When the Pain is Gone

by P. A. Glaspy

  Clint was standing next to the man and patted his protruding stomach. “Don’t look like you’re doin’ too bad either, Silas. I don’t see any new holes cut in your belt. What’s your secret? You got a tunnel to Ms. Loretta’s root cellar next door to ya?”

  Everyone laughed, including spunky eighty-year-old Loretta King, who then replied, “No he don’t, and if he tried he’d likely be shot.” More laughs came from the group, except for Silas who looked angry, probably at being the butt of back-to-back jokes. “I shared what I had canned up over the past few years with him and pert near every other house on our block, so my canned goods are gone as well. Mayor Hale, you get me some stuff to can and I’ll be more than happy to teach other folks how to do it. Lord knows there ain’t many young people nowadays that know how to get through life without pizza deliveries, or microwaves for their cooking, and houses with electrical doodads that talk to you. Everybody’s gotta learn what it takes to survive without all that now.”

  Loretta’s comments were met with murmurs and nods. Angie’s smile returned. “Thank you so much, Miss Loretta, for your generosity to your neighbors and your offer to teach others the very valuable skills you have. Yes, we all have to learn what it takes to live without the luxuries and amenities we had before. Anyone willing to share their knowledge and experience of any useful skills—not just food related—with others, please come see me after the meeting. Anyone who wants to learn how to perform one of these jobs, see me as well. We will be hauling water into town from the artesian wells. Please gather suitable containers to hold it to take to your homes. We’d like to keep it to a gallon per person per day to save on gas hauling it in. Everyone is going to have to participate in some way for a share of the food we will be growing and storing, as well as eating through the summer, fall, winter, and into next spring. If you don’t help, you don’t eat. There’s no free ride. Now, our next order of bus—”

  She was interrupted by Silas again. “Before you get on to your next order of business, Mayor, we ain’t quite done with the food issue. We heard there was going to be rations handed out at this meeting, three days’ worth. Three meals a day for three days is nine meals. We want our nine meals.”

  Angie started to reply but Gary stepped forward and placed a hand on her arm. She looked at him and nodded, then took a step back.

  “Silas, I’m afraid you have been misinformed. We don’t have that many supplies. It’s three meals, with water. You can, and should, try to stretch that out over three days, because once those are gone, that’s it. That’s why we need hunters right now willing to go out and hunt for a community food bank. But we also need people to process the meat, and dole it out fairly. The work starts today, people. We hope the meager rations will help you get a bit of strength back so you can contribute because, like Mayor Hale said, if you don’t help, you don’t eat. If you work, you’ll get an equal share.”

  Silas’s eyes grew wide. “Three meals? Why, that’s not even enough to start to make up for not eating regular for the past month! We need more than that!”

  Gary looked him in the eye. “Three meals per person. That’s it. And if there’s any trouble, any semblance of anything other than an orderly group of people patiently waiting their turn to receive those meals, we will shut it down and no one will get anything. Is that understood, Silas?”

  At Gary’s remarks, three men stepped up beside him wearing deputy badges. Jasper Jenkins, Ben Vaughn, and of course, Tim Miller, were watching the crowd closely for any signs of disruption. Silas said nothing, but gave the sheriff a short nod of assent.

  “Good. My last order of business is to announce that right after the rations are handed out, Reverend Walters is going to perform a wedding ceremony for Angie Hale and myself. You’re all welcome to stay and witness it. Thank you.”

  There were shouts and whistles and lots of hand clapping. Gary turned to Angie with a wink and a grin. She smiled back at him then took center stage again. “Thank you, thank you all. Please form a line at the table on the left for rations and the table on the right for both teachers and students, as well as hunters who will hunt for the community. Anyone who is not in one of those categories after today will be expected to devote the majority of their time to gardening, either at your home or at the community garden once the location is finalized. If you have any other concerns, feel free to come see me later.”

  The crowd had started moving, mostly toward the rations table, when Gary thought of another item the townspeople needed to be aware of. “People, one more thing. There are some bad folks out on the road now. They will kill you for anything you may or may not have if they think it might be valuable. That includes food, water, medications, jewelry, guns, ammo, and unfortunately women and kids. Keep your doors locked. Do not let anyone in you don’t know. If you have one, keep your gun close and your family closer. Check on your neighbors when you can. My team can’t be everywhere, so we’re going to have to rely on you all to protect yourselves and each other. Word will get out that we have food and drinking water. If nothing else, those two things are what every desperate person out there will be looking for. Be careful. Be smart. Stay safe.”

  He turned away from the crowd and Ben got his attention. “Women and kids? What for?”

  Gary gave him a pained look. One that said, “Don’t make me say it out loud.” Ben looked confused, then his face changed as the realization of what it meant set in. It became a look of horror, disgust, and finally rage.

  “Kids? They’re raping kids?”

  Gary patted his hand in the air to Ben. “Keep your voice down, Ben. I’m sure others will figure that part out as well, but let’s try not to get everyone riled up, at least until we get through this ration handout. Why don’t you go over and keep an eye on that.”

  “Sorry, Gary. Sure thing.” Ben walked away, mumbling to himself.

  Jasper watched him, walking over to where Gary stood. “I’m gonna sign up for the hunters as well, Gary. My old truck still runs, so I can probably take a few folks with me on hunts. We’ll be heavy on meat until we can get some of them greens grown, but we’ll live. I can lend a small generator for running dehydrators if you can supply the gas. Got some pretty good jerky recipes as long as the spices hold out.”

  Gary perked up. “Hell yeah, we can get gas, but we need the generator to get it out of the ground. Vicious circle there. Spices we may be able to help on. Not a lot of looting on the spice aisle.”

  Jasper laughed. “We can siphon some gas out of dead cars if we need to for the genny. Let’s get together later and work out the details.”

  “Thanks, Jasper. Come by the office later this afternoon. Right now, I gotta go see a man about a wedding.”

  Chapter 6

  After the deaths of Bill and Pete, we had to face the fact that we were not as safe as we had thought. Not safe at all. We felt we were vulnerable now. Monroe rescinded the offer to the sheriff of the use of the land, when he came back a few days later. That he would go against what Millie wanted, which was to give them another chance, said a lot about his feelings toward the matter. Yet, Gary still tried to get him to change his mind.

  “Monroe, I know this is bad, but we can still make it work. Everybody in town isn’t like those guys who did this to your people. No one even knows them. There are folks back there who really want to—”

  “I don’t give a rat’s ass what they want, Gary! We were trying to do a good thing, trying to help our fellow man, and what did it get us? Two of our people dead, and we hadn’t even got started yet! No, no one is going to be allowed on this property for anything unless we expressly invite them in and I don’t see that happening for anyone else any time soon. Or maybe ever. Most likely never.”

  Gary shook his head. “Monroe, we can provide protection for you and your folks here, 24/7 if need be. Hell, I’ll put up a tent and stay here all the time if I have to for this to be a viable option. No one in town has the experience with growing large crops that you do. No one there has
the equipment you have, especially any still running. You’re one of the few farmers here in the area with working vehicles and machinery. This is about feeding other families that will starve before winter even gets here, much less when it does. I know this is going to last for a while. I’m trying to help as many people as I can get prepared for it.”

  Monroe crossed his arms and set his jaw. “Then you’d best get busy looking for an alternative plan and location. It ain’t gonna be here.”

  The sheriff’s shoulders sagged as he started to turn away. “You can use my place,” Jim said.

  Gary’s head snapped up. “Seriously, Jim? You’d do that?”

  Jim shrugged. “It’s not like we can live there now, even if the power did come back on. The house is gone. Might as well use the land to help folks if we can. My tractor doesn’t run though. It’s too new. You’ll still need Monroe’s equipment. Good thing is the rows had already been done before everything went off. There’s even some stuff planted you can take when it comes up. Early spring plants like kale, lettuce, radishes, carrots, that kind of thing. Oh, and there’s a couple of rows of potatoes in the ground. We were planning to go back from time to time to harvest, but with the gardens we have here, we can let those over there go to someone else. It’ll make Charlotte happy to know she’s helping out her neighbors.”

  Gary was grinning from ear to ear. “Jim, that’s awesome! On behalf of the townsfolk, thank you! And whether your house is there or not, I’ll still provide protection for the place. How many acres do you have worked already?”

  “Probably only about one. We weren’t planning to feed more than the five of us. There’s another four or so clear that is usable for a garden. But as I said, you’ll need Monroe’s tractor to get it ready.”

  With that, everyone turned to Monroe, who was still in his defensive stance. With a scowl, he mumbled, “I reckon we can do that much. If nothin’ else, it’ll get Millie off my back about not helpin’ my fellow man. But the first sign of any more trouble and we’re done, Sheriff. You understand?”

  Gary was still grinning and now nodding vigorously. “Absolutely, absolutely. When can we get started?”

  Jim was shouldering his pack. “We can go now if you want, Gary. I’ll ride over with you.”

  Ryan stepped up to them. “I’ll go, too. None of our people go anywhere alone, remember?”

  Jim looked at him and smiled. “I won’t exactly be alone, Ryan. The sheriff will be with me.”

  Ryan walked toward Gary’s truck. He stopped, slowly turned around and replied, “He’s not one of us.” He turned to the truck and climbed in the back, scanning the area, rifle at the ready.

  The sheriff looked to Monroe who shrugged and said, “He’s right. You ain’t.” With that, he headed back through the gate.

  The rest of us followed, Bob bringing up the rear. He walked up to Gary, and with a sidelong glance at Ryan said quietly, “Keep an eye on him, Sheriff. He’s in a bad place right now. It’s almost like he’s looking for trouble, mainly with those assholes that killed his brother, Bill. I don’t blame him, mind you, but we’re all worried about him. Ya know what I mean?”

  Gary nodded and gave Bob a grim smile. “I hear ya, and I’ll try to watch out for him. We went looking for those guys, but they weren’t at the Callen place anymore. I hate it took me so long to get back out here but it’s been hell in town. Folks are out of food, they have no clean water, and they’re pretty much in panic mode. I can’t even begin to describe the shape they left Luke and Casey’s house in. I haven’t had the heart to tell them yet. That and I don’t want him going off half-cocked looking for those guys for payback. We’ll find them. I’ve got my deputy, Tim, on that as we speak. They will answer for what they’ve done.”

  “Let’s hope so - for all our sakes, but especially our folks who lost their kin. We’re trying to save that young man out there … from himself.” With that, Bob reached out to shake Gary’s hand. Gary gave him a firm handshake, smiled, and turned to head to his truck. He stopped when Bob called his name.

  “Sheriff Burns? About you finding them and making them pay for what they’ve done? You better hurry, because if our folks find them first …” He didn’t finish. Gary nodded grimly at him.

  “I hear ya. Two months ago, I would have admonished all of you about taking the law into your own hands. Problem is, there isn’t much law left, and there’s only one of me. I can’t say I’d blame any of you for doing my job for me.”

  Gary touched the brim of his cap and got into his truck. As he turned around to head out to Jim’s, Bob looked at Russ. “I can’t believe he said that, or that I agree with it, but I do. And I almost hope we find those scumbags before he does.”

  Russ watched them leave. “Either way, it’s going to be a bad situation, buddy.”

  Bob solemnly replied, “It already is, brother.”

  ****

  Gary was very excited about the prospects of the Dotson farm. He walked the area a few times, mentally laying out crops. He looked at Jim and grinned. “Jim, this is great! How much food can we grow here? How many people can we feed, and how long will it feed them?”

  Jim replied, “Well, I read somewhere that if you planted the right stuff, at the right time, you could get an average of around ten thousand pounds of food off an acre of land. With five acres, that would be close to fifty thousand pounds. You could possibly get another crop of some of the stuff that is frost resistant, like broccoli, cabbage, carrots, onions, most of the leafy vegetables like greens and lettuces, even some peas. Heck, you can keep spinach going all summer and into the winter. So, if you planted the whole thing again once the first crops were out, you’re looking at twice that. I’m guessing you’re gonna supplement this food with hunting and fishing?”

  Gary was ticking off numbers in his head. One hundred thousand pounds of food, for a thousand people, give or take, that’s a hundred pounds per person. Not much to last a year, or at least until next spring. But, with the addition of game and livestock meat, maybe it would be enough. They’d have to cook smart, make soups that would feed a lot of folks with a minimum amount of ingredients …

  Jim interrupted Gary’s train of thought. “Sheriff? You still with me?”

  “What? Sorry, Jim, I was doing some calculating. It sounds like a ton of food—fifty tons actually—but when you divide it over a thousand people, it really isn’t. Yes, we’ll add meat through hunting, fishing, and bartering for livestock when we can, but those aren’t guarantees. Looks like we’re gonna need folks to plant their whole yards as well.”

  Jim nodded. “Seems like that shouldn’t even be a question. A good-looking lawn is nice but you can’t make a meal of it, unless you’re a cow or a goat or some other critter.”

  Gary nodded. “Yep, we had almost that exact same discussion with some folks in town who were concerned about digging up their expensive lawns to plant food. We’re just going to have to work every available plot we can. I think there are some tillers at the co-op. Those should still run.”

  “Well, we can test that right now. I bought one from there last year. Hadn’t thought to try it ’til now. It’s out back in the shed.”

  Ryan had been standing with them, listening and scanning the area constantly. “You guys go ahead. I’ll keep watch out here.”

  Jim laid a hand on his shoulder. “Alright, son, holler if you see anything that ain’t supposed to be here.”

  Ryan gave a curt nod and wandered across the yard. Jim watched him for a moment, then turned to Gary. “Let’s go see about that tiller now.”

  ****

  Ryan was walking through the tall grass of a once well-kept lawn. No one is mowing in the apocalypse, no matter what it looks like on TV shows. He smiled slightly at the thought. It was something he and Bill had always commented on when watching zombie shows.

  “Why is that grass short? The zombies have been there for years now. No one mows during a zombie apocalypse!” He’d comment on it every time. Bill woul
d grin at him and come back with something like, “Figures someone who mows yards for a living would notice something like that. I’m pretty sure no one would pay for our services if that happened, little brother, so I sure as hell ain’t mowing.” Ryan would then laugh along with Bill as they contemplated life in an apocalyptic world. It’s nothing like we thought it would be, big brother, and I sure expected you to be here with me. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and continued on to the tree line.

  As he was scanning the area, he noticed something on the ground under an ornamental bush. Crouching down, he pushed the leafy branches out of the way so he could see the ground. He saw a couple of cigarette butts laying there. He climbed into the spot and sat down. Looking around, he found he had a perfect view of the yard, house, and driveway.

  “Son of a bitch!” he yelled. “They were here! One of them was right here!”

  At the sound of his raised voice, Gary and Jim came running around the side of the shed and the burned-out hull of the house. Gary was drawing his sidearm. “What is it? Who’s here? Where are they?”

  Ryan crawled out of the spot behind the bush. “No one’s here now. At least one of those bastards was right here in this spot, probably watching us the whole time we were looking for them after the fire. Look!” He pointed to the cigarette butts and the slightly cleared spot under the bush. Jim peered in.

  “None of us smoke, so it makes sense it was one of them. Damn it! I sure woulda liked to have gotten my hands on one of them bastards that burned the house down.”

  Ryan looked at Jim, then Gary. “Not half as much as I want to put a bullet in them.”

  Gary’s face showed no emotion. “I hear you, Ryan. I understand you’re hurting. You have every right to feel the way you do. I just hope you don’t end up doing something you’ll regret the rest of your life because of the pain you’re feeling right now.”