“We collect rainwater. Boil it up and mix in some iodine and its fit to drink. It gives us something to wash in too,” Abigail told Jake, sounding bored as though she’d said it a million times before. “We have all sorts of little tricks to get us by. Not that it’ll matter if those city folk get through and attack us.”
“You heard about that already?”
She snorts. “News travels fast in Dent. I’m surprised we didn’t know you were coming. Then again, I should’ve expected it. John is always on a rescue mission of some sort. I guess you two are his latest project.”
Jake didn’t like the idea of being a project to John, but since his life depended on the man allowing them to stay, he decided to put his ego to one side. Abigail showed them the bedroom.
“Here, this should suit you two just fine. If you’ve got some belongings, we can bring them in later.”
“We didn’t really bring anything personal,” Aby said. “We were more focussed on getting out alive with the supplies we’d need.”
Abigail nodded in approval. “I think you two are going to fit in here just fine. There are rules, of course. We have a very strict eating plan for everyone in town. Our supplies look like a lot right now, but we’re only a few days without supermarkets. The supplies will dwindle quickly so we can’t have people just taking whatever they feel like. I’m sure you can understand that.”
“That seems fair,” Jake said with a nod.
“We base each individual’s diet on height, weight and gender to ensure they get enough calories each day. It’s also based on your workload on any given day. Manual laborers need more than someone at a desk job, after all. And then of course, if you stay you’ll need to pitch in.”
“You guys seem to have thought this through a lot,” Aby said warily. Abigail sighed.
“Yeah, I know we seem strange to city folks like you. Hell, I’ve lived here most of my life and whenever I head out of town for a while, it’s always weird coming back. But we’re not simple just because we choose to separate ourselves off, you know. Just you watch, we’ll be the last ones standing.”
Jake decided not to push the matter. Abigail seemed pretty defensive about the place and he didn’t want to upset her. After all, they were guests in her home for now. And she was right. They were well prepared. They had more of a chance of surviving the new world than most.
“Our supplies should last around two months,” Abigail said plainly. “If you want a share in them, then our supplies won’t last as long. The trade off is going to have to be helping us around town. There are chores to be completed, animals and crops to tend to, maintenance on the houses and community areas, town defense, hunting...you name it. We need all hands on deck. I don’t know what skills you have to offer, but we’ll figure that out as we go along. For now, it looks like we’ll need you ready to fight. Do you think you can handle that?”
“I’m sure we’ll manage,” Aby said a little snootily. Jake could tell she didn’t like Abigail’s condescending tone. Abigail sniffed.
“Very well then. Let’s head back downstairs.”
“Okay. We were hoping we’d be able to go and see our friend, Megan...see how she’s settling in.”
“My father will take you. John will no doubt have left already to go and do one thing or another. I’ve got chores to do here, but he’ll show you around. And don’t worry...if you’re with my Dad, you don’t need to worry about running into trouble. He’s a pro with a shotgun.”
“You talking about me?” Perry asked as they headed down the stairs. He took a shotgun off the wall and aimed it toward the ceiling. Abigail laughed as though it was an old family joke that he was so comfortable with a shotgun. It made Jake feel a little uneasy.
“I was just saying what a good shot you are, Daddy.”
“Damn right.”
Abigail turned back to Jake and Aby. “They want to go and see their friend.”
“Ah, okay. John mentioned her,” Perry said with a nod. “She’s staying with Annabelle. I’ll take you there now.”
“See you later,” Abigail said to the trio before returning to the kitchen. Perry waddled toward the door. It seemed like he had a dodgy hip, but he was still built for a fight if he was needed. Jake hoped that one day he might be something like Perry in his old age.
“Let’s go,” Perry said, not waiting for them as he started down the street.
As they walked, Jake took in their surroundings. If he strained his eyes, he could see the main barricade where some of the city folk had begun to park up. The whole thing made him feel anxious, but he felt in good company with Perry.
And then he saw Megan emerging from a house with Annabelle, an older woman with silvery hair and a thin frame. Everyone in the town seemed thin and wiry. Jake wondered if they’d been rationing for years.
Megan spotted Jake and Aby and waved them over. They jogged to meet her and Jake felt strangely glad to see her, though they’d only been apart for around half an hour.
“Hey, Megan,” Aby said, pulling her into a quick hug. “How are you holding up?”
Megan glanced back at her new housemate with an awkward smile. Annabelle nodded politely to Aby and Jake before heading back inside to give them some privacy. “It’s okay,” Megan said in a lowered voice. “I’m sure I’ll get used to her...to this. I like the town.”
“Do you think it seems like a good place to stay?” Aby asked in a lowered voice. “It’s kind of weird here…”
“I don’t know fully, but I’m not sure we have much choice right now. The whole place is surrounded,” Megan pointed out quietly. Jake felt a little uncomfortable having a conversation about leaving with Perry only stood a few metres away, but it was something they needed to think about.
“You know, it seems like the city folk are holding off for now,” Perry said, nodding to the barricades. “Maybe you guys could make yourselves useful and get a feel for the town at the same time...who wants to join me in checking out the perimeter? I need to see what food I can bring into the town, and see what we’re dealing with out there with the city folk...is anyone game?”
Jake glanced at his friends. He knew they had to contribute if they wanted to stay. He knew they had to prove themselves as useful or be left to the mercy of the gathering crowds outside the walls. He tooks a deep breath in and nodded.
“I volunteer.”
Eight
Jake
“I volunteer as well,” Aby said the second Jake volunteered. He sighed, touching her cheek gently.
“There’s no need for us all to go. It’s going to be dangerous out there. Maybe you should stay back with Megan and find some other ways to help out.”
Aby folded her arms, looking irritated. “You think I can’t handle myself out there?”
“I think you can handle yourself just fine anywhere you go, Aby. I just think that if some of us stay behind then we’ll have a better chance at not being spotted. I think it’s wise that someone should stay here and keep an eye on...things.”
By things, Jake partly meant Megan. He didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone in the town when she was being so easily swayed to stay there already. Jake knew that Aby would do a better job of caring for Megan than he ever could if something happened out there. But Aby still looked irritated at him.
“You know what, Jake? Fine. I guess you need to prove yourself more than I do,” she sniffed, turning away from him and heading back toward the house. Jake sighed, running a hand through his hair. Things were still so sour between them and he’d only managed to make it worse. He knew he needed to stop trying to order her around, but he only did it to try and keep them safe. He had no interest in suppressing Aby or her talents. All he wanted was for her to be alive at the end of the day...even if each time he went off alone, he risked the possibility of never making it back to her.
He didn’t like the idea of leaving town without saying goodbye, so he was glad when Perry suggested they eat and have a nap before they headed out.
Megan waved goodbye and headed inside her house while Perry and Jake returned to his new home.
Aby was nowhere to be seen, but Abigail was cooking something outside on the fire. She offered him a plate of toast, melted cheese and lukewarm beans.
“Here. I bet you haven’t had a decent hot meal in a while, have you? Take this inside and eat up. There’s a glass of milk on the side, too. It’s a little warm, but it still tastes alright.”
It tasted wonderful to Jake. The bread was a little stale, the milk a little sour and the meal a little unevenly cooked, but it was the first hot food Jake had eaten in days. He wolfed it down and then had to stop himself from asking for seconds. His stomach grumbled as he went upstairs to take a nap, a little confused by the hearty meal lining his stomach. He guessed he was still catching up from the days of hunger that had just passed him by.
Aby was already sleeping when he got upstairs. He lay down next to her and moved close to her, putting an arm over her body protectively. He knew she was still angry at him, but she moved a little closer to his body. It gave him the ability to close his eyes and get some sleep.
As he slept, Jake had a dream that felt close enough to reality to fill his heart with joy. He dreamt of a life where he and Aby were living out in the countryside. They had a vegetable patch in the garden and a cottage that he’d patched up himself. It wasn’t much, but it was home for them and their children. It was a dream so bittersweet that when he woke up again, there were tears in his sleepy eyes.
He almost felt more tired than before his nap, and a groggy headache was resting behind his eyes. He sat up with a groan and it took him a few moments to realize that Aby was gone. He panicked for a moment, but then he remembered that it was time for him to stop coddling her. She could handle herself.
Heading downstairs, he felt like a crumpled up piece of paper that had been tossed in the trash, but Perry was waiting for him. He stood as Jake arrived.
“You ready to go?”
Jake nodded.
“You think you can handle a rifle?” Perry asked, picking it up off the kitchen table and handing it to Jake. He felt the weight of it in his hands. He’d used one a couple of times before, so he nodded again. He had his Glock on his belt too.
“Alright, let’s get out of here,” Perry said and the pair of them headed out together.
Jake was too used to his fear now to acknowledge it much as they headed to the edge of town and past one of the barricades that led off into the woods. Perry muttered quietly to himself as they walked.
“I guess the city folk are concentrated on the roadblocks right now. If they had any sense, they’d be sending scouts out to our weak points, but it looks like we’re all on our own for now…”
In the distance, there was a gunshot and Jake almost jumped out of his skin, but Perry remained calm, squinting off to see where the noise had come from. He shrugged.
“City folk have got themselves a casualty. Our citizens are trained to shoot if anyone gets too close without any good reason to.”
“Don’t you think that’s...harsh?” Jake said. He knew he had no right to judge these people for how they were responding, especially after the things he’d done himself, but he was just curious. Shoot first and ask questions later didn’t seem like the best approach. Perry shrugged and carried on walking.
“The thing is, Jake, we’re a small town. We’ve always struggled for survival, even before all of this. We were overlooked entirely. We were always the last to get help when we needed it. One time, we didn’t have clean water for a month. We had to keep getting bottled water from the store. And why? Because we’re a small town we don’t matter so much?” He snorted. “Well, we learned to fend for ourselves instead. And we have a set way of doing things because of that. You’ll soon learn that.”
Jake noticed Perry was acting like he’d already said he’d stay. Maybe Perry knew as well as he did that they didn’t have much choice. Perry was right, too. They were well-prepared to survive this. Jake couldn’t hope to find anywhere better anytime soon. He decided to talk to Aby when he returned.
If he returned.
They walked for some time before they saw anything of interest. Perry ducked behind a tree and Jake followed suit, wondering what Perry had spotted that he hadn’t.
Then he saw the groups of city folk at the edge of the woods. They were sitting in their pickup trucks, talking and laughing over nothing. Jake’s throat went very dry. He’d been hoping to avoid a confrontation, but it was almost like the city folk wanted a fight. Perry sighed.
“Do you think they’re waiting to attack?” Jake asked Perry. He grunted in response.
“Nah. They’re too far from the barricade. They’re backup. You see where they’re parked? That’s the main road heading into Dent. Looks like they’ve got their people backed up the whole way along the road.”
“Blocking us off…”
Perry nodded solemnly. “It’s smart. Of course, there are other ways of driving out that they won’t have thought of...but we’re not going to do that. We don’t have enough working vehicles anyway. Plus, I think most of us folk from Dent feel the same about our home. We’re not leaving it behind for anything...we’ll make our stand and die there if we have to.”
The thought terrified Jake. The first thing he’d done when he spotted trouble in the city was leave everything he knew behind. He didn’t have a place he was willing to die for, and only one person he’d die to protect. What did that say about him and his life?
Maybe if they made it through the fight with the city folk, he’d find a home in Dent. He wasn’t confident that he’d fit in, but he wanted to more and more. Megan wanted to as well. It seemed like there was every reason to stay, so long as nothing else went wrong.
Perry sighed. “Well, it looks like we’re going to have to keep a low profile. We don’t want to get shot out here, do we? Let’s go and see if we can get us some fresh meat.”
“We can’t shoot anything out here...they’ll hear us,” Jake protested. Perry chuckled.
“You city folk...you’re funny. We’re not going to shoot anything. Don’t you think that’s a waste of bullets? No, I set some traps last week. We usually get a few rabbits, occasionally a bird or two. We can go check up on them, make ourselves useful.”
Jake had to admit he was glad they were walking away from a fight and not toward one. His head was still pounding after his nap and he just wanted to make it back in one piece.
A ten minute walk took them to the snares that Perry had set up.
“Be careful where you stand,” he warned. “You don’t want to set off a trap.”
Jake kept his eyes on the ground as he followed Perry. They weaved their way through all of the traps, but found nothing. Perry cursed.
“Well, that was useless,” he said. “I swear animals are getting smarter and we’re getting dumber…”
Jake was about to reply when a sound caught his attention. It was like a boot crunching on leaves. He whipped around, almost stepping on one of the snares. His heart froze.
“There’s someone else here.”
Nine
Aby
Aby was in a terrible mood. Jake leaving once again had really wound her up. It didn’t help that she hadn’t slept much and she was hungry, but mostly, her irritation was directed at Jake.
“What are you thinking about?” Abigail asked her as they sat at the kitchen table, waiting for John to show up. They’d planned to sit down together with Megan as well and discuss ways to better the community. Aby’s mind, however, was elsewhere. She sighed.
“Nothing.”
“I don’t believe that for a second.”
Abigail wasn’t helping with Aby’s bad mood. She found her to be nosey and judgemental. But then again, maybe Abigail would be a good person to vent to. She didn’t know her or Jake well enough to take sides. Aby chewed her nail.
“It’s just Jake. He always goes rushing off to do things to help out, but he acts like I shou
ldn’t get involved. Like I’m too weak, or something. It’s kind of sexist.”
Abigail chortled. “Ah, I see. I think he’s going to get along well with my husband. It’s a man thing, honey. All men like to be seen as the bread-winner. Throw them in a situation like this and it gets ten times worse. They always want to be proving themselves.”
“But I don’t want him to prove himself. I want him to stop throwing himself into danger...at least on his own. He never lets me go with him.” Aby shook her head. “I’ve handled this whole thing just as well as he has, if not better. Sure, we’ve both done some things we regret the past few days. But I’ve also saved myself plenty of times. Megan, too. If he’d let me go with him, maybe we’d be a good team.”
“Ah. So that’s what’s bothering you,” Abigail said knowingly. “You want to know why all of a sudden he’s riding solo when you’re meant to be a partnership.”
Aby’s eyes widened. Abigail had hit the nail right on the head, and she knew it. She smiled smugly.
“I know these things, Aby. Trust me. The only thing you can do is confront the issue head on. Next time see you see him, give him a piece of your mind and make sure he actually listens. Take yourself seriously and he will too.”
Aby felt a newfound respect for Abigail. “Thanks. I will.”
A few moments later, John returned with Megan in tow. Megan and Abigail quickly got acquainted before they all sat down together at the table.
“Alright, let's get this show on the road,” John said cheerily, picking up a pad of paper and a pen. “There are no bad ideas here...let’s just hear anything you can think of.”
Aby cleared her throat, feeling fully recharged from her conversation with Abigail and ready to contribute. “I think it’s great what you’re doing to collect water...but we need more of it. We can’t just hope for a rainy summer...we’ll soon run low on water if we don’t keep on top of the situation, which will mean we’ll have to save it all as drinking water. If we can’t keep ourselves washed and clean...we’ll run the risk of us all getting sick. And in a town this small, it’ll spread quickly.”
The End of the World Series | Book 2 | Survive The Onslaught Page 5
