Walking patrol during the colder months in a high-elevation town like Evergreen sucked in ways a girl used to a comfortable suburban life couldn’t have imagined before experiencing. It hadn’t yet become truly cold, but she still wrapped herself up in a scarf and would have worn ski goggles if she had them. Hopefully, no one’s house would catch fire from November through February. It would be too tempting to merely stand there and warm up rather than throwing water at the flames. They had precious little leeway in terms of fire, anyway. It didn’t take too long for a burning house to pass the point of no return where a bucket brigade couldn’t save it.
She figured she’d get a few more years out of her warm boots before they disintegrated. Her winter coat would perhaps make it another ten or fifteen. Mom had a coat she wore on really cold days for as long as Harper could remember. The raspberry-colored thing had to be twenty years old.
Next time she saw Renee, she’d try to talk her into learning how to make winter boots. Off the top of her head, she knew Evergreen had twenty-two kids just in the north part of town, not counting the babies and toddlers at the ‘orphanage’ run by Doreen Mack. She had to be watching at least seven little kids. By the time Evergreen’s juvenile population grew up, they wouldn’t have winter shoes at all unless someone here made them from scratch. Harper didn’t have the first clue how to go about making warm boots, but figured it would likely require wool, or maybe bear fur.
Those who hunted meat for the town killed mostly deer and rabbits, but bagged the occasional bear as well. Harper couldn’t say exactly which meals had been bear meat, deer meat, or beef. They’d saved the fur from the bear kills, though. What happened to it, she couldn’t say. Maybe someone in town knew how to process it into leather. If not, they might’ve ‘Google searched’ it, which meant hunting the library for a how-to book.
Harper returned home by way of the quartermaster’s to pick up their food allotment. After packing stuff away in the cabinets, she got started on dinner. To stretch supplies, she and the kids had a simple lunch of jammed toast and berries. Some of the fresh vegetables she brought home went into a large pot along with the rabbit meat they gave her. Fortunately, since the power came back on, the quartermaster workers dealt with the ugly parts—skinning and cleaning. If she didn’t say anything, Madison would probably assume they ate chicken, unless she recognized the bones.
Having soup without noodles in it no longer felt strange.
While cooking, she randomly cried at the thought kids might never again cheer about finding spaghetti on the table for dinner.
Dammit. Please tell me my hormones aren’t going crazy. We only did it once and he had a condom on.
The kids, plus Becca, Eva, Mila, and Christopher appeared in the yard, and promptly proceeded to have a snowball fight—or attempt to given the relatively light coating. Carrie and Renee showed up a few hours later, right about the time the soup/stew seemed done enough to eat. The rabbit had kinda broken up in the broth, so maybe it could pass for chicken. She’d only gotten enough meat for one meal and decided to use it right away considering the sketchiness of the electrical power situation. She didn’t like to keep a stockpile of meat sitting around in the freezer and risk a repeat of what happened at home in Lakewood.
Few things smelled as bad as a deep freeze cabinet thawing out and rotting with sixty or so pounds of various meats and frozen vegetables in it. Her parents tried to cook and use as much as possible, but four people, one a kid, could only eat so much… and Dad only stocked so much charcoal for the backyard grill.
She, Renee, and Carrie chatted about clothing, specifically winter boots, for a little while until Cliff arrived back from his patrol shift, bleeding from a small cut above the eye. Both Carrie and Harper went into ‘mom mode.’ He dismissed their worries, explaining a drunken idiot wearing a fat gold ring mistook him and Roy for ‘Russian invaders.’
“Here, let me…” Carrie dabbed at Cliff’s head with a cloth.
“It’s fine.” He retreated to take a seat at the dining room table while she kept trying to fuss over him.
Harper couldn’t help but smile at the two of them ‘arguing.’ Finally, Cliff sighed and relented, staring at the ceiling while Carrie wiped blood from around his eye.
Renee cringed. “Doesn’t it hurt?”
“Nope.”
“Guess you’re pretty tough from being a former Ranger, huh?” asked Renee.
“Nah. Mall cop.” Cliff heaved a sigh. “A man doesn’t know the true meaning of pain until they’ve been forced to listen to A Barry Manilow Christmas on repeat for eight hours a day over two months every damn year.”
Harper, Renee, and Carrie laughed.
Due to the size of the soup pot, Harper didn’t try to move it off the stove, instead ladling out portions and carrying them bowl by bowl to the dining room. Before long, Madison, Jonathan, and Lorelei headed inside to eat while their friends raced off home. Madison stopped the instant she entered the kitchen, giving Harper an ‘I smell meat’ sideways glance. Before Harper could say a word, Madison smiled.
“Kidding. I know… I know…” Madison frowned. “I’ll deal.”
A few minutes into dinner, Logan burst in the front door and ran to the dining room. He slumped against the wall at the transition where living room became dining room, too out of breath to speak. He didn’t look hurt, merely sweaty, so Harper held off panic.
“Soup’s good, but it’s not come running from all the way across town good,” said Cliff. “I suspect something else is on his mind.”
Logan wheezed.
“Hungry?” Harper stood. “Let me grab a chair from the kitchen.”
He waved a letter-folded piece of paper at her, wheezed again, and gasped, “Reply.”
“Awesome,” whispered Harper, mostly because he didn’t look broken, sad, or angry. Even though he couldn’t speak at the moment, his expression—like he’d just won the lottery—said all she needed to hear about what the letter contained. She rushed over to him. “You ran here all the way from the post office?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll get him some water.” Renee got up and hurried to the kitchen.
Logan handed over the paper, then pulled her into his arms. She unfolded it to reveal the telltale cutesy-florid handwriting of a young girl.
Oh my god, you’re alive!
Lo, I’m sorta okay. Ended up in a place called Fairplay, but I guess you knew that since you wrote me a letter. Express guy said you’re in Evergreen. I’m not sure how to get there or even where it is. The Express won’t carry people. Maybe I could ask for directions, but I’m scared to leave town alone. People at the bar tell stories about wild animals, crazy people, and whatever ‘highwaymen’ are.
Maybe I shouldn’t tell you this in a letter, but it feels wrong not to say something. Mom and Dad didn’t make it. I haven’t heard from Ana or Luis. Please be real and not someone playing a mean prank.
-Luisa
“Oh, shit,” said Harper.
“Yeah,” rasped Logan.
“Have some soup,” added Cliff.
Renee handed him a glass of water. “Here. You look ready to pass out. You should sit down.”
“Thanks.” He chugged it.
Harper pulled him around to her seat, pushed him into the chair, then hurried to the kitchen.
“It’s okay.” Logan got up and followed her. “You don’t need to bring me food like a waitress.”
While he ladled himself out a portion, she dragged a kitchen chair into the dining room and sat close enough to lean against him.
“I get the feeling the news is positive?” Cliff raised both eyebrows. “No one’s in tears yet.”
“The night is young,” said Jonathan.
Harper bit back a laugh. “Yeah. His sister somehow survived and got out of Colorado Springs. She’s in Fairplay.”
“Weird.” Renee scrunched up her nose. “Is there another town around here named Cheating?”
Logan chuckled. �
�Ugh. I don’t know how to process this. I thought she was dead… letter says our parents didn’t make it. I should be more upset.”
“You thought they were all dead and grieved already.” Harper took his hand. “Finding out Luisa is alive… I’ve never seen you so happy.”
“Coach would be proud of me. Ran the mile in record time.” Logan exhaled. “Went to the post office like I’d been doing the past couple days to ask if any reply came in. When Adrianna handed me the paper, I almost couldn’t open it. Came right here after I read it.”
Cliff stirred his soup. “I’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume the two of you are going to want to head over to Fairplay.”
Madison stared at Harper. “I understand. You’d go there to find me.”
“Yeah.” Harper exhaled in relief. “His sister is afraid to travel alone.”
“Don’t blame her.” Cliff stood. “Hang on a minute.” He headed off down the hall toward his bedroom.
“What’s going on?” asked Lorelei.
Harper ate a few quick spoonfuls of soup while holding up a ‘one sec’ finger. “Logan’s sister is still alive, and in another town pretty far away. We’re going to go there so we can help her come back here and stay safe.”
“Okay.” Lorelei smiled. “Is it gonna take long?”
“Probably a week or so.” Harper cringed, glancing at Madison, who stared down into her lap.
Cliff returned carrying a paper map. He sat back in his chair, unfolding the map beside his soup.
“Eat.” Harper nudged Logan. “I know you’re excited. But you need food.”
“Nervous more like.” He chuckled, but picked up a spoon.
“Hmm.” Cliff studied the map. “Sixty some miles. Thirty-one hours walking at two miles an hour. Twenty hours if we can hold three miles an hour. Could do it in ten hours on bikes, roughly.”
Harper cringed. “Do you think Walter will let us take bikes all the way to Fairplay? If we break a chain or something happens, it’s toast. No one here can make new parts.”
“Good thing they’re bringing in horses.” Renee snickered. “Do you remember Paisley Ross? She’d go nuts.”
“Oh wow. Haven’t seen her since eighth grade, yeah. She had horse stickers on everything.” Harper forced herself not to think about her old classmates. Otherwise, she’d go down a miserably depressing road of trying to guess how many survived. “I mean, we might as well use the bikes while we have them. If we don’t use them, they’re going to rust and fall apart anyway. None of us can ride horses and we don’t even have many here. Not sure the Express would even let us ride them so far off. The agreement with the militia sounded like they expected us to use them only for patrolling inside town.”
Cliff drank the last of his soup from the bowl. “Yeah. They’re not going to be too happy with the idea of us riding horses sixty miles away. Less happy given none of us know a damn thing about how to take care of them.”
“So, we’re looking at a three-day walk each way.” Harper cringed internally at the idea of being away for so long, but it had to be done.
“Three days?” Madison gawked. “It’s just like the next town over.”
Cliff chuckled. “The world was a much bigger place before cars.”
“If we do take bikes, how are we going to manage bringing an empty one along for Luisa to ride back to Evergreen?” Logan glanced at Harper, then Cliff. “Harp gave me a ride from the farm to the militia building, but doing that for ten hours a day? Ack.”
“Suppose we could bring Lorelei along to ride the spare bike down.” Cliff winked. “She’s little enough one of us could wear her like a backpack for the return trip.”
Lorelei giggled.
“No.” Harper shook her head. “She’s too young. She’s gotta stay here where it’s safe. Besides, her legs are too short to reach the pedals on a full-sized mountain bike.”
Cliff grinned.
“Yeah.” Harper biffed herself in the forehead. “I know. I messed up bringing Maddie out to look for you and Roy.”
“Ehh.” He waved dismissively. “Not like you were expecting to go on a long trip, or even a dangerous one. Extended patrol’s only a few miles outside town. Those idiots couldn’t have been there more than two weeks. Last time we walked the route, no sign of anything out there.”
Madison bit her lip. “I’ll go if you want me to. Just put one of those kid seats on the back of Harp’s bike for the trip back. I don’t want you guys to be gone for a whole week.”
“Hmm.” Cliff made a face of contemplation.
Holy crap. Is he really considering bringing Maddie? “Uhh…”
Cliff glanced at Logan. “How big is your sister?”
“I dunno, umm…” Logan fidgeted. “She’s the exact opposite of my older sister, Ana. Luisa’s skinny and real short. Haven’t seen her in a year, so she’s probably taller now. Unlikely she got fat.”
“Maybe we can rig a second seat on a bike for her.” Cliff made a silly face at Madison. “You have an important job. Stay here and be safe.”
Madison exhaled, her expression strange. Harper couldn’t tell if her little sister was relieved or disappointed.
“How long is it going to take us to get there on bikes?” Logan drank the last of his soup.
“Depends on terrain and pace, but between ten and twelve hours. Figure we’ll average out to roughly nine miles an hour on a bike. Can cruise much faster than a person or horse can walk. One day there, one day back… assuming nothing goes wrong.” Cliff looked over the map again. “Let me talk to Walt in the morning. I want to make sure he’s of the same mind about us taking the bikes. He’ll appreciate the overall risks are much lower the faster we get back.”
“Wait… you’re going with us?” Harper sat up a little taller.
“Damn right.” He folded the map up. “Not about to let my daughter go sixty miles away into unexplored territory without doing everything in my power to make sure she comes home. Besides, I kinda like my son in law. He makes you smile. Gotta help him out, too.”
Logan coughed.
“Uhh, Dad, we’re not married.” Harper’s face heated up.
“Yeah. Neither am I and Carrie.” Cliff leaned left and gave Carrie a peck on the cheek.
Madison, Lorelei, and Jonathan exchanged confused looks.
“Are Jon and Mila married, too?” asked Lorelei.
Jonathan melted straight down out of his chair and hid under the table.
Madison cracked up into giggles. “Did we miss a wedding?”
A moan came from under the table.
“I meant Dad,” said Madison.
“He’s saying formality has nothing to do with reality.” Grace rolled her eyes. “Guys, come on. Don’t be dense.”
Lorelei shifted her eyes left and right. “I don’t understand. Can I have more soup, please?”
“Absolutely.” Harper leapt to her feet and grabbed the child’s bowl before she could change her mind.
“I’ve seen grief eating and boredom eating before.” Cliff laughed. “First time for confusion eating.”
She’s hungry! Harper didn’t think a girl her size could eat too much more, so she put one ladle’s worth of soup in the bowl and brought it to her.
“Thank you,” chimed Lorelei.
Renee coaxed Jonathan back into his chair. The boy’s face remained bright red. She whispered something in his ear that earned her a ‘wow really?’ stare, and he appeared less mortified.
“Right.” Cliff patted the map. “I’m going to assume you want to do this as fast as possible.”
Logan took a deep breath. “Please. I’d like to bring her here before it gets cold and we get a nasty snow.”
“Where are you going to put her?” asked Renee.
“On the extra seat if Cliff can rig one.” Logan scratched his head. “If it doesn’t work, maybe we can take a bike for her apart and sling the parts over our backs.”
Renee rolled her eyes. “I mean, where is she going t
o live? Aren’t you sharing a house with like six single dudes?”
“Five, but… umm, yeah.” Logan cringed. “Ugh. That’s not going to work.”
“I’ve got the space,” said Carrie. “Got two rooms not doing much of anything right now. One of them is kinda small, though.”
“She could share my room,” said Renee. “If you want to avoid the tiny one.”
“Thanks.” Logan smiled. “There’s a little house right up the dirt road from you. Maybe Luisa and I could go there.”
You want to live with your sister in the house we had sex in? Harper blushed. Well, it is close… suppose it’s not too cringey as long as he takes the bed we used.
Cliff patted the table like a judge banging a gavel. “Done, then. I’ll pester Walter first thing in the morning. Get a good rest. If he’s on board with us using the bikes, we’re leaving as early as possible tomorrow.”
Madison looked up from her lap at Harper. “Will you play Uno with us tonight?”
“Yeah. Definitely.” Harper forced herself to smile despite feeling guilty. She wants to spend every last minute of remaining daylight with me in case I don’t come home.
24
Foraging
Wind made Harper’s long, red hair trail behind her like a pennant.
She cruised at an alarming speed down a hill on Route 285. The nice—somewhat—blue sky, indistinct clouds behind the haze of dust, and reasonably good weather didn’t register much in her mind. Other than concentrating on not crashing her mountain bike into the occasional abandoned car, fallen boulder, or random piece of debris, the major thought going on in her head involved how much it was going to suck to pedal back up this hill on the way home.
Route 285 had loads of room, two lanes in either direction, dead space between them as wide as a travel lane sometimes paved, sometimes grass, and generous shoulders on either side. A scattering of partially melted vehicles as well as still-intact ones littered the road, though not in any great number. She imagined an ordinary amount of traffic for almost six in the morning on a Friday melting where it happened to be at the time the nuclear bombs created a premature sunrise. The more intact vehicles looked as though they’d been abandoned when they’d run out of gas, likely driven days or weeks after the strike. Many of the melted cars had gone off the road or crashed into oncoming traffic, a fair number nothing more than twisted metal on charred patches of ground. Harper cringed, picturing people being blinded or vaporized by the unexpected blast and their still-moving cars going out of control.
Evergreen (Book 5): The Nuclear Frontier Page 21
