by Eric Vall
“Oh yea, friends of yours?” Dan sneered
“Daniel, you shut your mouth and let them talk,” his grandma insisted. “We have them at our mercy, so let’s make sure they are the bad guys before we shoot them.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Don’t thank me yet,” grandma said. “Tell me about this college.”
I thought about answering, but she was focused much more on Rolly, and I thought he might have a better chance of digging us out of this hole.
“It’s mostly empty,” Rolly said. “There’s six of us total. Me, my friend here, and four girls back at campus.”
“What, didn’t want to bring your sex slaves with you?” Dan taunted.
“It’s not like that,” Rolly said with a sigh. “They were students at the school who stayed over break.”
“Yeah, well if they were your friends or whatever then why would you leave them alone?” Jenn asked.
“They have protection,” I said. “I’ve been training them for the past couple weeks so that they can take care of themselves.”
“And who are you then?” the older lady asked as her gaze shifted back to me.
“Names Connor Tavish, ex-Army Ranger,” I said.
“Oh really?” Dan asked. “What battalion?”
“3rd Battalion, 75th Rangers,” I said. “We were stationed in Fort Benning's Georgia. I didn’t get to spend much time there, though. Did three tours before coming back to the states.”
“He’s been helping me and the girls a lot,” Rolly added. “We were on our own until he came along.”
“Where did you come from Conner?” the old woman asked.
“Call me Tav,” I said.
“Rather not,” she replied.
“Fair enough,” I said with a nod. “After I got back from my last tour I went into the woods for a year. When I got back I came upon Rolly and the girls over at the campus.”
“Why would you spend a year in the forest?” Jenny asked as she narrowed her eyes at me.
“I’m a bit of a primitive survival guy,” I explained. “I brought a knife, sharpening stone, a bag of clothes and--”
“That sounds crazy,” she interrupted, and her eyes opened wide.
“I’m the right kind of crazy to help people survive in this strange new world,” I replied.
“How do we know that any of this is true?” Dan asked.
“You don’t,” Rolly said. “Sadly we don’t really have a way to prove anything to you, but if we were going to be violent don’t you think we would have tried to make a move?”
“Not if you were smart,” the old woman said. “We have you outnumbered and outgunned. You could just be waiting for a chance to turn the tables.”
“You won’t get one,” Dan whispered.
“Since you guys had a run in with the biker gang, let me ask you this; did those guys come across as smart or patient at any point?” I asked.
“Not really,” Jenny said. “They were loud, offensive, and aggressive.”
“They also weren’t cautious like you two were,” the grandma said. “After we heard your engines off in the woods Dan went out and saw you guys coming. We got into place, but you sure made us wait.”
“We wanted to see if anyone was around,” Rolly said. “This place looked too nice to be abandoned.”
“If you thought people were here how come you didn’t try to call out or anything?” Jenny asked.
“I’ve had too many encounters with bikers and crazies to give myself away like that,” I explained
“You calling us crazies?” Dan asked as felt him shift his grip on the gun.
“You’re making us look pretty crazy right now,” his grandma scolded. “You know what, Daniel, lower your gun.”
“That’s not a good idea,” he replied.
“Just do it, you too Jenny,” she continued.
I was relieved when Jenny nodded and lowered her gun. She quickly took a step back and looked to her grandma. A moment later the pressure on my neck disappeared as Dan must have lowered his gun.
Rolly let out an audible sigh, but kept his hands up.
“You two move to the couch,” the woman said as she motioned to the soft grey furniture with her rifle. “Don’t try anything funny either because I am damn fine shot.
“I bet you are, ma’am,” Rolly said with a smile before he crossed the small room and took a seat on the couch.
I raised an eyebrow as I followed his lead. As I looked at him I realized the smile on his face was stuck, and he didn’t seem capable of looking away from the older lady. I plopped down next to him and kept my hands in the air.
“Put your hands down,” the grandma said as she rolled her eyes. “Just don’t touch those pistols.”
She moved to stand in front of us with her rifle up, and the two younger people moved to stand at her side. They kept their guns down, but Dan’s finger was still on the trigger as he stood there and scowled at us.
“I’m gonna ask you some more questions, and if I get the feeling that you are being anything but honest I am going to let my grandson here do exactly what he is so keen on doing,” the old woman said. “Understood?”
Rolly and I nodded.
“Good,” she said. “Now explain yourselves fully.”
“Like my friend said we came up here to see if there was anything we could use,” Rolly said. “Most of the area is abandoned, and we assumed that this place might be abandoned too.”
“What did you hope to find?” The woman asked.
“We were looking for a water tank,” Rolly said with a shrug. “Though we are resourceful and would have taken anything that was useful.”
“The water tank would go a long way in helping us create a water purification system,” I explained.
“And what about these girls you say you left behind, what about them?” grandma asked.
“There’s four of them,” Rolly started, “Anna, Tara, Paige, and Bailey were students at the school before all of this started. They didn’t go home during winter break and thus ended up at the school when the power went out.”
“Why didn’t they leave?” Dan asked.
“At first I think they were afraid,” Rolly replied before he turned to me and smiled. “Now though it’s because of this guy. They like him quite a bit.”
“He doesn’t look very special to me,” Jenny scoffed.
“I’m not special,” I admitted. “I just taught them how to survive. Seems that put me in their good graces.”
“He’s being modest,” Rolly said. “First day we met him Tav saved us from a couple bikers. Then he helped us find food, water, and has continued to train us with firearms and close combat weapons.”
“Your buddy’s a good hype man,” the old woman said as she shifted her gaze and her gun to me. “Sounds a little too good though. Why would you stick your neck out and do all of this for who I can only assume were a bunch of strangers?”
“You’re right, they were strangers,” I said with a nod. “But I have always tried to be the type of person to do the right thing, and when I saw them being threatened by those bikers, the right thing really seemed to be to give them a hand.”
“Why’d you stick around once you helped them?” Dan asked.
“What else was I going to do?” I replied. “The world is different than when I had left it, and it was not like I could just get in a car and head home.”
“Hey, I know that things have been tough since the blackout,” Rolly said. “Your chances of running into good people seems slim nowadays, and I don’t blame you for being suspicious. Look at me though, what sorta hell do you really think an old-timer like me could bring you guys?”
“He is pretty old,” Jenny agreed.
“You watch it young lady,” the grandma said as she scowled at the girl.
“He’s clearly older than you grandma,” Dan added.
“Doesn’t mean he isn’t capable,” she replied.
“I try not to be usel
ess, but I am not quite as spry as I used to be,” Rolly chuckled. He turned a little red and looked intently at his pants. “Though if you don’t mind me saying so seeing someone as beautiful as you makes me wanna impress.”
“Whoa, we do mind,” Jenny said as she took a step forward and pulled up her gun.
“Yeah, that’s our grandma you’re talking about there you dirty old pervert,” Dan added while he pulled his gun back into his shoulder.
I wanted to reach for my pistol but kept my hands on my lap. It would be a bad idea, and we would probably be dead before I got to pull it from the holster.
“For god’s sake, would you two relax,” the old woman said as she rolled her eyes. She lowered her gun for the first time since we arrived, smiled at the wrinkled man, and outstretched a hand. “My name’s Betty, and that was mighty sweet of you to say.”
“I meant what I said,” Rolly said with a smile wide enough to reveal his teeth as he shook her hand. “I wasn’t just trying to butter you up to make a move.”
“Even if you were it woulda worked,” Betty replied with a smirk.
“What the hell are you doing Grandma?” Dan asked.
“Put the guns down,” she said as she broke out her grandma voice for the second time.
The two younger people looked at each other with slack jawed mouths and shocked expressions but did as she instructed.
“I’m sorry ‘bout my grandkids, they have been a bit jumpy since we got a visit from some of those dumbass bikers,” she explained while she stared at Rolly with an almost unconscious smile.
“Seems you guys made it out okay,” Rolly said.
I sat back and let my companion do the talking at this point. He clearly had something going here, even if I did not understand exactly what.
“We did, but it spooked us a bit,” Betty said.
“Understandable,” Rolly said. “Tav has had almost half a dozen run-ins with those guys. He even snuck into their town and took out a bunch of their guys.”
“Alone?” Jenny asked.
“Yeah,” Rolly said with a nod.
“Yeah right,” Dan scoffed.
“It’s true,” I said. “I got to put my military training to use.”
“He really that good?” Betty asked Rolly.
“Yes, Ma’am, he is,” Rolly said.
“Well you know what, it’s nice to know that good people still exist in the world,” the grey haired woman said with a big smile. “Especially ones that are as skilled and good looking as you two. Come on in and take a seat at the table boys. I’ll brew us a pot of coffee.” Betty slung her rifle over her shoulder and disappeared around a corner and into the kitchen.
“We’ll be watching you,” Dan said through gritted teeth.
“Kids, go wash up, then come give me a hand,” Betty called out.
“Yes grandma,” Jenny said.
“Don’t worry, we don’t want any trouble,” I assured them.
“I hope that’s true,” Dan said before he looked at Jenny and nodded.
The young woman returned the nod before she made her way down a small hallway and disappeared into a bathroom at the end.
“So where’s the table?” Rolly asked.
Dan pointed behind us, and we looked to see a small dining room set up in front of a couple large windows that looked out over the farm. It was adjacent to the kitchen where Betty hummed softly as she worked to prepare us some coffee.
We stood up slowly, kept our hands free of the weapons at our hips, and made our way around the couch and to the table. The rough wooden table had seen better days, but based on the amount of scuffs and scratches I had to guess that it had been around a while.
Jenny came out of the bathroom and took the place of our watcher while Dan slipped away. When he returned both of them joined their grandmother in the kitchen where the three of them started to make up lunch.
“Well this is certainly unexpected,” I said quietly as we waited at the table.
“I know, I didn’t think I would ever find a nice older woman out here in the world,” Rolly said.
“That’s not exactly what I meant,” I chuckled. “You two seem to get along well enough though.”
“We’ll see if it continues that way,” Rolly said with a shrug. “I’ll tell you what though, she is just my type. I mean did you see that classic lever action she was using? It’s almost as beautiful as she is.”
“Alright lover boy, let’s stay alert here,” I chuckled. “The other two still don’t seem as happy with us being here as she is.”
“You’re right,” Rolly said with a nod. “Sorry, I’ll keep it professional.”
Betty, Dan, and Jenny joined as at the table with a fresh pot of coffee, several coffee cups, and a plate of sandwiches.
“Oh man, bread,” I said as I looked at the food and licked my lips. I had not really thought about it since I got out of the forest, but it had been a very long time since I had enjoyed a sandwich. All of the bread the girls had scavenged was either gone or spoiled by the time I had arrived.
“I made it myself,” Betty said as she placed one onto a paper plate and handed it to me.
I looked past her and into the kitchen where I saw a wood stove nestled between the countertops. The whole place seemed like a relic of an older time. That must have worked to Betty’s advantage when the power stopped.
“I haven't had bread in a while,” Rolly said as he picked up his sandwich and licked his lips. “Is that tomatoes and lettuce I see on there too?”
“Yep,” Jenny said. She looked at the old handyman and cracked a smile for the first time since we arrived. “We grew it right out back here.”
“Man, I am a bit jealous,” Rolly said.
“You guys don’t have veggies?” Betty asked.
“Not fresh ones,” I said. “Best we can do is stuff that comes out of a can,” I said.
“We’re working on a garden though,” Rolly was quick to add.
“What do you guys do for food then?” Jenny asked.
“We hunt, mostly,” I said. “We forage what we can from the forest too, but it doesn’t have stuff like lettuce or tomatoes.”
“Turns out having a farm is a good thing,” Betty said with a nod.
“Seems like you are doing well for yourself out here too,” I said.
“We’ve had rough patches,” Dan said as he took another bite of his sandwich.
“What happened?” Rolly asked.
“Well we had to make an adjustment to not having power,” Betty said. “We lost some of the livestock, and we can farm a lot less of the land now that we have a lot less working farm equipment.”
“It’s good that you didn’t have to go through it alone at least,” Rolly said as he smiled at the older woman.
“Having my grandkids around has helped a lot, and we even thought things were going well until the bikers showed up about a month ago,” she said.
“What happened with them?” I asked.
“We welcomed them at first,” Dan said. “It was our attempt to be good people and go on like things hadn’t changed.”
“Yeah, that was a mistake,” Betty nodded. “They quickly beat up Dan and tried to have their way with Jenny.”
“Did you run them off?” Rolly asked.
“Something like that,” Betty said as she looked out the windows at a small pig right next to the cow pasture.
“We did what we had to do,” Dan said.
“Good riddance I say,” Rolly said. “These bikers are no good, and I don’t think anyone left in the world is gonna miss em.”
“If only they were all we had to worry about,” Jenny sighed.
“She’s right,” Betty said. “We have a leg up here, but we are still a ways out from being totally sustainable.”
“Maybe we could help,” Rolly was quick to offer.
“He’s right,” I said. “We aren’t exactly far away, and there is a chance we could help provide you with things you don’t have. We have
scavenged a lot of stuff from Lanceton, and the surrounding area. We have a bit of everything at this point. We will even have a sustainable source of clean water before too long.”
“That’s really kind of you two to offer,” Betty said.
“What’s the catch?” Dan asked.
“No catch,” I said. “We could do it as a trade.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Dan replied.
“Oh stop it,” Betty interjected. “These two have been nothing but pleasant and cooperative thus far. They are different than those bikers.”
“Yeah, if they wanted to hurt us they could have taken their chance when we were in the kitchen making lunch,” Jenny said.
“I still don’t trust them,” the young man growled.
“You don’t have to,” I said. “We don’t have to be friends to come to an amiable trade agreement.”
“That’s true,” the man grumbled.
“We don’t have to worry about that right now, do we?” Betty asked. “It’s a nice day, and we haven't had any real company since the power went out, so why not stay a while?” The entire time the woman spoke she stared at the handyman.
The balding man pulled off his wide-brimmed hat, hung it on his knee, and smiled. Then he fixed me with an almost pleading stare.
“Yeah, alright, we aren’t expected back for a while anyway,” I said with a thin smile. I still worried about the bikers, so I didn’t want to spend all day here, but Rolly looked happier now than he had since I arrived. It would be cruel to pull him away now, and I had a feeling that his good mood would help to counter the stress of combat.
We spent the rest of the afternoon with Betty and her grandkids. We learned all about how Jenny and Dan had been up here on Christmas vacation and ended up getting stuck when the EMP hit. The three seemed to have a pretty good relationship for a family who had been stuck together for this long.
We got a tour of the well maintained farm, and were introduced to the remaining pigs, cattle, and chickens. Their supply of food for the chickens had started to run low, and Betty was not sure they could grow a replacement food supply in time.
I made a note to keep an eye out for chicken feed in my adventures. It wouldn’t be common, but we still had a few more farms to check out at some point.
