, a man in heavily worn jeans and an old ratty t-shirt. "Go get Marlene Miller."
The man nodded and ran off at a full sprint.
Several people came over to the wagon and reached out to help the family down, hunks of bread soon thrust into their hands.
Jason looked around, scanning the crowd for one particular head. His head swiveled back and forth several times before the flash of red hair. He focused in, finally seeing one of the faces that mattered most in his life.
He dismounted and immediately made his way through the crowd until the rest of the redhead was visible. "About time you got home," she said, her wide smile showing off her perfect teeth.
He looked into her deep blue eyes. "Sorry, traffic was a bitch," Jason answered with a smile of his own as he took the redhead in an embrace.
He loved Jess with all his heart. He still didn't know why she married him, but she did and he was thrilled. He also understood why a would-be warlord wanted her. Of course, it had turned out to be a big mistake for the warlord.
"How bad?" she asked.
"Bad. Katie Miller was there too, chained up in a corner."
Jess closed her as she turned her head for a moment. "Did she…?"
Jason nodded.
"Oh, God," she whispered.
"She didn't have much of a choice."
Jess looked up and smiled. "I know. It's not that. John Baskin's been stirring up some crap."
He rolled his eyes. "What the hell now?"
"The usual."
From behind, Jason heard a shrill voice screaming. "Be gone, foul demon!"
Jason sighed as he turned and walked toward the voice.
Standing a few feet from the wagon stood a tiny man with a weasel-like face, dressed in black clothes, all in varying degrees of fade. In his hand was a homemade wooden cross, the cross-piece slightly askew.
"Back off, Baskin," Jason called out.
"I'll do no such thing," the man in black barked. "You brought a demon into our midst. She has feasted on the flesh of her fellow man and must be cleansed by fire." With that, Baskin held up a gas can. Gas sloshed within.
Jason's hand rested on the pistol strapped to his hip.
Baskin's eyes widened. "You would shoot a man of God?"
"Not any God I know." Jason's demeanor turned ice cold as his hand came to rest on the pistol's grip.
"John Baskin!" called out a familiar voice. Jason instantly relaxed slightly but kept his hand ready on the pistol.
"This don't concern you none," Baskin said, holding his hand out as if to keep the new arrival away.
"You're using that 'man of God' stuff again, even though you ain't been ordained by anyone. That does concern me. I'm kind of responsible for everyone here's immortal soul, after all," the new man said.
Jason looked sideways at Reverend Michael Hardesty. Hardesty was a good and Godly man and all that, but he was also practical. The man was a fighter. He had a body count behind him. The Good Lord may have said to turn the other cheek, but Hardesty knew enough to know that Christ had also instructed his followers to buy a sword if they didn't have one. Hardesty had used his sword more than once.
"I am a man of God, more than you, who allow fornicators and demons in this town," Baskin said, his hands quivering with every word.
"Thou shalt not kill. Remember that one?" Hardesty fired back.
"I am purging this community, purifying it against the demonic forces that lead us to this low point in human history."
Jason looked at Hardesty. "He always talk like this?"
Hardesty shrugged. "Radiation does some weird things, after all, but nah, this is new. Thinks God spared him to force mankind to repent of our evil ways. He means to purge the evildoers and such."
Jason turned his gaze back on Baskin. "I'll tell you what, John. You even think of 'purging' a single person in this here community, and I'll purge this here pistol of the 124 grain hollow points it's carrying. Understood?"
"You won't do it. You don't have the guts," Baskin said, a smug grin crossing his face.
Jason smiled coldly. "Try me." His fingers gently tightened around the CZ-75B's grip.
"Knock it off, Baskin. This is your last warning," said Simon Redfeather, who served as town council chairman of New Eden, as he walked into the square. "Next time, you're out."
"God's will-"
"Oh shut the Hell up about God's will. You don't know it any better than you know how to build a nuclear reactor," Simon said, walking up to Jason. "About time you got back."
Jason released his grip on the pistol and took an offered hand. "Tell me about it."
"Done?"
"Yeah. Left 'em hung up on the highway as a warning."
Simon nodded, then turned his attention back to Baskin. "You're still here?"
The weasel looking man turned and stormed off.
"Looks like things haven't exactly been quiet while I've been gone," Jason said.
"Baskin means well and all that, but he's crossing lines he doesn't even know he's crossing," Hardesty said.
Simon nodded. "Yeah, and he really is an idiot to boot. It probably would have been a mercy to have let you pop him."
Jason chuckled. "I don't think killing him will put him out of his misery. I suspect it'll keep going on afterward."
"Who said anything about ending his suffering? I was talking about ours!" Simon said with a laugh.
"Tempting in so many ways," Jason said, smiling. "So, besides Baskin and his crap, what did I miss?"
"Other than that, not much," Simon said. "Pretty quiet otherwise."
"Great. I'm going to end up being out of a job if I'm not careful," he said with a smile.
Simon returned it. "Nah. We'll just make up more laws until you've got something to do."
Jason rolled his eyes. "Great. In that case, let me quit now."
Simon laughed. "What? You have a problem with law and order?"
He shook his hea
d. "Only when it gets stupid, and I'd just as soon we never get there."
"Fair enough."
Jess swung around in front of Jason, putting her feminine yet muscular arms around him. "You gonna stay home for a bit?"
He smiled. "Wild horses couldn't pull me away."
"Good," she said as she leaned in and up just a bit to kiss him. In that instant, the entire world seemed to vanish.
Simon clearing his throat, however, brought him right back to the here and now. "Sorry to interrupt, but there's still some work to be done."
Jason groaned as Jess glared at the other man. "You're interrupting my reunion because of work?"
Simon held both hands in front of him in mock surrender. "Just for a moment. After all, your husband did bring in some new people too."
"Make it fast. I've got plans for him tonight," she said with a mischievous grin and let her husband go.
He looked at his wife and smiled. "I'll make it quick."
She smiled back. "You'd better be talking about work and not later."
Other Works From the Author
Short Stories
Drift
Exodus
Novel
Bloody Eden