“By myself?” Devon murmured in question.
“Yeah, is that okay?” Jared clarified and questioned simultaneously.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” Devon answered without hesitation.
John smiled. “I have the phone book and a map. We can go over a few places you’ll be most likely to find what we’re looking for.”
Devon looked up for the first time. “Do I get to stay with you guys if I do this?”
John and Jared exchanged concerned looks with one another. “Bro,” John started, “no one asked you to leave. We’re all trying to make it here; you’re part of that.”
Jared stepped forward and laid a reassuring hand on Devon’s shoulder. “Devon, you are part of us guys, as you put it. You watched the girls for us; that made you part of this pack.” Jared smiled warmly, trying to let Devon know he was family.
For the remainder of the day, John and Devon went through the phone book, after which John showed Devon some basic land navigation, using the map. John wanted the teen to take the map, but the kid alternatively chose to write a rough map on a piece of paper with only the main streets along the streets he would have to visit in his search for a suitable trailer. Devon wrote the number of streets that existed between the main streets on the map and explained he would keep count in order to remain oriented. When John pushed back, Devon told him the map was too valuable to risk taking out. John chewed on this for a moment, then elevated his opinion of the kid a step higher.
The following day after Devon was up, fed, and ready to leave, John asked to see what he was bringing. John was concerned to see Devon had only packed four energy bars and two bottles of water. The trip could take several days, and the four bars were not going to be enough.
“Hey, kid, you need to take some food. You may be down there for a few days,” John voiced in concern.
Devon gave a crooked grin and hefted the small .22-calibar rifle. “I’ll eat fine down there.”
Everyone who was up looked quizzically at the boy. No one had heard the stories of his eating rats, and John didn’t want to tell them now and make the teen feel any less of himself for doing something that positively played a pivotal part in the Devon’s survival. The days of leaping to conclusions and judging someone for their actions in a situation you never experienced yourself were largely over.
Rather than make anything of the teen’s cryptic response, John nodded and dropped the subject. Devon and John walked out of the house and wordlessly walked to the OP. John fought the urge to lecture Devon about what to do and what not to and how to stay focused so he didn’t get into any trouble, but he held his tongue, knowing deep down the kid was more than capable. For whatever reason, Devon was able to thrive in this new dangerous world. Maybe the boy had been picked on in school so much, he’d learned to avoid dangerous situations long before the solar flare.
John hadn’t fully figured this teen out, but knew well enough to let him go without a bunch of instructions. Hell, the kid had made out as well as John had after the event; actually, Devon had done better. John had relied on the government for the first two-thirds of the event before he was forced to provide for himself. Devon had found ways to provide for himself from day one.
As Devon turned and started off across the countryside, John called out, “Hey, Devon, two things. Fucking be careful, and if you find a dog that seems friendly, bring it home,” John finished, his face creased with genuine concern for Devon.
Devon glanced over his shoulder as John spoke, nodded, but asked no questions, as if the fetching-a-dog part John just added had been part of their plan all along. John stood at the OP, watching Devon pick his way through the dry grass that covered the California hills at this time of year. The rains hadn’t come yet, leaving the hilly countryside dead and brown except for the trees and bushes with roots deep enough to extract water from soil not scorched from the summer’s heat.
After a few minutes, Devon dropped out of sight as he descended over the top of a knoll, disappearing down the back side. John knew if he waited, he would see the teen reappear on the next hill, but turned, heading back to the house. No one was on the OP, and their security had become more lax as their community grew in numbers. John knew this could bite them in the ass if they were too lax, but with the strain life was putting on everyone, it was good to get a solid eight hours of sleep on as regular a basis as they could muster.
Chapter 38
After Devon departed, Jared and John spent the remainder of the day assisting Carlos in dragging half-inch plastic tubing up into the hills, where Carlos had dug out an area of the spring-fed creek. John marveled at the amount of work Carlos had accomplished in such a short span of time. Carlos had removed several square yards of earth from the bed of the creek, making a large pool more than forty feet across. The area was four to six feet deep in areas due to Carlos using much of the rock and earth to build a makeshift dam complete with a spillway in the center.
The pool was crystal clear, allowing Jared to see down to the bottom of the creek bed. John and Jared inspected Carlos’s work—not for defects, but in amazement. Carlos showed them where he’d inserted a section of hose through the dam, then into the lower half of the pool before running the hosing down the creek towards the ranch house. In the end Carlos’s hope was the forced gravity flow would feed their community with fresh water.
Carlos had spent so much time in the mountains earlier in his life, he was acutely aware of the hazards of drinking water from any of California’s creeks. Jared also remembered the talk he’d had with Bob under the bridge little more than three months ago. Carlos explained how they could filter the water using sand, rock and charcoal that had been activated by calcium chloride, if they could find the chemical. Carlos began explaining the process, but was stopped by John, who wasn’t interested in the chemistry lesson.
They needed to find a pool supply store, which was where they would find the calcium chloride. They could make their own charcoal, although it might prove difficult to achieve a fire hot enough for this procedure. Carlos assured them that if they got him the things he needed, he would make sure clean drinkable water flowed to the house. The men worked the rest of the day running hosing down through the creek toward the ranch house. It was difficult work, and the men found themselves fighting through the brush and steep embankments of the creek most of the day. By late afternoon, they had a serviceable line run three hundred yards down from the pool to where the creek passed within fifty yards of the ranch house.
Jared, John and Carlos came out of the brush a filthy mess and wishing badly for a bath, which there was none. Instead, the three men went to the back shed and stripped, checking one another for ticks. They could not afford any member of their community contracting Lyme disease. Each man cleared tick inspection, re-dressed and headed to the house, where they could rest their aching muscles and get some food in their bellies. When the men entered the house, they found the three women working with the two children on a math exercise. There was no food prepared, and the kitchen didn’t appear as though anyone had been in it recently.
Shannon looked up as John stared at the kitchen. The look in her eye told all three that expecting the womenfolk to have a meal prepared when they came out of the bush was a thing they all might want to keep to themselves. John had never been married, but he had enough sense to keep his trap zipped.
Jared was thinking similar thoughts as they stood frozen by Shannon’s look, and was the first to execute an escape maneuver. “You ladies look like you’ve been hard at work,” he said, crossing the room and leaning over to see exactly what the kids were learning. John leaned his rifle against the inside of the door and dropped into a chair in the kitchen. Sensing the tension, but not fully understanding it, Carlos dropped his weapon next to John’s and took a seat. Carlos stared at John as if this would somehow enlighten him as to what was going on.
It didn’t, and after a few minutes of Jared fawning over the women and children, things simmered down.
After all, it wasn’t like they sat around watching soaps all day. They’d taken care of feeding and educating the kids, sat on the OP, and even brought water from the creek and pumped several gallons through a water-purification pump so everyone would have drinkable water. The water was sitting in plastic milk jugs near the kitchen sink, and when John spied them, he helped himself to a glass. He nearly drank out of the jug, but thankfully caught himself and used the glass.
In the end, Jared and Stephani made a dinner consisting of freeze-dried camping rations and canned corn. The kids ate like it was their first meal in a year, while the adults ate and talked about Devon and how long it would take the kid to find a trailer. John didn’t mention the dog he’d asked Devon to bring back. John had made sure when he mentioned it to the kid, he’d made it very clear to bring back a dog only if Devon saw one that seemed friendly.
As John internally argued his case, an unease came over him, making him wish he had been more specific with Devon about making no effort outside his normal travels to find the dog. John, earlier that same day, had jammed Jared up for going off mission, and now he’d done basically the same thing, only his life wasn’t at risk. At least Jared’s health and safety had hung in the balance as much as Stephani’s had during his little teddy-bear detour.
Devon walked through the countryside, trying to stay in the lower depressions, where dry creek beds were covered in brush and he could avoid any unwanted attention. It was far rougher going than if he’d chosen to walk out in the open, but the alternative would at some point spell disaster. Devon had been witness to the darker side of humanity since the solar flare and harbored no intention of becoming one of the people who’d died simply because they were unable to adapt from an easier life. For now, he’d take the path less traveled.
Devon knew he must carry the small rifle on this journey. The small-caliber weapon was what he would feed himself with, but this outing was different than ones before. In the past, Devon left the rifle behind unless he was hunting so as not to be targeted by someone in need of a small rifle. Now he was being forced to carry a pack and the rifle, causing him to maintain a single-mindedness about remaining unseen.
Nothing John and Jared did during the trip back from Solar Green to the ranch house had been lost on Devon. The teen devoured everything the two men said and did. The manner in which John kept the group moving when contact with a hostile force was imminent played over and over in the youth’s head. The fashion in which Jared and John worked together almost wordlessly when setting up the ambush for their assailants, and the fact that John destroyed all the firearms and scavenged all the ammunition were burned in Devon’s memory bank.
Although Devon absorbed it all, he was by no means going to ambush anyone. He also realized if he were to be pursued, hiding would make a search for him easier. On the contrary, if he moved and was able to break outside a group’s perimeter who might be closing in on him, they would be hard-pressed to re-establish a cordon around him as long as he never stopped moving.
Devon reached the edge of the built-up area as the afternoon was turning to early evening. The grassy slopes turned to concrete sidewalks and black-top roadways. Houses were the first to spring up and then larger buildings depending on the area Devon was traversing through. Devon slipped in and out of buildings as he crept through the dead city. He heard sounds from time to time, but nothing close enough to warrant any concern.
While Devon worked his way through the city, the sun sank lower and lower. Once it was dark, Devon began searching for a house that wasn’t occupied by a corpse. Surprisingly it took searching through three houses to find one that was completely empty. The house was a wreck from looters, who had destructively ravaged the entire neighborhood in search of food. Devon picked his way through the home until he found what he was looking for. In a hall closet he found access to the attic. Next, he went to the garage and found a short ladder, which he brought back to the closet. Once Devon set the ladder below the attic access, he went to one of the bedrooms and dragged the bedding from a bed.
Ironically, the bed was perfectly made, in stark contrast to the rest of the mess the looters made of the home. Devon struggled mightily getting the bedding into the attic, but in the end, he had a nice little nest to curl up in. He hauled the ladder up into the attic before gingerly reaching down and pulling the closet door shut. He replaced the attic access covering and was immediately shrouded in darkness.
It had been nearly pitch black before he closed himself in, but after the access was secured, Devon was not able to see his own hand in front of his face. Devon took a few moments, waiting for his eyes to adjust, but they were never able to make the adjustment. He laid the rifle across the access panel and, by feel, laid out his bedding. His intention was to have his bed next to the panel so he would be at least slightly oriented if he were awakened in the night.
There was a half-moon-shaped window at the far end of the attic, which was why Devon chose the house in the first place. The attic accommodated Devon with two escape routes in case he was discovered. The window let out onto part of the roof Devon felt he could jump from and survive, so this was his home for the night. Although he took extraordinary precautions, Devon wasn’t all that worried about his safety. The house was severely looted, so anyone who stayed in the area knew this, and anyone new would see the disaster down below and hopefully move on, looking for more fertile looting grounds.
The following morning, rays of sunlight struggled past the slats on the window at the far end of the attic, drawing Devon out of a deep slumber. The window at the far end was filthy and assuredly had not been cleaned in years. This kept the attic significantly darker than the outside, allowing Devon to sleep in a bit. After he opened his eyes, Devon didn’t move a muscle as he listened for any sign of danger. After nearly ten full minutes, Devon heard nothing to indicate he was in any danger of being discovered.
Slowly he unfolded himself from the stack of blankets and grabbed the rifle. With rifle in hand, Devon carefully made his way toward the dirty window. Most of the beams in the attic had been covered in plywood, providing a flat area to store Christmas decorations along with other things a family rarely used, but couldn’t live without.
Devon walked along the plywood where he could and stepped carefully from beam to beam where there was no plywood. The joists creaked and groaned under his weight, sounding loud enough to alert anyone in the area. Deep down Devon knew the creaks weren’t loud enough for anyone not inside the house to hear, but he couldn’t help wishing they were quieter. He reached the window and peered out. The window was so utterly filthy, Devon couldn’t see a thing. Using his sleeve, he rubbed the window, clearing a small area he could now see through.
The neighborhood he could see was deserted, making him happy he was alone. He fished out the handwritten map and studied it for a moment before stowing the paper and moving back to the access panel.
Outside, Devon did what he always did, move through yards and buildings, keeping to the shadows like a rat or any other small rodent that evolved after being constantly hunted for thousands of years. Devon was smart enough not to need the evolutionary timetable to teach him how to remain out of harm’s way. He moved toward what he thought would be one of the main streets he’d written on the hand-drawn map. Once he found a main street, he could orientate himself and transition from figuring out where he was to hunting down a business that either sold, rented or stored trailers.
John and Jared had asked him to find an open-top trailer so they would not be restricted on how high they stacked the solar equipment. John was adamant about this being a single-trip mission. A short time later, Devon knew where he was and began walking in the direction of a U-Haul business. Two hours of slinking and skulking beneath the shadows of trees, bushes and eaves, he arrived at the rear of the business.
The only instruction John had given him on how to conduct the search operation was to search the closest businesses first. John and Jared didn’t want Devon runn
ing all over when the trailer they needed was already at the nearest business to Solar Green. The back of the U-Haul business abutted a less used street with overgrown bushes, which were perfect for Devon to secret himself in while he scanned the yard.
Inside there were dozens of different types of trucks and trailers. Most of the trailers were the enclosed type, but on the far side Devon saw six open-top utility trailers. Devon could see there were several different sized open-top trailers, with a few having a drop-down-style ramp off the back. Devon was pretty sure the selection of trailers inside the yard was exactly what the men wanted, so he took one last look, wished he had a camera to bring back pictures with, then slowly began moving out of the area.
Chapter 39
Late in the afternoon two days after Devon left to seek out a trailer, he returned with a smallish white dog in tow. Calvin was sitting at the OP while the three other men worked at getting the gravity-fed water system up and running, when the teen appeared on the horizon. Calvin grabbed his binoculars when he picked up movement out on a hillside and was immediately put at ease when he recognized Devon.
At first Calvin thought the small dog was a wild animal, but then he saw it was some sort of terrier. As Devon and his tagalong drew near, Calvin guessed the breed to be a Jack Russell or a mixture of Jack Russell and some other small terrier breed. Calvin climbed to his feet as Devon approached to within a hundred yards, and waved to the teen. Devon wagged his chin up once, but didn’t wave. The kid appeared exhausted, so Calvin didn’t hassle him about manners like an older man should when a younger person fails to return a kind gesture of sorts.
The Jared Chronicles | Book 2 | Tears of Chaos Page 29
