The Second Intelligent Species: The Cyclical Earth

by Dale Langlois

  “Have you seen any other people or any other animals alive?” He didn’t waste any time asking the questions he promised he would.

  “We’ve seen a lot of rats, an opossum, and a priest who died soon after we found him. Other than that, we haven’t even seen a dog.” I had said enough and stopped giving any more free information until he made it worth our while.

  “Have you found any place that didn’t burn?”

  “Would we be here if we did?” I said, and then realized that I back talked to him. We were really in no position to piss these people off. “No, I’m sorry. It’s been horrible for us. Beth lost her family, we lost our house and…”

  It was Beth‘s turn to interrupt me. “Nick, they don‘t care.” She surprised me when she spoke up.

  “That’s right honey, we all lost people. Your people weren’t any better than our families.” Some middle-aged African American woman with no teeth blurted out, and then raised her voice. “And who gives you the right…?”

  The leader broke in to what was sure to be a confrontation. “Bonita, shhhh baby, be quiet.”

  Instantly she quieted down and went back to fiddling with the fire. This guy really did have command of the group.

  “My name’s Mick. Hi, Nick.”

  I reached out my hand to shake his. “Mick.”

  To my surprise, he reached out his hand and said, “Nick.”

  We all gave a very subtle and muffled chuckle. No one dared laugh out loud. It wasn’t time yet.

  He seemed like an intelligent man, quick witted and apparently accustomed to dealing with people. There was a nametag on his shirt, but it didn’t tell where he had worked. Though balding, he didn’t try to hide it with a comb over, but yet still had more hair than Beth.

  “Just how many people do you think there are still alive in the city?” I felt I had gained his trust enough to ask a question.

  He gazed in my direction awhile then said, “You’re lucky I like you.” He pressed his lips together. “I really can’t be sure. We have pretty much stayed here protecting this store. We put a claim on everything here, and the only way to keep it to ourselves is to stay here. There’ve been a few small groups passing through. We ran a couple of them off. We fed some and then sent them on their way. There’s only enough food left here for us.” He shook and rubbed his head. “Nobody has claimed the water tower. I’m sure someone will take it hostage and only give water for food. We’d do it but we don’t have any guns, and none of us has the nerve to defend it. For now, it’s still run by the city. Just turn the pipe wrench to the left and catch it when it starts to drip, then turn it to the right to stop it from leaking out. There’s no way to fill it back up. When it’s gone we’ll drink what we can find. Wait a minute. I thought I was supposed to be asking the questions. Do you have anything to carry water in?”

  “I guess I could poke a couple of holes in a can and then plug the holes with a screw or something.” I didn’t have anything but we had to keep hydrated in this heat. Even though it was dark all the time, it was constantly muggy. The heat drained us of all energy. We sweated from the time we crawled out of that tunnel and about five minutes after we washed up.

  “I’m going to give each of you a going away gift. I shop at Gander Mountain.” He motioned with a drinking motion to a young boy crouching adjacent to the fire. “Marcos, bring me two canteens.”

  The little guy jumped up as soon as he was asked. Apparently he was the keeper of the canteens. “Can I have some candy now?” He turned to look at our host.

  “Give one to each of them, and then come here,” Mick said.

  Off he scampered into the darkness, to return within less than two minutes, stirring up a plume of ashes as he skidded to a stop in front of Mick.

  “Give one to each of our new friends.”

  The little guy came over to Beth first, handed over a blackened and dented canteen, looked her in the eyes, and said, “Don’t worry; your hair will grow back.”

  Beth looked down at her feet. Her hair was so important to her. I’d spent many hours combing my fingers through it. When it started to turn grey, she went to the salon religiously, every two weeks, to get it colored back to its original hue. “Thank you,” she said.

  He handed me another. “Thank you,” I said.

  The youngster turned away towards Mick, and the light of the fire reflected off his bare skin. The tops of his shoulders were covered with sores that seemed to be draining. Some of the material of his shirt had melted into his skin. He didn’t seem to be very uncomfortable considering his burns. I didn’t comment.

  I looked at Mick with sincerity and said, “Thank you very, very much Mick. I know how valuable these are.” I held up the canteen, metal with a metal cap. You could tell both had gone through the fire. Mine was discolored, dented, and the cap was loose and probably leaked.

  “They all leak,” Mick said, “but if you wrap a small piece of cloth around the top, it’ll be the same as the rubber gasket that burned out.”

  “You’ve got candy?” I didn’t mean to blurt it out quite like that, but I couldn’t imagine how something made out of almost one hundred percent sugar, made it through the fires. I’ve seen marshmallows burn.

  Mick looked up at me. “Power has its privileges, and right now it’s a currency that works, among others.” He reached into a pocket on each side of his jacket and pulled something out with each hand. He handed the candy to the little burned guy, who quickly ran over to where he was sitting before he was summoned up.

  When the little guy tried to sit down again, the pains of his burns were now visible on his face. He put a piece of what I thought was candy into his mouth. Tears ran down his cheek as he tried to smile, but the smile lost out to a pursed upper lip.

  A woman wearing a pair of men’s work boots that were obviously too big, gave him a canteen. He drank the water and threw his head back as if he had taken a pill.

  He put the cap back on and handed the canteen back.

  Without a word, the woman motioned with one hand for the boy to finish all the water. Understanding her sign language, he complied. This time when he handed the empty container off, it was accepted without a word. The woman turned and went back to her cinderblock seat, to continue her silent stare into the only light around.

  The youngster put something else into his mouth, tossing it from one cheek to the other with his tongue. This time the smile came back, but it was crisscrossed with muddy streaks of tears.

  Now I understood why he seemed free of pain. “Where did you find the pain killers?” Had my question crossed a line?

  “Shhh.” Mick stood up, motioned with his head, and said, “Let’s go for a walk.”

  I followed him to the edge of one of the remaining walls. Either he trusted me or he was going to kill me. We stopped when we were out of hearing range of the rest of the survivors.

  Mick looked over towards the group as if searching for one particular individual. He seemed very apprehensive. “You see, there was once this pharmacist who thought he had a failsafe plan to retire early. He and his partner could move out of the city. Retire in some old farmhouse, someplace quiet, someplace more tolerant.” He stopped to wipe his eyes and nose with his sleeve. Taking a deep breath he continued. “So… this pharmacist deposited the sweepings of ineptness away into a safe every once and a while. Management was so lax about record keeping that as long as they didn’t change managers, I had it made. In about two more years I was going to unload everything all at once, take the money and run. Then this happened. I knew I would never retire.” He shook his head. He was taking this whole thing personal.

  “You’re going to need that stuff now, more than ever. Why are you telling me about it? If I were you, I would keep quiet about it and use it on the people that need it.” I didn’t feel comfortable knowing about his stash. If the wrong people found out about his safe, things could get chaotic.

  “Yes I know. I’ve been giving them to whomever needs them. I’m af
raid in doing so, word has spread about my little clinic. That’s why I’m confiding in you. I need somebody on my side, somebody I can trust… I can trust you, can’t I, Nick? I need somebody.”

  I wasn’t ready to pledge allegiance to anybody yet. “What about those two guys that threatened us. They seemed pretty loyal. They were ready to kill for you.”

  “Those guys were just trying to scare you away because the rest of the group didn’t want any more food given away to strangers. The big guy, Carl, he wouldn’t hurt a fly. He was a conductor on the monorail. He recognized what was going on and stopped the train underground. He led twenty-three people into a maintenance tunnel. He led six out. The rest of them died of asphyxiation. Three more died before they made it here. Now Tex, I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. He has a cowboy hat and talks with a fake southern accent, pretends to be a real tough guy. I think he’s from New Jersey.”

  Mick turned back to look at the group. “He was on Carl’s train. Carl told me that when they were in the maintenance tunnel, he saw the asshole push some children away from a crack in the wall, where breathable air was coming in. Carl wanted to stop him, but he was busy rotating children and the elderly so they could breathe near a ventilation shaft. The kids didn’t make it, Tex did. We only let him stick around because he’s good at scavenging around in the debris, like the rat he is. He has found a lot of food for everyone, but he makes sure that he gets the best of it all. That’s the only reason he’s doing it. He’s the reason I’m talking to you. He seems extremely interested in what I have in my left pocket. Another thing, he’s gone way too long when he goes scavenging. Sometimes he comes back with nothing. Other times he comes back with things, but won’t tell where he found them. I don’t trust him.

  Will you and your woman stick by me, so I can talk these people into leaving this mall and looking for more survivors? As it stands, Bonita has a lot of pull with the rest them. They won’t leave the place because Bonita wants to stay. I guess she just yells louder. I have some control of her because I keep her sedated. She won’t let Marcos leave, and I won’t go because he needs these pills. If I left them with Marcos, Tex would take them away, then Marcos would suffer.” Again he nervously looked back at the rest.

  I felt extremely uncomfortable. “I’m sure that Beth wants to go down to the hospital and see if she can help out.” I scrambled for any excuse, since staying here wouldn’t increase our odds of survival.

  “Let’s go back to the fire, and we’ll get something into your stomach,” Mick said.

  We made it back to the fire after stumbling on broken cement blocks and other debris.

  There was a large slab of Phony Bologna on a makeshift grate. It looked burned, as if it had been there for a while.

  Mick saw me looking at it and handed us both a plate and fork and knife. “Enjoy this. It’ll probably be the last meat you’ll eat for a long time. We’re using up the last of it. Most of it is rancid, but when it’s cooked well done, it’s edible. Until somebody gets sick we’re going to eat it all, then we’ll hit the canned goods. We found some seasonings. Those take away the spoiled taste… kind of.”

  “You still didn’t tell me how many people are left alive in the city. Aren’t there any shelters?” These people already made it clear that we would only be welcome one night. Tomorrow we would still need water and food. The water that we could carry in the canteens would only last us a day if we rationed it. We’d need to drink twice that much every day.

  Carl spoke up. “Ain’t one shelter in the city that was prepared for this. All of them burned to the ground. They were designed for the cold, ya know? Three hots and a cot, out of the cold, off the street. We’ve all been there once… well maybe not all of us.” He looked at Beth and me, and then at Beth’s diamond ring. The fire reflected off it still, though it was covered in soot and dirt.

  Again I felt threatened here. I noticed Tex looking at her hand. I knew Beth did too. I knew money wasn’t worth anything anymore, but gems never lose their value, in one way or the other. These might get us a couple cans of soup, who knows, they might be worth even more in the future.

  Chapter 12

  On the Road Again

  Beth and I slept away from the others. I awoke to see a figure looming over her while she rested.

  I leapt to my feet. “What to fuck! Get to fuck away from her!” I lunged at the man as he dodged my grasp. He ran off away from the area and into the dark. “Get back here you son of a bitch!” Chasing after him and leaving Beth alone was something I wouldn’t do.

  “What’s going on?” Mick asked as he rose.

  Beth was awake too. First thing she did was look for her ring. “What was he doing?”

  “It was that guy with the cowboy hat. He was hanging over my wife. That motherfucker better not show his ass back here again. I’ll kill him!” My heart felt like it would come out of my chest. I sank to the ground, even though a cement block was within my reach. I didn’t think I could balance myself on one.

  “Tex. I knew he was trouble. I hope he doesn’t come back. We’ll do our own scavenging,” Mick said.

  Bonita, Marcos, and Carl came over and stood near Beth. The more vocal of the three reminded, “It’s time for you to leave now anyways. We fed you, and now it’s time to go. You said you would leave in the morning. That’s what you said, Mick.”

  “I’m sorry, Nick. She’s right, but I did say one meal. We will, however, give you a few cans of food so you can have breakfast. But then we will be forced to ask you to leave. May God be with you.”

  “Great,” Beth muttered.

  Carl looked at his watch and said, “They can have them for supper.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “What time is it? I just assumed we all went to sleep because it was night.”

  Carl pushed the button to light up the face again. “It’s 5:30 p.m.”

  Beth and I looked at each other. Then she asked Carl, “What day is this?”

  “I don’t know how to bring that up, I just use it to tell time, but today is Thursday.”

  “You wouldn’t want to part with your watch would you, Carl?”

  “What do you have to trade for it?” He pointed to her ring.

  “Oh, no way! I don’t need to know what time it is that bad. What difference does it make now anyway?” She hid her hand under her folded arms.

  Mick motioned to Marcos. “Go get four cans out of the pile without labels, and try not to get any that are dented.”

  Again the little guy took off running.

  Beth helped me with the backpack. She unstuck the tape for me as I put it on. “We need to get something for the torches,” she whispered.

  “Mick, is there any clothing we can use for the torches?” I asked.

  “Not much at all. You’ve seen what there is.”

  Bonita started in again. “No, you didn’t say anything about giving away anything but one meal. You already told Marcos to give them the good stuff. Give them the dented cans. What have they done for us?”

  “Come on, Nick. We better get going.” Beth took my arm and we both turned to walk away.

  Marcos yelled, “Wait, wait. Don’t go yet. You forgot your food!”

  Beth thanked him and put the cans in my pack. We walked off into the darkness, in the opposite direction Tex had, back to the water tower.

  Except for our brand new canteens, the empty cans I’d made into containers, and six cans of mystery food, we were traveling light. The weight carried by each of us would increase once we loaded up with water.

  I was worried about somebody guarding the tower. “Maybe you better take off your ring before we get up there.”

  “They’ll have to break my fucking finger off, but they’ll be doing it without any nuts,” she snapped.

  I said nothing more about the subject.

  When we reached the top of the hill there was no one to greet us. “Now what do we do?” she asked.

  It’s clean water. Drink as muc
h as you can. No telling when we’ll get our next fresh clean drink. Be careful not to step on a nail. We can’t afford any injuries now.”

  “No, I was talking about after we get the water.”

  I didn’t have an answer. We had about two days of water and four cans of food.

  “What do you want to do? You’re driving.” I looked at her and realized that I shouldn’t have said it.

  Once in a while, Beth and I would hop into one of our vehicles and let the wind take us where ever it blew. It usually depended on who was driving at the time as to where we went, or what we did. Of course if I was driving I would go into the mountains and look for wildlife, and silence.

  Of course if she was driving we would head down to the casino. She loved to gamble and so did her son. Those were some of our best times.

  I have stuck my foot in my mouth before, just like everyone else has, but this was devastating. I realized it at the same time she did.

  We just held each other and wept. We wept hard and long, making almost no sounds. Neither one of us wanted to break the silence that I was starting to hate.

  We drank as much water as our guts would hold, and then we filled the canteens and soup cans. We bathed ourselves with some of the city’s remaining drinking water, even though Mick had asked us not to. Beth would not give on that.

  We decided to look in individual houses instead of hanging around shopping centers. It seemed to be the safer course to take, even though we were searching in the dark. After going without light for so long, our eyes grew accustomed. We had to be careful what we salvaged because we could only carry so much. Water was the most important thing, but at about eight pounds a gallon, we had to think of a way to find it, instead of carrying it. The heat was too intense to go without it long. All the rivers, streams, and brooks were filled with either sooty sludge or something dead. There was no electricity to run water pumps, and most, if not all, of the pipes under the streets were twisted and broken because of the earthquake. There was no water except for the tower that we felt safe drinking, but I didn’t feel safe there, and neither did Beth. I think mostly because of what Mick said about somebody taking the tower for ransom. I was sure it would happen sooner or later.