by Eric Vall
“They’re all already so skinny,” she frowned.
“I don’t like it either,” I said. “We have a couple of hours ‘til dark. Let’s stay here and see what information we can gather on the place.”
“Right,” she nodded.
We watched as the civilians continued to make wagons and tend to a large garden that had been made on the football field. The guards didn’t give them any breaks, and the civilians looked exhausted already, but I didn’t see anyone even offer them water.
“What do you think the wagons are for?” Paige whispered.
“They’re planning on leaving,” I said, and I narrowed my eyes as I looked at the already built wagons, they were large and would be able to carry quite a few supplies. They were made so they could be pulled by the horses easily, but I still wondered where they planned on going since they had a garden set up here. Were they going to head to Virginia to meet up with the rest of the Armed Forces?
“Do you think they’ll head south to follow the orders from Washington?” Paige asked.
“I’m not sure,” I told her. “But it seems like a good explanation for the wagon building.”
Just then I heard someone holler from near the front gate, and the guards began to yell orders as they tried to get the gate open quickly, then two soldiers rode in on horseback with a wagon behind them.
“Get them to the med tent!” I heard one of the guards yell, and the men on horses made their way to a small white tent that sat behind the garden.
Several men were in the wagon they pulled, and one screamed continuously. The soldiers stopped the wagon and pulled him out first, and when they lifted him, I realized that he was missing the bottom half of one of his legs. There was a makeshift tourniquet on him, and the men rushed him into the tent. The poor bastard had probably passed out on the ride and woke up to see his leg blown off all over again. The other men in the wagon were injured as well, and we watched as they all piled into the med tent.
Two guys on patrol had stopped at their crisscross in front of us to stare at the med tent.
“I’m fucking glad I haven’t been sent up north yet,” one said, and he shook his head.
“I was up there last week,” the other said. “I’m lucky as hell.”
“Luckier than that bastard,” the first said, and he gestured to the med tent where you could still hear the screams of the man missing his shin.
“We’re never gonna get down to the others at this rate,” the second guy said, and he began to walk his patrol again.
“Ain’t that the fuckin’ truth,” the first guy said as he crossed paths with the second.
“What’s up north?” Paige asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But I don’t think it’s good.”
“We should check it out,” she said with a hard nod.
We watched for another hour before the sun went down. The civilians worked the entire time, and I saw that several of them were bloody, one had a sling on his arm, and they were all filthy. At one point, a woman passed out from exhaustion, and the guards did nothing. They just moved her out of the way of the other civilians who continued to work, but they didn’t bother to take her to the med tent.
Things really were fucked up here.
As soon as the sun had set, I tapped Paige on the shoulder and motioned to head back to the Country Club, and she nodded and followed me as I led us back the way we had come earlier. The fence of the Guard camp was lined with solar lights, and I made sure to avoid any area that might expose us.
Once we were back at the Country Club, I tried the front door of the club house and found it open.
“I don’t think anyone is in here,” I said, “but let’s sweep the place just in case.”
“Right,” she nodded and pulled out her pistol.
We quickly cleared the building and met back in the lobby.
“It looks like this place was picked clean,” she said.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I didn’t see anything left in the kitchen area.”
“No,” she said. “Even the vending machines I saw were cleaned out.”
“We’ll stay here tonight,” I said as I set my pack down and barricaded the front door.
“Okay,” she nodded and opened some blinds on the side of the building opposite the Guard camp. “This should let in some moonlight.”
“Are you trying to set the mood?” I laughed.
“Hardly,” she chuckled. “Ugh, I’m so upset about what’s going on here.”
“Me too,” I nodded as I took a seat on the couch.
“I mean, how are we supposed to help them?” She asked as she flopped down beside me. “This place is crazy protected.”
“I think we need to go north in the morning,” I said.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “We need to know why soldiers are coming back here injured. Do you think it’s the North Koreans?”
“I don’t know,” I shook my head. “Unfortunately, I have more questions than answers at the moment.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Like how we’re going to figure out where up north they’re coming from.”
“With so many men coming back injured today, my guess is they’ll be sending another group that way in the morning,” I said.
“Right,” she nodded. “We can follow them or try to at least hear where they’re headed. How many soldiers do you think there are?”
“I couldn’t get a clear count,” I said. “But I think about 200.”
“That’s a lot,” she said and bit her lip.
I pulled out some canned beans from my pack and handed Paige a can.
“Thanks,” she said, but she continued to frown.
“For now let’s eat,” I told her. “We’ll try to figure out the rest of this mess after we get some food in us.”
“You’re right,” she sighed. “I didn’t see the civilians eat anything all day.”
“Me neither,” I shook my head. “And the way they reacted when that woman passed out makes me think it’s not a rare occurrence.”
“They just left her there,” my brunette companion said sadly.
“We’ll figure out a way to help them,” I said, and I put my hand on her shoulder.
“I know,” she said. “It’s just upsetting to see that this is what the world has become. Honestly, now I’m kind of hoping my parents aren’t alive. I would hate for them to be in a place like that.”
“I know what you mean,” I nodded. “Don’t wish for that though. I’m sure your parents are just as resourceful as you are.”
Paige gave me a big grin and snuggled herself under my arm before she continued to eat her beans.
“I feel bad for wishing we could have a hot meal,” she chuckled.
“Don’t,” I smiled. “We’ve worked hard to create our little haven.”
“You’re right,” she smiled and ate her last bite of beans, then she set the can on the floor and leaned back into my arm with a sigh.
“So what’s our plan for tomorrow?” she asked as she leaned forward again and pulled her hair from its messy bun. Her long brown locks cascaded down her back, and as she shook her head, her hair grazed my arm behind her.
“We’ll get up early and get back to our position,” I said. “We’ll wait for another group of soldiers to be sent north and we’ll see if we can hear where they’re going. If not, we'll have to follow them very carefully.”
“Okay,” she nodded, and then her eyebrows pulled together and she reached into her pocket to pull out the maps. “89 goes all the way up north to Canada.”
“The guys we took out on the road were from Canada,” I mused.
“Do you think Canadians are trying to get across the border?” she asked.
“I do,” I nodded. “It’s cold as hell up there in the winters. But I don’t know why it would be a priority to stop them at this point.”
“Right,” she agreed. “Aren’t there more pressing matters than a few Canadians getting into the US right now?”
“I would think so.” I nodded.
“Do you think North Korea attacked Canada too?” she puzzled.
“Maybe,” I said. “But even if they didn’t, they probably would have been affected by the EMP as well.”
“So you think all of North America is a dead zone?” she asked incredulously.
“It’s quite possible,” I nodded.
“What about the United Nations?” she asked. “Why wouldn’t they come help?”
“They might be hit by the EMP too,” I said. “If so, they can’t really send anyone to help us. Other countries that still have their electricity would have to offer their own troops, and they could be too scared to at this point.”
“You’re right,” she said. “We also have no idea if North Korea only attacked us.”
I nodded.
“That’s a scary thought,” she said with a small voice. “It would make sense to attack anyone who could retaliate if they were spared.”
“We’ll find out more tomorrow,” I told her. “For now let’s try to get some sleep.”
“You’re right,” she said and she laid down on the couch.
I laid next to her and held her until her breath grew steady and I was sure she was asleep. Then I stared out the window at the night sky and thought about the position we were in. We couldn’t allow the Guard to move down south, there was too great a chance they would find our home and I doubted they were letting any civilians stay on their own land, they needed all the extra hands they could get for manual labor. At least here it looked like the women weren’t being used, but I had no way of knowing that for certain.
This place was fortified, and we had no real way to take it down. We should have asked the others how they managed to escape this hell hole. I hadn’t seen anywhere that looked unguarded, and I wondered if the same thing had happened here as at the outpost. Did the soldiers get wasted and a few civilians managed to sneak out? Somehow, I didn’t think that was the case. These men had become power drunk and treated the civilians like slaves, but they still maintained their duties. I needed to see if I could find the CO anywhere in the morning.
Paige stirred in her sleep and pushed her face into my chest, I could feel her warm breath against me. For the moment I decided to focus on her breath, and I looked out the window at the bright crescent moon.
Chapter 19
I woke just as the dawn breached the horizon, and as I shook Paige lightly on the shoulder, she pressed her eyes shut harder and groaned at the disturbance.
“Is it time to go?” she yawned as she stretched her arms over her head.
“We have time for some food first,” I said.
“Good,” she yawned again and put on her glasses. “I’m feeling pretty hungry.”
“Here.” I handed her a power bar from my pack.
“Oh yes,” she said with a smile as she grabbed the bar from me.
“I thought you might like that,” I laughed.
“I used to eat these all the time,” she said through a large bite. “A lot of the time I studied for hours straight and didn’t really have time to eat.”
“You mean you didn’t make time to eat,” I smiled.
“That too,” she said with a grin.
I watched her smile as she ate, her brown hair was not yet up in its usual messy bun, and it fell around her face in a halo of chocolate that I found hopelessly adorable.
“Do you think we’ll make it home today?” she asked, and then she took the last bite of her power bar.
“I don’t think so,” I told her. “If we head up there today, we’ll stay the night and head home first thing in the morning.”
“Okay,” she nodded. “Let’s get out there.”
“Excited to start the day?” I laughed.
“Hell yeah,” she said. “I mean this whole thing is scary, but we need to know what’s going on before we can make a plan to combat it.”
“Exactly right,” I told her with a smile, she really was incredibly smart, and she picked up on things quickly. Not quite as fast as Anna, but Paige would make a great third in the chain of command.
“Let’s go then,” I said with a smile after I took a swig of water and picked up my pack.
Paige stood up and bent forward to pull her long brown locks to the top of her head. She tied her hair in its usual messy bun then flashed me a smile as she picked up her pack.
We unbarricaded the door and made our way to the side of the building. When the coast was clear, I led her to the patch of trees we had used the day before, and as we laid down and looked out at the camp, I noticed that the sky had begun to clear. The oranges and pinks of the dawn were replaced by the bright blue of the morning.
The camp was already busy, and the civilians lined up in front of the garden area and received a couple potatoes each. Some of the guards sat at tables nearby and ate MREs and vegetables. As the civilians received their potatoes, they made their way to a patch of grass to sit and eat. I grew more frustrated as I watched, the plain boiled potatoes these people received didn’t have nearly enough protein or vitamins to sustain them, especially not with the way the guard worked them. I noticed that most of the civilians ate only one of their potatoes, the other they put in their pocket, and I guessed that was probably all the food they would receive for the day.
I watched as a frail woman ate only one of her potatoes and handed the other to a teenage boy that I assumed was her son, he shook his head and pushed her hand back toward her. The mother shook her head and placed the spud in his hand firmly, and then she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed his forehead.
I looked over to Paige to see that her eyes were filled with tears that had yet to fall, so I reached a hand out and put it on her shoulder. She leaned her ear against my hand and reached to wipe away her tears.
It made me sad to see Paige broken up, but I had to admit that scene had pulled on my own heart strings as well. It was difficult to imagine the daily struggle these people went through.
“Time to get to work!” a guard yelled after a few moments, and the civilians got up and made their way to their designated workstations.
We watched as some soldiers put supplies into a truck, and not only did they pack food but also plenty of guns and ammunition.
“It looks like they’ll be heading out today,” Paige whispered.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Let’s see if we can hear where they’re going.”
It wasn’t long until a man I hadn’t seen before made his way from the main building to where the men packed up the truck. He was older with salt and pepper hair in a short buzz cut. He walked with authority, so I figured this must be the CO.
“Alright,” he shouted, and the men in the yard gathered around. “I need three more volunteers to head up to Swanton.”
None of the men moved to volunteer and the CO stared at each one as he paced back and forth in front of the truck.
“No takers?” he yelled. “Well then, I’ll have to pick them myself.”
The CO scanned his men, then he pointed at three who still sat the tables eating their MREs.
“You three,” he said. “Smith, Jones, and Wilson. You’re heading to Swanton today. Finish loading up the truck.”
The men didn’t protest, they stood up and moved to take over for the men who had already loaded most of the truck.
“We know where we’re headed,” I said. “Let’s go back to the country club and make a plan.”
Paige nodded, and we made our way through the trees back to the front of the building.
“I think Swanton is near the border,” Paige said as she pulled the maps from her pocket, then she sat on the sidewalk and laid the maps out in front of her.
“The Guard will use the main highways,” I said.
“Yeah,” she nodded and pointed at the map. “They’ll take 89, it leads directly to Swanton. But if we take highway 2 we can go up through the Grand Island area and end up right across the river from Swanton.”
“Okay,” I said as I looked at where she pointed to on the map.
“It might be good for us to be across the lake too,” she said.
“Yeah,” I nodded as I studied the map. “I think you’re right. We should be able to scope it out without being too close.”
“Let’s go get the motorcycle,” she said, and she stood up and put the map back in her pocket.
I heard the distant sound of the military truck start, but it quickly faded into the distance.
“How long of a ride to Swanton?” I asked.
“I would say just under an hour,” she said.
“Being a bit behind the guard won’t be a bad thing,” I told her. “The less chance of being seen the better.”
“Right,” she said, and we started to walk back toward South Burlington.
Paige took us a different way this time that would put us closer to our bike and keep us out of the line of sight of the Guard. I was happy I had brought her along, navigation seemed to come naturally to her, and I trusted her judgement.
We walked in silence for a while before Paige turned to me.
“Do you think the rest of the group is doing well?” she asked.
“I’m sure they’re doing fine,” I said. “Rolly is with Betty so I’m guessing he’s having the most fun out of anyone.”
“They’re so cute,” Paige grinned. “I wonder if Rolly will leave us to go live with her though,” she added with a frown.
“I’ve thought about that as well,” I said. “Even if he did though, we would still see him all the time.”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “Before all this I barely knew Rolly. I mean I would see him around the campus, and he would always wave and smile, but I don’t think we ever had a conversation.”
“I’m not surprised,” I said. “He’s not a man of many words.”
“True,” she laughed. “I guess I never really talked to the other girls before all this either.”
“It’s amazing how strange situations can bring people together,” I said with a smile.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “I love our little family, but I never imagined I would have them.”