Harvest of Ruin (Book 3): A Spring of Sorrow

by Mongelli, Arthur

  “How long do they have to stay out there?” Amber asked. “Looks to me that they've been set up for quite some time.”

  “Some people don't want to come in,” Benny shrugged, stoking the fire.

  “What?” she asked incredulously. “That's ridiculous.”

  “No, really,” Danny interjected. “Maybe it's PTSD or something, but some people don't want to be surrounded by walls. Some see it as a trap, giving a false sense of security, others view it as a prison. They come up to the walls for the comfort of people and stay for the security of the guards, but some want nothing to do with the 'community' inside. Doesn't make sense to me, but each to their own, right?”

  “So what is this process you have?” Mark asked.

  “It starts with some interviews. If it proceeds past that, people are assigned some tasks, gathering supplies and such, that the community needs. Then comes sponsorship, almost like an AA sponsor if you're familiar with that,” Benny answered. “It all takes time, weeks, sometimes months to get inside. In that time we are able to get a really good sense of who and what you are.”

  “Do you feed them?” Amber asked.

  “No.” It was Danny's turn to answer. “At first we offered food in exchange for killing the undead. That was at the start of winter. We stopped that when supplies started to dwindle and the camps started getting too big. Just too many mouths to feed.”

  “So you let them starve out there?”

  “Lady, no one asked them to come here, they are free to leave whenever they damn well please. We have a doctor that goes out there to address any health issues. We do what we can, but our responsibility is to those inside the walls,” Danny yelled, spittle flying from his lips.

  It was clear to Mark and Amber, in that moment, that the people inside might have mixed feelings about the whole process and the questions had hit a nerve.

  “Listen, I don't know what you all have been through since this shit started, but this is a good place full of good people. These people help each other, not rape, not kill, and not rob each other,” Benny spoke calmly, pausing for effect. “Like those who you were living among. We saved you from that. If you don't like the way we do things here, you can take your indignant self-righteousness, stuff it up your ass and jog on down the road.”

  Danny stormed out of the workshop, slamming the door shut on the way out. The fury of the young man gave both Amber and Mark a moment to pause and consider their precarious position among their rescuers. Silence fell over the three as Benny focused his attention solely on the flames inside the open door of the woodburning stove.

  It was nearly an hour before Harold returned, and when he did he was brusque, speaking only with Benny.

  “He ain't too happy that we brought them in.”

  Benny nodded.

  “I told him we'd keep them safe and snug at my place. You think you could give me one more night to help watch? Yen said he'd come out himself first thing in the morning.”

  Benny sighed heavily and nodded. After more than a week of scouring the mountains, following the Peterson clan, he wanted nothing more than to go home and be with his family. One more night wouldn't hurt though, not now that they were within the safety of the walls.

  *

  Tim, Laura and Will watched quietly as Linda and Jen helped Chris up and out of the tent. The sound of their footsteps gradually vanished, blending with the ambient sounds of the camp as they moved towards the barricade.

  “Right, well then. My name is Yen, and this is Donner. Well, this is the camp outside of Donner at least. Can we do some introductions?”

  The group introduced themselves with Yen nodding and taking measure of each and every one of them before he continued. They all squirmed a bit under the heavy scrutiny they all felt as the man watched their mouths as they talked as well as the way they looked at one another.

  “Can you tell me why you've come here?” Yen asked at length, once introductions were done.

  Tim looked around for a moment before realizing the rest were looking to him.

  “Well, as you can see, we've got children,” Tim began. “We only just learned about Donner yesterday, but it sounds like it could be what we are looking for, for them.”

  “Safety?”

  “Yeah, that too, but more than that, a future.”

  Yen nodded knowingly.

  “I'll have to tell you up front, we have quite an extensive process set up. We don't just willy-nilly let people inside the walls.”

  They all nodded apprehensively.

  “We provide for the protection of the encampment out here, as it benefits us to do so. The camp acts as a first line of defense. Some of the people living out here are being vetted for entry into town, others have no intentions of going inside the walls. Almost all of them were just looking for a place to be, a place where they could be safe. And it is safe here, relatively. The guards operate around the clock and a militia is being formed within the camp itself. We usually hear the fast ones coming, long before they get to the camp, with their roaring and all. The slow ones are a bit tougher to spot ahead of time, especially at night. As I'm sure you are all aware they are a lot less dangerous unless their numbers are great. Deaths do happen out here, but it isn't as common anymore. Once we perform a full body check to make sure you are free of infection, you all will be free to camp here among them for the time being. It'll take some time for you to get acclimated to camp life and while you figure out if this is where you want to be, we start the process of figuring out if you are fit to be here.”

  “Fit to be here?” Will asked.

  “You should count yourselves as extremely fortunate if you haven't encountered marauders or other vile men,” Yen answered evenly.

  Will quieted, immediately understanding his meaning.

  “If you choose to stay in the camp you will be forbidden from carrying weapons, that is an earned privilege in the camps. You also will be under the watch of the guards at all times for the first few weeks. There are designated camping areas for new people. The longer you're here, the closer you can move to the walls. People here don't know you and they won't trust you. Most of the people here will likely avoid you altogether at first. Don't take it personally, almost everyone here has watched everyone they know and love die within the past six months. We are talking PTSD on a massive scale.”

  Yen stopped talking and drummed his fingers on the table for a moment, looking at each person individually for a moment before moving to the next.

  “Any questions?” he asked at last, as he rose from the table.

  “Where did they take Jen and Chris?” Will asked.

  “To Heartland, it's the clinic we have here. It's small, but previous to the undead coming, it was a fully functioning hospital. The girl that accompanied her . . .”

  “Jen,” Will answered.

  “Jen. She will be allowed to return to you whenever she wishes, though at the mercy of an available escort. The other girl and the baby can do the same as soon as Linda permits. Anything else?”

  Everyone in the room looked to one another, blankly for a moment before Yen started moving to the exit of the tent.

  “Okay, well, I'll take my leave then. I'm guessing you all need to discuss things among yourselves anyways. If you decide to stay, the guards will arrange for the body checks, and don't worry, Marsha will check the women and you can be present when we check the kids.”

  Will and Tim both nodded simultaneously, it was all so much to take in. He didn't like it, not at all, but also wondered how he would feel if he were inside those walls. For now, though, he recognized that between his back, Will's knee and Christine giving birth, that they would have no choice but to stay within the protection of the guard.

  “We would like-” he paused, interrupting himself as he looked to Laura and Will. “We need to stay, at least for now.”

  “Okay, well let's get the formalities over with then.”

  Yen moved to the sidewall of the tent and pulled two
panels of free-standing medical privacy screen out, setting them up in an ell.

  “Ladies, if you would take the children behind the screen, I'll radio Marsha to come by.”

  Yen lifted the two-way radio to his mouth and within moments Marsha walked through the open door flap. Once the body checks were done and the group pulled their clothing back on, they gathered in the main area of the tent.

  “Sorry about that, the checks can be traumatizing for some, depending what they've been through. I'm sure you understand why it is a necessity, though. Please, feel free to set up camp and stay the night at least. If you wish to stay longer than a few days, you'll need to go through preliminary interviews. Now, if you will follow me, I'll escort you to your campsites.”

  Yen stepped out of the tent into the gloom of early afternoon, stretching broadly. When the rest of the group filtered out into the fresh air behind him, he proceeded to the far northeast corner of the camp to a rocky, wet, low-lying area.

  “This is it,” Yen said flatly. “It ain't pretty and it’s not gonna be the most comfortable, but I promise, you will be safer than you were out there on your own. The men will bring your gear down once they finish searching it for weapons and contraband. Oh, and you obviously will get all that stuff back if and when you decide to leave us.”

  “Contraband?” Tim asked.

  “Drugs and alcohol primarily, though gambling games are also forbidden. There are enough problems in keeping people safe without adding more ways to make them unstable. Have a good rest tonight and someone will come check in with you in the morning, or after Jen comes back, whichever comes first.”

  “Yen?” Will asked.

  “Yeah?”

  “You from Donner?”

  “Nope, got here a few months ago, stumbled in with my people, same as you.”

  Yen waited a moment to see if any more questions were forthcoming before nodding his head and striding away.

  The three adults and two children milled about the dreary, muddy area. They were all anxious and unsettled. The prospect of camping down with the kids this close to so many strangers terrified them. If they were all together, they might have just left and taken their chances on the road. Now, though, the group was split and they had no choice but to remain.

  About twenty minutes later, three men came and delivered all their gear.

  “Your truck is up over yonder, past the far corner of the junkyard. Keys'r in the glove box,” one of the men said.

  He was a middle-aged, pasty-skinned man in a Skoal hat. He barely cast them a glance before dropping his armload of their gear onto the sopping wet ground.

  As soon as the other two men unburdened themselves, the trio disappeared from sight, moving deeper into the heart of the refugee camp. Laura looked from the children, busily at play in the rocks and dirt at the side of the road, to her husband. He looked pained and uncomfortable sitting on a rock. Her gaze moved across to Will, who was once again wearing his knee brace and holding his leg with both hands. It was in that moment, looking at her wounded companions, that she knew fear.

  *

  Grayson watched through his binoculars as the party of six traveled across the scrubby grass covered plain towards the town in the distance. He didn't recognize the town immediately, having approached on the first occasion from the east, but he knew this was Donner. He had learned everything he needed to know about Donner, Tar, and a great many other things from Tyler Peterson during his short and tragic visit to the base a few days prior. Grayson scanned the binoculars to the north and spoke to the man next to him.

  “I do believe that peak right there is Mt. Ethel, Pablo. Go find me a flat and open path to move a vehicle around that peak and onto the plains down below.”

  Pablo, not known for his conversation simply nodded to him and moved off, waving forward a trio of men to accompany him.

  Grayson turned away and directed his gaze squarely back on the outer wall and fencing of Donner. He thought of Tar, the man who had killed his men and nearly killed him. More than anything he hoped Tar had survived the gunshot Tyler had described in his final hours. A rictus was glued to his face as he thought about the things he would love to do to the man. The angry grin he had worn since Mark and Amber fled camp under cover of night like thieves, softened slightly at the thought of the vengeance he would wreak.

  Grayson spent the night there, exposed to the elements on the east face of the peak. He hadn't even bothered to shield the light from his fire. The two remaining men Pablo had left with him stood silent guard while he slept. By the time he woke in the morning, Pablo had returned from his mission and was seated across the fire. Silently, Pablo put a pot of water on the rekindled fire and rummaged through Grayson's pack, producing a jar of coffee and a plastic container of powdered creamer. He set them next to a camp mug with a spoon before returning to his seat, waiting for him to rouse. Grayson slowly sat upright to a seated position and stared blankly down into the valley below. Smoke rose from a number of places in and around Donner.

  “You almost feel bad for them,” he said absently to Pablo. “Almost.”

  “This is fucked up,” Pablo said, drawing a sharp look from Grayson.

  “You on board or not Pablo?”

  Pablo looked into the valley and nodded subtly.

  “What's the goal here?” he asked at length.

  Grayson glared at the man, long and hard searching him for some indication that he was losing faith. Finally, seeing no deception in the man, he spoke.

  “Ever read the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible, Pablo?”

  Pablo shook his head and shrugged.

  “It's a story about a city that angered God. What they did to cause this displeasure is up for scholarly debate, but the point of the story is ironclad. God is not forgiving and nor should I be. I made my mistake once and moved beyond this particular city, this temple of weakness filled with cowards. But here I find myself, once again at their gates. Different reasons each time, but my fate has drawn me back here. I know that I am drawn back here for a purpose. I am to be the hand of God in this version of that tale. It is by my hand that this stain on the Earth will be wiped clean.”

  “Okay, I get that, but to what end?” Pablo said, drawing another suspicious glare from Grayson.

  Pablo had traveled with Grayson long enough to know that behind all the bluster and bravado, there often lay a strategic reason for most of his actions. He filled the air with lofty words, but at the end, most of what he did was to gain power, supplies, or end a perceived threat. He couldn't see the logic behind dedicating days, men, and other resources to massacre a town, especially one that had cost them so dearly months before.

  “I am all that remains of American government, it seems. This leaves me in the onerous position of reestablishing authority. This burden I bear leaves no room for opposition. This is our world for the taking, Pablo, and we are going to take it and rule it with an iron fist. We will build a new civilization out of the husk of the old. We will be the rocks on which the tide of the dead will break. Those who survive must flock to our banner, Pablo. Not to that of cowards that hide behind their walls, too scared to let the living in, never mind to come out to face the dead.”

  Grayson paused to look down into the valley as he prepared his cup of coffee. After his first sip he continued.

  “If you want it in less inspired terms, Pablo, they are our competition. Competition for the scant resources this world has to offer us. They are competing with us for food, for weapons and ammunition, for medicine, drugs, booze, and most importantly of all, people. Word of this town has spread. It's obvious from the huge crowd gathered outside its walls. We will assume control of Donner once we cleanse it of the cowards. Seeing that people are already flocking from all corners, they will continue to flock to us. So not only will we remove them as our competition, we will use what they have built to strengthen our own position.”

  “Look, I'm with you Grayson, have no doubt about that,” Pablo st
ated, rubbing the back of his neck, “I was just saying that it's fucked up, is all.”

  “I need you to sneak up there today at nightfall and plant some shape charges on those shipping containers,” Grayson said absently, relishing in the calm before the storm. “I want you to do it yourself, it needs to be done right. Did you pick out the bait yet?”

  Pablo nodded, returning back to his normal silence.

  “Okay. Get the rest of the Trustees up here then. Tonight is a go. As soon as you get back from setting the charges, get the bait ready. At dawn we make the final preparations and release the hounds.”

  *

  Laura's eyes lingered on the pained form of her husband for a moment longer. He winced at the slightest movement. She sighed heavily, doing her best to push away her mounting worry. She passed Luna off to Sophie and started setting up the campsite. Between setting up two tents, building a campfire and tending to the incessant needs of her husband and child, it was approaching sundown by the time she finished.

  The efforts of the past few days had taken their toll on them all, and aside from Sophie and Luna, they all skipped supper in lieu of a much needed sleep. Luna lay in her usual place, nestled between her parents, and slept peacefully with her arms around her mother's neck and head on her breast. Sophie lay on Laura's other side, curled into a ball. Will lay alone in the tent he normally would have shared with Jen and Christine.

  They had dragged the tents off the lakes in the brutal midst of winter and carried them along on this leg of their journey, unused. No one liked sleeping in tents out in the open. The idea that there was only a thin layer of fabric to protect them against the undead prevented any but the children from getting any significant amount of sleep. More than likely, the tent would become a trap if the undead came upon them, but none were willing to spend another night on the glass strewn seats and floor of the windowless Yukon. In truth, they were too tired to give it more than a passing thought, comforted at the moment by Yen's assurances of safety.