by T A Williams
The man appeared to be around Ben’s father’s age. His entire face was red with blood making it hard to make out any features and even the man’s black hair had a blood red hue. He wore military fatigues that were partially torn in several spots and covered in blood, not all of which appeared to be his own. Ben made a point to keep his gaze away from the man’s right leg.
Jack came back into the room with several towels, one he threw over the man’s right leg, and the other was wet which he used to clean off the man’s face. As the blood disappeared the man’s face came into view and Ben realized all the blood was coming from a large cut just above the man’s left eye.
The wounded solider let out another moan and began to turn over which put pressure on his injured right leg. He let out a scream that caused Ben to jump back and then the man’s eyes shot open.
Jack put his hand on the man’s chest and tried to meet his eyes. “It’s ok, you were in a helicopter accident and we found you and brought you to our house.”
The man’s eyes were wild and danced around the room. In one quick motion he reached out and grabbed Jack by the neck.
“No!” Ben screamed.
The wounded soldier’s eyes darted to him and after a few seconds the wild look left his eyes and they rolled back and he passed out. Jack pulled from the man’s grip and fell over backwards catching his breath.
“Son-of-a-bitch has some strength.” Jack said rubbing his neck. “Maybe we should tie his hands behind his back until we can explain everything.
Ben nodded.
They gently pushed him to his side and used some rope to tie his hands behind his back. Once this was completed Jack softly peeked under the towel, his face reflected exactly what Ben was thinking.
“This is beyond anything I can handle.” He said shaking his head. “We’re going to need to go into town and see if Whitford has anyone who might be able to help this man.”
Ben had met Whitford once. The man had come over shortly after his father had been killed and before Alec left. Ben remembered the man saying something to him but he had been too out of it at the time. He had not wanted to be consoled he just wanted his family back together.
“You want to try and move him again?” Ben asked
Jack rubbed his neck again. “Honestly I think we better wait until he wakes up so we can explain the situation first. He’s hurt but apparently not enough to stop him from kicking my as-, I mean butt.”
Ben didn’t argue.
The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon when the man started to stir again. Despite being exhausted Ben had not been able to fall asleep. Every time he nodded off he would wake up in a panic convinced the wounded soldier had woken up and was about to take him out.
The man let out a low groan and then his eyes shot open. Ben noticed first and before he could say something the man attempted to get up, he used his left leg but it still gave away and he collapsed back onto the floor with a loud groan.
Jack was in between Ben and the man with his hands held up in the air.
“Sir, you were in an accident. My friend and I found you and brought you to our house. We’re friends, not enemies.”
The man tried to push off with his wounded right leg and let out a scream. He remained on his back a few minutes and tried to compose himself. “Is-“ he coughed as his words spurted from his mouth. Clearing his throat he began again. “Did we lose anyone?”
Jack hesitated for just a second. “You were the only one we found.”
The pained expression on the man’s face doubled for a second then he took a deep breath and again tried to compose himself. He took stock of himself. “I think my right shoulder is separated,” he glanced down at his right leg and quickly looked away. “And it appears my leg is broken.”
“You’re right.” Jack said.
“Didn’t really need a confirmation on that one, but thanks anyway.” The man’s eyes hardened and he looked again, this time his face took on a more detached look; it reminded Ben of a doctor looking over a patient. “It’s a slight compound fracture - approximately an inch of my Fibula is sticking out of my skin.” He rubbed his forehead in thought. “I take it none of you is a licensed doctor?”
They both shook their heads.
“Where is the nearest town and do you have the means to get me there?”
“About a fifteen minute drive and we were waiting until you woke up to take you.”
“For future reference if the bone was out much further I probably would have went into shock, so it’s probably safe not to wait next time.”
Jack rubbed his neck again, “Easy for you to say.”
“Also there is an increased risk of infection,” he said more to himself. “I’d like to take that trip to town if possible.”
“I’m going with you.” Ben said a little too quickly.
Jack looked at him puzzled. “Of course you are.”
The soldier gave Ben the same puzzled look and Ben could feel his face going red.
“My name is Jack and this is Ben.”
The soldier nodded. “The name’s Mason and thank you for your help.”
Ben
The sun breached the horizon casting the sky and nearby clouds in a pink and orange glow. As they drove into town Ben noticed some of the leaves on the passing trees were changing color and matched the sky.
It was Ben’s first foray into the world since his father had brought them to the house in the middle of nowhere. The streets were empty, houses abandoned, and the grass in most of the yards would have been waist high to him. He had known they left the city to be safe but it wasn’t until now he realized just how different things had gotten in the year since they had left.
Jack drove towards the square and he began to see signs of humanity. A couple people were sitting on porches, fresh clothing hanging on wires, and smoke rose from one of the house’s backyards giving Ben just a brief smell of cooking meat.
Jack pulled up to the town square and parked the vehicle to the side. Several people were mulling about and all their attention was focused on these new arrivals.
The old man jumped out of the truck. “We’re looking for Whitford, is he here?”
One of the people nodded and ran towards one of the rundown buildings.
“Is there a doctor here?” Mason asked from the backseat.
Ben had not said anything to the man but with Jack out of earshot he didn’t have much of a choice. “I…I don’t know.”
The man pushed himself up by the elbows and groaned in pain. “How big of a town are we talking about here?”
Ben had no idea. “Um…not very big I think.”
Jack opened the side of door and Freddie was standing next to him. Freddie was one of the men who went with his father when they attacked the people who had killed his brother and kidnapped his sister. His father had been killed but this man survived.
Freddie reached in and helped pull Mason out of the vehicle. He put his head under the man’s armpit and led him towards one of the larger buildings. By this time there were more people on the street watching silently. As Ben followed along he saw more people watching from the windows of the nearby homes – the place wasn’t as deserted as he originally thought, it was just in really bad shape.
The building they were led into was a large town hall type center. The inside smelled vaguely of unwashed bodies and sweat. There were a few beds set up on the far walls but for the most part it seemed to be a giant storage facility. There was a kitchen area to the side and there was a line of people waiting to be served, it smelled like they were cooking rabbit, or rabbits based on the amount of people waiting to be served.
“This way.” Freddie said leading them to a back room.
This room was obviously their medical facility. The back shelf was filled with medicine bottles and medical supplies. Freddie helped Mason get onto a large table and had the man lay back.
Mason nodded his thanks to the man. “Do you all have a doctor?”
Freddie smiled and nodded his head. “Dr. Frank. He’s up there in age but he has been taking care of this town for decades, or so I’ve been told.”
A large man with a raggedy beard that covered nearly his entire face entered. It took Ben a second but he recognized the man as Whitford. The man smiled at him warmly then took a look at Mason and his face grew worried.
“How are you doing?” he asked concerned.
Mason gave a tired smile. “I’ve had worse days, not many, but a few.”
An older man that looked like he was in his late sixties walked in with a slight limp. The top of his head was bald and a line of thin white hair circled the top of his head.
“This is Dr. Frank.” Whitford said pointing to the man.
The old man didn’t say anything he went directly to Mason’s injured leg. “Compound fracture.”
“Looks that way.” Mason said staring up at the ceiling.
“From your outfit I take it you’re with the military.”
“Yes sir.”
“So you know what I need to do then to correct this.”
Mason sighed. “Unfortunately. By the size of this town I take it you’re a general practitioner?”
“You would be right.”
“Jesus,” Mason closed his eyes. “Do you know what you’re going to be doing?”
“Of course.”
“Have you actually done this before?” Mason asked.
“Not exactly.”
“Do you have the tools to do it?”
“We can spend the next several minutes having a Q&A or we can spend that time fixing your leg.”
Again Mason sighed. “I’ll take that as a no.”
Jack walked over to Ben. “Let’s take a walk.”
Before the man finished his sentence Ben was already walking out of the room, he wasn’t entirely sure what they were going to do but he knew he didn’t want to see it. The rest of the people in the building followed him out the door.
Jack took him over to a rusty bench near their truck and they sat down.
“What are they going to do?” Ben asked.
“Do you really want to know?”
The Ben who used to run around in the woods pretending to be a superhero wouldn’t have wanted to know, but that was the same Ben who had hid while his father and brother fought against the people who had destroyed his family. That Ben was a child and he didn’t want to be a child anymore.
Ben nodded.
“They have to set the broken bone.”
Ben sat there for a moment. “But his bone was sticking out of his skin.”
“Yes it is.”
Jack didn’t have to say anything else he was able to put the pieces together. He fought off the urge to puke by putting his head in his hands.
Mason’s screams lasted less than a minute but Ben would hear them in his head for months after.
Ben
Night began to fall and several of the people started a bonfire in the middle of the square. There were over a dozen people standing around talking and joking, they almost acted like everything was normal. Ben was off to the side lying on a bench near Jack and Whitford.
“How is he doing?” Jack asked.
“Good,” Whitford said cheerfully. “Minimal blood loss and they were able to set the bone. Dr. Frank said the only thing we need to do is watch carefully to make sure it doesn’t get infected, but we have some antibiotics we can spare to help out.”
“How long until he gets back on his feet?”
“At least a couple of months, it could be longer to be honest.”
“Don’t worry we planned on taking him back with us.”
“That had not even crossed my mind.” Whitford laughed but a weight seemed to be lifted off his shoulders. Ben was pretending to be asleep on the nearby bench and he felt Whitford’s eyes on him. “How is the kid and everything on your end?”
“He’s struggling, as much as anyone would be in his position. But he’s tough, he’s fighting through it.”
“Any word from his brother?”
Silence from Jack.
“If he hasn’t found her now-“
“Alec is a tough kid. He’ll either find her and come home or he’ll just come home.”
A feeling of hope crept up in Ben and he quickly pushed it down.
“I hope you’re right.” Whitford said wearily. “It’s a dark dangerous world out there.”
Laughter came from the group of people around the bonfire and the two men sat there listening to it for a while.
“How are things here?” Jack asked.
“Better. We’re just trying to prepare for this winter- we can’t have a repeat of last winter.”
“Was it that bad?”
“We lost too many people.” Whitford’s voice was flat and it was clear he had said all he was going to say.
“We have a pond that has plenty of fish and Ben’s house has a well if you all need fresh water.” Jack offered.
“Thanks, but we’re good. There are a couple ponds we have been using nearby and we have plenty of fresh water. We just weren’t prepared last year. We spent too much time waiting for the government to swoop in and protect us, by the time we accepted we were on our own it was too late.”
Ben noticed the man’s face turn dark.
“What does Mason know?”
“I haven’t asked. We took him straight here after the helicopter crash.”
Whitford stood up. “He should be awake, I say we go ask him.”
“Whitford shouldn’t we let the man rest, he’s been through a-“
“We’ve all been through a lot. I’ll just ask him a couple of questions see if he knows what is going on out there.”
Ben hopped up from the bench and followed the men into the building. Jack noticed him following but didn’t attempt to stop him. Inside Mason was still in the medical room but was sitting in a chair with his leg up on another chair and a cup of soup in his hands. They had used a large 2x4 as a brace and the place where the bone had been sticking out was covered in a large bandage.
Mason smiled when they walked in but must have sensed this wasn’t a wish-you-well visit because his face instantly hardened.
Whitford stopped a few feet from him. “You feeling better Mason?”
“Better than I was at the beginning of the day, but I don’t think my health is why you’re here.” He said simply.
“What happened?” Whitford asked not skipping a beat.
“I don’t know.”
“I meant what happened to the power?”
“I know what you meant and my answer is the same.”
Whitford appeared flustered. “You’re with the military how do you not know what happened?”
“You’ve never served any branches of the military have you?”
“No but-“
“Or course we had questions but either the people above us didn’t have answers or they felt it was on a need-to-know basis. The power went out, people went crazy, and they sent us out, end of story.”
Whitford turned to Jack as if the old man could say something to change what he was hearing. “What were you doing before the helicopter crash?”
“Attempting to maintain order. They deployed hundreds, actually closer to thousands of us all over the country to do what we could to prevent mass chaos.”
Whitford threw his hands up in the air and walked to the other side of the room. “And how the hell is that working out?”
“Work in progress.” Mason’s face remained stoic, his voice didn’t raise or show any sign of stress. “I know the government is performing supply drops throughout the country, I know they are setting up temporary bases near large cities and doing everything they can to help people survive. My job is to stop those people who are trying to take advantage of those in need.”
“Supply drops!” Whitford screamed. “Where the hell are the supply drops? Who the hell decides what areas get a supply drop? You know how many people h
ere starved to death last winter? Have you actually seen someone starve to death?”
Mason’s voice was calm. “I do not decide that.”
Jack stepped between the men and approached Whitford. “He didn’t turn off the power and he didn’t kill those people.”
Whitford started to say something but stopped. After a few moments he stormed out of the room.
“I’m sorry-“ Jack started.
“There is nothing to be sorry about. He has a right to be angry and I’m the closest thing to his government he has right now. I’m being honest when I say I have no idea why the power went out.”
Ben stepped forward. “You said they either don’t know or don’t want to tell you, which do you think it was?”
Mason shook his head slowly. “I just do what I’m told. I would like to think that if they knew they would have told me.”
Ben didn’t know what to do with that answer.
“If you’re willing I was going to take you back with us once you’re good to go.”
Mason looked at the door where Whitford had stomped out. “That’s probably best.”
“Get some rest Mason. I’ll make sure no one bothers you for the rest of the night.”
The soldier nodded and they walked out of the room.
“Whitford gave us the ok to use a couple of these beds so why don’t you catch some sleep and we’ll leave in the morning.” Jack said to Ben.
“What about Whitford?”
“What about him?”
Ben shifted uncomfortably. “He seemed really pissed.”
“Mason was right, he should be. Whitford has protected this town and will continue to protect it. He was just blowing off steam. Now get some rest.”
With that said Jack walked out into the night leaving Ben alone in the large empty building. The young boy curled up in one of the empty beds and stared up at the ceiling. For a second he thought about escaping into one of his made up fantasies but the idea felt hollow. No matter what he could think of he would end up back in the same exact place. The boy closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Alec
