by Eric Vall
ERIC VALL
Chapter 1
I got up early, grabbed the bow, arrows, my backpack, and some rope. It had been a couple days since I had gone out and trashed the biker camp. I had spent more time sleeping than I cared to admit, but something about the long hours and intense fight had really taken it out of me. Today though, I felt good again.
I headed downstairs, outside, and into the woods. The girls had been bringing back reports of deer tracks near our second trap sight, and I wanted to see if I could bag us another animal. I enjoyed my morning hike through the woods as the first light of day filtered in through the lush full canopy of leaves above me. The air smelled clean, and I could hear the chirping of birds all around me. The whole area felt peaceful and serene.
I reached the trap site and found it empty of prey, though the small clearing was full of animal marks, droppings, and tracks. Some were older than others, and most of them were small animal marks like a rabbit, squirrel, and raccoon. However, a quick search of the area revealed a nice set of deer tracks. Based on how soft the edges were, I concluded that the tracks were over a day old. I followed them anyway in the off chance that they led me to where the deer had been resting.
I followed the tracks through a dense patch of brush and came out the other side on a game trail. Then I crouched down and found several much newer tracks intersecting the older ones I had found. A grin spread across my face, and I looked down the path to the south where the fresh tracks led. I moved as quickly as I could while remaining almost silent until the trail led into another thick tangle of bushes and thorns.
I knelt down and gently pried the thicket apart just enough to see through to the other side. There were two deer laying next to each other in a secluded and enclosed clearing. I could not get to them without going through the thicket and that would mean alerting them to my presence, so I nocked an arrow and waited. It wasn’t long before one of them stood up, stretched out, and wandered through the thicket and into the forest.
I made my way around the thicket until I could see the deer through the trees again. It was a medium sized doe with a nice light brown coat. It would provide a good deal of meat if I could bag it.
The doe nibbled at some vegetation on the ground, looked around for danger, and then wandered off.
I tried to stay downwind as I stalked the doe through the woods. I stayed about twenty yards back and kept enough foliage between me and my target to stay hidden when it looked in my direction.
I stalked the deer for twenty minutes before it came to the stream. As it stopped to drink, I saw my opportunity, stood up, and lined up a shot. The bow was absolutely silent as I pulled the string back, and the doe didn’t even look up as I let loose my arrow.
The doe bucked as the arrow slammed into its side, went to run, and fell over some thirty feet later.
This hunt had been much smoother than my first one with Paige. After tracking it for a while I had to wait to get the shot only to miss slightly. That meant instead of killing it immediately Paige and I had to track it down and put it out of its misery. I didn’t let the creature suffer long, but I was glad that this one went a bit smoother. I didn’t have time to track a deer today anyway.
I slung the bow over my shoulder, pulled out my rope, and walked over to the fallen creature. Then I retrieved my arrow, cleaned it in the stream, and tied up the dead deer. Then I used the rope to pull it along behind me and headed back to campus.
When I broke free of the trees, I saw Anna taking a lap around the campus grounds. Her long red braid bounced with every large stride, and her outfit of tight blue capri’s and a black sports bra did a great job of showing off her muscular, athletic body.
I gave her a wave and found a spot to hang the deer.
“You had a busy morning,” I heard Paige say.
I turned and saw the bookish brunette approaching. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun on the top of her head, she had on a slightly baggy black T-shirt, and a faded pair of blue jeans. She had a book tucked under one arm, and she adjusted her thick rimmed black glasses with her free hand.
“Woke up early and saw no reason not to get some shit done,” I said before I turned back to the deer, pulled out my knife, and started to gut it.
“Well, nice job,” Paige said as she watched me. “You follow the tracks around the second trap area?”
“Yeah, they led to a game trail with some nice fresh tracks,” I explained. “There were two deer out there too. I just had no reason to get both of them.”
“Makes sense,” Paige said. “No reason to get greedy.”
“Exactly,” I replied with a nod. “Are the others up yet?”
“Yeah, Tara was putting on some makeup when I left her, and Bailey is around here somewhere,” she said.
“Get a fire started in the smoker for me,” I said. “Grab any of the girls you see along the way to help you. I want to get this taken care of so we can get on with the rest of our day.”
“Will do,” Paige said. “See you in a little bit.” Then she gave me a small kiss on the cheek and ran off towards the smoker.
I finished cleaning the animal out, skinned it, and removed the head. Once that was done, I lowered it back to the ground and pulled it over to the smoker.
Paige, Tara, and Bailey were all feeding wood into the cavity at the bottom.
“Good morning, Tav,” Tara said as she turned to grin at me. Her platinum blond hair was still somehow perfectly styled in bouncy waves that framed in her smooth and soft face. She wore a tight pair of jeans that hugged her slender thighs, and the orange blouse she wore was cut just low enough to show off the maximum amount of cleavage. Each of the four women were beautiful, but Tara had that tall-slender swimsuit model look.
“Morning,” I replied. “How’s it going girls?”
“Good,” Bailey said as she glanced in my direction.
When this had all started, the sight of the bloody deer roped behind me would have easily made the thin blond sick. Now though, the gold nose ring, skinny jeans, purple peace sign T-shirt, and canvas high tops were more of a fashion statement than a way of life. Her attitude was still the gentle, nature loving girl she had started out as, but she had adapted well in order to better survive in this hostile new world.
“Thanks for getting the smoker going,” I said as I hauled the deer off the ground and started to hang it.
What remained of the deer’s blood sizzled and popped as it dripped onto the fire below it, and once the girls were finished adding wood to it we closed the shack up.
“Thanks for getting us more food,” Bailey said.
“Yeah, it was a nice morning,” I replied. “Now come on, let’s head for the library, we have lots to do.”
We all headed for the library and found Rolly and Anna already waiting for us.
“Bout time you guys got here,” Anna smirked. “I ran a mile and still made it here first.”
“I didn’t run a mile,” Rolly said while he sipped at a cup of coffee. “I was thirsty though, so I came here to make us coffee.”
“Hey, Tav had us build a fire for the smoker,” Tara pouted. “I would have been here early too if, like, I didn’t have to do that.”
“Relax,” Bailey said. “She is just teasing.”
“Alright, let’s all settle down,” I chuckled and shook my head. “Rolly, thank you for the coffee.”
“No problem, chief,” he said with a grin as he poured me a cup.
“So then, what’s on today’s agenda?” Paige asked.
“Well, these past couple of days have been nice,” I started. “But we know that this won’t last forever. Out of the four pillars, defense has going to be our primary concern, at least for a while. That doesn’t mean we will just forget about the others tho
ugh.”
I took a sip of coffee, stood up, and turned to the whiteboard.
“We are in a good spot when it comes to food,” I said. “We will keep checking the traps and trotlines. I think between that and all of the work we are putting into the garden we will be okay for a while.”
“Yes, especially since you just got us another deer this morning,” Paige said.
“Nice,” Anna said. “Kinda wish you had come and grabbed me before you went out.”
“Sorry, I was trying to be quick about it,” I said. “You can come on my next hunt.”
“They are a ton of fun,” Paige grinned.
“Probably not as much fun as some personal time with Tav,” Tara purred.
“Wow, this conversation took a quick turn,” Rolly said as he raised an eyebrow.
“Doesn’t it always?” Anna laughed.
“Usually,” Bailey agreed.
“What can I say, watching Tav carry that deer was just super hot,” Tara shrugged.
“Ladies, please, we have a deadline and really need to get through this,” I said as I tried not to sound too stern. Usually I would laugh at a comment like that, but I knew the bikers would be coming for us at some point, and we really needed to be ready when they did.
“Sorry,” Tara said. “Sometimes I just can’t help myself.”
“You are pretty hot,” Paige admitted.
“Thanks, but let’s get back to food,” I said.
“I was thinking, what if we built a greenhouse?” Bailey asked. “I mean the garden is great, and I would love to keep working on it, but a greenhouse would let us have a nice regulated environment to grow certain herbs, and even out of season vegetables or fruits.”
“Oh yeah, that’s a really good idea,” Paige said. “There are a lot of great spots for us to build one out there, and if we can’t find glass we could always just build one with some clear plastic.”
“I like it,” I said with a nod as I turned and wrote it on the whiteboard. “I don’t know if we have any of that kind of plastic but it is something we can keep an eye out for as we scavenge.”
I turned back to the group. “Anyone have a question regarding food?”
Everyone shook their head and sipped at their cups of coffee.
“Good, then we will move on to water,” I said. “The pump is great, and having water on demand has been wonderful, but now we need to start thinking about how we can store large quantities of purified water for long term use.”
“We have that big tank we got from the farm store back in Lanceton,” Anna said.
“Yeah, and that is a great start, but we need to get it set up,” I said. “Right now it sits empty because there is no convenient way to get the clean water in or out of it.”
“Well, we have a second pump. Couldn’t we set that up to pump water from the tank?” Tara asked.
“That’s a good plan,” Paige said. “Now we just need a way to get water into the tank.”
“Well I want you guys to come up with a solution,” I said. “Also we need a better way to purify our water. Boiling it is fine for now, but I think we are at the point where an automated system would work better. Preferably something that could output directly into our new clean water storage tank.”
“I don’t know a lot about water purification or filtration systems, but I bet I can find a few good books in the library on the subject,” Paige offered.
“Good, do that then and let me know what you can find,” I said. “We might not have electricity but we do have some excellent modern chemicals that might be useful.”
“This is cool, it’s like we are building our own little society here,” Bailey said.
“I always did like the idea of being self-sufficient,” Anna added.
“Not like we have much choice now,” Rolly chuckled.
“No, but we are doing a damn fine job,” the bookish brunette said.
“Thanks in no small part to Tav,” the greying handyman was quick to point out.
“I’m just doing what I can,” I said. “That being said, how does everyone feel about our current water situation? Do we need to spend some time boiling more water?”
“I think the plan to build a purification system is good,” the athletic redhead said.
“Yeah, spending an afternoon boiling water can be sorta tedious,” Bailey added.
“We probably need to do that today, though,” Rolly said. “I think we have twenty gallons of clean water left.”
“That’s not a lot.” I muttered. “Let’s make boiling water part of our daily routine again. Let’s do at least ten gallons. If you have the time I would do fifteen to twenty though.”
“I usually have some time in the afternoons,” Rolly said. “I’ll make sure it gets done.”
“Thank you,” I replied with a nod. “Don’t let him work alone though girls. If you find yourself wondering what to do go hang out by the fire and boil a little water.”
They all nodded in agreement as I turned back to the whiteboard.
“So what’s next, defense or comfort?” Bailey asked.
“Please say comfort,” the platinum blonde said.
“It is comfort,” I confirmed with a nod as I turned back to the group. “I think it is about time we got a shower set up here on campus.”
A unified cheer rose up through the library.
“You aren’t just messing with us, are you?” Anna asked as she leaned forward.
“Nope, I honestly think now is the right time,” I said.
“Oh, fuck yes,” Tara muttered. “Will it have hot water?”
“Please say yes,” Paige said.
“Yes, it will have hot water,” I said with a chuckle. “We might need to grab a few things from Lanceton or the surrounding houses, but I have an idea for a simple single stall solar heated shower unit.”
“How’s it going to work?” Anna asked.
“Well, let me show you,” I said before I turned to the whiteboard. I drew out a small blueprint of what I had in mind. It was a simple wooden stall with a showerhead in the top attached to a large bucket or tank of water by whatever metal or PVC pipe we could find. We would install a valve between the tank and the showerhead so that it was not always on, and we would build the thing in a well-lit place so the sun would warm the tank holding the water throughout the day.
“That’s amazing,” Bailey said. “Can we build it today?”
“Like I said, we still need a couple things,” I said. “I think we can get it done before the end of the week though.
“But I want a hot shower,” Tara whined. “Are you sure we can’t do it today? I mean, we could probably tear what we need from some houses down the hill.”
“We definitely could,” Rolly said. “I even have the tools to do so.”
“We all do, but we need to prioritize a little,” I said. “We know that it is only a matter of time until the bikers get their shit together and come looking for whoever attacked them.”
“So, what do we do then?” Anna asked.
“Well, we need to focus on defense,” I said. “That means increased training in both firearms and hand to hand combat. I will also be coming up with a detailed plan so that when the bikers do show up, we are all on the same page.”
“Do we get to set up traps and stuff?” Paige asked with a small grin.
“Yeah, we will make traps, movement plans, and figure out shooting spots for everyone.”
“Cool, do we get codenames?” Bailey asked.
“I don’t think that is necessary,” I said with a laugh. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, though.”
“Awww, but I could think of so many things to call you,” Tara teased.
“Yeah, but they lose a little meaning when you use them outside of the bedroom,” I replied with a wink.
“I don’t care to hear them,” Anna said as she rolled her eyes. “I would, however, like to figure out what we are actually doing today.”
“Yeah, are we going t
o start setting up defenses?”
“Not quite,” I said. “Today we will ride to Lanceton. When the bikers head this way they will start there, and I don’t think this time they will leave much standing. We need to strip that place of anything useful before that happens.”
“Cool, how do you plan to do that?” Paige asked.
“Well, we have the jeep, the truck, and both our ATVs have trailer hookups,” I said. “I think that should be more than enough storage capacity to bring back what we need.”
“What should we be looking for?” Anna asked.
“Well, we need some plastic now if we want to make that greenhouse,” I said. “We could also use it for the shower to keep the weight down. Beyond that, I think we should find some bicycles since our gas won't last forever, and any tools, hardware, or building supplies are always good.”
“So, basically we should pick up anything that looks like it might be useful at some point,” Paige said.
“Yeah, pretty much,” I said with a nod.
“I think we can do that,” she said.
“I think I’ll pass on this one,” Rolly said. “I can get some water boiled up while you guys are gone, and it leaves a little more space for gear.”
“Alright,” I said. “I’ll get you off campus at some point.”
“Oh, I have no doubt,” The old handyman chuckled. “Not today though.”
“Alright, I think we have wasted enough time this morning,” I said with a clap of my hands. “Tara, you and Paige go check the traps while the rest of us get the vehicles ready to go. Pack a lunch, and something for dinner. Today could be a long day.”
Tara and Paige stood up. The platinum blond stretched and let out one last morning yawn before she followed the brunette out of the building. The rest of the group finished their coffee and departed a half minute after, and then I headed for my dorm room to prepare for the day.
I had on my usual outfit of whatever jeans fit me the best, and a slightly baggy T-shirt. I scavenged what clothes I could, but rarely found things that fit me exactly. I had managed to get by this long but it was quickly becoming apparent that we needed to find a way to wash not only our clothes but our blankets and bedding as well.
