by Amira Rain
Again, I said nothing, nor did Norm, and Tom continued.
“Anyway…it was us Silverbacks who gave you folks that generator and fuel so that you could heat the gym and have lights during the winter. Didn’t you all ever wonder how it came to be that someone just happened to leave a generator and several months’ worth of fuel just a short distance away from the gym parking lot, where you folks would be sure to see it?
Also, didn’t you all ever wonder how it came to be last March that a literal ton of canned food was left in a grocery store that you’d all already scavenged? That was us Silverbacks. We figured that even though you’d already cleaned out the store, you’d probably be back just to see if you’d missed anything.”
Truth be told, Norm and I had wondered how these things had come to be. A deeply religious man, Norm had eventually come to the conclusion that God had simply provided for our group, maybe having one of his “angels on earth” make some special deliveries. I, however, had been a little more skeptical, thinking that maybe a group of human scavengers, maybe one who’d been about to investigate the gymnasium, had been forced to abandon their generator and fuel upon being attacked by some Creepers.
The wolf shifters had also crossed my mind, though, and I’d wondered if one of their groups had left my group some sort of a gift, for whatever reason. Then, when Norm, Blake, and Devin had come upon the cache of food in the formerly-cleaned-out grocery store, I’d wondered about the wolf shifters yet again, although this time wondering if Norm, Blake, and Devin had just stumbled across some kind of a storage cache.
I’d honestly been a little nervous when they’d brought all the food back to the gym, thinking that maybe the wolves would soon come after it. Norm, though, had told me that even if that were the case, they probably wouldn’t be violent about reclaiming their food. After all, he’d come across wolf shifter groups a few different times, and although they hadn’t been overly helpful or friendly, they hadn’t been hostile either, he’d said.
In response to what Tom had said about his group’s “gifts” to mine, I said a quiet thank you, slightly ashamed about my earlier irritation. “The generator, fuel, and food helped us to survive the winter.”
Tom said that I and my group were welcome. “We’d seen a few of you from afar and thought that a few ‘gifts’ might be badly needed. But, the generator and food aside, I’m still surprised that your group has survived this long, just being that us Silverbacks haven’t been able to monitor you all the time or even anywhere close to ‘all the time.’ With our gifts and our defense patrols running by near the area, we aimed to give you all a bit more of a fighting chance, thinking that the rest would be up to the fighting-age men of your group. We never dreamed that your group has never even had any men of fighting age.”
Feeling a bit defensive once again, I shrugged with my arms still folded across my chest. “Well, we still have some very good, strong men with fighting spirits, and as I’ve mentioned, we have some very good, strong boys, young girls, and women too. We’ve also had something to aid in our defense that I haven’t even mentioned yet.”
“Oh? And what’s that?”
I replied by saying that I was an orb-thrower. “Maybe you’ve heard of us.”
Looking a bit surprised, Tom said that he had. “We don’t have any in our group, though, so I’ve never actually seen the skill displayed. How does it work, exactly?”
I said that I really wasn’t even sure. “All I know is that when a lot of other women began dying of the fever in the first days of the Chaos, I only developed a mild fever, and I lived, obviously. Then, these silvery-white orbs began just flying out of my palms at different times. At first, I couldn’t even really control them, although now I can, and I can simply release them at will, just by thinking about it…and now I know that these orbs can be flung at Creepers to kill them. This is how I help in defense while I’m on guard patrol, instead of using a shotgun like everyone else. I just ‘shoot’ my orbs at the Creepers, just like lobbing a baseball.”
“And does a single orb kill them?”
I said no. “Not always, anyway…especially if I fling an orb without putting my full muscle into it. Usually, a single orb will just ‘stun’ a Creeper temporarily…and then another one or two flung at them while they’re still down on the ground will finish them off. It’s not quite as good a method as shooting them, but my orb-throwing has sure helped us to conserve our ammo.”
Studying me intently, Tom said that orb-throwing certainly seemed to be a rare gift. “Like I said, some of the women in our Silverback group are survivors of the fever, but none of them came out of it as an orb-thrower. It seems you were blessed, Ellie.”
I couldn’t help but scoff. “Right. I was ‘blessed.’ Blessed to live in a time where I’ve seen the near-destruction of the human population on earth, including the majority of women via some fever that was probably brought to us by creatures from another planet. I’ve sure been ‘blessed,’ all right.”
Frowning at me, Norm suddenly jumped into the conversation. “You have been blessed, Ellie. You survived a virus that took out many of your fellow women. You survived an invasion of human-eating creatures that took out the majority of people on earth. You’re alive. You’re breathing. You’re still fighting, and you’ve been given a gift that is helping you in this. God has blessed you. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this before you’re finally convinced.”
Tom was a fairly attractive shifter of maybe thirty years old, just a few years older than I was. And now, because of what Norm had just said, I felt like I’d just been scolded by my father in front of the cute boy at school or something. Embarrassed, I said nothing in response to Norm’s rebuke, and after a long, uncomfortable moment, Tom suddenly spoke.
“I think I’ve heard enough. I’d now like to get down to the purpose of my visit, which is some bartering. I’d like to make the two of you an offer, Norm and Ellie.”
Nothing could have prepared me for what Tom said next.
CHAPTER TWO
“This is what us Silverbacks will give you,” Tom said. “First off, one year’s worth of canned goods and bulk grains, enough for fifty-three people to live on exclusively and without tight rationing. We’ll also help you with your vegetable garden in the spring, enlarging it to the golf course just west of here, for a total of twenty acres of farmland, including your own fruit orchard.
On top of this, we’ll give you enough fuel to run the generator in the gym for at least one year for heating and lighting. We’ll also give you a few electric stovetops and thousands of glass jars so that you folks can start canning your own harvest for the winters. Us Silverbacks will also gift you with a dozen or so cows for meat and dairy. Additionally, our group will ‘loan’ you ten of us wolf shifters for a period of five years, until the boys in your group grow into able-bodied young men capable of defending the community.
Some of these wolf shifters might leave and rejoin us Silverbacks after the five years is up, although some might stay here. That’ll be completely up to them. However, in the meantime, in addition to helping with crop planting and defense, they’ll help you folks dig a well so that you don’t have to rely on water from the little creek near here, and they’ll also turn this gymnasium into proper apartment-style housing, putting up drywall for partitions between units.
This will only be temporary housing, though, until real homes can be constructed on the property. Around these homes and the farmland, a security fence will be installed to help make things easier for guard patrols and to help keep the Creepers out. A few of us ten Silverbacks ‘on loan’ might bring wives, too, who can help with childcare duties and other tasks.” Looking from Norm to me, Tom paused to take a deep breath before continuing. “I’m sure I’m probably forgetting something in all this, but that’s the general offer. This is what us Silverbacks are offering as barter today.”
Sitting next to me at the little table, Norm frowned at Tom. “And just what on earth do yo
u think that we can barter in exchange for all this? Ellie wasn’t bluffing when she told you that as far as food, we’re barely hanging on. We have twenty-three egg-laying chickens in our coops outside, a few barrels of apples, some tomatoes and zucchini, a few crates of canned goods, and about ninety pounds of rice to feed fifty-three people until the pumpkins and squashes are ready to harvest in a few weeks.
That’s it, and that’s not a lot, rationed among us all on a daily basis. We’re very low on medical supplies, too, and as far as vehicles, maybe you saw the only one we have on your way in. It’s currently out of gas, and even before it ran out, it was running poorly because of transmission trouble.”
With his expression perfectly neutral, Tom glanced down at the little table for a moment or two before meeting Norm’s gaze again. “We Silverbacks don’t want any of your food or medical supplies, and we don’t want your vehicle. What we do want is a little harder to come by these days than even those things.”
Norm frowned even harder. “And what might that be?”
Outside the door of my apartment, which I’d left open to allow a little light in, children laughed and played, their voices echoing off the gymnasium walls.
Tom looked at Norm with his expression remaining perfectly neutral. “We Silverbacks have an alpha. His name is Eric McCormick. Before the Chaos, he was a sheriff’s deputy in a small town called Hastings, right on the Michigan-Indiana border. He was single then…and he’s still single now, although he doesn’t want to be. See, he may be a shifter, but he’s also a red-blooded man just like any other, and he desires a mate. The only problem is that since the Chaos, there’s been a distinct lack of single women of childbearing age in the world, so….”
Suddenly, Norm made some half-strangled sort of noise that sounded something like, “Oh!” I myself remained silent, having finally understood the reason for Tom’s visit. In truth, the whole time, I’d had a little idea of why he’d come.
After Norm had made his startled sort of noise, Tom abruptly shifted his gaze to me. “A few of our patrolmen caught sight of you from afar recently, and reported what they’d seen to Eric…and this is what led me to come visit your community here today. See, young women of childbearing age, especially ones as attractive as you are….” Reddening just slightly, Tom suddenly cleared his throat.
“Obviously, you know that in the wake of the virus, women, particularly young women, are at a premium these days. Some people say that men now outnumber women two-to-one, while others say that the figure is actually closer to ten-to-one in some parts. The truth is, of course, that no one really knows for sure. We Silverbacks have several dozen women in our community, mostly women who were married to our men before the Chaos, although we have added some women to our group since then, mostly women who came to us alone, without the protection of any husband or partner.”
Tom paused briefly, as if waiting to see if I would issue any response; when I didn’t, he continued. “Now, since our guardsmen have only seen young boys and older men from afar in this community, Eric is under the impression that you’re probably single. However, on the chance that you’re not-”
“I am.” I’d spoken before even really thinking about it. “I’m single. No husband or boyfriend that I’ve been separated from or anything like that, and I’m not involved with any of the older men in this community. So, to answer the question that you haven’t come right out and said yet…yes. I’ll agree to ‘barter’ myself in exchange for all the things you said that you Silverbacks will offer my community. I’ll agree to be mated to your alpha, Eric, as long as you all truly keep your word about everything you said you’d give my community in exchange.”
Beside me, Norm made some sort of faint groaning noise. “Now, just wait up a second, here, Ellie. We don’t know these people. We don’t know if-”
“Well, what other choice do we have?” I’d turned to look at Norm and had found him frowning. “Our people are almost literally starving. We’ve been on strict rations for, what…two weeks now? Everyone’s losing weight. Everyone’s getting weak. And even when the fall harvest comes in, what’s that going to do? Buy us another couple of weeks, cooking mashed pumpkin and squash outside over a campfire? This is just….”
Giving my head a quick little shake, I paused for a moment. “This is no kind of a life for anyone, Norm…especially not the kids. We need food, medicine, heat, and lights for this coming winter. Not to mention that we need a stronger defense against the Creepers. We’re seriously low on ammo, you know, and during these past few hungry weeks, I’ve found it harder than usual to produce my orbs and keep them coming.”
Frowning so hard he was almost scowling, Norm glanced at Tom before returning his gaze to me and speaking in a low voice. “All I’m asking, Ellie, is that you and I talk in private. Without him.”
Tom stood up from the table. “That’s fine with me. I’ll just wait outside. While the two of you are talking, just know, Ellie, that Eric isn’t in the business of forcing anyone into anything. He definitely wants a mate, and he definitely wants to make a deal with your community, here, but if a deal can’t be reached, there’ll be no repercussions.
We won’t attack you folks or try to kidnap you or anything crazy like that. However, if you ultimately choose not to accept our bartering deal, just know that we won’t be able to gift your community with all the things that I mentioned, because we’ll need to save those things to possibly make a deal with another survivor community here in the state at some point.”
With that, Tom left my apartment, leaving Norm and I alone to have a heated discussion for about the next five minutes.
At the end of it, I told Norm that I’d made my choice, and that I wasn’t going to change my mind. “I’m going to sacrifice myself for the good of this community…and that’s all there is to it. How could I decide anything else, knowing that that might lead to fifty-some people starving to death?”
Frowning, Norm glanced at the partially-ajar door before responding to me. “I know that you’re headstrong and stubborn, Ellie, so I won’t even pretend that I think I can change your mind at this point. And I’m not even saying that the decision you’ve made is the wrong one. In fact, I think it’s very noble and heroic what you’ve decided, and I can’t say that I wouldn’t decide the same thing in your shoes. That being said, how can we be sure that these Silverbacks are going to keep up their end of the bargain? And also, how can we be sure that you won’t be harmed in any way by this Eric guy?”
I sighed quietly. “To answer both your questions, we don’t know. We can’t possibly. But just think about this. Do you think that people who gifted our group a generator, fuel, and food just out of the goodness of their hearts, just for charity, are the type of people to intentionally go back on a deal? And as far as the Silverbacks’ alpha…well, there’s no way to tell if he’ll ultimately prove to be a truly good guy. If he wasn’t, though…if he was some kind of an asshole who hurts women or something…don’t you think that he probably would have just kidnapped me by now? From what it sounds like, his group has probably had the opportunity to since they first caught sight of me. They probably could have even kidnapped me that very first day.”
Knitting his bushy white brows, Norm said nothing.
Tom poked his head inside my apartment. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but just so you know, Ellie, a few of my fellow Silverbacks are parked just down the road with two truckloads of canned goods, blankets, and medical supplies. They’ve even brought some lumber to make bunkbeds for all the kids here. Oh, and we also have a trailer with the first two cows of our barter inside, so that everyone can have fresh milk as soon as lunchtime and grilled steak as soon as dinnertime. We can bring all these things up here to the gym just as soon as you give us the word that you’d like to take us up on our bartering deal, if indeed you do.”
Silently, I looked at Norm’s uncertain, troubled face for a long moment before shifting my gaze to Tom. “Please bring all the stuff up to the gym. I just
need to pack a few things and say a few goodbyes…and then, I’ll be ready for you to take me to your alpha.”
CHAPTER THREE
Silverfield, which was what the Silverbacks’ settlement was called, was only twelve miles away from the gymnasium. It shouldn’t have been that long of a trip. However, the Creepers made it so that it was.
Three of the Silverbacks had remained behind at the gym, because they were going to be part of the ten shifters that would be on “loan” to the community for the next five years. This made it so that I began the journey to Silverfield with just Tom in his truck. Behind us, a shifter named Mark and his wife, Alicia, drove a truck hauling the trailer that had contained the two cows.
We were maybe two miles from the gym when Tom and I came upon a large group of Creepers blocking the road. Swearing under his breath, Tom stopped the truck and got out, shifting into his wolf form almost before he was even fully out of the truck. Still buckled in my seat, I made a little gasp, not having ever seen a wolf shifter up close before. My little gasp was also in part because of the Creepers. Although I’d thrown orbs at them from a distance as close as twenty feet before, I never fully got used to seeing them and always felt a tiny ripple of terror anew.
About the same height as regular human men, the Creepers were well-built, with muscles that bulged from beneath their jade green, scaly skin. Wearing no clothing, they were always naked, although this didn’t mean that they had any private parts that were visible. Between their legs, there was just nothing, as if they were creatures from a comic book illustrated by an artist who’d been told that nothing even remotely graphic would be allowed.
However, the Creepers apparently didn’t need genitals in order to reproduce. We humans called what they did “splitting,” and it was only rarely seen. In my year of running defense patrols at the gym, I’d only witnessed the phenomenon a handful of times. When it happened, it would appear that a dark shadow simply stepped out from behind the Creeper. Then, this shadow would slowly take solid form and become just like any other Creeper. Fortunately, they didn’t seem able to replicate themselves using this method very often, which gave us humans hope that if we just kept killing them, eventually one day, they’d all be dead, unable to replenish their numbers quickly enough.