A lone man stepped into the clearing, his hands well clear of his holster. Strapped to his back was a worn rifle.
“I’m friendly,” he repeated. Ben knew he was anything but. He was thin, bordering on gaunt, and looked to be about Ben’s age, so he, too, would have been a teenager when it all happened. He kept glancing over at the turkey as he approached. Ben wondered if his friends were just as hungry.
“Smelled your food. Was wondering if you’d mind sharing a bit.”
“Have a seat,” answered Ben. The others were obviously sizing up the situation before making their move. The stranger sat down on the ground and Ben moved closer. He whispered to their guest, “I have a gun pointed at your gut. My wife has a gun pointed at your gut. You will be gutless in about ten seconds unless you call to your friends and tell them that everything is good and to come in with their hands empty.”
“It’s only m….”
“One … two … three …”
“You can come in,” he called nervously. “These people are okay. No need for guns.”
Three others came out of the shadows. The oldest was barely thirty, the youngest still a teenager. The third looked remarkably like their guest. A brother, thought Ben. Maybe even a twin. They were all thin.
And they were all carrying rifles.
“Tell them,” whispered Ben.
“You can put your guns away.”
They visibly relaxed and as they did, Ben and Lila both jumped up and pointed their guns at the quartet. One tried to raise his rifle.
“Don’t,” shouted Ben. “I don’t want to kill you, but I will if I have to.” Lila cocked her pistol to add emphasis.
“What the fuck?” exclaimed the brother. “Dave, you said it was okay.”
“He had a gun pointed at my stomach. What the fuck else was I going to say?”
“Pile your weapons over there,” said Ben, “then take a seat.”
Slowly, the group complied.
When they were all on the ground, Ben said, “We’re friendly people. As you can see, we’re a family. But we’ve killed more people than we can count, so don’t misjudge us. Now, you guys look hungry and we’re willing to share our food with you. We have nothing else of value, so we’re not worth robbing—not that you could—so consider this a time-out from your usual activities. Got it?”
The youngest one was staring at Lila. “I know you,” he said. “A long time ago. You were sitting by a trail. I was with a small group—a couple of women and a couple of guys older than me. You warned us that the men who were killing a bunch of people were nearby. You told us to keep heading south. You didn’t have the eye patch then, but I remember you. Your name is Lila.”
Lila remembered the incident as if it was yesterday. Right after that, she had killed three of the men he was referring to—all former prisoners. The day before, the gang had murdered a whole community of people—men, women, and even children. Lila remembered it too well.
“Lila?” asked Dave. “As in Ben and Lila?” Ben nodded. “We heard you were dead.”
“A common misconception,” said Lila.
“I’m Mac.” The younger one turned to the rest. “Hey, they’re okay. I might not be alive if it wasn’t for her.”
“What happened to the rest of your group?” asked Lila.
“No idea. I didn’t really know them anyway. I was only with them a few more days, then I hooked up with another group. Most of them died. I drifted after that.”
How common a story was that? Kids who should have been playing video games from the comfort of their bedrooms drifting from group to group, hoping for a little stability in their lives. Everyone who survived the event had a different story to tell. The one constant though was the search for some sort of family. I had a feeling these four would always be searching.
The turkey was done, so Ben ripped it apart, giving the larger pieces to their new “friends.” The four ate hungrily. The marauder business had obviously seen better days. Nobody talked, the four too focused on filling their stomachs. Ben and Lila didn’t think they’d turn on them at this point, but they kept their guns close anyway.
“How many people you kill?” asked Dave.
What was the fascination with the number of people who had died at our hands? I was beginning to wonder exactly what the rumors were about us. You’d think we were a two-person army.
“Enough,” I answered.
“I killed a man once,” said Dave.
Ben said nothing.
Dave’s brother poked him. “Shut up, Dave.”
“Knock it off, Richie. I was just saying.”
Ben and Lila looked at each other, the same memory coming to mind. Richie was the name of the manager of the restaurant they worked for when the event happened. A particularly unpleasant individual, he thought he was punishing them by having them do inventory in the walk-in freezer. In reality, his sleaziness saved them. When the EMP hit, it was the freezer that protected them. Richie’s lifeless body was lying right outside the door when they emerged.
“Where’re you coming from?” asked Richie.
“We were living in the forest a ways back,” answered Lila. “Fire forced us out. We’re heading west.”
“Wouldn’t suggest it.” The oldest of the foursome finally spoke.
“Why?” asked Ben.
“You hear things, is all.”
“What kinds of things?”
“Things. Not a healthy place to be.”
“Are you talking about the evil?” asked Lila.
“Guess you could call it that.”
“Do you know what it is?”
“Nope. Don’t have any desire to find out. Ran into people, different people, all said the same thing. Just happy to get out alive. No one would tell us what it was. ‘People’ was all they’d say.”
“Hear anything about a community in Yellowstone?” asked Ben.
“Heard rumors.”
“Ever thought to check it out?”
“Thought about it. Not worth it. Have to go through ‘them’ to get there. Rather stay here.”
Were we going to hear anything more than rumors? The evil was a rumor. The Yellowstone community was a rumor. It was a big country with a very few people. Maybe rumors were the best we were going to get.
“You’re welcome to bed down here for the night,” said Lila. “But we’ll hold onto your guns ‘til morning. Or you can leave and come back tomorrow for the guns. Either way, we keep the guns for the night. Hope you can understand.”
“We understand,” said the older guy. “We’d do the same. No hard feelings. Stay here, if you don’t mind. We’re tired. Truth be told, this was the first good meal we’ve had in a while. Animals all over the place. Just haven’t had any luck.”
Ben stoked the fire while everyone got comfortable. Silence descended on the camp.
Katie still hadn’t talked to anyone other than Ben and Lila. They knew it would take a while for her to get comfortable. They hoped that by the time they reached the community in Yellowstone—if it really existed—she’d be ready to talk to others.
Katie crawled into Lila’s arms and the two drifted off. Their four “guests” were also falling asleep—two were already snoring. Ben moved over to a tree next to the pile of guns. Ralph came over and curled up next to him. Ben knew that if he dozed off, Ralph would wake him if something was wrong. But he wouldn’t doze. It was going to be a long sleepless night.
Chapter 6
They said goodbye to their new friends early the next morning and were on their way. While he trusted them to an extent, Ben still watched them until they were out of sight, now that they had their weapons back. He hoped they could talk their way out of the next encounter with wandering marauders just as easily. About a mile into the walk, they stopped at a stream to fill their canteens. All the death had come so long ago, they felt they could trust streams and lakes to have uncontaminated water. So far that had proven true.
They had just put their p
acks back on when they heard a growl. Ralph was staring into the underbrush crouched in an attack position. They heard rustling.
“Down, Ralph,” said Lila quietly, all the while slowly unslinging her rifle from her backpack. Seeing her mother do that, Katie looked at Ben and said, “My crossbow, Daddy?”
As she had always done when they were hunting, Katie sensed the danger and she wanted to help. There was no question in Ben’s mind what to do. He reached behind him and detached the smaller crossbow for his daughter. While only six, she had already proven herself while hunting. There was no sense in shielding her when she could be of help. He loaded the bolt into the crossbow and handed it to Katie. There was no need to tell her to be careful. She knew the rules of handling a weapon.
He was reaching for his rifle when a large dog shot out of the woods right at Katie. She screamed and dropped her crossbow, the suddenness of the attack startling her. Ralph jumped at the attacker and caught him in mid-air, the two hitting the ground heavily. As they landed, three more dogs burst from the trees and ran toward them. Lila got a shot off and dropped one ten feet from her. Ben took a quick shot, missed, then shot again, this time grazing a large German Shepherd. It rolled for a moment, then came to its feet to continue the attack. Lila shot and hit it in the neck, throwing it a half a dozen feet, where it lay dead. The third one came up on Lila’s blindside and hit her hard. Not being able to prepare for it, she went down, dazed. The dog jumped on top of her, about to go for her throat.
“Mommy!” cried Katie.
Ben pulled out his pistol and shot three times, being ever so careful not to hit Lila. The dog limped away and Ben shot again. This time the dog crumpled to the ground, unmoving. He heard the sudden “thwap” of a crossbow and looked down to see Katie lowering her weapon. The dog Ralph had attacked was lying on the ground with the shaft of a bolt protruding from its side. Ralph had gotten the worse of the fight, and was lying on the ground, bloody.
That seemed to be the end of the dog pack. No others appeared.
“Good job, Katie,” said Ben. “You check on Ralph while I look after Mommy.”
Lila was bleeding from a head wound, a deep scratch on the neck, and a puncture wound in her shoulder, but she was conscious.
“God, I’m a mess,” she said, attempting to smile.
“Just lie back.” He reached for his backpack and found a bar of soap and a small towel. He showed her. “Best I can do,” he said, but she had passed out.
He poured water on the towel and lathered it up, then proceeded to clean the wounds, happy that Lila wasn’t awake.
“How’s Ralph, Kiddo?” he asked.
Katie looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “He’s hurt, Daddy. I don’t want him to die.”
“I’ll look at him just as soon as I fix Mommy.”
Katie looked scared. “Is Mommy going to be okay?” The tears were now flowing down her cheeks.
“She will. Don’t you worry.” He just wished he could be as confident about Ralph. He finished washing Lila, then got some clean bandages from Lila’s backpack and wrapped her wounds. Once he was confident that she was comfortable, he saw to Ralph.
Ben had had to fix Ralph up a number of times over the years when he got into fights with other animals, but this was the worst he had seen. A large piece of skin on his leg had flapped back, revealing a deep wound. He had other bite marks and scratches, but the leg was the thing that concerned Ben the most.
He worked on Ralph for almost an hour, taking moments off to check on Lila. Ralph must have been in excruciating pain, but he trusted Ben implicitly. Even so, when Ben touched a particularly raw spot, Ralph would give a yelp. All the time, Katie alternated between Ralph and Lila, stroking their heads and telling them they’d be okay.
Finally, Ben could do no more. He made sure each of his patients was warm and in the shade, then he scrubbed the dirt and blood off himself in the stream. When he was clean, he sat with Katie under a tree.
“I’m very proud of you,” he said to his daughter, who was leaning up against him.
“I had to shoot that dog,” she answered. “He was hurting Ralph.”
“You did the right thing. And,” he mussed her hair, “you’ve become a really good shot. But it’s not just that that I’m proud of you for. You shot that dog because you were protecting Ralph, just like he tried to do for you. And you did that while being scared. That’s not an easy thing. I love you, Kiddo.”
“I love you too, Daddy.” And she was asleep, worn out from the stress, the fear, and the adrenaline rush.
Ben knew they weren’t going anywhere for a while.
*****
They stayed by the stream for over a week. Lila was up and around the next day, although sore and moving gingerly, but Ralph’s wounds were more severe. As anxious as they were to get going, Ralph’s needs were just as important as their own. After a couple of days, they felt a sense of relief when Ralph turned the corner and it was apparent that his wounds were beginning to heal. It was Ralph, himself, who told them that he was ready to travel when he woke them up one morning standing in front of them with his tail wagging. They quickly packed their things and took to the road once more.
Ralph walked gingerly, but didn’t seem to be in any real pain.
“Yet another gimp,” joked Ben.
Lila punched him in the shoulder.
“Hope we get a bit further, this time,” said Ben.
“If we continue at this rate, by the time we reach Yellowstone, they will all have died of old age,” answered Lila.
They still couldn’t believe how the landscape of the towns had changed, Not only had grass and weeds grown up through the cracks cause by the earthquake, trees were also coming up in force.
“Another twenty years and you won’t be able to see the towns at all,” Lila said as they passed a car with a young tree growing up through its rusted chassis and out the driver’s side window.
“Not even sure it will take twenty years,” replied Ben. “There is nothing to stop the growth. Nature is thriving and nothing is going to stop it.”
“Why do you think everything is growing so fast?” asked Lila. “The constant rain storms?”
“Six years of that would do it, I would think. But I’m wondering if it’s even greater than that. We’re not here to hinder it. There’s no one to pave over it or to spray it. The air seems to be clearing of pollution. It’s been given the green light.”
“What does that mean, Daddy?”
Lila looked at Ben. “Isn’t it funny how so many of our old expressions mean nothing in this new world?”
They ran across a small town that had been spared the worst from the earthquake, and they decided to stock up on a few things. They entered a large department store. Some of the walls had crumbled and it was missing part of its roof, but even with that it was in better shape than most. All three needed new clothes, and Ben needed new boots. Katie looked around in awe at the shelves of clothes. She had never seen anything like it, and Lila decided to let her take her time and soak in the experience.
Ben quickly got bored in the clothing section and sought out the sporting goods department, picking out new sleeping bags for them all. He also selected a second compass and a new hunting knife.
When he and Lila made their first journey, freeze-dried meals would have been at the top of the list. Now, everything they ate came from the earth, or fresh meat that they killed. It wasn’t worth the valuable space to carry freeze-dried food. He made his way over to a drug store, where he stocked up on bandages and soap. He opened a bottle of alcohol, but it had all evaporated. He did find some hydrogen peroxide that seemed okay, though long out of date. Anything else he found would also be so out of date, and as such, useless to them. That probably included condoms, as well. Ben wasn’t about to take a chance on them. Besides, he hadn’t used condoms for a few years, once they ran out. They had learned to make love according to Lila’s cycles. He looked around him inside the drug store and reali
zed how unnecessary so much of it all had become for them.
Ben met Lila and Katie in the street. Katie was wearing a SpongeBob t-shirt.
“She thought it was cute,” said Lila.
“I miss SpongeBob,” said Ben. “And Scooby-Doo. It would be fun to watch them again. Katie would love them.”
“Maybe someday,” answered Lila. “You never know. It’s funny,” she added, “Katie picked out a few Scooby-Doo t-shirts as well. Like father like daughter.”
“I’m going to have to teach you the Scooby-Doo and SpongeBob songs,” Ben said to his daughter. She gave him a puzzle expression.
“We told you a little bit about cartoons,” explained Ben. “At the beginning of the cartoon was a song.” He started singing, “Scooby Dooby-Doo, Where are you…” He stopped. Katie was laughing hysterically. He looked at Lila, who was laughing along with Katie. “I think we’ll definitely have to teach her the songs.”
They had had enough of the town. Even Katie had lost interest. The newness of the experience had already passed.
As they were leaving the outskirts, gunshots and yelling suddenly erupted. It was close. They crouched behind a car, guns drawn. They waited, but the shooting wasn’t getting any closer, so they decided to keep moving, keeping close to the buildings.
They were across from a vacant lot when they saw the source of the shooting: a group of five men—similar in appearance to their guests of a week earlier, but older—had set up skeletons in a row and were using them as target practice. They weren’t very good shots, and Ben realized quickly the source of the problem. They were all staggeringly drunk. Every time someone shot, the others would jeer at his bad aim and babble as to how much of a better shot they were.
It was disgusting. It wasn’t the waste of precious ammunition or the fact that they were so drunk. It was the sheer disrespect they showed to those who were once living, breathing human beings. The skeletons were hung like scarecrows. Some had shattered skulls where a bullet had surprisingly hit its mark, and others had various bones blown away. There was something so sad about it, it brought tears to my eyes. I looked at Lila. There was no doubt she was feeling the same. I wanted so badly to go over and blow those guys away, but I refrained.
Eden Lost (Eden Rising Trilogy Book 2) Page 4
