August Burning (Book 2): Survival (18 page)

Adira grunted in response and turned back over.

As usual, he had no idea what time it was. His body clock had been reset since the outbreak, but what hour of the day was generally still a guess based on the sun. He heard some of them had working analog clocks, but he didn’t bother to inquire. They would all run out eventually.

Jaxton emerged into the hallway, and sub-consciously placed his hand on the pistol strapped to his hip. He had a grand total of 6 bullets, which was about half a normal clip. Jaxton hadn’t personally shot an infected human in over a month.

He nodded in greeting to several men and women as he passed them. They showed him a kind of subservient and eager respect that he had never quite gotten used to. It had only grown more intense when Adira was hurt. In the beginning, people were constantly thanking him for creating this safe haven. In reality, he was just the first one here, but they didn’t care about that. They still remembered him. He passed even more people he had never met. These too smiled, for the most part. Their eyes were bright and their faces, full of hope. It made the ordeal with Adira a little easier to bear. As he did every morning, he made his way to the cafeteria.

There were two armed officers in the kitchens, and a collection of helpers and “chefs”. The latter prepared the meat, berries, and nuts that were brought in by the hunters, and the former ensured proper rationing protocol was followed.

“One. Male.” The officer chirped.

Jaxton sighed. “Todd, we do this every morning. I’m getting a meal for two. A, meal, for, two.”

Jaxton saw the girl slicing squirrels up with a huge sawing knife snicker in the back.

“Why doesn’t she come down here and get it herself? How do I know you aren’t just eating two meals, huh? You’re looking pretty fit for a guy eating less than 2,000 calories a day.”

“She’s hurt, Todd. I know them. He needs two. ” Harley sauntered in from the double-doors, drawing gazes from everyone inside.

She hugged him Jaxton immediately. “How is she?”

Jaxton extricated himself. “Thanks. She’s doing better. Truly.”

“Tell her I asked about her, would you?”

“I…will.”

She looked him up and down. “You don’t look so good, Jax. Take care of yourself, will you? For me?”

Jaxton nodded, biting his tongue. He grabbed two plates of cooked meat, some candy, a piece of stale bread, and a browning apple. “Thanks. There are still apples this late?”

The short girl with the knife smiled at him, broadly. “From the groves down by the river.”

Jaxton looked at the officer, standing proudly in his black boots and blue shirt. “Good to see you again Todd. You take care,” he said sarcastically.

Harley followed him out.

Reluctantly, Jaxton continued their conversation. “So, Harley. Safe to say you and Liam are having some troubles?”

She shrugged and ran a hand through her auburn hair. “You’ve been gossiping. Tsk tsk. I guess it isn’t a secret.”

Jaxton noticed two other men staring at her tight pants greedily. “I can’t imagine why.”

She stopped him in the empty hallway, still smoky from last night’s torches. “What are you getting at?”

He stared at her evenly, pleased his gaze didn’t falter. “I hear you’ve been spending a lot of time with Agis.”

Her pretty little nose twitched, freckles and all. “This isn’t a TV show. This isn’t a movie. This isn’t a book.” She blew a tendril of hair out of her face. “How am I supposed to explain this without being cliché? I am not the same person as I was at school. So yeah, things have changed. I have changed. Who hasn’t?”

“Liam is crazy about you. Don’t fuck with him.”

“I was crazy about him too. He was such…a man when everyone else was a boy. I mean, the way he looked after me. The world has changed. Everyone has changed, except for Liam. Now he’s the boy, among men.”

Jaxton shook his head, feeling his stomach shouting at him. “He’s as much a man as I, or any of us.”

She was breathing more heavily. She had obviously given this some thought. “No. He isn’t. He’s not… violent. He shies from using force. And that’s all there is anymore! Violence. And he doesn’t take what he wants. In this world. How can you operate if you don’t take what you want?”

Jaxton took a step back. “So you’re done with him because he’s respectful and he’s a pacifist. Fucking hell I did not expect to hear that from a woman in 2016.”

She giggled despite herself. “And for the record, I haven’t had anything to do with Agis.”

Jaxton kept walking. “There should be a prominent
yet
at the end of that statement.”

She jogged to catch up, and laid her fingers on the back of his neck, running them over a long scar. “What’s this from?” Her fingers tickled.

Jaxton felt himself looking at her lips, which were soft. Then he jerked back. “Harley. Don’t touch me again like that.” His voice was gravely.

She looked hurt, and shocked.

“Don’t do it.”

He jogged up the stairs and shook his head to clear it of the anger, and ran headlong into someone he did not expect. Elvis broke out into a huge grin.

“My god no one tells me anything! You’re back? And the hair! Shaved. The women around here aren’t prepared for it.”

Elvis laughed confidently, and with ease. His demeanor had changed. “I am back. I just got sick of eating raw squirrel.”

Jaxton laughed too, and then stopped. “Wait, did you actually do that?”

Elvis clapped him on the back. “Do you mind if I come with you? I heard about Adira, and I wanted to see her.”

“Of course brother. I just ran into your vixen too.”

A voice interrupted them. “You two! Gymnasium. Lieutenant’s called an urgent meeting. Everyone attends. I don’t care about the food. Let’s move.” The gangly officer with pale skin was sauntering towards them with a dozen people behind him.

Jaxton shared a glance with Elvis. Adira would keep resting.

By the time they got to the gymnasium, it was full with curious and impatient survivors. Jaxton saw Duke and Wilder, and joined them. “What’s he got cooked up now?”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

Agis took a step up onto the creaking wooden bleachers. His thick black jacket was, unsurprisingly, police attire. You could almost make out his breath on the air in the space under those metal rafters. Everyone seemed to be present, save a number of officers he had grown to recognize. His heartbeat began pumping with a little more zest. Adira wasn’t used to being alone for too long. It would be all right, he reasoned.

“Friends. Friends. Thank you for coming. It’s damn cold in here, so I’ll try to make this quick. I wanted to update you on the current food supply, and the other projects we have undertaken. I plan to rebuild the dam next spring, and stock it with fish as you attempted before. Again, the fields will be sown with crops. We won’t be stopping there, however. All the fields around the church will be sown. We have enough people now, that such supplies are necessary. The-“

Already Jaxton droned his melodic, friendly voice out. He was thinking about Adira. He needed to find out when she could begin some sort of re-integration program. It wasn’t healthy for her to be only interacting with him. Now that her physical injuries were healing, he was eager and determined that her mental and emotional faculties would be, at least partially, healed where they had been so painfully scarred. His mind snapped, unbidden, to the imagery of her lying there in that dark room that reeked of blood. She had been wailing in the blackness. He snapped back with a supreme effort of will. Jaxton frowned. Agis’s eyes were flicking to the double doors behind them all at random. As he continued to discuss supplies and the infected, his glances increased in frequency.

Suddenly, they burst open behind him, and eight officers came strolling through in their uniforms.

“Ah. Friends. The real purpose of our meeting.” Agis continued as the officers filtered into the crowd. “It took me some time, some time to get up to speed on how you lived before. I have heard,” his eyes flicked to Jaxton, “some terrible things about how you used to treat each other. About the prevalence of violence in the community. This…” He raised his hand with the practiced zeal of a natural orator, “is unacceptable in my community. Long have I stressed to you the principles by which we will conduct ourselves. And taking the law into one’s own hands is not one of them.” He paused, sensing a hundred sets of ears were totally fixated on his words. “That is why I have taken it upon myself to remove any temptation from the community. Your guns have been taken, and are now part of the community’s stockpile.”

There was a howl of confusion that rolled through the bumbling crowd. Agis held up his hands. “Quiet, please! Your guns will now be part of the selection available to our guards, hunting teams, and extermination squads. There will be no loaded weaponry inside the Citadel, unless you are an officer of the law.”

Some in the crowd threw up their hands. “You can’t take this!” Another man shouted, holding up a rifle. Wilder roared, “Not a fucking chance!” and raised his own. Most, however, had left their guns in their rooms. The vast majority would now only be armed at Agis’s will.

“Please, allow one of your own to speak.”

Bennett took the stage. Jaxton chuckled darkly- his friend was visibly nervous. He began over a chorus of shouting and grumbling. “I am here….I am here to tell you all how I feel about this. And as one of the community I hope you will find my opinion valuable. How many times did we pray for a return to normalcy? How many times, did we all pray for a return to real, tangible morals? Too many times.”

Bennett continued. “Examine where we were a month ago, and where we are today. Food. Protection. A plan. These things we have. These things Agis has provided us. We should all continue on this path, and take one more step towards normalcy. What kind of society would have everyone armed with deadly weapons?!” There was a smattering of rejection, but it was more subdued.

“Stand with me on this issue.” Some clapped. All the officers did.

Lieutenant Agis stood with his hand placed on Bennett’s shoulder. “I know some of you still have personal weapons on you at this moment. I would now ask you volunteer to turn these weapons in. If you do not, we will not take them by force. That is not what we are about. We will, however, be forced to resort to meaner measures. The food supply from the cafeteria will be off-limits to any who refuse to hand over their weapons to the collective. Stand with me friends… everyone has a place.”

When he dismounted and left, the crowd remained. Jaxton tried to judge it, but it was hard.

Wilder was peering around him. “Did they actually buy that?”

Duke was with him. “Some of them certainly did.” They watched as a handful walked up to police officers and handed them their pistols, shotguns, and rifles.

“Not all.” Elvis said, indicating a few holdouts. “Not me.”

“Nor I.” Jaxton said calmly. “We never give anyone power over us. Not anymore. Life’s too short to be fucking around with that shit.”

“Be reasonable, guys.” Joseph edged his way into the circle.

“Not a chance, Cleric. Back the fuck off.” Wilder clutched his rifle strap greedily.

Jaxton held out his hand. “Easy, boys. Come on now. Joseph is a friend. He’s just a friend we don’t agree with.”

“They seem to be in strong supply.” Duke whistled lowly, and craned his head towards Bennett, who was speaking animatedly with several others.

“Does it not make sense to you?” Joseph questioned with rich sincerity.

Jaxton turned his shoulders to face the shorter man head on. “On the whole, it makes total sense. But it doesn’t matter. For my part, I will never give up the ability to protect the ones I hold close.”

“Aye.” Wilder snapped, and thumped his chest.

“Amen,” Elvis whispered. There was an infectious excitement in the group- they would not bow to the demand.

Joseph shook his head mournfully, and turned away. Jaxton shouted after him. “Cleric. Get some extra chairs, I intend to join your discussion group tonight.” Joseph did a sort of bow, and then turned with a bit of pop in his step.

“You do?” Wilder asked.

Jaxton nodded fiercely, with a glimmer of his old fire burning under light grey eyes. “Aye. And so do you three.”

…

It had taken her ten minutes to convince Jaxton to allow her to walk alone. But she had done it, much to her lover’s loud and resigned grumbling. She kissed him tenderly on the forehead. “You’re like a big grumpy baby. And you need a bath.”

She tiptoed her way down to the lower level, past rooms full of snoring and rustling. There was something peaceful about the knowledge that the school was full of dreaming people. It was the first time she had walked through the lobby in almost three weeks. Her slippers slid on the tile floor as she neared the front entrance. A female officer stepped in her way, with a pouty face and something to prove. Adira sighed, annoyed it was still so easy to find clichés in this new society.

“S’cuse me miss. Can’t be going this way after dark. Lieutenant’s orders.” She raised her chin, almost so she was looking down at Adira past her long nose.