by Harley Tate
“Medicine, for one. If the Jacobsons hadn’t maintained the hospital pharmacy, Madison would be dead by now.”
Colt’s lips thinned into a line. “Doesn’t mean we have to do their work for them. Tracy and Larkin shouldn’t be taking guard shifts over there. It’s too soon.”
“We owe them some gratitude.” Walter flipped the switches to power off the radio equipment. “Besides, with the extra manpower, we can expand our scouting missions outside Truckee. Move on to Lake Tahoe or even Reno.”
“It’s been almost ten months. Those cities won’t have anything left.”
Walter reached for his gloves. “So we shouldn’t try? Every trip into Truckee yields less and less. We haven’t found decent supplies or medicine since the fall.”
“So when we need medicine, we go to the hospital.”
Walter leaned back on his heels. “Ben Jacobson isn’t going to let us walk in there and take what we need unless we help him defend it.”
Colt lapsed into silence, his brows heavy with unspoken thoughts. Walter knew trusting Ben and his family was a risk, but he didn’t see another way forward. Brianna’s family had been wonderful to take them in and provide shelter, but ten people on a small plot of land weren’t enough to rebuild America.
Walter peered out the small window in the radio shed. The Cliftons used every inch of their five acres and quite a bit of the forest beyond, raising pigs, chickens, and a few dairy cows, along with a twenty-tree apple orchard and a smattering of other fruit trees here and there. Thanks to Madison’s tireless work over the spring and summer, they had an acre of farmland that grew everything from kale and spinach in the early cool season to tomatoes and zucchini in the summer. By the fall they could harvest every kind of winter squash and another round of greens.
They could feed sixty people during a good year but only had ten. Walter knew not every year would be as bountiful as this first one, but they were squandering their opportunities. He smoothed his beard.
“We need more people, Colt. The kids…” he paused to choose his words, “are growing up. Madison is twenty and Dani’s almost sixteen.”
Colt groaned and ran his hand through his hair. “Don’t remind me.”
“They should have the same opportunities we did to have a life.”
“What’s wrong with right here?”
Walter didn’t like to admit it, but he knew Madison wouldn’t want to stay on the Clifton property forever. “They’ll want boyfriends, Colt. And eventually, families.”
Colt shuddered. “They’d be better off leaving the States for that.”
Walter paused. After all this time, they still didn’t know what it was like in other parts of the world.
“What if it’s worse? What if they get to Canada and it’s overrun with American refugees and the border is closed? They might never make it back home.” He shook his head. “They’re safer here with us and a family with options. Ben’s nephews are college-age and his kids are young. We could work together and turn Truckee into a functioning town again. Rebuild.”
By joining forces with the Jacobsons they could expand their reach. They could never bring the country back to its full glory, but they could still make the new version of the US better than this.
Colt pointed to the radio. “How about you turn that back on and see if we can find a broadcast?”
Walter raised an eyebrow. “You want to change the subject that badly, huh?”
“We talk any more about Dani finding a boyfriend and I’m going to puke.”
Walter cracked a smile and flicked the main power switch back on.
Chapter Three
MADISON
Clifton Compound
9:00 a.m.
Madison ground her teeth together as the needle pinched her skin. “I’m glad this is the last one.”
Brianna pushed the plunger all the way down and pulled the empty syringe away. “So am I.” She swiped an alcohol swab across Madison’s upper arm and pressed a Band-Aid over the fresh bead of blood. “Three shots over two weeks and you should be protected against the rabies virus.”
“She won’t ever get it?” Dani brushed her hair out of her face as she sat at the table. At almost sixteen, she was the most resourceful teenager Madison had ever met. If anyone was prepared for the apocalypse, it was Dani.
“Not this time, at least.” Brianna disposed of the needle before turning to the younger girl. “As long as the virus hasn’t entered a person’s brain, the inoculation is effective. I grabbed a second rabies test kit from the vet so we can test Madison’s blood to be sure, but I think she’s good to go.”
“I’ll never be able to thank the Jacobsons enough.”
Dani snorted. “It should be the other way around.” She rubbed at the site of her healing bullet wound.
“Is it not healing well?”
“It’s fine. The stitches came out without a problem. But I don’t know anyone who likes getting shot.”
Brianna agreed. “Tell me about it. They tried to take us out at the pharmacy, too.” She turned to Madison. “I know they saved your life, but they put us through hell to do it.”
Madison pursed her lips to keep from arguing. She understood Dani and Brianna’s point of view. They both almost died trying to find the vaccine that saved her. But Madison couldn’t help thinking about the other side. If the Jacobsons hadn’t preserved the pharmacy and risked their own lives to do it, she would be in the grips of a horrible, disgusting death.
Now, thanks to the hospital pharmacy, the entire group living at Brianna’s place had access to medicine they thought long gone. Not just vaccines and antibiotics, but pain relievers and suture kits, and a whole host of other medicines. She couldn’t discount what that meant to them despite the rocky start to the alliance.
If they could find a way to work together, the possibilities were endless. In a few years, they might be able to move back into town. Find a way to generate electricity through harnessing the Truckee river for hydroelectric power or outfitting buildings with solar panels to catch the summer sun. With triple the people all working toward a common goal, the future was wide open.
Peyton emerged from the small pantry area and pulled out a chair next to Madison. His football-sized frame barely fit at the table, but he never complained. If anyone would agree with her, it would be him. Madison smiled and gave his arm a squeeze. “What do you think about the Jacobsons?”
His eyebrows dipped as he thought it over. “I don’t know, to be honest. On the one hand, they’ve helped us: fixing up your dad, giving you medicine, even saving Dani after the horrible way everything went down.”
“But?”
He glanced at Brianna. “We don’t know what they’re really after.”
Madison scrunched her nose. “Who says they’re after anything other than survival, same as us?”
“That’s the thing, we don’t know. They have way more adults than us and a bunch of kids. Your dad said they had a whole system downtown with a warehouse for processing scavenging hauls. It had heat and sleeping bags and food, the whole nine.”
“So what?”
Brianna leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “If they’re so advanced, why do they need us to guard the pharmacy? Your mom and Larkin have been working shifts there all week. I get the sense we’re being used.”
“And being kept in the dark.” Dani scowled.
Pre-solar flare and resulting EMP, Madison would have blown her off as a typical, angry teenager, but Dani was a survivor and at this point, family. Madison trusted her judgment. She exhaled. “You really think they’re double-crossing us? What for?”
Dani stuck out her hands. “For all of this. As soon as they gain our trust, they’ll swoop in here and take the place for themselves. The Jacobsons might have a pharmacy, but we’ve got enough food stored up for three times as many families. And with the farm you all started last summer, we could feed a small town.”
Madison glanced at Peyton for help. “They haven’t giv
en us any sign they want to take over. Do you really think that’s what they want?”
He palmed the tabletop, spreading his thick fingers across the grains of wood. “I hope not, but Dani and Brianna are right. As of now, we just don’t know. Don’t you remember Sacramento? The neighborhood turned on us in minutes. They killed Wanda and burned your house down because of what? Your mom’s supplies? Brianna’s Jeep?”
Peyton pressed his fingertips against the table hard enough to flush his nails. “We could wake up tomorrow to an invasion and be back at square one.”
Madison couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Not a single one of them was willing to take the Jacobsons at face value. Was that what the world had come to? Each makeshift family was on their own, not taking a chance, not trusting anyone?
She refused to accept it. Not without proof. She was sick of doubting everyone and everything and always thinking the worst.
Madison crossed her arms, mirroring Dani’s sullen vibe. “I might be wrong, but until they give us a reason not to trust them, I’m going to believe Ben and the rest of his family when they say they want an alliance.”
Brianna opened her mouth to argue when the door burst open and Colt tumbled in. His coat flapped open and snow fell in clumps off his shirt. His gloveless hands were red from the cold and tears streamed from the corners of his eyes. He’d been running without regard to the weather. Madison’s stomach curdled.
“What is it?” Dani sprang up, ready for action.
Colt waved them all toward the door. “Come quick. Walter found a broadcast on the radio. You need to hear it.”
Without another word, Colt turned and headed back through his hurried footsteps in the snow. Madison rushed for the coats and tossed them to their rightful owners before racing to catch up with Colt’s receding back.
She slowed when she reached his side. “What is it? The government? Aid? Is America coming back?”
He didn’t slow or even turn to look at her. “You won’t believe me unless you hear it for yourself.” Colt took the steps up to the radio shed two at a time and yanked the door open.
Walter sat in front of the control wall, a pair of headphones on his head. “Dad! What is it?” Madison rushed up as the rest of the young people filed in behind her.
Her father pulled off the headphones and turned to face the sea of panting breath and wide eyes. “It’s just about to restart.” He flipped a switch. A baritone voice filled the crowded room.
“This is General Arnold of the new Unified States of America.”
Madison swallowed.
“Rest assured our government is now fully functional and emissaries from the central planning office will be coming to your area to complete a census soon. Census workers can be identified by their yellow vests and Unified States of America ID cards. They will be escorted by senior members of the Unified Military Force.”
Brianna reached for Madison’s hand and squeezed. Unified? What did that even mean?
“We expect one hundred percent compliance. After this initial round of information-gathering, aid workers will arrive to disseminate information, rations, and potable water.”
Madison couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It sounded like the instructions for an internment camp or a refugee facility. Not the government of the country she’d grown up in. Not America.
“Please be patient as we complete the intake process. You will receive more information about jobs, resources, and the rule of law in the coming weeks. The Unified States of America are back and better than ever before. We must all do our part to thrive.”
The recording began again and Walter shut it off.
“What the hell was that?” Brianna pushed her curls off her face, holding her head like it might explode. “Unified States of America? Is this some sort of a joke?”
“It didn’t sound like a joke to me.” Peyton’s face paled to a color somewhere between milk and Swiss cheese. “It didn’t sound like we had a choice, either.”
“There should have been elections or discussions or something. They can’t just make up a new country and put this general in charge.” Brianna spun around in a circle. “We have rights!”
“Not anymore.” Colt kept his voice even, but Madison could hear the anger behind the words. “For all we know, the president is dead and this General Arnold is in charge.”
Dani wrapped her arms around her middle. “It’s just like Eugene all over again.”
Madison shuddered remembering the stories Dani told about Colonel Malcolm Jarvis and her narrow escape from the National Guard.
Walter held up his hands. “We don’t know that. We don’t know anything more than what the radio broadcast told us. There will be a census worker coming soon. We can ask him or her for information.”
Brianna snorted. “Is that before or after their armed guards shoot us for insubordination?”
“We should keep an open mind.”
“Like we’ve been doing with the Jacobsons? How do we know these yellow-vested creeps aren’t just scouts reporting back what to confiscate?” Brianna palmed her forehead as she paced back and forth, her voice rising with each frantic thought. “We should hunker down and fortify our defenses. No way is some census taker getting in here and seeing what we have.”
“Brianna, please.” Walter tried to smile. “Let’s not be rash.”
She snorted. “We have to get Tracy and Larkin out of that pharmacy. They need to know what’s coming.”
Walter checked his watch. “I agree, but their shift is almost over. By the time we get there, we’ll have missed them.” He stood up. “We can rendezvous at the Jacobsons and have a two-family meeting. Tell everyone at once.”
“No way!” Brianna stomped her foot. “This is exactly what Ben’s been waiting for. He’ll probably open the pharmacy doors and let these Unified States of America thugs come in and take it all.”
“That can’t happen.” Colt’s jaw ticked. “If we tell Ben about the radio broadcast, then we have to convince him that the census takers are a threat. We have to protect the pharmacy.”
Madison chewed on her lip. There were so many unanswered questions. Did the man on the radio speak the truth? Was there really no such thing as the United States anymore? How long would it take these new workers to reach a small town in northern California? Weeks? Months?
She voiced her thoughts. “What if the census people never make it here? Truckee’s a tiny town. Only sixteen thousand when it was full. They might not even come.”
“We can’t risk it. We have to prepare.”
Brianna nodded. “Colt’s right. We need to bring Tracy and Larkin home.” She reached into her pocket for the Jeep’s keys. “I can leave now.”
Walter tugged on his coat. “I’ll come with you.”
“Are you going to tell Ben?” Colt stood beside the door, concern pinching his brow.
Walter hesitated. “I don’t know yet.”
“You should do what you think is right.” Madison stepped toward her father. “If you assess the situation and you think Ben can be trusted, you should tell him.”
Brianna tugged open the door. “We can decide together.”
Colt nodded his head in agreement. “Fine, but be careful. Once the information is out there, we can’t take it back.”
Madison watched from the corner of the shed as her best friend and father rushed to the canary-yellow four-by-four. She wouldn’t be able to concentrate until her family was reunited and they could talk everything over together.
Whether the radio broadcast was truthful or not, everything had changed.
Chapter Four
TRACY
Truckee Mountain Hospital
11:00 a.m.
“You think there’s anything left of Hollywood?”
Tracy glanced over at John Jacobson with a sad smile. “Probably not.”
The young man kicked at a scuff in the linoleum as they walked down the hall. “I was a film major in college. You know, before.
”
“At UNLV?”
He nodded. “Planned on moving to LA as soon as I graduated. Hollywood was a long shot, but I was willing to put in the work. Grunt jobs, waiting tables, that kind of thing.” He puffed out a breath. “Seems stupid now.”
“Don’t say that. People always need entertainment.”
“Not a lot of work in the movie industry at the moment, if you hadn’t noticed.”
Tracy slowed to look up at John. He towered a foot above her in height, but the more she got to know him, the more he reminded her of Peyton. Quiet, strong, humble. Peyton’s father had gone the Hollywood route, turning his back on his only son to pursue his career. Fame and fortune wasn’t the holy grail people made it out to be.
“What if you started writing stories? Or learned to sing?”
John stopped walking, his eyebrows screwed together like one giant caterpillar. “And what? We all put on a musical like the von Trapp Family Singers?”
Tracy laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“I was picturing us all in outfits made from curtains singing Do Re Mi.”
John tucked his chin and laughed into his chest. “You don’t want to see Ben in lederhosen.”
The pair lapsed into silence, Tracy thinking about the future with the Jacobsons as allies and possibly more. Madison and the rest of the younger members of their group needed friends. At twenty years old, Tracy’s daughter couldn’t be expected to stay single and alone her entire life. She needed opportunity and the Jacobson clan provided it.
John and Daniel were good boys, about her daughter’s age, and willing to put in the work to keep their families safe. Over the past two weeks, Tracy had gotten to know more of the Jacobson family, including Ben’s wife Jenny and their small children. Combining forces would turn their little group of survivors into a small town.
Together, they could make something of this new life. She glanced up at John as they rounded a corner. “Thanks again for saving Madison. If your uncle hadn’t given the go-ahead, she wouldn’t have made it.”