After dinner, the new and old residents went out to the front porch to look at stars and fireflies. Fred ended up drawing Simca away to show her the Dark Demon. Chung spirited Joan away to the greenhouse and Zack wondered off with a giggling Masako. Binky was oblivious to it all and mostly sat, watching the stars and drinking wine.
The next day, George found a new wheel for Binky's bicycle and the group prepared to leave. John volunteered to take them forty miles using the trailer on the White Warrior, but they decided to go by themselves and pedaled off down the road. Two evenings later, John, Fred and Marceau were sitting on the front porch looking at the stars when Fred walked up.
"Hey, John. Phone call." He handed John one of the phones they had taken from the Triad group before Charles blew them up.
"You're joking."
"No. Simca looked at it before she left. I suppose she found the phone number. The satellites are still in orbit and the sun still provides them power. So, they're still working. George was able to rig up a charger for it."
John answered the phone and spoke to Simca. She said they had run into some mutants thirty miles away and asked if they could return to the lodge. John agreed and also agreed to meet them on the highway in the Dark Demon. Fred helped him attach the trailer.
"Is this really a good idea, John?"
"What do you mean?"
"Remember when we were going to bring in that family. Kate and Kevin and the kids? You and Charles decided at that time that bringing in four people was a security threat. And now we are weaker than back then. Is this smart?"
"I don't know, Fred. Maybe it's not, but for some reason, I feel I can't turn down the request. Maybe because Binky could be my half-brother."
"He's nutty as a fruit cake and you know you're not related. I'm not sure why you keep saying that. Actually he's not your half-brother at all. He's your step-half-brother, which is not a blood relationship. I say you are have no obligation to him or to the others."
"Maybe so, but he is related to my stepfather, someone I spent a lot of time with and someone who is responsible for most of who I am. That's an obligation I feel. It's worth something in a world gone as crazy as this one has. Also, we lost a bunch of people. We could use the numbers. If we were to vote on bringing them into our group, how would you vote?"
"I don't know John. I've always trusted you. If you say they are fine, then I'll go along with it. None of them appear to have any military skills."
"Don't go along with it too far. Keep your eyes open and your gun loaded. Tell the others the same. I'll be back in a few hours."
John was driving west on Route 79 about twenty-five miles from the lodge when he saw flashes ahead. He pulled the car into a driveway and looked around the corner of the house to figure out what was happening. He heard gunshots and saw a muzzle flash. He went back to the Dark Demon and retrieved his rifle from the trunk. He cut behind the house and crept low through the backyard to the back of the next house, a hundred yards away. Suddenly, a man came around the corner of the building. John could see in the moonlight that the man was a mutant. He raised his rifle and fired twice. The man fell. A second person came around the corner and just as he was ready to fire, he realized it was Binky.
"What are you doing? I thought you were under attack."
"Really? Simca told you that? No. We saw the enemy and decided to engage them. That was the last one. Good work, old man."
Simca, Joan and Zack ran around the corner with guns drawn. John yelled, "Don't shoot," as Zack was raising his rifle. "What are you people doing? The name of the game here is survival, not war."
"Just helping out, old man," said Binky. "Saw them heading your way and thought we'd save you some trouble."
"If you've saved me some trouble, then what am I doing here?"
"Sorry about that, but I caught a bullet in the arm. Thought your medico could sew me up."
"The mutants are using guns? We haven't seen that before."
Simca interrupted, "It wasn't the mutant who shot him."
John looked at Simca, who was looking at the ground and decided not to ask the obvious question. "But Binky, you were pointing your rifle at the man. How could you do that if you were shot in the arm?"
"Stiff upper lip, old man."
"In that case, you can stiffen your lip and help me load your cycles. I'll bring the car."
Chapter 73 - The Fishing Trip
It was a rainy day and John was standing in the living room staring out the front windows, watching the rain drops run down the panes.
"Penny for your thoughts," said Masako.
"You don't have any pennies. Do you?"
"A few. Why? You want them?"
"You know, before the panic, we had coins. Now we don't. Where'd they all go? Somebody must have must have scarfed them all up. Somewhere are piles of coins as high as a house."
"What do you want with them?"
"Some people used to save pennies and melt them down. Cast them into things. Metal working is a good skill for a survivalist to learn. Pennies used to be made of copper, but at some point they changed to zinc and were just plated with copper. So, people who wanted to cast something of metal would save pennies, melt them and make something. Zinc is easy to cast, being one of the lowest melting point common metals. Not counting mercury, of course."
"I never count mercury when I'm counting my medals. Or my planets."
"That's not funny. Pluto's the one you aren't supposed to count, but I always do."
"You are standing here, looking out into the rain, thinking of millions of coins which have disappeared? Or are you wanting to make something out of metal. More likely, I suppose."
"Actually, I was standing here thinking of going fishing. My father used to make sinkers out of lead. He used them for fishing. I figured I could make sinkers from zinc."
"At last something begins to make sense. But not much. You don't like fish."
"That doesn't mean I wouldn't like fishing. I used to have a salt water fish tank. Ninety gallons. Had a long-horned cow fish. Smart fish."
"You don't like to eat fish. You say they taste fishy."
"I didn't eat him. I just watched him. And he watched me. Or she did. I think he was a she."
"Get to the point John. You're beginning to sound like your idiot half-step-brother."
"I ate some fish when I was in Japan. That fish didn't taste fishy, maybe because it was fresh. After dinner a few nights ago, several people mentioned they would like some fish. Fred went to the local river and threw in a net, but didn't catch anything."
"So, you want to sit on the river bank, throw in a hook and drink wine all day."
"Not a bad idea, but I was wondering about going back to the coast and fishing. Using the gasifier Dart train, we could be there in one day, fish for a day, and come back the next day. Should be plenty of fish in the sea."
"I've heard that before. Most of the fish I ran across were sharks."
"I can understand that, Masako. Beautiful women frequently run across sharks."
"I didn't think you noticed -- anymore."
"I never stopped."
For a moment, their eyes met and John forgot about fishing until Iris walked in, "Any more tea?"
Masako jumped and then said, "In the pot."
John went through the tunnel to the barn where Fred and George were showing Zack how the Dark Demon worked. "Hey guys."
"Nice car," said Zack.
"Ever done any fishing, Zack?"
"Some. Used to live near the beach."
"What do you think about using the gasifier train to go to the beach to fish for a day."
"It won't work," said George. "The train isn't big enough."
"Not big enough to haul a few fish? You must think we're going to catch some big ones."
"No, not big enough to carry everybody who wants to go fishin'. Count me in."
"Me too," said Fred.
"Somebody has to stay here and man the fort."
; "Sounds like the perfect job for you, John. As Masako tells it, you don't eat fish."
"Does she tell everybody everything?"
"Probably. It's borin' around here sometimes, John. When we aren't fightin' for our lives. Our new world involves long periods of boredom punctuated by short periods of mayhem."
"Sounds like you're becoming the Texan Philosopher, George."
"All Texans are philosophers, John. It's in our blood."
"I'll trust Marceau to make the fish into something I can enjoy. But you're right. I don't know anything about it and if you two enjoy it, then why not? I'll give you my maps showing the railroad tracks and the important switches. There's only one to be moved, after our last trip to the west."
* * *
The next morning was dry and Fred and George hauled a load of wood to the warehouse where they stored the Dart trains, set everything up, loaded camping gear and wood, then set off.
After a peaceful day and dinner, John grabbed a glass and a bottle of wine and went out to the front porch, sat in the lounge chair and watched the sunset and then the stars.
Half an hour and half a bottle later, Simca walked out, sat in the sofa beside John's chair and said, "Nice sky. We never noticed it in London. You lived in London, didn't you?"
"For a few years. I was in high school. What you call college. Saw some plays. Saw some castles. You're right, not many stars."
"I understand that's where you met Clara, your father's plaything and the late mother of Little John."
"Carla. Actually, we met years before that. Carla and her family used to come here for summer vacation back when we were in school. You've been doing your research. Masako tell you that?"
"Everybody told me that. Not many secrets here. Everybody knows everything about everybody."
"Six months without television will do that to a group. Not much else to do, but sit around and tell the stories of our lives. What's the story of your life, Simca? What's the story behind your name. It's unusual."
"Not complicated. As you may know, Simca is the name of a French car. I was not only conceived in one, but was born in one, on the way to the hospital. My mother thought the name was appropriate."
"I suppose. Interesting story. And I agree with your mother, an appropriate name. What does it mean?"
"Nothing really. It was an acronym for the company that made the car."
"Not interesting. A bad end to a good story. You should make up something. Like Simca was the Norse god of fertility."
"How about the French god of sensuality."
"Didn't know the French had such things. Didn't think they needed such things."
"Probably not."
"So what's the rest of your story? The part after you were born in a small French car."
"Nothing special. My parents moved to London. Nothing interesting ever happens in London."
"What about Binky? How did you meet him?"
"The day of the panic. I was shopping for food. Some guy grabbed a can of tuna from my hand. I screamed at him. He laughed. Binky saw it all, stepped up and punched him."
"Tres galant."
"The guy beat the crap out of Binky. He was a big guy. Then he took the can of tuna," she said with a smile. "I took Binky back to my place and patched him up. I quickly found out how smart he was and thought he would be a good person for my team. My bug-out team. I had been planning to bug-out on my father's boat, but I wasn't sure who to take with me."
"You're joking. Smart you say?"
"Sure. Haven't you noticed that? The man's a genius. Always doing something smart. He found you guys didn't he?"
"Not really. He was lost in the wrong state and we found him. Just like you found him in the market. Neither means he's smart. And what about trying to take on a man who can beat the crap out of him. He's crazy. Loony."
"He was beaten up at the time, but now he's alive. The man who took the tuna is dead. When you found him, he was lost and away from our group. Now, we are all united. Crazy smart, I'd say. Hasn't he ever done anything really smart? Something that astounded you? Something you couldn't believe at the time and which you weren't able to explain?"
John couldn't believe what she was saying. The man was crazy. "Pissed me off more times than I can believe is more like it. We went out looking for bullets and he found a dozen boxes at a jewelry store. Of all places. He did explain it, but who would have known?"
"Binky, obviously. He knew."
"And then, he mysteriously found the sheriff's house in a small town and found a whole hidden room full of bullets. Thousands of boxes. The sheriff must have collected every box of bullets for miles, before he died of course. Binky had some explanation, but I forget what it was."
"Exactly. Same thing happened to me the first day."
"You were looking for bullets. I thought you Brits didn't like guns."
"We like guns. We just can't buy guns. But no. I was out of tampons. He found me a load. Giant box. Had to tie it to the top of the Simca to bring it home."
"Still have the Simca? That's as hard to believe as the story about the tampons."
"Yes. The man's a genius. Better than Sherlock Holmes."
"I like watching the stars, but it's cool late in the evening. If you're cold, I'll go in and get you a blanket."
"No need to be so gallant. Just shove over," she said, shoe-horning herself into his chair.
"Cozy. Where is everybody?"
"Gone to bed, I suppose. You want to?"
"Want to what?"
"Go to bed -- with me. From what I've heard, you're not dating anyone, although Masako says she's waiting for you to 'come around' as she puts it. She's spending time with Zack to make you jealous. She speaks great English. Or American English."
"Yes."
"To what? Going to bed with me or she speaks great English."
"Both, I suppose. Her mother was American. My place or yours?"
"Mine would be more private. I assume you would like to keep it private."
"Sure. I'm still surprised you believe Binky is smart. But, you do have a great head on your shoulders. The rest of you is pretty nice, too."
* * *
After breakfast, John and Simca went out to gather wood in the forest. They did more embracing and kissing than gathering, but still managed to find a cart full of branches to use as starters or kindling for the gasifier. As they returned, they saw several vehicles at the front gate.
"Oh no!" said John.
"Oh, visitors. Isn't that nice? You said you are tired of hearing each other's stories. Now you can hear new stories."
"The last visitor we had was killed by mutants or by his friend, I was never sure of the story. But I had to kill the friend. Before that, a group took over the lodge while I had gone to the beach where a guy tried to kill me, twice. Masako killed him. We killed forty men and laid their bodies on the highway outside the gang's lair. This list is long and always ends the same way. Never good. This won't be any different. Our new world is dangerous."
"Let's go talk to them."
"Sure, why not." John pulled out his three twenty seven revolver and checked to make sure it had no spent cartridges.
John and Simca walked to the front gate where four black vehicles were parked.
"Morning gents. You lost? Town is that way," John said pointing to the right. "Can't miss it. Just follow your noses."
The man pulled out a small wallet and flashed it. "My name is Smith and I'm here at the request of the Department."
"Which one, my good man," said Simca in her most posh British accent.
"Homeland security, part of our government, if you didn't know."
"Really," John said. "Didn't know we had one. I don't recall voting for you. We are still a democracy aren't we? Where were you when we were attacked by a gang of forty a month ago. When you leave, make sure to leave your phone number and address in case we need some help. Not sure you could have helped against the forty. Are there any more of you?"
"Are there any more of you?"
"Enough to defend ourselves against forty well-armed men."
"The president has declared martial law. We are responsible for law and order in this sector."
"You are doing a bloody bad job of it if you allow forty people to attack us." Simca looked at John and said, "You never told me we had a sector. Were you keeping that from me?"
Binky had been watching and decided to join the group. "The number was actually forty-four well-armed men, I believe. They had lots of AR-15's and I saw several Klashes in the store room. Rough bunch, I'd say."
The man turned and looked at another man. That man stepped up. "We have resources we can call upon any time we have trouble. Many resources. You would be wise to make it easy on yourselves and cooperate with us."
Simca said, "Well, in that case, leave us the number of these resources. You don't look like you'd be much help in a real fight."
The man went back to his vehicle and returned with a folder. He shoved the folder into John's hand and said, "Inside are some forms. We'd appreciate it if you would fill them out."
"I already filled out a set of forms. From the last people who came here. I put them in the mailbox outside the post office in town. Used my last forever stamps."
"Do it again. We'll come by and pick them up ourselves. Don't forget the section about weapons. We want a complete list along with a full account of all ammunition."
"Just when will that be?" said Binky. "In case we happen to be out visiting friends when you drop by."
"You guys think you're funny. You're not. You guys think you're tough. You're not. You guys think you're going to get away with something. You're not. Fill out the damn forms! Or else!"
The Weak Shall Die: Complete Collection (Four Volume Set) Page 74
