by Alice Sabo
Nick shrugged feeling helpless and frustrated. “Wildfire took out nearly all of Clarkeston.”
“That was a windy day.”
When Nick didn’t respond, Wisp got out of the car. He walked into the woods toward the fire leaving Nick to babysit the two casualties and a dazed goat. The car had the musty scent of goat now, and he knew he’d hear about it from Martin.
Wisp came back quicker than Nick expected. “Nothing in that direction, but I got something that way,” he said pointing the direction they were headed.
Nick followed his directions which brought them to a mudslide. The low hills running alongside the road had liquefied in one place coating the road in a foot of mucky silt. A row of lumps was struggling in the mud.
“What the heck?” Nick asked, peering out the windshield.
“Birds, I think,” Wisp said as he swung out of the car.
Nick didn’t like to waste time on something this trivial when he had wounded that needed care, but Wisp was already gone.
He followed out into the thick sludge. Wisp handed him a heavy mud-encased something that peeped at him feebly. “Is this...”
“Turkeys,” Wisp said, handing him another. “A tom and six hens. We need to get the mud off them and give them some water.”
Wisp followed the flow of dirt across the road and down a ravine to a small stream which had been dammed by the mudslide. He washed the first bird until it got its wings free. Then he put it upstream to drink. Nick handed him the two he had, then went back for the others. The turkeys were weak from struggling in the muck.
“Should we leave them?” Nick asked as he trudged down the bank with the big tom.
“They can’t escape any predators.”
Nick groaned. This trip was taking a lot longer than he had planned. He didn’t want to be callous about the injured animals, but they were burning daylight and still hadn’t found the missing Rovers. Once they got past the mudslide, with a backseat full of turkeys, the road was in good shape. By the time they hit the outpost, the jeep smelled a lot worse than just of goat.
Nick was delighted to see the outpost untouched by the storm. It had been an office building built just before Zero Year, with a low profile, solar panels and plenty of room. There was a combination of Watchmen and Rovers there in addition to a couple of people with some medical skills and three support staff that did the cooking and odd jobs. At a glance, he could tell that they needed a few more hands and another building. Some stragglers had come to the outpost for help. They had tents set up out front with sodden people wrapped in blankets sitting in rows and people in clean clothes moving around them.
A Rover in jeans with a brown armband on the sleeve of a clean t-shirt directed him to a driveway. “How can we help you folks?” he asked.
“I’m from High Meadow. I’ve got some injured,” Nick reported. He was impressed with how quickly things were arranged. They unloaded the injured then the muddy turkeys and dazed goat. There was a Watchman in charge that Nick vaguely remembered meeting. He promised to get the animals back to High Meadow if no one came looking for them. He sat with Nick to go over the map and make some marks on his own. They hadn’t heard anything about the missing Rovers. Nick gave them a quick run-down and slipped away before any of them could volunteer to help.
Nick took the time to fill up their water containers before they got back on the road. He made the requisite stops, but he had to admit to a growing impatience. The next three stops were smooth again. Either no one around, or folks that were fine. One small compound of people sent their thanks and gave them some dried apples. They were grateful for the portion of cherries that someone had brought them. Nick realized they needed some sort of newsletter to let people know when to come in for supplies. He made a note to tell Angus. Here was another job that someone could get paid in coin for.
Not much further down the road, another tree had come down. Nick got out to inspect it while Wisp walked away to do his assessment. This reminded Nick too much of the time they’d been stopped by the barricade on the way back from the massacre at Riverbank. He pulled his weapon and backed to the car, scanning the surrounding area.
“There’s no one around,” Wisp called back to him.
Feeling a little foolish, Nick holstered his weapon. It was times like this that he appreciated Wisp the most. He had deflated the anxiety in this situation. The way the tree had fallen gave him no option but to climb over to check out the road. The tree turned into two, and then another. As soon as he could see over the first obstacle, he realized this was more tornado damage rather than just a few trees downed by wind. As far as he could see, trees crisscrossed the land like pick-up sticks. They would need to find a path through all this. Nick was glad he’d chosen the all-terrain vehicle now.
A sharp whistle caught his attention. Wisp waved him over. He was standing on the side of the road, peering into a portion of still-standing forest.
“What’s up?”
“I’m not sure. I think it’s people, but there’s something wrong with them.”
“Injured?”
“I don’t think they’re in pain.”
Nick pulled his weapon, then gestured Wisp to lead. They followed a muddy path through the saplings and underbrush into a clearing. It looked like the remains of a parking lot. The building that used it was an old pile of rubble. Wisp walked around it to a smaller road that was in very rough shape. It bordered an old field that was full of tall grass, taller weeds and a couple of young trees. Further along, it turned down an overgrown driveway. Hidden in a slight dip in the land was a building. He could just make out the roofline.
“Hello the house,” Nick called out. Wisp was looking puzzled, but not alarmed, so he tucked his gun into the back of his pants.
An old woman came up a stairway, leaning on a walking stick. “We don’t have anything for you,” she said sharply.
“I’m from High Meadow. We were just checking on folks after the storm.”
The dark eyes in her lined face were sharp. “We’re fine.”
Nick pulled a flyer from his pocket. He approached slowly, hands at his sides. “We’re having a meeting that we’d like you to come to. We’ve got food and a doctor up there if you need anything.”
“We got all we need here.”
Her confident statement aside, she was bone thin and pale with exhaustion.
“Babies,” Wisp said. “She’s got at least three.”
Nick looked back at the old woman. She glared at him. He could see anger and loss in her face, but nothing untoward. The babies were obviously not hers, but might be grandchildren. “We’re here to help. I think they’ve got a new mothers group or something like that going. We can send somebody down with some food to help out.”
The dark eyes got shiny with unshed tears but were still defiant. “They’ll be home soon. Storm must have slowed them down. You just go on your way.”
“You’re going to see more men coming through. We call them Rovers.” Nick pointed to his bicep. “Brown armbands. You have any trouble, you can go to them.” He told her where the halfway outpost was. Then reluctantly turned to leave. Couldn’t help people who didn’t want it.
Wisp was quiet on the way back. Nick was lost in his own thoughts. An old woman with three babies, where were the rest of her family? And how many were missing? He hoped the storm hadn’t killed them.
Chapter 33
Our curriculum must be decidedly different than what us older folk learned. The children will be taught to identify all the edible wild plants, how to read a trail, first aid and how to hide from raiders.
History of a Changed World, Angus T. Moss
“TILLY!”
The tone of Eunice’s yelp sounded somewhere between delight and awe. Tilly hurried over to where she was cataloging the delivery. “What?” But by the time she got close, she saw it herself.
Eunice was practically purring. “It’s not just carrots. Potatoes, onions, turnips and look at this,” she s
aid as she held out a sack.
Tilly peered inside. “Parsnips!” She leaned toward Eunice, confidentially. “We’re not sharing these.”
Eunice laughed. “Absolutely not.”
Tilly managed to conscript a large number of people to help process the delivery in the cafeteria. Nearly every table had a container on it, and they would need to be clear for lunch. Already there were people peering in from the hallway and glancing at the big clock over the food line. The newcomers were still edgy, but surely the sight of all this food would keep them calm. Or maybe the opposite, it might incite a few of them into grabbing at the vegetables. Just as she was working herself into a major worry, several Watchmen arrived to take up stations around the room. She gave them each a thankful nod. Hopefully, that would keep the troublemakers at bay.
Tilly thought that most of this shipment should stay at High Meadow since they were feeding the bulk of the people. When they shifted more people out into the community, they could send more of the produce to the warehouse. But first, it all needed to be prepped for storage. Tops were removed and the roots tightly packed into cartons to be stored in a cool basement room. She pulled three large bags of potatoes and a crate of carrots to go to the warehouse. Nick’s people could decide whether to distribute or barter them.
Eunice gathered a variety of roots to go into the stew for dinner. That would be a big help, because if Tilly remembered the state of the larder, they had very little venison and only a couple rabbits left. Every day that they could get by without using any train food as filler, was another day of emergency food saved. The roots would stretch the stew and give them some variety.
Another yelp revealed a basket filled with small sacks of dried beans. “Give half of them to Martin’s men.” She wasn’t sure what they should be calling them. The troops? Militia? Beans would pack easily and would probably be good for the Sentinels and Rovers to carry with them.
The remaining empty containers were stacked in the hall for the Golden Oaks crew to take back with them. Flavio was still talking to Jean. Tilly hoped that was a good sign. He had readily agreed to stay for lunch. Another ten mouths to feed, including his crew, but she shouldn’t worry about that.
Clipboard in hand, Eunice joined her. “Do we have any idea how many we are going to be feeding this winter?” she asked.
A heavy feeling of doubt weighed on Tilly. “I have no idea. I guess we need to store what can be stored and can or dry what won’t.”
Eunice gave her a look that said her words were less than useful.
After another look at the containers of produce, Tilly added, “We’ll need some sort of grocery storage for distributing it all.”
“How about the train stations? They were distributing food before,” Eunice offered.
“But that means anyone could take anything.”
“Not if we have someone watching it.”
Tilly jotted down some notes about putting grocery stores in the train stations. Part of her feared that it would create trouble. It would be a magnet for thieves and ruffians. This needed to be carefully thought out. There really was too much going on now for her and Angus to be on top of it all.
“I think we’re good now if you want to get on,” Eunice said.
Before Tilly could take offense at being told to leave, she remembered that she was supposed to be at a meeting. She dashed for the new meeting room. It was a science lab that they had just redone. Their staff had gotten so large overnight that they couldn’t meet in Angus’s discussion circle anymore. However, he had set this room up with the same layout in mind.
She hustled in the door, slightly out of breath, but glad to see that she wasn’t the last to arrive. Someone had set up tea and cherry muffins for them, and she didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty about not having done it herself. She helped herself gladly. It felt like a long time since breakfast, and it was at least another hour until lunch if the meeting ended on time. She sat between Martin and Bruno. Both of them were deep in conversation with people on their other sides. It gave her a moment to herself to gobble down the muffin and savor the tea.
The last chair was taken, and Angus called the meeting to order. “We have a lot to cover, so I will ask that we stay as close to the agenda as possible.” He gestured to the livewall behind him.
Tilly noticed that one of the topics was new trading partners. She should have known about Golden Oaks, but Angus had been too busy to share that information. They were trying to have meetings once a week, and yet they didn’t seem to be able to keep on top of the information that was pouring in every second. She was about to blurt out her dissatisfaction when Angus announced the first item on the agenda, and she realized how much things had changed, again. There was a time when she could walk into his office and yell at him to vent her frustrations, but now they were figures of authority. There were a lot of new people in the room. She needed to show Angus the respect he deserved. Ranting at him might hurt her reputation also. With all the new people around, they needed to proceed in a manner that exemplified their goals.
Martin was talking about security, and how they were beefing up the coverage of the borders. The incursion at Creamery had been handled easily. The Ready Team had made it in time, and all the attackers were dead. Tilly felt a chill at that. Had they gotten to the point where they didn’t care about losing people? More human beings dead when the survival of the species itself wasn’t ensured.
Tilly looked up at the agenda again: the college, the mall, security, food shipments, housing, goods distribution, trade partners and new shops. They were going to need a better infrastructure. They all needed more staff to get these things done right. She might only be feeding about a thousand people, but there was easily that many more within the borders of the Survivors Alliance that they had just made themselves responsible for. They had no idea how many were living at the college, or if there was a large settlement they hadn’t found yet, within the borders. And there would be a constant influx from now on. Without train food to rely on, any family or community that wasn’t entirely self-sustaining would be on the move looking for help. And they would need housing, clothing, food and possibly schooling.
Her little utopia had just grown into a village of strangers.
Chapter 34
Entertainment, though low on our priorities, is still essential. The first play put on by our school had to add extra performances because people wanted to see it again. A brief hour or so of music and laughter is a precious commodity in this changed world.
History of a Changed World, Angus T. Moss
“SOMETHING UP AHEAD,” Wisp warned.
Nick slowed the jeep. “Should I stop?”
“Not yet.”
They were still circumnavigating the storm damage, and Nick had to keep an eye on the terrain. He hadn’t found a way through the storm debris back up to the road yet and felt that he was getting further away with every detour.
“Stop now,” Wisp said.
Nick got his weapon and offered one to Wisp. He was a little surprised that the biobot took it. Wisp led him down a narrow trail in the tall grass. Nick hoped it was a game trail. They were carefully cataloging the return of many animals. If there was a healthy herd of deer around here, he needed to take note of it, if he could figure out where they were.
Wisp slowed, a hand out in warning, and Nick heard voices a second later.
“Hello?” Nick called out. They proceeded slowly, coming out of the woods back to the storm damage.
A tarp was strung between some downed trees providing protection for two people lying on another tarp. A dirty, worn looking man approached Nick with a shotgun over his shoulder. “We don’t want any trouble here.”
Nick pointed to the man’s armband, nearly invisible under a coating of mud. “You’re the lost Rovers! Martin sent us out to find you.”
A grin split the man’s mud-spattered face. “Glad to see you. We hoped he’d send somebody out when we didn’t call in.”
Nick glanced at the tarp. “Anybody hurt?”
Another man with an armband came up out of the long grass. He cracked open his shotgun before joining them. “I sure hope you’ve got a vehicle,” he grumbled.
Wisp slipped away to walk the perimeter as Nick heard their stories. The Rovers had made it through the storm fine, but they’d found some injured civilians and stayed to help. Nick hunkered down by the tarp, and the others came over. The civilians watched him with a wary silence. Two men and two women sat as obvious couples. A tall, dark-haired man with a thin red-headed woman sat together in the wet grass. A blonde man and woman huddled together under the tarp.
Nick made introductions and gave them his new spiel about High Meadow and Angus’s meeting. Wisp came back into the circle and gestured an all-clear to Nick.
“What do you want from us?” the dark-haired man asked. His voice was ragged, and his face was pale with exhaustion. He eyed the Rovers suspiciously.
“Nothing,” Nick said. “We’re just trying to get information out.”
“The mothers,” Wisp said quietly.
Unfortunately, that got all their attention. Nick didn’t think these four were any kind of a match for him and Wisp, but he didn’t want to let the situation turn violent. The Rovers didn’t know him, and everyone was tired.
“Okay, sure. You guys must be on your way to the house back there. Grandma’s waiting.” He tried to keep the tone light. “Why don’t I give you a ride?”
The wary silence had become apprehension now. Nick could feel the moment slipping towards disaster.
“We have more water and food,” Wisp said. “Some first aid too, if anyone is injured.”
The blonde woman burst into tears. “I sprained my ankle. It took us all day yesterday to just get this far. We need to get home by tonight.”
Nick wasn’t sure why she had a deadline, but he was glad to help. The haunting look of loss in the old woman’s eyes had stayed with him. But the jeep wasn’t going to fit them all.