by John Grit
“Were you traveling by bus?” Nate asked.
“Rental car. I had to bail out during an ambush. They had the road blocked with crashed cars. I wasn’t born yesterday and knew what was up, but I had to get through. So I tried to race around the jam. Lost all my baggage but what was in a small pack I grabbed when I rolled out of the car while it was still moving. A couple rednecks were shooting it to hell at the time. I hit the woods and never looked back. That was a lifetime ago. I’ve lost track of time. I’ve been in escape and evasion mode since.”
“That crazy crap finally came in handy, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“And you stuck around because of our handouts?”
She seemed to be thinking about that. “Partly. I felt safer here. I mean, you two are the only people I’ve seen in weeks who did not act like they were insane. You helped me, and then when trouble came to you, I felt I owed you, so I stuck around even after it wasn’t so safe here anymore.” She looked inward. “The fact is I probably can’t make it to North Carolina. It’s just too dangerous to travel right now. It’s crazy, I tell you. Maybe in a few months.” She gave a wintry smile. “So here I am.”
“Like I said before, you’re welcome. We can use another pair of hands and eyes for security. That’s more important at the moment than supplies. Pulling security is a lot less tiring when it’s divided among three instead of two.”
“I can do more than that, like help on the farm.” Her eyes flashed to Brian and back to Nate. “And bake.”
“Bake?” Brian broke in. “He bakes biscuits.”
“Well, let me cook lunch,” Nate said. “Maybe you can cook tonight, if you’re not too tired. I would like for you to help me pack stuff to the river after lunch. Brian is back on his feet, but his leg hasn’t healed completely yet. It was bad for a while: infection.”
“Oh boy,” Deni said. “That’s dangerous with no hospitals.” She eyed his bandaged leg. “I have some medical training, just a little, wasn’t my MOS, but I might could help.”
“No need, it’s okay now,” Brian offered a little too eagerly. “Really, Dad has taken care of it.”
Nate winked at Deni. “Yeah, we Williams men don’t show our legs to just any girl that shows up you know.”
Brian turned red. “Oh shut up! You never quit.”
“Why don’t you two have a seat while I cook?” Nate headed for the kitchen.
Deni sat on a nearby couch. “Well, what is for lunch anyway? I hope it’s not rabbit.”
Brian dropped into a chair as if someone had just popped his ego balloon. “Eggs and wild hog, I’m sure. That’s what we had this morning, yesterday, the day before, and the day before.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“It won’t after a few days,” they both said in unison.
She pointed, a big disarming smile on her face. “See, I can read minds.”
They both laughed.
She was winning Brian over already.
* * *
“Is it really that bad out there?” Nate asked. He drank milk from a glass and forked another bite of egg into his mouth.
Deni relished the warm food, tasting every morsel. It was the first time she had eaten at a table in months. “I don’t think I need to convince you how crazy it is after all you two have been through. You’re out here in the country; imagine what it’s like where there are more people to go crazy on you.” She looked across the table at Nate. “America has become Somalia: a total breakdown of society. I’ll leave it at that. I don’t want to get explicit at the table.”
Nate stopped eating. “I knew it would be bad with no law, but… So the damn fools are turning a tragedy into an even worse disaster.” He looked at Brian with worried eyes. “There must be enough good people out there with some sense who will help us rebuild.”
“Sure. Someday,” Deni’s voice lacked confidence. “I mean, in a few years, sure we’ll rebuild.”
Nate’s jaw set. He stood, leaving food on the plate. “There’s work to be done, and I might as well get to it.” He started to walk into the living room to fill his pack for another trip to the river but turned back to them. “Brian is going to have a life. If that means the whole country must be rebuilt from the ground up, so be it.” He went to work loading his pack. “People have got to act like Americans again. What happened to the Americans who stopped the Nazis and Nipponese? The pioneers who settled wilderness with no help from any government, just a few good neighbors, or no one? This fall started long before the sickness came. The sickness is bad, but what we have done to ourselves is much worse. Hell, maybe we caused the sickness.”
Deni swallowed, glanced at Brian, and got up. She leaned over and whispered in Brian’s ear. “Your father loves you, never doubt it.”
Brian blinked. “It took you long enough to figure that out.”
She touched Brian’s face lightly and kissed him on his cheek, turning his face red. “I’m slow, you have to excuse me.” She smiled and headed for the living room. “Got an extra pack? Mine’s too small to carry much.”
Nate motioned with his head while stuffing canned goods into his pack. “Brian’s, it’s already loaded.”
* * *
They managed six trips before Nate decided to rest. He was worried about her being tired. But he had to admit he was all done in himself, having gone with little or no sleep for so long, and someone had to stand watch so Brian could sleep.
The cow was locked in its stall for the night.
Deni wanted the first watch, but Nate argued he should pull security first while she rested. “It will be nice to sleep the darkest hours for a change,” he said. “You can take from two to daylight.”
Nate looked out the bedroom window, glassing the tree line on both sides of the field and pasture, when he heard clanging in the kitchen. He had an idea what she was doing. A delicious aroma confirmed it thirty minutes later. He wondered how successful she would be. After all, how many women are used to baking with a wood burning stove? They had been using wood to conserve what gas they had.
Deni walked in. She spoke with a low voice so Brian would not be awakened. “I used nearly all of the last of your sugar, but it’s finished. Couldn’t find any small candles for the cake though.”
“I don’t think we have any small candles. We have a few larger ones left, but no small ones. Thanks for that. You must be dead on your feet, and you take the time to bake a cake for a kid you just met today.”
She smiled. “Oh, we met a long time ago. In a way, we three have been in combat together. We’re old chums.”
Something came to Nate. “Why did it take you so long to trust us enough to come in? It just seems that once you finally decided to join us, you have left behind all doubts about us.”
“That’s because I was convinced of what kind of person you are before I walked out of the woods. I have learned lately to be very careful about dealing with people. I’m sure about you and have no reservations about being your friend.” She looked away melodramatically and wiped a faux tear from her eye. “Besides, I think I’m in love with your son.”
Nate laughed. “Well, watch it. He may fall in love with you. He’s just old enough to fall for an older woman. He doesn’t need his heart broken. There is more than enough for him to deal with now without those kinds of growing pains.”
She pretended to be hurt. “An older woman? Just how old do you think I am?”
“About twenty or so.” Nate’s eyes narrowed. “So you’re about young enough to be my daughter if I had married young.”
She changed her stance and tilted her head. Her eyes bored into him. “I’m twenty-four. You can check my driver’s license if you want proof.” She held up her hand, displaying an engagement diamond. “I’m very much devoted to my fiancé. Being the friendly type, guys often get the wrong idea. You can imagine the trouble that caused in the Army.”
“Yes, I can. Around here you will be treated like a good friend…one of the guys, so to speak
. No need to worry about me getting the wrong idea. I’m still in love with Susan and a hurting widower. I’m just asking that you keep in mind Brian’s vulnerabilities. Present circumstances and your beauty add to the problem.”
“Do you want me to be cold to him? That may be worse than him developing a crush.”
“No, be yourself, just keep a look out for any sign he is starting to think of you as a girlfriend rather than an adult friend. Bring up how devoted you are to your fiancé and talk as if you’re already married. Make it clear to him you’re already happy with your future husband. Maybe that will stop him from getting carried away with juvenile fantasies.”
“That seems like a good idea.”
“You better get some sleep. It will be your watch in a few hours.”
“Okay, but don’t touch that cake. Brian gets the first piece.”
They both smiled.
Chapter 13
The morning sun inched up in the east and strained to penetrate misting fog. Deni yawned and put the binoculars to her eyes, glassing the tree line on the western side. She saw no movement.
Nate forced his eyes open and swung his booted feet onto the hardwood floor. It was difficult to tell with all the windows shuttered, but it seemed like daylight outside. The birds were singing, but they often start their chorus before sunrise, like roosters. He sat up on the living room couch, holstered his revolver, which he held in his right hand the whole time he slept, and shook sleep from his head. Before he got out of the couch, he grabbed his M14 and checked the chamber and magazine to be certain both were full.
Someone was in the kitchen. Nate wondered why Deni left her post. He looked in and found Brian sitting at the table, drinking coffee. Brian got up and poured Nate a cup from the pot on the woodstove, limping along the way.
Nate started to tell him to stay seated, but thought Brian needed to move around and start getting some exercise anyway. He sat across the table. “You didn’t need to get up so early, Deni’s on watch. You will be in there glassing all day while we pack more stuff to the river.”
“I can handle that okay. All I’ll be doing is sitting there looking out the window.”
“If no one shows up. Like Chuckey. And remember, you can’t just shoot anyone you see. The men we have had trouble with are dead. Chuckey is the only one left. Keep your eyes open and your head working. If they are a threat to us do not hesitate to kill them, but don’t shoot until you know.”
“I know that, Dad.” Brian had something on his mind. “Do you still think it’s necessary to move to the bunker? That thing is going to be hotter than hell this summer. And we really need to put in a crop.”
“Yes, it’s still necessary. There will be more people coming out here from town and even other parts of the country. Many will not be thugs, but they will be hungry, and hungry, frightened people do nasty things. At the very least, we will be overwhelmed with people asking for a handout. If we say no, we had better be capable of handling them when they decide to stop asking…and some of them will. I would like to help, but we just do not have the supplies to feed thousands.” His face hardened. “We must move to the bunker, Brian. We have no choice.”
“If someone finds us there, we will be stuck in that thing.”
“I would rather be stuck there than in this house.” Nate put his cup down. “We have survived a kind of siege here, so we can certainly handle one there.”
Brian looked into his black coffee. “I hate leaving our farm.”
“So do I, it’s why I waited so long to make up my mind to move.”
“It was me getting shot that did it.”
“It was reality, the way things are.” Nate sat back in his chair, his coffee forgotten. “More people are coming, many of them dangerous. You heard what she said last night. It is total anarchy.”
Brian lost interest his coffee also. “We can grow food here and keep the chickens and cow. We can’t do that at Mel’s.”
“When we come back, there may be nothing left but the land.” Nate saw the reaction on Brian’s face. “But we can rebuild. The land is what will feed us in the future. We have seeds stored and so does Mel.”
“We are going to leave Mom and Beth.”
Nate swallowed. “Brian, they left us when they died. They’re gone. No one is going to bother the graves. They might burn the markers for heat, but we can replace that too.”
“Are we taking the tools with us?”
“Yes, we will need them when we start farming again.” Nate tried to read his son’s face.
“The truck and tractor will be gone or destroyed. How are we going to till the land?”
“That’s why we are taking everything we can. That old plow that Grandpa used when he was young will work with me pulling and you walking behind.”
Brian was astonished. “You can’t carry that thing down to the river and then uphill to Mel’s bunker, it’s too heavy!”
“I will bury it back in the trees. I can carry it that far.”
“You can’t pull it either.” Brian became more insistent. “You need a mule to pull it.”
Nate smiled and shook his head. “You’re just full of worry and argument this morning, aren’t you?”
Brian was not finished. “And the handles will rot if you bury it.”
“Okay, let’s see…I’m going to remove the handles and take them with us. During the Depression, women pulled plows while their husbands walked behind, so I think I can do it. We may be able to trade for a mule sometime in the future.” Nate sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Anything else bothering you?”
“You don’t want to hear it anyway.” Brian suddenly had a renewed interest in his coffee.
“I asked because I do want to know what’s on your mind.”
Brian looked up at his father and then into his coffee again. “I want to stay here.”
Nate could not believe it. “I just went through the reasons we can’t stay. Brian, there’s just no way.”
Brian exploded out of his chair and rushed into his room as fast as his leg would let him.
Nate sat there confused. What is wrong with him, really? He looked around the table and saw, in his mind’s eye, Susan and Beth sitting there laughing and happy. This home is the place we were a whole family, the last place he was happy. It’s the last connection to Susan and Beth. Nate rubbed his forehead hard and ran his shaking hand down his unshaven face. He shook with rage at the world for hurting his son and killing his wife and daughter. Then he slammed his fist down on the table. The coffee cup vibrated, spilling some of its contents. We have no choice!
Deni ran in. “I…heard something.” She saw it in his eyes.
Nate looked up to see Brian hobble into the kitchen and stop behind her, shotgun in hand. His face was streaked. Nate stood and forced a smile. “Sorry if I alarmed you two. Deni, will you show Brian the gift you made for him? We will be busy backpacking later, so now is as good a time as any.”
Deni looked surprised, but recovered. “Sure.” She put the rifle against a nearby wall. “I hid it so he couldn’t stumble on it last night.” She gave Brian an impish look, “It would have spoiled the surprise.”
Brian stared at the chocolate cake she placed on the table. It was smaller than the cakes his mother baked, because of the scarcity of ingredients, but it reminded him of her anyway.
Deni bowed and motioned towards the table. “A little late, but it’s your birthday cake. It’s all yours. I’ll beat your father off it if he tries to pilfer a piece.”
Astonished, Brian stood there holding the shotgun. “Of all the things to do at a time like this.” He looked up at her. “You don’t even know me. And you lose sleep when you’re so tired just to bake a cake for me?”
“Oh, it wasn’t that much of a sacrifice. It was your father’s idea.” She crossed the room. “Let me take that.” She took the shotgun and set it by the rifle. Leading him to the table, she said, “I will fix breakfast. You can have some cake and milk for de
sert.”
Brian sat down. “I can’t eat all of it. Both of you might as well have some.”
“I’m going to rig the steel plate in that window,” Nate said. “We will eat and enjoy some of the cake before Deni and I start work.”
Deni said, “It won’t go bad you know. You can eat a piece after every meal for a couple days. I did bake it for you. It will probably be your last cake for a long while.”
“Thanks.” Brian gave her a shy smile.
“You’re welcome.” She snapped her fingers. “I’ll be back.” She scurried off down the hall, leaving Brian sitting at the table.
Deni came back holding a .22 pistol. “Your father cleaned it last night.” She handed it to Brian. “It’s all I can give you.”
Brian examined it. “Wow. It’s a Ruger with target sights and a bull barrel.” He looked up. “The one you took off that guy?”
Deni shrugged. “It’s all I have to give.”
Brian seemed pleased and perplexed at the same time. “I never expected Dad to make a big deal out of my birthday with everything he’s had to deal with. I even forgot that I turned thirteen, we’ve been so busy. And you, a stranger, go and act like you’ve known me for years. You must be a really great person.”
Her eyes shined. “You bet I’m a great person. But your father did not forget. Who do you think told me about your birthday?”
Nate put a brick of .22s on the table. “Like her, I’m kind of limited as far as what I can give you.”
Brian grew serious. “What you gave Mom and Beth and me has always been unlimited. No one ever had a better dad.”
Deni said, “You’re going to make your dad cry.”
* * *
Nate carried the outboard, threading it between close-growing trees.
Deni had a gallon can of fuel in one hand, a rifle in the other. They both carried heavy packs on their backs. “Are you still going to take a load upriver? It looks like rain.”
