She was talking rapidly, as if she was trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince Max.
“Don’t go trigger happy. We need information,” said Max. “As they say, dead men can’t talk.”
“Information? You mean if they know we’re here or not.”
“Exactly.”
They were both covered with a light dusting of snow that slowly grew as they walked.
“The forest seems so peaceful with the snow,” remarked Mandy.
“It’s not going to take much to change that…”
Suddenly, Mandy put her hand up.
Max fell silent.
Mandy stopped in her tracks, slightly ahead of Max.
She was peering off to the east. Max didn’t see anything, so he put his binoculars to his eyes and adjusted them as he scanned the snow-covered trees.
“I saw movement,” whispered Mandy.
“I’m not seeing anything,” said Max.
He put the binoculars down. Mandy had her rifle’s scope to her eye.
“I’m not either now,” said Mandy. “Maybe it was just an animal.”
“There are plenty of places to hide,” said Max. “If there’s someone out there, they had every chance to see us if you saw them.”
“What do we do?”
“We wait.”
“You think there’s someone out there, just staying still, behind a tree or something?”
“Exactly.”
“What if it was just an animal?”
“We can’t take the risk. I’ll use the binoculars. Don’t use your scope for now. Keep your eyes over there, but I need you looking around too. There’s a chance they snuck off and will come at us from another side.”
The minutes passed, and there was no more movement. The snow continued to fall, and the temperature was dropping further.
Max checked his watch, and hoped that those back at camp were keeping a good watch.
2
The snow was falling heavily now, and Josh shivered in the cold. He had on a large white parka, as well as a heavy Russian-style hat, and good, heavy boots. He was even wearing a merino wool sweater. It should have been enough to keep him warm. But he hadn’t eaten enough. His metabolism had slowed down, and his body wasn’t generating much heat.
They’d seen him. There were two of them. A man and a woman. Both were armed. He hadn’t gotten a look at their faces. Was it Max? Someone else?
Josh had his back flat against the tree trunk. The trunk was cold, and seemed to sap more heat from his body.
Surely they had at least one rifle trained on his position.
If he moved away from the tree, he’d be shot.
Josh clutched his own rifle, holding it tightly with his stiff hands. One piece of important gear he was missing were gloves thin enough that he could operate a gun.
Josh tried to keep his mind on the task at hand. But there was nothing to do. The only way to stay alive was not to move. And not to make any noise.
His mind started to wander as he remembered the events that had led up to him being out there, alone in the snowy woods, possibly about to die.
Josh was one of the few at the compound who hadn’t had an interest in disaster preparedness before the EMP. But his best friend had always been talking about it, and, at the time, Josh had been unemployed. He’d joined mostly because he’d needed something to do with his time. He’d never seriously thought that an event like the EMP would happen.
Now Dan was dead. Along with Kara. And a handful of others. And that didn’t even include the ones Max and his gang had killed.
The atmosphere in the compound had changed drastically. And rapidly. They’d been a fairly amiable group of guys at first.
Now, there was a thread of viciousness that ran through them all. They wanted revenge. They wanted someone to pay for their dead. They’d all lost friends, people they’d lived with and worked with.
The founding members of the compound had, with the exception of Josh, generally believed that they were planning the rest of their lives. Before the EMP, the compound had been a sort of fantasy that they fully expected to actually play out. But it had been more of a fantasy. It had been escapism in its best form. It’d been a way to get through the dull day jobs, and the monotony and drudgery of office life, of dead end jobs with low pay. They’d known they were different, that they were prepared.
That spirit had lived on past the EMP. Sure, the reality had been different than a lot of them had imagined. It’d been harsher, for one thing. The comforts of civilized life were no longer an option, no longer just a drive away. There was no going back.
But now, the dream had been shattered. The attack by Max’s group, along with Kara’s death, had splintered the dream into mere fragments. Sure, Kara herself had been changing the overall attitude. But Max had changed everything.
They’d all been willing to defend themselves, to use violence if necessary. But it had been thought of and talked about as a last resort.
Now, they were bloodthirsty.
When the scout from some militia had showed up, he’d been accepted with open arms. If he’d arrived a couple weeks ago, he would have been met with nothing but skepticism.
Instead, they all seemed eager to join forces with a militia, a group that ruled with force and violence and nothing else. It was the opposite of the principles of shared worked on which the compound had been founded.
Josh, and Josh alone, had remained skeptical. He’d stood in the shadows, in the corners, listening and not talking much.
To Josh, the militia obviously didn’t have the compound’s best interest at heart. They wanted to use them for their own ends.
And what did the militia want?
They wanted more power. They wanted new allies. As well as to expand into new territories.
The chaos and violence of anarchy was bad enough. Was a vicious military-ruled government really any better? Josh didn’t think so.
The militia was looking for certain pieces of technology. Things that still worked. Things that could be used in their conquests.
They wanted more radios, for one thing.
Josh had been there when the compound members had been showing Devon, the militia scout, their own radio. He’d been impressed that it still worked, and had wanted a demonstration.
That’s when they’d overheard the discussion between the two brothers, Max and John. It’d been one week ago to the day. Max had foolishly given away his position, so that his brother could come join him.
That had been everything they’d needed to know. Almost.
Max hadn’t given his exact position. More like a set of directions on how to find him. He’d been somewhat vague, perhaps knowing that it was possible others were listening.
If so, then he’d been clever. He’d given his brother a meeting place that wasn’t exactly the location of their camp.
The compound almost knew where Max was, and that he had one radio. And that his brother was coming with yet another.
It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Josh hadn’t wanted to go. He’d stayed in the corner, not speaking, hoping they’d forget about him.
But Johnson had volunteered himself, and then Josh along with them. They were to act as the scouting party.
The mission? Find Max’s exact location, leave unnoticed, and report back. In the meantime, the compound had other matters to attend to.
Josh looked up.
Johnson was walking towards him in his big white parka and his snowcap. Apparently he was unaware that there were two others here. He hadn’t seen them yet.
Josh waved his hand furiously at Johnson.
Johnson paused, looking confused.
He wasn’t known for being the brightest. He wore a confused expression on his face as he looked at Josh’s waving hand.