He gave her a nod and started toward the flight of stairs that led to the gym.
“And a baseball too, if you have one,” Mac requested after him, still focusing on the items.
Ted arched an eyebrow and looked at Magda who gave him a wave of her hands. “Sure.”
They all stood and took in the strange collection. Mac figured they were all having the same thought. Something to the affect of: This is what’s going to save our lives? Mac was just thinking: It’s a start.
“May I ask what your plan is here?” Charlie said, a bit of a nasal tone sneaking in no matter how hard he tried to correct it. “I’m just not feeling too great about giving you some of our last remaining food to some how get us more food. It just seems off to me.”
Magda cleared her throat shooting a look at him, “Ms. Mac has made some valid points to the importance of having things others do not. These seem to be some of those things.”
“So our abundance of dried up apples is another man’s treasure, is that what you’re getting at here?” Charlie said to Magda, then turned his attention back to Mac.
She pushed herself up from her squatted position on the floor, wiping her hands on her pants. “That’s the gist of it.”
“And you just happen to know someone in the market, huh?” Charlie said again, the sarcasm sharp in his voice. It was Laila’s turn to shoot him a look, and throw her elbow into his side. He caught himself and looked down at the ground.
“I’m going to need a backpack or duffel bag if you have it,” Mac said to no one in particular. “Something that can fit all but the jugs. Don’t worry about fitting the bat.”
They all stood thinking, then Charlie said politely, “I have a pack that I think would work,” and he started up the steps.
Laila gave him a smile as he made his way to the second floor. Then she looked to Mac.
“So, what are the jugs for then?”
“Hopefully,” Mac said looking at her, then back to the jugs, “for next time.”
Ted came back around from the stairs to the basement holding the bat and baseball she requested. Both looked brand new, and never touched until now. He handed them to her, and she took the ball in one hand, and the bat in the other giving it a little swing with a twist of her wrist. “I think that’ll do it.”
Charlie came back shortly after, and they all watched as Mac expertly packed the apples, the clothing, toiletries, medicine, seeds, and baseball in the fairly pristine dark green backpack he got for her. It was pretty obvious it was meant for a kid to take to school, but it did the trick. Mac couldn’t help but think it might be another reason for Harrison not to like her anymore. Beat up his dad, then take his backpack. If that was the case, she’d settle up with him if she got back. If she got back. She makes no promises to anyone, not even herself.
Once packed up, she told them she would be leaving at sunrise, and would be grateful for a bunch of those muffins for the trek if they could pack some up for her. She asked if they could keep the jugs some where for her until she returned, and Magda agreed. Then she lifted the pack up onto her good shoulder, and headed up to her third floor room.
CHAPTER 8
One Foot in Front of the Other
He never agreed to this in the first place, but it obviously made no difference. Here they stood, fighting the chill from the remaining night air as the sun started showing itself through the trees. He was not happy about it at all. It was very apparent that they had learned nothing from all of this, or maybe it was more like they heard all the information, but some didn’t learn the intended lesson. He was pretty sure he did, but it was apparent some still had their doubts. I guess a broken nose would make that easier to hold on to, for some more than others.
Jack shot Charlie a pissed off look as the two of them and Cara huddled down behind a large tree that had partnered with its own large bush.
“We’ve already started, so get over it,” Charlie said, sensing his glare burning into the side of his head.
“Actually we haven’t, we could easily walk right back in. At any moment,” Jack whispered harshly.
Charlie turned back a bit on his heels, and looked him and Cara in the face. They both returned it with looks of skepticism and all around annoyance.
“In about ten minutes, a good portion of our food and supplies are going to just walk itself right out of our gates. Let’s just think of this as an insurance policy,” Charlie said with great seriousness.
“I’m pretty sure the insurance policy was that none of us from the Block had to go,” Jack spat at him. “You really think we’re going to be able to keep up with her? You’ve seen what she can do, and I doubt she’s going to appreciate any of your plan here. I don’t think Magda will either,” he saved the most powerful point for last. There was no way there wouldn’t be repercussions from Magda when they got back. If they got back. None of them knew what the hell it was really like out there now. They’d only had a taste at the beginning, and that was all they needed to know they didn’t like it. Who knew the places Mac went, the people she dealt with, what she had to do. There was no way a single one of them was ready to follow her to wherever she was intending to go.
“If we come back with food, she’ll find a way to forgive us,” Charlie said, though much less confident than he was with his previous statements.
“If we come back at all,” hissed Cara.
Charlie looked down at the ground, bits of doubt started to settle around in his brain. He took a breath and was about to concede when the sound of the Block’s gate sliding open brought their attention back up front.
Too late now, Charlie thought, time to follow through.
Jack shot him a disappointed look, and Cara rubbed her forehead in frustration, but they all froze as they saw her walk out.
The moment the metal patched gate clanged shut with a reverberating shiver like a thunder storm, Mac could feel herself grow at ease. This is what she does. This is what she’s comfortable with. She was also pretty sure there was a small group of people back behind that gate that felt more at ease, too, in her absence… though now some of them may be feeling a bit more unsure. But she had accepted a job from them, and she was going to do it.
It was still very early. The sun had just broached the tree line, and though she was sure the gate men (the same who were at the gate when she arrived) were told of her impending departure the previous night, their sleepy faces showed they didn’t believe the time that was given to them. It seemed none of them in the block who knew really believed her when she said first light. When she walked out of the door to her room there was a bundle of muffins, a small bag of some of the remaining dried apple rings, and two filled bottles of water left out in the hallway for her. Beyond that, no one made any other acknowledgement that she was leaving. And she was grateful for it. No one waited there to say goodbye. No one walked her to the gate and waved anxiously as she walked away. There was only a nod and kind smile from the man who opened the gate for her, her sparring partner, Mike. One which she returned, and then she set off, never looking back to see the few faces who watched her from their windows.
She gave a small jolt to the pack on her back as she walked, slightly uncomfortable from its lightness. She couldn’t help but check it a few times before she left to reassure herself that the goods were still in there. She just wasn’t used to hauling a weight this light, even with the bat resting at the base of the straps against her lower back. About a half mile from the Block she made a sharp right into the wood-line. She kept a good pace knowing that if she stayed consistent, she would arrive mid-afternoon with a few hours of daylight left. A few yards into the woods she knew that wasn’t going to work.
If their foot fall was that heavy on the worn and empty road’s asphalt, they might as well just hold a conversation between themselves once they entered the woods. She toyed with the idea of turning around right then and there to get it over with, but where’s the fun in that. Granted, she was annoyed, quite a bit anno
yed. These people keep finding new ways to be idiots. So, now they had to learn a lesson the hard way. She decided she’d take them in at least an hour to where she stashed her pack for the job at the storage unit, and then let them know. Just enough time for a little bit of fun, but not far enough where there might be trouble for them. So she hiked on.
As the miles added up it became more and more clear Charlie was not cut out for this stuff. His grudge with her, though understandable, made him stupid. And stupidity gets people killed. It did before all this shit happened, and does even more now. So when she saw the ridge where she kept her pack, she knew it had to end now. Hell, she probably should’ve even ended it sooner, but like she thought before, she already wasted enough time on this nonsense, she didn’t want to waste anymore. The other two behind her were much younger, much more in shape than Charlie. Even with Cara’s short legs, she was having no problem keeping the pace with Jack, and keeping their distance from Mac. Charlie was struggling to keep up with his own group, falling a few steps behind Jack and Cara and trying to cover it up whenever they glanced back by acting like he was checking behind them for wanderers.
As Mac began to ascend the hill she picked up the pace enough to go unnoticed, but enough to give her the time she needed to lose them completely. When she reached the top and started down it, she waited until her head had passed below their sight line, then slid over a few trees down where she had shoved her pack in the hole a little way up the trunk. She made sure to stay behind it as she pulled herself up branch by branch. When settled in on one jutting out just below the hole, she quietly yanked the large, faded black pack she had been using as her life line since the beginning. Well, maybe even a few beginnings before that, and laid it on her lap. A few minutes later she watched as Jack and Cara crested the hill and stopped with just their heads peering over the top. She watched each one as it dawned on them they’d lost her, and their expressions changed. Tired, frustrated, angry, and resentful. Resentful especially as they turned to see Charlie dragging himself slowly through the underbrush, wheezing loudly until he finally just let his arms fold beneath him and laid still. His shoulders rose up and down, and Cara and Jack looked at each other. Cara was pissed, and Jack looked- well almost disappointed. It’s there they both stayed until Charlie finally remembered what they were doing, and looked up for them, realizing something was wrong. He pushed the top half of his body up, lifting his head and found Jack sitting at the peak of the hill, head in hands, and Cara pacing right behind him.
The sheer confusion of it all got him up on his knees, and he began to wave his hands around to get their attention. Jack looked down, obviously thinking he was as much an idiot as Charlie felt at that moment. He could tell. He made a What’s going on? gesture with his hands and arms, and Jack threw down what was left of the stick he was snapping into pieces.
“We lost her,” he said flatly, not even bothering to whisper, but it was spoken quietly. No need to bring anything else's attention to them that might be out here.
Fuck! Charlie thought, though part of him was thankful. Well, most of him. He was on the verge of having to tell them he wasn’t going to make it, and that they’d have to go back. Now he was saved from their wrath and his own humiliation, because they were right. About everything. The walk taught him that, he had a lot of time to think in the quiet and tension, and in the end he seemed to have walked off most of the feelings that had him out here. Honestly, if she was going to keep hiking like this for another five miles, she could have their food. She earned that food. And if she really was going to get them more, well she was due more than that, and he figured she was.
“So what now?” Cara asked with an edge of annoyance, but a hint of we fucking told you so in her voice as Charlie made it the rest of the way to the top to meet them.
He paused to catch his breath, “How the fuck did you lose her?”
“We lost her when she crested the hill. Once we hit the top she was just… gone,” Cara said with a little bit of wonder.
“What?” Charlie asked confused. He looked out and down the hill. It was just like every other bit of woods they had just walked through save for the skinny stream that wound its way through the old autumn leaves at the bottom of the hill. The hill sat high enough to give them a nice view out into the area.
Jack got to his feet and rubbed his head hard.
“Charlie,” he said with pity. “This is it man. It’s over. We don’t have enough food to last us more than two days, and that’s if we stretch it. And we are definitely not ready to spend the night out here. Not even one. We told you this was a waste of time from the beginning, and I’m ashamed of myself for even taking part in it.”
“Oh shut up, Jack,” Cara said as kindly as those words could be spoke. “You’re part of this the same reason I am- to take care of his stupid, stubborn ass,” she said, jutting her chin out at Charlie. “You knew he was going with or without us, and we had no choice. We played our role, but you can only give a man so many reasons not to do something knowing they’re going to do it anyway.”
Now Charlie’s cheeks reddened, and he looked down in shame. Everything they said to him up until this point was not only right but smart, and his need to prove something that wasn’t there now put him and two other people he cared about in danger. As well as leaving the Block, his son, and Laila with three less people to protect the place. He didn’t deserve the respect and leadership position he had there. And he was sure Magda would say something to that effect, but far more eloquently.
“I’m sorry,” he said it plainly, but they knew he meant it, and they both gave him a nod to say they accepted his apology, but that wasn’t going to get them back home. “So we head back.”
The three of them agreed, and then stared off behind them, back down the hill they had just climbed.
“We should head back down, and then south. You have your compass right?” Charlie asked Jack.
He took it out of his pocket, “Yeah, but I think it’s Southwest.”
Charlie made a face, reverting back into his usual self. The one who didn’t appreciate someone second guessing him. He cleared his throat, and then looked off again. The three of them all looking back the way they came.
Mac sat in the tree listening to them argue. She listened to them apologize. Then she listen to them strategize. They had no clue what they were doing out there. So she took a deep breath, and started in on some jerky from her pack. It tasted really good after not having any meat for a month. Then she waited for them to notice her.
At first, when they heard the sound, all their breath caught in their throats, each going silent and putting their hand to their gun holsters. They could’ve sworn it was feet walking through dried leaves. But then it wasn’t. It was just as familiar, but didn’t belong there. Then Jack figured it out, and turned to Cara.
“Plastic?” he mouthed to her. Charlie looking back and forth to them both like they were crazy.
“He’s right you know,” said Mac from the trees, the sound of her voice deafening in the silence. They all jumped, their heads pivoting around trying to find the source. “It’s back Southwest.”
They looked up. In a tree just three over from where they stood, Mac sat, quite comfortably, legs stretched out and crossed at the ankle on a tree branch about twenty feet up. She had a large pack unzipped on her lap, the little one still on her back, and she was unwrapping what looked to be beef jerky. She pulled a slab out and tore a tough piece off with her teeth, chewing it up with minor difficulty.
“If you head back in that direction you should be back in, well, at his pace,” she pointed her jerky at Charlie then brought it back to her mouth again for another bite, “Probably under two hours. Should be back by around lunch.” She continued chewing on the dried meat.
The three of them couldn’t look away, jaws dropped open a bit, their mouths with nothing to say, but their brains screaming Shit! in their heads.
“If you really wanted to come along, you coul
d’ve just asked. Though, I have to tell you, there’s no way I’m going to keep that pace for you anymore. I should be at least another mile and a half ahead. I shouldn’t have even taken this break after getting my pack for another three hours, but if I didn’t I thought he might have a heart attack, turn, and take you guys from behind,” she crammed the last of the strip in her mouth then carefully folded the plastic wrapping back over it.
“You knew this whole time?” Cara asked, still a bit dumbfounded by the whole scenario.
“Anyone would have. Your footfalls are about as quiet as a dump truck, and his broken nose makes him mouth breath like an idiot.”
Charlie's face immediately fell back from surprise to anger, while Cara bit her bottom lip so not to laugh. Mac dropped her large pack down on to the ground, then started her descent. She placed her feet on each lower branches where they grew from the trunk of the tree with grace and ease. Then she sat down on the last one, and simply slid off to the ground, landing in a crouch position firmly at its roots. The pine needles waved on the limb as it bounced up and down.
“So. What’s it gonna be?” She looked each one of them in the eye, “‘cause I have places I need to go.”
That’s when her quick, solo run, became a group of four scavengers… and she now had to lead them.
CHAPTER 9
Unfinished Business
It was faint, but Jack could still make it out as it swayed back and forth with her steps. Half of it was covered with dirt or God knows what, but right at the start you could make out an embroidered “M”, maybe a “c”, and an “N”. He assumed the rest followed under the grime. As they went on, he studied it. It was a very high end pack, but it had definitely seen better days. Everything had seen better days at this point. There was some fraying at the straps, some tears here and there, and what looked like scorch holes. Plus it was quite large. It covered the base of her neck to her lower back, but she carried it like it was nothing. Though it had to have been only about a mile, he felt the pull on his shoulders from the little one full of their food for trade. He started to regret volunteering to carry it for her, but he knew he had to do something. It didn’t take a genius to figure they were slowing her down, and most likely pissing her off. Plus, when she realized all they did was stuff their pockets full of food, take a bottle of water each, and put on one more layer of clothes, she was really put off. They had no right being out there or with her. He kept thinking about how she was doing them this huge favor, and they actually came out here and fucked it up for her.
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