This Shattered Land - 02 (6 page)

“Come
on,” I said, waving them in. “There might be more infected.”

They
moved. I locked the gate behind them before leading the way to the cabin.

“Welcome
to our bachelor pad.” I said as I took off my pack and placed it against the
wall near the entryway.

The
cabin was nothing to write home about. It had maybe a thousand square feet of
floor space, and that is being generous. It consisted of three plain, simple
rooms. The common room dominated most of the space. A wood-burning stove stood
close to the far wall with a tubular metal chimney running up and out through
the roof. Two threadbare, mismatched reclining chairs, in which Gabriel and I
spent most of the past winter trying to stave off the bitter cold, sat in front
of the stove. To the right of the entrance was a wall covered with shelves
sagging under the weight of various boxes. To the left, there was a small
kitchen and a large plastic barrel where we kept a ready supply of drinking
water. Shelves and cupboards lined almost all of the wall space in the cabin.
Strings festooned with strips of dried venison draped over the shelves and
racks in the kitchen, while canned goods and bundles of wild edibles gathered
from the forest filled the shelves.

Tom
and Sarah took a few steps inside. They seemed pleasantly surprised as they
looked around. Brian smiled and made a lap around the common room, stopping to
touch a few things as he made his circuit. Gabe pointed out where they could
put down their tools and supplies. Sarah turned to him as he stripped off his
pack and set it against the wall before slipping out of his heavy coat.

“You
can’t seriously expect us to believe that you are just going to give us this
place.” She said.

Gabriel
shot me a glance, and we both laughed at the same time. “Actually, ma’am, I
do
seriously expect you to believe that we are just going to give you this place.”
Gabe said, making a whirling gesture with one upraised finger to encompass the
room. “Like my friend told you, we’re getting ready to head out to Colorado. We
ain’t gonna need this cabin anymore, and there’s no sense in letting it go to
waste.”

Gabriel
and I unpacked everyone’s gear while Tom and his wife looked around. Brian
squatted down in front of the wood stove and opened it. The door made a
high-pitched metallic squeal as it swiveled out.

“Can
we start a fire?” He asked, looking at Gabriel.

“Brian,
don’t be a pest.” His mother said. Gabe laughed and knelt down next to the boy.

“A
fire sounds like a fine idea. Why don’t you help me bring in some firewood?”

Brian
popped to his feet and followed Gabe outside. I could hear them talking as the
big man stacked pieces of hickory and cedar in the boy’s arms. Tom took a step
closer to Sarah before putting an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him
and laid her face against his chest, circling her arms around his waist. I
caught Tom’s eye, and quietly made my way out the front door. He gave me a
grateful look and pointed outside at Brian. I nodded, and gave him a thumbs-up.

The
air outside was crisp, and a wind picked up from the south as I walked out into
the pale afternoon light. Normally, that wind would be warm and balmy by this
time of year, but lately the breeze had just been cold regardless of what direction
it came from.

Gabe
and Brian worked their way down to the end of the cabin along the woodpile.
Gabe was pointing out the different types of wood in it, and how to recognize
the trees they came from out in the forest. Brian, for his part, actually listened
and asked a few questions. He seemed like an intelligent kid. It reminded me
that Gabriel was a married man once, but his marriage fell apart because he
wanted children, and his ex-wife did not. Looking at my friend talking to
Brian, I could not help but think that he would have made a great father. He is
a scary looking man, and he has done some bad things in his life, but in spite
of that, he still has a big heart. The fact that he values our friendship has
always given me confidence that underneath my smart-ass exterior, I am at my
core a good and decent man. I walked over to them and patted Gabe on the
shoulder.

“Tom
and Sarah are taking a look around inside.” I said, staring hard at Gabe. He
gave a nearly imperceptible nod.

“Why
don’t we show Mr. Brian here the bunker?” He said, reaching down to ruffle the
kid’s hair with one huge hand.

“Sounds
like a winner. Come on, kid.” I said. “This is gonna blow your mind.”

Brian
followed along as I walked to the western end of the cabin. I reached down and
removed the burlap cloth covering the entrance hatch. Gabe pulled up on the
steel handle to reveal the ladder that descended down into the bunker.

“Whoa.”
Brian breathed. “What’s down there?”

I
smiled at him. “Come on down and see. Watch your step on the ladder.”

I
climbed down and picked up a Coleman lantern from a shelf at the bottom of the
ladder. Gabriel climbed down after me, laying a steadying hand on Brian’s
shoulder as he stepped into the dark room.

“Hold
up a minute, son. Let’s get some light in here.” He said.

I
struck a match against the wall and used it to light the lantern. The white
flame flickered for a moment, then grew as I twisted a knob and illuminated the
way ahead. I walked over to a laptop on a small table and spent a couple of seconds
clicking on activation icons. The bank of batteries under my feet, charged by
the solar panels on the cabin’s roof, powered the overhead lights into life.
Compact
fluorescents kicked on
with a few flutters and a faint buzzing sound.

Brian’s
eyes widened as he stepped forward. From where he stood, he saw a wide room
like a small warehouse that terminated at a white galvanized steel wall with a
door in the center. To his left and right were long rows of shelves that
climbed all the way to the ceiling. Most of the shelves contained foodstuffs,
tools, raw building materials, and Gerry cans filled with purified water.
Several barrels of salt stood in one corner, and on a high shelf next to them
were ten steel containers labeled “Treated Gasoline”. The last twenty feet of
the wall to our right held a wicked rack of weapons, tactical equipment, and
boxes upon boxes of ammunition. Brian stared in wonder as he looked over our
arsenal. He reached up a hand toward a Winchester model 70, but Gabe stopped
him by placing his massive paw in the way.

“Easy
now, son. Those ain’t toys you’re looking’ at.”

Brian
glanced up, and withdrew his hand.

“Sorry.”
He said. “They just look cool.”

Gabriel
laughed. It sounded like a bunch of rocks rattling around at the bottom of
barrel.

“I
agree, little man, but your mother would probably have a fit if I let you mess
around with ‘em. We’ll have to teach you proper gun discipline first.”

 
We spent a few minutes showing the little guy around the bunker explaining how
it worked, and how it interconnected with the cabin’s solar power system. The
boy was surprisingly knowledgeable, and asked questions that I would not have
expected from him. After about fifteen or twenty minutes, Gabe and I led him
back to the surface. I knocked a couple of times at the cabin before opening
the door. It felt a little odd, knocking on the door to my own home, but I
figured it wouldn’t hurt be polite. Tom and Sarah were sitting at the kitchen
table. Sarah’s smile was genuine and bright as we clomped inside. Brian charged
ahead of us and took his mother by the hand.

“Mom,
Dad, you have got to come see this!” He said, beaming.

 “What
honey, what is it?” Sarah asked.

“The
bunker I told you about.” Gabe said.

“Come
on, I’ll show you.” Brian tugged her up out of her chair.

She
cast a glance at us as her son led her out the door. Tom got up and followed
them. Brian scurried around the cabin dragging Sarah by the hand, stopping to
stand over the entrance hatch.

“It’s
down here.” He said, pointing.

His
parents stopped at the edge of the hatch. Their eyes grew wide as they stared
down the ladder, and then turned to look at us. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Go
on down.” I said. “
Mi casa es su casa
.”

Brian
scuttled down the ladder with his parents following behind. I glanced over at
Gabe and nudged him on the arm with my elbow. He gave a little laugh as we
climbed down. When we reached the bottom, Sarah and her husband were looking
around in open-mouthed astonishment.

“How
did you…why…” Sarah said, moving her hands around in a vague gesture.

“Who
the hell built this place?” Tom asked.

“I
hired a company that used to build things like this all over the world. Cost me
a pretty penny, but it was worth every dime.” Gabe replied.

“But
why? Why have it built to begin with?” Sarah asked.

Gabriel
stared at her for a moment, his expression darkening. He scowled, then turned
and slowly climbed back up the ladder without a word. A few seconds later, I
heard his footsteps crunching against the hard gravel as he walked back toward
the cabin. Sarah looked at me in confusion.

“I’m
sorry, did I say something wrong?” She asked.

“No,
it’s not you. Gabe is…well, he’s had a rough life.” I finished, lamely.

“He
looks it.” Tom said.

“He’s
smart though.” Brian piped up. “He knows a lot about trees, and electronics.”

I
laughed. “Gabe knows a lot about a lot of things. Come on, I’ll show you guys
around.”

I
spent a few minutes explaining what the various areas of the shelter contained,
and showed them the small living area at the other end of the bunker. It
consisted of a tiny bedroom, a kitchenette, and a small sitting area. There
used to be a couch, but we moved it and assembled a single bed in its place. It
was where I slept when we had to go underground to stay warm. I also showed
them the computer that controlled the lights and the security system. We left
the security system disabled most of the time because running it burned up too
much power. We hardly ever used the overhead lights for the same reason.

Tom
was amazed at the arsenal of weapons we had collected. He tried to calculate
how many rounds of ammunition there were, but he gave it up after a minute or
two. There were too many.

“What
are you going to do with all this stuff when you leave?” He asked.

I
shrugged. “We’ll take as much food as we can carry, some purified water, and a
few of the guns. Spare ammo too. We’ll also have to take all the gasoline, I’m
afraid. That MUV under the carport up there still works. We should have enough
fuel to get us clear of the Appalachian Range past the foothills. After that,
we’ll be going on foot. Most of this stuff will have to stay behind.”

“You
mean…we can keep it?” Sarah asked.

I
smiled at her. “Most of it, yeah.”

She
stared at me for a moment, and then walked over and hugged me. I laughed and
hugged her back.

“Thank
you. Thank you so much.” She said.

“You
can thank me by making good use of this stuff, and by taking care of my
Grandpa’s cabin.”

Tom
and Brian came over and put their arms around her. I could not even imagine what
those three went through to get there, crossing hundreds of miles of rough
mountain country on foot. Through the dark days after the Outbreak, the cabin
and the bunker beneath it had given me a strong sense of security, and a safe
place that I could call home. Out on the road, I knew that there would be no
safety. The only security I could expect to find would be what I bought with my
wits and with my rifle. It was a harsh reality, but I had come to terms with
it. Colorado held out hope for Gabe and I. Hope that we could return to some
semblance of society, and have a chance at starting our lives over again. It
was a slim hope, but we intended to pursue it.

*****

We
did not carry our canoe down to the river and leave for Marion for another two
weeks. The delay made me a little nervous about our timetable. I wanted to get
on the road to Colorado before old man winter showed up and tried to kill us
again. Gabriel insisted on staying for a little while and giving Tom and Brian
some basic combat training. I knew that there would be no use in arguing with
the big guy on this one, so I agreed to help. Gabe and Sarah handled the
firearms portion of their training, and I taught them basic hand-to-hand
combat. I was an avid martial artist before the Outbreak, and regular sparring
matches with Gabriel had kept my Jiu Jitsu and Krav Maga skills sharp.

Sarah
did a nice job of adapting the skills she learned at the FBI academy in
Quantico to address the threats her family was likely to face in a land without
rule of law. She actually taught
me
a thing or two, especially when it
came to handgun marksmanship and close-quarter combat tactics. A few sparring
matches, a black eye, several bruised ribs, and a couple of stitches under my
left cheekbone demonstrated that I had very little to teach her about
hand-to-hand fighting. Anyone who says ‘you hit like a girl’, and means it as
an insult, has clearly never caught a right cross from a woman like Sarah
Glover. Gabe gave me a bit of grief about it while he stitched up the gash
Sarah’s elbow opened up on my face. I suggested that if he thought he could do
better, maybe he should challenge her to a sparring match himself. That shut
him up.