The Reversion

by Steven Smith

  The bikers stood in a group for several minutes, then the large man and another biker unslung their rifles and handed them to a couple of others. They talked for a couple more minutes, then the two remounted their bikes and started them up with a roar.

  "They don't seem to be trying to stay quiet," observed Mike. "One is a woman."

  Tracy keyed her mic again. "Scout one to stone."

  "Go ahead scout one."

  "Two are headed your way. One male and one female. They left their rifles with the group, which so far is remaining at the house. Most are wearing patches that say 'Vikings'."

  "Okay scout one. Keep us advised.”

  “Stone to scout two," Jim called the sentries at the west fence.

  "Go ahead stone."

  "You have any activity over there?"

  "Negative, stone."

  "Okay, stay sharp. We're missing a bunch of them."

  Jim stepped up to the main gate and listened to the engines get louder with their approach. Soon, the bikes came into sight, growing larger until the riders finally pulled up in front of the gate, shut off their engines and stepped off their bikes.

  The woman would have captured Jim's attention with her black leather vest and her long blonde hair held back with a black leather headband had the man not been one of the biggest men he had ever seen. The man looked at Jim and held up his hands to show they were empty.

  "Howdy," said the man.

  "Howdy," Jim answered, stepping through the gate and taking a few steps toward the couple. "What can we do for you?"

  "We heard you had a doctor here,” said the man. “We have someone who's hurt."

  Jim watched the man's eyes, looking for hints of intentions.

  "It's our son," said the woman anxiously. "He's been stabbed and he's running a fever."

  Jim watched the two for another moment, deciding how much to say. "We don't have a doctor, but we have a paramedic. How bad is it?"

  "We're not sure," said the man, shaking his head. "It took him in the lower left side. I don't know how deep it is."

  The couple seemed sincere, but Jim knew what accomplished liars people could be. Leaving the rest of their party at the abandoned house could mean they weren't here to attack or it could be a tactical maneuver meant to assuage Stonemont's concerns. Jim continued to study the pair, noticing that they wore what appeared to be matching rings on their left ring fingers.

  "Where is he?" Jim asked.

  "He's back at a place called 'Boomers' about five or six miles from here.” said the man. “It's an old strip joint some of our club has been staying at since everything went to hell."

  "How did you know about us?" asked Jim.

  "The guy who stabbed Austin, our son. He and another guy came past yesterday. They told us about you. Said you'd thrown them out. It didn't take me long to figure you had to be alright if you threw those two assholes out."

  Jim thought for a minute. "Which one stabbed your son and why?"

  "Said his name was Tom. He started drinking and messing with one of the girls. When Austin called him out he pulled a knife and stabbed him."

  "What about Tom?"

  "Dead. Austin killed him."

  "How about the other one?"

  The man shrugged. "Beats me. He took off running."

  Jim nodded. One more question would help him decide. "Did you all come over here by yourselves?"

  The man shook his head. "Nope. We had the others wait up the road at an old house. We don't travel anywhere except in a big group, but I didn't want you to think we were trying to move on you."

  "Do you have a way to get your son here?"

  The man nodded. "We have a camper. We can have him here in an hour if you'll let us."

  Jim took a step toward the couple. "Go get him." He held out his hand. This would be the moment of truth and he was ready to drop to give Christian a shot. "I'm Jim Wyatt."

  The man took his hand in a firm but non-challenging grip. "Mason Booker." He inclined his head to the woman beside him. "This is my wife, Bonnie."

  Jim let go of Mason's hand and nodded to the woman. "We'll do everything we can for your son."

  Jim keyed the mic on his radio. "Okay everybody, we may have a new plan, but stay on watch. Christian, relieve Mike. Mike, we're going to need you at the house."

  It took them a little less than an hour to get Austin to Stonemont. As before, the bikes dropped off at the abandoned house while Mason and Bonnie brought Austin to Stonemont in an older pickup truck with a camper on it.

  16

  "I was a welder."

  Mason and Bonnie sat on one of the couches in the den talking with Jim, Kelly, Bill and Ann. They had carried Austin into one of the rooms upstairs, where Mike had given him some painkillers and fever reducers, cleaned and sutured the wound and started him on antibiotics. Mike stayed with him while the others went back downstairs to talk.

  "I had a shop in the back of my place and did a lot of custom work for people," Mason continued. "Gates, decorative ironwork and stuff like that. I built my own chopper, like those guys on TV, you know? When I started riding it I started running into all these other bike guys and started doing work for them too. It just kind of grew and my place came to be the place for a lot of the guys to hang out when they weren't riding." He gave a low chuckle. "Of course, I guess some of it might have been because we were just across from Boomers."

  Bonnie gave him a playful jab with her elbow. "Ya think?"

  "I notice you don't wear a one percent patch," said Jim.

  Mason looked a bit surprised. "I'm a welder who rides a bike, not a biker who welds, if that makes any sense. How come you know about one percenters?"

  "I rode when I was younger, but never with a club."

  Mason nodded. "Most of our guys are like that. We've got carpenters, plumbers, electricians, pretty much everything." He chuckled again. "We even have an accountant and a history professor, if you can believe that.

  “After we started doing runs together someone said we needed a name, so one of our guys who taught history at the college suggested 'Vikings' and it stuck. He said it had kind of a hidden meaning because the Vikings are known for being wild, but they were fairly domestic in their daily lives, like we are."

  "That's true," said Bill. "They raided Europe, Britain and Ireland, but then introduced a more stable social structure of farming and trading to societies that had been more nomadic and cattle based."

  Mason looked at Bill, then at Jim. "You have one too, huh?"

  Jim laughed. "Bill was a judge, and is our resident expert on such things."

  "Yes," smiled Bill. "It's amazing how much time you have to read if you don't play golf."

  "I'm afraid we're going to see another major change," said Mason. "In fact, we're going to be part of it. What do you think is going to happen?"

  "That conversation is going to take some time," said Kelly, getting up from the couch, "so I think I'll put together some sandwiches."

  "I'll help you," said Ann, getting up,

  "Me too," said Bonnie, following them.

  The women walked down the hall, through the great room and into the kitchen.

  "You have a beautiful home," said Bonnie.

  "Thank you," said Kelly, opening the pantry and pulling out a canned ham. "Jim and I planned it for several years and built a lot of it ourselves. It really is our dream home."

  Bonnie looked at the other women. They seemed so different from her on the outside, but the time she had spent with them since they had brought Austin here had shown her that they were down to earth and caring people. Just like their husbands, it seemed. She had spent so much time over the years dealing mainly with men, she had forgotten how good it felt to be with other women she could talk to about important things, and who didn't seem to judge her or her husband by their appearance. She looked at Kelly and Ann, and tears came to her eyes. "I want to thank you. All of you. Not just for helping Austin, but for bringing us in and making us feel we
lcome. We weren't sure what to expect. Most people shy away from us because of how we look."

  Kelly and Ann both looked at Bonnie for a moment, then Ann took a step forward, placing her hands on Bonnie's shoulders and looking into her eyes. "Honey, when I look at you and Mason, I see a mom and a dad who love their son and are worried about him. That's what I see."

  "Me too," said Kelly, looking at Bonnie over Ann's shoulder, then stepping around Ann to put her arm around Bonnie's shoulders.

  At the women's touch, Bonnie broke down, her whole body shaking with her sobs. "Austin is ... he's ... he's everything to us."

  Kelly guided her over to a chair. "Here, sit down."

  The women held her for several minutes until her sobs subsided.

  "Bonnie, Mike is doing everything he can and we're all going to pray for Austin. Don't worry, he's going to be okay."

  Bonnie looked up, wiping her eyes and cheeks with her hands. "Thank you. I'm sorry, I'm usually not such a baby. But I spend most of my time around guys and I guess being with you two just brought it all out."

  Ann patted Bonnie gently. "It's okay, honey, I'm sure the men are over there crying too."

  Bonnie looked at Ann and saw a slight smile, then gave a small smile and stood up. "Okay. That did it. Baby's gone. What can I do to help?"

  The women carried a tray of sandwiches and two pitchers of iced sweet tea into the den and set them down on the large coffee table in the middle of the couches.

  "So, what did you decide?" asked Ann.

  "We didn't," replied Jim. "We were waiting for you."

  "Very wise. The fate of the world shouldn't be decided on an empty stomach."

  They all grabbed sandwiches and poured glasses of tea. Mason took a long drink. "Man, I'd forgotten how good that is. How come you're set up so well when everyone else is scratching around like a bunch of chickens?"

  "Jim saw this coming," said Bill.

  Mason looked at Jim. "You did?"

  "It was more like I was afraid something was going to happen. I didn't hunt, fish, play golf or watch sports, so I had plenty of time to watch what was going on in the world." He took a drink of his tea. "I don't know where you stand politically, Mason ..."

  "About two clicks to the right of Ronald Reagan," said Mason.

  Jim smiled and nodded. "Good. It sounds like you're in the same neighborhood as the rest of us.

  “When I started seeing how our country was falling apart socially, economically and politically, I decided I didn't want my family to have to depend on anyone else for their safety or survival." He looked at Kelly. "I started reading some of the preparedness websites and TEOTWAWKI books. Then I started talking about it with Kelly and we started prepping. We started out slow, but got serious pretty quick.

  "I didn't know what would happen, but when I learned about the catastrophic effects of an EMP and the probability of a CME I decided that's what we better prepare for, so we did"

  Mason leaned forward, resting his massive forearms on his knees. "I used to watch some of those shows about preppers. Bonnie and I watched them together. I just thought those people were crazy."

  Bill chuckled. "I did too. Ann tried to get me to understand how fragile our society and infrastructure were, but I never really believed it."

  "At least one of you was thinking about it," said Bonnie. "I thought those people were crazy too. I never really paid much attention to what was going on in the bigger world."

  "You were just normal," said Jim. "How did you all make it without preparing?"

  Mason and Bonnie looked at each other, seemingly hesitant to answer. After a moment, Mason leaned back into the couch, placing his hands on his thighs.

  "We really struggled for a couple of weeks. Ate everything in the pantry, killed some chickens and picked some vegetables before they were ready. Then one of the guys found a truck from a grocery store a few miles out. It was mostly empty, but there was some stuff left in it and that gave us the idea to go look for another one. We found another one a few miles farther out locked up tight, so we busted it open and spent a couple of days hauling everything back to our place and Boomers. We took a lot of it to folks around us but we still have a lot."

  He paused for a moment and looked at those around him. "I guess that's stealing, but we were starving, and so were some of the people around us."

  "That was good thinking," said Jim. "We've salvaged trucks ourselves and we're going to do more."

  "Mason," said Bill. "the law defines stealing as the unlawful taking of the property of another with the intent to deprive them of the use or benefit thereof. The contents of that truck may not have belonged to you, but it is questionable whether it legally belonged to anyone. Companies no longer exist. Nor do banks, courts or governments to any practical extent. I think you can rest easy that you didn't steal. Salvage is much different, and that's what you did."

  Mason and Bonnie looked at each other and seemed to relax. "I told you," said Bonnie.

  Mason shrugged. "Well, that's the first time I've had a judge tell me I didn't do anything wrong."

  “By the way,” said Bill, “how come your bikes and pickup are running?”

  Mason shook his head, remembering. “Man, that was a mess. Most of them wouldn’t start after everything went off, except for the older ones with just kick-starts. One of the guys had seen something about this on a TV show, so he suggested we strip all the electronics out of the newer bikes and take them back to basics. That worked, and we were rolling again.” He smiled. “As to the pickup, I had kept that old thing because it was my dad’s. Good thing, too. I guess he’s still watching over me.”

  "No sandwiches for me?" Mike asked in a mock insulted voice as he entered the room and grabbed one. "Austin is still running hot, but he's asleep now. We'll just have to wait and see how he does through the night.”

  "You guys can have the room next to Austin's," Kelly said to Mason and Bonnie. "It's all ready and shares a bathroom with his. I'll bring you some toothbrushes and things in case you didn't bring yours."

  Kelly got up early and went to check on Austin, finding both Bonnie and Mason sleeping in his room, Bonnie in the chair and Mason sitting on the floor leaning against the wall beside the bed. She moved quietly to the bedside, placing her hand on Austin's forehead.

  "How is he?" whispered Bonnie, getting up from the chair quietly.

  Kelly smiled. "His fever has broken and his breathing is back to normal."

  She gently pulled the covers down and looked at the dressing. "It doesn't look like there's any new bleeding. Mike will check it later."

  Bonnie clutched her hands together under her chin, her eyes welling with tears. She moved to the side of the bed, taking Austin's hand in one of hers and placing the other on his head, stroking his hair back softly with her fingertips. "I prayed all night until I fell asleep."

  The women heard Mason getting up from the floor and moved over to allow him to stand by the bed.

  Bonnie looked up at her husband. "His fever's gone, and Kelly says the bleeding seems to have stopped."

  Mason stood by the bedside for a long minute looking down at his son, then slowly leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. Turning, he left the room.

  Bonnie smiled at Kelly through her tears. "He didn't want us to see him cry. I heard him praying too."

  Mason made his way downstairs, through the kitchen and out onto the patio where he found Jim pouring a cup of coffee. "Morning, Jim."

  "Hey, Mason. Want a cup?"

  Mason nodded. "Thanks. It smells good."

  Jim poured a second cup of coffee and handed it to Mason. "Cream and sugar is on the table if you want it. How's Austin?"

  "His fever's gone and Kelly says the bleeding has stopped." Mason said, sitting down. "She thinks he's going to be okay."

  "Good."

  The men sat for several minutes in silence, watching the sun rise and the compound awaken.

  "Jim, I don't know how to thank you for all you've don
e for Austin. And for taking us into your home when you didn't even know us. If there's anything I can ever do for you, you just say it."

  Jim shook his head. "No thanks are necessary, Mason. If it had been one of my kids I'm sure you would have done the same."

  Mason nodded his head. "Yeah, I would have. But still, it's a different world now. We've run probes into the suburbs and the city, and people aren't what they used to be. Now, they're quicker to attack than to help.

  “I know you were careful, but you welcomed us like in the old days." He paused, taking a sip of his coffee. "It's hard to believe that the old days were only a couple of months ago."

  Jim nodded, remembering their experience in Topeka. "Yes, it is. Like we were starting to talk about last night, we're seeing a major change in the world. Probably the most drastic change the world has ever seen in so short a time. It took centuries to build what became the modern world and a split second to bring it all down. The question will be what kind of world will develop now. Which reminds me, when you think they're up, you can invite your riders up the road to come on in for breakfast. It can't be too comfortable out there at that house."

  Mason wasn't able to hide either his surprise or his embarrassment. "You knew, huh?"

  "Like you said, it's a different world now, and I'm careful. We can't afford to take chances. We knew those two could be more trouble when we threw them out, so we had a couple of scouts follow them. They followed them to Boomers and they've been watching your guys since you arrived yesterday."

  Mason shook his head and grinned. "Well, I sure feel like a beginner. You don't mind them coming in?"

  "Nope. I have a good feeling about you and Bonnie, and they're your guys. This is one of the first steps in creating the world we want to live in." Jim picked up his walkie-talkie from the table. "Stone to scout one."