When the Pain is Gone

by P. A. Glaspy

  Les considered what he had said. “Yeah, I guess we could go over there. Probably ain’t nobody left but those morons that got in our business that one day. Maybe we can find a mud puddle for you to wash some of that filth off in. Muddy water is better than no water when you smell as bad as you do.” He looked around at his gang and raised his voice so they could all hear him. “That goes for the rest of you, too! Everybody is gonna find a way to wash up today, or you’re gonna be sleeping outside. It smells like a sewer in here. Get up! We’re heading out!” He kicked the legs of the nearest guy sitting on the floor as he stormed off to his room.

  Dave jerked his legs out of the way and rubbed the spot where he had just been kicked. He watched Les go to the office and slam the door. He looked up at Ray, apprehension apparent on his face. “Is this gonna be cool? Do you think there are any people there?”

  Ray shook his head, still eying the door Les had slammed. “I don’t know, man, but we were over there a lot in the beginning and no one screwed with us. Seems like it’s safer to go somewhere we’ve been and didn’t get shot at than somewhere we haven’t been and God only knows who might be there. I ain’t looking to get killed over some mac and cheese. And what’s he talking about, saying this place smells like a sewer? I don’t think it’s that bad.”

  Dave shrugged. “Dunno. But, he keeps all those wet wipes we find for himself, ya know. How are we supposed to clean up when we gotta save all the water for drinking? They say when you smell yourself, everybody else has been smelling you for a long time. Maybe we’re immune cuz we all stink. I wouldn’t mind getting a rinse off, that’s for sure. Wonder what we can use?”

  Ray pulled his shirt front up to his nose and sniffed it. His face changed as he got up close and personal with his own stench. “Yeah, maybe we are a bit rank. We’ll check toilet tanks, see if there’s anything in ’em. That water was clean when everything went down. Be cleaner that what might be in the bowl, for sure. It won’t do no good to wash up with shit water.”

  Dave snickered as he stood up. “We really would smell like a sewer then, huh?”

  Ray grinned, then nodded somberly. “Yeah, and we’d be out on our asses. Keep your eyes open for anything we can use while we’re out today. The less he has to bitch about, the better our lives are.”

  Dave reached down and rubbed the spot again where Les had kicked him. “You ain’t lyin’, brotha.”

  ****

  Alan, Steve, and Rich had skirted around town and hit the interstate. They figured they’d be better off out of the county, and Alan knew if he was going to find more like-minded guys, it would probably be closer to the city. Steve was still voicing his concerns regarding the plan.

  “Al, how do you know any other gangs are gonna want to join up with us? There’s only three of us, and Rich is still in pretty rough shape. I’m afraid they’re going to look at how small our group is and just kill us outright. What do we have to offer them?”

  Alan turned to him with a sinister grin. “The location of the gold mine, of course. No one else knows where that place is or what they have in there. That’s our bargaining chip. They’ll be more than happy to bring us into the fold when we tell them about that place.”

  Steve looked confused. “But, we don’t know what they have in there either, Al. What are we gonna tell them? That they might have a lot of food and guns and ammo? That there might be women and kids?”

  “No, we’re gonna tell them we know that they do have all those things. I ain’t gotta see it to know they are protecting some mighty valuable items in there. What, do you think they’d go to all that trouble to hide the place if there was nothing in there worth taking?”

  Steve slowly nodded. “I guess you’re right. But you know we’re gonna need a whole bunch of guys to get in there—like two dozen at least. You think we can find that many?”

  “We just need to find one group of guys, maybe six or seven in their gang. Add those to ours and we’re close to double digits. Then, we draft whoever we find running solo, if there’s any still alive. You’d probably have a better chance solo, if you could dodge the bad guys. You know, the ones like us.” He grinned at Steve, showing the damage the meth was already doing to his teeth. Steve gave him a half-hearted smile in return. Alan shook his head and continued. “By yourself, you’d only have one mouth to feed, so you wouldn’t have to find as much food and shit, but you’d be sleeping with one eye open. There’s bound to be some of those kind of guys out there, maybe tired of going it on their own, looking for a group to hook up with. I bet we could grow the group to like two dozen in no time. The biggest issue is going to be with the first group we hook up with though. Once we get past that, we should be good to go.”

  “What issue is that, Al?”

  Alan swerved around a dead SUV. When he got back on the road, he looked at Steve and said, “Them dealing with the fact that I’m in charge.”

  ****

  Dead cars were everywhere but Alan was able to make his way through. They came to the strip mall just as another carload of guys were leaving the parking lot. The two groups stopped their vehicles in the middle of the road and stared at each other through their grimy windshields.

  “Well, well, well, look what we have here. Potential recruits.” Alan’s smug tone put Steve on alert that trouble was probably on its way—or already there. Alan reached for the door handle with his left hand, while pulling his pistol with his right.

  “What are you doing, Al? We don’t know anything about those guys. Don’t you think you should stay in the truck and wait to see what they do?”

  Alan sneered at Steve. “You really are a whiny little bitch, you know that? If I confront them, I’m the alpha, you dumb shit. I’m taking charge. Just get your piece out and watch my back. C’mon.”

  Steve got out on the passenger side as slowly as he could without raising Alan’s ire. He left the door open and tried to stay behind it as Alan sauntered toward the other truck. The driver got out with his pistol pointed at Alan, then quickly at Steve, then back to Alan.

  “That’s far enough, asshole! Who are you? What are you doing here? This is our territory! You wanna live, you’d best get back in that piece of shit truck of yours and get the hell out of here!”

  Alan stopped but made no move to turn around. “Ya know, that’s no way to talk to your future business partner. I take it you’re the boss of this crew?” he said, inclining his head toward the man’s truck.

  “Yeah, I’m the boss and I ain’t looking for no partner. I told you once to get out of here. I won’t tell you again!”

  By this time, men were climbing out of the cab and bed of the other truck. Steve counted six. Two to one—definitely outnumbered. Again.

  Alan continued to stand there with an unmistakable smile. “Well, you have a nice sized crew there. Is that all of them?”

  “No, this ain’t all of them, and what business is it of yours? Are you an idiot or something? How many times do I have to tell you to get lost?”

  At this point, the man’s face was beet red and he was spitting the words out. He raised his gun and pointed it at Alan. Alan raised his hands, still smiling. “I think you might want to hear me out. I’ve got some information on a rich score.”

  The man seemed to consider what Alan had said, then let his gun drop slightly. “Well, if it’s such a great score, why would you tell someone else about it? Why wouldn’t you keep it to yourself?” he said, with a distinctly mistrustful tone. He narrowed his eyes and asked, “What’s the catch?”

  Alan leaned nonchalantly against the front fender of his truck, wiping the sweat from his brow. “See, I figured you for a smart guy and I was right. You got a place somewhere around here we can sit down and talk, maybe in the shade? It’s kinda hot out here in the sun.”

  The man laughed. “What, you think we’re just gonna take you back to our place, so you can see what we got and where we got it? Do I look stupid to you? Hell no. You want shade? Pull over under them trees there.�
� He pointed past Alan to a small stand of trees on the corner.

  Alan looked over his shoulder to where the man had indicated, then back. “That’ll work. Let’s get out of the middle of the road. Ya never know when someone might drive by, see our trucks parked here, and wonder what’s going on.”

  The man turned toward his truck and replied, “Wonderin’ that myself.”

  ****

  Alan introduced his men and Les did the same. Still wary, he looked at Alan. “So, where’s this rich score anyway? Is it close?”

  Alan smirked. “Slow down there, buddy. We’re gonna have to go over a few things before we get to the good stuff. So, how many more guys you got? Cuz this ain’t no little job.”

  Les hesitated for a second, then said, “I got four more guys back at our place, watching our stuff. How many more you got?”

  Alan waved a hand at Rich and Steve. “This is it. That’s why we’re looking to take on some more guys. This is too much for just us three.”

  “How much is too much? What exactly is it we’re looking at here?”

  “Food, guns, women, kids—if that’s your taste. Enough to last for years.”

  Les eyed Alan. “Where is this place? I’m bettin’ it’s pretty well guarded.”

  Steve watched and waited for Alan’s response along with the other men. Alan never missed a beat.

  “It’s south of here, about thirty miles. Back in the country, lots of farmland. Yeah, they got some guards, but we already took out two of them. There’s probably a dozen or so left.”

  “Probably? You don’t know how many people they have? Have you seen this place or not?”

  Alan continued his tale. “Yeah, I’ve seen it. It’s just been a few days. I got no idea if everybody that was there before is still there. They had some neighbors staying with them, they could be gone home by now. We’ll know for sure when we get there.”

  Les was shaking his head. “We ain’t goin’ nowhere until we know what we’re walking into. We’re gonna wanna go scope it out. We’ll head out in the morning. We’ll meet you guys here.”

  Alan showed the first sign of emotion—anger. “So, I offer you a piece of a rich deal, and you won’t even put us up for the night? Tell ya what—we’ll go find some other guys to partner with. Someone with manners, who’ll appreciate this offer. Y’all can go fuck yourselves. C’mon guys, we’re outta here.”

  Alan turned around and winked at Steve. He was headed toward his truck when Les called out. “Hold up! No reason to get pissy. You can crash with us tonight. I gotta warn ya though, the place is gettin’ pretty rank. Ain’t no water for bathin’ or washin’ clothes.”

  Alan spun back to Les. “There’s a creek about two miles south of here. That should help with the cleaning up. I’m guessin’ y’all got water for drinkin’, cookin’?”

  “Yeah, we save up all we find for drinkin’. That’s why they smell so bad.”

  Alan laughed. “Y’all must be city boys. I bathed many a time in a creek in the summer. I wouldn’t drink that water, mind ya. Ain’t no tellin’ who all’s been washin’ their ass in it. Course, if you ain’t got none, ass water is better than no water.” He continued to laugh at his own joke. A couple of Les’s guys snickered, but a glare from Les silenced them.

  “Okay, lead the way to this creek. We brought soap just in case we found a water source to use to clean up. Then we’ll head back to our place and get some food, and you can tell us more about this gold mine.”

  They got into their respective vehicles to head out. Steve questioned Al, knowing it could be dangerous but curiosity got the better of him. “They’re going to want details, Al. What are you gonna tell them?”

  Alan smirked at him. “Whatever pops into my head. It don’t matter, idiot. We just need them to get on board with the attack. Once we have the place under our control, we’ll get rid of them anyway.”

  Yeah, no way this can go bad. Steve shook his head slightly and turned to watch the road go by.

  ****

  That’s exactly how the meeting went. Alan raved about the military grade weaponry, as well as tons of food to be had at the farm. He told them there were at least a dozen fine women there. He promised the availability of solar power so that hot showers could be had. That one peaked Les’s interest as much as any of them.

  “No shit! Running water? Hot running water? Man, a hot shower would rock! Alright, me and my guys are in. Here’s what we should do—”

  Alan interrupted him. “Yeah, I’m gonna go ahead and stop you right there. The only way this works is if I run the show. I lead, you and your guys follow.” He didn’t say anything else, waiting to see how Les would react. He wasn’t surprised with what he got.

  “’Scuse me? What the hell are you talking about? How exactly do you become the leader? You’ve got two guys. I’ve got ten. Pretty sure I’ve got the majority vote, ain’t that right boys?”

  He looked to his crew and was met with a chorus of “Hell yeah!”, “You’re the man, Les!” as he expected them to reply. He turned back to Alan with a smug look. Alan just smiled.

  “Hey, that’s cool. We’ll find another crew that wants in. Thanks for dinner, fellas. Good luck. Let’s go.” He got up, gave a jerk of his head toward the door to Steve and Rich, and headed that way. His guys stood obediently and followed. They were almost to the door when Les yelled.

  “Hold on a damn minute, would ya? We can talk about this.”

  Alan turned and looked at him. “No, we can’t. This ain’t negotiable. I’m the boss or we keep lookin’ for some guys that want in. Your choice.”

  Les stood there, glaring at Alan. When it seemed he wouldn’t capitulate, Alan turned back to the door.

  “Fine! Fine! Alright, you’re in charge. But this better be all you say it is.” He left the challenge hanging in the air.

  Alan ambled back to where Les was standing with his crew. Leaning over into his face, he replied calmly, “Are you threatening me, buddy?”

  Les stood toe to toe with him. “Nah, that ain’t a threat. We good. When are we gonna do this?”

  Alan took a step back and laid his hand on Les’s shoulder. Squeezing a bit too hard, he said, “Soon. We just need to work some shit out. If it’s alright with you, me and my guys will crash here until we get ready to make our move. Cool?”

  To his credit, Les didn’t flinch. “Sure, Al. Cop a squat wherever you want.” He ducked out of Alan’s grasp and addressed his men. “Al here is going to lead the raid. He’ll let us know when and where. I’d suggest everybody get some sleep. We’re going to be busy real soon.”

  He turned and went to his office without another word.

  Alan looked at Steve with a grin. “See? That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

  Chapter 14

  Water is life. Without water, we can’t exist. Our bodies are more than half water. The earth is 70 percent water. Water makes plants grow, plants that provide the oxygen we breathe. Plants we can eat, and animals eat; then we eat the animals. Or animals that live in water that can become food. It almost always comes back to water.

  The lack of fresh water had likely caused a lot of death in the months after the power went off. Thirst is a powerful motivator that can make people try any available source to quench it. Most people, especially the younger ones (including young adults), don’t know anything about purifying water—or don’t know they have to. They take for granted that the water will always come out of the faucet when you turn it on and that it’s safe to drink. It’s been that way their whole lives. They don’t understand the processes said water has gone through to be a viable source that won’t make them sick.

  We had water available to us. We even had it inside the house. But no hot water, not without boiling it. No hot showers, no long soaks in the tub—at least, not without boiling a whole lot of it first, and then what about the other two dozen people there? But I really, really missed hot running water, so I was kind of a nag about it.

  “Honestly, bab
y, I think we should prioritize the solar setup for power to the house. Running water would help so much. Hot running water would be the best! I don’t know about you, but I feel like I have a permanent funk smell going on all the time.”

  Russ laughed at the face I made as I took a whiff of my shirt. “I feel your pain, but in the grand scheme of things, the refrigerator and freezer are a better use of electricity than the water heater. The ceiling fans seem to be a good choice as well. Maybe we can figure something else out for showers. Let’s go talk to Mike and Monroe about it.”

  I put on my pouty face, which made Russ laugh again, but he continued on his way out the door. I grudgingly followed him. Apparently, I was not going to get my way on this one. Dammit.

  We caught up to Mike and Monroe by the car shed. They were checking our reserves on gas and diesel and not looking very happy about it.

  “Ya know, a thousand gallons sounds like a lot when you buy it but when you start using it on a regular basis, it goes pretty quick.” Monroe appeared disgruntled as he said it.

  Mike nodded. “Yeah, we’ve burned through a good bit of diesel driving over to Jim’s place and working his fields. The sheriff said he’d reimburse us the fuel. We should probably take him up on that.”

  “You’re damn right we should. Let’s head over there and talk to him now.”

  Russ interjected, “Before we do that, we need to talk about a problem we have and see if we can come up with a remedy for it.”

  Mike looked at Russ. “What’s the problem?”

  I leaned around my husband and replied, “We smell. Bad.”

  Monroe raised his arm and sniffed his armpit. He looked at me and said, “I don’t smell nothin’.”