Badlands: A Post-Apocalyptic Journey

by Nathan Jones

  So here he was in Cable's store, looking to buy a few staples to last him to Newpost.

  The trader wasn't really a friend, closer to the opposite really. But he stocked some of the lowest quality foodstuffs at cheap prices, and Tom was ready to sift through the worst of it to find both food and prices he could stomach.

  He had a horse to buy, after all.

  Tom was in a back corner of the store investigating sacks of flour that may or may not have been infested with vermin when the bell above the door jangled. He looked over and was surprised to see the sandy-haired boy from the convoy, Skyler he thought his name was, entering. The kid was on his own again, and Tom wondered where his mom was.

  Skyler immediately made a beeline for a display of rock candy near the purchase counter, looking over the treats with a hopeful expression.

  Behind the counter Cable had straightened with a polite smile as the boy entered, which faded when he realized there were no parents around to ingratiate himself with. He coughed sternly. “Can I help you, kid?”

  After a few seconds of awkward silence the trader coughed again, more firmly this time. Skyler reluctantly tore himself away from the candy display and made his way over to stand in front of the counter. “Is money from before the Ultimatum worth anything?” he asked, glancing nervously towards the door.

  Cable chuckled dismissively. “Paper money? Pretty much worthless. Coins should be worth about as much as the metal they're made out of, but unfortunately almost nobody can work that metal into anything useful without modern equipment. So no, it's worth even less than most scrap metal because it's too small to be cut and hammered into new shapes.”

  “Oh.” Skyler's shoulders slumped. Without much hope he pulled a small but heavy bag out of his pocket and began untying it. “Well could I buy anything with this? Maybe some candy?”

  The boy poured a small mound of change on the counter. From across the room Tom saw Cable perk up in sudden interest, which he tried to hide as he idly began sifting through the coins with a forced look of disdain. “Well you normally couldn't, kid. But I've got a soft spot for entrepreneurial youngsters . . . maybe I could part with a couple pieces of rock candy for it.”

  “Really?” Skyler asked excitedly.

  “Sure.” Cable licked his lips and glanced Tom's way, looking far too eager for the sale and trying to hide it. Curious, Tom drifted closer for a better look at the pile of change on the counter.

  Ah. True, most of the old pre-Ultimatum coins were worthless. Unless they happened to be dimes, quarters, half dollars, and silver dollars that had been minted before 1965.

  Otherwise known as junk silver.

  Tom had seen his share of the 90% silver coins and recognized their distinctive dull sheen in the pile of change Skyler had dumped on the counter. Which meant the boy was about to spend a fortune he thought was worthless on a few pieces of candy, thinking he was lucky to get any.

  And Cable looked perfectly happy to let him.

  He made his way over to lean on the counter a bit farther down. “Looks like about ten dollars in change there, Cable,” he said idly.

  The trader shot him an angry look, warning him to stay out of it. As for Skyler, he jumped slightly in surprise and turned to see who'd spoken, then relaxed when he recognized who it was. “Hi, Tom,” he said.

  Tom nodded at him but kept his eyes on Cable, making sure the trader didn't try to pocket any of the coins as his crooked deal fell through. “Where's your mom, Skyler?”

  The boy hunched his shoulders guiltily. “In the store just down the street. I told her I wanted to wait outside and get a better look at the town.”

  “Ah.” He picked up a quarter and idly tapped it against the counter. “Then you snuck away to try to by some candy you saw in the last store?”

  Cable tensed even more. “It's rude to handle another customer's money, Trapper. Step back please, I'll get to you in a second.”

  “Sure.” Tom held the quarter out to Skyler. “I'm sure you were just about to tell your customer all about junk silver too, weren't you?” The trader's glare became murderous.

  “Junk silver?” Skyler asked uncertainly as he took the coin.

  Tom nodded and motioned to quarter on his palm, then the pile of coins. “Any dime, quarter, half dollar, or silver dollar made before 1965 is 90% silver, and people call them that. I can see at a glance that these all are.”

  The boy's eyes bulged. “This is silver?” he asked in a strangled voice, staring down at the quarter.

  “90% of it.” Tom plucked the empty coin bag from the boy's limp fingers and began scooping the change into it. “I think we should talk to your mom before you try to buy anything with it.”

  Cable swore at him, slamming his hands down on the counter. “Get out of my store, Trapper!” he snarled.

  “Way ahead of you.” Tom gave Skyler a stern look and pointed towards the door, following him as he glumly trudged outside.

  Out on the street he immediately spotted the boy's mother striding their way, expression concerned as she looked around for her son. When her eyes fell on Skyler relief flashed over her features, followed by a mother's wrath. Some of which transferred to Tom along with her glare as she stalked over to them.

  “What's going on?” she demanded.

  “Tom Miller, ma'am,” he said, in case she hadn't bothered remembering his name. He proffered Skyler's small bag of coins, which she accepted suspiciously. “I found your son in Cable's store, trying to buy candy with ten or so dollars in change, specifically junk silver, for face value.”

  She blinked, sky blue eyes showing confusion as she looked down at her son. “You what, now?”

  Tom quickly explained the encounter, noticing as he did how the woman abruptly shifted to hold the bag of coins between thumb and forefinger like it was covered in filth. “No idea where he got the coins or why he didn't understand their value,” he finished, “but that's what happened.”

  The young mother closed her eyes slowly. “Skyler, honey,” she said quietly. “You were about to spend a fortune at the exchange rate of pre-Ultimatum dollars?”

  Skyler stared at his shoes. “I didn't know.”

  After taking a sharp breath the flaxen-haired woman reached down and took her son's hand, holding the bag of silver well away from him. “Thank you, sir,” she said stiffly. “If you'll excuse us.”

  Tom touched the brim of his hat. “Ma'am.”

  She walked off dragging her son behind him. But unlike the fierce scolding she'd given Skyler before, now she walked in the sort of frigid silence that suggested she was really going to give it to him this time.

  Poor kid.

  Tom couldn't help but think that the woman still hadn't bothered to introduce herself, which struck him as a bit rude. But then, his wild appearance often prompted people to treat him poorly. In a way it was an advantage; he was less likely to receive any false sincerity, and it gave him a chance to see people's real personality.

  He made his way back into the store and leaned on the counter. “So, Cable,” he said idly.

  The man glared at him. “I just kicked you out, Trapper. You seriously want to talk business after losing me the best deal I've seen in months?”

  Tom smiled thinly. “Absolutely. In fact, I want to talk about the special discount you're going to give me so I don't go around to the nearby bars and saloons, telling people the amusing tale of the trader who tried to cheat a little kid out of a fortune in junk silver.”

  * * * * *

  Kristy ducked her head into the store where the Hendricksons waited, but didn't go in. “Are you guys good here?” she said, trying to keep her voice calm and steady. “I need some time to deal with something with my son.”

  She saw Lisa give Skyler a sympathetic look, and behind her Bob trying to hold back a smile. Vicky didn't even try to hide her smirk of commiseration. It probably looked to them like a simple matter of discipline, but then they couldn't know just what was going on.

 
“No problem,” the petite woman said. “We'll be in one of these stores when you get back.”

  “Thanks.” Still holding her son's hand Kristy took off down the street back towards the convoy's camp. For his part Skyler was sullen and quiet as he walked behind her; he probably didn't understand exactly what was going on, either.

  The bag felt like a live snake in Kristy's grip, and she imagined she could feel invisible rays radiating off it and into her, poisoning her like they had her husband.

  “Where did you get these?” she demanded, glaring back at her son as she shook the bag to make the coins jingle. He cringed, but she was too scared and furious to be patient with him.

  “From Dad's pack,” he mumbled. “The stuff you threw out after he'd been sick for a while.”

  Kristy remembered. It had been just after Miles confessed that he'd been scavenging in the fallout zone. She'd dumped everything in the pack out and kicked dirt over it, unwilling to risk the chance that any of it was radioactive and furious at the thought of what he might've exposed her and their son to. Later she'd thrown out the pack as well, along with her husband's clothes and most of his other possessions.

  “You knew he was sick from radiation and you went rummaging around in his stuff anyway?”

  Skyler paled; it was obvious he hadn't even considered that. “I thought you were just throwing that stuff out because it was worthless.” He ducked his head in shame. “When I saw the coins I thought I might be able to buy some candy with them, even if they weren't worth much.”

  The silver she held weighed her hand like a dead rat, and Kristy wanted nothing more than to throw it away. But she couldn't risk someone else picking it up and spreading around possibly contaminated coins to sicken anyone who touched them.

  Sure, the cost of buying supplies for the remainder of the trip was going to be ruinous, and there was the added weight of guilt from having to borrow from Vicky and Bob to pay for what they needed. But even so she'd never dream of trying to purchase supplies with this junk silver from some unsuspecting shopkeeper. Not even the weasel back there who'd tried to cheat her son.

  But she had to do something with the bag. Maybe she could hike out in the middle of nowhere and bury it.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked, picking up the pace. “You feel more tired than usual? Has your tummy hurt or you've had to throw up? Blood in your poop, painful sores in your mouth?”

  “I'm fine,” Skyler said, scowling. “I'm not sick like Dad was.”

  Kristy hesitated, wondering. They really needed this silver, and Miles had said he'd carefully washed the contamination off everything he brought back, cleaning it all in a river flowing into the fallout zone where it wouldn't matter if he contaminated the water. If her son had been handling this bag and its contents for almost two months and was perfectly fine did that mean it was safe?

  Or was it only contaminated with low levels of radiation, something that would harm him slowly and they might not see the effects for a long time? She wished she knew more about how radiation worked, and if things could become radioactive from exposure.

  And more importantly, if they could be made safe afterwards.

  But there was one thing she could do. Simon had purchased a Geiger counter powered by a small solar array for the convoy. It was one of their most expensive possessions, even more than the animals, but vital for making sure the route they traveled was safe from radiation.

  And even more importantly, when they reached their new home in Texas they'd want to go over the land they settled and check it. After what they'd gone through on the fringes of the Utah Valley fallout zone, they all wanted to make sure they wouldn't find themselves in the same situation before they started building a new community.

  Kristy had thought of asking the redheaded man to use it to test the caches of scavenged goods Miles had buried, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She was so certain it was all dangerous that actually confirming that would just prove her husband had died for nothing, and right when her grief was already most bitter.

  But maybe this junk silver was safe. If it was it would be a godsend. A last gift from Miles to see them safely to their new home, and even some left over to get them started there. For perhaps the first time since her husband confessed to scavenging in the fallout zone she was able to find some good in it, however small.

  If it was safe.

  To her relief Simon was in camp and not in the city on convoy business. He and a few of his men were busy rearranging things in the oxen wagon to make room for newly purchased bags of flour and feed. But when he saw her and Skyler headed his way he immediately called a break and moved to meet them.

  “Already done purchasing supplies?” he asked cheerfully. “I thought I'd finished my business quickly, and I've still got tons of stuff to do.”

  Kristy shook her head. “We, um, ran into a bit of a snag.” She glanced at the other men, all busy getting water or finding shade and trying not to look as if they were gawking at their leader chatting her up. No doubt speculating about what was going on between them. She lowered her voice. “Can I ask a favor, Simon?”

  He blinked. “Absolutely.” Holding out a hand in invitation, the redheaded man led them to a more secluded spot away from prying ears. “How can I help, Kristy?”

  She took a breath and held up the bag, still doing her best to touch it with as little of her finger and thumb as possible. “I'm a bit worried about this. Can we use the Geiger counter to make sure it's safe real quick?”

  The convoy's leader took an involuntary step back, eyes widening. She couldn't blame him. “Did you just get that?” he demanded.

  It was a fair question. Before setting out Simon had run the Geiger counter over every wagon, cart, loaded pack animal, and bundle of goods. Since they were fleeing from the expanded fallout zone it was a reasonable precaution to make sure no one had accidentally brought anything dangerous with them. They'd even found several things that needed to be left behind.

  But he hadn't really gone out of his way to check people themselves, and Skyler must've been holding his bag of coins at the time. That or they'd been with his things in the cart, and the junk silver really was safe.

  “It's . . . a bit complicated,” she admitted sheepishly.

  Simon looked at her for several moments, expression unreadable. Then with a shrug he strode over to the wagon and carefully pulled out the hard plastic case holding the device. Relieved, Kristy came over as he took it out and started fiddling with it, offering him the bag. “Thanks.”

  He flinched slightly. “Just, uh, put it on the ground.”

  “Sorry.” Reddening with embarrassment, Kristy sheepishly backed away and set the bag on the ground with an audible clink.

  The convoy's leader turned on the device, which began beeping steadily as it detected background radiation, and made a few adjustments to the controls. After a few seconds he took the meter and moved it slowly towards the bag. The steady beeping continued until the meter was almost touching the cloth, and he moved it thoroughly over every square inch of the bag while being careful that it never actually touched it.

  Kristy felt her nerves calm and her excitement grow as the seconds passed. She'd never used the device and wasn't too familiar with it, but she knew enough to be pretty confident that steady beeping was good news.

  Sure enough, when Simon finally straightened he was smiling. “That was the most sensitive setting. You're good.” He chuckled, mock wiping his brow. “You had me worried for a second there.”

  Kristy stood for a few seconds, heart soaring at the news the silver was safe. Not just because it meant she could buy much needed supplies with it, but at the knowledge that Skyler hadn't been exposed to dangerous radiation this entire time.

  What was more, it hinted at the impossible possibility that maybe Miles's buried treasure wasn't radioactive after all. If she ever got back to Utah that is.

  She turned to Skyler, pulling him into a fierce hug. She was still a bit ma
d that he'd taken something that could've been dangerous and kept it hidden from her this entire time, all so he could buy some candy. But all was well that ended well she supposed; she'd have a talk with him about the nuances of the situation, but for now it was all right to celebrate.

  And maybe along with whatever punishment she thought up for him she'd also buy him some of that candy he'd been hoping for. She'd make sure he shared it with Lisa, brighten up her day too.

  “Run back into town and see if you can find Aunt Vicky and Uncle Bob,” she told him. “Let them know we have more money to work with.” Her son grinned and bolted off, and she crouched to gather up the bag and tuck it into her pocket. Then she straightened and gave Simon a bright smile. “Thank you.”

  He grinned back. “My pleasure. Nice to know I made your day a bit better.”

  Kristy laughed, and on impulse darted forward and threw her arms around his shoulders, hugging him exultantly. “You really did!”

  The tall man stiffened in her arms, expression going from surprised to pleased as he awkwardly hugged her back with one arm while still holding the Geiger counter. “I'm really happy it was good news for you.”

  “Me too. You have no idea.” Kristy lingered for a moment, arms still around him. She knew she should let go, but in the heat of the moment holding him felt nice, like he was a solid anchor that could easily support her. It was a feeling that she'd missed since losing Miles, and setting aside all her inner emotional turmoil she let herself hold onto it for a bit longer.

  Too long. She was simultaneously thrilled and alarmed when Simon's arm around her waist abruptly pulled her closer, and before she had time to consider things he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.

  An electric thrill shot through her. For a breathless moment she wanted to tilt her chin up and kiss him back, but then the image of Miles wasting away on his deathbed flashed through her mind and she felt an immediate surge of guilt.