From Within (11 page)

Marcus didn’t say anything. His eyes widened and he stared down at the table.

“Marcus, you’re my friend,” Kenneth said. “I’ve pushed hard for you to be a part of this. We’ve known eachother for a long, long time. We’ve helped each other out countless times as we’ve climbed the ladders in our careers. This is a major turning point in our country’s history. People will read about this for hundreds of years. Those words in the history book will be written by you and me. We have a chance to play a big part in this. You and me. It’s what we always wanted.” Kenneth had passion in his voice. He was speaking with animated, clenched fists. “The CMA is going to lead the recovery. They want you to be the face of the CMA. This is going to be a new and stronger country.” He sternly pointed a finger at Marcus. “Don’t screw this chance up.”

Kenneth gathered his papers and took the sheet from in front of Marcus. He got up, grabbing his tray and hurried off. Marcus watched him leave. He was dumbstruck. Why were they keeping the fact that millions had died and were still dying in the dark? Was there any point in hiding that information? He hadn’t even gotten the chance to ask what ‘the next step’ was. He needed to keep low now, he thought. This was the second warning. How many more would he be given before they got rid of him? He would keep low and still keep up the act, as stressful as it had been. No more slip-ups, not even in front of Kenneth. He needed to get to the cafe and get this latest information to Thomas.

He had kept Thomas in the loop over the past month and a half but still never gave him an answer about being a part of the American Rights Foundation’s plans. This latest news just made him more suspicious of the CMA. More suspicious and more frightened. Kenneth was sure they were a part of the solution but Marcus wasn’t buying it. There were many factors leading up to it, but this spike in death was directly caused by what the CMA was doing. Plus, they weren’t doing anything to help stop it. The country had descended into chaos and then now it was digging even deeper. They talked about death casually in meetings. They were talking about millions of people dying as if they were telling co-workers the weekend’s adventures by the water cooler.  Marcus knew what he needed to tell Thomas. He knew exactly what he needed to do.

April 2037

“Do we have everything?” Lea asked looking down at the small, red, child’s wagon.

“I think so,” Will said. “I hope so. I don’t want to have to walk back for anything. Lewis will have tools as well.”

“Does everyone have their guns?” Beth added.

Everyone nodded.

“Well,” Beth said, “we have tools, guns, and water. I say we better get going. Can’t be lazy today.”

They all patted pockets and searched around them to make sure all items had been accounted for. Will, Lea, Juana, and Beth were now off, with only little groaning, on the almost two-mile trek to Lewis’s farm. They were to spend the day tending to the crops. Alejandro had left a couple of hours before dawn to meet Lewis and get an early start.

It had been two months since they decided to join together and hunker down at Beth’s property outside of town. Just as they had thought, Lewis refused to leave his place and join them. However, he did join them in the efforts of farming. He had most definitely been a wealth of knowledge for them. The six of them had filled nearly every open piece of land on both properties with seed and starter plants. The labor was the most strenuous they had experienced in their entire lives, save Lewis, who would do much of this labor normally on his own every year. Their backs ached from days of stooping low to dig and plant. Their fingers stiffened, barely being able to move for several days.

A couple of trips into town to check on the status of available food at the grocery store revealed how lucky they had been. It appeared that the pandemonium they had experienced the day Juana was injured had only magnified exponentially. What Alejandro and Will thought would be a casual stroll into town turned out to be a nightmare. They had assumed, wrongfully, that the situation had probably settled after a couple of weeks. As they approached town, they weren’t too surprised to see smoke rising from numerous points. It could easily be thought that the inconsistent electricity and gas problems persisted, which was exactly what Will had thought.  Once in town, their jaws dropped in shock to see the charred remains of once familiar storefronts and houses. Very few of the rising pillars of black smoke represented cooking fires.

The next horror was when they noticed the bodies. There were bodies scattered here and there. In one parking lot, they noticed a small pile of bodies. Were these their friends? Maybe neighbors? The putrid stench made both Will and Alejandro gag and nearly retch. The only thing that made them able to bear it was the constant smell of smoke that thickened in waves. Even the smoke was a bit sickening after a few minutes of it wafting on their faces. It was as if they just happened upon a war zone. Where were the police? Where were the firefighters? There were people’s homes still burning. Where was the news? They had kept up with the news when electricity allowed it, which was most of the time. The news made it look like things were improving. They constantly showed the CMA camps and busloads of peaceful people being brought to a camp. Was it possible that large cities settled down and their small town was an anomaly? Yes, they knew the CMA camps were set up to help the people fleeing the violence in big cities, but the news showed a completely different picture. The group had discussed their thoughts on the matter at length, in wonder of what was going to happen to their country. They guessed that the camps were going to stay in place for some time due to the fact that distribution and supply chains seemed to be rerouted to them. They figured this out on an earlier trip to the grocery store. It was still empty.

Now, as they approached the store again, they saw it was even worse on this trip. Had there been a delivery of food in the past week that they missed? It was probably best that they missed it. The scene was of more bodies and more smoke billowing out of the store. It was either that the store had gotten some food and people charged the few items causing an all out battle or people became upset of the ever-empty store and decided to destroy it and each other.

Will and Alejandro came to their senses, breaking themselves out of the shock they were experiencing, and decided to rush home quickly. They could feel the watching eyes, most likely curious of their gas filled vehicle and the places far away that tank of gas could take them from this war zone. They saw one woman drop whatever she was carrying and turn in an all-out sprint away from them. They had looked at each other in confusion. They didn’t stop to find out. They rushed home and told the others. They collectively decided to stay in between the two properties and forget any trips to town for the time being. They reduced the use of any vehicles to emergency only. They had no way to get any more fuel. Will had been frustrated by the wasted drive and the wasted fuel.

They continued to watch the news nightly, as long as the power would allow it. They anticipated stories on what happened in Oakhurst, or perhaps to see similar scenes in larger cities. They were puzzled day after day when the news showed nothing of what they expected. They felt like they were in an isolated pit. They wondered how Oakhurst, a small town, turned into a war zone while everywhere else seemed to recover from the initial violence after the restructuring of the country took place. Needless to say, they made sure to always be armed. They imagined the only ones remaining in Oakhurst were those that would fight and kill and steal for what they wanted rather than work for it.

They gradually approached the drive to Lewis’s property, pushing on in the uphill climb. They enjoyed early morning air, dew clinging to the spring blooms. Still along the road that bordered his property was a thick hide of trees. All the properties on the road were like this. Maybe it was originally planned that way for privacy reasons. Looking up the long drive, one would think it lead nowhere; that if you decided to take this route, you’d be turning around once you got to the first bend past the thick patch of trees. Lewis had no fence surrounding his property. He had wanted a tall deer fence to keep them and other animals from grazing on his crops but never did put one up.

They paused partway up the drive for a rest. They each silently dreaded the work to come that day. They were already winded, needing a break. The work hadn’t even begun yet. They would be bending low, on hands and knees, pulling weeds and pruning. They would check for any problems with the plants, such as disease so that Lewis could quickly address the problem before it could spread too far. It was sure to take them a few days to finish this project. As if on cue, they all regathered their things and continued on.

As they passed the different blocked sections of strawberries, raspberries, potatoes, spinach, corn, and other plants they couldn’t identify by sight they slowed, considering what needed to be done in each plot. They were surprised to see Alejandro and Lewis not working in the gardens, but skinning a deer. It was tied up to a low-hanging branch of a large oak near Lewis’s house.

“Dad!” Lea blurted out in surprise of what she saw.

Alejandro and Lewis turned, they seemed to not realize the others had approached.

“Good morning everyone,” Alejandro said with a large smile. “We got lucky this morning,” he said holding an arm out to present the deer.

“Alejo, is this why you wanted to come out here so early? To hunt?” Juana said sarcastically, with a half smile on her face.

He laughed, “No, I really came to help Lewis with the plants. He had the rifle watching for the deer. Once we spotted this one coming in to feed on the plants he let me get it.” His smile grew, “To be honest, I’ve been hoping this would happen.”

Will chimed in, “You’ve been hoping to down a deer? Nice shot by the way. Well-placed.”

“That’s what I said,” Lewis added.

“Yeah, I’ve been out early every morning,” Alejandro said. “I see the deer around here and at our place. Since I’m normally working in the garden, I don’t have the rifle handy, just a sidearm.”

“You’ve been wanting to kill a deer?” Lea asked sounding somewhat sad in the question.

“Lea, there’s a lot of good meat on this,” Alejandro said. “We’ve got to have food. There’s none in the store anymore. This is how it’s done.”

“I know I know,” she said. “I just don’t like seeing it like this.”

“We should take you hunting then,” Will said grinning. “It’s a good skill to learn.”

“Oh, Will no. I don’t know,” she said almost sounding as if she was considering it.

“Juana, do you think we can get some of your jerky made from this?” Alejandro asked.

She stepped forward and further examined the deer.

“I don’t think we’ve ever made jerky from deer before but I figure it’ll be similar,” Juana said. “Lots of good meat on here it looks like.”

“Oh, of course,” Lewis said. “I’ve done jerky with deer many times. It makes for good jerky.”

“Ohhh,” Juana sounded out excitedly. “We’ll have to do both recipes and have a taste testing.”

“I see,” Lewis said smiling. “You are quite the competitor, it would seem. You’re on.”

They all laughed at the exchange.

“A cook-off seems like a long lost thing of a distant past,” Beth said. “Too weird. I’m looking forward to some jerky. We can make a good stew out this other meat too. Maybe do it for lunch tomorrow?”

“I’ll help,” Juana said. “We should probably start mid-morning tomorrow.”

With plans in mind and mouths watering for the stew they could hardly wait another day for, they began the grueling labor for the day. They each took their own plot next to each other and started working it back and forth, row by row. Alejandro and Lewis continued working on butchering the deer. The others were on their hands and knees, pulling weeds and pruning the plants as Lewis had instructed in the days before. If they noticed any insects or evidence of their recent dwelling on a plant, such as mostly eaten leaves, they were to show Lewis for his further analysis. He had a few different natural products to help rid his vegetables of the insects. He didn’t want to banish all bugs since some were beneficial to the life of the garden, only the ones that would destroy the plants to the point they were a worthless food source for him. He had a few different mixtures he would make up with a variety of products such as garlic, vegetable oil, coffee grounds, and even habanero peppers.

They were at least lucky in the sense that is was still spring and the indiscriminate pounding heat of the sun was not yet on their backs and being radiated off the earth into their faces. The nights and mornings were still cool and the afternoons were a comfortable warm. However, their toiling combined with the afternoon warmth was sure to exhaust them and drench them in sweat. While they took a break for lunch, they looked to the sky in hope of seeing cloud cover for the afternoon’s labors. Chances were good for this as most afternoons throughout the spring brought rain. They had set up rain collection at both Beth and Lewis’s properties. Lewis said he was wanting to hold off on using it until the summer time when the rain was more scarce. They were gifted with only a short rain shower in the mid-afternoon, but they were still thankful for the reprieve. The sun had reappeared from behind the clouds only a short hour later.

At dinnertime, they wrapped up their work for the day. They collected and accounted for all the tools they had brought and decided to store them at Lewis’s since they’d be back the next day. They gathered together on Lewis’s porch to review which plot of plants had been covered that day. Lewis had a notepad with a rough sketch of his property with the layout of the garden. He checked off the areas as each person listed the sections they had worked. He placed the pencil above his ear and examined the drawing.

“Looks like we covered just under half,” Lewis said. “That is with Alejandro and me working on the deer for most of the morning. I think we are slightly ahead of what I expected. Beth and Juana will start that deer stew tomorrow mid-morning.” He looked around the gardens and thought for a moment. “I had anticipated three full days of this work. I think we’ll have it done before noon on the third day if we continue at this pace. We could rest half a day and then have your gardens done the next. After that, we just keep an eye on it for a couple of weeks before we do this again. Make sure it all gets plenty of water. Keep looking for pests. I know I’ve told you this all before. I’m just repeating myself now.”

“We certainly appreciate the education,” Beth said.

“Yes, thank you,” Juana said. “I didn’t realize there was so much to know about farming.”

“Yes, yes. Just like any other specialty,” Lewis said. “I’m sure you know I could go on for hours and hours about farming.” He smiled at the thought of it. “We should all get some dinner. I’m sure we are all hungry after working like we did today.”

*****

After dinner, they began the two-mile walk back home, leaving Lewis alone as he had become accustomed to after many years. They could foresee themselves in their own beds. They imagined a deep sleep. Their aching and sore muscles and tender knees reminded them every step of their cozy, comfortable beds waiting for them. Waiting to draw them in and pull them closer. The sun was on its final descent below the trees and out of sight. It cast a unique and mesmerizing light; the type of light that made all objects have a new vibrancy and created new colors painted on the scattered clouds above. No doubt the continual smokey haze in the air contributed to the new combination of color and light. It was so brief that every occasion one could experience the sight it would cause wonder and awe. They stopped for a moment and stared up at the clouds, their faces still aglow with radiating heat from the day’s work. They continued on once the captivating masterpiece that God revealed for them faded away. And that is how they thought of it. They thought of it as if God did present them with this gift, at this particular moment, only for them.