Without Law 13

by Eric Vall

What Renee said shocked us all into silence, and I looked around the room to see all the girls sharing glances among each other before they settled on me.

  I wasn’t sure what to make of Renee’s story, but I trusted that she was telling the truth and at that moment I was incredibly glad that I hadn’t used the radio to try to do business. Especially if there was someone nearby then that could easily give away our location, and we didn’t know anything about this person or people yet.

  “When did this happen?” Paige asked.

  “Two nights ago,” Renee answered. “I’ve been thinking about it ever since.”

  “Was someone on the radio then?” Anna asked, and she glanced around at the girls who all shook their heads.

  “What about Rolly?” Bailey suggested. “Or maybe Briar.”

  “I don’t think so,” Renee said with a shake of her head. “The communication from here to campus is pretty clear, but this was staticky.”

  “You said it was a male voice, though, right?” Tara asked.

  “Yes,” the dark haired woman agreed.

  “What did they say?” I asked, and my eyes narrowed in on the woman as I focused on her response.

  “It sounded almost like a call for survivors,” she said in a low voice, and she looked down at her desk, then back up at me with eyes full of concern.

  “What did they say exactly?” Anna asked, and she leaned forward on the arm of the couch.

  “I can’t remember specifics,” Renee said with a shake of her head. “It all happened so quickly, and like I said, it was staticky as hell, but I heard the word survivors in there somewhere.”

  “You’re sure?” I asked.

  “About that, yes,” she answered. “And the voice sounded almost panicky, like maybe they were in distress.”

  “Did you try to talk with them?” Kimmy asked.

  “I picked up the radio and responded, but the signal must have faded,” Renee explained. “I haven’t heard it since.”

  “Do you know what channel it was on?” the dark skinned woman pushed.

  “I don’t know,” Renee said. “I think it was our communication channel, but I searched through them trying to find the signal again and now I can’t be sure.”

  “I understand,” Kimmy sighed, and she looked up at me. “What should we do?”

  “I don’t think we should do anything,” Anna said. “At least not right now. We don’t know anything about this group. We should wait until we can get more information.”

  “Isn't it better to know what’s out there rather than wait to find out?” Paige countered.

  “Yeah,” Bailey agreed. “And what if they are in distress? They might need our help.”

  “We have enough to worry about without adding another group of people to the list,” Tara scoffed.

  “Who says it’s a group?” Paige asked. “It could just be one person, or maybe a family or something.”

  “Either way, I think we should try to reach out,” Bailey said with a nod.

  “I’m with Bailey,” Paige agreed. “We should continue to try to find them.”

  “And what then, though?” Anna asked. “What if we do find them and their whole looking for survivors thing is just a trick to get people to come to them so they can rob them?”

  “I mean, Anna has a point,” Tara said with a shrug.

  “But we help people,” Bailey said with a frown. “That’s what we do.”

  “Yeah, but we need to help ourselves first,” Tara said. “And I’m with Anna, we need to know more about these people before we do anything.”

  “But the only way to gain more information is to reach out,” Paige pointed out, and Tara pursed her lips in response.

  Both sides made good points, and I was happy to hear the girls thinking so critically about this new situation we were in. They really were all incredibly intelligent, and each of them brought a new perspective that contributed to the conversation.

  “Alright,” I said to break up the chatter. “You all make good points.”

  “So, what’s the plan?” Anna asked, and all the girls stared at me, ready to hear what I had to say about the subject.

  “Anna and Tara are right,” I said, and Tara stuck out her tongue at Paige, who rolled her eyes in return. “But so are Paige and Bailey.”

  “Ha,” Paige laughed mockingly in Tara’s face, and the platinum blonde glared back at her.

  “Easy,” I chuckled. “We do need to find out more information about these people before we do anything, but in order to do that, we need to find their broadcast channel again and get in contact with them. If there is someone near us, and it sounds like there is, then we need to know what’s going on and figure out if they’re a threat or not.”

  “I’ve been trying to find the right station again,” Renee said with a frown. “So far I haven’t had any luck.”

  “They may only have their radio turned on at certain times,” Kimmy pointed out.

  “Then it’s going to be nearly impossible to find the right channel again,” Paige said.

  “Maybe we don’t have to,” Kimmy said, and her eyebrows pinched together as she thought.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, curious as to what the beautiful woman was thinking.

  “If we can find a way to broadcast a signal, then we could put it on repeat and anybody would be able to hear it,” she explained.

  “How would we do that?” Tara asked.

  “We’d need a broadcast station, right?” Paige asked.

  “That’s right,” Kimmy agreed. “It’d be incredibly difficult to try to do it on the radio, and we’d only be able to broadcast on one signal. If we could find a broadcast station, though, then we could put it out on multiple signals at once.”

  “More of a chance that somebody would hear it,” Renee said with a nod.

  “There was a radio station I used to listen to while I studied,” Paige said, and she looked around with excitement. “They were fairly local, would their station work?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Kimmy said as she looked at Paige with round eyes of surprise. “If we can get to a radio station, I’m sure I can rig something up.”

  “Do you know where the station is?” I asked Paige.

  “It’s up north somewhere,” the brunette replied. “But I’m sure I could find it on the map.”

  “Alright,” I agreed. “We’ll need to make a trip up north then.”

  “I’m sorry to add to your stress load,” Renee said with a frown.

  “Don’t be,” I told her with a smile. “I appreciate you telling me.”

  “I knew you’d need to know,” the dark haired woman replied, then she gave me a playful smirk. “Have you all thought any more about moving to the fort? We’d love to have you here.”

  “I know,” I chuckled. “We’re still considering it. But right now we need to worry about the crops and these strangers in our territory.”

  “Being the heroes once again,” Renee said as she looked at myself and all the girls.

  “All in a day’s work,” Tara teased, and Anna rolled her eyes at her.

  “Let me know whenever you need fuel,” Renee said. “I can deliver it, too, if necessary.”

  “I appreciate that,” I agreed. “For the time being it’s probably good to stay off of the radios as much as possible. You can still set up the one at the refinery, but let them know what’s going on and to only use it in emergencies. And don’t give away your location at all.”

  “Understood,” the dark haired woman said.

  “We’ll make sure to do the same,” I told her.

  “Please keep me updated,” she said with a small smile.

  “Of course.” I smiled back.

  After Kimmy gave her the radio and instructions, we said our goodbyes and piled back into the jeep. The day had grown even hotter while we talked to Renee, and as soon as we got into the jeep I could feel the scalding seat hit my back, and I drove with the barest amount of my fingers touching the steering w
heel since it was so hot.

  The girls were quiet as we drove, and I knew they had to be thinking about the people who could be near us, since I was doing the same. If there was another group of survivors, that could either be a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, we might be able to establish further trade and grow our community, but on the other hand, we had no idea who these people were or what they were about. The last few groups that we’d run into around here weren’t exactly the greatest, and they didn’t give me the highest hopes for this one. Between the hillbillies we’d had to take out in the woods, and the cannibals that had taken over Marla and Justin’s home, the odds weren’t very good that this new group was anything better.

  This group had managed to somehow get a radio signal, though, so that added a few points for them in the intelligence department as far as I was concerned. Still, we needed more information before we made any sort of move.

  “What’s our broadcast going to say?” Paige asked suddenly.

  “Oh, yeah,” Anna said, and her red eyebrows pinched together as she thought. “I hadn’t thought about that.”

  “Hm,” I mused. “That’s a good question.”

  We couldn’t give away our location, and we didn’t want to come across as too eager to find anyone else, but we also didn’t want to come across as assholes in case these people were in distress. While I agreed with Anna and Tara that we needed to help ourselves before anyone else, if we could help someone in need, then I didn’t see a reason not to. This was the new world order, and if we wanted to keep things going then we needed to make sure that other communities of good people survived, though whether they were good or not remained to be seen.

  “We could ask them to meet us somewhere,” Bailey suggested. “That way we could get there early and see what we’re dealing with.”

  “I like that,” Anna said. “That gives us an opportunity to see who they are before we reveal ourselves to them.”

  “Where would we tell them to meet, though?” Paige asked.

  “They might not have vehicles,” Kimmy pointed out. “If we tried to have them meet us somewhere too soon, then they may not be able to make it.”

  “That’s a good point,” I said and I pursed my lips.

  “We could give them a few days,” Bailey said with a shrug.

  “And we don’t have to make it super far away,” Anna added. “Just far enough that they wouldn’t be able to pinpoint where we were coming from.”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” I said.

  “I’ll look on the map and see if I can find a good place,” Paige said with a smile.

  “Thanks,” I agreed. “Everyone else consider exactly how we might want to phrase this. We need to come off as strong, but not like assholes. If these people do need our help, then we don’t want to scare them off.”

  “I’d just like to point out that in that one zombie show on TV when the characters heard a broadcast and went there it turned out that they were eating people,” Tara said.

  “Are you talking about The Walking Dead?” Anna chuckled.

  “I don’t know,” the platinum blonde said with a shrug. “It used to come on sometimes, and I remember that season the most. It was gross.”

  “Definitely The Walking Dead,” Paige confirmed.

  “We’ve already dealt with cannibals, though,” Bailey pointed out.

  “Oh, and you think that only one group of people is gonna be cannibals nowadays?” Tara asked with a raised eyebrow. “Come on, Bail.”

  “Geez,” Paige laughed.

  “Just being honest,” the platinum blonde replied.

  “Nobody’s getting eaten,” I said with a shake of my head.

  “Not yet,” Tara muttered, and we all laughed.

  “We’ll make sure they’re not cannibals before we reveal ourselves,” I promised.

  “I don’t think you can tell if someone’s a cannibal just from looking at them,” Kimmy pointed out.

  “Kimmy!” Paige scoffed. “You’re not helping here.”

  “Oops,” the dark skinned beauty laughed.

  Even with the seriousness of the situation, Tara somehow managed to find a way to lighten the mood, and for that I was grateful. We all had enough on our plates without stressing needlessly, but if we could add a bit of humor to the situation that always helped us cope and do our best work in solving the problem.

  Instead of heading back to campus, we went to the farm and found Rolly and Betty. I let them know what was going on first, then I addressed the group and informed them of the water situation, but I didn’t bring up the new information about the strangers in our area. I thought it was best to give everyone a day or two to get adjusted to the water situation and feel comfortable with it before I sprung anything else on them.

  The civilians had already gotten all of the checking on the plants done for the day, so all that was left to do was water. Rolly and Betty had gotten the tanks ready to be filled, so we drove over to the creek and filled those up, which took at least an hour or so out of the day.

  Once everything was watered and the work at the farm was completed for the day, I was a sweaty mess and ready to get back to campus and take a cool shower.

  “Why didn’t you tell everyone about the people on the radio?” Bailey asked on the ride back to campus.

  “I just thought it was better to let everyone handle one situation at a time,” I explained. “We’ll let them know after the broadcast is set up and we have some more information.”

  “Everyone’s still reeling from the water situation,” Anna added. “I don’t think another problem is what they need right now.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense,” Bailey sighed. “I just feel bad leaving everyone out of the loop.”

  “I know,” I agreed. “I feel bad about it, too, but it’s our job to make sure that everything goes smoothly. We were put in charge for a reason, and sometimes we have to use that to our advantage and play our cards right. We can’t just throw a bunch of bad news at everyone at once.”

  “Besides, we’re the ones who are going to deal with it,” Tara pointed out. “If we told everyone they’d just worry needlessly.”

  “Wow, that’s actually a really good point,” Paige said, and she looked at Tara with surprise.

  “What, like I don’t make good points?” the platinum blonde asked.

  “Uh, I plead the fifth,” Paige chuckled, and Tara huffed and narrowed her eyes at her.

  I smiled softly at Bailey in the rearview mirror, and she smiled back. My hippie hearted girl always thought of others, and she had the strongest moral compass I’d ever known.

  Once we got back to campus I started to head for the showers, but then I saw Rolly in the living room getting a bottle of water, so I stopped to talk with him about the run.

  “Hey old-timer,” I greeted him as I wiped some remaining sweat off of my brow.

  “You look a bit worn out,” he chuckled.

  “I could say the same about you,” I told him with a playful smirk. The old man had sweat stains on his newsboy cap and his work overalls, and his face had a thin layer of dirt on it from working in the field all day.

  “I’m sure you could,” he agreed with a laugh.

  “I, uh, wanted to talk to you,” I sighed.

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Rolly said, and his eyes narrowed on me. “What’s wrong?”

  “I know we talked about you going on the next run with us,” I said. “But this next one is to the radio station, so I’m not sure if it’s going to work.”

  “I understand,” Rolly said, but I could see the disappointment on his face.

  “It’s just that Kimmy will have to ride along,” I explained. “And we’ll need equipment to set up the station so it will be pretty packed.”

  “Tav,” Rolly said with a soft smile. “It’s okay.”

  I let out a heavy breath as I stared into Rolly’s soft brown eyes. I hated to disappoint the old man. He did so much for us and he asked f
or so little. I felt awful about having to change the plans, but I didn’t see how it would work, especially since this run was more about the station than supplies. It would look suspicious to the girls if we stopped somewhere just so Rolly could run into the jewelry store.

  “I have an idea,” I said with a smile as I thought of a new plan.

  “Oh, yeah?” the old man asked, and his brow rose with piqued interest.

  “But there’s a catch,” I informed him, and I pursed my lips.

  “What’s the catch?” he asked with narrowed eyes.

  “You’ll have to tell the girls,” I said, and I waited for his response.

  “Hm,” the old man sighed. “Let me hear the plan first.”

  “Fair enough,” I chuckled. “If you tell the girls, then I bet Paige can find a jewelry store or a pawn shop or something near the radio tower. Each of the girls can pick out a few different rings that they think Betty would like, and we’ll bring them back for you to choose from. Tara won’t want to squeal if she’s part of the process.”

  “Alright,” Rolly replied with a slow nod. “That doesn’t sound too bad. They probably know more about rings than I do anyway. Been a long time since I looked for a ring.”

  I knew Rolly was referring to his first wife. They’d never had children, and she’d died over twenty years ago, but I knew he had loved her immensely.

  “And if you don’t like any of them, then you can come on the next run,” I said. “Hell, I’ll even make a special run with just you and me if I need to.”

  “I don’t think that will be necessary,” the old man chuckled. “Let’s try out your plan with the girls first.”

  “Really?” I asked. He had been skeptical to tell them when he’d informed me of his plan, and honestly I was a bit skeptical as well, but I wanted to get this done for Rolly and this was the best way I could see how.

  “Really,” he replied with a smile, then he clapped me on the shoulder. “I know you really want to do this for me, but it’s okay. I understand how priorities work around here, and I always trust you to do what’s best for everyone.”

  “Thanks, Rolly,” I told him. “We just all appreciate you so much, and I want to make sure that you feel appreciated.”

  “Of course,” the old man said, and he patted my shoulder a couple of times before he let out a sigh. “Well, shall we go tell the girls?”