by James Cook
“Caleb Hicks,” I said, seeing no harm in giving my real name.
“Who are you with?” The man said, coming to a halt a few feet in front of me. His tone was not entirely hostile, just authoritarian, like he was accustomed to being answered when he posed a question, and being answered quickly.
“Me, myself, and I,” I said, looking around casually. “What is this place?”
“I’ll ask the questions.” I returned my gaze to him. He had dark brown eyes, focused and intense.
“What are you doing here?”
“Passing through. I need some water.” I lowered a hand slowly to my canteen and gave it a shake. It made a light splashing sound, indicating it was almost empty. I had actually drank most of it earlier, planning to use the empty canteen as an excuse for approaching the settlement. “Came across a house a day ago that hadn’t burned down, found a few liters left in the hot water heater. But I’ve just about burned through it. If you have any water to spare, I’m more than happy to trade for it. Can’t drink bullets, after all.”
“Where are you coming from?”
I hooked a thumb over my shoulder. “San Antonio. Or what’s left of it, anyway. When Houston went up like a road flare, I saw the writing on the wall. The highways were choked by then, so I left on foot. Had to hide out from the fires for a while, and now I’m trying to make my way to Colorado.”
The man looked from me to the guard standing on top of the RV. “We don’t normally let people inside the gate,” he said pointedly.
“Aw, come on, Travis,” the guard replied. “He’s just a kid. Stop being so damn paranoid and let him have some water. We got plenty for Christ’s sake.”
The leader, Travis, glared a moment longer, then returned his attention to me. “I suppose Jerry’s right. Leave your rifle and your sidearm at the gate, then go with Mabel here.” He gestured to a frumpy, fiftyish woman behind him. “She’ll get you some water.”
Travis walked off and disappeared into his RV. The others with him cast me a final, curious glance and then did the same. Mabel stepped closer, offering a doughy hand. I shook it.
“Nice to meet you Caleb.”
“Same to you, ma’am.”
“You’ll have to forgive Travis. He’s a good man, but a bit overprotective.”
Jerry climbed down from the RV and took my carbine and pistol, but didn’t ask for my ammo. Mabel began walking toward the gas station in the center of the ring of campers. I followed a few feet behind.
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
“Well, let’s see … it’s been a little over a month since what happened in Houston. Most everyone around these parts evacuated long before then. There were a bunch of us came up from San Antonio with the National Guard. Stopped here for gas, but while the soldiers were fueling up their trucks, they got orders to head back south. Commanding officer apologized, but said he had no choice.”
“So they just left you here?”
She nodded. “Sure did.”
“You don’t sound angry.”
“My husband was a soldier, God rest his soul. I know what orders are. Besides, we had Travis. He organized us, had us scavenge around for food, medicine, weapons, things like that. It was his idea to circle the campers and fill ‘em in with dirt. Does a good job of keeping the infected out.”
Mabel led me behind the gas station to an old-fashioned hand pump. She put a small metal bucket beneath it and began pumping out water. “Back about a week ago, some folks got together and decided they couldn’t stay in this place any longer. Said it was unsustainable. I believe that was the word the fella eggin’ ‘em on used. Name was Thornton, used to be a state senator. Slimy little snake of a man. Convinced all those folks to head west for Arizona. Said there was some kind of bunker out there he knew about, place where they were taking a bunch of folks part of some secret government project. Sounded like a bunch o’ hooey to me, and I told him as much. So did Travis, and those other folks you see here. But they wouldn’t listen. Lit out, and took most of our food with ‘em. God only knows if they made it or not.”
She finished pumping the water and held up the bucket. I tilted the mouth of my canteen beneath it and held it steady while she poured. “Seen anyone else come through?” I asked. “Travelers, other survivors, the military, anything like that?”
“Had a few folks pass through, lookin’ to trade. Most of ‘em wantin’ bullets or water or both. Offerin’ food or whatever else they had. Travis don’t normally allow folks inside the wall. I imagine him and Jerry will have words about it later.”
When my canteen was full, Mabel withdrew the water bucket. “How about ten rounds of rifle ammo?” she said.
I cocked an eyebrow at her. “How about four. Looks like you won’t be running out of water any time soon.”
She smiled. “Five?”
“Deal.”
I pulled a mag from a carrier, counted out the cartridges, and handed them to her. “Thanks, Mabel. Best of luck to you.”
“Same to you, darlin’. Be careful out there.”
“Always.”
She stayed by the pumps as I walked back toward the gate. I looked around along the way, trying to get a sense of the place. There were almost as many campers forming the perimeter as people, a solid white wall dotted at regular intervals with shatterproof glass. The residents themselves milled about in various states of solemn dejection, dust in their hair, eyes squinting under the hot sun as they stared at me from under hat brims and outstretched hands, a few of them lucky enough to be sporting sunglasses. Glancing to my right, I saw the dirty faces of a few pre-teen children pressed against a window trying to get a better look at me. The closer I came to the center of the enclosure, the more acutely I felt the weight of all those staring eyes. The attention was disconcerting.
I had hoped the people here could offer us some measure of assistance, but from what I could see, they needed help more than we did. It would probably be best for my group if we just bypassed this place altogether.
About ten feet from the gate, Travis’ voice stopped me. “Mr. Hicks,” he said. “Might I have a word with you for a moment?”
I turned and squinted. The sun was at his back, forcing me to shield my eyes to see him. “What about?”
“Please, it’ll only take a minute or two.”
I didn’t move. “So come out here and let’s talk.”
He stepped down from his RV and approached, hands held out at his sides. His gun was notably absent from its holster. A few steps brought him around so I didn’t have to squint to see him. “I just have a few questions for you, and I would prefer to ask them in private. It will only take a few minutes of your time. After that, you can be on your way.”
I read his face. He looked calm, radiating sincerity. But there was an intensity in his eyes I didn’t like, an unblinking steadiness that made the hair on my neck stand up. Falling back on my training, I did a quick assessment.
He wasn’t armed, but that didn’t mean anything. He still wielded the most dangerous weapon of all—authority. All he had to do was shout, and I was a dead man. I could decline and try to leave, but if he decided to press the issue, things would escalate. And out here in the open, with only my knife and hand-to-hand combat skills, I didn’t stand a chance. Not unless I got extraordinarily lucky, and I was not about to bet my life on luck.
My left hand twitched as I thought about reaching up and casually scratching my right ear. I could see where my rifle and pistol lay on the ground only a few feet away, Jerry standing next to them. He seemed oblivious to the tension between Travis and me, but he could be faking it for all I knew. If I gave the signal, it would be the end of Travis’ life, and the shock factor would very likely buy me the time I needed to cross the distance to Jerry, incapacitate him, and retrieve my weapons.
But what then?
My best bet would be to run for the southeast side of the encampment, staying low and hugging the wall of campers, and serpentine my way t
hrough the dead trees there, hoping none of the residents here were expert marksmen. I knew I could count on Mike to cover me and take out anyone who stuck their head up too far once I was outside the gate.
But did it really need to come to that? What if Travis sincerely just wanted to ask a few questions and send me on my way? Furthermore, if he tried to break bad on me, we would be in the confines of his camper at hand-to-hand range. Travis was strong looking, but I am no weakling, and I sincerely doubted he could match my skill in a stand-up fight. Few people I had ever met could.
I was also still at the point in my life I thought it best to avoid bloodshed whenever possible. I have since become a far less sentimental person, but at the time, I conceded, thinking it was the sensible thing to do.
“Lead the way,” I said, holding a hand toward Travis’ RV.
He walked ahead of me a few feet and disappeared through the door. I followed him in, blinking at the sudden dimness of the camper’s interior. If the afternoon had been overcast instead of blindingly bright, I would have noticed him hurrying to the small table in the kitchenette sooner. But my eyes were still adjusting, and by the time I blinked away the sickly green film obscuring my vision, I found myself staring down the barrel of a .45 automatic.
“Where are the others?” he asked.
I blinked in confusion. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Don’t bullshit me kid. We both know you didn’t come here alone.”
My hands came up to shoulder level, palms out. “Listen, I don’t-”
“You wanna know what I did before all this happened?” he interrupted, tilting his head at the wasteland outside the window.
“Is that a rhetorical question?”
He frowned, shifting the gun so he held it at hip level. “I was a detective with the San Antonio Police Department.”
“Okay. So if you’re a cop, why are you threatening me with a gun right now?”
“Because a detective notices things. Take your boots, for example.”
I looked down and felt a twist in my stomach. I knew what he was about to say, but it hadn’t occurred to me until just that second what a gaping hole they put in my cover story. “They’re too new,” he said. “They fit you perfectly, which means you bought them from a store, not found them along the way. There’s no way you crossed all those miles between here and San Antonio with no more wear and tear than that.” He gestured at my feet with the gun.
There was a moment of silence. I got the impression he was waiting for me to say something, an old cop trick. I didn’t take the bait. Finally, he said, “Then there’s your face. You’re not tan enough. If you had been out in the sun these past couple of weeks, you’d be brown as a strip of bacon. Not to mention you’re clean-shaven.”
He took a couple of steps closer, but stayed out of arm’s reach. “Now tell me, kid. Why does a man facing the prospect of dehydration waste precious water on something as unnecessary as shaving?”
My mind raced. The barrel of Travis’ gun was only forty-five hundredths of an inch wide, but from my perspective, it may as well have been the size of the moon. I kept my hands up and eased back a step.
“Don’t move again,” Travis growled.
“Okay, fine,” I said, playing for time. “Just take your finger off the trigger, okay?”
“No. I asked you some questions, boy. If you want to leave this place alive, you better start answering them.”
“Okay, I will, I’ll answer all your questions. All I ask is you take your finger off the trigger. Just so you don’t shoot me by accident.”
I was scared at this point, and didn’t have to fake the tremor of fear in my voice. Travis glared a moment longer, then eased his finger off the trigger, keeping his fingertip poised just above it. “There, happy now?”
“Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome. Now talk.”
I took a deep breath. “When I left San Antonio, I had two pairs of boots,” I said. “One of them wore out. This is my second pair. That’s why they look so new.”
Travis seemed to consider this. He made a small motion with the gun. “What about your skin?”
“I had a hat, but I lost it a couple of days ago. There are a couple of bottles of SPF 70 in my backpack, the spray-on stuff. It only takes a little bit once or twice a day. I put it on my face and hands. My clothes protect the rest.”
It was true I had the sunblock, but I had only used a little of it. The part about the hat was a lie, but there was no way for him to verify that. My clothes did indeed cover most of my exposed skin, being that my shirt was long-sleeved.
I waited for Travis to say something, but he remained silent. His expression was stoic, but I thought I detected a hint of uncertainty in his posture. “As for my beard,” I went on, “I hardly ever have to shave. When it starts to grow out, I smear it with olive oil and shear it off with a straight razor. Doesn’t require water, just a cloth to wipe the razor on.”
“And I suppose if I search your backpack I’ll find a bottle of olive oil and a straight razor?” Travis asked.
“You will.” It was true. I carried the oil as part of my fire-starting kit, and the straight razor had been a gift from Blake when I turned fourteen. I kept it for sentimental reasons.
Travis’ expression softened, growing regretful. He lowered the .45 and took a few steps back until the kitchen table was between us. “Okay. Sounds plausible enough. If you would be so kind as to empty your backpack.”
I almost did, then remembered the two grenades and the radio within and kicked myself for bringing them along. Should have left them behind, idiot. What the hell did you think you would need them for?
If Travis searched my bag, the game was up. The grenades could be explained away, but not the radio. I lowered my hands. “What the hell for?”
“So I can verify you’re telling the truth.”
“Fuck you, cop.” I said, growing angry. “You ain’t searching my shit.”
His eyes narrowed, his face darkening in anger. “What’s wrong, kid? Got something to hide?”
“Me? What about you, motherfucker? Why are we doing this bullshit in here and not out there?” I pointed out the window at the courtyard in the center of the compound. Something crossed Travis’ face, just a flicker, but it was all the confirmation I needed.
“What’s the matter, don’t want those people out there knowing what you’re doing in here?” I started backing toward the doorway. “Why do I get the feeling they wouldn’t approve of you shaking me down for no good reason?”
Travis squared off with me, but kept the gun at his side. “Stop where you are, kid. Don’t take another step.”
“You know what,” I said, affecting a tone of indignation, “I already answered your questions. I’m done explaining myself to you. It’s time for me to go. You want to stop me? Shoot me.” And with that, I turned my back and began walking toward the exit.
“Stop!” Travis shouted. I ignored him and kept walking, not hurrying my pace. The kind of thing a man would do when he felt he had done nothing wrong. As the light through the doorway grew brighter, I felt a burning, itching sensation between my shoulder blades. I wondered what it would feel like if a .45 hollow point mushroomed against my spine before blowing my heart out through my sternum. Would there be pain, or would there just be an impact, a moment of breathlessness, and then darkness?
Luckily, I didn’t have to find out. The doorway came and went and there was no thunder of large-caliber death along the way. I stomped angrily toward the main gate, head down, stride determined. Behind me, I heard Travis scramble after me.
“I told you to stop!”
“I told you to go fuck yourself.”
“Jerry, don’t let him out of the gate.”
The guard who had been so kind to me earlier obeyed immediately and aimed his rifle at my chest. I stopped. “What the fuck, Jerry?”
“Just doin’ my job, kid.”
Footsteps crunched behind
me, then stopped. “Listen,” Travis said. “Just calm down, okay? There’s no need for this to go any further. Just let me search your pack. If you’re telling the truth, this whole thing will be over with and you’ll be free to go.”
I looked around and saw people begin to emerge from campers and stand up from seats in the shade. They wandered closer, eyes wide, no doubt wondering what all the excitement was about. Slowly, I turned and faced Travis, once again forced to squint against the sun’s glare. Shading my eyes with my right hand, I could see his pistol was holstered, but his fingers dangled close to the grip, the retaining strap unbuttoned.
Slimy son of a bitch.
“This is the last time I’m going to tell you, kid,” he said. “Drop the bag.”
I shook my head. “I’m afraid that’s not going to happen.”
My right ear didn’t itch, but I reached up with my left hand and scratched it anyway.
TWENTY-NINE
I expected Mike to shoot Travis first.
What I failed to consider was how the situation looked from his perspective, staring through the Leupold scope mounted to his M1A rifle over a hundred yards away. As overwatch, his priority would be to eliminate the most egregious threat first—Jerry, in this case.
At that range, the impact came barely a fraction of a second before the report. The 7.62mm projectile, traveling at over 2500 feet per second, hit its target with a sharp metallic THWACK.
I had a scant moment to think, Thwack?
There should have been a meaty WHAP, followed by a gurgling scream, the sound of a body collapsing, and limbs thrashing in the dirt. Instead, there was a startled cry from Jerry and the sound of a large piece of metal being dropped.
Things happened quickly after that.
In the lightning rapidity of thought, I realized Mike had directed his fire at Jerry first, but whether or not he had killed him, I had no idea. Something told me he had not, but I doubted Mike would have left him in any condition to be a threat to me either. I did not dare look over my shoulder to find out, however, because I was too busy charging headlong at Travis.
