by P. S. Power
They ended up with Carley, Lois, Burt, Julio and Ken, along with Nate, who led everything and a skinny birdlike woman that had only half raised her hand and seemed like she expected to be beaten for it.
She'd voted him out, he remembered. Softly, he asked her name, feeling bad for not knowing it. She was one of the homebodies. Not ugly, but so quiet that he'd never paid much attention to her before. She had straight hair that hung to her shoulders, brown and pale skin like his own, only more so, since he still had a tan. Her voice was soft even for this place, and he had to strain to listen.
“Um, Rita?” She said, looking even more scared.
Carley nodded though.
“Making baby blankets and diapers. Some quilts and stuff too, also does the clothing repair.”
Jake just nodded firmly.
“That counts for sure then... Anyone else?”
No one raised a hand so Jake got those people to the front and shifted everyone else around. The vote went fast, with everyone but Ken voting with him. He asked why, but Ken just shrugged and grinned at him.
“You're pushing people.” He said, a longer sentence than most in the room had ever heard him say. “People don't want to leave. It's easy to vote on stuff like this, but you face your fears all the time, a lot of people here have a harder time with that. So they need someone to stand up for them.”
Jake nodded. Right. Brilliant in fact.
“But they have to. We need things done and if people don't find work that's valuable to do, we all pay for it and in a lot of ways. If they don't want to go hunting or into town they need to get on the ball and find something to make themselves useful. Provably so. But I do hear what you're saying.”
Ken shrugged again. He worked constantly, so it didn't affect him and really, a hunting trip actually sounded fun to him. He said all of this softly, but without hesitation. Everyone that thought he was a mute stared. Jake didn't blame them, but just grinned at the kid. After all, someone had to stand up to the group, to show that it wasn't a trick, that they really had the right to vote the way they wanted if they earned it. Even if that meant telling Jake to go soak his head. Especially then. It might be a stupid plan, but it seemed to make everyone else happy after a bit. They could have a voice, if they did useful things. They had to want it, and earn it though. And keep earning it.
Kind of cool and it made it harder for the lazy people to take over. Not that working meant they'd suddenly be smart about everything, but at least it gave people a new goal. Want to be in charge? Work. Don't want to work? Too bad, we took a vote...
It beat the hell out of him shooting someone to make an example which had been the next thing he'd planned to try. Probably the guy that said they should take a vote.
Moron.
Jake had to find space to sleep in, his old mattress having been taken the same night he left by Randy and Heather. At least they put it in the second room, so he didn't have to listen to them doing whatever it was they did. His corner was empty, since there was more room now. Killing those people had really opened things back up. He had real bedding, the nice stuff he'd brought with him, instead of rags or a single blanket like he'd had before. This room didn't have a fireplace, but the second room did, which meant all the pregnant women that were left set up in there.
Like always he got up at first light, which wasn't nearly as early now at all. The charcoal making setup wasn't difficult. All they needed was a pit, the length of the logs, a little over ten feet for the ones he had, then they would roll in a decent pile, and bury them after setting the front end on fire really well for a while with dry wood, so that the green would catch and smolder. Then they buried it and waited for several days. If they did it right they'd be able to scrape off charcoal to use in the forge. If they didn't, then they'd try again. They'd need a lot, since they had to learn to make rod stock in order to make a lot of the tools. They had a book, but the forge they had was a bit more ambitious than the little home built idea the author had intended. It worked, they'd fired it up with wood, and even heated some metal to glowing. They needed the charcoal to get it hotter though. However already burned wood did that. The book said it did.
He dug until breakfast, no one else even coming outside, except Jose. Julio. Who made himself busy checking his greenhouse. The man waved, getting one in return from Jake, who made an effort to be nice. It wasn't easy with all the gloomy folk about, but he smiled and had decided to actually talk to people when he could. Preferably while they all worked. He had a good start on the pit, which they didn't strictly need. What they needed was the dirt to bury the logs about ten inches deep. That meant at least a two foot deep hole in his experience. The measurements told him that should be more than enough, but somehow things always needed just a little extra. Cutting corners almost always meant more work later, if not outright failure. Better to overdo it slightly in general.
After the meal, which today had bits of reconstituted meat in it, raccoon he thought, probably from the stuff he'd brought back with him from the bland and unsalted taste, along with a drizzle of syrup for flavor. Raspberry today. They hadn't grown those, but the kids had gone, found the bushes at another farm, and went out for a week straight to gather them. Dave had gone with them, even though none of them had been allowed weapons then. Lois had managed to can up twenty big pickle containers from what they'd gotten, which had to have been a huge effort on everyone's part. The apples he'd gotten only made about that many containers after being cooked down to a concentrate. Everything that could be got concentrated. Even with the extra jars they needed the space in the cellar. Yvonne and Justine had helped with a lot of the work. Carley and the two guys he'd pushed into effort a long time ago helped too, amazingly. He'd have to make a point of learning their names soon. If they were going to actually be useful, he might need them at some point. The woman from back then had been killed while he was gone. Apparently for not servicing one of the guys that thought he should be allowed to just order women into bed. That brought about a second murder the next day, when Vickie killed him.
By beating him to death with her fists.
That sounded fair to Jake. It also made him wonder why the woman hadn't just taken over. She couldn't have done any worse at that point.
After the meal no one moved and frankly he couldn't remember who exactly was on the charcoal crew. He was about to try and bluff through it when Carl stood, still obviously in pain from the shoulder wound, holding a list of the people in both groups.
Jake smiled. Organization ruled, he decided.
“Hunters get with me in the living room please. Jake?” The man sounded calm and polite the whole time, sweet, like Sammi had said. Jake had never noticed before. Probably because the man was freaking intimidating. Even after months of near starvation the guy could have won a bodybuilding contest. It wasn't show muscle either. A few times when no one had been looking he'd loaded large logs by himself onto the carts. Some of those were things Jake couldn't even shift an end on himself.
They were totally going to have a talk about not slacking off with the super-powers when everything stabilized a bit.
“Everyone else can come with me, digging first. Really, the first bit should be done in a few hours with this many people. Maybe a lot less.” Seventeen not including him. He'd been offered the pregnant women too, which he took, because they needed something to do as well as everyone else, but he wouldn't make them dig. Most looked too far along already. Stupid Holsom. Really, he couldn't have requested someone grab a box of condoms from town or anything?
If he ever found the bastard Jake decided to punch him in the balls. Hard. After he shot him first of course. He was still pretty sure the jerk had coated his bullets with something to make Jake sick. If not, the rest was still enough to get the man killed.
And nut punched.
Instead, once the first group made the seven shovels move, he pulled the baby makers and signaled Justine to come over. She was working on her own windmill, one to turn a gen
erator that Burt had already outfitted. They needed gears, metal ones, to transfer the power and hadn't found any yet, nothing even close, but the large boned woman was working on the rest of it anyway. It wouldn't be any easier when it got colder. The fall air already nipped at him a little, earlier his breath had made clouds of vapor in the air as he worked and stung his lungs just a bit.
“All right, pregnant women. Come with me now.” He didn't sound happy with them, but that was his issue not theirs. Not until it endangered the rest of them.
“Half of you are going to work with Justine here on the windmill. Just do what she says for now. The rest are on kitchen duty with Lois. Get with Burt on how to run the smoke house too, since that's going to be your task when the hunting team gets back, hopefully loaded with more meat than we've ever seen. Any questions?”
He didn't expect any, but Heather stepped forward so that she didn't have to speak too loudly. It was a common move now, especially outdoors.
“Can I work with you? I think I'll be all right. I want to talk about some things...” She looked hopeful, but as far as he knew they didn't have anything to talk about. She'd made her choice hadn't she? Randy was a good guy and had worked with the cows the whole time things had gone to hell, votes or no. He'd even gone out and found about forty more along with Heather and opened up more pasture land for them. They'd have to slaughter some before winter, since they didn't have feed for them, but until the snows came they had a lot of fenced land to keep them in, since no one cared if they were grazed on the joining properties now.
Jake looked at her and almost said no in a pissy and angry fashion. She didn't even have Holsom's influence to explain her actions, but he let it go. Randy was a good choice. Probably more stable than he was, and closer to her age. That she'd led him on and obviously just used him hurt, but he'd live. After a few seconds he shrugged.
“Make yourself useful then. We can talk while I take a turn digging. Can you get a few loads of kindling for us? And a pot of coals from the kitchen to light the fire?” That would save on matches. No one used matches anymore if they could help it. Another thing worth more than gold now.
She smiled as if working with him were a treat, and even as he dreaded her coming back, he knew that it couldn't be avoided. Whatever was coming would come. All he could do was shoot it.
The thought flowed easily into his mind. Too easily.
At what point had he decided that just killing things was an adequate solution to all life's problems? He didn't know, but he wasn't really planning to shoot anyone, not for just talking to him. The others worked silently, with only the rasp of shovel on damp dirt making any sound at all. By eleven they started rolling the logs in, making sure they were tight together, but that some small gaps for air still existed. They had to leave the far end partly uncovered so that air would work through like a chimney from the fire side, also left so air could get in. Not a lot, or they'd lose too much wood, but too little and nothing would happen, it would just go out.
The kindling was dry and tiny, no more than slivers really, and the pot, metal handle held by a rag that had been folded over several times to protect the hand, held coals that looked white and didn't glow in the sunlight, but held enough heat for their needs. Building the little tepee of kindling didn't take him long anymore, then Jake just put a few of the coals in the center and built around it. And then blew. And blew. The world started going black a bit when the thing finally took off and started burning merrily away. Then he added the rest of the kindling and a few lager pieces of wood before blowing again to get it as hot as possible. Half an hour later they had smoke pouring out the other side, thick and gray, which turned white. That was the signal to slowly choke the air off from the front. He worked the shovel himself as everyone watched. The scrutiny didn't make him happy, since the odds were he was going to mainly fail at this.
It seemed easy enough, but the fact was, until he had some practice, it would probably go wrong somewhere. He left a lot of air going in for now, hoping too much was better than not enough. After it grew inside for a while he'd have to suck up the chance of failure and just bury it almost all the way. It actually made him feel nervous.
“There. So two hour shifts now, two people at a time watching it, that means tonight too. I'll take the morning alone, so people can get enough sleep. Tomorrow I'm going into town. If you don't want to come with, get your excuses around, and that means solid work here that needs to be done, not complaints about sore muscles from shoveling. Of course you'll be sore.” He smiled and did a good enough job of it that a couple people even chuckled softly and two smiled. Better than he expected.
“Get with me after dinner on that.”
The first two to watch the fire were a man and woman he didn't know. She had that same shocky homebody look that most of them did, but the man looked... slow. And new. They both looked new. Heather didn't give him time to think about it overly, grabbing his arm then and leading him away. A bit more firmly than Jake expected actually. Her eyes looked at him seriously for a minute after she spun him to face her, having taken him past the barn.
Her hands went to her sides then, but she seemed upset. As in angry, not weepy or contrite over her previous screw ups. She didn't have a weapon at least. Jake really had to wonder what the deal was, since as far as he could tell he hadn't done anything to her. Helped her out, saved her life, at least possibly, but nothing bad. The whole thing was kind of the other way around really. She glared at him anyway.
“What the fuck is your problem?” She said, looking a lot cuter than she had a right to while starting a fight. Her hair shorter and more brown now than it had been, blue eyes sparkling a little under the cloudy sky. She had a jacket on, a blue thing that had gray stains on the cuffs and was too big for her, made of nylon stuffed with something equally fake. Jake didn't say anything. Really he couldn't figure out what she meant. His problem? Other than the whole end of the world thing? Wasn't that enough?
Finally he shook his head, “You're going to have to be a little more exacting than that. My problem? Which one do you mean? I'm sure I have several. My main one right now is figuring out how to keep the morons here from killing each other this winter. Did you mean something else?”
She put her hands on hips which accentuated her stomach a bit, even under the thick coat. It was one he'd brought back with him he realized. He'd taken to cleaning out people's closets for things and just took anything that looked useful, figuring someone might need it. That had been after he'd been kicked out too. Not exactly brilliant thinking on his part, he realized. It had worked out in the end, so good enough. The girl rolled her eyes and made a noise that was both frustrated and loud enough his hand moved toward his nine in its holster. She frowned at him.
“Sorry, didn't mean to confuse... Anyway Jake, the problem is that one day we're friends and the next you're acting like I tried to kill you or something. I need you as a friend, why are you acting like this?” Her face went still and looked ready to cry.
“Why? I already told you.” The bafflement on his face had to be clear, Jake certainly felt it strongly enough. “Seriously? You can't get that running off and sleeping with some other guy after very specifically not sleeping with me because you've been raped might just seem a little insulting to me? I'm not that ugly am I?”
She turned half away and shook her head.
“It's not that, Jake, I... Well, when I got here I didn't know anybody and you were really nice to me. It was so hard being alone, it's just... I'm not really attracted to you like that. I met Randy after Nathanial said we had to get help or leave, and it just clicked. I'm sorry, I didn't lie... I just didn't...”
Jake smiled, which couldn't have been all that happy, because the girl took a step back. Maybe it looked crazy? He felt a bit angry, but what could he do about it? He just shook his head.
“Well, I'm glad for you then. Still, I don't see why women keep thinking that 'explaining' that they just don't think of me 'that way' or '
aren't attracted' to me should make things any better. Is there a bigger insult they could use instead? I'm not attractive to you? Then why share my bed like that? Why lie and say that you weren't ready for sex when obviously you were? Just so you know, in the future, don't talk to me. We aren't friends, and you not 'liking' me isn't an apology, it's just coming to rub salt in the wounds. Again, by the way. This needs to be done now and you need to leave me alone. You don't want me? Fine, but don't pretend that it's my problem.”
Instead of backing off or leaving, like any sane person would, she just stood, hands back on hips.
“Why shouldn't we be friends? There are only fifty-two of us left, and that many only because four new people came in last week. It's not like there are a lot of good people to choose from. This is just because I don't want to sleep with you? God, that's messed up. I haven't slept with anyone here but Randy and they don't mind being my friend. Well, mainly, I mean...” She looked a little sheepish then but went quiet.
Fuck, she'd slept with someone other than Randy? He didn't want to ask, but a morbid curiosity took him. He fought it and tried to walk away but the word whispered out anyway.
“Who?”
She shook her head as if to clear it, “Oh, it was nothing, uh, Tipper, Randy and I... when everything was going on, a couple of times. It was...”
Seriously? He came back for this? He should have never come back at all, these people deserved to die. Jake turned and walked off. Or tried to, a small hand caught his arm and didn't let go. He spun back to her and smiled again, but the girl didn't release him.
“Jake... it's not a big deal, people seek out comfort when things get stressful, it's normal and healthy. We need to be there for each other now and if some of the combinations get a little strange,” She waved her left hand a little in the air, trying to express what her words didn't. “Well, we deal, right? We have to comfort people or they'll snap... no one can take stress like this alone.”
Jake looked at the hand and raised an eyebrow at it. His left arm, but still... She didn't let go and he didn't shoot her. They were at an impasse then. He shook a little in rage, which she had to feel through his arm, but didn't react at all to it.