Desolation (Book 1): Aftermath

by Butler, Simon L.

  “I’ll show you.” She smiled, leading me around behind a small workshop. As we approached, I could see several cages lined up along the back of the workshop, and the whines and pawing of several large dogs.

  I instinctively backed away, the only dogs I had seen in my life were not exactly friendly towards people though I remember reading that they were once a common companion for some people. Natalie moved from cage to cage sliding one bowl into each one for the dogs. They did not show even the slightest hint of aggression towards her, their tails wagging as they each ate their food hungrily. “Come over here,” Natalie said, but it was dark.

  All I could manage at first was to shake my head. It was perhaps an irrational fear, but I did not want to be in such proximity to them. “The only dogs I have ever met before have been wild pack hunters, not pets.”

  Natalie came out of the caged area sensing my anxiety. “That’s okay, maybe next time I’ll introduce you to Smoke. He’s my baby boy!”

  I looked at her curiously, not fully comprehending the meaning of her words. “One of the dogs is your companion?” I asked.

  “Oh yes!” She laughed.

  I listened as she explained all about dogs, I think above all else she appreciated the company. But I was soon itching to get back to Ashe and make sure she was okay. So, I bid Natalie good night and headed back to the farmhouse, finding Millie and my brother Matt sitting next to each other on the front porch. I waved, not stopping to chat as I went back in and sat by Ashe’s bed, my anxiety relaxing only once I had seen her for myself. I ran fingertips through her red hair, placing a few loose strands behind her ear. “Good night,” I whispered kissing her on the head. I then sat in the chair and leant back, falling asleep moments later with my hand still on hers.

  Chapter 13 – (Dangerous hope)

  When my eyes opened, Millie and Ashe were mid-conversation about the internal politics of this place; apparently, people had tried to burst in to question her the second she woke up and had been fended off by Millie. I tried not to disrupt their conversation as I stood up and stretched. My eyes met Ashe’s, who grabbed my hand and pulled me down into her arms. “Good morning, Jack!”

  “Good morning! You look a bit better, how are you feeling?” I asked.

  “I’m okay, still sore, but there is no infection, which is apparently a very good thing according to the doctor.”

  Millie coughed to interrupt us. “Sorry Jack, but you might want to go find Natalie and organise a meeting with the council. There might be a riot if you push it back any longer.”

  I shrugged. “Pushy bunch, aren’t they, but I suppose I understand it.”

  Millie sighed. “You have no idea. You know they were insisting on details on what happened yesterday… I mean I love Luke, he’s my uncle, but I swear he has no idea when it comes to social cues sometimes! Aunt Natalie used to say he’s on the spectrum, whatever that means.”

  Natalie spoke as she walked in. “That’s just Luke, he was like that even before the outbreak.” She explained, “He’s as blunt as a hammer and clueless as a cow sometimes, but he means well.”

  I walked over to my backpack, which was hanging from a hook by the front door of the house, taking out some preserved vegetables and eating a few of them to keep me going.

  “You know you can have some decent tasting food on us, Jack,” Natalie said.

  I held a hand up to stop her, explaining. “I have no doubt that if it were just your decision to make, then it would not be a problem.”

  Natalie nodded, understanding my perspective. “Just come and meet them and see what you think. I know a few of them can be a bit prickly, but I’m sure we can work something out. At worst, they will ask you to help them with their farms or with gathering things they need.”

  I shrugged. “I’m neither against hard work nor helping people out. But I do not want to be relying on others to survive.” I sighed, shaking my head and fully expecting it to go completely off the rails. “Okay, let’s do this!”

  Ashe looked up and asked, “Do they want me there too?”

  “No, dear, Jack can speak for both of you if you are comfortable with that,” Natalie explained.

  I turned to Ashe, who gave only a small nod. “I’ll be back soon,” I said calmly.

  “Don’t worry, Jack. I’ll make sure she’s okay,” Millie said warmly.

  The meeting with the village council went almost as I expected, if Ashe and I wanted to stay inside the town walls, we would need to work and earn our keep. I did not shy away from the idea of work, but I much preferred the idea of doing it for myself with a small plot of land and trade various items as I need. Instead we would become indentured to a bunch of other people as they need in hopes they would provide us with a bed to sleep and food to eat. The assumption was that Ashe and I essentially had no useful skills in a civilised society, so we were identified as labourers who could just fill in. Natalie objected to the notion of course, but she was outvoted by people that seemed to be a little too comfortable with their lot in life.

  These people incredibly frustrating to deal with because they truly were clueless about the reality of life outside the walls of their community, I really missed Hank and Charlotte at that moment. After being held for ‘questioning’ for several hours, I was eventually released at Natalie’s insistence and under her observation and care. Natalie ensured we would be able to stay with her while we settled, and we could help out as needed from there.

  I was furious when I returned to Ashe at the farmhouse, finding her drinking coffee with Millie. “You’re kidding?” Millie said when I told her we had been designated as lacking in useful skills.

  “Sadly not. You were right, these people are in desperate need of a wake-up call,” I said as I took a bottle of water from my backpack.

  “Fuck!” Millie growled. “So, what’s your plan?”

  I looked over at Ashe. “We have a choice to make,” I explained. “We either become indentured servants inside the walls and essentially help with the upkeep of the farms and shops, or we live outside the walls and find somewhere nearby and make it on our own.”

  “So, they want us as essentially slave labour?” Ashe asked, the fire and anger burning in her growl. Her memories of a life she had not long ago escaped flashed across her face.

  I sighed. “We would effectively work for a small share of the food and water, but we will have no right to either grow or gather it ourselves.”

  “You mean we do someone else’s back-breaking labour and hope they are kind enough to pay us decently or what? What if we just want to gather it on our own and trade?”

  “We would most likely not be welcome within the town,” I explained.

  “Oh, fuck that! I am going to give Luke fucking hell for this,” Millie growled before storming outside.

  “Jack? What are we going to do?” Ashe said, her expression suddenly fearful.

  “Natalie has welcomed us into her house for the time being, and I’m sure she would let us use her land. A lot of it is currently not being farmed anyway. If that doesn’t work out, we find a place nearby and do it on our own, we make a life for ourselves somewhere close by. They have resources, and we can trade with them as long as we are not within their walls,” I explained. “We find a farmhouse just like the one near Hank and Charlotte, and we stop, and settle, and make a home for ourselves. Hell, if you want, we can always try heading back to the farmhouse in SA, it’s probably still intact.”

  Ashe nodded. “Okay, so they are at least giving us time to heal up?”

  “I think they will give us a couple of days, and in Natalie’s custody we should be okay. But honestly, it sounds like she has lost a lot of influence over the group with Michael and John gone,” I explained.

  “What would we do if we went back to the old farmhouse?” she asked.

  “I don’t know, the slaver said something about coming across the McRae’s, so I have no idea what shape Hank or the family will be in after that. But as I said, the f
armhouse is in all likelihood still there.”

  “Okay! Well, let’s get ourselves healed up and properly supplied.” Her suggestion reflected my own though I had to admit the idea of going back to Adelaide to stay seemed less appealing now. Still, I did want to know if the McRae’s were okay.

  We discussed our options for another hour or so before Natalie joined us, offering an apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry about all this, Jack! You guys deserve better.” She checked over the dressing of Ashe’s wounds than did the same for mine. “Anyway,” she changed the subject, “there is a funeral you are invited to this afternoon, and I want to have a family dinner tonight so you can get to meet the rest of your family and get settled in the spare room of my cabin.”

  “How’s Millie?” Ashe asked, explaining, “She stormed out a while ago!”

  “She was giving Luke an earful last I saw.” She shook her head, “I doubt Luke will listen, he was never a big fan of John and Michael abdicating leadership to Amy, Zoe and myself.” She finished checking our wounds and smiled warmly. “All looks good, no sign of infection, which is wonderful,” she explained.

  “Thanks,” I said in a distant tone, my mind elsewhere.

  Natalie smiled warmly and put her hand on my shoulder. “Try not to stress too much about it. Trust me, I have a few ideas to get around Luke’s rules!”

  “Like what?” Ashe asked curiously.

  She gave a sideways glance in response, saying simply, “I have several non-existent garden beds in need of tending and a spare room that has been empty since I moved in. I might just need your help indefinitely to maintain the place!” She winked at me then leant in to wrap her arms around my shoulders, whispering, “You are family Jack, I will always have your back.”

  That afternoon they buried Michael on a hill just outside the compound, which seemed to be the community cemetery. He was buried just a few meters from a gravestone marked ‘John Andrew McAlister’ and another beside it, ‘Matthew J. Barker’. There was a short speech delivered by a few people that knew him well, and from what I could tell, he was very highly regarded by most of the Old-world people in the community and one of John and Natalie’s strongest allies and closest friends through the apocalypse.

  I didn’t want to intrude on their moment, so I sat by my dad’s grave and just listened. The crowd didn’t stay long after the speeches ended, leaving Millie standing by the man’s grave with an angry scowl on her face. She seemed like someone who did not tolerate bullshit, and that made her someone to be respected in my mind, she was obviously unimpressed with at least some of the speeches. When she walked past me, she hissed in a low growl, “Full of platitudes and praise only after he dies for this place!” She stormed back towards the compound, not adding to her comment.

  Natalie approached John’s grave before quietly kneeling and kissing John’s headstone. She smiled warmly at me and said, “I’ll let the guards know you’re still out here, if they cause you any grief, let me know.”

  She turned to walk away. “Thank you,” I said, my mind a mess of unfamiliar emotions.

  She stopped looking down at me without saying anything.

  “For doing all of this,” I added, “and for helping Ashe. What you guys have built here; I have never seen anything like it.”

  She sat down next to the grave as we both stared at the headstone. She reached over and brushed a loose lock of my dark and dirty shoulder-length hair back. “You have your mother’s eyes.” She laughed, smiling warmly. “And your fathers’ stoic demeanour. There is absolutely no doubting who your parents were.”

  “What kind of man was he? Really? Behind all the myths and legends that seem to follow his name in this place?”

  She was silent for a moment, before speaking with almost a sense of reverence. “He was strong, kind, compassionate, and he loved his family, you and your mother included.”

  “So, what does that make us?”

  She just shrugged. “To me, you are family Jack. The three of us were together for a long time, and I still think of you as my son.” I sat silently soaking in her words, trying desperately to clear my mind as a cool breeze brushed over the hillside. “You know, Ashe told me what you did for her. John would have been so proud. He and Michael were true to their word that the women of the group would have a fair say, your dad, above all else, valued that about this place. Neither of them wanted slaves or submissive wives, they wanted partners and companions. Just like you, it seems!”

  “I had been out to New Alice many times over the years, and never once did I help anyone besides myself. I hurt a lot of people when they got in my way, and if I am honest, I have probably killed more people than zombies in my life with little or no remorse. But I did not hurt anyone who did not deserve it if I could help it. I don’t know why Ashe was different. She wasn’t a slave in any way except for the chains they put on her. She makes me want to…” I hesitated as I poured my heart out, “… to be better. She made me laugh in a way that I haven’t ever before, and she made me care and feel in a way that I have not known for a very long time. On top of all of that, I still find people hard to read, Ashe included.”

  “How old were you when Amy died?”

  “Seven, maybe eight? I’m not completely sure.”

  Her jaw dropped, as if I had said something profound. “I thought when you said you both got away that she was with you for a few more years at least, Jack. But that would mean maybe a year at most. How long were you alone for?”

  I shrugged. “The day’s just kind of blended together. I remember a residential area on the outskirts of Sydney, and I remember a small ruined house that I had set up in. Mum taught me basically how to read, and so whenever I had time, I would find somewhere quiet and just read to myself using a dictionary when I didn’t understand words. Then as the years passed, I started to move further out into the mountains and the forests mostly out of convenience. A lot of the food and water I needed was much easier to come by there, so I found a cabin and settled in for a few more years. Eventually, I got bored, so I just started roaming. I found a bag and kept enough food and water for a few days and just moved from place to place, reading books as I found them, gathering supplies, and teaching myself new skills.”

  Natalie just shook her head, then leant in and wrapped her arms around me. “I am so sorry we were not there for you, Jack.”

  “It’s not your fault,” I said, sitting quietly for a few moments with Natalie before standing up.

  She rose with me and stared intensely as if trying to see something beyond my eyes. “What happened to your mum is not your fault either, Jack, so don’t blame yourself for any of it.”

  A swelling of emotions and Natalie moving forward and wrapping me in her warm embrace led to me instinctively changing the subject. “If we do leave, worst case we will find somewhere nearby to settle for a while at least so it won’t be too far to travel.”

  She wiped away her tears then thought for a moment. “I have an idea!”

  We returned to the compound, and Natalie led me through the farmhouse/infirmary and upstairs where people were supposedly forbidden and into a room that seemed to be filled with old-world items. She sat down on the double bed then opened the dresser drawer next to the bed pulling out an old-looking map. She laid it out on the bed and pointed to nearly a dozen sites that were within a day or two of walking. “These were all fortified and stocked up to be safe houses. Only John, Amy and I knew them all, and I have deliberately kept this map from Luke and the council because I know they would simply go and claim the supplies we left in them.”

  “Defeating the purpose of a safe house, to begin with,” I said, finishing her thought.

  “Exactly!” She pointed to one of the circles on the map which was about twenty kilometres north on the edge of an old state forest. “John, Amy, Zoe, Michael and I stayed there for about six months at one point. If it hasn’t been found by anyone else and looted, then it should be well-stocked with preserved food and water. It has a
heavy-duty wire fence that John thought would last for years as long as none of the trees surrounding the place fell on it.”

  Knowing the location and how the world was changing, the place had likely been overgrown with trees by now, but we could potentially clear it and repair it. It could work for us as a backup plan along with any one of the other sites. But I didn’t doubt that after probably twenty years or more it would be in bad shape, and I would be surprised if it hadn’t been looted at some point.

  Natalie continued, her tone changing from helpful to concerned. “Now, I heard a rumour that Millie might want to go with you guys as well if you are kicked out, is it true?”

  I shrugged. “She hasn’t said anything to me, but she has been speaking a lot with Ashe. It’s possible, though I am sure Ashe would try to talk her out of leaving if she could. Not that I object to her coming along necessarily, but the road is a very dangerous place,” I explained.

  She nodded. “Millie is a good girl, a bit rough around the edges, but she has a kind and gentle heart under it all. She is a hard worker and one of the few around here that has actually killed a zombie in recent years,” She sighed. “Certain cowards in this group that hid behind Amy, John and Michael all these years seem to think that they no longer need protection. But this place needs her a lot more than its supposed leaders seem to think, and it needs you and Ashe for similar reasons. But Luke and the other council members don’t seem to want to listen to reason, even Zoe is reluctant to let Millie go out. She still treats her like a little girl most of the time, and if it weren’t for Michael, she might have got her way.”

  “How old is she?” I asked curiously.

  “Seventeen!”

  I shook my head. “If she comes, I won’t stop her - I also won’t encourage it. But it is her decision to make, and if this place suffers because it is managed by cowards, then they will simply be catching up with the rest of the world.”