Harper grimaced at the thought of this girl spending days in a smashed basement with two bodies, especially her parents. No wonder she can’t sleep through the night. Holy crap! I’m going to have nightmares just from hearing this.
“They did watch over you,” whispered Logan. “You got out alive.”
“I ran out of cans. Nothing to eat. No water. I couldn’t stay there any longer. I crawled outside and started walking away from the ruins. Like parts of Colorado Springs far away burned still. Little fires all over the place. It had to be over a month. I ran ’cause I didn’t want the radiation to get me.”
“Four or five weeks, the radiation wouldn’t have been anywhere near as bad as right after the blast,” rasped Harper. “Sorry. I’ve got this big lump in my throat right now.”
“Damn,” whispered Cliff. “Hell of a story. You okay, kid?”
Harper jumped, not having realized he’d walked up behind them.
“Uhh.” Luisa stared at him, seeming half ready to run.
“It’s okay.” Logan put an arm around her. “This is Cliff. Harper’s dad. Also, Ken. They’ve come with us to help you get back to Evergreen.”
She relaxed. “Oh. Sorry. Just been so scared all the time for so long.”
“Anyone I need to have a little talk with before we go?” asked Cliff.
Luisa blinked.
Cliff leaned close, whispering, “Anyone I need to teach why it’s a real bad idea to lay their hands on a young girl?”
“Oh. No.” She shook her head rapidly. “No one did that. A group found me wandering alone. Gave me water and food, brought me here. Some are still around, but I guess they think I’m old enough to live without parents now.”
“Any idea if you caught much of a radiation dose?” asked Harper. “Have you felt sick or anything?”
“At first when I left the house, I felt a little weak and dizzy… but it’s maybe from not eating much and emotional stuff. Lo’s probably not going to want to deal with me since I’m so messed up. I didn’t think you guys would like come here to get me.”
Logan shook his head. “You didn’t think I’d do whatever it took to find you? I don’t care about any arguments or stuff we used to have. None of that matters anymore. We’re family… and we just fought over bullshit anyway… like Mp3 players.”
She sob-laughed. “Yeah. Just pointless crap like that.”
He rocked her side to side. “I still have all the songs you put on my iPod. Couldn’t delete them because they’re all I had left to remember you by.”
Teary-eyed, Luisa collapsed against him, crying. “But I’m so messed up, now. Nightmares. Panic attacks. Sometimes, I even think Ma or Papa are gonna be in a dark corner when I look there.”
Harper glanced sideways at Cliff. Holy crap, this poor kid.
“Luisa.” Logan grasped her face in both hands, staring into her eyes. “I absolutely want you to come back to Evergreen with us. We can deal with your issues. You need to be safe, and we need to be a family.”
“And this place,” whispered Harper, “doesn’t seem all that safe.”
27
Civilization Take Two
Waning sunlight engulfed the saloon’s windows in fiery orange.
Expecting to spend the night in Fairplay and head out first thing, Harper, Logan, and Luisa sat at one of the square tables close to the back wall. Square depressions in the beige carpet gave away where various store racks used to be. Harper kept one leg through the strap of her backpack, which sat beside her chair, in case anyone tried to grab it. The Mossberg, she kept at her left, butt on the floor, barrel pointing up, hand firmly around the barrel.
In a ‘normal’ setting, such as sitting at a table in a bar, having a large shotgun in her custody proved annoying. She couldn’t lay it on the floor, fearing someone would grab it. Putting it on the table seemed like a hazard since no matter which way it pointed, someone would be in the line of fire. It couldn’t remain on her shoulder while she sat in a chair. Balancing it across her lap also ended up putting people in danger. Hopefully, no one happened to be directly above her on the second floor.
She’d stayed at the Mushroom Cloud with Logan and Luisa while Cliff and Ken went out to scout around for an alternate place to sleep—just in case Brian and any other morons came back for revenge. Luisa had already informed Desmond of her intention to leave with her brother. The man didn’t seem to mind losing a waitress, neither trying to talk her out of leaving nor acting as if her departure inconvenienced him.
For the most part, she talked with Logan, filling him in on the minor details of her survival. She described their home in Colorado Springs as ‘kinda collapsed,’ slumping over like a poorly made gingerbread house left out in the sun. Entry in and out of the basement required climbing a ‘tunnel’ of broken wood, wires, and pipes. She claimed not to have noticed any smell from their dead parents despite having been there for upward of three weeks after her father died and at least one week after her mother passed.
The group who helped her get here largely left her to her own devices once they arrived in town. She’d initially gone into the Mushroom Cloud to beg for food but ended up being hired as a waitress slash housekeeper. For the walk here, she’d been largely numb, but soon after having a place to sleep and somewhat of a sense of safety around her, she started having horrible nightmares and random panic attacks. Logan told her about Dr. Hale, and kept repeating how he’d help her get through everything.
Harper fidgeted at a frayed strand sticking out from the pocket on her jeans. She loved Logan, wanted to be with him for the rest of her life… but if anything happened to him, she doubted she’d ever care about another man. If he needed some time to be there for Luisa, so be it. Harper had no urge to rush into having babies. The world might have been pulled out from under her, but the idea of becoming a pregnant teen still carried a heavy stigma from the past world’s values. With Madison and Lorelei to take care of, she felt like some girl in a Lifetime network movie whose parents died and she ‘got stuck’ raising her little siblings. Only, she didn’t resent the obligation. It helped she didn’t need to worry at all about going to school, earning money for rent and food, or really anything other than being there to protect them.
Honestly, she’d been somewhat guilty of shorting Logan on time in favor of her little sister and ‘daughter’, so if he did the same to help Luisa recover from her trauma, she’d understand, even encourage him to do so.
The worry spiral in her head stopped spinning when Cliff and Ken walked in. Neither man had much of a readable expression. No gunshots had gone off at any point, so she hoped Brian and his two friends would stay gone.
Hopefully, they were drunk enough to be passed out somewhere sleeping by now.
“Well, seems we’re at a bit of a disadvantage.” Cliff pulled out a chair and plopped down at their table. “This place ain’t like home.”
“Oh, really?” Harper fake smiled. “I hadn’t noticed any differences.”
Logan snickered.
Cliff pointed at her, making a ‘look here, young lady’ face, then chuckled. “I meant they use money still.”
“Yeah.” Ken took a chair from a nearby empty table, dragging it over before sitting on it. “Seems like they’re using coins at face value and credit cards instead of paper bills. Probably because plastic won’t disintegrate.”
Luisa nodded. “Yes. I could have told you that. Amex is like a five-dollar bill. Visa, ten. Mastercard worth twenty bucks.”
“No Discover?” asked Cliff.
“What’s that?” Luisa bit her lip in thought. “They didn’t say anything about a discovery.”
Cliff shrugged in a ‘what can ya do’ manner. “Figures. Even after the apocalypse, no one takes Discover.”
“Wow.” Ken laughed.
“Prices are a bit different though.” Cliff pointed a thumb back over his shoulder. “Cheapest lodging we found is twenty cents a night. Dunno about you all, but I haven’t bothered carrying
any cash in a while.”
“Jonathan’s got a whole shoebox full of cash.” Harper whistled. “Maybe he had the right idea. Someday, it might be valuable again.”
Logan shook his head. “I hope not. The way we’re doing it is so much better.”
“Yeah.” Harper exhaled. “Wonder if the Express office here charges postage.”
“No.” Luisa brushed at a dirt smear on her sleeve. “They didn’t ask me to pay to send the letter, or for the paper. I think they get food for free, so they basically trade their services for it.”
Ken opened his backpack, pulling out a water bottle. “This town’s probably unique in the use of money again, or it’s not common. Otherwise, the Express would be trying to spread the idea around to the ‘uncivilized’ settlements.”
“Or they’re stretched thinner here for resources,” said Harper. “Maybe no one wanted to be quartermaster, so they came up with the laziest possible way to manage distribution—money.”
“I have some money if you want to get food.” Luisa looked down. “It’s the least I can do for all of you walking out here to find me.”
Cliff snagged his backpack off the floor. “Thanks, but we didn’t come here to take your money.”
“Am I going to need it in Evergreen?”
“No, but that’s beside the point.” Cliff winked, opening the backpack zipper.
Luisa glanced at Logan, seemingly content until he started munching on a raw potato. At that, she huffed, stood, and went over to the bar.
“Guess I’m going to have real food tonight.” Logan shrugged.
Harper kept her eye on the front door and windows, not convinced their problems in Fairplay had come to an end. This place did feel more ‘civilized’ than Evergreen in a weird sort of way, barring the semipsychotic people who seemed eager for a chance to shoot someone without consequences. She imagined the mayor, or whoever ran the place, taking the city’s name and running away with the idea of ‘fair play.’ As in, shoot someone, die instantly to a gunshot. The more she thought about it, the less she wanted to stay here for any length of time.
Who knows what kinds of weird punishments they’ll come up with? Was the actual Wild West like this? Everyone walking around outside like we’re in a movie. All that’s missing are wanted posters and a dude playing that piano in the back. She smirked. Already had the shootout over the poker game back home. At least here it would make somewhat more sense as money has meaning. Freakin’ idiot.
A boy between fourteen and sixteen carried a plate of meat strips over and set them by Luisa. “Is it true you’re leaving?”
“Yes.” She gestured at Logan. “Tom, this is my brother.”
“Oh, yeah.” Tom offered a handshake. “She told me about you. Guess being in Denver worked out. We heard it got hit pretty hard.”
“It did get hammered… just not too bad where I happened to be that morning.” Logan exhaled.
“Relax, dude. We’re not like dating or anything.” Tom grinned. “Just both working here. Hope whoever Desmond hires to replace her isn’t a pain in the butt.”
Luisa blushed. “Whoever takes my place probably won’t be too scared to go into the basement.”
“Well, good luck.” Tom squeezed her shoulder. “You deserve to be with your family.”
“Thanks.” She patted his hand, then looked at Logan. “Go on. Eat. Half of these are yours.”
“What is it?” asked Logan.
Harper sniffed at the pile of meat strips, about the size of those chicken-on-a-stick things Mom used to always order from the Chinese place. “Smells like goat.”
Logan shrugged and divided the pile in uneven halves, giving Luisa the extra odd piece. Harper munched on vegetables from her backpack, as did Cliff and Ken. At least Desmond didn’t charge anything for water. Since no one spoke about rooms for the night beyond pointing out they cost money none of them had, it seemed likely the plan became ‘finish eating, then we go camp somewhere.’ Question being, did they hunt down a random abandoned building and hope the town wouldn’t care?
About the time Harper had a third of a potato left in her hand, she spotted a scrawny man walk by the door outside carrying a pair of bolt cutters.
“Aww, crap.” She hopped up and ran for the door, the Mossberg dangling from her left hand, still munching on potato she couldn’t bring herself to waste.
Sure enough, the guy with the bolt cutters attacked the chain securing Cliff’s bike to the railing outside the Mushroom Cloud Saloon.
“Hey!” yelled Harper, pointing the shotgun at him. “Get away from those bikes. They don’t belong to you.”
About a dozen people in the vicinity stopped walking, all turning to watch. Most gripped their revolvers but didn’t pull them out. The thief glanced at her momentarily, disregarded her, and cut the chain. Curiously, he left the padlock intact.
Dammit. They’re all going to kill me if I shoot this guy for stealing. Wouldn’t bother me so much if these creeps didn’t look so eager about it.
She stuffed the quarter-potato in her mouth, grabbed the shotgun in both hands, and rushed the guy as Cliff, Ken, and Logan raced out onto the porch. The thief—who also had a revolver on his hip—spun to meet her charge, swinging the bolt cutters at her. Harper ducked the swipe, then pretended to go for a kick to the nuts, figuring he’d expect such an attack from a girl. When the guy shoved the bolt cutters down to block her fake kick, she walloped the butt of the Mossberg across his face, knocking him sideways into a twirling fall.
The thief hit the street on his back, seemingly out cold.
Spectators, up to about fifteen now, kept watching her.
She glanced around at them. The potato still clutched in her teeth kept her from saying anything stupid like ‘what are you looking at?’ Wow, is this how it feels to be a cockroach when the lights come on? They’re all looking at me like ‘give me a reason.’
“The hell happened out here?” Cliff jogged up behind her.
“Mrmm,” muttered Harper past the potato in her teeth while pointing at the bolt cutters.
Ken approached the bike, picked up the severed chain, then dropped it.
“Why is everyone staring at us?” asked Logan from the porch.
Harper slung the shotgun over her shoulder, then plucked the potato from her mouth. “Because… they’re waiting to see if I shoot this guy so they can light me up.”
Cliff leaned close, putting an arm around her. “Those two boys across the way by the street sign are trying to figure out if they should ‘arrest’ you for hitting him with a weapon.”
She tried to inconspicuously look. Two twentysomethings dressed like post-nuclear cowboys stood beside a street sign reading Main and 6th. Both men tensed when she glanced in their direction, like gunslingers expecting to throw down at any second.
“Wow. No wonder there’s no coffee left. This town drank it all,” whispered Harper. “Everyone’s got the dial up to eleven.”
Cliff patted her on the back, then went to collect his mountain bike. “We should get outta here now or the bicycles will be gone by morning.”
“Yeah.”
“Getting Luisa,” said Logan before darting back into the saloon.
Harper stepped toward her bicycle, but paused at a collective gasp from several spectators. Motion caught her eye—the thief lunged at her, thrusting a knife. She reacted on reflex, spinning to her right, grabbing the arm and flipping the guy to the ground using a jiu-jitsu takedown. He crashed cheek-first into the pavement, screaming as she wrenched back on his arm, applying pressure above the elbow while hyperextending his wrist. Involuntarily, his grip on the knife released, letting it fall to the road.
Cliff taught her it didn’t take a whole lot of strength to break an arm when holding it in such a delicate position. Leverage worked entirely for her. Perhaps due to performing the maneuver so often while training with Cliff—and only twice for real—she’d become accustomed to not completing the maneuver fully to break the arm. She hadn
’t done so here, either. At least, not in one smooth motion. Cliff would’ve faceplanted the guy and destroyed the guy’s elbow joint automatically. She could snap it if she wanted to, but hesitated.
A broken arm could be a death sentence now.
“Gah! My fuckin’ arm,” yelled the man.
She leaned her weight into the middle of his back to keep him pinned. “You came at me with a knife. You’re so freakin’ lucky I didn’t break it already.”
Cliff stomped over, picked the knife up from the road, and threw it onto the roof of the saloon. When he moved to grab the thief, Harper let go and scooted back, unnerved at the level of anger in her adoptive dad’s eyes. Cliff dragged the guy upright, giving him a little shove to put fighting distance between them.
“My knife….” The man pointed at the saloon.
“You’re a damn lucky son of a bitch she managed to duck, or you’d need a surgeon instead of a ladder to get it back.” He glared. “Wanna take a swing at someone? Try me on for size. Or are kids more your challenge level?”
The thief twitched, his shifty stare wandering among the locals—now up to about twenty—watching them.
“Thought you were safe to steal right in front of me?” Harper folded her arms. “Figured I’d stand there since I couldn’t shoot you with all these people itching to mow me down?”
Logan and Luisa emerged from the saloon, carrying everyone’s backpacks.
Cliff slapped the guy. “What’cha lookin’ at them for. I’m right here, pal. You got two choices right now. Find somewhere else to be but in my face, or you’ll be needing the attention of a doctor real soon like. This town’s got one, don’t it?”
After a moment of standing there fidgeting, making faces, and twitching, the thief huffed and staggered off, rubbing his shoulder. A few spectators decided to resume going about their night, but most remained, watching them.
“Real soon like?” asked Harper. “Seriously?”
Evergreen (Book 5): The Nuclear Frontier Page 25
