Seth was listening to them even as he murmured soft reassurances to Sherry. He was sitting with his arms around the girl, who was draped in blankets. Every few minutes, she was racked by another bout of uncontrollable shivering.
Now he got up and urgently pulled Andy to one side. “What about Sherry?” he whispered.
Surprisingly, Sherry heard him. “I’m OK. I don’t want to stay here.” She stared up at them with haunted eyes.
She saw it all happen. She watched them die, Andy thought.
“We’ll wait until tomorrow,” he said. “This is the safest place to be for now. I don’t think they can break into the cooler if we bar it.”
As darkness fell, they turned off the generator, gathered up all the towels and blankets they could find, and barricaded themselves inside the metal box. Sherry went into a bout of shivering that was as much psychological as physical, but after a few hours, the confined space began to get almost warm. It was utterly dark and silent. As uncomfortable as it was, they at least knew they were safe enough to sleep, and one by one, they dropped off into an exhausted slumber.
#
Something smashed into the outside of the door. Andy had wedged a can of beans on the inside of the latch, so the door didn’t open; yet the sound was deafening. He leapt up to make sure the door held.
Sherry woke up and started screaming.
“What the hell?” someone asked from outside. “Is there someone in there?”
The door slammed against the metal can just as Andy was reaching to remove it. “Hold on!” he shouted.
The can clattered to the floor and he pulled open the door.
Herb Jensen was pointing a gun at him. Behind him were three other men, two of them with guns locked and loaded, looking ready to charge, while a third was looking over his shoulder into the diner, on guard.
“Nice place to hide,” the mayor said, sounding impressed. “I hope you didn’t ruin any of the food.”
“Yeah, well, it’s my food, isn’t it?” Andy said, annoyed.
Herb gave him a sharp glance. “You don’t want to share?”
“I don’t mind sharing, but I just like being asked first.”
Herb scowled. “Don’t worry, we’ll reimburse you when this is all over. We’re all in this together, you know.”
It wasn’t about the money, but Andy had worked for mobsters; he knew it was pointless to argue with people who were intent on misunderstanding you. “The food is available to anyone who needs it, of course,” he said.
“We’ve already cleaned out Hughson’s Market,” Herb said. “The plan is to eat the perishables first.”
“I’ve got a generator,” Andy said.
Herb was reaching toward one of the boxes of frozen food, but stopped and turned around in surprise. “That’s operational?”
“Well, you know old man Monson. He was sure the world was going to end at any moment. He didn’t trust the electrical grid.”
“Yeah, I used to think he was a nut,” Herb said. “Looks like he was right, eh?” He turned back, picked up a box of packaged hamburger patties, and felt it. “Do you mind turning on the cooler again? I don’t think this stuff is too far gone.”
“Yeah, we were going to do that,” Andy said. He turned to the others who had spent the night on the cold concrete. “Ready to get out of here?”
Seth helped Sherry up, and she continued to hold onto him as they left the cooler. Life and romance go on no matter what, Andy thought. He looked over at Kathy, and it was clear she was thinking the same thing. She gave him a smile.
“We’re establishing a perimeter around the town center,” Herb said. “Everyone is welcome to stay at the courthouse until this is over. In fact, we’re advising it. So we’re requisitioning everything in order to facilitate that.”
Andy hadn’t heard so many bureaucratic words since his days dealing with the Justice Department. It never boded well for the targets of such jargon. “Have you seen any Tuskers?”
“Not since yesterday,” Herb said. “Apparently, the fight moved elsewhere. But they might be back at any moment. Therefore, we’re asking all able-bodied adults to join the defense force.”
“Under your command, I suppose?” Andy asked.
Herb flushed a little and hesitated, as if searching for a diplomatic way to say it. “As I said, I’m just facilitating things. Someone has to be in charge.”
What do you know about warfare, Mr. Mayor? Andy wanted to demand. Then he thought, I can’t call attention to myself. Not yet. I’ll have to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. But if he screws up…
“Ms. Comfort and I were talking about checking up on the Hunters,” Andy said instead, bringing Kathy into the conversation with a glance. “We’ll need to borrow someone’s car.”
The mayor frowned. “I don’t know that we can allow that.”
“Allow that?” Kathy said. “This is still a free country, mister. You can’t make us stay if we don’t want to.”
“Can’t I?” Herb said. He said it in such a mild voice that it had a stronger impact than it might otherwise have had. He seemed confident that the other men would back him up. “If this isn’t an emergency situation, I don’t know what is.”
“Look,” Andy said. “We’re not out to cause any trouble. I think we should check on those folks for several reasons. They are well prepared, from what I’ve seen. And they seem to know more than anyone about what’s going on.”
“Which is why we should stay away from them,” Herb said. For the first time, he looked angry. “I think they brought these creatures down on our heads.”
Andy was thinking the same thing—but this was an all-out war for survival. And the Hunters were the key...
It was clear the mayor wasn’t going to give in, and the more Andy pushed for a car, the more vigilant the mayor would be later.
“All right,” Andy said. “Maybe tomorrow.”
Herb Jensen beamed at him, a politician’s smile. “Good…good. We need you here, Andy. You obviously know your way around a gun.” Before Andy could respond, the mayor turned around and directed two of his followers to guard the freezer. Then he turned back to Andy and raised his eyebrows. “Where’s the generator?”
“In back. Just hit the red button. There are some jerry cans with gasoline in the back of the storeroom.”
The mayor ordered a third man to go into the back and start up the generator. “You coming back to the courthouse?” Herb asked, directing his attention to Kathy Comfort. His eyes lingered on her, running up and down her body. Andy found himself tensing up. If things really fell apart, there was going to be a new order around here. Not everyone was going to like it. “You’ll be safer there.”
“We’ll be along soon,” Andy said for her. “I just need to gather a few things from home.”
“Perfect,” the mayor said. “We’ll see you there.” He left the diner, his feet crunching on the broken glass, looking like a man in charge.
“You gave in awfully easily,” Kathy said in a low voice.
“We weren’t going to change his mind,” Andy answered. “We’ll just go ahead and do what we want and ask for forgiveness later. I do need to go by my house, though.”
The town was small enough that they could walk anywhere within a few minutes. Andy’s house was a block from the river and two blocks from the nearest park.
Mike Campbell’s dogs could be heard from a long way away. As loud as they were, though, Andy could tell there were fewer of them. He turned the last corner to his cul-de-sac, fearing what he’d find.
His house was untouched, but his neighbor’s house was a smoking ruin. Dark shapes formed a pile in the front yard. As they approached, they could see that the shapes were both dogs and Tuskers, and in the middle of the pile were the dismembered remains of a man. About half of Mike’s sixteen hounds were still alive, and they were clustered around their master’s body, snarling at Andy’s approach.
“Stay back,” he said to the others—unnecessarily, because Seth and Sherry stopped well back. Kathy reached out and pulled on his arm, looking more fearful than she had during the battle.
“Be careful,” she said.
“They know me,” Andy said, more confidently than he felt. He approached the dogs very slowly, stopping once or twice as the snarls became louder. Finally, one of the animals broke away from the others, limping toward Andy, its tail between its legs. Andy presented the hound with the back of his hand, and the dog licked it. That seemed to convince the others. All but one of the dogs came over and surrounded Andy. Those that could tried to jump up and lick his face. The dog that had first approached Andy went over to Kathy, tail wagging vigorously.
“Good girl,” Kathy said, following Andy’s example and presenting the back of her hand, which the hound slobbered over.
The hound that stayed with the body of his master was the biggest of them all. The animal had his head down, and Andy could see that he was gravely injured. Seth and Sherry had finally approached, and the girl let out a sound of sympathy. She went to the dog and gingerly patted his head. He looked up with soulful eyes.
“Well,” Andy said. “We have some extra protection. And if we get hungry, we can always eat them.”
Kathy looked at him sharply.
“Just kidding,” he said, without a smile. But it reminded him of something he knew but had forgotten. Just like humans, pigs were omnivores. They’d eat just about anything, human included.
This was a war between omnivores.
Chapter Seventeen
From the crow’s nest above the barn, Barry and Jenny looked out over the battlefield. They stood with shoulders touching, and he reached an arm around her waist and pulled her toward him. She hadn’t left his side since he returned—or was it that he hadn’t left her side?
The hillside was littered with bodies. Most were Tuskers and their allies, the javelinas, coyotes, and ravens. No humans. But from Jenny’s account of the fight, that in no way showed how desperate the battle had become. With their explosives and their projectile weapons, the Tuskers had almost breached the reinforced walls of the barn. If they had succeeded at that, they would have made quick work of the small band of humans inside.
Barry and the other men had arrived back home just in time.
“They must have been waiting for us to leave before they attacked,” he said. “I’m sorry I left you alone.”
“You had to find out what was happening,” Jenny said. She put out her hand and gave him a reassuring squeeze. “But it’s a good thing Bart Hoskins and his friends showed up. And even luckier that Lyle Pederson thought to stock gas masks. That’s the only thing that saved us.”
Barry stood silent for a moment. Truth was, he hadn’t really believed the danger, despite all Lyle Pederson’s warnings.
“I underestimated the Tuskers,” he said. “In spite of everything, I still didn’t understand what they were capable of. I knew they were hyper-intelligent, but for some reason I never expected them to master weapons and machines.”
“It wasn’t just you, Barry. We all were thinking of them as pigs, as dumb brutes. Smarter and bigger and more vicious than your average pig, perhaps, but not truly our equals.”
“Considering how far they’ve come in such a short time, I’d say they are more than our equals,” Barry said. “How the hell did they manage to create an electromagnetic pulse?”
They sat in silence for a time, contemplating the idea that another species of animal was challenging humans for supremacy over the Earth. It all felt unreal, especially since there was no news from the outside. No one’s cellphones were working. The TV was fried, the computers wouldn’t boot up, and even the shortwave radio that Lyle had left for emergencies was kaput.
It was getting dark, but despite that, none of the lights in the valley were coming on. It was surreal. There was none of the usual background noise of machines, of vehicle traffic. Barry had never realized how much of the everyday sounds had been created by machines until they were gone. Even the sky was clearer, as the contrails and pollution were already disappearing.
How long before the Earth returns to a pristine state after we’re gone? Life will continue without us, maybe for the better.
“I wonder how far the EMP went?” Barry said.
“I’m betting it went a long way,” Jenny said. “This is war.” She reached out and took his hand, and gave him a regretful smile. “Remember when we thought it was just us?”
“Obviously, it isn’t just us,” Barry said to his wife. “But I still wonder if we weren’t singled out. The Tuskers had no real reason to return here—we are the middle of nowhere. So I have to wonder if it was for revenge. If that’s true, there’s no reason to think they won’t be back.”
A shadow flickered above them, and there came a loud “Caw!” as a raven flew by just inches over their heads. Jenny flinched, darting her head upward in fear. Barry raised his rifle and sighted in on the retreating bird. But he didn’t fire. There was no sense in it: the Tuskers knew where they were.
Jenny was nodding. “There was a moment in the battle when I saw the leader of the Tuskers staring at me from the top of that hill. I could swear I could read his thoughts—he was confident about some surprise he was going to spring. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it out, but I sure felt his hate.”
“I felt it too,” Barry said. “They detest and fear us. They want us dead.”
They fell into silence at that. The ravens were circling the battlefield; a few landing on the bodies of their erstwhile allies, feeding on them.
“We’re going to need to burn the bodies,” Barry said. He suddenly felt very tired. He just wanted to hole up inside the barn and let the outside world fall apart. But he had Jenny and the others to worry about. Enrique wasn’t much help—he was trying to deal with his wife’s anger, his own guilt at leaving his father-in-law behind.
They’d left the trapdoor to the aerie open. They could hear a small voice below them, at the foot of the spiral staircase.
“I want my Granda!” young Felix Flannigan was yelling. “Where is he?”
“Ask your father,” came his mother’s voice, sounding flat with anger.
Jenny gave Barry a questioning look.
“It wasn’t Enrique’s fault,” he said. “Flaco went off on his own. We couldn’t keep looking for him without putting the entire expedition in danger.”
“Maybe you should tell Alicia that,” Jenny said.
Barry sighed. He’d been putting it off. One look from Alicia Flannigan had made him turn away, letting poor Enrique bear the brunt of his wife’s scorn. He got up, letting go of his own wife reluctantly.
“I suppose you’re right,” he said, going to the trapdoor. “If I don’t return, send a search party.”
Jenny laughed, but not too loudly.
He descended the black metal stairs and found Enrique looking out one of the portholes with Felix behind him tugging on his pants leg. Alicia had her hands on Felix’s shoulders.
Do I really want to get in the middle of this?
Barry walked up and knelt down. Talking to Felix wasn’t any easier than facing Alicia, but maybe he could get his message out without being interrupted.
“Your Granda was a hero, Felix. He saved us,” Barry said somberly.
“When is he coming home?” Felix’s voice had a plaintive tone, but it was clear to Barry that the young boy already knew the answer.
Barry looked Felix in the eyes. “He’s gone, son.”
“Don’t you tell him that,” hissed Alicia. “How do you know? You didn’t see his body.”
Barry stood and faced her, and winced at the anger glaring out of her eyes. “Flaco made his choice, Alicia. It was a brave, selfless decision his part. There was nothing Enrique could have done.”
“He could have looked for him, at least,” she said.
“He did…for as long
as was safe. He had men under his command. He had a responsibility to them.”
“Above his own family?” Alicia shouted.
Enrique turned away from the porthole and marched away, motioning the men who were guarding the doors to unlatch them. He left without looking back.
“You’re being unfair, Alicia,” Barry said, facing her full on for the first time and this time outstaring her. She lowered her eyes, and he caught a glimpse of the shame beneath the anger. She knew she was overreacting. “Your husband did everything he could.”
She didn’t answer, but her hands tightened on her son’s shoulders. She turned him around roughly. They marched to the back of the barn where the blankets were hung to create makeshift rooms and disappeared behind one of the billowing dividers.
The other men in the barn carefully ignored the scene. There were five survivors to the expedition, not counting Barry and Enrique, along with the surviving soldier who had been left behind with Jenny, Alicia, and Felix, and the four local men, members of the planning commission, who’d sensed the coming battle and sought the safety of the fortified barn. Thirteen men, two women, and a young boy were all that was left to defend the compound.
We’re going to need more people.
As Barry stood with his head down, he felt his wife’s hand slip into his. She had come down the stairs to find him. He felt a surge of affection, the everlasting echoes of his love for her. It had all come back, how wonderful she was, and how strong. She’d been at his side ever since the Tuskers had first attacked, except for his journey into Utah. His midlife crisis and her impatience with the retired life were but a memory. If nothing else, they had each other.
“This isn’t over,” he said. “The Tuskers will be back. I don’t think we have enough people to fight them, nor, in the long run, enough supplies, despite all of Lyle’s planning. I’m going into town, see if there is anyone who will join us.”
She didn’t try to talk him out of it, though he could see her tense up in concern. “Can we take them all in?” she asked.
The Omnivore Wars Page 12
