by David Nees
People began to approach. At first Kevin got most of the attention with his uniform, along with a lot of uneasy looks, but as the townspeople realized who the visitors were, a crowd began to grow around them. Finally they found the organizer working feverishly to get a kid’s three-legged race organized. Upon being introduced to Jason and Anne, he abandoned his efforts and hustled the group up onto the stage. Anne was taken aback. She had thought they would just mingle and watch the activities, but now they were on stage, in front of everyone.
There was a battery powered bullhorn on the stage floor. The man picked it up and put it to his lips, and his words and began squawking a loud, elaborate introduction.
“Oh God,” Anne muttered.
“They didn’t even do this when we got to the trading area,” Jason said in a low voice.
The games stopped and everyone began to converge on the stage to join the excited people already lined up in front. The rotund announcer watched happily. When he judged that the crowd had thickened enough, he introduced Jason as the man who had killed Big Jacks.
The murmuring stopped. And then the crowd exploded.
Jason stepped back almost reflexively as the people cheered loudly. The announcer went over to Anne and whispered to her. She answered and he put the bullhorn back to his mouth, “AND ANNE…RICHARDS!”
Another roar. Anne looked as pale as she held Adam close with a protective hand over his ear. She felt herself flush.
The organizer scanned the crowd while the shouting was going on. Finally, he raised the bullhorn and asked Jason to say a few words.”
The cheering dropped off and stopped with remarkable obedience. The man turned and held out the bullhorn to Jason.
Jason took it and stepped forward. For a moment he seemed uncertain about what to say. “Thank you,” he said. “Thank you. We…my family and the farmers of our valley, are glad to be in town…glad to do some trading. We’re happy to be able to bring food for everybody.”
“We’re glad you came, too,” a man shouted. “We get to eat barbecue, and it don’t count off the ration card!” The crowd cheered.
“Tell us about the battle,” another shouted.
“How’d you take them out?” Came another shout.
“Well…” Jason looked over at Anne for support and launched into an explanation of the battle. The crowd stood in rapt silence.
“Is it dangerous outside the city?” someone called out.
“No. Well, it’s more dangerous than before the EMP attack, but if you’re careful and know how to defend yourself, it’s not that bad. We’re doing well outside of town.”
Jason went on talking and answering questions about life outside the city. The organizer then interrupted.
“Let’s hear from your wife,” he said to the crowd. Cheers of approval went up.
Jason handed her the bullhorn and took Adam from her arms. She pulled the trigger. It squawked loudly and she jumped back. Everyone laughed.
Anne hesitated, then tried it again, her voice sounding funny, amplified through the poor speaker. “Hello,” she said. The crowd applauded and cheered.
“I’m not sure what to tell you,” she continued.
“Did you have to kill anyone?” someone shouted out.
“In the first attack…yes. And I had to deal with the aftermath of both battles.” She went on to describe the attacks directly on their home that occurred before the large battle at the bridge.
“You weren’t scared?” another asked.
“Yes. I was scared. I guess we all were. But during the battles we knew we had to keep fighting, keep shooting, keep taking the enemy down.” She paused. The crowd went silent. “It was that or be killed, and we weren’t going to be killed.”
Another cheer erupted, and clapping that did not die down for a while.
“What’s it like…outside?”
“It’s beautiful. Our valley is the most beautiful place I know. That’s one reason I wanted to defend it…why we all did. The air is fresh, the mountains grand, the water is clean…I don’t know of a better place to live.”
Everyone grew quiet again, and she went on talking about the valley and how she loved living there. The crowd hung on every word. After a couple of minutes the organizer, now quite uncomfortable, surprised her by coming over and taking the bullhorn from her hand.
“Thank you for talking with us. I’m sure you have to be going and we have barbecue to enjoy.” He then started herding the group off the stage.
Back in the Humvee, Kevin remarked, “We seemed to make the organizer uncomfortable.”
“Maybe we gave the crowd a different view of life outside the city. One they aren’t getting from those in charge,” Jason said.
“They seemed to have heard all about us,” Anne said. “You seem to be a modern-day hero.” She looked at Jason. “Do we have time to visit another center?
“Maybe one more,” he replied.
They drove over to another center. This time a lot of tables had simply been set up in the street outside the food center itself, but there was a podium on a low stand. After finding the organizer, a professional-looking woman with copper-colored hair that she had teased into a bouffant, they gathered behind the podium. Again the crowd started cheering when Jason and Anne were introduced.
“I heard you can hit a tin can at two hundred yards. Is that true?” Someone in the crowd shouted.
“Probably. It’s what I was trained to do in the Army.”
“Is your wife a good shot?”
“You’ll have to ask her, he replied.
The questions continued. The people were hungry to hear about the outside world. Anne and Jason told them how life outside the wall was possible, maybe filled with more danger, but also filled with more freedom and satisfaction. Jason noticed that the organizer seemed to be getting increasingly antsy, like the first one. The woman was more timid about cutting them off, but she finally thanked and hustled them off the stage.
“We seem to be sounding a bit subversive,” Jason remarked as they drove back through town. He didn’t sound pleased with the idea. “The organizers definitely got uncomfortable when we talked about personal freedom and life outside the town, did you notice?”
Anne nodded. A silence fell. Both Jason and Anne felt the weight of their experiences return.
Chapter 13
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W hen they got back to the trading area, the people were now relaxing and enjoying the food. No one was looking at the goods anymore. Kevin drove past the barriers and the glaring militia, and pulled the Humvee back into its former place. Anne said she was going to find something more to eat and then nurse Adam. Jason headed for the store where the negotiating was to commence.
It was one of the empty retail spaces that faced the large parking lot. They walked past two guards at the doorway. Inside, Jason noticed the dimness and looked back at the windows. They had been covered with paper to keep the negotiations obscured from curious onlookers.
A long row of folding tables ran across the middle of the room, and three large whiteboards had been nailed to the right-hand wall. There was light coming from the ceiling. Two fluorescent lights were on; a costly extravagance. He stared at them in surprise. Somewhere close by he heard the sound of a generator running.
It appeared that the main negotiations had already begun. Tom Walsh stood in the middle of the row of tables, addressing the town representatives with Clayton Jessup by his side. Jason didn’t see Frank Mason, but someone he had been introduced to, Robert Goodman, a man assigned to help Mason, was sitting in a chair beside the platform and seemed to be leading the discussions. There were a half dozen other people sitting at the tables who had been helping to tabulate the goods. Two of them were frantically scribbling in pads, evidently taking notes. Some seemed to be just observing the process. Jason grabbed a seat next to Tom, near the center of the room.
Jason sat quietly, wanting to get a sense of where they were i
n the negotiations. Tom and Clayton alternated between speaking to the group and walking back and forth between whiteboards with papers in their hands, making sure the counts had been accurately recorded. Periodically the two would sit down, then Tom Goodman or another city representative would take the floor to make a point or correct a count. Occasionally Tom and Clayton would join with a couple of city people for a brief huddle at one of the boards. It was a strange process of, not only checking the tallies, but also hashing out a consensus on how much one thing should compare to another in trade value.
During the talking Jason noticed a man standing along the side wall of the room just behind the tables. He was a large, tough-looking guy in a black leather jacket, with deep-set, humorless eyes. He was slouched against the wall with his arms crossed. Jason could see the bulge of a weapon under his jacket. His disdain for the proceedings showed on his face. A dangerous man, he thought.
After a while the negotiations were finished. So many rounds of ammunition for so many bushels of wheat, drums of gas and diesel for so many bushels of flour or corn meal, so many Percocet for so many bushels or baskets of vegetables, so many skins or pelts for ammunition and medicine. The long lists they had worked from had been carefully confirmed over the prior three hours of inventory review along with trade ratios; all diligently recorded by both sides. They were done.
Outside the store, Tom breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad that’s over.”
As they started back to the parking lot, they saw Frank Mason standing on the sidewalk smiling affably at them. He held a small black shopping bag.
“Jason,” he called out, “I’d like to talk with you for a few minutes.”
They stared at him as the city representatives poured past, looking as tired of talking as they did. When Robert Goodman emerged he saw Frank and walked over to him.
“Can we sit down?” Frank asked. “I’ve got a bottle of good whiskey to celebrate the trade deal. And I’ve got some questions for you.”
Jason looked around at the others. “Okay, but we need to get back soon to exchange the goods and get packed. We want to leave early tomorrow.”
Tom said, “I’ll go get the exchange going. You stay and talk if you want.” His face and tone did not disguise his disapproval of the idea. Clayton Jessup was already across the street.
Jason followed Frank back into the storefront. The long room was now empty, but the overhead lights were still on; the generator still running. Frank put the bag down on the near end of the row of tables with a slight clink. He set out two glasses and produced a bottle of Jim Beam.
“So what do you want to talk about?” Jason asked, taking a glass of whiskey.
Frank lifted his glass. “First, here’s to a successful day. A good trade made for all.” He and Jason raised their glasses and sipped.
“It wasn’t easy but it worked for both parties.”
Frank’s face took on a serious look. “The reason I want to talk with you…somewhat in private, is that we’d like to purchase some seed from you.”
Jason sat still in his chair and sipped his whiskey thoughtfully. Finally he responded, “We don’t have any extra seed to do that. Give us a couple of years of harvests and we can think about that. But not now.”
“That’s unfortunate. We could use the help right now,” Frank said.
“What do you want the seed for?”
“It’s to allow us to begin farming. We have open plots of land that we can use to raise crops. And we need to replenish the whiskey supply. This,” he pointed to the Jim Beam bottle, “won’t last forever.”
Jason’s voice was sharp. “We definitely don’t have enough seed to use for whiskey-making. In any case, I thought you had some seed stock.”
“We do, but it’s hybrid seed. You know we won’t get a second generation out of it.”
“But it will allow you to do some of what you want to do for one season. And further, if we gave you some non-hybrid seed, wouldn’t we just be putting ourselves out of business?”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Frank replied.
“So, what would you say?” He wanted to press the point, get it out on the table. “We make our livelihood farming, bringing you food. You’ll be developing goods and services we’ll need. That seems like a good relationship. Now if you farm, you can just cut us out of the loop. What do we get out of that?”
“Well, I would say that we all have to help one another. These are difficult times. We’re not in conflict. We have to work together to secure our future. You don’t want gangs taking over and neither do we.”
“Our reception here in town didn’t seem like we were working together. It seemed more like potential conflict.”
Frank waved his hand in dismissal. “That was just a misunderstanding. Now that we know each other better, we won’t have issues.”
“Does that mean we will be able to bring our weapons into town the next time we come?” Jason asked.
“No. That’s an important rule we have to maintain in order to keep the peace. But we can see about lifting the other restrictions.”
“Like moving around in town? Coming and going as we please?”
“Maybe…we’ll see. But let’s get back to what I asked. We need to work together.”
Jason made his voice calm, reassuring “I think we need to learn more about one another, get to trust one another better, get comfortable with each other. Then we can talk about sharing seed stock. In the meantime you won’t starve. You have some food reserves of your own, and you can trust that we have a strong self-interest in doing business with the town, so there will be shipments coming from the countryside. We’ll have time to see if your request will work for us.”
Jason finished the last of his whiskey and stood. “Thanks for the drink. It’s been a long time since I tasted something like that.”
Frank nodded and got up. He held out his hand, and Jason took it.
“I do hope you’ll reconsider my request.”
Chapter 14
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T he work went on until well into full dark; unloading the farmer’s wagons and then loading in all the supplies they had traded for. Items were checked and rechecked. Finally it was all done, and the farmers and clansmen circled their pickups wagons to set up camp for the evening. Most of the clansmen spread bedrolls on the asphalt, while many of the farmers slept in the troop truck or in the cabs of the pickups. Anne had brought an old canvas tent, large enough for the whole family, which Jason erected on the pavement using bags to anchor the corners Four soldiers who had been assigned to the convoy were staying the night; they claimed places in the Humvee and in the cab of the troop truck,.
Anne retired early with Adam. Sarah was sulking over not getting to spend any time with her boyfriend Tommy. He and Rodney Gibbs were busy watching over the visitor’s weapons and would not rejoin them until the convoy left town. Catherine had told Sarah that she would give up her seat in the Humvee so that Sarah and Tommy could ride back to the valley together, but she was still upset.
”I can’t say I blame her,” Catherine said to Kevin. They were standing together at the side of the troop truck, looking out at the strangely dark town. She put her arms around him. “If I hadn’t gotten to spend time alone with you, I wouldn’t be happy either.”
“I can’t go and pull Wilkes off the guns,” her beau said quietly. “Well, I could. I’m not going to.”
Catherine nodded. She hadn’t been going to ask. “Do you really think there’s that much of a risk? At your compound?”
“No,” Kevin said. “But I haven’t felt completely sure of things since we got here.” He nodded toward the Humvee. “I don’t think my people need to stand watches here tonight either. But I’m going to have them do it. And I’ll join them. If people here think we’re doing it to keep an eye on you, that’s just fine with me.”
They heard someone approaching and turned. Jason emerged out of the dark. “I need to talk to you a
bout something,” he said to Kevin.
“I had a disconcerting conversation with the doctor at the hospital. She didn’t want me to tell anyone, but I know I can trust you.”
“What did she say?” Kevin asked.
“We’ve all sensed some fear in town since we’ve arrived…didn’t need to have anyone tell us about that. But what I heard may be the cause, and it sounds worse than I thought.”
Kevin and Catherine listened intently as Jason related his conversation. When he was done, she turned to Kevin.
“Did you know about this?”
Kevin’s eyes were dark and thoughtful. “I know about the school but not the rest. I’ve seen some evidence of intimidation, the lack of freedom. You’d get that with martial law in place. But I haven’t heard of people disappearing. As far as I know, that hasn’t been brought to the army’s attention. It seems what you have are rumors.”
“There’s enough smoke from what I’ve heard to assume a fire somewhere underneath,” Jason replied.
“Can you do anything?” Catherine asked Kevin. “You can’t let things like that go on. Can you investigate?”
“I don’t have that power. Captain Roper does, but we don’t really have the resources. Remember, we’re on the same side as the civilians, working for stability in Hillsboro…a return to normalcy.”
“But at what cost?” Jason asked.
Kevin shrugged. “You have any suggestions?”
“I don’t know about Captain Roper, you might talk with him. But from what you tell me, it sounds as if he’s not that interested,” Jason said.
“You have to be careful, whatever you do,” Catherine said. “If a dispute arose between the army and the town, I’ve counted a lot of militia, all well-armed, and there aren’t many of you.”
He smiled. “You’re right. We’re badly outnumbered, if it ever came to a standoff. But Captain Roper says that isn’t an issue.”
Jason sighed. “I just wanted to make sure you knew about what I heard. I trust you with the information.” Suddenly his face turned hard as he looked out at the dark buildings. “But I don’t think it’s our problem, the valley’s problem. This is why I left Hillsboro. These people have let this happen to themselves.”