The No Where Apocalypse (Book 2): Surviving No Where (11 page)

A pile of something on the side of the road caught my attention. Something foreign, something not there a week ago.

The pile was horse crap, no doubt about it. Too big of a pile for deer or bear, and it certainly was not wolf droppings. My God, if one of those animals squeezed this out their cries would have been heard for 20 miles around.

“Tighten up everyone,” I said, in a tense tone. “Stay close together.”

I received questioning looks, but ignored them. We had visitors. And hardly any visitors in all of my days here were friendly.

“Yep, that’s definitely horse shit,” Dizzy confirmed, kicking at the pile with the toe of his boot. “And there’s more?”

I nodded stoically. “Yeah, this is the closest pile, but there’s four or five more down towards my place. Beginning at about the halfway mark.”

Dizzy flashed his eyes at me. “So, what you thinking?”

What was I thinking? I hadn’t seen anyone in weeks, much less someone on horseback. The last I knew the Covington gang was on foot. I couldn’t recall seeing any animals of that sort in my one visit there.

“Someone was here,” I said, searching the road to the south. Placing my hand on my brow, I squinted into the bright sunshine. As expected, nothing was there. Nothing except endless forest and crumbling blacktop.

“I didn’t see no one,” Dizzy stated, wandering to the side of the road to empty his bladder. “So they must have come at night, right?”

Maybe. No, the answer had to be yes. I spent most of the daylight hours in the front yard. When I wasn’t there, I usually stared out the front window. Perhaps they hadn’t made it down as far as me.

“You would have heard horse hoofs if they passed by,” I stated, glancing back at Dizzy pulling up his zipper. “Even at night you would think someone would have heard that sound. I mean it’s so quiet, you’d have to.”

We stared together a half-mile or so to the north, at Lettie’s.

“They could have passed in the woods,” he added, waving me forward back home, Lettie’s home. “But if they did that for every empty home on this road it would take forever.”

Pulling at Dizzy’s arm, we both stopped. “Someone is checking us out, Dizzy. They have transportation we don’t have. Does old man Wilson have horses?”

He thought for a moment and then answered no.

“Okay, here’s the way I see it,” I continued. “We need to keep a super close eye on the road until we know what’s going on. Agreed?”

He nodded and we began walking again.

“So, Violet’s really pregnant?” he asked, grinning like some schoolboy. “Who’d a thought?”

Yeah, we couldn’t change the teen’s condition. But we could be more on guard against whatever nefarious unseen forces closing in on our territory. We had to be.

Year 3 - late summer - WOP

We ate dinner in complete silence. Even the silverware on the plates made very little sound. Only Nate bothered to speak, and that was little. Lettie’s eyes scanned the table, pausing on mine, winking. Thank God for Lettie.

Since coffee, tea, lemonade, and all other forms of beverages were depleted, Lettie walked around the table refilling glasses with fresh water. When she was done, she took her place and crossed her frail arms.

“Well, this is a happy group,” she spouted. “From the looks on everyone’s face you would think we were all going to die tomorrow. Come on,” she signaled with the wave of a hand, “let’s get our problems out in the open.”

Marge leapt from her chair, causing it to fall back and crash on the dirty linoleum floor.

“I can’t believe my own daughter took her issues to another woman,” she cried. “She completely ignored my feelings and went behind my back. Her own mother!”

Tears came immediately to Violet and I noticed Dizzy and Nate stared wishfully at the back door.
Take me with you, boys.

Daisy rose and immediately went to attempt to comfort Marge.

“She was scared,” Daisy said softly. “She loves you so much, but she was so scared to admit it to you.”

Turning away from the smaller woman, Marge glared at her daughter. “I’m a nurse, for God’s sake. I knew darn well you were up to something, young lady. What do you have to say for yourself?”

I gave Violet credit for not sprinting from her spot and taking refuge in her room. “I’m sorry, Mother,” she wept. “I’m so sorry.”

“Well that doesn’t change anything,” Marge retorted, turning back to Daisy. “And what advice did you have for my daughter that I couldn’t give.”

Daisy folded her hands and nodded. “All I could tell her was that she has to be honest with you. Something I didn’t do with my own family. I thought I could hide it from them, but that was wrong.” Gently, she placed a hand on Marge’s still folded arms. “It’s important we stay together. We can’t let this destroy your family, Marge. That’s the most important thing.”

Wiping away a stray tear, I noticed Marge’s expression soften. “Well, that’s fairly sound advice, I’d say.”

Lettie cleared her throat. “What’s done is done. Can’t corral the cows once they’re out of the gate. We need to move forward.” She looked at me. “You think the baby will be all right?”

Me? She wanted my opinion? “I’m not sure what you mean, Lettie?”

Her old eyes narrowed. “Some sort of radiation caused all this hell. Is it going to affect the baby?”

“I don’t think so, Lettie,” Marge replied, moving to stand behind her daughter. “I still have a stethoscope. We should be able to hear the baby’s heartbeat in a month or two. By five months, Violet will feel the baby move. Maybe sooner.”

“We’ve got a bigger issue, folks,” I said, leaning on my elbows. “Someone is watching us.”

Lettie huffed and tossed at hand my direction. “Based on horse apples.”

“That weren’t there before,” I countered sharply. “I’m not saying I think someone was out front on our road. Someone
was
out there. And I bet if I go north a ways, I’ll find more.”

Nate finally broke for the rear door and found release from all the adult talk he so dreadfully hated. Dizzy rocked on his chair, but stayed in place with a harsh glare from his love interest.

“So what do you suggest, Bob?” Daisy asked. I felt her hand move to my lap, where mine stayed planted.

Libby nestled in closer to Violet. I noticed Marge move closer to Dizzy. Lettie stared at me, nodding. Though she usually played devil’s advocate, she agreed there was a heightened sense of danger now.

“We all need to stay together until we know what’s out there,” I said, searching everyone’s eyes for agreement. “And we need someone standing post twenty-four-seven. Someone with a gun needs to be watching the road at all times.”

Lettie slapped the table and everyone flinched. “Agreed!” she said in a hoarse voice. “I’ll take first watch.”

“Does that include me?” Violet asked in a quiet voice.

“Of course not,” Daisy replied, smiling at the girl. I noticed her peek at me for confirmation.

“Yes it does, Violet,” I affirmed. “Whether that means from inside the house at the front window, or outside as allowed, we’ll have to see. Everyone but Nate and Libby needs to be part of this. And even they can be on alert so if they see something coming they warn the group.”

When I looked at the others, their sober expressions stared mostly at their empty plates.

“So this is what life has come to?” Marge asked morosely. “Surviving like this, gun in hand.”

Yes, this is what was left of surviving. And that was still better than the other option.

Year 3 - early fall - WOP

Fifteen days and nothing. That was good, in one sense. While we watched the road with steely eyes, no one had attacked us and tried to take what was ours. It also meant, not as good in my mind, that someone was still coming. And that as bad.

Only one time, late one evening after everyone was in bed did Dizzy call out for me. Something was in the brush, just the other side of the road. At first, I thought he had simply spooked and came for me for no good reason. As I was about to dismiss his anxiety, I too heard the sound.

With guns in hand, we inched from Lettie’s driveway careful not to shuffle the gravel beneath our feet. Once on the road, the sound became louder.

Cupping an ear, I pinpointed the crackles of twigs and leaves, pointing at the spot to Dizzy. He nodded in the moonlight darkness, and we moved closer, finger on the triggers of our handguns.

When the opossum wandered out of the brush and between us on the road, I almost filled my pants. Later Dizzy admitted the same to me. How one small animal could make enough noise to alert two grown men so badly was beyond me. Maybe that was the attentiveness we needed to survive.

I carried a cardboard box full of red ripened tomatoes to the garage. Their fresh aroma filled the air in the small enclosure with a renewed sense of purpose. Tomatoes now, next month potatoes. That along with what we had already harvested would last our group of eight through the coming winter and into spring.
 

By late spring, we’d be nine. However, Daisy reminded me babies didn’t eat solid food for more than a year. Good; more for me…for the time being.

Against my wishes, Nate was on guard duty. I argued that his youthful attention was better suited for fishing, harvesting, laying out back in the grass, and playing dolls with Libby. However, his mother, and grandmother, insisted. Damn that Lettie for taking these people in and making them her own…in every way.

Inside the garage the women — Lettie, Marge, and Daisy — boiled the red fruit in batches. Once they were at the right consistency, Lettie’s call, they placed them in jars and boiled the jars in another cauldron of water for preserving. I wasn’t sure how many jars were already done, but the number on the workbench couldn’t be counted quickly.

My helper for the harvest, Violet, wandered over to the pump and fetched us each a cup of water. I flashed her a smile as she handed it to me.

“Another hour or so, and we should be done,” I reported, wiping some dirt from my hands onto my pants.

She craned her neck skyward. “Another hour and I bet it’ll be raining,” she replied, turning to join me in the far end of the garden to continue.

“Dizzy say when he’d be back?” I asked, tossing another tomato in the box.

She shook her head. How was she to know, I supposed. He was hunting again. Deer were on the move and, according to Dizzy, the best time to catch them wandering about was right before the weather changed. So right after breakfast he left with Lettie’s old 30-30 in hand. Hopefully he’d take one, maybe even two, before dark.

“You feeling okay?” I asked Violet, peeking up at her.

She nodded again and opened her mouth to speak, but stopped suddenly. Her eyes weren’t on me, I noticed. They were glued towards the front of the house.

“Bob,” she whispered, pointing a single trembling finger at the driveway, “we got a problem.”

Year 3 - early fall - WOP

How a man, on a horse, with a large caliber rifle appeared in our driveway was beyond me. But there he was, some 20 yards away. Reaching for my gun, I saw his face tense.

He shook his head as if he were disappointed with me. “I wouldn’t do that,” he said, pointing his rifle at me. “Why don’t you have that girl there run that over and lay it by my horse?”

Carefully I handed my gun to Violet. “Nice and easy,” I cautioned to her, giving her shaking hands a small squeeze. “Let’s not get these people excited.”

She did as asked and backed away while he watched her. “Good,” he stated. “Now everyone come out of that garage and line up on the driveway.” He waved the gun at me. “You do the same, mister. Nice and slow like.”

As we stood before him, he whistled and two more riders on horseback appeared. Where Nate had wondered off to, I was at a loss to say.

“What do you want?” I demanded. I noticed he took no offense. Instead, he grinned at us.

“I’m told we can find a decent stockpile of food here,” he said in an easy way. “So why don’t we have that sweet girl there help my people load up whatever you got?” He pointed the rifle at Violet.

“No!” I barked. “Let me do it. Leave her out of this.”

His head waggled back and forth. “Nah, I want you here so I can keep a close eye on you. I was told there were two men here; where’s the other?”
 

The gun settled on Marge. “He’s out hunting. Please leave my daughter out of this. I’ll lead them to whatever they want.”

On the road two horsemen, horsewomen actually, appeared. All five carried long rifles and the two other men in the driveway had knives. We need to be careful with this bunch.

I noticed a small wagon attached to the rear of one of the horses on the road. These people came prepared. While it wasn’t the biggest wagon I’d ever seen, it had plenty of room to wipe us out.

After the two men dismounted, Violet led them around to the rear door of Lettie’s place. If she were convincing enough, they’d only raid the pantry and make off with a smaller bounty. If they became suspicious of the smallish size of our stores, she’d have no choice but to show them to the underground storm cellar.

A whoop carried out the back door as one of the men stepped out with an armload of clear glass jars…our food. The second man led Violet back into the yard. In each of their arms was more.

“Looks like four or five trips and we’ll have them cleaned out,” the first man said, passing his boss on the way to the wagon.

The boss nodded at the food. “Seems like a decent amount, probably not done with the harvest yet I suppose.” His dark eyes drifted back to me. “Why don’t you have those three ladies go dig us up a couple boxes of fresh potatoes?”

I shrugged at him. “Potatoes?”

He sighed, shaking his head. “Don’t play dumb with me, pal. I can see potato plants back there in the rear. Either they dig them up or my gang and I spend ten minutes trampling what’s ever left back there. Your choice, partner.”

I glanced at Lettie and we shared a tight stare. Finally, we both nodded at the same time. A couple boxes of spuds would hurt, but it wouldn’t be our last.

I watched Violet and the two ruffians make another lap and they continued their robbing. What they were taking represented half of our stock. Preserving the other half was essential. It was the difference between life and a slow death this winter.