Evergreen

by Cox, Matthew S.

  Cliff knee-walked back into his sleeping bag, and flopped on it.

  As best she could tell, neither kid nor Summer had stirred. At least for them, she could continue pretending to be brave.

  Maybe if she faked it enough, she might convince herself.

  16

  A Semblance of Normal

  The next morning, everyone returned to the cafeteria to search for food in the daylight.

  Other than the lone box of cereal they’d attacked last night and the mostly-empty can of pudding, the place appeared to have already been cleaned out—but it still had silverware. They tapped some of the canned goods they’d been carrying, making a breakfast of pears and baked beans.

  “You’d think a school would have more supplies.” Summer ate a spoonful of beans. “What happened to it all?”

  “We’re close to Evergreen.” Cliff wagged a fork at her before stabbing a pear slice. “Could be there really are people there and they came here already.”

  “That’s good, right?” asked Harper.

  “Seems like it, yeah.” He ate the pear slice whole.

  Madison stared into her dead iPhone while eating. Her expression had changed from blank to tinged with sadness. Harper suspected she knew no one would ever call her on that phone, but still tried to deny the truth. As soon as they reached Evergreen—well, providing it turned out to be the safe haven she’d made it out to be in her mind—she’d tell Madison the truth and keep repeating it until she accepted it.

  Though, that did seem needlessly cruel, like telling a kid Santa Claus didn’t exist. What harm would it do to let her carry around a broken iPhone as a security blanket? Not like she had to be normal, finish school, get a job, and pretend to be a functioning member of society.

  Ugh. I dunno what to do.

  Harper licked her spoon clean of baked bean sauce and stuffed it in her pocket. May as well keep it for the next meal. Eager to finally put her insecurities about Evergreen to rest, she urged the kids to eat faster.

  On the way out of the cafeteria, Madison stopped by an electrical outlet and plugged in her iPhone charger. She squatted there watching the screen, waiting for it to absorb enough power to show signs of life.

  Harper crouched beside her, unable to bring herself to say anything.

  After a moment of silent staring, Madison unplugged the cord and stuffed it back in her jacket pocket. She stood without a word and stared down at her sneakers. Harper took her hand and walked with her out into the corridor.

  Cliff led the way out of the school. They went around the building to the back and again crossed the field before climbing the hill to Route 74. This section of road didn’t have any cars to search, so they made good time. Harper wondered if there hadn’t been any traffic out here at five-whatever in the morning when the nuclear strike happened or if this place had been far enough away that the EMP only knocked out the power grid and not every car.

  They marched along the highway, passing fields of trees, a baseball field, and numerous large buildings that appeared to be commercial properties. The road became a bridge over a sloping valley to the right and a lake on the left. For a couple hours, the surroundings mostly consisted of fields full of trees with an occasional branching road leading away. Harper perked up with hope at the sight of something white up ahead.

  Two city buses had been moved nose-to-nose, creating a fortification that mostly blocked off an intersection. Four men stood on something behind them that put them chest high to the roof of the buses. Two of the men aimed scoped hunting rifles in their general direction.

  Harper lowered the shotgun, letting it hang, pointed at the street from her right hand. She raised her left, waving. Jonathan set his bags on the street and waved both arms. Madison kept staring at her phone.

  Cliff raised one arm, waving it back and forth over his head. Two of the sentries climbed down out of sight. A black man in his mid-thirties and a somewhat older man with pale skin and light brown hair emerged from the gap between the buses and approached to about twenty feet away. Both carried bolt-action rifles, held sideways.

  “Can we help you?” asked the white guy.

  “Looking for Evergreen.” Cliff gestured at Harper. “Got two kids, a teen, and a young woman. Heard this was a safe place.”

  “Oh? Now, where’d you hear that?” The other man smiled.

  Sensing friendliness, Harper took a few steps closer. “Some people tried to get us to go with them here, but my dad didn’t trust going outside so soon after the blast. We stayed in our house, but a gang attacked us. Killed my parents. I took my sister, Madison, and ran like hell. I had no idea what else to do, but I remembered that man saying Evergreen was a safe place.”

  “That’s not your dad?” The white guy gestured at Cliff.

  Harper smiled. “Not by biology. But he is now.”

  Madison emitted a faint squeak.

  She glanced at her shotgun. “Is it okay if I sling this over my shoulder? I don’t wanna be shot, and I don’t think I’m gonna need to use it here.”

  The black guy nodded. “It’s fine, kid. Yeah, you heard right. Got a bunch of people collected here, tryin’ to get by. Gotta be careful who we bring in, but you seem like a bunch of normal people. You’ll need to get the okay from Mayor Ned before you can stay, but it shouldn’t be a problem. I’m Darnell. This here’s Fred.”

  Fred raised a hand in greeting.

  Harper gingerly shifted the shotgun onto her shoulder. Both men still behind the buses watched her through their scopes, but neither shot her. “Maddie, Jon, c’mere.”

  The kids walked up behind her.

  “Hi. I’m Jonathan.” He waved. “We just want a place to live.”

  Madison looked at the men for a moment, but said nothing.

  “I’m Harper, that’s Cliff and Summer.”

  Summer waved.

  Cliff walked over and shook hands with the men. Once Darnell and Fred slung their rifles, the two men behind the buses relaxed.

  They chatted for a few minutes about their trip here. Around the time Harper’s story reached their arrival at the coffee shop, Darnell waved for everyone to follow him. She kept talking as he led them further down Route 74 before crossing a strip of grassy dirt, another small road, and a parking lot, heading toward a squarish brown five-story building that appeared to be some kind of medical center.

  “Where are we going?” asked Summer.

  “We have two doctors in town. They set up shop at the Evergreen Medical center. All new arrivals, not that we’ve got that many, have’ta be checked out. Shouldn’t take long.” Darnell headed for the door of the medical building.

  “Oh, cool.” Harper brightened at the idea of doctors—and normality. Perhaps the world hadn’t completely fallen to pieces yet.

  Darnell walked with them into a waiting room with soft grey-blue chairs, white walls, and a reception counter at which sat an auburn-haired woman roughly the same age as Mom. The sight of the place momentarily made Harper doubt the war had even happened. Of course, the TV didn’t work, the ceiling remained dark, it didn’t feel any warmer than outside, and an odd chemical twang stained the air.

  “Hey, Ruby,” said Darnell. “Got some stray cats looking for a home.”

  The woman looked up. She smiled at Cliff, nodded at Summer, went wide-eyed with ‘aww’ at the sight of Harper, and practically cried when she noticed Madison and Jonathan. “Oh, my! Of course. Go on and set your packs and such down, get comfortable. This shouldn’t take too long.” She stood, turned toward the hallway behind her room, and shouted, “Doc!”

  Darnell took his rifle off his back and sat near Cliff, resting the weapon in the next chair. He didn’t seem on edge or make any move to confiscate anyone’s guns. While Cliff dropped the duffel of all their clothes and shrugged out of the backpack, the man mentioned he’d trekked up here from Littleton about two weeks ago.

  “Ouch. That’s closer to Springs. How bad is it down there?” asked Cliff.

  “L
ot of it’s flat.” Darnell sighed. “My ass got lucky. Not once in my wildest dreams did I think workin’ for the sewer authority would save my life. I was underground when the blast happened.”

  Harper dropped her backpack and denim handbag in a chair, then flopped in the next seat. She kept the shotgun close like a security blanket, resting the stock on the floor by her foot. Madison perched in the chair to her left, still staring at the iPhone like it would come to life at any moment. Jonathan looked at the waiting area with an expression like he’d been brought onto an alien ship.

  Ruby walked over. “Hi folks. Just for the record. Am I looking at a family here? You don’t seem old enough to be ‘Mom’”—she nodded to Summer—“and he’s not old enough to be your dad, so… please fill me in here.”

  “I’m just a mall security guard who found a couple kids who shouldn’t be alone.” Cliff put one arm around Jonathan. “But they seem to like me.”

  Tears fell on the iPhone screen. Madison kept staring down at it, but whispered, “It’s okay if we’re a family now.”

  Harper leaned over and gave her a squeeze, then looked up at Ruby. “Madison’s my bio sister. Cliff’s been like a Dad to us. Jon’s my brother now. Might as well make it official.”

  “Yeah.” Jonathan nodded.

  Summer cringed. “They found me on the way here and saved my ass. I’m not related to any of them.”

  Ruby jotted some stuff down in a spiral notebook. “All right. So you four are a family unit, and the young lady’s separate?”

  Harper gave Summer a welcoming look. “Up to her.”

  “Yeah, that’s fine.” She smiled at everyone. “Bit young to shack up with Cliff, and you guys already have a family thing going.”

  “Hey.” Cliff playfully scowled at her. “You callin’ me old?”

  She grinned at him, making him laugh.

  “All right.” Ruby lowered the notebook. “Thanks. Doctors should be out in a moment.”

  Not long after she returned to her seat and shouted “Doc” again, a man of Indian descent emerged from the door beside the counter, wearing jeans and a T-shirt under a doctor’s coat. He looked a little older than Dad, probably in his fifties, and greeted everyone with a warm smile.

  “Hello. I’m Doctor Khan. Welcome to Evergreen. Sorry for the delay, just some routine checks and questions. Before we start on that, is anyone injured?”

  “Cliff was shot in the arm,” said Harper.

  The doctor’s eyebrows went up.

  Cliff smirked at her in a way that said he didn’t think the injury a big enough deal to mention, but nodded. “Yeah… might be time for those stitches to come out.”

  “Why don’t you come back first then?” Dr. Khan smiled.

  “All right.” Cliff left the AR-15 with Harper and followed the man down the hall.

  She glanced back and forth between the Mossberg and the combat rifle, momentarily afraid of getting in trouble for having weapons in a doctor’s office. A little part of her brain seized upon the normality of her present surroundings to reject the events of the past nine weeks, expecting a cop to show up and arrest her. People just didn’t carry loaded rifles around all the time. She zoned out, daydreaming of the world she missed so damn much. How did she wind up here instead of hanging out with her friends after school?

  “Miss?” asked a woman.

  Harper jumped.

  A thirtyish woman with blonde hair, blue eyes, and an apologetic smile stood a few feet away. She also wore a doctor’s coat over a peach sweater and jeans. “Sorry for startling you. I’m Tegan. You can call me Dr. Hale if you want. Come on back.”

  Harper eyed the rifles. Leaving them unattended at her chair didn’t seem like a good idea with two ten-year-olds plus two adults she didn’t fully trust not to take them. Bringing them into the back with the doctor also didn’t sound like a great plan.

  “It’s all right,” said Darnell. “You can leave the hardware right there. I’m part of the Evergreen Militia, so basically the closest thing we have to cops.”

  She decided not to make a poor impression on day one, mostly since she didn’t get a bad read on him. “Okay… Sorry. Rough couple months.”

  Darnell leaned back in his seat, nodding. “I hear that.”

  Madison looked up from the iPhone with an expression like a cat about to be abandoned at a shelter. Harper checked the safeties on both weapons, then remembered something Dad told her when he gave her the Mossberg three days after the nuclear strike: never let this out of your sight. Darnell raised an eyebrow when she picked the shotgun up and slung it over her shoulder.

  “Sorry. No offense. Just promised my Dad I’d never leave it out of my sight.”

  He regarded her with an impressed look. “All right. No foul. Do what you gotta do.”

  Harper took two steps after the doctor before Madison jumped to her feet and ran after.

  “It’s okay, sweetie. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” Tegan smiled at her.

  “No.” Madison grabbed Harper’s hand, squeezing it almost painfully tight.

  Tegan crouched to eye level with Madison. “I need to ask her some questions that need to be private. She’ll be right back.”

  “Please… it’s…” Harper bit her lip, not wanting to talk about their dead parents in front of her just yet. “Been rough on her.”

  Tegan stood. “Well, if it’s okay with you. Not like there’s an AMA left to yank my license for bending the rules.”

  Harper followed her down a hall to a small exam room. “How, umm, invasive is this going to be?”

  “Not very. I can check as much as you like if you have specific concerns.” Tegan shut the door, then moved to the window to widen the curtains. “Normally, I’d have the curtains drawn, but the window’s the only source of light we have at the moment. Do either of you have any allergies to medications?”

  “No.” Harper parked Madison in a chair below an illustration of kidneys, then hopped up on the exam table in the middle of the room, letting her feet dangle. She rested the shotgun beside her on the paper-covered cushion.

  Tegan gave them each a plain white pill and a cup of water. “Potassium Iodide as a precautionary measure in case you’ve taken in any radiation from fallout. It’ll help protect your thyroid.”

  Harper stared at the pill. The place seemed enough like a legit medical facility, and this woman enough like a legit doctor, that she pushed aside worry. As soon as she swallowed the pill, Madison took hers.

  “Okay…” Tegan glanced at Madison. “Is there anything you need to tell me about the man you arrived with?”

  She picked up on the vibe right away. “No… nothing like that. He’s totally cool, like a dad.”

  Tegan smiled. “That’s good. What about before you found him? Did you suffer any form of assault?”

  “No. We stayed at home with our parents, hiding out in the basement for like two months. This gang found us and we had to run.” Harper locked stares with the doctor and mouthed, “They killed our parents” without giving it voice.

  Tegan cringed a little, then offered a sympathetic look. “All right. I’m a generalist, but Doctor Khan and I are all the town’s got. If you ever need someone to check the plumbing, come see me.”

  “Okay.” Harper stared down at her dangling feet. She’d always disliked going to the gynecologist, but wondering if the woman might’ve died still made her sad. “Think I’m good for now as far as that goes.”

  Over the next few minutes, the doctor performed a routine physical exam, jotting down notes the whole time. Harper gasped at the cold stethoscope sliding up her back under her shirt. It all seemed so damn normal—except for the shotgun next to her. The glaring reminder that everything was not all right with the world pushed her to the brink of tears, but she held them back. Fortunately, Tegan didn’t ask her to say anything for a little while as emotion would’ve kept her voice from being cooperative.

  “Okay, now for the embarrassing part. We need to check all
new arrivals for injuries, parasites, and evidence of certain diseases. Would you mind taking your clothes off? You don’t need to remove your underpants, but I’ll need to take a cursory look under the hood so to speak. Any rashes, itching, or anything like that?”

  “No.”

  “May I ask if you’ve been…” Tegan leaned close and whispered. “Sexually active?” She leaned back, again speaking at a normal volume. “You can tell me you don’t want to answer as well.”

  Well. She is a doctor. “I’ve never… Before the blast, I was kinda shy.”

  Harper slid off the table and stripped down to her bra and panties, shivering in the room no warmer than outside. The doctor looked her over, touching her shoulder to maneuver her into the light from the window. She tugged the waistband of Harper’s underpants open for a quick visual examination. Harper glanced off to the side, blushing until the doctor let the elastic snap back into place a moment later. The doctor turned her to face away, pulled her long curly hair off her back, ran a comb through it in a few places, then spun her around to face her again.

  “All set. I don’t see any ticks, insect bites, signs of parasites, or any lesions worth worrying about. Go on and get dressed. Does anything hurt or bother you?”

  Harper hurried into her clothes. “Nope. Well, a lot bothers me, but not about my health.”

  “Yeah. I’m right there with you.” She looked at the chair in the corner. “Madison, right?”

  The girl looked up from the dead iPhone.

  “C’mon over. You’re up.” Tegan smiled at Harper. “Since you’re next of kin and she’s a minor, I would’ve asked you to be in the room anyway during her exam.”

  Harper nodded. “C’mon, Maddie. It’s okay.”

  She slipped out of her winter coat and walked over to the exam table. The doctor checked her throat, ears, pulse, flashed a penlight in her eyes, felt at her neck, and listened to her heartbeat and breathing.

  “You’re nice and healthy, Maddie.” Tegan smiled. “Almost done. Just need to check you for infected cuts or scratches, or freeloaders.”