No Easy Hope - 01 (24 page)

Earl chuckled briefly, then his smile faded and he was distant for a few moments.

“I sure miss that old bastard. We could sure as hell use him now.”

“So what happened next?” I asked.

Earl looked up and sighed.

“Nate sent us home to pack up as much food and clothing as we could carry, and told everybody to be ready to go by morning. He wanted to leave at nine o’clock sharp, and he wanted everybody who had a weapon to bring it with them. The next morning, the outbreak had reached Charlotte, and half the damn city was on fire. The sky was an ugly shade of orange, and ashes fell down like snow. Everything was covered in it. None of that seemed to faze Nate, though. He went around checking on people, and making sure everybody had what they needed. There were forty-four of us when we left. A week later, when we finally managed to reach this place, we were down to thirty.”

“Jesus.” I said. “You lost fourteen people on the way here?”

“Yeah, and we counted ourselves lucky not to have lost more. Nate got separated from us as we crossed over I-85 getting out of town. That’s where we lost most of them. Too many damn creeps, and not enough bullets. Nate and Ethan left the group to try and help a couple of kids trapped on top of a bus. Nate put me and Bill in charge, and told us to go on ahead. I thought Andrea was gonna burst a blood vessel or something, she was screaming so loud. Ethan gave his baby to Rick, and told me to carry Andrea across the highway.”

“Seriously?” I asked.

“Yeah, and she gave me one hell of an ass whooping, let me tell you. That little girl was kicking, and screaming, and biting like crazy. Damn near clawed my eyes out, but I got her across safe. We spent the rest of the day on the run, and made camp in the loft of a barn that Bill spotted not far from the road we were on. Ethan got back to us just before sundown, and he had Justin and Emily with him. I asked him what happened to his old man, and he said they got separated. He wasn’t sure if Nate made it out or not. I never seen Andrea cry like that, before or since.”

Earl shook his head, and reached down to grab the tequila. He poured a little more into his cup and handed me the bottle. I took another pull and coughed a little. I had a pretty good buzz going by then, and my eyelids were getting heavy. I opened my eyes when Earl started talking again.

“A few weeks later, I was out looking for supplies with Justin, when we spotted some folks on the road ahead of us. It was a couple and two kids. The father damn near shot us when we caught up to them. I talked them down, and once we convinced them that we didn’t mean any harm, I gave them some food and offered to lead them back here to the compound. They came with us and been here ever since. Not long after that, Rick and Greg were scouting around and ran into four more folks, bunch of college kids, that managed to escape the city. They were starving and scared, and when Rick brought them in and gave them all food, they huddled up into a little ball on the floor holding each other and crying.”

“Wow. That’s crazy.” I said.

“This whole damn world done gone crazy.” Earl replied. “I remember choking up a little bit when we brought them kids in. A month or so later, three of them wound up dead.”

“What happened?”

“They got fed, and comfortable, and decided that this place wasn’t where they wanted to be anymore. Well, three of ‘em anyway. I guess they figured they would be better off on their own. One of them was this little rat-faced weasel named Arthur that didn’t get along with Bill too good. He didn’t want to pitch in on things like guard duty, or waste pickup. Always argued with everybody, saying we didn’t need sentries. ‘That’s why we have walls.’ He used to say.

Bill finally got tired of his shit, and told him if he didn’t like the rules, he could take his chances out on the road. The kid backed down, but I didn’t like the look that came across his face once Bill turned his back. I knew he was planning something, I just didn’t know what. I said as much to Bill, and he told me to keep an eye on the boy. Couple of days later, Rick gets off watch and wakes him up for his shift. For once, the little shit doesn’t complain, and Rick knows something is up. He gets Bill, and they go outside like they gonna do a perimeter check. Soon as they get out of sight, Arthur and one of the guys on watch with him climb down and sneak back into the compound. It’s real early in the morning, and most folks are asleep.

They raid the gun locker, then put a bunch of food into some boxes, and run it out to one of our vehicles. The one on the roof is keeping watch. After six or seven trips, they get in the truck and the third one comes down from the roof. What they didn’t figure on was Bill disconnecting all the batteries for the trucks.”

“No shit. So Bill set them up?” I said.

“Sure did. He comes around the corner with Rick and a couple others. They all got guns trained on the truck and he tells them to get out. They know they’re caught, but they don’t move. Bill starts talking to them, trying to get them to come out. ‘Don’t you think it’s funny, you three being put on watch at the same time?’ he says. The boys start talking to each other, and get all agitated. Finally, they get out of the truck, but Arthur pulls his gun and goes to point it at Bill.

Bill doesn’t hesitate, he pops the kid in the chest with that hunting rifle of his. The other two freak out and pull their guns. Everybody’s so freaked out about Bill shooting Arthur, that they don’t realize the boys done drew down on them until they start shooting. Bill and Rick shoot them, but not before they hit two of the guys that came out with them. Their names were John and Gil. They was both gut shot.”

“Dear God.” I said.

Earl drained the rest of the tequila from his cup, and stared into it for a while. He picked up the tequila, and shook the bottle.

“Ain’t much left, you mind if I kill it?” He asked.

“Go ahead, dude. It’s all yours.”

After a story like that, I couldn’t very well deny the man a stiff drink.

“It took ‘em both a long time to die. They was in a lot of pain. Andrea, Ethan and Bill are the only ones with medical training, and they did what they could to help, but without proper medical equipment there wasn’t much they could do. Bill took it really hard. I swear he must have aged ten years in three days. He blamed himself for what happened, and wanted to step down as Sheriff. Ethan and a few of the others talked him out of it.”

“Sheriff?” I asked. I remembered Bill referring to Ethan, Earl and Justin as deputies.

“Yeah, not long after everyone got here, we had a meeting. Ethan and a couple others figured we needed to lay down some rules, and decide who was going to be in charge. We held an election, and Bill got elected. The first rule he put to a vote was calling his position Sheriff, and giving him the authority to name deputies to help maintain order. He figured making the position a form of law enforcement would keep things simpler.”

I nodded, and stifled a yawn.

“Well, that explains a lot.” I said.

Earl stood up from his chair and knocked back the last of the tequila.

“I’m gonna hit the sack. See you in the morning. Thanks for the booze.” He said as he went into his shack.

I got up and stumbled to my truck. I fished out my bedroll and laid it out on the concrete floor, stripped off my shirt, pants and boots, and laid down in my sleeping bag. I soon drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Chapter 9

Hangover

The next morning, I woke up with a headache and an awful taste in my mouth. I opened one eye and looked around me, disoriented. It took me a few seconds to remember where I was, and why I was not at home in my bed. I threw off the sleeping bag, and slowly got to my feet. I looked around for my clothes, which I had left in a pile next to my truck the night before, but they were gone. Just as I was about to start cursing, I noticed a white five-gallon bucket next to my sleeping bag with a note taped to it. I picked up the note and read it.

Good morning gorgeous,

Andrea sent me over to give you this bucket and get your dirty clothes. The folks on laundry duty this morning will wash them and dry them for you. If you need to do any business, or wash up, use the bucket and then take it outside to one of the blue barrels. That’s where we keep all the waste water.

Oh, by the way, I peeked under the cover. Not bad.

xoxo

-Stacy

Great.
I thought.
Now I have an admirer. I hope she’s cute, at least.

After relieving myself in the bucket, I opened my suitcase and took out a pair of mesh shorts, a t-shirt, and a pair of flip-flops. After getting dressed, I dug out my mess kit and set a Gerry can full of water on the ground next to my truck. I used the water to brush my teeth, then splashed some of it on my face and rubbed it on my head. After using the truck’s rear-view mirror to comb my hair, I got three ibuprofen tablets from my first aid kit and washed them down with a canteen full of water. There was a scratchy growth of beard on my face, but I didn’t feel like going through the trouble of shaving it off. I opened a box of food and wolfed down some Vienna wieners and a can of ravioli. Breakfast of champions.

With some food on my stomach, I felt a little more human and got to work straightening out my gear. I put away my sleeping bag and moved my suitcase back to the passenger seat. I checked the equipment on my load-bearing vest and reloaded the empty magazines. The guns didn’t look too much the worse for wear, but I cleaned them anyway. Better safe than sorry.

After tending to my weapons, I walked over to the common area to see if I could scare up some fuel for my truck. The compound was humming with activity. More than half of the people living there roamed back and forth carrying out one task or another, while others simply lounged about as though they were enjoying a day off from work. Ethan and Andrea were out in front of their shack with little Aiden. Justin and Emily sat in lawn chairs watching them. Ethan was reading a manual on how to clean his new SCAR rifle, and Andrea had Aiden by his little hands balancing him as he walked around. Evidently, he found vertical locomotion immensely entertaining, and giggled with the kind of unrestrained enthusiasm reserved only for small children.

“Come on Aiden, you’re doing so good!” Andrea said, as she held his hands and shuffled backward.

“I told you, babe, three months tops and that little man is walking.” Ethan remarked as he pulled the upper and lower portions of the rifle apart. He had stripped down to his waist due to the heat in the building, and large slabs of muscle rippled under his skin as he moved around.

“Look who decided to rejoin the land of the living.” Emily shouted to me, smiling.

I gave a half-hearted wave, and took a chair from a stack next to the little shelter. I sat down next to Justin as he offered me a bottle of water. I took it from him and stopped, staring at the bottle in surprise.

“This is cold.” I said.

Justin nodded. “There’s a big pond nearby. We put the bottles in nets, and sink them to the bottom overnight. The water down there is cold, and it chills the bottles.”

I opened the bottle and took a long drink. It was hot inside the compound, and the cold water felt wonderful. I held the bottle up to my temples, my ears, and the back of my neck.

“Dude, you have no idea how good this feels right now.” I said.

“Yes I do,” Justin replied, “I had a bit of a hangover myself this morning. By the way, fuck you very much for drinking my tequila.” He shot me a look of mock anger and nudged me in the shoulder with his elbow.

“Yeah, well, I had help. Besides, you didn’t seem too interested in it.” I shot Emily a meaningful glance. She laughed, and flicked some water at me.

“You’re just jealous. Everybody else here got laid last night.”

I thought about Vanessa, and looked down, my smile fading. Emily realized the sting her words had inflicted and came over to kneel down in front of me, taking one of my hands in hers.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by that, I was just kidding. I’m an idiot sometimes, I shouldn’t have said that.”