Land of the Dogs (Book 1)
Page 5
Simon sat at the table for a moment thinking about what the Mayor had said. It seems like he always knows what’s going on around this place. He’s a smart man. He knew something was up with Russel and Stan. He even knew I showed up yesterday before anyone had made their way to his office. I’m sure there’s a lot more he’s not telling me. But he’s one of the good ones. At least I’m pretty sure.
Simon made himself and Claire a plate of food from the cafeteria and they ate together in his room. After lunch, Simon went to the Mayor’s office to get the map he’d been promised. The map lay spread across the desk. Markings covered the countryside, with circles around various camps or rumors of camps. A few circles had been crossed out with an X. The Mayor went over, in detail, every settlement’s location. The Redeemers were south of Town Hall. The High School was east. There was a mall north of that, though he believed it had been looted a while back. Other than that, there were a few places marked on the edges of the map to the west. Those were the places where a few people had seen groups, but not yet made contact.
“I know you’re in a hurry to go, but you should definitely wait until she is one hundred percent.” The Mayor folded the map neatly and slid it across the desk to Simon. Simon held it like a priceless work of art. The map was the only chance he had at finding his family.
“That’s the plan. We’ll spend the next couple of days putting our supplies together. I want to make sure we are prepared when we get outside the gates. It might mean we lose a few days on tracking Mom and Dan, but I wouldn’t want to put Claire in danger unless she can handle herself,” said Simon. “How often do you see those things?”
“What? The dead? They are fewer and farther between nowadays. In the early days, we used to see a hundred a day. They would just stumble around until they saw one of us, then they’d go into this raging fit, clawing and running and trying to make their way up the wall. Back then, we had twenty people posted on the perimeter at all times. Now we only have four.” The Mayor looked out the window, assessing those standing guard on the barricade. “To answer your question, though, I’d say we see ten on a bad day, usually more along the line of five or less. It seems that with less people in the world, there is less opportunity for people to turn into one of them. Outside of these walls, though, I’d be careful. There is nothing to protect you but your own wits. I’m not even convinced that the dead are the most dangerous thing about this world anymore.” The Mayor stared hard at Simon, making sure that he had taken in the last sentence.
“What is then?” asked Simon, but he already knew the answer. He had seen the dangers all too well already.
“People. Living People. There is no law and order anymore, Simon. Only the ones you place down yourself. You must remember that. I run a pretty good place here, but I’m not so sure about everyone else out there. And I’m glad this is the first place you came to. Because God only knows what could have happened at those other places. I guess you’ll find out soon enough, though.” Simon could see one of the men making their rounds on the barricade. He thought for a moment of what awaited him outside. Thoughts of packs of undead monsters rampaging through the woods, and men hiding in the shadows with guns and knives, filled his head before he snapped back to reality.
“You’re right. It’s not something I’m looking forward to, but we have to go. Mom and Dan are out there looking for Claire. I just hope they are okay.”
“So do I, Simon. I can’t help but feel partly responsible. I wish you the best of luck. If you do find them, I hope you come back to Town Hall. You’re a good kid. You’re smart and you have good instincts. We could use more people like you around here.” He stood up and reached out to shake Simon’s hand.
“Can I offer a bit of advice for you before I leave?” asked Simon. “I know you have given me so much already.”
“Sure…” A smile crept over the Mayor’s face. “Hit me.”
“You should think about putting more people on the perimeter, or retraining the ones you have. I was down by the gate two nights ago, before I actually showed up, and the guard was damn near asleep. No watchfulness at all. That might work for the dead, but if I was a spy, or someone trying to hurt you, I could have taken him out, no problem, and then been over the gate and inside before anyone knew.” The Mayor’s smile had vanished and returned to his normal stern look. “It’s when people let their guard down that bad things happen.”
“Thank you, Simon. I’ll bring it to everyone’s attention and go from there. If there is nothing else you need from me, I have work to get back to.” He turned towards the window, signaling Simon to leave.
Simon was at the door when the Mayor called, “Simon, we’re putting Russel to death this afternoon. I don’t know if it will help Claire or hurt her to see it. I suppose that is for her to decide, just let her know.”
Simon was worried that he might have upset the Mayor with talk of the guards, but it was something that needed to be said. If things were as dangerous out there as the Mayor said, they needed to be more alert.
Claire was fast asleep when Simon got back to the room. She looked better already. More rested, less bags under her eyes. The town doctor, who was a nurse before everything went to hell, had looked over Claire, and aside from some bruising and being underweight, Claire was physically okay. Stan and Russel had fed her scraps they had brought back from each meal. It had been enough for Claire to live on, if nothing else. Her body was bruised and she had lost some strength, but she would recover in time. Her mental health was another issue, one that Simon had no idea how to deal with. He gave her a nudge on the shoulder and sat on the edge of the bed. Claire was wide awake in an instant.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I just talked to the Mayor. I got a map for us.”
“That’s great.”
“I also found out they are going to execute Russel. I didn’t know if that was something you would want to see.”
Claire sat in silence for a moment.
“If I did, would that make me a bad person?” she asked.
“I don’t think so. If you ask me, he deserves worse than death for what he did to you. I’ll go with you if it’s what you want to do.”
Claire reached out and took Simon’s hand. She squeezed. It was both firm and fragile in the same instance.
A crowd had gathered around the same tree Simon and the Mayor had talked under earlier in the day. The rope was tied in a noose and hung over a log. The idea of watching someone hang to death seemed barbaric to Simon. He had to remind himself that this was the world now. For them, two years of hell had passed.
Simon wrapped his arm around Claire as they waited. Every so often, someone would turn and look at her. Whispers snaked through the crowd. When the doors to building A clanked shut, everyone turned to see Russel being carried down the stairs, his legs dragging over each step, unable to be used. Simon still remembered the anger he had felt when he took the bat to both of Russel’s knees. It was an all-consuming anger that he hoped to never feel again.
Silence overtook the crowd as they gazed on in wonder. Bull, the young man Simon had met on his first day, lifted Russel into the air while the Mayor fit the noose around his neck. Unable to stand, there was no need for the log beneath it, so he kicked it out of the way. Bull held Russel’s life in his powerful arms, the only thing keeping him alive.
“This is not something I enjoy doing,” began the Mayor. “It is not easy to take a man’s life, but in certain cases, it must be done for the good of the community. Rape and kidnapping was not tolerated in the old world and it will not be tolerated in our new world either.”
Claire moved herself in closer to Simon. He wanted to protect her from all of this in the way he had not been able to before. Her eyes were focused on Russel as he hovered on the edge of life and death.
“Is there anything you would like to say for your last words, Russel?”
His face contorted in anger before he spoke, “You think you can make things back t
he way they were. Things will never be that way. The old rules don’t apply. Judge me all you want, but you’ll all go this way eventually.”
Bull let go of Russel and he fell hard against the rope. There was a light crack and then his face began to turn red and then blue and then purple. His eyes bulged out of his head as the pressure mounted. Simon watched Claire, but she kept looking. Tears ran down her face, but she never looked away.
The next morning, Claire wanted to get out of the room and walk around the compound. She told Simon she wanted to leave the next day. When she came back, Carter followed her, carrying two large bags of supplies.
“Someone’s been busy. How are you feeling, Claire?” asked Simon. Carter gave Simon a nod and set the bags on the bed.
“I’m feeling okay. It’s nice to finally be able to walk around and stretch my legs. And I think I got everything. Want to see what I got?” Claire emptied out the contents on the bed. There were two sleeping bags, two hammocks, a coil of rope, two pocket knives, a dozen shells for Simon’s shotgun, two gallon jugs filled with water, a sack of fruit, cheese, and hard-boiled eggs, five candles with a piece of slate to light them, a whistle, a hatchet and a spear, and two camping backpacks. “The spear is for me. And the whistle is for announcing ourselves when we make it to Old Man River’s farm.” She looked over the items, touching each one as she did. “Is there anything I missed? I got the hammocks instead of a tent because I thought it would be safer to camp hanging from trees than out in the open ground.”
“Smart call, I didn’t even think of that.” Simon looked over the items. His biggest concern was the weight, and if Claire could handle so much after what she endured already. But he didn’t want to upset her, so he said nothing. I can always carry more if I need to. “It looks like we have enough food to make it to the Farm at least. I guess after that we are on our own. And hopefully we can find places to refill these jugs every day. If nothing else, there are plenty of streams in the area, though I don’t know how clean the water is.”
“I’m sure there is a lot less pollution nowadays,” said Claire.
“That’s probably true,” said Simon. “I’d be more worried about dead bodies floating in the water. Are you sure you’re okay to go so soon?”
“I’m alright. I think the best thing is to just get out of this place. I need to clear my head, get some fresh air. I need to have a challenge. My body will heal on the road. My mind too.”
Simon wasn’t so sure it would be that easy. He had never seen her as skinny as she was right then, and four days was hardly enough time to recover. If not for the fact that their family was getting farther away with each passing day, he would have objected. Her eyes still had that sunken look he had seen in pictures of people returning from war. Like they had seen too much. “Okay. Let’s go ahead and pack this all up. I want to leave first thing in the morning so we have plenty of time to walk and we can make camp tomorrow night before trying to meet with the Redeemers the next morning.”
“Redeemers?” Claire had a quizzical look on her face.
“That’s what the Mayor calls the people at the Farm, because they believe this was all the work of God to cleanse the Earth.”
“Well. That certainly makes this a lot more interesting,” replied Claire.
They divided up everything between the two backpacks. Simon took his shotgun and Slugger, and both gallons of water. Claire took her spear.
“Claire, do you think you might need a gun out there?” asked Simon. He knew that she had always been afraid of guns as a kid. “An unnatural fear,” their father had called it. “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” he had said.
“I would rather not. I’m not properly trained and I figure this will serve if we come across any of the dead.” She lifted up the spear. It was stainless steel with a sharpened point. “I’m not sure where it came from; it looks like a high school javelin, but it’s lightweight and easy to use. If you stab through the eye, it’s pretty effective.” She mimicked a stabbing motion and the spear moved in a blur.
“I’ll see if I can get a handgun. Just in case. It’s like the Mayor said, the dead are probably not going to be our biggest threat once we leave these walls.”
“You think that’s true? You really think there are a lot of bad people out there?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but I have to imagine there are more people like Stan and Russel. People who are trying to take advantage of anyone and everything they can. Maybe this is the land of the dogs. The Mayor seems to think that this place is a bit of a sanctuary. And I hope he is wrong. I hope we find Mom and Dan as quick as possible and are able to come back here and live in peace until everything gets sorted out. I would like to think that somewhere out there, our government is trying to piece this all back together. You know what I mean?”
Claire finished putting the food in her bag and sat down on the bed. “I hope so. The way things are now is pretty shitty.”
Simon and Claire slept together that night. Claire passed out as soon as her head hit the pillow. I bet she hasn’t had a full night’s sleep in so long. Pieces of shit. They deserved every bit of what happened to them, Simon thought. He found himself going through cycles of feeling both guilty and justified. Simon had never attempted to hurt anyone out of malice before, even when he had been angry, but when he thought back on what they did to Claire, he felt his jaw tighten.
Claire whimpered and moaned several times throughout the night, waking Simon. At one point, he heard her say, “Please. Stop.” And his angered flared again. I wonder if she will ever be the same girl I remembered before all of this. Heck, I doubt I am the same boy I was four days ago. I’ve killed a man; no, a monster. Simon rolled over on his side. He didn’t want to think about those things anymore. I need to sleep. Tomorrow is gonna be a long day.
Simon woke four more times before dawn. As bad of a night as Claire had sleeping, she woke up looking refreshed. Her cheeks weren’t quite as sunken in and her bruises had faded more. Her body was healing quicker than expected.
“How did you sleep, Simon?” She smiled.
“Fine,” he lied. “You look better.”
“I feel better. I haven’t slept like that in ages.” She hugged him tight. Simon was glad that his presence could at least bring her a little comfort.
“Ready for breakfast? We can eat and then come back and head out,” said Simon.
A hush fell over everyone as Simon and Claire entered the cafeteria. It was not often that people left Town Hall, and the story of Simon and Claire had spread like a bad case of the flu. Becky ran over to them as soon as they entered.
“I wish you two the best of luck. I hope you find your family. And you…” She looked at Claire. “You poor thing. I never even suspected. I’m so sorry.” Claire just stared at Becky until she turned and walked away.
“Thank you, Becky,” Simon yelled as she left.
Several others came by and wished them luck on their journey. Many of them offered to help with supplies, but Simon told them they were well-stocked. The Mayor was nowhere to be seen and Simon wondered what he could be doing so early. They ate their breakfast of eggs, a glass of warm milk, and strawberries. When they were finished, Simon felt anxious and excited as they headed towards their room.
At the end of the hall, Simon came to a halt. “Can you wait for me in the room, Claire? I’m going to stop by the supply room and see if I can get you a gun. I know you don’t want one, but I think you should have it just in case.”
Simon saw her initial instinct was to fight him, but she took a deep breath before speaking. “Okay, don’t be long. We have a long day ahead of us.” If it made Simon feel better, it seemed she would take the gun.
Simon quickly made his way to the supply room. It was a few doors down from the Mayor’s office. As Simon walked by, he noticed the Mayor’s door was closed. I hope I didn’t freak him out too bad with what I said about the barricade. It needed to be said, for the safety of everyone.
“You must be Simon.” Simon stood silent as the old man looked him over. “There have been a lot of shake-ups around here since you came to town. I don’t like shake-ups, but I’ve been told to give you anything you want. Guess you made friends with the right people.” He let out a long heavy breath as he slipped off the stool. “So what’s it gonna be?” The old man gave a throaty cough and spat phlegm into a handkerchief. He stood behind the counter staring at Simon.
“I need a handgun. For my sister. Something light and easy to use, with plenty of ammo.” Simon waited a few seconds and when the man didn’t move he added, “Please.”
When the old man moved from behind the counter, Simon could see that he only had one leg. Part of him was missing below the knee of his right leg.
“What happened to your leg?” asked Simon.
“Nothing as glamorous or as gory as you might imagine.” He walked over to the back wall and picked up a small gun, then he rummaged through a drawer in one of the cabinets for a few cases of bullets. “It happened before all this. I had cancer, in my leg of all places. And the doctors said I had to remove it or risk dying. So I thought, what the hell, better to be alive with one leg than dead with two. But like I said, that was before all of this. Now I’m pretty much useless except for sitting behind this counter.”