by Wilson Harp
“What happened?”
“The men asked if the town needed some entertainment. Then they wrapped the drop cloth all around Bill, poured a bottle of something on it, and lit him up. Charlie fired the warning shots in the air and those fellows just laughed and asked him if he wanted others to come and see. They seemed surprised when Farrin ran off the bridge and jumped on his motorcycle. They laughed as he pulled away. The men here wanted to go down and help, but those fellows lowered their rifles and told them to watch. The fire eventually burned enough of the tape off to let Bill scream. Charlie pulled up and fired a shot into his head. Likely spared him a few minutes of agony.”
“Those men didn’t fire back?”
“No, I think they were waiting till more people showed up. They could have killed everyone at the barricade when they first arrived, so I don’t think that was why they came.”
“If they weren’t going to fire on us, why bring guns and murder Bill?” I asked.
“To tell us they meant business,” Buck said.
I turned to see the grizzled hunter standing on the other side of the barricade.
“What business?”
“Were you close enough to hear?”
I shook my head and Luke grunted a “No.”
“That one I shot in the face, I asked him where Stacy and the girls were. He told me they were down in Thayer being treated like little queens,” Buck said. “That’s when I shot the jackass.”
“I don’t get it,” Luke said. “Why?”
“Because whoever is in charge down in Thayer, or wherever the girls are, was only interested in the question ‘Will they defend themselves?’ When his boys here don’t come back, he will have his answer and leave us alone.”
“You know that?”
Buck pulled out a cigarette and lit up as he looked at Luke.
“Yeah, I know that. Whoever is in charge down there sent some of his troublemakers up here to see what would happen. If they had made it back, they would be up here time and time again. Pushing us around, taking what they wanted. Any vehicles? Gone. Women and girls? Gone. Food? Gone. Medicine? Gone. If they knew we were too much of a bunch of daisy dancers to shoot them when they murdered one of our own in front of us, they would know they had us by the balls anytime they wanted anything.”
“Sounds like you have thought about this, Buck,” I commented.
“I have. When I was walking the woods looking for game, I thought a lot about what we might have faced on a day like today. When moron there mentioned the girls were back somewhere waiting for them, it let me know he answered to someone who had enough power to send him away. And since they brought Bill back from where he came from, it let me know whoever sent him wanted it to get personal.”
“Still a lot of guessing in there,” Luke said.
“See a car?” Buck asked.
“Well, no.”
“How did they get here?”
“I guess they walked,” Luke said.
“With no food or water? No packs? They dragged Bill and those tires all the way from Thayer? That’s thirty miles. Bill and his family left six days ago. Figure an hour to get to Thayer, the rest of the day to be caught and raped. That leaves five days and four nights for them to get him back here with no food or water. That’s a lot to ask while dragging that thing.”
“Okay, then how did they get here?” I asked.
“Cars. They pulled up last night after sun down around the bend in the Highway. There the morons get out, rig up their little fire display, pop Bill inside, and pull it down the road right before dawn. They are told they will be picked up after they get done.”
“Then we should go wait for them to come back and ambush them,” I said. “Maybe we can get the cars and go and rescue the girls.”
“They ain’t coming back. Like I said, these fellows were troublemakers sent to die. If we had given in, they would have gone back to their pickup point and waited. After a day or two they would have walked back down the highway to their town. Maybe they would have been shot on sight, maybe they would have been kept around, but whoever is in charge would have known we could be pushed around.”
“So what happens now?” asked Luke.
“In a few days, they will likely send someone to take a peek at our little barricade here. If it is well manned, they will leave us be, I would guess. There are other places where they can get what they want without getting all shot up. Who knows, they might come to us looking for legitimate trade eventually.”
“Buck!”
All three of us turned to see who had called to him. It was Ike Stokes. He had been the postmaster from over in Wilcox, but lived in Kenton. Now he was one of the town council. He was stalking up the bridge in a fury.
“I understand you’re responsible for this carnage,” Ike said. “Well?”
“I shot first, that’s true. I fired another eight times as well. Emptied my magazine.”
“Did they fire back?”
Buck shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. “Nope. Didn’t really want to give them a fair fight. Just wanted to kill them.”
Ike glanced over at the red stained road. “I think the council needs to hear what happened. We won’t stand for anyone taking matters like this into their own hands.”
“Didn’t have time to bring it up in a meeting, Ike. Something had to be done and I did it.”
“Well, let’s go. You can tell it to the council and we will figure out what should happen.”
Buck pulled the pistol from his belt and held it out to Ike.
“What’s this for?”
“I figure you wanted me unarmed, didn’t you?”
Ike smiled a little. He took the firearm, turned and walked off the bridge.
“I guess you better get going,” Luke said.
“I guess I should,” replied Buck.
He hopped over the barricade and followed the councilman down the road. His boys came over to him and he gave them his rifle, another handgun and three knives before they trotted out into a field.
“What do you think is going to happen?” I asked Luke.
“Not sure. He seems pretty certain he saved us from a dangerous group, but I’m not sure if his story will hold up with the council. At the same time, he is the best of the hunters and having venison on the menu has made everyone happier.”
“So they could just let the death of a bunch of strangers slide because he can keep our bellies full.”
“I’ve seen worse injustice in my life,” Luke muttered. “Well, let’s go back to my place David. I have something that you might can use.”
“What?”
“A pile of old electronics.”
“I’ll take a look, but don’t get your hopes up.”
Luke dropped a big arm across my shoulders. “David, what you are doing is just as important as what happened here today. If you can get that radio working, then you expand our world from beyond what we can see.”
Chapter 14
The box I carried was loaded with junk. Most of it had sat up in attics or in boxes at the back of closets. Luke had been in charge of going to each house in the three southern sections of town to make sure there was no one with problems they may not want to share with others. He had a good way of pulling information out of strangers after just a few minutes.
There was the family who had a child with a thyroid condition. They didn’t know what to do because the follow up visit to determine a course of treatment was scheduled for the week after the EMP hit. Luke was able to get Bill Hanson to talk with them and look at the boy. He was able to find a medicine that would work that wasn’t prioritized. Luke was also able to get several of the older single men and women to move into houses together. He said it was for them to keep an eye on each other, but I knew it was to keep loneliness from becoming a real problem.
While he went on those visits, he also asked people about what books they had. It was surprising the number and types of books some families had in their
houses. Most were entertainment or biographical, but a few were books turned up some very useful information. A few handbooks from the Boy Scouts and other organizations like that had first aid, water gathering and other basic survival skills. Enough people had remembered what they had learned that the books weren’t essential, but they were being passed around and studied by those who felt they could use the extra know-how.
Luke had also asked people if they had any older electronics lying about. Anything from before the 70’s in particular. Most people didn’t, but a few had some old televisions, clocks, calculators, and most importantly, radios that were gathering dust.
The box had to weigh at least sixty pounds, but I carried it with ease. One of the few silver linings from this situation was everyone seemed to be getting into good shape. Those that had survived.
Luke had showed me his collection of pieces and I had spent a good two hours on the floor of his living room as I sorted out what I thought might be useful to me. I was able to cut and strip out yards of wiring of different thickness, find all sorts of components that looked like they might still function, and see different configurations of systems that might give me an insight on how to fix the radio.
I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but I was excited to get home and start taking all of my new-found treasures out of the box.
I entered through the front door and noticed Mom was not in her customary spot on the couch. Dad’s head peeked around the corner of the hallway. He looked upset and I was sure it was the killings that morning that had put him in a foul mood.
He sighed and relaxed when he saw me.
“Davey,” he said as he stepped into the living room. He held a pistol in his right hand.
“Dad, what’s wrong?” I asked.
He motioned toward the kitchen with a jerk of his head and slipped the pistol into a holster that hung on his belt.
I shifted the box and turned slightly. The kitchen door leaned against the counter by the sink. The frame where the door normally hung was splintered where the hinge once was. I put the box on the ground and dashed over to the doorway. The door had been knocked clear off its hinges, but I saw it had been knocked down from the inside, not kicked in from the garage like I had expected to find.
“What happened?” I turned to find Dad had slipped up right behind me.
“Someone broke in and when your mother confronted them, they burst out the kitchen door and took off running.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yes. But she’s shaken up quite badly. She is resting in bed right now. She slipped off to sleep a few minutes ago.”
I was stunned. I felt like I had lost my mind. With everything that had happened, the idea Mom would have been in danger in her own house was something I never would have suspected.
“Wait. Someone broke into the house while Mom was here?”
Dad nodded.
“What happened? I mean, Mom may have been able to chase me around with a switch when I was a kid, but…”
Dad’s face softened as he smiled for a second.
“She had this in her hand,” he said patting the pistol at his waist.
“You keep that in the nightstand by your bed,” I said. “Where was she when he broke in?”
“She was still in bed. They broke in just a few minutes after we left for the bridge.”
That was early. Very early in the morning.
“Was anything taken or broken?” I was worried they might have been here just to attack Mom.
“Yeah,” Dad said. “They grabbed the medicine off the dresser.”
“What medicine?”
“My heart pills and your mom’s brain pills.”
My breath caught in my throat.
“But you need that medicine,” I said. I felt stupid for voicing the fact, but I was panicked.
“I know, Davey. And your mom needs hers. But we all knew we would run out eventually. I only had about a dozen pills in there, anyway. I was down to one every three days trying to stretch them out.”
Ted’s words about scavenging in other towns came back to me. I didn’t want to think about it, but my folks both needed medication to live. I knew it had to be done.
“He ran out of the kitchen?” I asked.
“Uh, yes,” said Dad. He was flustered by my sudden change of topics.
I hurried to the garage and looked for the container Dad had stored the aspirin he used to decoy Mom with. The container was missing.
“It’s gone,” I called back to the house.
“What is?” said Dad as he hurried through the kitchen.
“The aspirin out here,” I said as he poked his head out of the kitchen doorway.
“I didn’t even think to check out there,” he said.
“Someone knew where we kept it.”
“They’ve been spying on us?”
“Yes,” I said. “They have been watching and waiting for the right time to break in. When we left this morning, they must have been near and seized the opportunity.”
Dad frowned and put both of his hands on the top of his head. “Let’s ask around and see if anyone else has had any medicine stolen.”
I nodded. “I’ll go do that. Did Mom get a good look at the man?”
“No. She couldn’t describe him anyway. Maybe after her nap she can be of more help, but I think today is going to be a bad day. The shock of what happened sure isn’t going to help in any case.”
I examined the place where the hinges were tore out of the door frame. I didn’t think it would be too easy to fix. I looked down in the garage and noticed the door and the man must have landed on the hood of Dad’s car. The paint was scratched in several places and there was a noticeable dent on the front right fender.
“Think that will buff out?” Dad asked as he looked over my shoulder.
I laughed and thought back to when I was sixteen and had a small fender-bender with Dad’s car in the school parking lot after a basketball game. When I got home, he went ballistic. He screamed and yelled at me. When we went inside, he told Mom I had ‘wrecked the car’. She went outside to look at it and informed him she had popped the dent out and the scratches would buff out with a little elbow grease.
We both knew that wasn’t true, but she had made us smile and soothed over the very contentious evening.
“Why did you run into Casey’s car that night?” Dad asked. He was thinking of the same thing, apparently.
“Well…” I stumbled over the words. “Anne had just told me something, and it distracted me.”
“She just told you something?”
“Yeah, she told me what she wasn’t wearing under her skirt.”
“Ah,” Dad said. “Sorry I yelled at you, then. Come on, let’s get a tarp up over this doorway. I’m going to shut and lock the garage door. We’ll just have to use the front door from now on.”
It was going to be a longer walk to the outhouse, but I agreed we needed to lock down access to our house. It saddened me that after weeks of feeling scared of starvation, disease and the loss of our normal lives, we now added criminal activity to the mix.
I shut the garage door and padlocked it while Dad found another tarp out in his toolshed. He brought in some woodscrews and a couple of screwdrivers and we set some anchor points for the tarp to attach to.
When we were done, I went to visit some of the neighbors to see what I could discover about our thief. None of the neighbors had seen anything that morning, the excitement at the bridge was what most wanted news about. But a few had noticed things disappearing. No medicine, but some tools, a few books, and even a small jewelry box with some inexpensive earrings and necklaces inside.
When I told them we had a break in and medicine was taken, they all seemed taken aback. Some of the men talked about forming a neighborhood watch, as if we didn’t watch out for each other before, and most mentioned they would start locking their doors again. The age of community seemed to come to an end that afternoon in the south section of Kent
on. All because we had someone with criminal intent on the loose.
It was noon by the time I made it to the Marsh’s house and picked up a bucket for harvesting. Millie told me she needed help in the waxed and green bean field. I was happy to be picking a new crop. Every new food we added to our diet was an added defense against malnutrition and vitamin deficiency. At least that is what the books said. I think most people looked forward to the first wheat harvest. The lack of bread was the primary complaint from everyone.
I understood why those in the olden days would have huge celebrations at harvest time. It was survival. A good harvest meant food for the future. It meant there would be a future. I imagined the celebration we would throw at the first wheat harvest would seem like the Pilgrim’s first Thanksgiving.
The rows of beans seemed full and bushy after the substantial rain we had. I had chosen to pick them facing away from the wheat and corn fields because I knew they would distract me as I worked. A few of the younger teens, who were working the field with me, asked how I gathered so many beans in such a short while. So, when I went back with a fresh bucket, I showed them how to gather. My grandmother had taught me when I was a child and I was amazed at how everything came back to me.
Yellow wax beans and long green beans filled my bucket and I thought about how many would be going into the daily stews and meals and how many we would have to can, jar and dry for the winter. I knew some of the retired farmers and hobby gardeners knew how many planting and harvesting seasons we would need of each plant, but how many people could be fed through the winter months? That was my concern.
Beyond that, we needed a steady supply of meat. We needed chickens for eggs, cows for milk, and pigs to slaughter. All of these animals surely had to be available somewhere but, as Ted had pointed out, because the big factory farms of these animals did not have a ready source of feed, most of the animals were likely dead from starvation anyway.
There were a few dairy cows on some outlying farms, but those cows couldn’t produce enough milk for 5,000 people. Nor could the pigs that were available feed that many. We needed more food, and that meant either barter with a group that had those animals or taking them from those we didn’t mind taking from.
