by A J Newman
Ally spoke up, “Ladies, you are free to leave now. We’ll give you clothes, food, and that shit heel’s truck. Leave now if you want to go.
However, you did just walk up here thru 12 inches of snow, and it would be crazy to leave, but you are not our prisoners. We don’t know you, and yes the guards are for the safety of us all.”
The older of the girls stepped forward and said, “It’s not that we ain’t grateful for you freeing us, it’s just that it’s hard to trust anybody after being kidnapped, beaten and raped for weeks.”
“Darling, I can’t say I know how you feel, but try to put that behind you and move on. As soon as the snow stops, we’ll try to help you get back home. Until then it’s our rules because we know how to survive.”
Later I gathered those of my team not pulling guard duty and asked, “I’m going to put that piece of shit down. He’s guilty of rape, kidnapping and drug dealing.”
Davi answered, “Of course, we have to execute him. We don’t have a jail and are not able to babysit a prisoner, besides, what would be the purpose?”
“I agree, and we need to quickly carry out the execution.”
Mike spoke up, “Roger, come with me, and we’ll take the bastard out into the woods, and he won’t come back. I’ll put a .22 in his head.”
“Thank you, Mike. Do it.”
They came back twenty minutes later, and neither was worth a damn the rest of the day. Even killing an asshole wears on you.
I knew this wouldn’t be that last up close and personal criminal that we would bring to justice, but nothing could make it feel good.
Chapter 7 - Snowmageddon
The Campground
The snow continued into the next day, and we couldn’t see across the court to the cabins. The big fluffy flakes blew around in swirls before ending up in drifts against fences, buildings, and trees. Some of the cabins had drifts higher than the tops of their windows and would soon be just big lumps in the deep snow. There were 18 inches of snow covering the ground between the cabins, which made it hard to fetch wood and coal.
It appeared as if the campground had been in operation one day and closed the next. There was firewood stacked beside each cabin, and the coal bin for the large building was full.
The large cistern below the front porch of the large building was full of water. All of the buildings had gas heat and air conditioners along with the fireplaces. Each building had its own large propane tank. We decided only to use the propane for heating as a last resort when the firewood and coal were depleted. We did use it for cooking and hot water.
I could only guess the coal fired heater was left over from the forties or fifties. We didn’t trust it enough to use it, but we would burn some of the coal to help extend the firewood. Besides, a pile of burning coal lasted longer over the night than wood. The smell was a bit sulfury, but the heat felt great.
We spent the second day at the campground moving the canned goods from the cabins to the large heated building to keep them from freezing. I handled that detail while Joan had a team performing an inventory of the other new supplies.
Mike’s group unloaded the water and canned goods from our vehicles and moved them to the heated building. We left all other supplies in the vehicles in case we had to Bug Out again.
“Paul, get your old lady and let’s bring buckets full of snow in to melt for drinking water. Callie always wants to play in the snow.”
“Uh, Zack, I’d rather massage a lion with a hand full of briers than call her, my old lady.”
“Who’s the man of your family?”
“Zack, I know you’re kidding, but I want to live longer, so I’ll pass.
Callie, would you please come over here and please help fetch some snow.”
“Dad, I’ll bet you didn’t know that even with this damned snow falling, I could hear every word you said. We share everything, and I know he would never call me names like that if he wants to get in my bed at night. And dad, he really, really likes being in bed with me. I take good care of my man.”
“Shit girl, that’s way TMI. Sorry I started this crap. You are still my little girl, and I don’t want to know what y’all do in bed. Come on, let’s collect that snow now.”
“Dad, don’t poke the bear unless you are ready for a fight.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“I’m going to ask Ally if you call her old lady.”
“You trying to get me killed? I was just trying to stir Paul up a bit.”
“Dad, I might get her so stirred up that you’ll be sleeping by yourself tonight. Hee hee hee. Old people don’t do much in bed anyway, right?”
“Look young lady. We are not old, and we do a lot in bed. However, none of it is your business. Drop it; I’m sorry I brought it up.”
“Paul, I beat dad at his own shit stirring game. Mom will be so proud of me.”
“Oh, shit. Don’t tell your mom or Ally.”
The little witch told everybody in camp. They were all poking fun at me for a week. Alas, I am the master and will get even. Shit stirring is what Mike and I do best. Of course, Mike took that to new heights when he took that dump in Todd’s Corvette. Damn, that seemed like a million years ago. I wondered if someone had put a bullet in Todd yet.
The going was slow due to the heavy snow, but we got the work done by noon and took a break for lunch. I walked into the dining room and was amazed at how large our group had grown. We had doubled in size counting the six rescued girls. We now had 30 people in our group.
Bert was sitting sideways in a recliner to ease the pain in his back, but was alert and doing as well as could be expected.
I thumped a spoon on a table and got everyone’s attention.
“I want to formally welcome everyone to our little tribe. I know the young ladies won’t stay with us, but I want them treated as though they are part of this extended family.
Except for Ben and Lynn on guard duty, this is the first time in days that we have all shared a meal. I’ll ask Callie to say grace, and then I want everyone to introduce themselves.”
Callie bowed her head and said, “Thank God for delivering us safely to this campground. Thanks for the food we are about to eat and please help dad learn not to poke the bear. Amen.”
That brought laughter from Joan and Ally.
I replied, “I may have to learn to spank the bear. Let’s eat.”
***
Suzie was in bed and Ally, and I were getting our cold weather gear on when she came over to me and nuzzled her lips against my neck and said, “Do I take good care of my man in bed?”
I was slow and started to respond when she broke out laughing.
“Darling I’m sorry, but it just strikes me funny that my son’s 16-year-old wife is telling her father that she takes good care of her man in bed.”
I replied, “I hope he takes good care of her in bed for the rest of her life. Happy wife, happy life.”
She came over and gave me a full kiss on the mouth, ran her hand under my shirt and rubbed my chest.”
“Zack, I hope that I take good care of you because you make me the happiest woman on earth.”
I started to take her clothes off when she backed away and said, “We have to relieve Sally and Mike. I’ll take good care of you after guard duty.”
“I love you, Ally. You make me want to conquer the world and make it safe again.”
Damn it was cold outside. The temperature dropped to the low thirties every night and seemed to be colder every new day. The wind blew all night whipping the snow around and building on top of the already high drifts.
We had some of the best winter gear made and still had to keep walking to stay warm. We sweated and became chilled as the sweat evaporated. It was miserable.
“Darling, we have to figure this guard duty out. I don’t want anyone to get frostbite or lost in these whiteouts.”
Ally replied, “Do you really think anyone will be out in this trying to attack us?”
“No,
but if I wanted to take someone by surprise, I’d attack in the worst conditions.”
“I guess we can switch to one-hour shifts at night. Bert and Davi won’t be much help for another month.”
“That would be a big help. My butt and feet are freezing.”
“Damn girl. Your feet are cold on a warm day. Hey, there’s Roger and Lynn. Let’s get back to the discussion we were having before we came out here.”
The snow was now over 25 inches deep, and more was falling every minute. We had teams shoveling walkways around the main building and most of the way down to the lake but had to give up on the path to the lake.
Roger took his Bronco, drove it up and down the path down to the lake and made a path that was rough, but worked. He was trying to figure out how to mount a makeshift plow, but couldn’t find anything to make the blade.
“Callie put your gear on and come with me. I’m going down to the barn to see if I can find something to make a snow plow for Roger’s Bronco. This snow will be too deep to plow by tomorrow night.”
“Okay, just give me a minute. Hey, while we’re there let’s look for some games to help our stay. We need some bean bag toss games or anything that can be played indoors. Every camp I’ve ever been to had that stuff.”
The wind was blowing so hard it made them unsteady as they walked towards the barn. Each step had to be deliberate and vertical because one couldn’t swing a foot forward in the deep snow. Paul turned his flashlight on, opened the sliding barn door and entered with his pistol ready.
The pole barn was 60x40 feet and contained two older tractors and one new one, several mowing machines along with the expected weed eaters and other lawn mowing gear.
Callie saw some lawn furniture on the left side while Paul turned right towards the tractors. One had a bucket on the front and a box blade on the back. These would work, but he really wanted a grader blade for the tractor.
Paul checked the tractor out and then tried to start it, but the battery was dead. Callie yelled for him to join her as he climbed off the tractor.
“Paul, I found some games and a big hunk of metal that would make a great grader blade.”
Paul walked over to Callie, saw the hunk of metal and gave her a big hug.
“Darling, that is a grader blade. Let’s go get Roger and get his Bronco down here to jump start the tractor and install the grader blade.”
Paul started to walk away when it dawned on him that the wall was covered in animal traps. There were small ones for squirrels and martins all the way up to large ones for bear and lions.
“I need to tell Zack about these. We could catch some game.”
Callie added, “Or some two legged varmints.”
Roger, Mike and I came down to work on the tractors. We quickly checked them all and decided to put the blade on the other old tractor and use both to clear the driveway because the new one had electronics.
Both old ones were diesel and hard to start in this cold weather. I found a 5 gallon can with the anti-gel additive and added the correct amount to the fuel while Roger got the first tractor ready to jump. It had taken several attempts before we got the first one running, but the second fired right up.
Before we finished Paul showed me the animal traps, my first thought was a game and the second was humans. I guess the Callie apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
I got off the tractor and said, “Paul, you found the tractors and blade, so you get to plow first.”
“Actually Callie found the blade, but I’ll do the honors.”
He drove out of the barn, lowered the blade and started to plow. It had taken about a half hour before we got the angle on the blade set right to give the best results and even then, it took three runs to clear part of the driveway. We took turns the rest of the day and had the driveway cleared all the way down to the lake. We stopped when Lynn called us in for supper.
We came in from plowing snow to the hallway and removed our cold weather gear and boots before entering the crowded dining room.
I was pleased to see that Bert was sitting at the table with his wife and daughter. I was also pleased that the six new girls were mixing in with our people. I hadn’t even tried to remember their names because I believed they would be gone when the snow cleared.
I saw Ally walking towards Callie and with three open seats; I started to sit down in the middle seat when Ally nudged me over to the one next to Callie. I wondered why she was so assertive when I saw the cute red head sit down in the last open seat. Mama Bear was protecting Papa Bear from predators.
“Jackie how are you doing today,” Ally asked.
“Why thank you for asking; I am wonderful. I love the snow. I like cuddling up in front of the fire with a good book on a snow day.”
I noticed that she was wearing a tight blouse with no bra and skin tight jeans. She was husband shopping.
Ally replied, “Honey, you’d better put some clothes on. You must be freezing in that skimpy blouse.”
Thank God, Ally didn’t see me looking at Jackie.
I felt a poke in the ribs, and Callie placed her head close to mine and said, “Dad, put your eyes back in your head. Ally will cut something off if she sees you looking at that her like that.”
Oh shit, as usual, I didn’t notice that we had six new good looking women that ranged from 16 to 25 in our group and every male was spoken for. That’s a formula for disaster.
I bent over to Ally and whispered, “Hon, you women need to take these girls off to the side and give them some rules on surviving if they want to live with us a while. The first thing is how to wear proper clothes.”
Ally gave me a peck on the cheek and squeezed my hand. I had actually gotten some brownie points. I caught Callie later and told her that I appreciated the heads up.
“Well dad, you were staring at her breasts. No woman wants her man checking out another woman.”
“Darling it was hard not to notice as cold as it was in the room. I asked your mom to have the women have a talk with the girls and set some rules. We don’t need us fighting among ourselves, and we sure don’t need any cat fights.”
“I already had to run that little blonde away from Paul twice, and the next time I’m going to punch her ticket.”
“Whoa, girl. You don’t have to worry about Paul; he only has eyes for his sweet wife. Back off until tomorrow. Give Ally and your mom a chance to explain things to these girls. Remember the world ended and a person alone in this world can quickly become a victim.”
“I know, and you can bet that I’ll do whatever it takes to keep those bitches away from my Paul.”
My sweet daughter could be a bit wicked when necessary, and I didn’t know if I should be happy or sad. I look back at my story, and it saddens me to see a 16-year-old girl acting like a worldly 35-year-old with combat experience. I guess it would be worse if she were a girly-girl in a post-apocalyptic world. At least she could take care of her family when the time comes, and she is put to the test.
The days of mall shopping, texting all day and playing computer games are gone, and survival is a full-time job. An apple now means food and not a telephone. I’ll never miss all of the electronic toys, people ignoring each other at the supper table and watching zombies walking the streets looking down at a damn smartphone.
I waited until supper was nearly over when I called Ally and Joan over to meet with me.
“Ladies, we have a problem. We are overstaffed with women and understaffed with men. I can see some hair pulling and general mayhem if we don’t nip this in the bud.”
Joan replied, “Are you referring to that red head that was poking her tits in your face until Ally stepped in between you two.”
“To put it bluntly, yes. Get our women together, have a peaceful discussion with these girls and lay down the law. I don’t want any half dressed women running around the camp. We rescued these girls and can’t throw them out in the cold, but we can’t have that kind of fighting in our little tribe.”
; Joan replied, “We’ll get the women together and get a plan laid out before meeting with them. It could get dicey.”
Ally added, “I feel sorry for them, but no other woman is going to flirt with you.”
As always, Joan was right up front, and added, “Zack, could you work harder at rescuing some good looking men. Remember, I am the only woman from our team here without a man. It’s only been a couple of months since Chuck was killed, but my survival instincts tell me to pair up before the women in our group see me as a threat.”
I snickered and said, “I understand. The problem is that the men are being killed off in much higher numbers than women are. Our society has always cherished and protected our women. The new world will equalize out, as more women become fighters, as our women have.
Good or bad, that’s how it is in this screwed up post-apocalyptic world. Joan, we will scour the planet to find you a man just as soon as the snow clears. Hell, perhaps our friend, the sheriff of Rolling Hills, might have a lonely son.”
“Thanks, now I’m the desperate old hag.”
Oh, man, was I ever glad that I didn’t reply to that…whoa.
The talk with the six girls didn’t go as planned. Four of them immediately complied with our request and became part of the group. The red head and little blonde told Joan that they would dress as they wanted and would flirt with anyone they wanted. Joan and Ally came to me and filled me in on the results.
“I already knew the red head didn’t agree with the new rules because she dropped by and invited me to visit her later. I told her to get her happy ass to her room before I locked her in.”
Ally got red in the face and said, “I’ll kill the bitch if she comes after you again.”
Callie walked up in the middle of the conversation and yelled, “That little blonde haired whore left the meeting and tried to corner Paul in the supply room. I walked by when he threw her out the door. I’m with Ally; I’ll kill that whore if she touches Paul again.”
