by Eric Vall
“I don’t want to put anyone out,” Marla said hurriedly.
“Marla,” Jenny said. “We’re all worried about Frank, please let him sit out here with us.”
“Yeah, mom,” Mitch piped up with big, sad eyes. “Can he stay out here with us, please?”
“I suppose so,” Marla said, and she held a soft expression when I turned to look at her.
“Being around others might do him some good,” I told her.
“He’s been asleep most of the day,” Marla chuckled. “But it couldn’t hurt, I suppose.”
I laid the sleeping boy down on the couch, and Marla and Kimmy fussed over him, propping his head up with a pillow and throwing a blanket over the top of him. My face and ears stung as they adjusted to the heat in the room, and I slowly felt the numbness subside from my fingers, and it was replaced with little tiny pricks as my body became warm once more.
“Thank you,” Marla told the newcomer.
“I would only hope someone would show such kindness to my own child,” Kimmy said with a small smile. “So I am happy to show yours some.”
“What a great way of thinking,” Marla said. “And you are?”
“I’m Kimmy,” the dark complexioned woman said, and she held out a hand for Marla to shake.
“You’re new,” Marla said with a smile, and she looked down at the infant strapped to Kimmy’s chest. “And who might this be?”
“His name is Anthony,” Kimmy said, and she pulled back the fabric so Marla could see his face better.
“He’s precious,” Marla said. “And since you both are new, I think you’ll need an examination soon.”
“That would be most appreciated,” Kimmy said.
“No problem,” Marla said. “Everyone got one earlier in the year, you two are part of our group now, you should get the same.”
“Okay, everyone,” I said. “I want to have a little meeting.”
“Is something wrong?” Donna asked.
“No,” I said, and then I looked around the room. “Not exactly, but where are the girls?”
“They went upstairs,” Jenny offered. “They said they needed to find Rolly and grandma.”
“Okay,” I said, “let me go get them.”
I stood up and headed for the stairs. I was happy that the girls had taken the initiative to talk to Rolly and Betty. The old man had been sad the last time he had been left out of an initial conversation, and I would hate for him to feel as if he was losing his role in the inner circle. He had been on guard duty so much as of late, and he had Betty to keep him occupied, so I had been trying to rely on him a bit less, but the last thing I wanted was to upset him.
I found Rolly, Betty, and the girls on the top floor just below the roof in one of the dorm rooms that overlooked the road.
“Hey,” I said as I walked in.
“How’s it goin’ out there?” Rolly asked.
“It’s alright,” I said. “Did the girls fill you in?”
“Yeah,” he said with a sad nod. “So our trouble is just beginning, huh?”
“Looks like it,” I said grimly.
“Whatever we can do,” Betty offered.
“I know,” I told her. “For now we have it handled, but I did have a favor to ask.”
“Whatever you need,” Rolly said.
“I’m assigning six people at a time to sentry duty,” I said.
“Paige told us as much,” Betty said.
“I’m hoping that you two will be willing to pick up some extra guard shifts,” I said. “I know you all have already been doing it a lot, but--”
“It’s okay,” Betty said with a wave of her hand. “We’re happy to do it.”
“Is there a reason you don’t want us on sentry duty?” Rolly asked.
“Oh, dear,” Betty said, and she put a hand on the old man’s leg. “You know why.”
“We can still be useful,” Rolly said. “Even if we are older.”
“I know,” I told him with a smile.
“Nobody thinks you aren’t useful,” Paige said with a reassuring tone.
“Yeah,” Tara said. “But if we sent you down there, then who would make us coffee?”
“Is that all I’m good for?” Rolly teased.
“You know that’s not what I meant,” the platinum blonde laughed.
“In all honesty,” Anna said. “We know you’re capable, but we don’t want you getting sick.”
“I wouldn’t--” Rolly started, but Paige cut him off.
“You’re more susceptible to illness at your age,” the brunette said. “It’s nothing against you, we just want you to be around for a lot longer.”
“You’re like our king,” I chuckled.
“King?” Tara asked with a raised eyebrow.
“He’s referring to chess,” Paige explained. “In chess you always have to protect your king.”
“Oh,” Tara said. “Yeah, I guess that fits.”
“Well, alright,” Rolly said, finally giving it up. “I just don’t want you to think we’re useless.”
“Hardly,” I laughed.
“Besides,” Anna said. “We need someone on guard, you’re just as useful up here as out there.”
“Probably more so,” I said with a nod.
“We’ll pick up any extra guard shifts that we need to,” Betty said.
“I appreciate it,” I told the old, curly haired woman. “I’m about to start a group meeting, would either of you like to join us?”
“I think we’re okay here,” Rolly said. “The girls caught us up to speed, no sense leavin’ the post unattended.”
“Alright,” I said. “I’m going to head down to the sentries after I’m done here, but any questions you have, you can ask me or Anna.”
“Are you sure you should go back down there?” Betty asked with concern. “You look exhausted.”
“I’ve gone on much less sleep,” I assured her. “I’ll be alright.”
“Should we get this meeting going?” Anna asked.
“Let’s go,” I said, and I slapped the door frame and headed back down the stairs.
When I arrived downstairs all of the group except the ones on sentry duty were together.
“We called everyone down here,” Cathy explained when she saw my surprise.
“Thank you,” I told the sandy blonde haired woman.
“So what’s the meeting about?” Donna asked.
“Well,” I said. “I wanted to give everyone an update.”
“What’s going on?” Marla asked.
“We’re upping sentry duty,” I said.
“That’s why you sent the others down there earlier,” Cathy said.
“Yeah,” Joanna agreed. “But you’re upping it all the time now?”
“Yes,” I said. “Paige has made a rotating list with everyone and times that they’ll be on duty.”
“Okay,” Cathy said.
“I made sure that each group has at least one more experienced shooter with them,” Paige explained.
“Oh, good,” Joanna said. “I was a bit worried for a second, I’m not the greatest shot.”
“That brings me to my next point,” I said solemnly.
“What’s that?” Joe asked.
“We’ve already used about a third of our ammunition,” I said, and I saw the group’s eyes widen.
“But it’s only been a couple of days at most,” Marla said with concern. “How can that be?”
“We’ve had several large groups come through,” I said. “And even more of the smaller ones.”
“It’s snowing pretty bad out there, now,” Jenny said. “Do you think that will slow down the people?”
“I believe that brings him to his next point,” Tara said.
“It does,” I said. “Tara and I got a vantage point earlier to look at the road, there’s at least a few thousand people heading this way.”
“A few thousand?” Kimmy asked, and she pulled baby Anthony closer to her.
There was a
loud uproar from the group as everyone went into panic mode, but I lifted a hand, and they fell silent.
“We knew there would be at least that many people,” I said. “We were prepared for this.”
“I guess in theory... it’s a lot different from it happening right now,” Cathy said with a frown.
“It is,” Anna agreed. “But we have the bridge ready to blow, and other measures we are taking to make sure everyone stays safe.”
“Right,” I said. “We all just need to keep vigilant on our watches, get enough sleep, keep up on our calorie intake, and most important, stay warm.”
“Alright,” Marla said with a nod. “Is there anything else?”
“Wait,” Cathy said. “Why don’t we just blow the bridge now?”
“I don’t want to do that until absolutely necessary,” I said. “We just had a scare with Frank, and in case we need to leave for anything else, I want the means to. Blowing the bridge is our last resort. I’m hoping people just stay away when they see all the bodies.”
“The snow is pretty bad out there,” Jenny pointed out. “Won’t a lot of people freeze before they can even get here?”
“Quite a few will,” I said with a nod. “But not all of them, so we just need to keep doing what we’re doing, and everything will be alright.”
“I’m going to put the list for sentry duty on the piano,” Paige said. “Everyone, please take a look at it.”
“What should we do between sentry duties?” Joe asked.
“We all still have chores to do during the day,” I said. “But I want everyone who is on duty to be inside by dark.”
“Alright,” Cathy agreed.
“Is there anything we can do inside?” Joanna asked.
“Not right now, no,” I told her. “try to occupy your time. Play some games, get some sleep, and try to live your life.”
“One more thing,” Anna said. “I want to reiterate that we aren’t targeting people who don’t try to cross the bridge.”
“Right,” I said. “If you’re on duty and a group walks through peacefully, don’t shoot. We don’t want to waste the ammo, nor do we want to kill anybody who isn’t trying to take from us.”
“Signs have been put in place too,” Anna said. “Warning people that trespassers will be shot on sight.”
“That seems fair,” Cathy said sternly. “Anybody who would go against those signs is only looking for trouble.”
“Exactly,” I said. “So to reaffirm, anybody who walks by, don’t shoot, but anybody who’s foot crosses that bridge goes down immediately.”
“Try to make each shot count,” Anna said. “I know not everyone is the most confident shooter, but take your time and aim.”
“Remember that you have the advantage,” Tara added.
“Well put,” I told the girls.
“What if we accidentally waste a shot?” Joanna asked quietly.
“That’s okay,” I told her.
“Practice makes perfect,” Paige said with a smile.
“She’s right,” Anna said. “The more you shoot the better you are.”
“Except Bailey,” Tara said with an eye roll.
“It’s true,” I chuckled. “Bailey has a knack for shooting, but it doesn’t come quite that easily to most people, not even me. I had to work hard to become the marksman I am today.”
“Okay,” Joanna said with a small smile.
“Does anybody else have questions?” I asked.
The group looked around at each other, then back at me and shook their heads.
“Alright,” I said. “I’m going to head back down to the sentries and let them know what’s going on, in the meantime, I think you all should make something hot to eat.”
“You sure you don’t want to stay and get some food?” Donna asked with concern. “You look tired.”
“I’m sure I do,” I said with a brave smile, everyone had commented on it enough. “But I’m alright, I want to let everyone know what’s going on.”
“We’ll bring the sentries some dinner once it’s ready,” Cathy offered.
“I’m sure everybody would appreciate that,” I said.
“Oh,” Paige said. “Remember to gear up whenever you are on sentry duty.”
“Right,” I agreed. “Long johns, wear your vest on underneath your winter coat, gloves, hats, whatever will keep you warm.”
“It’s about time for the sentries to switch, isn’t it?” Anna asked.
“Yeah,” Paige said with a nod.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll explain what’s going on, then I’ll send them all back up here. If they have any questions, I think you all can help them, or you can find Anna or I, and we can answer them. And whoever is on sentry duty, remember to bring a flare gun. If things start to look bad, light it off.”
“Who’s next for sentry duty?” Cathy asked, and she got up to look over the list.
“Me, Donna, Joe, Jenny, Joanna, and Anna,” Paige said.
“If everyone wants to gear up, we can all walk down together,” I said.
Those assigned to sentry duty went to their dorm rooms to get ready, and I grabbed Paige to ask her about the hand warmers.
“Hey Paige,” I said as I approached the brunette.
“What’s up?” she asked seriously.
“We got quite a few hand warmers, correct?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “We have plenty.”
“Great,” I said. “Can you show me where they are? I want to bring some down for those on sentry duty.”
“Of course,” the brunette said, and she headed toward the door. “They’re in the gym.”
“Are you ready to go?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “Just need to grab my rifle.”
“Okay,” I said. “Do that first, then meet me at the gym.”
“Okay,” she said, and she headed upstairs while I headed outside.
The wind blew across my face once more, stinging with each snowflake that hit me. I had my winter coat and gloves on, but I really needed a hat, I was pretty sure my ears were close to freezing off by that point.
I would never tell my group, but I actually despised the winter. I had never been a fan of snow. It was true, I typically ran hot as a person, but even still I would much rather have been too warm than too cold.
There’s always that thing that people ask you, would you rather be too hot or too cold? And most people will say too cold, because they could always add more layers, but I never fully understood that logic. If you were too hot, you could always drink some water, go for a dip in a pool or river, or take anything else. It’s true, being too hot is a miserable thing, but being too cold was downright depressing. There was a sadness, a bitterness that came with being cold, it often brought out the worst in people, and it was doing just that with all those Canadians striving to survive. I was a firm believer that somebody who was too cold was far more likely to try and kill you for what you had than somebody who was too hot.
I reached the door to the gym and pulled it open, and another flurry of snow came in with me and landed where the previous one had already turned to water.
I looked over the room, searching for the handwarmers, but I found a thick wool hat first and threw it on to try and warm up my frozen ears.
“Find them?” Paige asked as she entered the gym as well.
“Not yet,” I said as I continued to look through boxes of supplies.
“Hang on,” she said, and she headed to the back corner of the room and pulled a box off a tall stack. “Here they are.”
“Thanks,” I said and I reached in to grab some for myself and the other people on sentry duty.
“You know you don’t have to go down there again,” Paige said as she grabbed a few more.
“I know that,” I said. “But this is a lot of pressure for everyone, and I want to ease the transition. If I can be there to help people out, then that might make them feel more comfortable. Besides, as a leader, everyone
has to see you working hard. Otherwise you’ll cause an uproar.”
“I don’t think anybody thinks you’re a slacker,” the brunette chuckled.
“Probably not,” I said. “But not everybody is confident in their part yet, and I want to help get them there.”
“Alright,” Paige said, and she pursed her lips. “But if you need a break, please take one. I’m pretty sure you haven’t slept in a couple of days.”
“I’ll take a break when I need one,” I assured her. “You ready?”
“Ready.” She nodded.
We headed back outside into the cold, and Anna led the rest of the civilians outside. Everyone was dressed in snow pants, boots, hats, gloves, and large winter coats, and each carried a semi automatic rifle over their shoulder.
“You all ready?” I yelled over the wind.
“Ready!” Anna yelled back, so I waved everyone on and headed down the driveway.
I could hear gunfire as we made our way down the hill, and I realized I had been hearing it so much lately that I had tuned it out. It had become like a war zone where the fighting was so constant you barely even noticed as long as you weren’t a part of it.
The snow was heavy as we walked, another inch at least had accumulated just in the time it took to have our group meeting. I thought that perhaps Jenny was right, maybe more people than I thought would freeze before they made it to us. It was morbid to hope for that, but I didn’t have much other choice. Everyone’s decisions had led them where they were, and the decision to try and steal from my group was not one that I could take lightly. Anybody who trespassed would be shot, regardless of how nice of a person they might be outside these circumstances. The warnings were there for a reason, and I stood by them.
The walk down to the bridge seemed longer than ever before as we trudged along through the snow and wind, but as we grew closer, the firing stopped.
We made it to the bottom, and I took a quick scan of the area. It was piled with bodies, some older and covered with snow that had become white lumps on the ground, others were fresh with red splattered on the pristine white around them, their bodies contorted into unnatural positions, but one thing was for sure: people were definitely stupid enough to try to cross that bridge, regardless of whatever warning might be posted.
“Hey,” I called out to the trees. “It’s us.”
