by C A Bird
“This is a real nice Jeep you guys have. We have two cars and a pickup and they’re all pure shit. The only ones we could get running are at least 40 years old and we try not to use ‘em unless it’s an emergency. How did you guys get this running?”
“I stored it in a grounded metal garage. It acted like a Faraday cage and kept the EMP energy from affecting the Jeep.” The wind whipped through their hair and John had a big grin on his face, splitting it from ear to ear.
He had to yell to be heard above the wind. “Get off on Clayton Road, go left to 2nd Street and make a right. You remember the Sheriff’s Office, right? It’s over on 3rd Street.”
“Yeah, we called it the mausoleum.”
John laughed. “That pretty well describes it.” In a few minutes, after following John’s directions, they pulled up in front of a five-story, concrete building. The yard was overgrown with tall grass and bushes and several cars in front of the building sat on flat tires, two with the doors thrown open. One of the windows on the first floor had been broken and was covered by a sheet of plywood.
They passed through the front door and entered a lobby with a service counter, and a door on either side. It looked like someone had taken a sledgehammer to the key-card security modules beside each door. The door on the left stood open and they entered a room filled with old, utilitarian desks.
A man and a woman sat at two of the desks. Appearing about 45 years old, the man had black hair and a black mustache drooping down on both sides. The woman was plump with round, pink cheeks and curly brown hair. They both had cups of coffee on their desks.
Surprised, the man stood up and grabbed a rifle from a rack behind his desk.
“Whoa, hold up there William,” John said. “This is Terry Holcomb, his wife Izzy and their son Cody. Terry owned the big construction company out on the east side of town. They were doing the Highway 24 bypass, remember?”
“Oh yeah, I remember. Hi.” He nodded at Izzy and Cody.
John motioned them to some chairs in a waiting area where they all took seats, Terry propping his feet up on the railing separating the area from the desks.
“This is Guillermo Fernandez and Rosa Collins.
“You can call me William,” the man said.
“Coffee?” Rosa held up the pot.
“Yes, thanks. In Willsburg, they have to grow it in the greenhouse, and it’s always in short supply.”
“So,” John said, “we all take turns hanging out at the Sheriff’s station. Rosa makes a schedule for everyone and this is where anybody can go if they need to contact the others. It’s kind of a central meeting place. Where have you guys been?” John asked.
“We had to leave town for a while. We were here when the bombs fell and we sheltered in our basement until it was safe to come up. Prior to the war, people called us ‘preppers.’ We had a year’s worth of food and other supplies to get us through the worst part of the radiation. The problem was, that once people were able to start moving around they wanted what we had.”
“We ran into the same problem,” Rosa told them. “There are shelters around town stocked with supplies, mostly for unlikely events like blizzards or other disasters. A lot of people were saved by staying in those shelters for several months after the war. But there were others that tried to stay in their homes or came to the shelters too late and we couldn’t let them in. Those few months through the winter were hell. We ran out of supplies and people died, but over 500 made it through to spring. When we started trying to come out of the shelters we were attacked and had to fight back against our own neighbors. To this day, we have no idea how they survived the aftermath of the war.”
“We had to turn away some of our best friends,” Izzy said, remembering how they had turned away Max and Lily. “We gave them food and supplies but they had already been exposed for too long and they were dying. We couldn’t do any more for them.” Tears sprung to her eyes and Rosa went into a glassed in office, formerly the Sheriff’s Office, and brought her some tissue and a bottle of water.
“I’m very sorry, Izzy. I think we all have similar tales to tell. It was a very difficult time but things are getting better. Our supplies are limited, and we’re having trouble growing food, but some ranchers have a small herd of cattle that somehow managed to survive the war and the first winter. They were able to shelter and feed them through the second winter and their numbers have actually grown, so we’re confident we will always have beef. The ranchers make us trade things for the meat.”
“Most of us don’t think that’s right,” Guillermo told them. “They’re lucky the cattle survived the war and I think they should share the meat with us.”
John said, “We decided on a policy to turn away strangers since our supplies are low and we can’t seem to grow very many crops. We have a barrier across the freeway at Raton Pass. We’ve had to turn away several groups from Trinidad to the north in Colorado. They say the town has descended into anarchy and no one is safe.”
Terry slowly sipped the hot coffee, savoring the taste and the aroma as the steam curled around his face. “That sucks. In Eagle Nest and Willsburg the townspeople set up an area for bartering. It seems to be fair. It’s a little different though, because they’re trading stuff they made themselves or meat from game they hunted.”
“Another little problem we ran into,” Terry continued, “was a creature we saw across the street from our house. We’ve seen several more since then and everybody thinks they were once men who were changed by the radiation into god-awful monsters.”
“Yeah, we saw them too!” William exclaimed, his Hispanic accent stronger in his excitement. “They were vicious. We had to shoot them down like dogs, three of them. We think they were killing people and even eating them, since several of our people disappeared and we found partially consumed bodies.”
“We haven’t seen any for months,” John said, “so we’re pretty sure we got them all. Thank God. So you went to Eagle Nest when you left Raton?”
“Yeah. We had some trouble there, but we ran into a group of people that had spent the war, and the first winter, in an underground bomb shelter and they helped us. We’re with a group of them now and would like you all to meet them. They’re good people and won’t cause you any trouble. They’re on their way to California to try to find out what’s happened since the war, and to see if anything’s left on the coast. Izzy and I would like to stay here. It’s our home. Right, Iz?”
She realized that she wanted nothing else. She was home. “Yes, we really want to stay. Three of our children are with us and our oldest daughter, who just got married, is still living in Willsburg. We can visit them and hopefully she and Tucker will move here.”
William shifted in his chair. “I don’t know about that. We’ll have to call a meeting and see if the others wanna let you stay.”
“What do you mean, ‘let us stay’? This is our home and we have as much right to be here as you do,” Terry bristled. His feet slammed to the floor.
“Look, we can help you,” Izzy told him, putting her hand on Terry’s arm, trying to calm his infamous temper. “We have heirloom seeds that will grow from year-to-year and we can teach you how to save the seeds. We have the Jeep and survival skills. I really think you should reconsider your policy of not allowing strangers to enter Raton. Willsburg, Eagle Nest and Angel Fire have all banded together to form the New Mexico colony. They help each other out, they trade with each other and they’re stronger for it. It’s the choice of your community, of course, but we will all be better off if we work together.”
John looked at William and Rosa. “It just might be time to do that. Let’s start by inviting your friends for lunch.”
7
Game was definitely more abundant this year than last. Jon was discovering more each day in his traps. He even spotted a small herd of deer in the hills and he could see the polka dot hides of two or three fawns. He’d been worried that the radiation had sterilized the wild animals, so the fawns were a we
lcome sight. If they would allow him weapons he could have brought down the buck he saw at the top of the hill. Even after eight months they still didn’t trust him not to run.
Although they didn’t allow him weapons, he could hear the reports of rifles in the distance and knew that some of the other men were out hunting. At the time the bombs fell, this group of men and women had been on a corporate retreat in Telluride. They were completely unskilled in anything useful, like survival techniques, and proved to be incapable of procuring their own food. John was thankful for that, as it meant that they still needed him. He was worried however, that one of them would get lucky and bring down one of the does or fawn. Their continued survival depended on the animals being able to reproduce.
He filled his water containers from a tiny creek and moved from trap to trap adding the small game to the satchel he carried. Lingering by the creek, he cleaned the game before heading home. Although he couldn’t be sure, he was concerned that some of the men were becoming suspicious of him. Jamison had asked him only yesterday why he was always gone all day to bring back such a small amount of game. He began to vary the route to ensure no one followed him home. When he arrived at the old wooden house on the east side of town he went around to the side yard. He grinned when he saw the rows of turned soil where Mary was carefully planting her seeds, while the boys played in the corner, digging holes with plastic trowels.
Little Josh, spotting him first, let out a squeal and ran to him. Jon knelt just in time to receive the little boy into his arms. Josh was followed quickly by Jason and Mary.
“Shh, be quiet boys.” He held his finger over his lips. “We don’t want the bad guys to hear us. Go back and dig your holes while I talk to Mommy, okay?” He hugged Mary and led her to the corner of the house where they sat on the ground, their backs against the wall. Opening the blood-stained satchel, he handed her a plastic bag filled with the carcasses of two rabbits.
He signed to her, “Mary, I think we need to get out of here. I’ve noticed some of the guys watching me more closely and Ben said he didn’t think I was catching as much game as he thought I could.”
“But Jon, where can we go? How would we get there?”
“I’m going to try and find a car. They can’t all be broken. I tried a few when we first came up out of the basement but none of them worked, so I quit trying. I read somewhere that an EMP would fry the electronics in the car, but I also heard that if the EMP was inconsistent that some, especially if they were in a metal building or garage, would escape damage. Maybe they just have a dead battery. Anyway I have to try because I think they’re on to me.”
“Do you think we’re in any danger?”
“I don’t think so yet, but if they follow me and I don’t detect them, they might find you. I just want to get ready, in case. I just don’t understand it. These guys were all civilized, corporate employees. I heard from one of the other men that Ben was a really nice guy. As soon as the world changed, so did he. The power’s gone to his head and he acts like a petty gangster. I don’t know what it’s like anywhere else, but I think we need to get out of here and find out.”
He reached in his pocket and handed her a small, round, cellophane-wrapped cheese. “I’ve already started to look for a car and I found this in a small refrigerator in one of the garages. I don’t know if it’s any good. Be sure to check it out before you guys eat it.” He stood up and pulled her to her feet, kissing her. He hugged the boys, spun on his heel and hurried away as he always did, unable to prolong the parting.
***
Matthew and Einstein sat astride their horses, with Jimbo on his motorcycle, and Jesse, Carlos and Chang standing beside them, as they all watched the last of their friends disappear through the open gate in the chain-link fence. These men were skeptical of the invitation they received from the townspeople, but most of the rest of their party had eagerly accepted. Greg and Mike were on guard duty.
“I still don’t like it,” Carlos said. “We don’t know if we can trust these guys.” Carlos was in his forties, and a small wiry man with a head full of thick, black hair. Deep lines emanating from his brown eyes made him look like he was always smiling.
“Maybe not, but Terry seemed to think it was okay. I’m glad they decided to leave the wagons back where we’re camped,” Einstein said.
“Yeah, that would’ve been too big a temptation,” Jimbo told them. “I’ll see you guys back there.” He stood on the kick starter of the old Indian motorbike and it roared to life. Jimbo swung it around and shot off toward the wagon train. Matthew looked over at Einstein and nodded. Einstein reined his horse around and started toward the freeway while Matthew rode toward the western portion of Raton. Riding onto a small rise, he glanced back to see Einstein crossing the freeway to take up a position at the other end of the chain link fence. The other men walked back a hundred yards to where they’d left the horses and mules, and mounting up, followed Jimbo toward the West and their camp.
***
As they passed through the gate and it closed behind them, Mark had a sudden sense of anxiety. Lori rode behind him on Jasper and he could feel the tenseness in her body as she too was concerned about the reception they would receive. Sitting on the freeway fifty yards ahead was the Jeep, with Terry, Izzy, Cody and the girls. They seemed at ease and this lifted Mark’s spirits. Chris and Aaron had remained at the wagon train to care for the children, as no one was willing to take a chance with their kids.
The Yancey boys were mounted, Bob riding behind Sam, and Sheri was riding her bike. Danny and Skillet were on foot, so when they reached the Jeep they jumped onto the running boards, hanging on to the roof. Eydie Scoffield was riding double with Willy Yancey. They had decided to minimize the number of horses they would take into Raton in case some of the townspeople decided to rustle them. Although Terry had vouched for these people, they didn’t want to take any chances.
“Hi folks,” Terry greeted them, “it’s three or four miles to town center. They’re putting together a barbecue for us and they’re anxious to hear about our experiences. Hey Eydie, I think if we scrunched together you can fit in the Jeep.” She gratefully climbed down from Willy’s horse and they made room for her in the Jeep. Wanting to stay together they proceeded at a comfortable pace for the horses.
They arrived at the Sheriff’s station where they found close to a hundred people waiting for them. Again, Mark felt his gut clench as they were completely outnumbered if anything went wrong, but he soon found he didn’t have anything to worry about. Even though these people had a closed community they were friendly enough when they realized Mark and his group were no danger to them. Willy Yancey stayed with the horses and kept an eye on Sheri’s bike while the others entered the building. They found that a large first floor room had been cleared of desks, filing cabinets and chairs and had been set up with tables loaded with food. There were meat and potatoes, but Mark noticed there wasn’t much produce. With the season being early, Mark knew Izzy would have plenty of produce to barter in a couple of months.
When they entered the room, Izzy squealed with delight and hurried forward to hug three women she recognized from before the war. The four of them drew to one side of the room to catch up with mutual tales of survival and hardship.
As they ate, John and the others quizzed them about the conditions on the outside, hungry for news from beyond their borders. “The whole reason we’re heading for California is to get that information,” Mark told them. “We came from Eagle Nest which is kind of central between Red River, Angel Fire, Cimarron and Willsburg. We really haven’t seen anyplace else. So I’m afraid I don’t have an awful lot to report to you.”
“What about the radiation?” John asked him. “You folks are living closer to Albuquerque and Los Alamos. The radiation must be stronger down that way.”
“We have instruments that can detect it. We know it’s safe down to Angel Fire. One of our guys took a Geiger counter down the highway and he started getting upticks about 20 mil
es south of there so he hightailed it back. We sent someone up to Taos and that seemed clean as well, so we have some people talking about moving up there since it had a much larger population with a lot of stores and a lot of supplies.”
“Do you think you could take your Geiger counter up to the Raton Pass? We’re kind of worried about the possibility of radiation coming down from the Colorado Springs area. They had a lot of military bases and Cheyenne Mountain, which would’ve been targets.”
“What do you think, Terry? Can you take me and Lori up to the pass?”
Guillermo was rubbing his drooping mustache first left than right. “Now wait just a minute. I hope you have your own gas ‘cause you can’t be using any of ours. You can’t just come in here and start using up our supplies.”
“I told you before, this town is my home, too.” Terry jumped to his feet.
“Well you abandoned it, so you don’t have any rights here anymore!”
“We didn’t abandon it. We’ve been on vacation asshole… at the French Riviera. You can’t just claim someone’s property because they’ve been gone awhile.”
Mark took Terry’s arm and John got between the two men, angrily pushing William back.
“You know what, William, they’re doing us a favor. A lot of us have been worried about radiation. Even if we have to give them some gas it’s worth it. Your own son spends a lot of time in that pass.” He waved off others that had approached at the sound of the argument. “Let’s just enjoy lunch and listen to Mark’s story.”
“Yeah Mark, I’ll take you up there. It’s okay, John, I have my own gas. We’ll be fine.” Of the ninety people or so that had greeted them initially about fifty had entered the building to participate in the barbecue. Mark noticed that everyone but the guests had paid for their meal with silver coin or small jewels about the size you would find in a ring. He realized that most of the townspeople had perished in the war and that many of them had diamond rings or jewelry with other gems. So this is the new currency, he thought.
