Nick nodded. “No problem. We'll make sure there's enough for all of us to get by for at least three months, then seal the place off and give it a wide berth when we come for water.”
“Good.” Bruce turned to Ellie. “You and your boyfriend and his family are welcome to stay, but I'd like you to set up a camp off our property near your son's tent. We'll make sure you have whatever shelter and blankets and camping equipment we can scrounge up. Also water and safe food, same as your son, once you run out of your own and until you can use the supplies your ex-husband scavenged.”
She nodded, looking relieved. “Thank you, Mr. Norson. We had no reason to expect such kindness from you after putting you on the spot like this, but we're deeply grateful.”
He grunted. “I'm sure you're free of Zolos, just like you claim, but I need to give you the same warning I gave your ex-husband . . . if I see any of you wandering around the yard or approaching the house before I'm absolutely sure you're safe, with 21 days here where I can see you, then I'll have to trot out my gun and do what I need to in order to protect my family.”
Turning to Hal, who'd left his scoped hunting rifle in Ellie's car but hadn't hid the fact that he had it, the older man continued grimly. “I trust none of us want things to turn unpleasant, so please respect my property.”
Ellie's boyfriend nodded quickly. “Of course, sir. I'll make sure we all keep to our boundaries. Thanks for taking us in.”
That seemed to be the end of the fun and games. Ellie and the other new arrivals got started moving the stuff from their cars to the spot outside the property Bruce pointed them to, planning and starting their own campsite. As for Nick, he was itching to get back to his scavengers anyway, and he figured they'd now satisfactorily sorted things out and given his ex-wife a chance to spend time with Tallie.
But before he could excuse himself to head to the stockpile and check on his team's progress, Ellie left the rest of her group to their work and called him away. Not to the edge of the boundary of the shed, but actually all the way to the road just off the scavenger's camp.
It was obvious she wanted privacy.
Nick felt trepidation as she took up a spot across the road, where it should be safe, but was close enough that their raised voices wouldn't carry to the others in the yard. Her expression was serious enough that he had a feeling he was about to get a talking-to.
Well, he had it coming. Might as well head it off. He took a deep breath. “I'm sorry for how I failed Ricky and Tallie.”
His ex-wife blinked at him. “What?”
“Well I told you what happened. Because of my mistakes our children suffered.”
Her expression softened slightly. “You made the best of a hard situation, and we're all alive and things are looking good for the future. I'd say that's pretty good.”
Nick let out a relieved breath. He still thought he'd made a lot of mistakes he needed to learn from so he could do better in the future, but he was glad she didn't condemn him for how things had turned out.
Although it turned out he wasn't off the hook just yet.
“That said,” Ellie continued firmly, “I've got a serious issue with you taking Tallie along on scavenging trips and exposing her to danger, even if this Wensbrook town seems safe. Not to mention our daughter nearly died of Zolos and is going through a long and arduous recovery, which certainly isn't helped by being driven around and sitting in moving trucks all day.”
That was hard to argue, and one of Nick's continuing sources of worry and frustration. “I've made it clear to Mayor Darby that things can't go on like this much longer, and he needs to think of a solution.”
She shook her head as he spoke. “I haven't met the Mayor, but while I'm sure he's a decent man we can't expect him to solve our problems.” She glanced past him towards the scavenger camp. “Can we convince one of your scavengers to quit the job and go through three weeks of isolation with her?”
Nick hesitated. He had a feeling Val would leap at the chance, probably Lila too, but he wasn't sure he could spare either of them. “It's a lot to ask,” he hedged.
Ellie's eyes narrowed. “I want to hold my daughter sometime before next year.” She stared off into the distance, frowning thoughtfully. “Could you take me to visit this quarantine camp? There's already a community of Zolos immune people there, and surely some of them are planning on going through the 21 days soon. Maybe we could find some decent people to take Tallie, and thanks to your success scavenging we should be able pay them in food or other supplies.”
“We could ask around, sure.” He shifted uncomfortably. “I'm not sure how I feel about strangers watching our daughter, but maybe some of my scavengers' family or friends in camp would be okay.”
“I'm not thrilled about it either, but it's better than you taking her along on dangerous trips to other towns.” She gave him a fierce look. “Everything might be going swimmingly in this Wensbrook right now, but what if some gang like the one that attacked me and Hal in Watkins shows up?”
Nick shifted uncomfortably. That had been a hard thing to hear about, especially since on his end he'd once again been out of contact with her, wondering her fate as he read about just that sort of violent activity in the area she'd be traveling through.
Which she actually had been caught in the middle of, in what sounded like a seriously frightening situation.
He and his scavengers were doing their best to learn how to shoot, but he had no illusions they'd be able to hold their own against dozens of armed robbers. For that matter, he would've preferred to run from any danger rather than get into a gunfight, especially if Tallie was with him.
“You're right,” he admitted. “The last thing I want is to put her in danger.”
His ex-wife's expression softened. “Besides, we'll all be far better off being included in Stanberry's confirmed Zolos-free population, where things are safe and peaceful, as soon as possible. And, not to belabor the point, but I really, really, really want to hold my sweet baby girl in my arms.”
Nick nodded. “All right. I'll talk to my scavengers, see if they have any ideas, and we can visit the camp in the morning.”
“Thank you.” She turned towards her new camp, then paused and faced him again. “Speaking of scavenging, I wanted to say how impressed I am about what you've accomplished. It's not what I would've expected from you, but it's obvious the other scavengers look up to you. You're really helping a lot of people, including everyone living at this house.”
That wasn't 100% a compliment, but even so he felt a surge of pride at what he'd been able to do since coming to Stanberry. “Thanks. I'm glad you finally made it.”
Ellie gave him a tired smile. “Emphasis on “finally”, right?” He smiled back, and after a few moments she sobered and continued. “Now we just need to make sure we all make it to the end of this.” She glanced towards the yard, smile widening at the sight of Tallie sitting a safe distance from Linny as the two chattered like old friends while Cara watched over them closely. “As awful as it was to hear that Tallie got sick, at least now you and her don't have to live in fear of Zolos anymore. That's a huge relief.”
Nick could admit he'd considered that silver lining for their daughter. “You and the others won't need to go through it at all, Ells,” he said firmly. “Stanberry's a well-organized, peaceful place. We'll all get through to the end of this here without any more trouble.”
“I hope so.” With a last smile, which seemed to express everything being here meant to her after the last month, she turned and started back to the yard.
Nick followed by the path through the thicket that led to the shed. He hated to take Tallie away from her new friends, but it was time to get back to work.
✽✽✽
Jay Corey felt his legs tremble as he stood in front of the crowd. He'd regained a lot of his strength over the last few weeks since recovering from Zolos, but he wasn't back to 100% yet.
He wasn't sure he ever would be. He wasn't sure he cared.
Well, aside from his duty to his friends. They'd picked him as a leader against his own choice, when all he'd wanted was to be left alone to his grief. But that didn't change the fact that they looked to him to speak for them to the camp's relief workers. And also to plan for their welfare moving forward in this screwed up world, which had chewed them all up and spit them out to drag their wasted, ruined bodies onward to survival.
“Thank you all for coming,” he said in barely above a normal speaking voice. His voice didn't need to go far, since the forty or so people were all clustered close together around him; what need did they have to keep their distance from each other, now?
“Is this more nonsense about leaving the quarantine camp?” Elsie Jacobson called, voice quavering with age as much as Zolos weakness.
“This is about going home, yes,” he said as reasonably as he could. “This camp saved a lot of our lives, when otherwise we would've been too weak to care for ourselves and might've died of thirst in our homes. It's provided us a safe, comfortable place to recover our strength. And it offers us a permanent place to stay if we want it, all our needs provided for until this crisis is over.”
He paused dramatically, then continued in a firm tone. “Or until it runs out of supplies or falls to civil unrest. Then we'll be trapped in the middle of tens of thousands of people, all clawing to get out or get their hands on what little remains. And while most of us are strong enough to stand, now, we're not strong enough to fend off healthy attackers. We'd be torn to pieces in a riot.”
“Nobody would come near us, they'd be too afraid of Zolos,” his friend Larry argued.
“At least unless they do the math and figure out it's been over three weeks since we recovered,” Jay shot back.
“I don't think even that would give anyone the courage to bother us,” a woman near the back of the crowd called. He thought it was Liza.
He bit back his annoyance and locked his knees to keep his legs from wobbling; he couldn't stay up here forever. “Unless of course they manage to get some guns from the guards and just shoot us. Which they'll do without a second thought, considering the risk they think we present. And for that matter, even thrown rocks would be enough to seriously hurt or kill us.”
The crowd murmured uneasily at that. Feeling weak and helpless against healthy people who might attack them out of fear was one thing, but what chance did they have against armed enemies?
“Listen,” he said loudly, “we've surrounded by tens of thousands of people afraid to leave this camp and go anywhere. But what do we have to be afraid of anymore? We can go home, go back to our lives, and never have to worry about the virus that's crippling the rest of the country. Don't you guys want to get out of this miserable place, less than fifty yards from where our loved ones died en masse?”
Dead silence settled, people shifting in discomfort or resentment. Jay knew; he hated himself for saying it when he thought of his own lost family, all his friends. But it was the truth.
He took a deep breath. “Our homes are waiting for us. Ready for us to return and try to get back to our lives, or at least find a way to exist long term. I for one want to go where I have pictures of my wife and kids and the rest of my family. Where I have fond memories of them. It'll hurt to be there, but it's still what I want.”
A low murmur went through the crowd, some doubtful, more in agreement. Along with the grief on the faces of his friends, he saw a lot of wistfulness and longing.
Home might've been where everything went wrong, where their whole lives burned to ashes, but it was still home. It was where they'd lived, not just survived in a sort of limbo like this camp. It was where all their memories were, all the things that reminded them of their lost loved ones.
It was all they had left, besides what little remained of their community here.
Larry cleared his throat. “All right then. It's a free country, so let's have a show of hands of everyone who plans to go home.” He immediately raised his own hand high.
Jay raised his hand, of course. Although from the way it wobbled and immediately began to burn with fatigue, he wondered if that was the best way to get a consensus from a bunch of weakened people. Maybe they should've had everyone who wanted to go stand instead.
After a brief hesitation others began to raise their hands, then more and more until it was like a wave of motion.
Once it looked as if everyone had made up their mind he looked across the crowd, counting hands. Not everyone wanted to leave, but he hadn't expected that. He'd personally talked to everyone here before even calling this meeting and knew that more than a few, like Elsie, had adamantly refused to go.
But there were far more than he'd expected; it looked as if in the end, most of the fence-sitters had decided they wanted to stay with the community. Which made 32 people, including him, who were ready to go home.
He didn't feel any joy or satisfaction about the result, even though the vote had gone his way. He'd suggested going home because it was the best long-term solution for his community, pushed for it because he cared about his friends.
But in his heart he was just numb, as resigned to existing in his own home as he'd been in this camp. He half wondered if he was just looking to return to a familiar place, surrounded by pictures and memories of his lost family, where he could finally give up and let himself waste away and die.
Although his community probably wouldn't let him, since they'd need a leader twice as much out in the outside world, finding a way to help them all survive and keep going.
And somehow that leader had ended up being him.
Jay closed his eyes, taking a breath as he shifted to a more comfortable position. His legs almost buckled, and he had to wobble precariously to stay on his feet as his eyes snapped back open. It was embarrassing, but the expressions of his friends were sympathetic rather than amused.
“Okay,” he said firmly. “I'll go talk to the relief workers, let them know we want to leave. Maybe they can arrange transportation for us, even provide us with some supplies. And a way to keep in contact with them.”
His legs finally gave out, dumping him on his rear end as he gave a resigned sigh. From the ground he craned to look around at his community, his friends, and continued as confidently as he could. “As soon as I can manage it, we're returning to Wensbrook.”
End of Going Out.
Ellie's and Nick's story continues in Starting Anew,
Book Three of Isolation.
Thank you for reading Going Out!
I hope you'll consider taking a minute or two to leave a review. Reviews provide me with valuable feedback for improving my writing, and are also tremendously helpful for boosting a book's visibility.
Here's a link to take you right there:
Going Out Review Page
I've also included a list of links to my other post-apocalyptic books on the following page if you're interested in reading more of my work.
Links to Post-Apocalyptic Books
by Nathan Jones
BEST LAID PLANS
Fuel
Shortage
Invasion
Reclamation
Determination
NUCLEAR WINTER
First Winter
First Spring
Chain Breakers
Going Home
Fallen City
MOUNTAIN MAN
Badlands
Homecoming
Homeland
Mountain War
Final Stand
Lone Valley
ISOLATION
Shut In
Going Out
-o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
Isolation (Book 2): Going Out Page 34
