by Dave Conifer
“That’s a tough one,” Nick said. “Unless Grover’s scavengers stole a few tons of asphalt. What else?”
“A lot of it has to do with moving stuff from place to place within the camp,” Mark said. “It gets back to the mud, partly. But besides that, we need a system for moving water around. And supplies, firewood, all the stuff you see people lugging around all day. Even food. Nobody likes carrying their dinner back from Food Supply twice a day, and it’s not efficient.”
“What do they have in mind?” Nick asked.
“They’re still brainstorming it,” Mark said. “How about a system of carts, or rickshaws, or something like that, with a regular schedule and routes?” If your buddy Matt needs to get a few barrels of water over to the Village, all he has to do is check the timetables and arrange for pick up.”
“I could see that,” Nick agreed.
“Anyway, it’s things like that,” Mark said. “They’ll be working on ideas to solve the problems that nobody knew were coming.”
“Sounds like fun,” Nick said. “I wish I’d been invited to the party.”
“Look, Nick, You know how they feel about you,” Mark said patiently. “Besides, from what I hear, you’re going bye-bye pretty soon. You won’t be around anyway.”
Nick’s mouth fell open. “For real? They’re gonna’ let me go?”
“Sounds like it,” Mark said.
“Man,” Nick said. “How sure are you about this?”
“Very,” Mark said. “Hey, are you all right?”
“I am now,” Nick answered.
“Why is this trip such a big deal to you?” Mark asked.
“What?” Nick asked. “No, I mean, I’m just glad they’re letting me help out. In whatever way they think best.”
Mark laughed. “That doesn’t sound like you at all, Nick. But I’m just gonna’ leave that alone.”
Good idea, Nick thought. Because you don’t know the half of it. I was going to Lockworth whether The Committee liked it or not. Christie Moon is waiting for me, even though she doesn’t know it yet.
~~~
“So how are you doing, Dewey?” Nick asked later that night when they were tucked into their bunks, ready to sleep. “I mean, seriously. You doin’ all right?”
“Yeah, sure I am,” Dewey answered from across the dark room.
“Six months ago, would you have pictured yourself camping in a cabin out in the Pine Barrens with some guy who owns a roofing company?” Nick asked, chuckling as he said it.
“Nope,” Dewey answered. “And, like, this is the most normal time for me since this all started. I’m safe in my new home, nobody’s chasing me, my leg’s getting better. It’s, like, crazy.”
“Yeah,” Nick said. “Nobody’s had a wilder ride than you. You must have seen all kinds of stuff while you were gone. It sounds like the only people left out there are savages. Everybody else died or got killed.”
Nick heard Dewey sit up. “The people running free were almost all maniacs! That’s how they stayed alive! They just took whatever they needed. And, like, the sensible people were all hiding from them, or running away and stuff. Or dead. And they all look the same!”
“I’ve got news for you, Dewey,” Nick said. “We don’t look much different than they do anymore.”
Dewey snickered. “When I first got to Crestview I was the only one there with a beard.”
“It’s only gonna’ get worse out there, don’t you think?” Nick asked.
Dewey flopped back down onto his mattress. “Yeah. And if you don’t have a place to go, like we did, you aren’t gonna’ make it.”
A few minutes passed before Nick answered. “What did you call them? The sensible people?”
“More like ‘normal’ is what I mean,” Dewey said.
“I know where there are a bunch of normal people. It’s not far away. And The Committee is thinking about letting me go get them and bring them back.”
“How do you know they’re, like, okay?” Dewey asked.
“I just do, all right?” Nick told him. “And we need more people like that here at Tabernacle. Even The Committee agrees with me.”
There was more silence, this time broken by Dewey. “If they let you go, can I come with you?”
“Are you sure?” Nick asked. “Haven’t you had enough adventure?”
“Well, yeah,” Dewey answered. “Except, like, I hate the job they’re switching me to. Cutting up deer is the only thing worse than shooting them,” Dewey said. “I know about being at the top of the food chain and all that, but I don’t want to be the one doing it. I’d rather go out and get shot at some more.”
“That’s why I brought it up, Dewey,” Nick said. “If you’re serious, I’ll definitely see what I can do.”
Ten
A few days later Nick was invited back to the middle school for another meeting. This would be his first time at an official gathering, or so he thought. When he arrived, he immediately noticed that there were even fewer members present than last time. Most had been told to stay away, he surmised, probably so as not to give him the satisfaction of being part of a regular session. Well, message received, he thought. I’m a peasant and you all are royalty. Got it, loud and clear.
“We held a full meeting yesterday,” Grover said from where he stood by the window. That confirmed Nick’s suspicions. Besides Grover, present at the table were his wife Crystal, Roethke, Carlo, and Mark Roman.
“Almost full,” Carlo said. “I was out training my troops, remember?”
“Right,” Grover said. “I stand corrected. At any rate, we agreed last night to go forward with the mission to make contact with the settlement at Lockworth. Today we’ll be having a discussion on who exactly should go on this mission, and how it will be conducted.”
So many influential people were absent that Nick had a hard time believing that there was going to be any real discussion. What he was going to hear were decisions, not discussion. That was okay with him, though. All that mattered was that the mission was a go, and that he’d be a part of it.
“I’ll end the suspense for you, roofer,” Roethke said. “You’re going.”
Mark looked at Roethke with disdain. “So much for having a discussion,” he said.
“Yes, you’re going,” Grover said to Nick. “But you’re not in charge. That’s something we all need to be clear on.”
“It’s crystal clear,” replied Nick. “I’m a minion. So who’s coming with me? Do I have any say in this?”
“That depends,” Roethke said. “I mean, we could accept your choices so long as you were to suggest somebody that we’ve already decided—“
“We can float some names here,” Grover said, cutting Roethke off.
“Well, I’ll say this. I’d like to have Carlo there,” Nick said. “There’s nobody better at clearing a path than he is.”
“Out of the question,” Crystal said. “He’s needed here. That’s a non-starter, and I think you know it. Do we really have to go there?”
“How about Dwayne Griffin, then?” Nick asked. “He’s reliable. We work pretty good together. And we don’t know who or what we’ll be coming up against. Maybe we don’t want to look like a bunch of white guys.”
The rest of them looked at each other. This name was a surprise. “I know Dwayne,” Grover said. “An electrician, right?”
“You’re all over the place, aren’t you?” Roethke asked Nick. “But you can relax. We’ve got the diversity thing covered already.”
“Dwayne would be perfect for this,” Nick said, ignoring Roethke’s remark. “He’ll keep his cool. He always does. Del pushes his buttons all day, but never gets a rise out of Dwayne.”
“Can you spare him, Mark?” Grover asked.
Mark paused, stroking his bearded chin. “He’s on Infrastructure, so I can’t say for sure. Unless they need him, I think he can go.”
“What about the military man who was here the last time,” Nick said. “I can’t remember his name. You know
, the guy in the camo shorts and the earring. He seemed pretty level-headed. What about him?”
“You mean Quigley? He begged off,” Roethke said. “Doesn’t want any part of it. I think the uniform is just for show. If you can call it a uniform.”
“Yes, Colonel Quigley passed on this chance,” Grover confirmed. “He may be leaving to go back to Maryland any day now.”
“But he had a lot to say about who should go,” Roethke said. “Most of which we disregarded. For instance, we’re sending Markle, against Quigley’s rather adamant recommendation.”
“What?” Nick asked. “That guy’s the worst! You can’t be serious! He’ll shoot his mouth off and get us all killed!”
“We talked about this last night,” Mark said, again giving away what Nick already suspected. Most of this was a done deal. “Calm and level-headed is good, I hear you, but this mission also needs somebody who isn’t so laid back. There could be some pushing and shoving along the way. Some give and take, you know? We need to have somebody who doesn’t mind the ‘give’ part. It can’t hurt to have a guy who won’t take no for an answer, even when he should.”
“That’s a long-winded way of saying he’s too dumb to know trouble when he sees it,” Roethke mumbled.
“I don’t know about that,” Mark countered. “One thing about John is that for all his faults, he’s not dumb at all.”
“Markle doesn’t sound negotiable,” Nick said. “Am I right?”
“You are,” Roethke said. “But of course, none of this is negotiable from your perspective, roofer.”
“So where are we?” Carlo asked. “So far we have Nick, John Markle and Dwayne. Who else?”
“Me,” said Crystal Monroe. “You can add me to your list.”
“For real? You’re going, Crystal?” Nick asked. “I mean, Mrs. Monroe?”
“Why not?” Crystal asked. “You said it yourself. We’re on a recruiting mission. We want to make sure anybody we talk to understands that we’re not just another bunch of gunslingers. Why send only men?”
Nick put up his hands in a defensive position. “I think it’s great,” he said. “I just thought, um, you know. You rank pretty high around this place.”
“We all share the risk around here,” Grover said firmly. “All of us.”
Nick nodded. “Sounds good to me.”
“All right,” Grover said. “Is the roster set now?”
“It seems like a small group,” Carlo said. “Of course, three of my fighters are going along, from what I heard.”
“Yes,” Grover said. “We didn’t want to deplete what we have here by any more than that. Of course, everybody else on the mission will be armed, not just the Sec Forces.” Carlo nodded his agreement. Nick got the impression that Carlo hadn’t been consulted about any of this.
“This is a long shot,” Nick said. “But I promised I’d ask. How about we sign up my roommate, Dewey Bishop?”
“Dear lord,” Roethke said. “Henry Bishop, the slacker? The hits really do keep coming, don’t they?”
“When I told him last night that we might be going to Lockworth, he said he wanted to come,” Nick said. He left out the part about how Dewey would do just about anything to avoid going to work as a butcher.
“Not a bad idea, if we can spare him,” Carlo said. “He’s tougher than he looks, Roethke. Apparently he did well when they went down to Medford.”
“Anybody who stays out that long and comes back alive did well, as far as it goes for me,” Mark said.
“Who’s he working for right now?” Grover asked.
“Slaughterhouse,” Nick said. “He just got switched from bow-hunting. But he hasn’t even started work yet.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Roethke asked. “Work just doesn’t seem to agree with the poor boy.”
“Give him a break,” Nick snapped. “He just got released from Medical. I’m sure you remember why he was there. It sure wasn’t for slacking, as you well know. He’s actually gone out and fought for the people around this place.”
“Spare me,” Roethke said. “Please.”
“Well, if he’s up for it physically, it sounds like we can do without him in the Slaughterhouse for now,” Grover said. “Add him to the list.”
The names of the three Sec Forces who would accompany them, two men and one woman, were brought up and approved. Nick didn’t know any of them. The last thing covered was leadership. As expected, Crystal would run the mission with full authority. One of the men from the Sec Forces would be second in command and report to her. The rest of the chain of command went unspecified. There weren’t that many others on the mission, anyway. Nick didn’t think it would matter beyond those two.
Everybody and all their supplies would have to be squeezed into one military van. Several of the vans were already in mothballs for the winter, but Carly had already been told to tune one of them up and deliver it to the camp entrance when the time came. Nick had caught wind of this, and had seen for himself that she had one ready to roll.
The trip was going to be a short one, but rather than foraging for gasoline along the way, they’d bring their own, in canisters strapped to the roof. For the same reason, they’d carry enough food and water to sustain themselves and a little extra to make a good impression in Lockworth. Weapons, of course, would also be part of the cargo, although they’d be careful about showing them off unless they had to. The idea was to make friends, not enemies. Scaring people, or worse, provoking them, was not going to further their cause.
Nick wanted to ask how they were going to bring anybody back with them if the mission was successful, since the van would already be fully loaded when they departed. He knew not to, though. Getting any new recruits back to Tabernacle was obviously not part of the plan this time, and it wouldn’t matter what he said. That disappointed him. He’d promised to get Christie Moon and her daughters to safety, and he felt that promise closing in on him. If they were only bringing one van, that was going to complicate things. Not that anybody else but him knew it yet.
He’d thought a lot about why it was so important to him to go to Lockworth. He really did feel strongly that what they were building at Tabernacle needed steady change and growth, with no limits. That meant finding new people, for their skills and knowledge in addition to their sheer numbers, and inviting them in. There was nothing more shortsighted and counterproductive than building walls to keep them out. Of that he was certain. That was part of where his drive came from. But not all of it.
Far more important to him was that he find a way to rescue Christie Moon and her daughters, and it had taken many hours of contemplation to understand where this need came from. The promise he’d made to a dying man meant something, but probably not enough to risk his own life to make good on. In fact, he’d been prepared to forget about it as soon as he’d uttered it.
He’d come to realize, however, that thinking about Barton Moon’s family stoked his concern for his ex-wife Val and his daughter, Jules, both of whom he still cared deeply for. How were they making out down in Virginia? Val had remarried, something that had broken his heart a second time, the first being the day she’d moved out of state with his daughter. All he could do was hope that she, her new husband, and Jules had found a way to survive all this. Somehow, if he could keep Christie and her daughters alive, he’d feel better about the chances of his own girls.
There was also some simple empathy on his part. Based on the little bit of information related to him by Barton Moon, Christie and the others in Lockworth were in exactly the same position that he and the Outhouse Coalition would have found themselves in had they not been lucky enough to join Grover’s group. He felt like he owed somebody for that good fortune. Saving the Moons, and maybe even everybody else that was stranded in Lockworth, was the only way he knew to pay it forward, and that’s what he was going to do.
Eleven
Nick was walking back to his cabin after returning to Tabernacle when he heard Mark calling his name. �
�You have time to go for a walk with me?” he asked after catching up. “I want to show you something.”
“Sure, Nick said, surprised. He still didn’t know what to think about his relationship with Mark. They worked well together on Construction, of course. But Mark was on The Committee. Nick knew there was a lot of talk about him there, and not much of it was complimentary. Apparently Mark had made up his own mind about him, however, despite what the rest of The Committee thought. God knows he and Mark had enough one-on-one time that Mark didn’t have to rely on the likes of Roethke for an opinion.
They fell into step along the dirt road toward the center of camp. It was mid-afternoon and most of the subcommittees were out working. The quiet was unsettling to Nick. It seemed like something bad usually broke out anytime tranquility reigned. Or maybe it was being grabbed by a member of The Committee for a walk and a chat that suddenly had his stomach in knots.
“There’s been a lot of talk in The Committee about your ideas,” Mark began. “You’re a big thinker, and you’ve convinced a lot of them that you’re on the money. That includes me. A lot of us think you’re right about the best way to move forward.”
Nick was amazed. “Seriously? Most of those people look at me like I’m a panhandler on a street corner when I show up. Especially Grover and Roethke.”
“Maybe so,” Mark conceded. “But that has less to do with your ideas and more to do with other stuff. And you know it,” he added for good measure.
“Okay, so I haven’t made a good impression on the royalty,” Nick said with a snort. “I’m over it. I get my work done, that’s all that matters.”
“Relax, Nick,” Mark said. “We all have room for improvement. Don’t get your back up.” By then they’d passed Food Distribution and were in front of the Armory, where the road split. “Let’s go this way. Down to the lake.”
“What, is The Committee down there waiting with a pair of cement shoes for me?” Nick asked. “That was a joke,” he added when Mark scowled.
