Evergreen

by Cox, Matthew S.

  “Situations?” asked Harper, eyebrows rising.

  “Well, you know. All them movies about nuclear war have bandits running around. Seems a little farfetched to me, but I suppose there are people out there who’d do whatever they think they can get away with.”

  “Yeah. Lakewood’s got a gang problem.” She sat on the edge of the big table and explained about the people wearing blue.

  Walter listened, rubbing his chin and nodding. “Damn, girl. Sorry about your folks.”

  “Thank you.” She looked down.

  He set a small can on the table beside her, about the size of a Red Bull, with a red plastic horn on one end. “This is your radio.”

  “Umm.” Harper picked it up and looked it over.

  “It’s the best we’ve got for now. One short pip is basically an acknowledgement tone. Two short blasts is ‘need help over here, but no one’s about to die.’ One long blast is the 911 call. Three long blasts is a fire alarm.”

  “Is this for me because I’m a kid?”

  He chuckled. “Nah. Everyone on the militia carries one. Not sure what we’re going to do yet when these run out, but for now…”

  “Okay.” She stuffed it in her jacket pocket. “One pip is okay, two short is need help, one long is holy crap get over here now, and three long is something’s on fire.”

  “Right.” He regarded her for a long moment, then put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

  “Is anyone? I mean… yeah, I’ve never had any experience fighting before. Won some competitions with a shotgun, but like karate? No idea. I used to be the girl who just sat there and hoped to avoid conflict at all costs. Basically, I’m just a normal high school kid… or I was right up until like two months ago when the world went to hell.”

  “Well, a shotgun’s a great equalizer, and anyone can be taught enough to manage a fight. See, the thing about cops, well… militia now. We’re not usually alone.”

  “I really hate shooting at people. But, my sister needs me to protect her. My new brother does, too.”

  “Are you sure you want to do this, Harper? I understand Mayor Ned told you that you can change your mind if it doesn’t work out. Don’t feel pressured. I’m glad to have you with us, but you shouldn’t worry about ‘disappointing me’ or some macho BS like that. You’re seventeen, right? You’ve been through some bad stuff. No one will think less of you if you want to do something else.”

  Temptation needled at her. What am I doing? I have no idea how to fight. I hate fighting. I hate even getting loud with people. She fidgeted at the nylon strap over her shoulder. That shotgun was her best chance to keep Madison safe. Jonathan, too, but he had Cliff. Well, technically, they all had Cliff. If she wanted to feel like a child again, she could admit to being weak and crawl back home, in need of protection like the ‘kid’ she thought of herself as.

  The kid who used to trap spiders and bugs alive instead of stepping on them.

  The kid who shot a dude in the face to keep him from abducting Madison.

  I can’t fail Dad again. She clenched her fist around the shotgun’s strap. Giving it up so the mayor could hand it to someone else felt like a stupid thing to do. The militia didn’t have cars. They didn’t even have horses. If some random lunatic made it into Evergreen, no one would get there in time to protect her or Madison or Jonathan. They’d show up in time to go hunt down their killers.

  “Yeah. I’m sure.” Harper swallowed the saliva that had built up in her mouth and sat up tall. “I have to keep my family, and I guess the town now, safe.”

  “All right.” Walter offered a warm smile and a look that said if she changed her mind later on, it would be okay. “I’d like for you to spend the first couple days exploring and patrolling the area to make yourself familiar with it. Might want to head up to the middle school and work your way south. For now, stay north of Hilltop drive, establish a working familiarity with that area. Spend a couple hours every day this week coming up walking the streets, learning the lay of the roads and such.”

  “Okay. I can do that.”

  “Obviously, you’re not going to know people right off the bat, so part of this is so you can get used to seeing who should be there. That way, you’ll be able to recognize anyone who shouldn’t be.”

  She nodded.

  “If you have any questions, worries, concerns, whatever, ask anyone in the militia or come back here and find me.”

  “What do we do with like criminals now? Is there a jail?”

  “There is one down at the south HQ. The old sheriff’s office, but we have better use for resources than keeping prisoners alive.”

  Harper’s eyes widened.

  “Oh, no.” He held up a hand, chuckling. “I don’t mean that like we just shoot everyone who breaks the rules. Depends on what they did. Trivial things, we might slap them around a bit and tell them to knock it off. Issues like stealing, serious fighting, grabbing on women, and so on, we’ll usually kick them out of town. If there’s a dispute, we’ll incarcerate them until we can hold a trial. Murder, rape, and the real bad stuff… well… no sense turning a problem like that loose only to have it sneak back up on you.”

  “Right. So is there like a badge or uniform or something?”

  “Not yet. Been tryin’ this place to order uniforms, but they’re not answering the phone.”

  She laughed.

  “Word gets around here pretty quick. Militia already knows you’re on board. Ain’t that many girls your age with red hair and a shotgun here.”

  Harper looked at the map. Yay. I’ve got an air horn and a shotgun. This is so messed up.

  “We have a smaller group assigned to patrol at night. It’s a rotating thing, so no one gets stuck on it for too long. We’ll talk about adding you to the rotation once you’ve gotten comfortable. Town’s unfamiliar enough to you in the day. Won’t do anyone any good having you out there blind in the dark.”

  “Thanks.”

  “All right then.” He offered a handshake. “Welcome to the militia, Harper. It’s been pretty quiet here so far, but I’m not so naïve as to think our little bit of paradise is going to stay perfect. Some people are gonna have trouble adjusting from the old nine-to-five grind to having to fend for themselves. Don’t really expect much problem from people here losin’ it. More likely, any trouble would come from outsiders, like those fools you mentioned. For the next couple weeks, your job’s going to be getting to know the town and the people in it. But keep your eyes open, and use the horn if you see something you don’t like.”

  “Right. Just one more question.” She slid off the table to stand. “Should I call you ‘sir,’ Mr. Holman, or something else?”

  “You might be seventeen, but the complete collapse of civilization has a way of making people grow up fast. You’re on the militia, willing to put yourself in harm’s way for other people, even if ‘other people’ is mostly your kid sister.” He grinned. “Walter or Walt is fine. But if you’re uncomfortable with that, Mr. Holman works, too.”

  “It does feel kinda weird.” She managed a feeble smile. “Like calling a teacher by their first name.”

  “Fair bet you’ve never got into a gunfight standing shoulder to shoulder with your chemistry teacher.”

  “No, that’s never happened.”

  Walter patted her shoulder. “If it hits the fan, call me Walt for brevity. When it’s quiet, use Mr. Holman if you want… but that will make me feel like an old fart.”

  She nodded.

  “If you’ve got no other questions, may as well get started.”

  “Okay, Mr. Holman. What time do I go home? My sister’s kinda… brittle. She wasn’t always like this, but I think she saw our parents die.”

  “Ouch.” Walter sighed past clenched teeth. “I’m sorry. Give it a couple hours today. Ease into it slow then, give her a chance to get used to things.”

  Harper exhaled. “What if she wants to go with me? I should probably stop home and grab some
more shells. Didn’t bring any.”

  “Given the time of day, you should probably get her over to the school to meet Violet. I think with the little ones to watch, it’s fine if you do your patrol shift from first light ’til the kids get outta school. Can’t rightly leave them home alone that little, and you’re young yet so no one will mind.”

  “Oh. Duh. Ugh. No one’s going to be at the house. It’ll get cold.”

  “Another reason to head to the school. Jeanette’s got that building online with solar, so there’s heat. We’re working on expanding that, but we need to grab a whole bunch more panels, and all the poles in town blew up. In the event of a brutal cold snap, we’ve got an evacuation plan to move people susceptible to cold there. Elders, pregnant women, small children, so on.”

  “Got it. Okay…”

  “This probably goes without saying, but you should avoid shooting people unless they are a direct and immediate threat to your life, or the life of someone else. This ain’t the Wild West where people shoot each other over a bad hand of poker. We are trying to maintain civilization.”

  “That’s my plan.” She looked down. I have enough trouble shooting people who are a direct threat.

  Harper returned home long enough to collect a dozen extra shells, plus both kids.

  Jonathan didn’t want to abandon the fire, but they couldn’t leave it burning in an empty house. Hopefully, the mesh cover would contain the embers. Of all the things Harper ever daydreamed about wanting in her life, simply having electricity for heat hadn’t even come close to making the list. Power had just always been there, barely an afterthought—barring a few outages during storms. In that moment, she’d have given almost anything for it.

  “I’m going to be patrolling for a couple hours every day,” said Harper. “They want me to get familiar with the town.”

  Madison stared at her with a wide-eyed expression of sorrow, as if she’d been abandoned at the doors of an orphanage.

  “You two are coming with me.” Harper play-punched her shoulder. “Go get your coat and shoes.”

  The kids ran off down the hall, returning in a few minutes dressed to go outside.

  Harper led them down Hilltop Drive to Route 74, and followed it north. A few people out and about waved at them and/or shouted greetings, though no one came close enough to start a conversation. They passed the bus barricade at Lewis Ridge Road, spent a few minutes talking to Darnell, Sadie, Fred, and Cameron, the four militia staffing the barrier. Upon closer inspection, she noticed a small solar panel hooked up to one of the buses, powering a space heater. Though the interior didn’t exactly qualify as ‘warm,’ compared to the outside, it did.

  Madison kept quiet and hovered at Harper’s side, offering polite smiles whenever one of the other militia people tried to talk to her. Jonathan climbed all over the bus and pestered the sentries about their rifles and scopes. He thought it fascinating that this location allowed them to cover a long stretch of Route 74. Darnell explained that pulling duty at the ‘buses’ required passing a rifle marksmanship test, so it wound up being something of a prestigious position.

  After about twenty minutes, she mentioned her ‘assignment’ of learning the area and how she needed to go up to the school. The militia sent her on her way with back pats and words of encouragement. From what she recalled of the map, she had to follow Route 74 north and then turn right. The fastest way there involved going across the grass and what (at least on the map) looked like a running track. Alternatively, if she overshot the school, she’d be at the animal hospital. So, she’d have to backtrack and take a right turn there, and then another right turn, hopefully not getting lost in the meandering suburban streets.

  Of course, she didn’t exactly have a deadline. The entire point of doing this was to learn her way around. So… getting lost could only help.

  “Ugh. Why doesn’t real life have a minimap?”

  “I know, right?” Jonathan laughed.

  Harper pulled the paper out of her pocket where Walter had sketched a rough approximation of the roads in the neighborhood near the school. He’d labeled the right turn she should take as ‘Bergen Parkway.’ That would only help if a street sign existed. She couldn’t remember seeing one with that on it on the way in, of course, she’d been exhausted and emotional… and four days had passed.

  A few minutes north of the buses, she encountered a Hispanic guy sitting on the side of the road in a long dark Brooks Brothers type coat over a nice pale grey suit that he’d probably been wearing for a few weeks. He glanced up at them.

  She froze in her tracks at the sight of a gun in his right hand, regretting that she carried the shotgun over her shoulder. If that guy meant to hurt someone, he’d definitely shoot if she tried to bring it to bear. Maybe I should be carrying it like a soldier. “Umm. Hi.”

  He looked her over, glanced briefly at the kids, and resumed staring down at the road.

  “Is something wrong?” She peeled Madison’s hands off her arm, gave her a ‘wait here’ look, and took two steps closer to the man.

  The guy lifted his head to stare at her. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Is something wrong, she says.” He barked a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, something’s wrong. Everything is wrong.”

  “Do you want to talk?”

  “Not really.” He again stared down at the street. “What’s the point, anyway?”

  “The point is, we survived. I know how you feel. I lost my parents. Don’t give up.”

  He started to give her a confused look, but seemed to realize he held a gun and put it in his coat pocket. “Oh. That. No, I’m not gonna do anything.”

  “I’m Harper, just joined the militia.”

  “Arturo, and I’m useless.”

  “Aww, you’re not useless.” She took another step closer. “You’re alive.”

  “Easy for you to say, kid. Did you even make it out of high school yet?”

  “Nope. Seventeen.”

  “Damn. I wasted so many years going to law school. What the hell does the world need with me now?”

  Oh. Heh. “Well, yeah. There’s not much need for lawyers anymore. But hey, at least you’re not a politician. No one’s going to actively try to shoot you.”

  Arturo chuckled.

  “We’re, umm, trying to keep civilization going. Lawyers will probably come back. They had them in medieval times, right? And you’re still kinda young. There’s going to be something you can do.”

  “I didn’t put myself two hundred grand in debt to get a law degree so I can wind up picking goddamned vegetables like my grandfather did. Dammit! I’m a citizen!”

  “Umm. Arturo?”

  He looked at her.

  “I’m not sure ‘citizen’ means anything anymore. We just got hit by nuclear weapons. Working on a farm is different when you’re growing food you’re going to eat. And who says you have to work on the farm? You made it through law school. That means you’re smart, and you’re not afraid of people. Why don’t you teach? Or go to the clinic and learn like nursing or something? Or go talk to Mayor Ned about doing manager stuff. A woman I came here with had a degree in business. How useless is that now?”

  He let out a long sigh. “Yeah… I guess.”

  “You’re not really sad about being a lawyer.” She took another two steps, stopping right beside him. “You’re sad for the same reason I am. We had hopes and dreams for a world that’s been taken away from us. I wanted to go to college, be with my friends and stuff. You wanted to do the lawyer thing and be all successful.”

  “Yeah.”

  She squatted, lowering her voice to hopefully keep the kids from hearing. “I’m only seventeen. My father was shot dead right in front of me because I couldn’t bring myself to kill a creep breaking into our house. I spent a week hiding out with my little sister, not knowing if we were gonna wake up the next morning. We found this guy at the mall who’s kinda become our new dad, and we walked here. I’ve had to kill peo
ple. Somehow, I’m still holding it together. No, not somehow. I’m holding it together for them.” She nodded toward the kids. “You’re not useless.”

  “Okay, okay. Easy kid. I ain’t gonna shoot myself. Just bummed out.”

  She stood. “And hey, look at the bright side. You’re not in debt anymore.”

  Arturo blinked at her. A second later, he burst into laughter. He muttered something in Spanish, grinning and shaking his head. “Wow. I must’ve been zoned out. Never even thought of that.”

  “Have you gone into town yet?”

  “Nah. Just been wandering along this road for what feels like days.”

  Harper pointed back down Route 74. “Keep going that way. There’s a couple of buses set up like a wall. Talk to the guys there if you want to like move in. We need smart people.”

  “All right.” Arturo stood with a grunt and dusted his coat off. “See ya around, kid.”

  She waved. “Yeah. I’ll be around… walking around a lot.”

  He smiled and headed off down the road.

  Madison and Jonathan scurried over.

  Harper swung the shotgun off her shoulder and carried it, just in case she ran into another strange situation. She kept going, glancing to the right every so often in hopes of seeing the school, but only caught glimpses of the occasional house past the trees lining the road. Eventually, she spotted a huge field with a big oval track, though a tall chain link fence blocked it off from the road.

  “Not like we’re gonna get tickets…”

  She helped the kids over the fence, then climbed it. A short strip of forest gave way to a grassy hill overlooking a running track with a soccer field inside it. They walked down, followed a bit of the track, then took a paved path past a baseball diamond on the left, and some tennis courts on the right. The sidewalk led to the rear of the middle school building, though she circled to the front instead of trying the doors there.