The Lucky Ones (Evergreen Book 3)

by Matthew S. Cox

  “So, basically, it’s like cowboy times again… just without those ridiculous dresses?” asked Renee. “People still had babies back then and humans didn’t die off.”

  “Yeah,” called Grace from the kitchen. “But people had like a dozen kids just so three made it to adulthood.”

  “It can’t be that bad.” Harper twisted to peer at her over the sofa back. “We still have some medicine left, right?”

  Grace returned carrying a full water glass. “We lived through a nuclear strike. We’re all gonna get cancer and be dead by forty.”

  “Your friend is morbid,” said Madison.

  “It’s not that bad.” Cliff lowered the book away from his face. “The average age of survivors from Hiroshima was around eighty. I remember reading a study showing they died an average of about four months sooner than citizens in unaffected areas.”

  Harper blinked at him. “That’s kind of a weird factoid to have at the tip of your brain.”

  “You ever work security?” Cliff’s expression remained serious. “You make two friends. Coffee and the ‘random article’ button on Wikipedia.”

  Everyone except for the kids laughed. Madison and Lorelei ignored the remark while Jonathan looked up, confused.

  “But, yeah, some stuff like that I had to know back in the Army.”

  “Just kinda weird to think about,” said Harper in a low voice, trying to leave the children out of the conversation. “Never really thought about a penis being a literal deadly weapon.”

  Grace sputtered her water laughing. Renee covered her mouth.

  “Mostly…” Harper looked at Grace, dropping her voice even more to a near whisper. “I’m worried about them.” She pointed with her foot at the kids.

  “They should be fine.” Grace smiled. “Unless they’re shot or eaten by bears. They’re old enough to have gotten their vaccines, the important ones anyway. It’s our kids and their kids who are going to be in trouble. One bad part about being back in the 1800s is we’re probably going to see a resurgence of diseases that we once considered relics of the past.”

  Harper cringed. “Not so sure about…” She nodded toward Lorelei before whispering, “That girl’s mom didn’t care enough to keep her clothed. When the strike happened, she just took off and left her alone. I doubt her mother bothered with vaccines.”

  Grace frowned. “Aww. How could anyone be so cruel? I just wanna hug her.”

  Lorelei sprang to her feet and jumped on Grace. “Okay. I like hugs!”

  “Your…” Grace paused. “Is she technically your sister or daughter?”

  “Somewhere in between.” Harper made eye contact with Carrie, still in Cliff’s lap. “Kinda daughter-y now.”

  “Cool. Anyway, she is totally adorbs.” Grace hugged the little one. “Ruby at the med center was asking how she’s doing.”

  Harper reached over and ruffled Lorelei’s hair. “She’s doing much better.”

  The lights faltered, winked out for a second, and came back on.

  “Eep.” Madison looked up. “That was scary.”

  “It’s wires, not ghosts.” Jonathan made a move on the board game. “Lore, your turn.”

  Lorelei reluctantly stopped clinging to Grace and scrambled back to the board game.

  “I talked to Anne-Marie about making clothes. Apparently, the library here has some books about how people used to do that stuff by hand. I gave myself homework.” Renee frowned. “Designing and stitching, no problem. Making actual cloth from fibers? That looks like a serious pain in the butt.”

  Grace chuckled. “Trade ya.”

  “Pass.” Renee held her hands up. “I thought I wanted to be a nurse for a while, but ugh. I didn’t realize how nasty it could get. Doctor stuff is not for me. I can’t handle gross.”

  Flickering lights are scary even without ghosts. Harper stared at the floor lamp by the front window. We’re an inch from losing electricity for good. The nukes might’ve made it cold enough that the farm fails. Fish from the lake could be irradiated, and random jackasses could show up with guns at any time.

  Evergreen started to feel like a death trap until she remembered sleeping on trash bags in an enclosure behind a fast food place. The whole country had become dangerous. Had she not come here, the Lawless or some other gang might get her. Or starvation. Or stumbling blind into an irradiated area. No, all things considered, she really had found an oasis of safety… at least as much as anywhere could be considered safe anymore.

  Here, she could sleep at night without being so scared she woke up every fifteen minutes to look around. But she still couldn’t shake the pervasive feeling of fear that snuck into her thoughts whenever she didn’t think about anything in particular.

  Whether they knew it or not, her two sisters would be pulling duty as stand-in teddy bears tonight.

  8

  Survival

  Two days passed in relative quiet. Electricity had gone out on Thursday for a few hours while she’d been patrolling. Something blew up with a bang at the old public works garage Jeanette had turned into the town’s power center. Whatever exploded must not have been too big a deal, since they had the juice back on before dark.

  Friday warmed a bit and saw another pool visit. Though, this time, Harper had been prepared for Lorelei with a little help from Renee’s sewing skills. Her friend scavenged fabric from an adult one-piece into a pair of two-piece suits for Madison and Lorelei. She’d also stitched a bikini for herself out of scrap fabric. The quartermaster’s didn’t have much in the way of swimsuits, but Harper did find one in her size: a way-revealing neon green two-piece that would’ve made Dad faint and Mom scream ‘no way.’ She’d never have worn a suit that skimpy in the normal world, but all the other ones there would’ve fallen straight off her. And despite how much skin she showed, it somehow wound up being less embarrassing than swimming in her underwear, and far less embarrassing than skinny-dipping.

  That, she might someday do with Logan, alone, off in a woodland stream somewhere with just the two of them. Certainly not in a public pool with kids around.

  Lorelei offered no protest to wearing a suit. She evidently didn’t prefer skinny-dipping as much as simply didn’t want to get her dress and underwear wet. If Harper went too long without washing laundry, and her stuff smelled too bad, Lorelei would simply traipse about in her birthday suit instead of putting on a dress dirty enough to smell from across the room. Fortunately, the squalid conditions in which the child had lived before the war gave her a significantly higher tolerance for filth. What the girl considered too smelly to wear would make Harper gag.

  She decided to jump in the water as well, since she wanted to enjoy it before the water became unusably dirty. While she didn’t know how much chlorine or whatever remained in the storage garage, it didn’t feel likely that the people who knew how to look after a pool would be able to keep it clear for much more than two or three seasons. A few of the hockey players fake cringed away from Harper in a bikini, yelling about being blinded. She flipped them off, smirking, and spent a couple hours trying to have fun with her siblings.

  For the briefest moment, she almost stopped thinking about the war and allowed herself to smile.

  Saturday morning, Cliff led a survival expedition into the woods west of town, heading toward an area Fred Mitchell—who’d been on sniper detail at the bus barrier—called Snyder Hill. Carrie, Mila, and Becca joined them.

  About fifteen minutes of walking later, Cliff pointed at a fallen tree that looked like it had been there for quite some time. “If you see something like this, keep in mind it’s a good source of fatwood.”

  The kids laughed.

  “What the heck is fatwood?” asked Harper.

  “It’s the hardwood core of a dead pine tree—or any hardwood tree really—impregnated with resin. Scrape some shavings of that onto kindling and it makes starting fires much easier. New fatwood is sticky with sap, but it eventually dries out into resin. So long as it’s not wet, it doesn’t really
matter how sticky it is. The stuff will burn quite well.”

  The kids nodded.

  Cliff crouched by the log and pulled it apart with his bare hands, the old, damp wood crumbling easily. He attacked a spot where a thick branch intersected the trunk, using his combat knife to clear away the outer layers until he had a roughly banana-sized hunk of pale, dense wood. “This is still a bit wet from the last rainfall, but once it dries out, it’ll be good.” He handed it to Jonathan.

  The boy looked it over, then passed it to Mila.

  Cliff pointed at a plant with broad heart-shaped leaves. “Do any of you know what that is?”

  “Poison ivy?” asked Lorelei.

  Chuckling, Cliff shook his head. “Nope.”

  Five small blank faces, and two not-so-small blank faces stared back at him.

  “Weeds?” asked Carrie.

  “And this is why we’re out here.” Cliff patted the leaf. “Come, take a closer look so you can recognize it. This is burdock. The taproot is edible. If you catch one with flower buds, those can be eaten before they bloom. Kinda taste like artichokes.”

  “Blech,” said Jonathan.

  “Artichokes are good.” Madison patted her stomach. “I like them. Much better than meat.”

  “But plants don’t scream when you cook them.” Mila grinned.

  Everyone stared at her. Madison gasped.

  “I’m just teasing. Really.” Mila put on an innocent face. “Seriously. Just a joke.”

  “Thought you were giving up on the creepy thing?” Harper playfully swiped at her hair.

  “I am. But that moment was too good to miss.” Mila snickered.

  Madison continued staring at her.

  “Come on, Mads.” Mila poked her in the stomach. “I don’t really want to make animals scream.”

  “I like animals, too.” Becca bounced on her toes. “But I don’t wanna starve. Wolves and lions eat other animals, so it’s not ‘against nature.’ If we have to eat meat not to die, it’s okay.”

  Madison sighed, reluctant acceptance in her eyes. “I guess.”

  “So… the stalks are edible, too. But you have to peel them first. They can even be eaten raw.” Cliff stood. “Leaves as well, but they get tougher the older the plant. Of course, if we are eating wild burdock, we’re not going to be worrying too much about how it feels to eat. We are in need of food.”

  The kids all nodded.

  Cliff resumed walking into the forest. “Dandelions are another possible food source.”

  “Eww, really?” asked Becca. “They’re weeds.”

  “Yep.” Cliff scratched his beard while looking around. “You know it might not be a bad idea for us to start supplementing our diet with some of these plants on the side. We could use the extra calories, plus it’ll get you used to them.” He stopped walking. “Aha!”

  Everyone jammed to a halt, bumping into each other.

  He indicated a low-lying plant with small, waxy, teardrop-shaped leaves and a faintly reddish hue to the stems.

  “Is that poison ivy?” asked Lorelei.

  Cliff chuckled. “It isn’t. This is purslane. The leaves are edible raw.” He plucked a few, handing them out, also eating one to demonstrate.

  Madison tossed it in her mouth without hesitation. “I think I’ve had this before.”

  The somewhat sour, salty flavor made Harper salivate, and cover her mouth to keep from dribbling. “It’s strong.”

  Mila and Jonathan tried test nibbles, then ate their leaves. Becca took the longest to try it and made the worst face of the lot.

  “That Greek place.” Madison crouched and plucked another leaf, which she ate. “They had this stuff in the salad there. Or at least something that tasted like it.”

  “Could have been purslane,” said Cliff. “Some Greek places use it.”

  “But they’re not running around the woods to collect it, right?” asked Becca.

  “Nah. Commercial farming. But, that’s kinda gone now.” He waved for them to follow and kept going.

  Cliff wandered in no particular direction for some time, pointing out other plants like chicory, pennycress, and wax currant. He described Oregon grapes, though they didn’t see any, then cautioned them not to eat any berries they weren’t absolutely sure of identification. Upon spotting some chanterelle mushrooms, he mentioned those could be eaten as well.

  “Wild mushrooms can be dangerous. Again, if you’re not absolutely sure what you’re looking at—especially with mushrooms—better to leave it alone. Avoid any ’shroom that has a skirt or ring on the stalk or any part of it is red in color.”

  The kids exchanged looks, seeming nervous.

  “Don’t panic. Remember, I’m showing you this so you can be prepared in case something goes wrong.”

  “Like nuclear war?” asked Mila.

  “Okay, if something goes more wrong.” Cliff gestured off to one side. “We’ve got the farm, some animals, lake fish as well. I don’t want to promise you we’re going to be perfectly fine, because anything can happen. But odds are in our favor that it won’t come down to us needing to rely on wild growth any time soon. Don’t freak out if you don’t remember all this stuff right away. It takes time.”

  Jonathan relaxed visibly, as did Madison.

  Harper found herself wishing her phone worked for the first time in months, so she could take pictures of the ‘good’ plants.

  “Is that poison ivy?” asked Lorelei.

  Everyone turned to look where she pointed.

  “No, that’s wood sorrel. If you dig it up, you’ll find a tuber like a small potato, which you can eat. The leaves are edible as well.”

  “How do you remember all this?” asked Harper.

  “Heh. When you know that certain information can save your life, the brain makes room for it.”

  While they continued hiking, he rambled about survival training on the way to become an Army Ranger, back when he’d been twenty or so, before Harper had even been born. Upon finding another fallen tree, he crouched and pulled at the bark, exposing a cluster of squirming white insects.

  “Grubs,” said Cliff. “The larval stage of beetles. These are also a good source of protein.”

  Becca gagged. Madison clamped a hand over her mouth. Carrie looked about ready to pass out. Harper cringed at the thought.

  Lorelei tried to grab one.

  Cliff caught her hand. “Not raw, hon. Bugs can easily have parasites and need to be cooked first.”

  “I’d eat them.” She smiled. “I eated bugs a’fore. Used ta catch ’em in my room.”

  Madison bit her arm to muffle gagging sounds.

  “Best way to cook grubs is to skewer them and roast ’em over a fire until the skin goes crispy.” Cliff pinched his fingers to his lips like an Italian chef.

  “Ugh, I’m gonna hurl,” muttered Becca.

  Cliff set the hunk of wood back down, covering the grubs. “Look for rotting logs or behind the bark on trees where it’s separating already.”

  Harper clenched her jaw. I’d have to be real damn hungry to eat grubs. Gah.

  “Grasshoppers are good eats, too. Best to pluck the heads off, which will pull their guts out. That helps reduce the chances of there being a parasite or nematode.”

  Becca gagged again. “Ugh. Please stop.”

  “It sounds disgusting until you’re starving. And I don’t just mean ‘Dad, can we have dinner I’m starving.’ I mean real starving.”

  Lorelei appeared frightened for a second, then clamp-hugged him.

  He rubbed a hand up and down her back. “It’s okay. No one’s gonna let that happen to you again.”

  She mumbled something inaudible into his chest.

  “So, grasshoppers, crickets, ants, termites, wood lice—which taste like shrimp—are good, too.”

  “Lice?” Madison shivered, scratching at her hair.

  “Not that kind. Umm… what the heck did we call them as kids, oh ‘roly polies.’”

  “Still eww.” Madison
stuck out her tongue.

  “Okay, okay. C’mon.” Cliff backed away from the grub log. “We can save the bugs for an emergency of absolute last resort.”

  “Please,” said Becca.

  They walked around in no great hurry for a while, Cliff quizzing everyone on plant identification. Lorelei kept asking if everything she hadn’t seen before was poison ivy. Eventually, they happened upon a small stream, where Carrie asked if they could take a break and sit for a while.

  The kids removed their shoes and waded into the shin-deep water, squealing at the cold. Harper, Cliff, and Carrie sat on the ground nearby while the kids explored the creek, collecting shiny rocks. Carrie stretched out and leaned against Cliff.

  “Any water you find out in the wild should be boiled before you drink it,” said Cliff. “Unless you’ve already gone three days without any water and don’t have a way to make fire, it’s better to be safe.”

  Harper kept half her attention on the kids, the other half on the woods around them. The shotgun might not have the range of a combat rifle, but it did tend to make people hesitate. As much as she’d like to think being this close to Evergreen meant safety, she didn’t.

  The kids whispered amongst themselves about the horribleness of eating bugs, at least until Lorelei piped up.

  “I eated a few bugs when I’s alone. They tasted like squirmy legs. Hard part was tryin’ ta bite ’em afore they crawled outta my mouth.”

  Jonathan paled. Becca doubled over and retched. Madison grimaced, tongue out.

  “Okay, that almost made me throw up.” Mila held her hands up. “Can we stop talking about eating bugs now?”

  Cliff chuckled, then muttered, “Hell of a thing. Starbucks and PlayStation one week, giving serious consideration to slurping down some beetle larva the next.”

  Harper’s stomach gurgled. “I think I’d rather starve.”

  “Heh. Trust me. When you’re at that point, even grubs look good.”

  Everyone all got the idea to stop talking at once. Harper watched the kids amusing themselves in the stream, taken by how relaxed they appeared. Not one complained about being outside in the woods or missing video games, phones, electronics, or whatever. She couldn’t remember ever kicking off her shoes and wading into a random stream… though she did step into the fountain at the mall on a dare once.