Billy’s thin lips rose into a smile. “Best investment I ever made.”
Brooke grabbed three rolls of toilet paper while Nicole went right for the sample shampoos and mouthwash.
“How much is this stuff?” Brooke asked, her arms full.
Billy looked unsure. “Whatever you’re willing to pay for it. Except I don’t take cash.”
Surveying the items on the cart, Dale decided extra rounds were always good to have, along with just about everything else Billy had brought them.
“All right,” Dale said. “We’ll take it all.”
Billy’s eyes lit up. “Great.”
Now it was time to barter, something of a lost art in the Western world. But Dale wasn’t out to gouge his neighbor for everything he was worth. Sitting at the end of his cart were six empty two-gallon milk jugs. “How about I fill those up at the well for you?”
Billy pretended to think about it. “That sounds fair.”
They were heading for the pumphouse when Billy said, “You’d be surprised how fast word’s spread among the survivors.”
“Word of what?”
“Of how you stood up to Mayor Reid and his men. Don’t forget, he saved your property for last. The jewel in his crown. Seems each of us got knocked down one after another like a line of dominos. But ever since the sickness burned itself out, folks are starting to show their faces again, starting to talk to one another, and most of what they’re saying is about what you’ve done.”
“I guess it’s true what they say about word travelling fast.”
“A few of ’em speak about you like you’re some kind of folk hero. Frankly, I think they’re longing for something to believe in again.”
“I’m no hero,” Dale assured him. And Dale wasn’t being modest. In the early days, he’d turned away plenty of people begging for food and water, most of them staring down the barrel of his shotgun. Given that, he didn’t understand how they were still applauding him.
“No one likes being bullied,” Billy said, as though he could see what Dale had been thinking. “For every Goliath, people can’t help but look for a David to knock him down to size.”
Billy left soon after that, dragging his six water jugs away with a look of pride that Dale hadn’t expected.
“I don’t understand you,” Brooke said, as they stood and watched him turn left once he reached the road.
He studied her face and saw a touch of anger. “What do you mean?”
“I remember the last time someone came looking for water you nearly chewed my head off for offering it to them. He didn’t get more than a sip before you ran him off. People are thirsty and it hurts to know we could be sharing what we have.”
He tried to pull her into a hug, but she wouldn’t have any of it. “You have a tender heart,” he told his daughter. “So did your mother. She was fun, kind and thoughtful, qualities that I admired, qualities I hoped might rub off on me someday.” He wrung his calloused hands. “I won’t pretend I got any of it, but that wasn’t why your mom and I got along so well.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We were very different people and someday you’ll see that opposites attract for a reason. While I appreciated her nurturing side, she learned to value the time I devoted to keeping us safe. This isn’t about being popular or well liked, it’s about keeping us alive, keeping all of us alive. I never want to be in Billy’s situation. Waiting for the rain in order to remember the taste of water or grow what little food there is. The sheriff sure weakened him by draining his well, but it’ll be something else which finishes him off. I’d sooner we were all dead than suffer through that.”
She looked up at him. “I’m just glad you did the right thing by giving Billy the water he needed.”
“I didn’t give Billy anything,” Dale corrected her. He closed the door to the pumphouse and locked it. “The folks I turned away in the past all had one thing in common.”
Her face scrunched up. “They weren’t our neighbors?”
“No, they came looking for a handout. Billy came looking for a trade. May not seem like much of a difference, but I can assure you it is. A man shows up holding out an empty hand, asking for it to be filled, he’ll only return when he’s gone through what you’ve given him. Costs him nothing more than the energy it takes to raise his arm in the air. On the other hand, a man comes to trade, you know he won’t be back until he’s got something we need. Don’t underestimate how quickly people can confuse a right with a privilege. If we’d spent those early days filling every bottle we could, there’s no way we could have stopped.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because once folks get used to receiving something for nothing, it goes quickly from being a privilege to becoming a right. They show up after weeks of getting what they want and you suddenly cut them off, most won’t be grateful for the kindness you showed up till then. They’ll lash out, demanding to know why you’re being so unfair, their frustration slowly boiling into rage. Isn’t long before those nice people you were helping are now marching against you, determined to take what they feel is rightfully theirs.”
Brooke’s throat make a clicking sound as she swallowed. She followed her father into the garage, clearly still thinking about what he’d said. “That’s pretty messed up.”
Dale smiled and pulled her close. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
Chapter 26
Dale assembled everyone in the living room for a meeting.
“The people behind these attacks won’t stop until they get what they want,” Dale said. “That much is clear. So we have a choice: either we can pack up and leave or we can stay and fight.” He scanned each of their faces and saw the same steely resolve he knew was in his own heart. “If any of you prefer to go, I won’t hold it against you.”
“Go where?” Walter asked. “No one has the right to push a man off land that rightfully belongs to him.”
“I agree with you, Walter,” Dale said. “But this isn’t a conversation we’ve gotten out in the open yet. If anyone has any objections to staying, I’d prefer to hear them now than be accused later if things don’t go our way.”
Nicole shuffled uncomfortably before speaking. “I can’t say I feel completely at ease expressing my thoughts.”
Dale unfolded his arms. “Some of us may not agree, but I think it’s important we hear any objections up front.”
She took a deep breath. “Well, I guess I don’t see why we can’t negotiate with the mayor.”
“She may have a point,” Shane said, tucking his arm around his wife. “Why risk everyone’s lives standing up against an entire town? Sounds like suicide to me.”
Dale nodded, not entirely surprised by Shane’s position. “So what are you proposing?” He wanted to hear them out fully before offering a response.
Shane shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
“I say we offer them one truck full of water,” Nicole said. “Like what they showed up with the other day. Can we spare that much?”
“There’s enough to spare,” Dale acknowledged. “Although I’m curious what you think will happen after that.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, pulling her bangs out of her face.
“If I understood, you’re suggesting a compromise,” Dale said.
She nodded. “I guess so.”
Walter was silently shaking his head.
“So we give them a truck full of well water,” Dale went on. “We’re happy since they’ve promised to stop attacking us and they’re happy because they got what they wanted.”
“Sounds about right,” Shane replied.
Dale scratched the scruff on his chin. “So what’s your plan for when they return?”
Shane and Nicole looked surprised by the question. The others sat looking uncomfortable.
“Who says they’ll be back?” Shane countered. “We’d have made an agreement.”
“Why wouldn’t they? They apparently don’t have access t
o clean water of their own or they wouldn’t be bothering us. Now we’ve whetted their appetite and they have no other option but to come back for more. So my question is, what will you do when that happens?”
Nicole was cupping her elbows and pulled them tight to her body. “I guess we’ll give them another truck load.”
“Of course you will, and another after that and another until the driveway’s lined with trucks. You may think I’m exaggerating, that I’m being paranoid, but walk two properties down the road and speak with Billy. He was here today, trading bathroom knickknacks for jugs of water. A couple weeks ago, a scene like that woulda been hard to imagine, given he had a well on his property. Not nearly as big as ours, but more than he coulda used in thirty years’ time. Difference is, when the town came knocking he did exactly what you two are proposing and now he’s living day to day.”
Shane and Nicole sat staring at the floor. Slowly her eyes rose to meet his. “You may be right, but I can’t think of another way to stop them from killing us.”
A light grew behind Shane’s eyes. “What if we attack them first?”
“There’s too few of us,” Walter said. “It would be a bloodbath.” He turned to Dale. “I’ve been giving some thought to what you asked me earlier, about reinforcing the property. I believe the secret to stopping the mayor from stealing what we have lies in jacking up the price he has to pay for it.”
Dale regarded him quizzically. “Pay?”
“Not in goods or money,” Walter said, his ageing features scrunching into a grin. “But in lives. We already know the mayor needs the pumphouse as well as intact power generators if it’s to be any use to him. You said it yourself before. He wants us dead or gone. We need to transform this house into an impenetrable keep.”
“Sorta like a castle?” Brooke asked.
“Exactly like a castle,” Walter replied. “I’ve already drawn some initial sketches of what I mean.” Walter went over to the kitchen table where he thumbed through a series of sketches he’d made on sheets of white printer paper.
Dale looked on and listened with great interest.
“You might not be a big fan at first,” Walter said to Dale. “But just hear an old man out.”
“Go ahead,” Dale told him.
“First off, we use plywood and anything else we can find to board up the entire first floor. Doors, windows, you name it. From that point forward, we no longer access the outside from the first floor.”
Shane shook his head. “I don’t get it. Are you locking us all inside the house?”
Walter threw him a look. “Of course not. This is the part where I need you to bear with me. Coming and going to and from the house will be done via the second floor.”
At once, the room exploded with chatter.
“Dad, are you crazy?” Nicole said, her cheeks flushed red.
“How are we supposed to leave?” Colton asked. “Jump out our bedroom window?”
“Let him finish,” Dale told them, trying to calm everyone down.
“We build a retractable staircase,” Walter explained, his eyes lit with passion. “It’ll be a rigid structure that rests on a hinge and that we raise and lower by cranking a lever. Think of a castle drawbridge and you’ll start to get an idea of what I mean. If we’re under attack, we retreat to the house and pull up the stairs. That way, we’ll keep the higher ground and the enemy won’t be able to break in with the ease they did the other day.”
Dale was nodding. “I like it.” He bent over to study some of Walter’s drawings. “But what about the overhanging wraparound roof over the porch? If an attacker makes it underneath, he’ll be covered from fire overhead.”
“I thought of that,” Walter said, a curved finger poking at empty air. “I know how much you love your overhanging porch, Dale, but the plan would require that we tear it down. In doing so, we can also use the wood to board up the windows and doors and prevent blind spots in our defense.” Dale nodded. “I do have some HUD specs lying around somewhere about boarding up windows in case of emergency as well as sheets of plywood in the barn out back.”
The HUD Dale mentioned stood for Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“You know,” Shane said, “this crazy idea of yours might actually work.”
Nicole didn’t seem to share her father’s enthusiasm.
“There’s more,” Walter said, growing more confident. “On the second floor, we’ll create firing positions with clear fields of fire, reinforced with sandbags. I’ve spent a few hours searching the property and found some discarded burlap bags and similar items. There’s a patch of sandy ground about fifty feet behind the property we can use as fill.”
“I know straight away we don’t have everything we need to make this happen,” Dale said. “But we can always trade for whatever we’re missing.”
“So you think the idea’s all right?” Walter asked with a tinge of hope.
“Not all right, Walter,” Dale replied. “I think it’s terrific, even if it means tearing down my beloved overhanging porch. And as for the fence, I suggest we set that project aside and get started on this straight away.”
Chapter 27
Zach
A warm blast of New Mexico wind rushed against Zach’s face and he couldn’t help thinking that this was what true freedom felt like. He was on his new Harley, growling south along Route 491. They were only miles from Gallup, Dannyboy and Hawkeye riding in his wake on Harleys of their own.
They were the kings of the road, threading past obstructions on the road with ease. Most of those obstructions were vehicles that had stalled or run out of gas during the early days of the virus as panic had set in and people had tried to flee. Few seemed to have had much of a plan or known what they were doing. The proof of that was all around them. For most, it had only taken a single kink to send their ill-conceived bugout collapsing into dust, along with many of them.
Zach sped by a Suburban just long enough to see a mummified figure slumped over the wheel and two smaller forms in the backseat. They would probably have been better off staying home, which was exactly what he hoped Lori and Colton had decided to do.
Zach and his new companions would make a quick stop in Gallup to skim what fuel they could and load up on some other supplies before crossing the border into Arizona.
The sun was high in the sky and tanning his arms a deep brown. They rolled into Gallup going slowly, Zach eager to get a sense of the place before they started their shopping spree.
The stretches between towns contained their own sets of challenges and dangers. Nowadays that added up to watching you didn’t run out of gas. Days or weeks from now, the survivors would begin to emerge from hiding, some of them setting up outposts from which to launch ambushes and attacks. For that reason, right now, towns were trickier. For any predatory-minded freak, this was home base and Zach and his men needed to be mindful.
They turned onto Maloney Avenue and headed east. On the right was a cement dividing ramp which led up to the interstate. To Zach’s left were a series of small businesses and single-story warehouses. They made a right on 3rd and less than a minute later, Zach spotted what he’d been after. A Wells Fargo.
They turned into the empty parking lot and parked their bikes around back. Attached to the rear of his Harley was a cargo trailer where they stored the long guns, ammo and most of their supplies. Hawkeye popped the lid and removed the AR.
“Can’t imagine you’ll need that much firepower,” Dannyboy said, the silver grip of his .45 protruding from the rim of his jeans. “There ain’t no one around.”
“Maybe so, but I’m taking it either way,” Hawkeye replied.
Zach left the slightly unwieldy .44 Magnum in exchange for the policeman’s Glock.
Firepower aside, he knew well enough the value of the dollar wasn’t what it used to be. What he figured was that eventually the country would overcome this little hiccup and build itself back to what it once was. When that happened, he intended to have a m
ansion stacked to the rafters with greenbacks. This current stop at the Wells Fargo represented the first of many withdrawals.
They circled around front, not bothering to conceal their weapons. If there were still folks living here, they hadn’t seen any signs of them.
Inside, the bank was dark and eerily quiet. Deflated orange and red balloons rested languidly on the floor. There’d been some kind of promotion going right before the human race had fallen onto life support. Something about a low interest rate on your first mortgage.
The three men spread out. Zach had robbed more than a dozen banks in his day and he knew without a branch manager and power, getting into the main vault would be a big problem. Hopping over the counter, he cracked open each teller’s register one by one. Most were empty. A couple contained close to fifty bucks each.
Dannyboy and Hawkeye had gone to check out the vault and the safety deposit boxes.
Zach was still searching for anything he might have missed in the front when Hawkeye called out to him. He sounded excited, like they’d hit the motherlode.
Zach jogged, a rare thing for a man who didn’t like breaking a sweat unless it was absolutely necessary. He went down a narrow corridor and then made a right, arriving before an astonishing sight.
The vault door was open.
Dannyboy and Hawkeye were inside and it sounded like they were talking to someone.
“I told you to get up,” Hawkeye shouted.
Zach removed his pistol as he entered. Inside there weren’t the bags of money he’d been expecting. Instead, he found an attractive Mexican woman in her mid-twenties, pushing herself back into a corner, her hands up over her head. Around her were two sleeping bags, an unlit candle and a mountain of empty food containers.
“Please don’t hurt me,” she begged, sounding fully American.
“We sure hit the jackpot,” Hawkeye said, his gaze flickering between the other two men. Dannyboy didn’t seem nearly as thrilled by the find.
“I don’t see a dime in here,” Zach said, gritting his teeth.
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