Without Law 2

by Eric Vall

  “What about the fridge?” I asked

  “I haven't been brave enough to check inside there yet,” she admitted.

  “Well then, allow me,” I said smoothly as I moved to the fridge and pulled it open. To my suprise the lights came on in the interior, and it was still cold. All I could figure was that maybe the metal exterior of the appliance had shielded it more than I had assumed. However, the contents inside were less impressive than the fact that it was actually on. A half-gallon of chunky milk and a carton of eggs sat in the door. There was some severely wilted lettuce and a rotting tomato in the crisper drawer, and some spoiled lunch meat sat on a shelf.

  “How bad is it?” Anna asked.

  “Things still running. Sadly most of the stuff in here was dairy based and spoiled anyway.”

  “It’s still cool that it runs,” she said.

  “Yeah, plus it looks like there is a six pack of stout in here,” I said. “Never heard of the brewery, but it might be good.”

  “Awesome, I was actually a little worried I might never have a cold beer ever again,” Anna said.

  “Well worry no more,” I said as I pulled out two bottles from the fridge. I turned and handed one to her before I pulled a bottle opener off the fridge and popped open my brew.

  “First wine and now beer?” Anna asked with a raised brow. “It must be vacation.”

  “You said you wanted to relax a couple days didn’t you?”

  “You’re right, cheers,” Anna said before she grinned and grabbed the opener from me. She opened her beer then clinked her bottle against mine.

  “Cheers,” I replied before taking my first drink. The dark beer was dense, smooth, and finished with hints of chocolate and cherry. It was a little surprising how good the beer was. I had expected at least some level of skunkiness to it after all this time but if it was there the other flavors hid it well, and the draft went great with the wine aftertaste in my mouth.

  “God, that’s good,” Anna said after she drained half her bottle.

  I set the bottle on the counter and closed the door. That’s when I noticed the yellow sticky note that I had passed over several times.

  “Did you see this?” I asked Anna as I tried to make sense of the sloppy handwriting.

  “No, is it important?” the redhead asked.

  “Kinda, it looks like whoever was here last headed for some nearby refugee center that the national guard set up after the EMP,” I said.

  “The national guard set up a refugee camp?” Anna asked with a groan. “Man, we really did fuck up by staying at the campus.”

  “Don’t get too upset,” I said as I tucked the note into my pocket. “Makeshift refugee camps can be pretty miserable places. Especially if they are not set up for long term support. Think of all the mouths they have to feed with no vehicles to deliver food.”

  “Oh yeah, I never thought about that,” she muttered. “Man, it is strange how our decision to stay at the campus over break was one of the best choices we could have made.” Anna took another drink of beer and stared at the window set above the kitchen sink.

  “Well I am glad you did,” I said before I pulled open the freezer. There was a little more in this side of the refrigerator, but all of the packages of meat looked badly freezer burned. However, I dug around and was rewarded with a small tub of ice cream that had been hidden in the back.

  “Hey, Tav, why don’t we all just move up here?” Anna asked. “I mean we would have running water, gas heat, and a gorgeous place to stay. We would be farther away from all the trouble too.”

  “I wish we could,” I said

  “But?” she asked as she looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

  “But it’s not a good idea,” I said. “Running water is nice but whatever reservoir supplies it won't last forever. The electricity is nice but look at the terrain. We couldn’t grow anything out there, and we would have to travel farther to hunt and trap.”

  “Ugh, I didn’t think of that,” Anna said. “I just like it up here.”

  “Me too, and there is no reason we cannot come here from time to time,” I said.

  “You’re right,” she replied. “I suppose this place would not be quite as nice if we lived here anyway.”

  “It’s also not quite big enough for five,” I said. “We would drive each other crazy after a few weeks living this close.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t think of that either,” she sighed. “Sorry, I know I should just be thankful for what we have.”

  “You’re apologizing way too much today,” I said with a chuckle.

  “Am I?” she asked. “I guess I just want to impress you and worry now that we are alone together I might come across as stupid.”

  “Have I ever treated any of you like you are stupid?” I asked

  “No, I suppose not,” she grumbled.

  “That’s because you aren't,” I stated. “You better take another drink of that beer. Seems that you still haven't quite started to relax.”

  “I thought you weren’t supposed to get drunk,” Anna teased.

  “I never said you couldn’t get buzzed though,” I laughed.

  Anna laughed, shook her head, and took another drink of beer. Then she set it down, picked up the bottle of wine, took a drink, and grinned at me.

  We both shared a laugh, and then we went back to searching the cabinets.

  Most of what we found in the kitchen were luxury items, such as a box of chocolates, some coffee, powdered hot chocolate, and two boxes of muffin mix. They were all added to the pile before Anna and I found a couple coats and headed outside.

  “There is a little metal shed out back,” Anna said. “I haven’t checked it out yet.”

  “Let’s start there then,” I said as we headed towards it.

  “So, is this place more what you were hoping to find out here?” Anna asked.

  “Yeah, this is almost exactly what I hoped to find,” I said. “If we had found nothing else the rifle this guy had here and the ammo would have made the whole trip worth it.”

  “For some reason I thought guns would be one of the harder things to find,” Anna said. “But we now have more of them than we have people.”

  “Well I think people didn’t realize this was quite the emergency it was,” I said. “It looks like they focused more on food and water so they could get to the places the government said were safe.”

  “Like that refugee camp,” Anna mused. “Yeah, I guess if you thought the army or police were going to keep you safe why would you grab a gun instead of more water or food.”

  “Pro tip, always grab a gun,” I chuckled. “People go crazy in emergency situations, and I would rather be armed than full.”

  “I don’t think you have to worry about any of us girls leaving our gun behind,” Anna said.

  “Yeah, I was almost worried I wouldn’t be able to get you guys off the range that first day,” I said.

  “It was fun,” the redhead said.

  “It’s good you guys think so,” I said. “It will help in getting you to practice.”

  We arrived at the metal shed. It was thin aluminum, half sunk into the mountainside, and the sliding front door was held closed with a chain and a padlock.

  “Cover your ears,” I ordered as I pulled out my pistol, and aimed at the lock. I looked away and covered my ears as best as possible with one hand before I pulled the trigger and blew off the lock.

  “Care to do the honors?” I asked as I pulled off the chain.

  Anna grinned and pulled the door open. Inside there were two camo ATVs, helmets, and two large gas cans.

  “Wow,” I muttered.

  “Do you think they run?” Anna asked as she stepped inside and ran a hand along the seat.

  “I don’t know, but if they do, we can carry a lot more gear back to campus,” I said. “

  “Yeah, these things could be awesome,” she agreed with a nod.

  The keys were already in the ignition so I tried to turn on the first one. The e
ngine chugged for a moment but rumbled to life.

  Anna threw her hands up in the air and let out a cheer.

  I grinned, turned off the ATV, and gave the redhead a high five.

  “I can’t believe they run,” Anna said.

  “The mountain side must have protected whatever electrical bits are in these things,” I explained.

  “That’s awesome,” Anna said. “This will make getting around the campus town that much easier.”

  “Yeah, we can use them to move larger objects too,” I said. Then I turned off the vehicle and searched the rest of the small shack. There were two pairs of snow shoes hanging on the wall, but nothing else of value.

  Both of us grabbed an ATV and wheeled it into the garage of the ski lodge.

  “Have we picked this whole place clean?” Anna asked.

  “Nah, we have the spare bedroom and bathrooms to look through still,” I said. “I figure we can get that taken care of before the end of the day.”

  “Wait, does that mean tomorrow we will actually just get to relax?” Anna asked.

  “At least until we head back,” I said with a grin. “It probably won’t take us very long to finish up today either, so we have plenty of time to kick back, drink, and maybe enjoy another soak in the jacuzzi tub.”

  “The others are going to be super jealous,” the redhead said with a delighted smirk painted on her face.

  “Only until they get the chance to come here themselves,” I said.

  “How soon do you think you will be doing that?” Anna asked

  “I don’t know yet, but one of the things I found with the gun was an impressive spotting scope,” I said. “I might spend some time outside before it gets dark, surveying the area. My hope is that there are a few places around here that we might be able to come back and pick through later. That would give me an excuse to pull another of the girls up here sooner rather than later.”

  “I’m sure they would appreciate the break and the alone time with you as much as I do,” Anna cooed.

  “That’s the hope,” I said. “Thinking that maybe once we have all the big stuff done we bring everyone up this way. We could spend a few days up here in celebration.”

  “I like that idea,” Anna commented. “That would give Rolly a reason to come up here too.”

  “That was my thought too,” I said. “That guy does a lot, and I think he deserves some time to himself. Not sure I want to bring him on a scavenge run though. He is tough but clearly getting older. I would rather not run him ragged.”

  “I am glad he stuck around,” Anna said. “He is always so happy to just help out. I haven't met many people as genuine as Rolly.”

  “If he were any nicer, I might suspect he was up to something,” I joked.

  “No kidding,” Anna agreed with a laugh.

  We went into the lodge and made our way down the hall to the spare bedroom. It was considerably smaller than the master room across the hall, but it was still larger than most rooms you find in an average home. The queen sized bed sitting in the middle of the room looked almost small.

  Anna started to go through the dresser as I rifled through the closet. There were more cold weather clothes in the closet, but most of them were female clothes, and the handful of male outfits were far too small to fit me. Beyond that, the only thing I found in the closet were half a dozen beanies, and two ski goggles that I figured could come in handy.

  “I am not finding much here,” Anna said as she pulled open another drawer. “Anything over there?”

  “Not really, but it’s hard to complain after the amazing gun, the ATVs, and all the food this place had for us,” I said.

  “Yeah, and we still have to figure out how much stuff we can actually fit on those ATVs,” Anna pointed out.

  “That sounds like a problem for tomorrow,” I said as I closed the closet. “You good here?”

  “I think so,” Anna replied. “This all just more fancy clothes.”

  “Anything your size at least?” I asked

  “I can squeeze into them,” she said with a shrug, “but I’ve got some muscle on my frame. They might fit the other girls better.”

  “I will have them take a look when they come up here,” I said.

  “So is that it then?” Anna asked.

  “At least for this room,” I said. “I’ll search the last bathroom. You go finish that beer and get comfortable.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked. “I mean I am not nearly as worn out as you are. I mean you still have that shoulder wound. Plus, aren't you still healing from that bear a few weeks back?”

  “The area is a little sore, but Paige did a good job stitching it up, so it healed really quick,” I said.

  “Still, you need the downtime more than I do,” she said. “So, I think it is you who is going to go finish their beer and take a seat on the couch.”

  “Do I get a choice in the matter?” I asked with a coy smile.

  “Nope, if you want me to be a leader then you have to put up with me telling you what to do now and again,” she said with a big grin. “Especially because you seem to need someone to tell you to stop once in a while.”

  “Well alright then, boss lady,” I teased. “Have fun in the bathroom.”

  Anna laughed and shook her head before I headed out of the room, grabbed my half-finished beer from the kitchen, and went to the living room. I stood in front of the large bank of windows that overlooked the snow-covered mountainside perfect for skiing. I took a sip of my beer and looked towards where Anna had gone. She was more comfortable here than I had seen her since we first met. This might be the perfect place to get her to open up a little.

  I finished the beer, grabbed the spotting scope and a large blanket from our pile of loot, and slipped outside. I found a nice spot to sit and wrapped myself in the blanket while I inspected the nearby area. With the help of the powerful scope I was able to find three small houses tucked in the woods around the east side of this mountain. They all seemed to be less than two miles away from the ski lodge and could easily be reached by the ATVs. I noted them on the map I had brought with me before I turned my attention to the smoking areas that I had noticed the night before. All the smoke was coming from the south, past the campus, and past Lanceton. I couldn’t make out any real details at this distance but judging by the thickness of the smoke I guessed whatever towns had been set ablaze would need to be removed from our maps.

  “I thought I told you to relax,” I heard Anna call out from behind me.

  I turned to see the redhead standing there with her arms crossed and her red hair fluttering wildly in the wind.

  “This doesn’t look relaxing to me,” she said.

  “Honestly it is pretty zen,” I replied before I waved her over.

  She jogged over and crouched next to me as she hugged herself for warmth.

  “You should have put on a coat,” I said as I wrapped her in the blanket and pulled her in close.

  “And you should be inside,” she chided after she raised an eyebrow.

  “I just wanted to get a good look of the area,” I said.

  “Well, did you at least find anything?” the shivering redhead asked.

  “Yeah, I made a note of a couple places we could probably scavenge,” I said.

  “What about those fires?” Anna asked.

  “They are too far away,” I said. “Even with the scope all I can make out is distant smoke rising from a clearing of trees. Still, I think that we should probably increase combat training on our return.”

  “Do you think the trouble could be headed our way?” she asked.

  “Eventually, yes,” I said with a nod. “I just want us to be as ready as we can be when it does.”

  “Good,” Anna said as she nodded and stared out across the forest.

  For a moment we both stood there as the cold wind tugged at the blanket and howled in our ears. Each of us focused on the smoke curling up from distant fires.

  “Come on, let’s get i
nside,” Anna said after a minute. Then she turned and pulled me towards the house.

  “Still up for helping me with my hair?” Anna asked as she gestured for me to sit down on the couch with the blanket and pulled out a hairbrush.

  “I thought I didn’t have a choice,” I replied with a smirk.

  “You don’t,” she said as she sat down next to me. “I was just asking to be polite.” She started to run the brush through her long tangles of red hair. Every once in a while she would wince as she hit a snag that she had to brush out.

  “You are going to have to tell me what to do,” I said. “I have never had hair long enough to even run a brush through.”

  “Interesting, but don’t worry,” she said. “If you can handle complex knots, I think you will be able to handle a simple braid.”

  “Just don’t blame me if it doesn’t come out as nice as you want it,” I joked.

  “Don’t worry, I can think of a couple ways you can make it up to me if that happens,” Anna chuckled.

  “Oh really?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow.

  “Well we will have to see what happens,” She said with a grin. Then she finished running the brush through her hair and handed it to me.

  The next half an hour was spent learning how to braid hair. I personally didn’t see the point of it. It would be far easier to just keep the hair short and not worry about any of this. Though it seemed to make Anna happy when it was back into its long tight braid.

  Anna inspected the braid, nodded, and let out a contented sigh.

  “How’d I do?” I asked.

  “It’s good,” she said. “It’s not as good as the other girls can do, but I cannot complain with it being your first time.”

  “Well I am just glad I could help,” I said.

  “I wasn’t actually worried,” Anna admitted as she snuggled into me, propped up her feet on the arm of the couch, and looked out the window at the beautiful view that surrounded us.

  I pulled up the bottle of wine, popped off the top, took a drink, and handed it to my redheaded companion.

  “I thought we were going to wait until later,” she said before she took a drink of her own.

  “Well, I figured this was a good way to start the afternoon,” I said.