by Mark Gordon
Chapter 64
Tales of Marauders
It was almost dark when Matt, Dylan and Montana returned from the council depot. Bonnie, Gabby, and Sally were in the kitchen preparing dinner when they heard the truck chugging up the long gravel drive towards the farm.
“Do you think they found what they were looking for?” asked Sally, “The explosives, I mean.”
“Probably,” said Bonnie. “But whether they can find the information they need to make it all happen is another thing.”
She pulled the hot pan of chicken and potatoes from the oven and set it down on the sink, and turned to Sally, “What are you thinking?”
“I’m hoping they can’t make a bomb that works. I don’t want them to go to the caves. It’s crazy, and you heard what Gabby said; she thinks somebody won’t be coming home. I’m really scared. We seem to be safe here, so why take unnecessary risks? We should just be thankful we have each other.”
“I totally understand why you think that, but you know we can’t live like that. Who knows how long us survivors will last if we just wait for the feeders to take over? We have to fight back; I don’t think this is a case of co-existing peacefully with them either. They will wipe us out. Did you know that Neanderthal man was widespread on the earth up until only thirty thousand years ago? Thirty thousand years! That’s just yesterday, really. Homo sapiens - that’s us - out-competed them. We more or less made them extinct. No one knows how for sure, but these feeders could do the same to us. Now I don’t know about you, but I like the idea of the human race surviving for a bit longer yet.”
Bonnie had barely finished speaking when Dylan, Matt and Montana bustled into the kitchen.
“Something smells good!” said Matt.
“I killed one of your chickens this morning,” said Bonnie, “Do we have anything to celebrate?”
“Maybe. We found the stash of explosives with no problems, just as I left them, but finding the information took way longer. We finally found a filing cabinet in a little storeroom that had loads of brochures and folders and safety manuals. There were also some handwritten notes.”
Matt looked at Bonnie and became more serious, “We actually think this might be doable; probably even simpler than we thought. All we need to do is connect a timer to a detonator, then to the explosives, and we’re good to go. Bang!”
“Are you sure you can do it safely?” asked Sally.
Dylan turned from the refrigerator; where he’d grabbed beers for himself, Matt and Montana and said without a shadow of doubt, “Don’t worry about it. It’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel. Let’s eat. I’m starving.”
-
“This chicken is absolutely awesome Bonnie. God, you just can’t beat a roast dinner on a cold night!”
“Thanks buddy, I’m glad you’re enjoying it, but don’t expect it every night. I’m no housewife, and in case you hadn’t noticed, I don’t want to become one, so don’t get used to it. What did you find out in town today?”
“Matt, tell them about that guy you spoke to.”
Matt swallowed a mouthful of potato and answered, “Yeah, I ran into this guy in town who says there seem to be more travellers passing through, and I think he’s right. It’s not a flood of people yet, but we see someone every time we go in to town, now. This bloke reckons there’s a real exodus away from the city. The only people staying back there are the real hard-core survivalists who want to wipe out the feeders, or the ones who are too scared to travel - and the marauders, of course. They’re loving it, and thriving on the chaos. Everyone else seems to be following their urge to head west.”
“Well that just confirms what we already knew doesn’t it?” asked Sally.
“Yes, except for one new development. If it’s true, that is,” added Matt.
“What that?”
Dylan and Montana watched Bonnie and Sally, curious to see their reaction to Matt’s news. “Well, this guy I was talking to says that Carswell is getting real dangerous.”
“From the feeders? We already know that.”
Matt paused, trying to choose his words carefully. “No not from the feeders; from marauders. It seems as if Carswell has become a bit of a Mecca for crazies. This guy said it’s getting real freaky over there. Travellers have gone missing on the way through town and women have been tortured and raped. He thinks that certain types of people have been drawn there, just like other types have been compelled to head west.”
The room was quiet as they digested this new information.
“That’s scary,” said Bonnie. “Marauders in the city are one thing, but having to deal with them out here is a problem we could do without. Do you think they’ll stay in Carswell, or spread out further and end up here in Millfield?”
Matt shook his head. “That’s impossible to answer I think, because things seem to be changing on a daily basis. I’ve got a real bad feeling that the survivors of the event are choosing teams; good versus evil, or something like that. I know how stupid that sounds, but everybody I’ve met heading west seems really normal and genuine, and now we’ve got this Carswell thing going on.”
Matt’s words trailed away as he waited for a response. Sally put a half-eaten chicken leg on her plate and asked an obvious question, “How do the feeders fit into all of this? I don’t get it. It’s one thing to share the world with a bunch of crazy zombies trying to eat us when it gets dark, but on top of that there’s all this other stuff like Gabby’s weird powers, no offense Gabby, people heading west for no apparent reason, marauders gathering together at Carswell, the migration. Are they all connected somehow, or is the division between good and evil, if that’s what it is, just something that happens when society falls apart?”
“I'm not sure,” answered Bonnie. “But it’s obvious that we need to stick together, watch for changes in the feeders’ behaviour and look after Gabby. And on that note,” she said, turning to her daughter, “it’s time for you to go to bed. Go and clean your teeth and put your pyjamas on, I’ll tuck you in soon.”
After Gabby had done a lap of the kitchen table to kiss everyone goodnight, conversation returned immediately to their situation in light of the new information at hand.
“I’ll tell you one thing,” said Dylan. “We can sit around here forever and make guesses about what’s going on over at Carswell, but I think it would be more useful if we actually checked the place out for ourselves. You know how people can bullshit when they want to make their story more interesting. That guy Matt spoke to might have been exaggerating.”
“What do you suggest we do?” asked Matt.
“Well”, said Dylan, “I think we should pay Carswell a quick visit on the way to the caves. It’s pretty much on the way, and if it looks really dangerous, we can take a detour on the way home and avoid it. What do you say Matt?”
“I had a bad feeling about that place the first time I set foot in it, so I’m not keen, but I think we need to, given what we’ve been told. Do you think we‘ll get through okay?”
“Well, they’re not killing everyone that passes through town, so I think we’ll be safe if we’re cautious. When should we leave?”
“I can’t see any point putting it off,” said Matt, “but we probably need to spend a whole day wiring up our explosives tomorrow. What do you say to the day after that?”
“I say it sounds like a plan.”
“Hey guys, I have a question,” said Montana, as she pushed her empty plate away.
“What’s that?” asked Matt.
“What do you need me to bring?”
-
The following morning was a busy and stressful one for Matt, Dylan and Montana. They arrived at the Council Depot an hour after sunrise and began the painstaking, and very intimidating, task of piecing together multiple explosive devices only from information they had gleaned from workshop technical manuals and handwritten notes. They realised that it was probably a safe task if they took things slowly and triple checked every step, but they still
had a knot in their stomachs for most of the day. For the first couple of hours, they simply gathered materials and read and reread as much information as they could. Then, when they could put it off no longer, they constructed their devices, leaving the detonators disconnected until later when they would be at the caves. Matt’s background working with machines and mechanical systems on the farm gave him the confidence that he could piece together the explosive puzzle, but it was Montana, surprisingly, who showed an aptitude for the logic involved, and gave them confidence to push on with the project, despite their trepidation. Whenever Matt or Dylan hesitated, she simply urged them on with encouragement and sensible advice and finally they had enough explosives to do some very serious damage, although they really had no idea how big the ultimate blast would be.
More than once throughout the day Matt or Dylan thought how lucky they were to have Montana with them. Something about her calm approach rubbed off on them, helping to complete tasks without getting too frustrated. The night before, though, was a different story. Everybody had expressed apprehension about Montana joining the Delano Caves expedition, and there was a heated debate, which lasted for almost an hour. Finally, though, doubts had been overcome and they realised that having a native of Carswell who knew the layout of the town could be an advantage when they passed through, if things went wrong. Bonnie, in particular, was concerned that as an attractive, young female, Montana would be a potential target for rampant marauders in the town. In the end though, everyone had to agree that she was as capable of protecting herself as Matt and Dylan were, and so she became the third member of the cave team.
So, as the late afternoon sun dropped rapidly toward the horizon, Matt, Dylan and Montana locked the gates to the depot where the means to exterminate many thousands of feeders would wait in safety until the morning. Their mood was sombre and nobody spoke as they climbed into the ute and started the journey back to 'Two Hills'. Matt wasn’t sure if their subdued mood was an indication of tiredness or because of Gabby’s premonition that one of them wouldn’t return from the caves, but he knew one thing for sure - the first blow in the war against the feeders would be struck tomorrow. He revved the engine and headed for home.
