by Sweet, W. G.
“Deer,” Jayne said after a pause. “Equally important as cows.”
“I agree,” Joel said, “but getting them here alive is the trick. We need a way to get animals here in larger quantities to release them.”
“What about, probably stupid,” Jayne said, “But what about by sea? Hear me out.” She raised her hands when the comments about how shallow the water was had started. “Wait.”
“Let her finish,” Joel said.
Jayne smiled. “Thanks. Okay, so water. Yes, we've just a few inches here and inbound from here. I think that is getting deeper almost daily, but I realize it will be a long time before it's deep enough to take a boat with any real cargo on it. Not enough draught, but the Gulf side of the island is plenty deep. We can leave a port in Georgia, Mississippi, even Louisiana and get here from the Gulf side.” She finished with a twisting of her mouth and a shrug of her shoulders. “Should work, right?”
Joel was nodding.
“Will work,” Haley said. “That's a great idea.”
“I have to agree,” Scott said. “That will work. Kyle? Do they make something to haul animals over water?”
“Oh yeah. And if we can't find something ready built we can get a barge and outfit it ourselves. Anybody plumbed that channel between this island and the little one?”
“Looks deep,” Joel said.
“Probably is plenty deep, but let's find out exactly how deep,” Kyle said. “In fact, I want to go tomorrow and bring back a seaworthy boat... Something fifty, sixty feet long. A fisherman... Better yet a tug. We'll need a tug if we're bringing back a barge... Might need two tugs in fact,” He laughed and waved his hands at everyone. “Sorry, got carried away... Here's the thing. That channel would be perfect to build a dock on... Some place to unload. This side of the island is far too shallow. The Gulf side is too deep with nothing but cliffs. That channel is perfect: If it's deep enough. So, I can get a boat. A tug would be good because it's already going to be set up with depth finders, fenders, a good powerful motor. And as I said if we end up with a barge we'll need a tug boat... We'll have it.”
Joel looked around to nothing but nodding heads. “Looks like the ayes have it,” He said and laughed.
Everyone laughed and then the laughter died away. “Well, that's another thing right there,” John said. “I know of no better time to bring this up, but we probably should make something official before things get bigger here.”
“For instance, I've been following you since before we came here, and there is no doubt you are the guy who runs things here, but it isn't official. Now suppose some guy comes along and decides he should be in charge? I'm not for that. That's like some of these other settlements we hear about. We've all listened in to The nation and their broadcasts. They have it together there. They're growing because they have established rules and leadership, and we could have it together here just as easily, but we need our leadership established. We need to have it decided. That place, a few others I have heard of or talked to have leaders. It's right up front, no dancing around it...” He shrugged. “Maybe I'm overstating the obvious. We should elect you the main guy here... However that goes.”
“You and Haley together,” Jayne said solemnly.
“No, really, that's the way it should be,” Alice added. She clasped one hand to her mouth and her eyes began to leak.
“Okay,” Scott raised his voice and waited as everyone quieted down and turned to pay attention to him. “Listen! A motion came up to legitimize this place,” He laughed along with the others: As the laughter died away he continued. “Here's the deal, John and a few others of us believe it's time to make the leadership of Joel and Haley official.” He had intended to say more, but he was drowned out by the cheering that erupted. He would never have believed twenty plus people could make that much racket. The dogs were barking, the children running around in circles and screaming.
“Jesus,” Jayne said. She turned to Joel, an amused look in her eyes along with the tears.
Joel stood. “Okay, okay,” he tried. He finally had to lift his voice above the din. “Okay! Hold it down folks, I'm sure they can hear us on the mainland.” The noise died down, but they were all staring at Joel expectantly: He had no idea what to say next so he sat back down, embarrassed. Scott stood and brushed his hands against his jeans.
“So here it is: I don't know anything at all about how to form a government, but I suppose it goes something like this; we all decide it, vote, and that's that.” Nodding heads met his words. “So the idea was Joel as the leader of this place, Alabama Island. Haley was suggested too. That would be it. I guess that's a king and queen?” He looked and sounded doubtful.
“A monarchy,” Jayne answered. “Like the motherland... England”
“A monarchy,” Scott repeated. He still looked doubtful. “Anybody against it?”
Dead silence greeted his words.
“Okay, for it?”
The noise split the air again, wolf whistles, shouts of Hell yes, more. The dogs were once again barking and howling. Scott sank back down to the ground.
Emmett Wolf stood and lifted a nearly full bottle of bourbon skyward. His other hand held a sheaf of plastic drinking cups. A few seconds later nearly everyone had a drink of straight bourbon in their hands.
“Joel and Haley,” Emmett bawled above the general din. The crowd repeated his words and the drinks were downed. “To Alabama Island,” Emmett yelled. The drink cups went around again and everyone toasted to Alabama Island.
“I don't know how much use this crowd will be tomorrow. You might want to plan an easy day,” Scott told Joel. He had to raise his voice above the din of voices.
“It's crazy,” Haley said.
“Oh, I think they'll party all night long. After all, they just elected America's first king and queen in well over 200 years,” John opinioned. “I think Kyle and I will bow out early. Want to catch the midnight tides and get in there early tomorrow morning.”
Joel nodded. “I'll be going with you.” He turned to Scott. “Do you think you'll have enough sobered up to begin plans to build a dock? Check that depth, figure out some way to get in there?”
“Yeah. I think it will go as is. I mean the depth. We have a stack of railroad ties we salvaged a few days back. Here or up top. That will make a dock. I think my idea was a dock, further down the road when this deepens.” Scott answered.
Joel turned back to Haley. “You be okay here alone?” he asked.
“My loyal subjects will make sure I am,” Haley said. Her words were joking but her eyes said she was a little overwhelmed.
“Don't sweat it... Don't let anyone treat you differently. Don't think of yourself differently. It will be old news in a few days and you'll be okay with it, okay?”
She nodded. “Just not sure if I like it much.”
“I understand that,” Joel agreed. “I'm pretty sure I'll never be comfortable with it myself, but it's done. One way or the other it had to happen. I was thinking more along the lines of a committee the way some other places do, but I can see where this has its attractions too... Ease of making things happen... A lot of responsibility though.”
“Is it ever,” Scott agreed.
“And you volunteered me for it,” Joel said.
“Who else could do it?” Scott asked. “No. You were the only choice... Besides, we can change things to some other form down the road if we need to.”
“You think so?” Joel asked.
Scott looked out at the people as they laughed and danced in the firelight. He tried a lopsided smile on his face. “I hope so.”
Joel rose from the ground and dusted the sand from his pants. “Well, I hereby appoint you and Alice as council to the monarchy: let's get everyone eating before Emmett gets them too far gone.”
Scott laughed, picked up a metal scoop near the fire and banged it against a pot a few times. In no time at all lines were forming as the pigs were lifted from the fire, burnt and crispy in places, juicy and dripping
fat in others, and carried to the tables. A layer of palm leaves had been laid out on the table tops, and the pigs were lowered onto them. Alice, John and Jayne began carving and serving. Joel, Haley and Scott fell back and watched, marveling over how so much had changed in just a few hours.
EPISODE TWO
Prologue
Plague Year One
The Nation
Cammy sat drinking coffee with Annie and staring down the length of the valley. It was an hour past sunrise. The sun had finally lifted past the mountain tops in the distance, and golden light had spilled into the length of the valley.
“I know you said it was this nice, but no way did you do it justice. Or I'm so damn jaded that I just couldn't believe it.”
“If you live here, you take it in stride sometimes, I guess. But, coming back this time? Being away after being here, living here... I will never leave again. I don't care,” Annie said.
The door to the main area of the cave opened, and Candace came out with Lilly and Patty. A second later Jana, Sandy and Bob stepped out. Tom followed shortly after, sipping at a cup of coffee as he and Bob talked. They both said their hellos, Tom bent and kissed Lilly, she had sat on the wall next to Annie, and then he and Bob started down the wide ledge into the valley below. Jana settled down next to Cammy.
Cammy lifted her eyes to Sandy. “How's our girl?” she asked.
Sandy smiled cautiously. “I want to say okay... I took the rest of her forearm, pumped her full of penicillin. She seemed to tolerate that well. I think she'll be okay.”
“They say anything at all about how long they think they'll be?” Candace asked. She looked from Cammy to Annie.
Annie shook her head, as did Cammy. “I think though,” Annie said, “That things were going well. It seemed like things turned up fast... maybe...”
Candace nodded.
“What was it like?” Lilly asked. “I mean, with so many dead around. How did you manage? We didn't have that to deal with, and we still barely made it here.”
Cammy shook her head. “I had no direct dealings with it. Bear and Beth... Billy, Mac, David to a lesser extent.” Her voice seemed to choke up for a moment. “Bear and Beth. Those two have no fear. I guess we owe them a lot. They lead us together. That was something I thought would be bad, but they seemed to click.”
Candace nodded.
“The city... we came from the city. It's bad there. I mean, the dead are everywhere. They're different too. When we were in Pennsylvania, Bear and Beth told us that. The dead there were not smart like the dead in New York.”
The door opened, and Arlene stepped out onto the wide stone ledge and sat on the wall.
“The radio here tells us a lot. But it's tough to believe some of it. They're stronger than us? Some people are turning without being bitten?” Lilly said. “I know I should let you be... ask another time. I don't mean to push you.”
“It's okay,” Cammy said. She sipped at her coffee and then began to talk.
On The Road
Bear and Tim
Bear sat silently with Tim as Mike talked to the young woman a few yards away.
“She's had it pretty rough,” Tim said.
Bear Nodded. He looked over at the girl talking with Mike once more. “She was one of the ones that tried to kill you guys?” Bear asked in a near whisper. They were far enough away for her not to hear, but Bear pitched his voice low anyway.
Thirty feet away, Mike stared across the fire at the young woman. She met his gaze levelly, but her eyes were still red and puffy and told a story about a long, searching night. Her hands seemed at war with each other, the black fingernail polish chipped and flashing in the muted light.
“It was back at the campground,” Tim told him. “It started in Watertown. That's where we came from, up north next to Canada...” He looked at Bear.
Bear nodded, and Tim continued.
“So these guys tried to kill us there. They did kill one of the girls that was with Mike and Candace before I was with them. Then they all out attacked us. That was when Molly and Nellie escaped from them. We killed a bunch of their guys when that happened That put us right into it with them as far as they were concerned. Annie?”
Bear looked at Tim and nodded.
“They had made a deal with the people that had Annie. They intended to have her, but she escaped too. So they came to us to try to buy her back. The guy thought Mike would do it.”
“Christ,” Bear said.
Tim nodded. “Not long after that we got away, but they followed us.”
Mike spoke quietly. Too quiet to hear his words, but at his words Chloe's eyes began to leak once again. Bear fought back the anger that was bubbling just below the surface.
Although there were no words for context, Bear understood she was asking how the others might feel.
“If they forced her, then it's not her fault,” Bear said. He focused on a patch of scuffed dirt on the ground. Ronnie and Tim seemed to be bird watching. There seemed to be huge birds of prey everywhere now. Two of them floated high in the sky now. He turned back to Tim but there was nothing to say. They would be calling the Nation on the Radios in a short while. Let them know they were on their way back. Let them know about Molly and Nellie. It would be nice to talk to Cammy, find out about Beth. He turned back to Tim once more.
“I'm sorry that your girl had to go back,” Bear said.
“It's okay,” Tim said. “I'm actually relieved... Especially after what happened with Nellie and Molly.”
Bear nodded and the silence descended once more. He felt used up, out of words. He scuffed at the ground again with his boot heel, shifting gears, pushing the remembering out of his head, wondering what he would say to Cammy, whether Beth would be able to talk.
The Nation
“Hey,” Cammy smiled. “I thought you were just going to go on sleeping forever.”
Beth levered her arms down to scoot up in the bed and nearly banged the stump of her arm against the side of the bed before Cammy stopped her.
“Honey... Honey... Your arm. You have to be careful,” Cammy told her. She took her under the arms and lifted her gently back into the pillows.
“Oh God,” Beth whispered through her dry lips as she stared down at the stump of her arm. “Somebody chopped off the rest of my arm.” Her eyes came up to Cammy's own.
“Honey, Sandy had to take it. It was infected,” Cammy told her. She gently pushed her back into the pillows. Sandy appeared over her shoulder with a wooden cup of water. Cammy took it and helped Beth to take a sip. “Easy, Honey, just go slow,” she told her.
Beth cleared her throat and took a larger sip. “Oh my God... I have such a bad headache. Kind of sick to my stomach too.”
Sandy took her hand, and her fingers rested lightly against her wrist for a moment, feeling for her pulse. “The stomach is a couple of things, most likely. I have no idea when the last time you ate is, but I would bet it's been a few days. Pain killers and penicillin on an empty stomach are tough. I gave you a sports drink when I could get you to swallow, but you need real food. The headache is probably the morphine. You've been living on it the last few days. I can give you some aspirin for that.”
“She told me I couldn't have aspirin,” Beth said as she looked at Cammy. “Said I had to have the Morphine.” She licked her lips for what seemed like an hour and then took another deep sip from the glass Cammy still held.
“She wouldn't take it at first, true,” Cammy agreed with a laugh.
“Said I had balls... Thinks I don't remembner... Rember,” she sighed.
Cammy laughed. “Remember... Remember, Honey. Yes. I asked you if you had balls,” she turned to Sandy and her arched eyebrows. “She wanted to take only aspirin after Bear took her arm off.”
Beth nodded. “I did. She talked me into Morphine, and now look at this... I woke up with the rest of it gone too.”
“Only from the elbow down,” Sandy said. “You're lucky.”
Beth tried a lopsided smil
e on and then took another sip of the cold water.
“Listen, Honey, you needed the Morphine. You still do, really, and you can still have it if you want it. It just plays hell with your body when you've been on it a few days,” Sandy told her.
Beth took a deeper sip that was more like a real drink. “That is really good water,” she said.
Cammy and Sandy both laughed. “How about a sandwich, soup, broth? What do you think you can handle?” Sandy asked her.
“I think I can handle some more water,” Beth said.
“I'm sure you can. And you need liquid. I just want there to be some nourishment in it,” Sandy told her.
“Hot anything doesn't sound good. My stomach is still off,” Beth said.
“How about some cooled beef broth? Soup? Doesn't have to be hot,” Sandy agreed.
Beth swallowed, took a deeper drink of the cold water and nodded.
Billy And Pearl
“Bill, Billy... William?” Pearl asked.
“Billy's good,” Billy told her. “William makes me feel... too high class, I guess.”
Pearl laughed. “It's not wrong to think proper of yourself.”
The two were walking slowly down through the valley. Billy looked around at the valley. “You came with them? Helped to build this? It's awesome... really incredible.”
“I would love to say it is so, but no, I was here visiting family, in the states, I mean. I came across country with friends I only met them after the fact. I've been here about three months so far. I believe this place began in April. I arrived in June,” she brushed a shock of thick brown hair out of her eyes and looked up at Billy. “I did help to build the second and third barns. The rest has been catch what comes, for all of us really.”
“I could listen to you speak for hours,” Billy said. He blushed a second later. Pearl blushed too and looked up at the clear blue sky and then back down at the stone path they walked. “What will you do?” Pearl asked.
“Well, I'll wait for Bear to come back. When we left, we really didn't talk about it. I just don't know yet.” He looked up at the sky and then back down to the stone flagged pathway. “He may not want to stay.”
