Evergreen

by Cox, Matthew S.

  The sound of children came from inside, a din that reminded her of the cafeteria in the morning, only not quite as loud.

  “Ugh, we have to go to school?” asked Madison.

  “I thought you liked school.”

  “There’s a subtle difference between ‘not hating’ something and liking it. Seriously, what kind of kid likes having to go to school?”

  Harper shrugged, flashing a sarcastic smile. “The ones who wind up not serving French fries.”

  Jonathan laughed.

  “That doesn’t matter anymore.” Madison pouted. “We’re like primitive now.”

  “Even back in like the Wild West, kids still had to go to school. You have to learn basic stuff.” Harper ushered them around the building to the front door. “Sounds like there’s kids here your age, too. You can make some friends.”

  “I don’t want new friends. I have friends already… just don’t know where they are.”

  Harper paused at the front door and hung the shotgun over her shoulder again. It still felt too weird carrying a weapon into a school at all, much less holding it like she meant to use it. She squeezed Madison’s hand.

  Her sister huffed and hung her head, but offered no further protest as they went inside. The dramatic change from ‘holy crap it’s cold’ to relative warmth shocked her. Functioning heat reminded her that Walter said something about solar panels and gave her a little hope that someday, she might not need to rely on a fireplace not to freeze at home.

  She followed the din of students to a large classroom packed wall to wall with at least fifty kids. The youngest looked about six years old, the oldest maybe fifteen. They sat with their desks clustered by age, each group working on different subjects.

  A late-twenties black woman in a lavender T-shirt and jeans paused in her attempt to explain multiplication to the nine-to-eleven year old group, and looked over at her. The expression on her face would’ve been perfect for a normal teacher in a normal not-just-nuked world having a student bring a shotgun to class. For an instant, a chill ran down Harper’s back, settling into a ball of nausea at the pit of her stomach. The brief jolt of dread that she’d go to jail and her entire life had just been ruined faded after a breath or two.

  “Can I help you?” asked the woman, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

  “Hi. I’m Harper Cody. My family and I just arrived in town a couple days ago. This is my first day on the militia. These are my siblings, Madison and Jonathan.”

  “I think he’s adopted,” yelled a girl of about twelve.

  A quiet wave of laughter swept over the kids. Neither the comment nor the laughter struck her as mocking, more like most of them here had recently been adopted and they welcomed another kid to the club. One girl didn’t laugh, nor did she even seem mildly amused. She appeared a little younger than Madison, likely eight or nine, with jet-black hair, sapphire blue eyes, and a black dress that made her pale skin seem as white as paper. That kid stared at Harper with such intensity she expected the child to float up out of her seat and say something like ‘you’re gonna die in that house’—and then rotate her head all the way around.

  Whoa. Okay, maybe Maddie’s not that broken. Poor kid.

  The woman approached, offering a handshake. “Oh, hello. I’m Violet Olsen. The only teacher who didn’t run for the hills.”

  “Aren’t we technically in the hills?” Harper smiled.

  “Hah. Yeah, true. So… Madison and Jonathan.” She smiled at the kids. “School here’s going to be a little different from what you’re used to.”

  “Well, yeah,” deadpanned Madison. “There’s only one teacher and you’ve got all the kids in the same room.”

  Violet nodded. “You’re right. It’s a bit overwhelming at times. I’m hoping they send someone over here soon to help out. It would be nice to at least split this menagerie in half so we have some more room. Don’t really need a legit degree in education to handle the basic stuff for the little ones.”

  “Yeah.” Harper looked at all the kids watching her. The oldest boy stared at her with a dumb grin while the younger kids mostly gave off curiosity. Creepy Girl kept giving her a look between ‘I want to drink your soul’ and ‘are you going to shoot us all?’

  Having so many sets of eyes focused on her pricked at her shyness. Her alter ego, Introvert Prime, shorted out and collapsed into a twitching heap of cartoon robotics. Though, compared to having guys wearing blue sashes trying to kidnap her—and killing like three of them—being the center of attention in a room full of children didn’t bother her anywhere near as much as it should have. Working here in the school would definitely be safer than playing militia girl. Public speaking terrified her, but not as much as being shot at or abducted.

  Harper imagined Introvert Prime ceasing her convulsions and smiling the cheesy smile of someone caught playing the drama queen.

  Okay, this isn’t so bad. Should I try to do this instead?

  “Let’s see…” Violet looked around for a few seconds before grabbing two desks from the side of the room and adding them to the cluster of nine- to eleven-year-olds. “Madison and Jonathan, you can sit here. Specific desks aren’t assigned, but this is your cluster.”

  Jonathan ran over to a desk. Madison stayed put until Harper walked with her.

  “As you can imagine, we’re a little short on textbooks and stuff. So”—Violet flashed a big smile at Madison—“there isn’t any homework. Once you leave for the day, you’re done.”

  “Whoa.” Jonathan blinked. “That’s awesome.”

  Even Madison appeared pleased.

  “Okay, everyone. Please go back to what you were reviewing. If you have any questions, hang on to them for a minute.”

  Most of the kids chorused, “Yes, Miss Olsen.”

  Violet pulled Harper off to the side by the teacher’s desk. “Not much at your age range I’m afraid. Not enough kids in town at the high school grades to make an issue of it. And they’re all being given jobs.”

  “Yeah I know. I’ve got one, too. Militia.”

  “Wow. Didn’t think they took them that young. You’re kind of a skinny thing.”

  Harper chuckled. “Yeah, well… Mayor Ned saw Dad’s Mossberg and asked me to join.”

  “I’m not exactly thrilled with having that thing in a classroom.”

  “Heh, yeah. I know what you mean. It feels weird bringing it in here. I keep waiting for the SRO to fly out of nowhere and tackle me.” She lowered her voice to an almost whisper. “Really, I don’t even like it. I’m only keeping it because it belonged to my dad and… Every time I see this damn gun, it reminds me of his death.”

  Violet’s expression softened. “Oh, no… do you want to talk about it?”

  “I couldn’t talk about it at all for a while. Now it seems like I’m just telling everyone.” She raked her hair off her face, offering a wan smile. After a deep breath, she told the story of the gang attacking her home, killing her parents, and forcing her to run away with her sister. “I have to protect Maddie. I don’t trust anyone else to do that.”

  “Harper…” Violet took her hand. “You’re a scared seventeen-year-old-kid. No one would’ve expected you to be able to kill a guy like that. Your father wouldn’t be upset with you for hesitating.”

  “I guess.” She sighed. “So, you’re an actual teacher?”

  “Yep. Wasted all sorts of money on that piece of paper that used to mean something. I suppose I can’t really complain too much. Before the war, I worked at a private school in Broomfield. At least the pay here’s better.”

  Harper tilted her head. “Pay? There’s no money anymore. The town just gives us a ration of food, firewood, and a house.”

  “Like I said, the pay here’s better.” Violet wagged her eyebrows.

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah, ouch is right. So, militia, huh?”

  “Apparently.” Harper shrugged.

  She explained how she needed to roam the town and ‘get to know’ people and s
treets. Violet moved among the tables while they talked, helping the kids of various grade levels with whatever project she’d set them to task on. The youngest kids took the most attention as they needed more active teaching, less able to be given stuff to read or problems to work on. Sometimes, Violet would address the entire group at once, most recently to discuss the war that happened.

  A little blond boy of about seven, Jax Davis, asked Harper for help with a terrifyingly complicated math problem (11 – 3). As soon as she helped him work it out, a timid brown-haired girl the same age named Robin Wheatley asked her a question. Before she knew it, she sat with the youngest group and pretended to be a teacher. She wound up putting the Mossberg on a high shelf a short distance away, since having it on her while interacting with kids exceeded her threshold for feeling like she did something extremely wrong/dangerous.

  Madison kept glancing over at her, seeming not at all to mind school as long as she remained in the same room. Violet directed her attention mostly at the older two groups for the next hour or so, leaving the little ones in Harper’s care.

  Schoolwork bounced back and forth with chatting, the kids asking her questions or offering bits of their stories. A frighteningly thin girl of around eight with platinum blonde hair, Lorelei Frost, told her she’d been orphaned and spent days wandering alone before a wandering man found her. The child’s soulful blue eyes nearly made Harper scoop her up and take her home like a stray kitten.

  “I was so hungry I didn’t wanna wake outta bed, but he made me.” Lorelei tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled. “I think I almost died. I’m glad he didn’t let me stay in bed.”

  Two other kids also had been wandering alone for days, but all three had found new parents here. She suspected a few of the quiet ones had seen horrible things before arriving in Evergreen. Roughly half of them had lost at least one parent. One boy told her his family tried to leave home in their car, but a big piece of junk fell on it, crushing his mother. All had friends they hadn’t seen since the blast. An eight year old named Emmy said she expected the ‘sky fire’ to come back at any minute.

  I don’t think Walter wanted me to spend all day in the school… but, hey. I’m getting to know people, even if they are kids.

  A boy in Madison’s age group named Christopher waved her over with a question while Violet appeared busy with the oldest students. He had a question about Civil War history, which Madison didn’t remember—though she found the answer in one of the three books the group shared.

  “Been a while since I was in fourth grade.” She winked.

  “Yeah. You’re like old.” He grinned.

  Creepy Girl, sitting two desks to his right, kept staring at Harper in the same eerie ‘you’re about to die’ way she’d been doing the whole time.

  “Hi,” said Harper. “What’s your name?”

  The girl continued staring.

  “That’s Mila Cline,” said Christopher. “She doesn’t talk much.”

  She nodded. “Hi Mila. I’m Harper. It’s okay if you don’t want to talk.”

  “The shadow man is coming for me,” said Mila in a half-whisper. “But I think he’s going to get you first.”

  Whoa. Harper forced a smile. “Shadow man? Who’s that? Did someone try to hurt you? My job is to protect people now. If you tell me who it is, I’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt you.”

  Mila looked down at her handmade worksheet and filled in a few answer blanks.

  Given the girl’s obvious mental situation, Harper didn’t feel too insulted at being ignored.

  “He tried to get me, but I’m good at hiding.” Mila looked up at her. “You’re too big to hide.”

  Harper blinked, unable to come up with anything to say.

  “Okay, everyone.” Violet drew all attention with a sharp clap of her hands. “It’s time. See you all tomorrow.”

  The predictable scramble of cheering kids ran for the door. Twelve remained, including almost all the six-to-eight year olds.

  Harper grabbed the shotgun and slung it over her shoulder in preparation to head out and do what she should’ve been doing, wander the streets, but gave the lingering children a confused eyebrow lift.

  “School doubles as a daycare. Parents ought’a be here in another hour or two once they finish whatever they’re doing for the day. Or, some want them to stay here a little longer due to the working heat.”

  “Yeah, that’s nice.” Harper let out an oof when Madison hugged her at ramming speed. “I should get going. Nice meeting you.”

  “Thank you so much for the help. It’s overwhelming at times trying to keep up with fifty-two of them. Err. Fifty four.” Violet smiled at Madison and Jonathan.

  “It was… kinda cool.” Harper waved and headed out.

  Mila Cline stood a few feet outside the main entrance at the end of a faded hopscotch grid, arms at her sides, staring off into space.

  Harper slowed, glancing over at her. “Mila? Are you all right?”

  The little black-haired girl blinked as if snapping out of a trance. She peered up at Harper with an expression of pitying sorrow. “The shadow man’s coming. He’ll be here soon.”

  Before Harper could get a word out, the girl dashed off down the little approach road in front of the school toward the street.

  Damn. That kid’s got issues.

  Madison took out her iPhone and sighed at it in disappointment before stuffing it back in her pocket.

  Speaking of issues. Walter had said she could go home once school let out, but she’d spent the whole day there, which felt like she did something wrong.

  “C’mon guys. I gotta do this patrol thing. Do you wanna go with me or go home?”

  Madison squeezed her hand.

  “Whatever.” Jonathan flapped his arms.

  “Okay. Let’s stay together then.”

  Harper walked down the school’s driveway to the street, hooked a right, and made her way into the residential neighborhood.

  Ugh. It’s going to take me forever to remember where everything is.

  She couldn’t help but look back over her shoulder every so often. Whether or not Mila had seen some creepy person she called the shadow man who possibly tried to grab her, Harper didn’t believe in that paranormal stuff. Even if some physical creep existed, the girl saying he would be going after Harper soon had to be pure fantasy.

  There’s no such thing as psychics. She’s just a disturbed little kid who maybe loves being creepy and weird.

  Despite how silly she considered it, she found herself unable to shake the worry that this ‘shadow man’ might actually exist—and might be watching her.

  21

  Frontier Living

  Once the sky felt darker, Harper ceased wandering and made her way home.

  The part of her that remained a bit of a child dragged her to the militia HQ so she could check with Walter to make sure it was okay to ‘quit’ for the day. He talked briefly about how her day went. She admitted to spending much of it at the school, which he surprisingly didn’t mind. He did reiterate that she should patrol while the kids sat in school, and go home with them when it let out.

  Upon returning to their new house, the kids got into a brief argument over who got to use the bathroom first. Jonathan gave up without much of a fight and announced his intention to ‘just go water a tree’ because ‘boys can do that.’

  Harper stood there for a moment debating if she needed to keep the shotgun in arms’ reach at all times, or if she could put it in her room. She decided that home felt safe enough, so she stashed it in her bedroom before flopping on the sofa and staring at the dead TV.

  “Wow.” Jonathan ran inside and raced to the fireplace. “It’s cold out.”

  “You just noticed?”

  He emitted a non-word and proceeded to get a fire going.

  Madison returned with the Uno deck in one hand, iPhone in the other.

  By the time Cliff returned, the living room had at least warmed up to the point no one needed coats
on. He brought a treat: a fresh loaf of handmade bread from a wood-burning oven. Harper warmed up soup to go along with it, a mix of chicken, minestrone, and vegetable from cans. Of course, she gave the vegetable soup to Madison.

  “Tomorrow, the kids will need to check in at the school,” said Cliff between bites of bread.

  “Already did.” Harper smiled and explained how her day had gone.

  “Ahh. Nice. Was wondering what you did with them while on patrol.”

  “Since I’m just walking around to learn the layout of the place, I figured it was okay for them to come along today. I know they won’t be able to keep doing that.”

  Madison stared over her spoon at her.

  “I was talkin’ to Jim this afternoon. He’s the guy managing the farm project.” Cliff dipped a hunk of bread in his soup. “Once spring hits, they’re gonna start bringing the kids over to the farm for a two-hour session after school twice a week.”

  Harper blinked. “What for? Are they going to make children work?”

  Cliff stifled laughter while chewing. “Nah.” He coughed. “Basic farm education, like what they used to do back in the forties or so. They’ll be learning about planting, taking care of animals, that sorta thing.”

  “I don’t wanna,” said Madison. “Farming is cruel to animals.”

  “Hon, not to sound too harsh here, but you know grocery stores stopped working.” Cliff set his bread down and reached across the table to take her hand. “Those big factory farms that used to exist were cruel to animals. I agree with you completely. The farm they’re building here is not like that. Think 1930s. Mostly hand tools. No cages for the chickens. You don’t want to starve, do you?”

  “No.” Madison looked down. “Harper said I can just eat vegetables if there’s enough.”

  “Yeah, that’s fine. And learning farming is also learning how to grow vegetables. Besides.” He picked up the bread again. “You’re not being told you have to spend the rest of your life working on the farm, just learning some basics.”

  Madison smirked. “What else would I do when I grow up? Go to law school?”