The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken (12 page)

Rob looked him
over and said, "Don't worry about it, Jim.  It gets a lot easier.  And
don't think for a second that anybody slipping into camp armed to the teeth in
the middle of the night is going to hesitate to put a bullet between your
eyes."

"I know, I
know.  But I don't have to like it."

JANUARY 17
^th

This isn’t
as much fun as it used to be,
thought Luke as they progressed from basic
marksmanship to combat shooting and tactics.   They were going after people
sized targets with paint balls in the woods, but the instructors were there
shooting at them when they screwed up.  Luke took a paint ball in the arm when
he failed to look up when clearing an area.  He had yet to hit any of the
instructors. 
It’s creepy.

Classes with
Uncle Jim were cool, but they were much more serious now.  He got bruises from
most the classes.  Not that anyone was getting hurt, but some of the stuff sure
did hurt.  Uncle Jim talked about how your pain tolerance increases very
quickly. 
Yeah, right! Good pain, my ass!

The classes
would start with hand to hand, then knives and guns using the same concepts. 
He felt like he was training to be a SEAL or something.  When he said that, his
dad just laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world and told him,
“This is preschool compared to what those guys do.  But it’s still better than
most soldiers ever get.”

What really
sucked is that the adults had set up a track and a weight room and expected
everyone who could to run and lift weights.  The instructors would attack
runners at times to get them used to surprise attacks. 
It’s like PE class
except worse.  At least in PE class no one leapt up at you with a training
knife or a stick.  But at least they set up the volleyball and basketball
courts. 
They had also built a commons room that was used for everything
from hand to hand classes to work space for various indoor projects.
 

The girls
flirted with him all the time.  Julie said it was because he was safe, because
they couldn’t do anything with him.  Matt said it was because they were
teases.  Either way, he liked it. And it frustrated the hell out of him. 

My turn to
move. 
He crept quietly through the woods. 
I can’t believe it!  There’s
Julio. I can get him! 
He carefully stalked his prey until he had the
perfect position; he just needed to step out from behind the tree and… 
Shit! 
There was a knife point at his right jugular.
That’s a real knife!

The knife pulled
away and Uncle Jim said, “Good stalking, except for the part where you died. 
You've gotta' watch your six, kid.  Keep practicing.”

“Thanks Uncle
Jim.” 
And one of these days I’m going to put a paint ball on your forehead,
you sick bastard.

JANUARY 20
^th

It didn’t take
long for the RVs the girls were sharing to get far too small.  Julie told Susan
that she was getting worried that they’d end up killing each other.  Susan
answered, “Don’t worry; I’ll take care of it.    

Susan went to
work on Jim to let them finish the work on his Airstream so they could use
that, too.  He was very reluctant but finally gave in after she winked and promised
to make it up to him later.

All seven of
the girls dove into his Airstream project with enthusiasm.  The cabinets were
carefully removed and the plywood floor taken out in pieces.  Jim welded in
additional supports, allowing the floor to be replaced in 4 foot sections
without losing the support for the sides of the trailer.  He was ecstatic at
finally getting to finish the trailer, but was working hard at hiding it.  Susan
thought it was priceless.

They installed an
110v and a 12v system and a propane generator and solar panels.  Jim didn’t
trust the 65 year old stove and propane heater, so put in fire alarms with
carbon monoxide detectors and gave them a kerosene heater, along with
instructions to leave a window cracked when it was in use and three fire
extinguishers.  He also installed a trap door in the back of the trailer as a
fire exit.

By the time
they finished, the bathroom had been expanded and moved to the back of the
trailer, the floor was covered with vinyl tile that Jim had originally
purchased for that purpose, and the trailer was furnished with items out of Jim
and Susan’s storage, including a fold out sofa and a double bed.  There was not
a shower or a real stove, but it would be useable as more of a bedroom than an
efficiency apartment.  By now almost everyone was using the community showers
anyway just because they were more convenient and the hot water lasted longer. 

Susan let the
girls make curtains and decorate with stored items from the Vegas house.  Jim
cringed to think what would happen to his belongings, but had to admit that at
this point, it probably didn’t matter.

The girls were
thrilled beyond belief, Julie and Helen at getting their RV to themselves, and
the rest at having a households worth of furniture and other items to use to
help make their RV’s their own.  Rebecca and Pia chose to room together in an
extra fifth wheel and Angie and Samantha were happy enough with the motor home.

At 18, Jamie
was the youngest and seemed destined for the Airstream.  Fortunately she was
also the one who enjoyed working on it with Jim the most.  He really reminded
her of her dad sometimes, except with a better sense of humor.  And Aunt Susan
was the best.

Jamie's parents
were in Alaska and had been very clear with her that they wanted her to stay
put and not to try to come home during the crisis as it was far too dangerous. 
She missed them terribly, but had no way of knowing if they were okay or not. 
She was sure that if anyone would survive, it would be her parents. 

Jim and Susan let
her know that she could stay with them if the Airstream was too cold.  She
thanked them and said that she wouldn’t trade the trailer for anything.  Julie
gave her a cold weather sleeping bag rated for zero degrees.  She had a
heater.  It would be fine.  The only thing missing was any kind of real stove. 
Jamie said she was fine with using the cabin or the pub for that. 

Jim told Susan,
“I don’t care what you say, that’s a satisfying child.  Can we adopt her?”
Susan just laughed and kissed him.

   Aunt Susan
asked to speak with all of them tonight, so Julie had gathered all the girls
into her RV. 
I just hope they don’t make an ass of me,
Julie thought.  Helen
was passing pouring Chianti for everyone as Pia set a tray of cheese and summer
sausages on the kitchen table. 

Susan smiled at
the girls and said, “So much for roughing it.  I wanted a chance to talk to you
now that you’re settled in more.  I’m delighted that you’re all here.  We girls
need to stick together even more out here in the sticks, if for no other reason
than to keep the guys from turning into cave men.  You can all think of me as
Aunt Susan, okay?” 

They all
nodded.
 Here comes the catch,
thought Julie.

“First off, if
you have any issues with anyone, I want to know about it.  It’s too small of a
group to let things fester, and if any of the guys are acting inappropriately,
I want to nip it in the bud.

“The small size
of the community means that privacy is way too limited and emotions are going
to be a bit raw.  You’re going to have to give each other room and make
allowances.  It also means that I’m going to be keeping a thumb on any behavior
that interferes with the community.  Understand?

“Here are the
rules.  Stay clear of anything that even looks like flirting with the married
guys.  You’re going to have to go way out of your way to be very clear you’re
not going there.” 

Angie said,
“None of us are even interested in them.”

“Silly rabbit, it’s
not you I’m worried about.  It’s the wives who are going to be insecure and
paranoid having a gaggle of hotties running around.”  They all laughed at this.
“So you’re going to need to go out of your way to be helpful to, and get along
with,
all
of the women in camp.” 

Pia groaned. 
She had already had friction with Rita when helping to cook.

Susan laughed,
“Yeah, good luck with that.  But it’s incredibly important.  Trust me on this.

“The next thing
is that we’re pretty damn short on single men.  Unless you're into Manny or
Dave, you’re pretty well out of luck.  The boys are going to have to be off
limits for now.”  Seeing the expressions on the girls faces, Susan continued,
“You may not think that you’d go there now, but in a few months, Matt is going
to start looking pretty damn good to some of you.  Why, Rebecca, you’re
blushing.” 

The laughter
was contagious as they ribbed Rebecca and soon she joined in the laugh as well.

“It’s okay, you
have good taste.  He is my nephew after all,” Susan said, “but a teenager in
love is like a manic depressive off his meds taking random street drugs.  I
don’t want to have to clean up that mess.  I don’t even want to think what the
boy’s trailer bathroom smells like as it is now.”

Julie started
laughing and spit wine all over her t-shirt.

“Julie, dear,
please quit wasting the alcohol.”  The laughing only became louder.

“And the rest
of you, please, please, please, stop the collective effort to give Luke a
terminal case of blue balls.”

Julie was
crying now, she was laughing so hard. 

“So my point
is, this adventure is going to be a year or two of your lives, at most.  As
long as you follow the basic rules and don’t disrupt the community, I don’t
care who or what you do.  I’m sorry we don’t have more single guys for you, but
what can you do?

“I’m going to
go see if I can pull that man of mine away from whatever crazy project he’s
started now and make him pay attention to
me
for a while.  Thank you for
the wine, Helen.  Remember, no buns in the oven out here.   You don’t want Jim
delivering in an RV, or anywhere else. 

“Oh, and one last
thing, Julie told me a couple of weeks before we locked down that she wanted to
offer all of you a place out here and I insisted that she do so, and not tell
Rob.  It was devious, but it did let me do a little shopping ahead of time. 
Julie, could you get the present?”

Julie went into
the bedroom and brought out a large gift wrapped box that Susan had brought
over earlier.  “I’ll see all of you tomorrow,” Susan said as she left.    

Angie told
Julie, “Your aunt is nuts.  Aren’t you going to open it?”

Julie answered,
“I’m kind of afraid to.”

Rebecca and
Helen made it a moot point by tearing off the wrapping, pulling open the box,
and dumping it upside down on the table.  They were soon all screaming and
laughing.  There had to be a two year supply of condoms, a number of adult toys
still in packages, and a note that said, “These are some of my favorites.  Everybody
gets one, or two, or whatever.  Please be discreet throwing out the
packaging.” 

Helen opened
another bottle of wine as they tried to determine who would get stuck taking
home which devices.  In the end, they used a deck of cards, with the low card
of each hand choosing an item for someone else.  It was wrong, but hysterical.

Julie thought,
I
didn’t think I would ever laugh like that again.  Thank you Aunt Susan.

JANUARY 26
^th

Julie and Helen
were enjoying not having to share their fifth wheel any longer. 
It's nice
to come home to some privacy
, thought Julie.  During the early evening they
would sometimes run a small Honda generator off of a propane tank and watch
DVD’s, or they would use the 12v lights to read, or hang out and converse. 

Shortly after
they had gotten rid of Jamie, Julie asked, "I guess we can go back to one
of us using the sleeper sofa."

"I don't
want to go back to sleeping on it," said Helen.  "Do you want to go
back to sleeping on that lumpy thing?"

"Not when
you put it that way."

"Then
don't worry about it.  Unless you have gas, then you should definitely sleep on
the sofa."

Julie asked,
"What if you're the one with gas?"

"Then you
should definitely sleep on the sofa."

Helen had
finished her BA in sociology with a minor in economics and had been planning on
attending law school starting the next fall.  She had pushed Julie to spend
some of their prep time buying text books at college bookstores wherever they
went.  She had also spent a fortune on filling their e-books with hundreds of
books on many different subjects. 

Where Julie had
been fixated on preparations for the months after the virus, Helen’s focus was
on the question of, “then what?”   Helen had said right from the beginning,
“What good is it to survive only to be enslaved afterwards?”

Tonight’s
discussion was along the same lines.  “What you’re missing is that there are
people out there putting every second of thought into taking control of what
comes next,” Helen said.

“I don’t think
that any one person, or even a small group, will be able to control anything on
the macro level,” Julie answered.  “There’s too much complexity.”

“You deal with
the complexity by placing enough flexibility in the system to allow people to
believe they have a say.  You even allow obvious avenues for resistance to the
system because no system involving humans exists that doesn’t have someone
trying to tear it down, or at least defying it to prove to themselves that they
aren’t slaves of the system.

“From time to
time systems become too weak and corrupt to support their own weight.  It
happens in lots of different ways, but the primary characteristic is that the
system becomes increasingly dysfunctional until something resets it, such as an
external crisis, or it is replaced entirely.  Which one do you think we’re
dealing with here?”