Wanted

by Jason Halstead

“The fallout from LA wasn’t too bad. Made a few people sick but mostly it either passed over us or fell short,” Harold explained. “When Vegas got hit, it wasn’t clean. It was one of them dirty bombs, not much damage but tons of radiation. That was just a distraction though; the real target was the Hoover Damn.”

  Carl had heard most of this over the years, but he listened intently. Harold, it seemed, had firsthand knowledge of it.

  “Flooded this whole area pretty good. We’re far enough away here we didn’t get any, but after the first floods came through, what was left behind was dirty water,” he continued. “You know about dirty water?”

  “All the fallout carried by the water, in this case,” Carl answered.

  “Yes, sir,” Harold said, nodding his head appreciatively. “Poisoned a lot of folks and killed off all the fish in the Colorado. Soon enough it killed off most of the vegetation around here too. We want water now, we got to go and get it.”

  That explained the drums in the back of the truck they had seen earlier. “Clean water source up north somewhere?” he asked.

  Harold closed his mouth and looked at Carl suspiciously. He had been about to continue before Carl had spoken.

  “We saw the blue truck full of water drums and followed it here,” Carl told him. “We were north a bit, cut over from I-40 to see what we could find in the houses here, if we couldn’t find anybody.”

  Harold nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, there’s a spring up there. Limestone cave, actually, found it a couple years back – must be the tremors from the explosions in LA or Vegas opened it up.”

  “So,” Carl said, steering him away from talking about their water source. He did not want Harold to think he was probing him for information. “If the Colorado’s killed everything off, why was your man pointing that .50 cal in the back of the truck into Needles?”

  Harold sighed. “The trees and flowers and cacti were killed off, lots of the animals too. A fair amount of people, either radiation or the fever. But enough were left behind. Some of them came here, the rest… well… the rest are still in there.”

  “Trouble?” Carl guessed.

  Harold barked out a laugh. “You could say that. We’ve been calling them vamps for a while now. They mostly come out at night and lay low during the day. Lots of them have radiation poisoning from living down in the areas that was flooded. Every now and then they’d come test us, trying to get in and take whatever we got. Lately they been getting braver.”

  “That explains the fence,” Carl said, looking at it and realizing how pointless it would be except as a means of slowing somebody down.

  “Yeah, we put that up a while back. Mostly a deterrent though.”

  “Got any more coils of wire?” Carl asked.

  Harold looked at him and nodded, “Lots. A while back they kept cutting it and we had to keep replacing it. Got plenty of spools of it in our garage back there.”

  “Why they keep trying to come in here? What do you guys have that they want?” Carl asked after he finished approximating how much barb wire it would take to do what he was going to recommend.

  “Food,” Harold said without preamble. “They’ve killed all the stray dogs and cats by now and don’t seem too interested in hunting. We scrounged all the canned food we could get out of there, but they got some too. Now they’re running low.”

  “You can’t be doing much better,” Carl observed.

  Harold shrugged. “Not great, but we send out teams hunting when we need to. Don’t have the water to grow any crops, but we’ve been experimenting with some up near our water source. We rotate a crew up there to stay around the clock and keep it guarded though.”

  “Good idea,” Carl said. “But there’s something you’re not telling me. There’s a big stink over all this and so far I ain’t heard a thing that smells as bad as you’re making it out to.”

  “It’s the food,” Harold said, staring off into the distance. The sun, a hazy red ball, was nearing the horizon. “I don’t know if they prefer it or not, but when there’s nothing else at hand… well, they’re cannibals.”

  Carl’s head whipped around and he stared at Harold to see if he was making a bad joke. Harold turned to look at him and shrugged. “We are their food, or so they think,” he added.

  Carl let out a deep breath and turned to stare at the barb wire again. “We need steel if you’ve got it, wood if you don’t.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Need to make some spikes, take four sections of wood or steel about four feet long and fasten them in the middle. Like two ‘X’s leaning against each other,” Carl explained, squatting down to draw a picture in the dirt with his finger. “You hook the barb wire up at the end of each piece and maybe another in the middle, gives you a barrier nobody’s going through without spending a lot of time on it. It’ll stop anything short of a treaded vehicle too.”

  “How’s it going to stop a truck?” Harold asked, seeing where Carl was going with it but not quite understanding.

  “Maybe they break the wires,” Carl said, “but then they get wound around the wheels and cut in deep enough to flatten the tire.”

  Harold nodded. “Okay, I get it. I don’t know if I’ve got that much barb wire.”

  “That’s okay, use what you got and create firing lanes. If they come, they have to come through the openings and that’s where you have your defenders aim.”

  “Just like hunting!” Harold said excitedly. “Tie down a fence in the woods to channel the game through to the opening!”

  Carl nodded. “What kind of guns you got, just shotguns and hunting rifles?”

  “There’s a national guard base up in Kingman, Coast guard down in Lake Havasu, not much here but the police station,” he said.

  “So where’d you find that M2 Heavy Barrel on your truck?”

  “Had another flood a couple years back, not a major one but something up the Colorado must have gave way. Anyhow, we found a half buried hummer up north of here a ways. A bridge was washed out upstream, we think the hummer had been on it when it happened. We grabbed what we could but nobody was willing to go inside it, it was still half buried in the water.”

  “If it had been in the water that long, that gun was hot too,” Carl pointed out.

  “Yeah, that’s what we figured. We scrubbed it down and ran a lot of water through it, then stripped it down to dry and oiled it up real good. Nobody got sick, we figured we did a good job of cleaning it up,” he said, smiling rather proudly.

  Carl grunted. “Guess so,” he agreed, though in reality he began to wonder about the river itself. “How about ammo?” he asked.

  “Ammo we got lots of. Couple gun stores in the area we got our hands on most of it. We went after them first,” he explained. “Plenty of thirty caliber ammo – lots of hunters use that around here. Some bigger stuff too. Pistol rounds and shotgun ammo make up most of it.”

  “Any .223 Remington?”

  Harold thought about it for a moment then nodded. “I think so, we picked up a fair share of varmint guns, more than a few .223. Should be plenty of ammo for them too.”

  Carl smiled. “Mind if we steal some? Some .308 Winchester too, if you’ve got any to spare.”

  “Depends, you planning on sticking around or heading out?” Harold asked.

  “Not sure, depends on what they want to do,” Carl admitted. “I’ll help you with your defenses, either way. What you do for power around here?”

  Harold snorted. “Power? We haven’t had power in years. I’ve got an 8,000 watt generator out back, runs on diesel, but we never use it except for emergencies.”

  Carl nodded, that made sense. “Before it… I had wind turbines and solar panels set up at my place. Couple banks of batteries and I had juice twenty four seven.”

  “Set it up yourself?” He asked, eyeing Carl shrewdly.

  Carl smirked. “Yeah, used to hold an electrician’s license.”

  “Used to?”

  “Never bothered renewing it once I got i
t, took the classes to learn what I needed to know, never made a living at it.”

  “What did you do for a living?”

  Carl sighed. “Not much, once I came back to the ‘States. Bought my land, set my place up, then lived off the grid. It was a good set up.”

  “What happened to it?” Carl could see Harold was getting drawn in more and more. He had not glanced back at the campsite for several minutes now, instead he was focused on what Carl was slowly revealing.

  Carl jerked his head back towards the throng gathered in the campsite. “They happened.”

  The look Harold gave was all that was needed. Carl sighed again and wondered how he was going to explain things without giving up too much. “Rescued Jessie from some bandits,” he said. “Brought her back to my place, next thing I know we’ve got company. The trashed my place but we got away.”

  Harold stared at him, chewing on the corner of his mustache thoughtfully. Finally he spoke, “There’s more to that story, maybe a lot more. Might have been a small county in Wisconsin I spent my time in, but I’m not a total idiot.”

  Carl scowled, which made Harold laugh. “I’ll get it out of you soon enough,” he promised with a smile. “We’ll worry about that later. What say you tell me about Miss Banks now. What’s she really like?”

  * * * *

  Carl stayed up most of the night with Harold, watching the perimeter and learning what he could of the minimal defenses of the campground. He made suggestions in some places, and took mental notes in others. By the time the eastern sky began to lighten, he was wiped out. Harold had somebody take him to one of the small cabins in the campground. It had two sets of bunk beds in it, all of them the size of a cot, and three of them were already filled with the exhausted bodies of the people Carl had spent more time with than anybody he could remember.

  He slipped off his boots as quietly as he could and leaned his rifle against the wall next to the open bed. He crawled on top of the sheets of the bottom bunk and grimaced when he heard the springs squeak. Tanya was asleep above him, but she did not stir. Across from him Jessie moaned in her sleep and sat up, looking around as her breath caught in her throat. Carl watched her, hoping she would settle back down, then mentally cursed when he saw her eyes focus and one hand went to her chest.

  Aggie, or somebody, had provided her with a too-large t-shirt and some workout shorts to sleep in. Jessie turned and saw Carl. Her eyes widened even as a smile spread on her parted lips. Carl cursed, this time out loud, as she crawled out of her bed in a scamper and threw herself onto him.

  When the world was right side up again for him he found himself trapped tightly in her arms. There was nothing sexual about it, she was just holding him tightly and letting silent tears soak into his shirt. He let her cry, easing his position just slightly to remove a knee from his thigh and an elbow from his ribs.

  “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” she whispered when she finally had control of herself.

  “You ain’t that lucky,” he muttered, finally able to back away from her. Jessie sat up on the edge of his bed, leaning out enough to not hit her head on the bunk above it, but still staring at him.

  “Oh Carl… you wouldn’t know what to do without me,” she said softly, smiling at him.

  “Want to try me?” he grumbled.

  “Fine,” she said, her good mood unbreakable. “I’m not afraid to admit I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  Carl bit back his acerbic response and shrugged. “You’d find your way. These folks seem to think highly enough of you.”

  “Oh my God! I know! It’s kind of cool but kind of weird, you know?” she asked rhetorically. “I’m used to people knowing me but some of these folks, Aggie and Harold especially, they’re like super-fans, you know?”

  Carl nodded. That they were. Harold had spent most of the night going on about Jessie and what he knew of her. When he wasn’t, he was asking Carl for details of what life on the road was like with her. He even made the assumption that he and Jessie were lovers, hinting at all sorts of improprieties. Carl let him think what he wanted, he had other things to worry about.

  “Oh, and get this,” she continued, “Aggie thinks you and I are…you know…”

  Carl rolled his eyes and laid his head back on his pillow. “Harold too,” he muttered.

  Jessie nearly squealed, only her hand to her mouth stopped her. “You didn’t correct him?”

  “Let them think what they want,” Carl said. “We got better shit to worry about.”

  “Awww,” Jessie said, leaning over and giving him a peck on the cheek. “I think you’re getting soft on me, Mr. Waters.”

  “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” he growled.

  “Shouldn’t you be realizing what you’ve got in front of you?” she asked him, hands on her hips in a mock pose of irritation.

  “Yeah, I got a city full of people that are getting hungrier and consider anybody else as food and I got a merc outfit anxious to finish what they started,” he said, meeting her gaze evenly. And don’t get me started on the people I’ve got hanging around me lately.”

  Jessie stared at him for a minute, her smile wavering. Instead of smiling or glaring at her, he felt kind of strange at seeing her reaction. Almost like he was ashamed or embarrassed. “You’re a real asshole sometimes, you know that?” she said, standing up and moving back to her bed.

  Carl watched her climb back in and found that he wanted to say something. He was damn tired, but for some reason it just didn’t settle right with him to just let it go like that. “Harold says he’s got all your movies, even the recruiting films you made, what…”

  “He’s got what?” Jessie interrupted, sitting up in bed and speaking louder than she meant to. They both hesitated, waiting and listening to see if Tanya or Dustin had woken up. They slept on, ignorant and living free in the dreams.

  “My recruiting films? Those were just commercials and interviews,” she said, then rubbed her temples. “Oh god, how did he get those?”

  “Why’s it matter?”

  Jessie stared at him, then frowned. “I guess it don’t matter,” she said icily. “It’s all just playing pretend in front a camera, right?”

  “Is it?” Carl asked, genuine with his question. “Didn’t you believe in what you were doing back then?”

  Jessie stared at him then turned to stare at the bunk above her. A few moments later she turned back to look at him and nodded. “I did,” she whispered, her voice tight with emotion that Carl did not understand the source of. “It was the best thing that had happened to me… Ever.”

  “So why’s it bug you?”

  “Tanya didn’t tell you?”

  Carl glanced at the bunk above him. He shook his head, wondering why Tanya would have anything to tell him about this.

  “It’s what got me out of the Army,” she whispered, sighing a little as she did so. “Suicide bomber took out my crew and a bunch of innocent people. Fucked me up pretty good too.”

  Carl grunted his understanding. “You mentioned that before.”

  She nodded, “Yeah,” she said, trailing off. “I still see him,” she whispered a few moments later.

  “Who?”

  “All of them,” she said, “Lieutenant Thelen, Khaled, the bomber, my camera man… all of them. I still see them all.”

  Carl nodded and let her lapse into silence. Finally Jessie spoke again in a soft voice. “Carl, when are we leaving?”

  Carl sighed. “I don’t know. Can’t stay too long, no need to put these people in trouble, they didn’t ask for it. You can stay if you want to, they really like you here.”

  Jessie looked at him and sighed in disgust. “Jesus, are all men as stupid as you are?”

  Carl felt as stunned by her hissed outburst as he was sure he looked.

  “I don’t want a reward, okay? Fuck the reward – I want to be sure they’re safe. I talked to Tanya, she told me what you and her think might be going on. I don’t care how long it takes or
what we have to do.”

  “We?” Carl repeated. He nodded. “Yeah, okay, we’ll figure it out. Why, these people freaking you out?”

  “No… it’s… oh Christ, you’re going to think I’m crazy!” she blurted.

  Carl smirked. “Already do, this ain’t gonna hurt.”

  “See, there you go being an asshole again. God, please grant me the patience to put up with his bullshit until I can beat some sense through his thick skull!” she said, offering her hands up in prayer.

  “Anyhow,” he said, ignoring her attempt at a humorous insult.

  “Yeah, anyhow… well, when we’re on the move I stay busy. It wipes me out, but it keeps me from dreaming,” she admitted in a rush.

  Carl stared at her long enough to make her feel uncomfortable. “That when you see them?”

  She nodded, then threw her head back at the realization her eyes were filling with moisture again. “How do you do it?” she whispered. “How can you be so tough? So cold?”

  “It’s easy when you don’t let nobody like you.”

  Jessie turned to look at him. He saw a smile slowly make its way onto her lips. Not a big smile and not a taunting one, just a soft one of understanding. “Maybe I’m the one with the thick skull,” she offered, then rolled on to her back. “Good night. Carl.”

  Carl watched her for another few minutes, wondering what she could possibly be talking about. He had a few ideas, but each led to more confusion and questions. Finally he gave up, realizing that a normal woman was too confusing to bother with and Jessie was hardly normal. He rolled onto his back and, within seconds, let sleep claim him.

  * * * *

  Carl awoke to the sounds of Tanya and Dustin getting their things around and heading outside. He lay there listening for a moment, feeling the aches in his body that hard work delivers. Age only magnified it with a vengeance, but he knew that feeling sorry for himself was not going to make him feel any better. He sat up, groaning a little in a rare show of misery, then stretched before he reached for his boots.

  He glanced across the room, which consisted of roughly six feet of floor space between his bottom bunk and Jessie’s, and saw her watching him, her crystal blue eyes clear and mysterious. “Morning,” she said, smiling a little.