Charit Creek

by D A Carey

  “If you’re a single woman, there are other ways of earning your keep that are much less onerous than the outside work.” His eyes travelled slowly from top to bottom. “We may even make an accommodation for your children.”

  “I’m a married woman. You spoke with my husband yesterday about the floor coordinator program.”

  “Yes, a good man. Did he send you to speak to me?” the professor asked, his eyes narrowing.

  “No, no. He’s working with Sergeant Penders. He doesn’t even know I’m here. I’m here for my children.”

  “Mrs. ahhh…?”

  “Whitner.”

  “Yes, Mrs. Whitner. You need to work through your husband on this. It’s not appropriate that you come to see me at all, much less without your husband’s knowledge.” He turned back to his work, clearly dismissing her.

  The little man came to escort her away. With desperation as she was being led away, Cindy said, “I’m an educated woman. I can help teach. I have other skills and can be an asset to you.”

  She didn’t see the professor eye her speculatively as she was led away.

  << Ellie >>

  The trading post was a raging success. People had come from miles around and were mostly well behaved. Don and Malcolm worked together to set up permanent booths and additional buildings. There had already been a row of cinderblock buildings reserved for some of the more valuable goods like gold and silver coins, gunpowder, and ammunition. Malcolm and Mike had an auto and small engine repair shop down there, doing a booming business getting boats, cars, and equipment running with the supplies they traded from Gus at his junk fortress. If people could get it towed or carried to the base of the hill at C-Town, chances were Mike and Malcolm could fix it. However, the most successful business by far was Bonnie and Steve Griggs’ express food booth. It operated like a fast food version of their country diner in C-Town. They worked late into the night packaging up sandwiches, soup, fried chicken, and beef to trade for things the community didn’t have a ready supplier for. True to their commitment, the community made sure they had extra supplies to occasionally trade well below its value or discreetly give something to someone in need.

  Ellie was so happy to see how well Malcolm was enjoying being here that she got some friends together to make a sign for their business that resembled the red and yellow M&M characters from the commercials. She put Mike’s head on the yellow one and Malcolm’s on the red one. People loved working with the “M&M” fellows almost as much as visiting Bonnie Griggs’ booth and listening to her talk.

  When not working on others’ small engines and cars for barter, the men spent a good deal of time and effort on the C-Town community-owned vehicles. Some were stored in underground bunkers resembling a massive garage encompassed with a lattice work of copper cables that should work like a Faraday cage in theory. No one was sure how well it would work in a real world scenario. If an EMP had been used once, it could be again, and in that event, older cars like they were restoring with Gus’s help would be worth their weight in gold. Even the older cars that weren’t working would be valuable for their parts alone.

  Going back to Chicago was now out of the question for Ellie and Malcolm. Even so, she logged on and could work when the internet was available. It was much harder for Malcolm. While technically he could log in, there wasn’t much he could do. HR policies were on hold, no one was being hired or fired, and he couldn’t counsel employees or department leaders because the communications were so sketchy. The good news was he was still getting paid. The bad news was that it was nearly impossible to get to his money in the bank, and if he could withdraw some, almost no one was accepting the dollar as currency.

  << Kate >>

  Kate accompanied her mom on a trading mission to Liz’s family’s farm about twenty miles from C-Town. While reports of violence in the cities was horrendous and well surpassed the events of last year, it hadn’t yet reached the country. Even though the violence hadn’t reached them, deprivation had. Stores were closed, shelves were empty, trucks weren’t running, and services like Amazon Prime weren’t delivering.

  Ellie was driving a Ford Ranger, followed by two large farm trucks and a smaller fuel tanker as they turned into the gravel lane to the hundred-year-old Pendleton farmhouse. A large barn behind the home was flanked by another long, low barn. The lane was bordered by box wire fence with a single strand of barbed wire on top. Cattle were grazing in the fields. Immediately inside the lane was a pipe gate. They were stopped at the entrance by two young men with shotguns. They looked neither hostile nor overly friendly. After a few minutes of talking, they allowed Ellie and Kate through alone.

  Grandma Jean was at the front door to greet them both with a big hug. “Y’all come in. Sit down, let me get you something to drink. Do you like sweet tea? I’ll tell the boys to let your men in and get them something to eat and drink too.”

  “Do you have unsweet tea?” Kate asked, having never cared for all the sugar that was so popular in southern-style iced tea.

  Grandma Jean looked perplexed. “No, honey. I can make you some from instant if you like.”

  “That’s okay, Grandma Jean, sweet tea will be great. Thank you.”

  Grandma Jean gave Kate a big hug. “Aren’t you just the cutest thing! Why, if you and my granddaughter were the same age, the boys wouldn’t know who is prettiest.”

  Kate beamed at the compliment. Grandma Jean’s granddaughter Liz was known as one of the most beautiful women in the world.

  “Land sakes, young lady. Are you wearing a gun?”

  “Yes, ma’am. My dad would want me to. My mom has one, but she left it in the truck.”

  “Well, you’re safe here. You could have left yours in the truck too.”

  “My dad would want me to keep it with me.”

  “Have you heard from him?” Grandma Jean asked with a quaver in her voice. She was well aware that Vince and Liz had been together when the western half of the country went dark.

  “No, ma’am. I know he’s fine and helping Liz get back home, though. You can’t kill my dad. It may take him a while to get here, though. California is a long ways away.” Kate jutted her chin out in defiance and pride.

  Grandma Jean pulled Kate in for another smothering hug and held her for a moment. Then she moved to get the tea while asking over her shoulder, “What can I do for y’all?”

  Ellie and Kate followed Grandma Jean into the kitchen as she poured the tea. “We knew you folks probably needed some fuel for the tractors, and we’re doing a brisk trading business at the farmers market, so we decided to come trade with you for corn and beef if you have it.”

  “Yes, that’s the deal we had with Vince. We would have brought it to you all at C-Town, though.”

  “I know. I needed to get out of the community for a while and didn’t want you wasting your fuel driving to us, so here we are.”

  “Well, it’s a pleasure to see you two. I’ll tell the boys to work on getting your trucks loaded up and unloading the fuel to our tanks. While they’re doing that, we ladies can eat and get caught up. Then we’ll make some sandwiches for the boys.”

  About three hours later, they were loaded and heading back to C-Town. The day was beautiful and the sky bright with a few puffy clouds when three small trucks began following them. Kate couldn’t see much with the large trucks behind them in the convoy. Occasionally, she could see one of the small trucks try to pass the community trucks. When she heard gunfire, any doubts she might have had about their intentions instantly evaporated. The initial shots sounded distant and unreal beneath the large engines of the trucks. Seeing glass shatter and hearing pings of bullets striking the sheet metal of the trucks scared Kate more than the original report of the discharge.

  The men with the community trucks were well armed and well trained. Kate had complete faith in them, yet she worried how many casualties they would take in the firefight. She wasn’t as concerned for herself because the thugs were focused on the convoy and supplies, no
t worried about the small truck ahead of the convoy. They only had fifteen more minutes of drive time to make it to safety and help if they could hold them off that long.

  Just then, a tire was shot out of the rearmost community truck, and it swerved to a stop on the shoulder of Highway 42 near the river. The companion truck stopped, and the occupants took up defensive positions to protect their comrade and block the road.

  “Mom, we have to stop and help them!” Kate yelled.

  “No, we don’t, honey. We have to get to C-Town and bring back the cavalry.” Ellie accelerated, and Kate sank down in the seat with despair. She was afraid yet wanted to live up to her dad’s standard of helping people.

  As they rounded the bend, another small truck was blocking a short bridge over Hardy Creek before it emptied into the Little Kentucky River. Ellie and Kate were trapped. Two men beside the small truck were firing on Ellie, and she swerved down an embankment into some brush. She and Kate slid out of the truck on the passenger side, Ellie crouching behind the front right tire as Vince had taught her, Kate behind the rear right tire.

  As the men approached, Ellie had a moment of panic when she realized she’d left her weapons in the truck. Her .38 special revolver was in the center armrest and the AR-15 rifle was behind the seat. Ellie peeked above the hood of the truck and called out, “We’re no threat to you! We only want to go home.”

  “Well, what do we have here? A couple of ladies! We struck pay dirt, Larry!”

  “The boys can get the food and we’ll take the ladies when we head back to Louisville. When we’re done with them, we can just trade what’s left of ‘em for more food. That’s what you might call a win-win.”

  “We aren’t going anywhere with you!” Kate yelled defiantly, holding her Bersa 9mm in a weaver stance with no sign of fear.

  While it was unclear whether she surprised the man or he saw her gun, Larry brought up his weapon to fire. Kate fired first. Later, Kate couldn’t remember where she aimed, but a neat red hole appeared in Larry’s forehead, and he tumbled backwards in slow motion. Larry’s compadre turned to Kate with rage in his eyes and began firing. A detached part of Kate was amazed at herself. She simply shifted her aim to the other man and calmly pulled the trigger. Three splotches of red appeared on his chest, followed by a look of confusion on his face before he fell forward. She couldn’t think of anything other than the need to be sick the moment the bullets stopped coming and the awareness of what she’d done sank in.

  The next thing she was aware of was her mom shaking her hard. “We have to get out of here. There may be more evil men and our people need help!” The next fifteen minutes were a blur as Ellie drove the truck so hard and fast that the back end fishtailed numerous times. As soon as they were within sight of the community, Ellie began hitting the horn frantically. By the time she rolled up to the gate, Don Allen was there with a group of ten armed men. Kate could only stare on in a haze as Ellie breathlessly related the incident. She hadn’t even finished talking when Don and his men loaded in three trucks and peeled out to help the other members of their community.

  * * *

  Less than an hour later, Don returned with all the trucks and men. Thankfully, only a couple of the convoy crew had sustained minor injuries. They’d held off the attackers from Louisville until Don arrived. The only two deaths had been the men Kate shot. Don told her how proud he was of her, that her quick thinking and steady hand had saved her and her mom for sure, and probably a few members of the convoy crew because they wouldn’t have been able to hold off the attackers if they had been hit from both sides. Kate didn’t feel proud and didn’t want to see the gun she’d taken off and left at home. At least she wasn’t puking anymore, even though she still felt sick. All she wanted was some time alone with Matt to sort out her thoughts. She wasn’t ready to walk outside the walls yet, so she and Matt went to a place on the walls where they could be alone and see the river.

  “I can’t believe you shot those men.” Matt’s look of disappointment hurt Kate more than his words.

  “They were shooting at me and Mom. They would have killed us or worse!”

  “You don’t know that. They were probably only hungry. God knows your dad and all the men running around with guns have people scared enough and hyped up to fight.”

  “This is not my dad’s fault, and I didn’t do anything wrong!” Kate said hotly, more in defense of her dad than herself.

  “I thought you were different than these people. You’re smart and can do anything. You don’t have to be a gun-toting hick.”

  “You live among these people, Matt. How can you talk about them like that?”

  “It’s pleasant here, close to the river, and there is food, and you’re right, many of the people are friendly,” Matt admitted. “They’re just country folk, though. You’re educated and lived in Chicago. Don’t lower your standards just because these are friendly people in a nice place. You’re better than this.”

  Kate didn’t trust herself to speak. She turned her head to take in the panorama of the river below. She trusted Matt and cared deeply for him. His opinion mattered, and he and his parents had been kind to her.

  “Kate, things aren’t as bad as everyone says. You don’t have to live in paranoia. You don’t have to shoot people for food and descend to this animalistic approach toward life. My parents have boated down to Louisville a few times. The government has an aid camp set up downtown. Educated people like my family and you are being given great rooms at the Galt House Hotel and Convention Center. We can help people and get the U.S. back on its feet, the way it should be. We can once more be connected to the world, living as we should. You can see the restoration efforts firsthand, as well as what’s being sent to the western half of the U.S. and any news coming back from it.”

  “What about the other people? What about the all the people in Louisville? Are they taking them all in?”

  “I’m told everyone is welcome and being fed. Of course, some of the accommodations aren’t as good as others. They say some people are camping. The hotel rooms are being reserved for those people they’ve tabbed as ‘intellectual elites’ required to help rebuild. People like doctors, college professors, and government leaders are in that category.”

  “Matt, where are you going with this?”

  “My parents are talking about moving to the Galt House in Louisville. Doctors are desperately needed. Even with my limited medical training, I can do real medical work. We will be treated great and celebrated for our contribution to society. I want you to come with me.”

  “I can’t leave here. What about my mom? Doctors are needed here, too.”

  “We’re only perpetuating a problem by staying. We are supporting a shoot first gun society where people will kill each other over food. I know you didn’t mean to be like that when you shot those men, but it’s insidious if you live here. People should turn in their guns and move to the camp to support the rebuilding efforts. In your heart, you know I’m right.”

  “What about my family?”

  “Perhaps if they don’t have medical care and some of the supplies dry up, they will move to Louisville and help the nation rebuild. If you go first, you can pave the way for them to have a place there. You’re more likely to get news of the west and your dad in Louisville.”

  “What work will we do? What would all the people here do if they had to move there?”

  “My parents and I will practice medicine. You don’t have to do anything. You might choose to get a position with FEMA or DHS as an assistant or secretary. As for the majority of people here at C-Town, they would probably do manual work. Those who aren’t able to do manual work could help serve the leaders.”

  Kate shook her head. “I don’t think my dad would like that.”

  “He’s set in his ways. He’ll come around.”

  “I don’t know. I care for you and trust you. Your parents have been so good to me. Do I have to decide now?”

  “No. But soon.”

&n
bsp; Treachery

  “Deceit and treachery skulk with hatred, but an honest spirit flieth with anger.”

  - Martin Farquhar Tupper

  << Vince >>

  The group passed through a couple of small towns as they entered the St. Francis National Forest and Storm Creek Lake campground. The small towns they passed had seen violence, and the people were on guard even though they weren’t overtly aggressive or unwelcoming. Vince and Liz discussed finding rooms or bartering for a place to stay in the town that might offer more comfort. However, they were used to camping by now and were confident they would get a better night’s sleep in the woods where it was harder for someone to sneak up on them. The sounds of a city tended to mask the approach of someone with bad intentions. In the woods, it only took a broken twig or unnatural sound to announce when someone was where they shouldn’t be. In the woods, people didn’t move at night for the most part unless they were up to no good.

  While there were more people in the park than Vince would have expected, he didn’t have a problem finding a spot to camp near the water that provided good fishing. The bonus was finding that the showers in the camp bathrooms worked. The park had converted the camp bathhouses and restrooms to solar power in recent years to save money and avoid maintaining power lines. Apparently, they were getting out from under the impact of the EMP if the solar panels were working. The girls were ecstatic.

  Talking to other campers and listening to the radio, Vince was disheartened to learn that the eastern half of the U.S. was under a level of chaos that made last year look like a picnic. That confirmed Vince’s choice to cross the Mississippi River on Highway 49 at the casino. Other campers told him the way was clear but advised him to stay here where there was fishing, showers, and less violence than among the cities and denser population areas east of the Mississippi.