“So who should go first, Fi?” Jack asked.
“Your land, Jack,” she shrugged, “your choice. Obviously I’m interested that you knew who we were.”
“Yes,” he leaned forward. “You’re really the Seeders? I thought for sure that the Seeders were just a story. Well, a bunch of stories really.” He saw her confused frown. “Sorry, let’s start at the beginning. About six months ago we started hearing stories from different people: travellers, new arrivals to the settlement, even the mail carriers. Always there were stories about the Seeders. The numbers varied. Sometimes there were only two, and sometimes it was a whole group, like a platoon. In some stories the Seeders are a secret military group sent by the government, and in others they’re just children…” he paused. “I guess that part wasn’t so far off.”
Fi was about to protest when Asher’s gentle touch on her shoulder restrained her. She saw Jack’s gaze flit to Asher’s hand and then flutter, as if he were startled. His gaze flew to her hand and she saw him putting two and two together as he took in their rings.
She tilted her head with a smile. “Perhaps introductions will make the best start, Jack. After all, I know that you’ve already met us, but the others haven’t.” She turned to Jack’s companions and reached out her hand. “I’m Fi Grey, the Leader of the Seeders.”
She saw the woman stiffen and then twist her mouth up into a smile. Fi gave a little bow as they shook hands. It was her custom to respect the female warriors she encountered, knowing full well that they weren’t to be underestimated. “And this is Asher Grey,” she added, “my husband.”
Jack and his male companion both choked. “I’m sorry if my earlier comment offended you, Mrs. Grey,” Jack muttered.
“Don’t worry about it,” she laughed. “We get that a lot.” Fi introduced Sean and Sara, and Jack introduced his companions, Sadik and Trill.
“Natrillia, actually,” the woman explained, “but everyone just calls me Trill.” Trill was a former undercover narcotics cop. “I worked for almost two decades in Philly before the Famine. Now I train all of Lakelands’s soldiers.”
Her eyes glittered and Fi felt the hair on her neck stand up. Trill was their “Asher?” Wow. Thank goodness she’d been respectful.
Sadik had smooth olive skin and a thick beard streaked with grey. Fi couldn’t tell his age, but assumed he was in his late forties. He explained that in the old world, he’d been a simple engineer and a family man, but he’d been in the army for over a decade. Together with Trill, Sadik shared responsibility for the security of the settlers of Lakeland. Which basically made him Lakeland’s “Gary.”
Fi was impressed. Jack really had brought out his guards. Of course, if he’d looked they way they did when they’d met, she probably wouldn’t even have been willing to meet. She wondered if Jack had explored the attack site after they’d parted. Her mind flew back to the scattered bodies and she shivered, forcibly dragging her focus back to the discussion.
Jack picked up his explanation where he’d left off. “As I said, everything we heard about the Seeders was just rumors. We heard that you were bringing food, well, seeds really, and possibly other things as well. The one part of the rumor that never seemed to change was that one of the Seeders carried a sword.” He smiled at Asher. “Somehow, that wasn’t the part that I expected to be true.” His companions murmured their agreement.
“Understandable,” Fi chuckled. “Well, we are the Seeders, we do have a member with a sword, as you’ve seen. And we do bring seeds,” she raised an eyebrow, “and other things as well.”
She grabbed one of the plastic bags of seeds from her pack and tossed it to Jack. His eyes widened. He immediately opened it and slid his hand into the seeds, letting them slip between his fingers.
“These are the seeds, Jack,” she began. “And in order to understand about these particular seeds, you have to understand more about us. We all come from a settlement named Eden. You didn’t mention it, so I don’t know if you’d heard that part of our story. Our settlement was built before the Famine, and was based on government plans to salvage some important things.”
“What do you mean your settlement was built before the Famine?”
Sudden outrage hovered at the edge of Jack’s voice, and Fi’s chest tightened. This was always the toughest part of the story. It never got easier.
“Yes, our settlement was built before the Famine,” she repeated. “The people who built it knew that the Famine was coming. The couldn’t stop it, but they tried to save things that were important to humanity’s long-term survival.” She paused, expecting another angry outburst, but Jack’s lips were sealed, pressed together into a bitter, white line.
“I’m sorry, Jack, to have to tell you these things,” she continued. “We didn’t have anything to do with it ourselves, but we do know two things for sure. One is that the Famine was triggered by a genetic modification that caused food crops to die before flowering. That meant that the crops died before we could actually get any food out of them, and then they didn’t grow back again. It spread to the wild grasses and meadows, and when it happened all over the world at once we ran out of time, and this,” she waved, “was the result.” Jack started to interject, but Fi held up her hand, asking to continue. He nodded.
“The second thing we know is that our food was killing us anyway. Tell me, Jack, what do you know about the Sickness?”
He pulled back as if he’d been punched in the gut, his face registering his confusion and frustration. By the glance he exchanged with his companions, Fi knew that he’d understood her meaning. He rubbed his neck and leaned forward. “I’m assuming that by “Sickness” you mean cancer?”
“Yes,” Fi agreed. “But I also mean all the other stuff. The autoimmune disorders, the allergies, the ADHD, and mood and behavioral stuff. That’s why we just call it the Sickness. To us, it covers all of the chronic diseases and conditions that were on the rise before the Famine.”
Jack pursed his lips in thought. “To be honest, we have noticed that most of our people do not have the ‘Sickness.’ We’ve also noticed that some who were Sick when the Famine began no longer seem to be Sick, and we’re not sure what happened. Of course, starvation has been our biggest worry, but it hasn’t escaped our notice. Some of our people think the lake is magical, or has healing properties,” he chuckled. “But you’re saying that it’s the food. It’s because we aren’t eating the old food.”
“Yes, that’s our theory. We’ve seen the same in Eden. Less Sickness, reversal of Sickness. You’re right that starvation was the main concern, but now that it’s taken most of us, the survivors have to figure out what to do next.” She pointed to the bag of seeds in his lap. “These are heirloom seeds that have been preserved in their original genetic state. We have bags and bags filled with a diverse variety of strains. They’re the closest thing to a guarantee that your people won’t get Sick, or if they are Sick, that they won’t get worse. That’s why we call it Truefood. It’s the food that was created in Nature’s furnace, rather than ours.”
She crossed her ankle over her knee as she settled. She’d grown comfortable with the Lakelanders. It was obvious that they were ok. And talking about Truefood and the heirlooms always made her feel good.
“So this is what you’ve been bringing to people,” Jack murmured. “You really are Seeders.”
“And that’s not all,” she said. “Sean?”
Needing no further urging, Sean started pulling items from his pack excitedly. When the radio emerged, the Lakelanders gasped. Asher squeezed Fi’s shoulder and she gave him a knowing smile. The radios were always the biggest hit. Not that Fi minded. Of course Sean got all the “oooohs” and “aaaahs.” His enthusiasm was infectious. Right now, he was deep in animated discussion with Sadik, who as it turned out, learned about radio operation in the army.
A sudden yawn caught her by surprise. Man, she was beat. The weight of the day had begun to settle over her. Her body was heavy and her neck muscles
felt like rock from being yanked backward, but she pushed that thought from her mind.
Asher’s hand covered hers as she reached to rub her shoulders. “Don’t you think it’s time for you to rest?” His question was quiet, meant only for her ears.
She suppressed a groan as his fingers kneaded her neck. “Yes,” she said, and then cleared her throat. His fingers temporarily fluttered away as she made her last declaration of the day as the Leader. “Guys, I think it’s time that we called it a night.”
“Yes, of course, Fi,” Jack startled, reminded that the Seeders had reason to be fatigued. “Let’s decide our plans for tomorrow then.”
After a brief discussion, it was decided that they would meet the next morning on the road and begin their guided tour of Lakeland. Despite her exhaustion, Fi did feel excitement at the prospect. They’d never come across such a sizable settlement before, and she was curious to see how they lived. It was as close to finding another Eden as she thought they would get, but it was Topside. She started to say as much to Asher as she settled against him for the night, but for once, her fatigue won out and she drifted to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
It took only minutes for her mind to slide into a feverish dream. Her eyes twitched as she sank deeper and deeper into the darkness. It felt odd. Not like she was falling, more like she was floating, almost like…like a flying dream! Her heart leapt in anticipation. Flying dreams were her favorites. Fi immediately turned her attention to controlling her movement. Could she rise, she wondered, could she turn? Her mind struggled with feeling and understanding. Though it felt like she was flying, she found that there was no landscape, no nothing, just darkness and silence.
“Hello?” she called.
The sound disappeared. It didn’t fade. It didn’t dissipate. It was swallowed up completely. Her limbs windmilled, seeking purchase, yet she felt nothing. Frustrated, Fi turned her gaze downward and sucked in a scream as she saw the Earth rising beneath her. It raced up toward her, or was she falling toward it? Still, she felt nothing as her body dove like a lightning bolt toward the forest below.
As she hit the treetops she braced for impact, but her feet alighted on the ground as soft as a whisper and she spun around wildly. She was on the road, the one they’d traversed earlier that day, but she was alone. Her heart pounded as she tried to get her bearings. The sun was shining and birds were singing, but how had she ended up back here? Did she sleepwalk? Was it morning?
She started down the road in the direction of their camp. Though her passage in the forest was normally silent, the crunch of her footfalls on the gravel shattered the still air. She froze, unsure. She had no idea why, but she felt that she must be quiet. As she struggled to make herself take another step, dark figures poured from the bushes at her right. She screamed and started to run, but more figures emerged ahead of her. Her fear rooted her to the spot. In her panic, she turned to the lake thinking she might swim to safety, but a horrific march of shadows was emerging from its depths. She was surrounded.
A knife of pain shot through her as a kick caught her knees from behind. She buckled onto all fours and a hand yanked her braid, dragging her back until she was forced to face the sky. She struggled, but her arms were pinned behind her, and a man’s weight pressed through her calves, grinding her legs into the gravel. Her captor snickered and looped her hair tighter around his fist. Trapped! She was trapped!
Terrified, she blinked as she stared at the nonsensically cerulean sky. How could the sky be that beautiful? The sky couldn’t possibly be that beautiful on the day she would die. Turkey vultures wheeled, awaiting their inevitable meeting, and tears flooded her eyes. Shadows spared her the heartbreaking view as the Lobos surrounded her and her captor.
“It’s them,” they chanted, the sound blending into a single, poisonous hiss. A taller shadow stepped forward. His face was indistinguishable, but Fi’s eyes locked onto the bloodstained machete in his grip.
“Please,” she gasped, “please, you can’t kill me. I’m pregnant! You’ll kill the baby. Please!” Tears squeezed from her eyes as she begged, her pleas devolving into babble as fear and nausea overwhelmed her.
Machete man’s lips curled as he shook his head. He raised the horrifying chunk of metal. “I can’t stop,” he sneered, “you’re one of them.” His blade fell.
Fi jerked awake.
She gasped, sucking air into her body to suppress her screams. She jammed a wad of the sleeping bag into her mouth and bit down with all her might. Her breath came hard through her nose and hot tears slipped down her cheeks. She felt Asher’s hand on her arm. To her surprise, his touch was tentative. Usually he just tightened his embrace and shushed her back to sleep when he was awakened by her nightmares.
“You ok?” he murmured.
She nodded, pulling the wadded up sleeping bag from her mouth. Her jaw hurt from clenching.
“Bad one, huh?” He pulled her close. “Well, you’re ok, you’re safe.” He rested his hand on her belly. “You’re both safe.”
Welcome to Lakeland
Bloodhands
------------ Fi -----------
The following morning dawned warm and clear. Jack, Sadik, and Trill met the Seeders on the road to Lakeland. Jack had shaved and appeared to have “dressed up” more for this occasion. He wore a clean jacket over his t-shirt, and khaki cargos rather than the camos he’d worn the day before.
“So did our trustworthiness warrant a shave, Jack?” Fi asked.
His hand flew to his face and his neck flushed. “Well, we’re going to be meeting a lot of the residents of Lakeland along our way to the town center.”
Fi chuckled. “I see. Can’t look like a wreck when we’re shaking hands and kissing babies, right?”
He grimaced. “Something like that.”
“Well, thank goodness you didn’t bring us right in then,” she laughed, remembering their bloodied condition. Though it was fun as a Leader to make fun of another, Fi decided to let him off the hook. “No, I get it. One reason I like getting away from Eden is so I can be myself. Out here I can be dirty and inappropriate and in control of my own life. But inside Eden…”
“Inside Eden, she’s a celebrity,” Asher smiled, and Fi made a face. Jack laughed as Asher added, “You can see how much she enjoys the fame.”
“Yes, it’s odd, some of the things that come with responsibility,” Jack agreed. “I was always a t-shirt guy, so it feels like I’m pretending when I try to look authoritative.” He paused as they came to a fork in the gravel road. He pointed to the right. “That leads to the south side of the Lakeland settlement. About one-third of our group, or approximately one hundred residents, live on the south side.” He pointed to the left fork. “This is the direction we’re going. This goes to the north side where closer to two hundred reside, and where we have what we call our ‘Town Center.’ If you were to walk around the entire settlement it would be about a hundred miles. Some of the groups choose to live farther out than others.”
Fi’s heart warmed to this man as he described his settlement, his face lighting up with pride, his warm brown eyes crinkling at the corners. Though she knew he was older than she by quite a bit, he didn’t have any grey in his long, reddish hair and his skin was fairly smooth. He looked like he might even be younger than Larry. How did he end up being the leader over someone like Sadik or Trill?
“So Jack,” Fi said, as they continued their journey. “How did you end up being the Leader?” She nodded to Asher. “When we met, Asher was also the Leader of his group. I don’t know…I’m just interested in how it happened to you. I hope I’m not putting you on the spot.”
“No, it’s ok, Fi. I’m sure you love telling the story of how you ended up being the Leader.” Jack’s smile was sarcastic. “Speaking of which, you’ll owe me that one after mine.”
She nodded. It was a deal.
“The truth is that I’m not sure how I ended up in charge. I’m a doctor, but I was only partway through my residency
in Chicago when the Famine happened. I was out at our family’s lake house for a rare day off, when the soldiers rolled into Chicago. I tried to call my family and friends, but the networks went down and never came back.”
Fi heard Asher stifle a sound and her heart squeezed. Jack and Asher had quite a bit in common.
Jack didn’t notice. “I guess my so-called Leadership began when I went around to all the houses in our little development and got people together. For some reason, they all deferred to me at the time because I was a doctor, and I guess, because I just stepped up and did things. I was always that person,” he said, with a shrug. “That was why I wanted to be in the ER. People thought I was crazy, but I just kind of had this need to help people.”
“You know, Jack,” Fi said, “when Asher and I tried to answer the same question ourselves…you know, of how we became the Leader, we always started with, ‘I don’t know.’ I used to think it was a bad answer, but now I realize that it’s as good an answer as any,” she paused. “Anyway, that’s a roundabout way of saying thank you.”
She patted Jack’s shoulder, drawing another strange sound from Asher. What was wrong with him? He grabbed her right hand. She shot him a confused look and was surprised to see strong emotion in his face. He rearranged his expression into a smile and kissed the back of her hand. What? Since when did he hold or kiss her hand while they were hiking?
“We’re reaching the outskirts,” Trill called back to them from where she strode in front with Sara. Indeed, Fi could see dots of color and the vague outline of shelter peeking through the trees ahead. Asher released her hand and for a moment she wanted to ask him if something was wrong, but everyone was quickly distracted as they came upon the first dwellings of Lakeland.
In a clearing stood a small, stone cottage, its roof covered by a blue tarp. Scattered at its foundation like mushrooms were clusters of camouflage tents. A fire pit topped by a metal spit smoked, and a handful of people moved about, heads bent over their various tasks.
Seeds of War Page 26
