by P. S. Power
Finally, as if on a signal they stepped forward walking in lock-step and the man in the center stuck out his hand, to shake.
“We are pleased that you could come. Do you need anything we can provide?” It was an odd thing to start a conversation with, said with a strange accent, but the tone was friendly enough. Not happy, but pleasant in the same way that a person working in a store asking the same thing would be. Would have been. As far as he knew, the world didn’t have stores anymore.
What did he need from them? It was an interesting question. One that no one else had actually asked that day. He’d been offered things, but no one talked about what he might need.
“Friendship? Trust? Or at least a chance to build those things? I’m afraid to say I don’t know much about your people… Is there anything you need?” It couldn’t hurt to ask, since they had. It just seemed polite really.
Rather than speak at all the strange man stepped back into the line, face curiously blank for meeting someone new, and turned to walk off with everyone else. They didn’t go far, about fifteen feet away, but they huddled in a group to speak. Jake could hear them, but they spoke in a language he didn’t understand at all. Something a little like Spanish maybe? Except he would have gotten some of that from hanging out with Julio. Portuguese? He didn’t know enough to really guess.
After five minutes or more of this the whole group came back. Smiling at least, which probably meant they’d all attack or something. Except most of the people he’d met that day had smiled or done their cultural equivalent, so it wasn’t that odd. The man spoke again, looking a little nervous.
“We have a shortage of food at present, would it be possible to trade for such?” He made eye contact and didn’t let it break, though the people around him all looked away, as if embarrassed.
“Our supply lines have broken and while we can make all our own food, we need another month’s time to fully provide for ourselves.”
They didn’t look really hungry yet, but Jake shrugged. It was better not to wait.
“For how many people?”
The man gulped a bit and sighed. “Three hundred and sixty. Any amount you can provide will help.”
It was a decent sized community then, but some of the groups had a lot of food and in some places it was summer, like it seemed to be here. So they just needed enough to get them through to harvest? He asked if they ate meat, which they did, but hunting was almost unknown to them. The concept was there, but how to do it wasn’t in their particular skill set for some reason. They dealt in technology and grew their food hydroponically. Year round, once in production. Before they’d mainly bought what they needed from stores. Like everyone else. They’d been playing catch-up for a long time, slowly eating away at their stockpile the whole while. They really should have started earlier on the produce, but the consensus vote had been to wait and see if help came first. The man explained it all awkwardly, as if embarrassed about their system.
Jake didn’t think they’d done that badly. They just needed to get themselves set for another month, and it was a great time for them to be doing it for their location.
“OK… Well, I’ll do what I can for you. I have a bit I can spare personally, and I’ll come back tomorrow and help with hunting. If it’s all right to bring a few people with me? I don’t know the animals in the area… That means more people will get better results most likely. I’ll also try to barter for some supplies for you. We won’t let you starve though, so please put that out of your minds.” He tried to sound reassuring, and didn’t know if he made it.
It could be done, if everyone pulled together. It shouldn’t even be that hard. The lush area around him had to have food in it. The people in front of him all smiled, nodded and then moved back into a huddle.
This time the man returned he gave a choppy bow.
“That would be most welcome. Yes, we accept you as a friend, and will give our trust. Also, I have been authorized to offer any aid needed to you, for the duration of this crises. The entire voting population has agreed.” He stopped talking and looked away, into the green of the tropical forest around them, Jake couldn’t tell for sure, but he thought they might be on a mountain. A big hill at least, since the ground slopped. He couldn’t see past the edge of the clearing, but it felt high up in the air, if that made sense.
They discussed what time morning would be, and it turned out that if he came at first light his time, it would still be early in the day in this location. Handy. He’d been afraid he’d have to get up very early, in the dark, and spend half the day waking up.
No one gave him their names though. Jake didn’t push the issue, but most people had done that. Twice the people bringing refreshments were introduced, even, and one of them ended up being a high ranking person in the group he was visiting with, just not high enough to otherwise rate being in the room. Not these people though. They just stood and smiled at him.
Waiting.
Finally, they agreed to be ready to go and hunt for food the next day and left, not conferring with each other again or saying goodbye. Jake kept smiling as they left, wondering where the cameras were. If they were technological in nature, or their skills were, they probably had something watching them. He was careful not to pick his nose or anything, even with everyone being gone. After a few minutes he turned to Mort and nodded.
“I guess we’re done for the day then? Let’s go back, unless we have another appointment?”
“Oh, no, this is it for the day. I’ll have to reschedule some things for tomorrow morning though…” He extended his arm which Jake took, eyes shut, only to find himself standing in his own kitchen. It was empty, everyone else still being over at the House, hunting cannibals. It was late enough that it looked to be getting dark soon, which Mort took as a sign that he needed to get back home to his wife and daughter. That news kind of shocked Jake. That the man had a little girl.
Morten pulled out a photograph, held in a honest to goodness wallet. He pointed to the little girl in the picture, being held by what Jake assumed was her mother.
“Ginny, she’s three, just cute as a button. I’ll introduce you soon, if you ever get a chance to do anything not on the schedule. Tansy wants to meet you too, but I didn’t want to jump the line. My mother hasn’t even been officially introduced yet. You met her though, at the Christmas party?”
Jake smiled and shook his head.
“It’s a horrible habit I’ve gotten into, but I don’t really remember anyone’s name unless I meet them several times anymore. All those people we met today? Nothing. If I had to remember them now, I’d be at a total lose. It’s horrible, but…” Jake shrugged, knowing it just sounded like he didn’t care. It wasn’t that. Not just that. He sighed and explained before the man thought he was just absent minded or something.
“OK, I guess I can tell you if we’re going to work together. I haven’t been learning anyone’s name, so it will hurt less when I have to kill them later.” He’d thought the words before, several times. They were true, but he sounded so sad when he said them out loud. Morose.
The other man looked away for a long time, looking out the window. He didn’t speak at all and neither did Jake. It was a lot more quiet now that they didn’t have electricity. The hums and buzzes of the old world had given way to a truer silence. It made it easier to think. He checked the woodstove, which still had some coals in it, and added a lot of wood, then did the same in the far room. He was a little hungry, but didn’t know how many people they’d have for dinner, so he just waited.
Mort didn’t say goodbye, or add anything, he just left. It felt like a comment on Jake. A judgment that said perhaps he wasn’t the best Very Good Man ever. What else was new though? He tried not to feel bad about letting the man down, and didn’t quite make it, but really, Jake knew that all he could do was the best he could manage. Some days it wouldn’t be enough for everyone. Maybe most days. That didn’t give him an excuse to stop trying, but it was a fact that he had to learn to de
al with. Even when it hurt.
Darkness came, but no one else did, and eventually Jake got tired of just sitting in the dark and started fixing a basic meal. Just rehydrated jerky in water. It wasn’t great, but it beat starving. He added some garlic to it. Not a lot, since it was the last of the wild garlic he’d gotten and it had to last for months longer, at least. Five more probably. He did have some potatoes though, so he cut one up and added it after half an hour of boiling the meat. The stuff needed that much time to really soften up.
He was just finishing his large bowl of the stew when he heard footsteps in the snow outside. It had gotten colder, so the noise was crunchy. There was also a muffled sound of protest. Two of them? It was hard to tell. That wasn’t normal though, so Jake drew his nine and moved to crouch down behind the kitchen table, not having time for a better hiding place. Then he waited.
The door wasn’t locked, since he was expecting people, who would have been quiet, just like whoever was outside managed to be. This just didn’t feel right to him for some reason. He aimed about head height and hoped that whoever these visitors were they were either friends or regular sized people. If a midget came in blasting, he was dead. Or a child doing the same thing. Or if a normally sized person crouched or got on their knees.
The knob rattled a bit as someone checked the door and finally it opened, slowly. He could make out voices. They were all wrong considering the people he expected to show up. Far too deep as a start.
“I smell smoke. Someone’s in there.” A man’s voice husked, it was low and angry sounding.
“Oh, come on then, if there’s anyone in there, we can just share what we caught. We have enough, no need to get greedy, they’re good sized. We really lucked out.” This voice was more feminine. It sounded logical, but also just a little off. The words felt angry and stiff, not genuine at all. Like something meant to put him at ease.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the cannibals, some of them, had escaped. Taken a prisoner or two as well. Then decided to stop and visit with him.
Wonderful. At least some planned to share with him, apparently.
Not that he would have done any better capturing them, if he’d been hunting them alone. He waited until he heard the man’s voice again, as he whispered, moving slowly into the kitchen.
“I can smell someone.” There was a strong sniff, one that sounded like an animal snuffling.
The man had to have a good nose then, to smell Jake. He had to resist sniffing his own arm pit. As absurd as it was, he suddenly felt self conscious about potential body odor.
With a single slow pull of the trigger, Jake aimed at the sound and being no more than seven feet away, hit it. The boom was loud in the silence, but he didn’t really care about that.
There was a click then, and a different male voice spoke, to him directly.
“Say, um, hi? We have some food, if you want to share? Tender things, we just caught them?” He sounded pretty polite about it really.
He was also too far back to shoot easily, which was annoying of the guy, who could have just walked in, since he was insane. Jake didn’t make any noise himself, in case they could target by sound too. He did move though, rolling to the left. Not far, but it was enough to keep the bullets that got fired from hitting him. He returned the compliment, hitting at least two people, from the groans. It was risky, but Jake rushed the door, since he was blind inside anyway. It wasn’t a brilliant plan, but if they had someone out there, a prisoner that was still alive, he didn’t want to hit them. Not if he could help it.
Regardless, these cannibals weren’t walking away. Not after killing and eating kids. He nearly tripped on the second body, and fired at where he figured the head would be on the way past, then actually fell over a third one, which he hadn’t been aware he’d hit at all, not for certain. This one seemed dead already. That left three of them, two holding forms that looked small, one of those with glowing green eyes, shining in the moonlight.
They both had guns to their heads, the glint of the barrels making that clear. The one without a hostage did the talking. It was a horrible plan, because it got Jake’s attention.
“Let us go or we shoot them both and then kill you, don’t mess with us, we’re the gods of the Earth now.” He sounded scared, crazy or not.
It was a good plan. Being scared like that. It should have warned the man that his threats weren’t going to work at this point, but insanity probably trumped fear in this case. It did that sometimes.
Jake shot him in the head, targeting sound again. Then he looked at the other two and shrugged, they might not have seen it he realized. The light was dim, even with the white of the snow making anything darker than itself easier to seen, thanks to contrast and reflected light from the slightly glowing clouds above. He tried to keep his voice low and manly, just for effect.
“All right. Here’s the plan. Release them now and I’ll let you live. Harm them in anyway and you die. Simple right? You want to live, don’t you?” His voice was a little loud, but then he was trying to call attention to himself. Anything, anyone, that came along would serve as a distraction. It sounded like the hostage takers were starting to breath hard, which could mean almost anything right now, from gearing up to make a move, to being so afraid they were going to pass out. Jake didn’t want either, hoping for compliance instead.
The cannibals were probably too crazy for that though, weren’t they?
Stupid flesh eating zombies. Jake nearly smiled at the mistake. They weren’t undead at all, were they? Fast, strong, clever… Sloppy. Easier to kill by far.
“No? OK, then here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to shoot those zombies coming up behind you. Then you two are going to help with that, because I don’t think I have enough bullets for them all. If you don’t, we all die. Not that I really care about that personally. So it’s up to you two.” He pointed the nine obviously a big movement, and fired as the small hostage on his right, the not-Sammi one, made a soft moan.
It was clearly meant to be a whimper, just with a gag in her mouth, but it couldn’t have been timed better. Not at all. Sammi’s cannibal buddy freaked and started shooting into the dark, not pointing her weapon at the Bawdri at all. The other started to kill his hostage though, even though there was no reason for it. Jake thought that was the case at least. He could only make out the most vague of hints as to what was happening.
Aiming carefully he shot the very top of the man’s head off, trying not to kill the hostage, knocking the cannibal back a little as his weapon went off. Then, without letting his mind think about what that meant, he shot the women holding Sammi too. Making her weapon go silent.
“Agh.” It wasn’t an inspired speech, even coming from a flesh eating ghoul, but the man on the ground had stopped shooting and tried to hold the top of his head on. It kind of worked for keeping it all together, Jake thought, walking over and shooting him in the face twice, making sure he didn’t move any more.
Like the small, still form on the ground next to him. He still couldn’t make out who it was. There was blood though. It left a black patch on the snow. Crud.
He jogged to Sammi, working at her bonds for a second, realizing that he really needed to start carrying a good knife all the time. It would do squat against the zombies, but he kept needing to cut rope and trim things all the time. After a minute the woman with her glowing cat-like eyes turned to him, hugging him tightly.
“Jake… These aren’t the only ones. There were two groups in the woods. I don’t know what happened. Someone let them in to the house. Just answering the door, like always. They… Killed some people. While the others were hunting in the woods. They just walked up to the House, bold as you please, knocked on the door and took us. We fought… but not very well. Ken was hurt. He’ll live I think, if the others were quick enough. That cost them three of their number. He grabbed a kitchen knife and didn’t hesitate to use it. I don’t know the current situation, that was hours ago.” She took a shudder
ing breath and shook in his arms for a while.
“I was so scared. Of all the ways I’ve envisioned dying over the years, being eaten is amongst my least favorite.” Looking of toward the other body in the snow she nodded. The one he failed to save.
Panic nearly rose in him then, but Sammi walked over and started doing something to the other girl.
“Barb? It’s all right now. You’re wounded, but you can stop playing dead. Jake saved us. It just grazed your skull on the back, not too badly I don’t believe… Well, the hair is going to look a little funny for a while, and your bleeding a lot, but scalp wounds do that.”
Two things ran through his mind then. The first being to thank God that the girl was alive. He ran to her side, pulled off his jacked and used it to put pressure on the back of her head without even thinking about it.
The second thought was the one he spoke out loud.
“Who’s Barb?” He still couldn’t tell that the form was more than a female. It was dark after all. He probably wouldn’t really know who she was until morning.
The Bawdri’s reflective eyes looked at him as she moved back a bit.
“One of the helpers in the kitchen. From the police compound. A friend of Cam’s. Help me get her inside? I don’t know if there will be more fighting. Do you have some extra weapons? We should arm ourselves, I think. Heather didn’t see this coming at all. I don’t know why.” The tone was just softly conversational. Sounding a lot older in the dark than it would have if he’d seen her face.
That got Jake to sigh, getting a bit about Heather that Sammi might just have missed.
“She… doesn’t tell us everything, Sam. Sometimes she can’t, if things are going to work out correctly. People knowing what’s going to happen messes things up sometimes, I think. Others… I think she just doesn’t have the mental processing power to keep up with it all. Every time we change something because of her actions, she gets hit with a whole host of other, brand new, possibilities. I don’t really think she means any harm by not telling us.” It was scary, but sometimes the very best case for everyone probably meant that some people would die, didn’t it? She had to carry that around with her all the time. Knowing that making a mistake could mean someone would die that didn’t need to, and also feeling responsible for the fate of the world, all the time.