“Fine,” said Max. “But you’re taking Chad and James. Sadie, Georgia, and I will keep watch. Is that OK with you, Georgia?”
Georgia nodded. She was busy arranging the wood for the fire.
Mandy knew it was dangerous, heading out into the woods at night. But they needed water desperately. Her own throat was incredibly parched.
Mandy headed inside to fetch what was essentially a large plastic bag. She held one of the candles in front of her in order to see. Supposedly, it was better to use up the candles rather than the flashlight batteries. But either way, in a few weeks they wouldn’t have candles or batteries.
The plastic bag was one of the emergency supplies that Max had brought along. Right now, it just looked like a smallish piece of folded plastic, but once filled with water, it could hold enough water for all six of them for a few days.
When Mandy got back to the porch, Georgia was already trying to spark the cotton balls. She had her folding knife out, and was striking the spine of the blade against the fire steel, sending sparks showering over the Vaseline-soaked cotton balls.
The cotton balls caught, and Georgia carefully lit pieces of bark on fire, in order to set the rest of the structure on fire.
Everyone seemed half-asleep.
Max looked at her sleepily. Suddenly, though, he seemed to momentarily become more alert.
“You checked the packs of the attackers, right?” he said.
Mandy immediately felt like an idiot.
“I didn’t,” she said. “And I’m sure they had water.”
“It’s OK,” said Max. “We’re making a lot of mistakes. And we’ve got to be aware of that, and figure out how to stay alive while we inevitably keep making them.”
“I’ll check the packs,” said Mandy.
She went back inside the house to retrieve the packs. Georgia or Chad must have put them there in the living room, along with their assault rifles, which were leaning up neatly against the wall.
Mandy brought it all back outside.
She handed the guns to Max. “Maybe you’ll know something about these.”
Max began inspecting them, saying, “These could be useful. Very useful. This one’s cheap, but it’ll do.”
Mandy dug through the packs, which were full of a hodge-podge of things.
Fortunately, there was water.
“Looks like the trip is off,” said Mandy, feeling relief that she didn’t have to head into the dark forest.
Max nodded.
Mandy gave Sadie a full bottle first, then took one to Georgia, then Max. And finally she herself took a drink.
Georgia already had the fire roaring, and she was using her knife to carve spits for the meat.
Her thirst finally quenched, Mandy went to help Georgia. Mandy worked to cut the meat into pieces that could fit on the spits. She used the same Mora knife she’d used to defend herself earlier. For the most part, she did a good enough job keeping those thoughts at bay.
Max hobbled over to the fire, and soon enough they were grilling meat. The smell alone was delicious.
Once the meat was ready, no one could wait long enough for it to cool down properly. They ate the chunks of venison directly off the spits. The meat burned Mandy’s tongue, but she was too hungry to care.
“I’ll go relieve Chad,” said Mandy, getting up, after she’d scarfed down a few pieces of meat. Her stomach seemed to have shrunk in the last two weeks, and even when extremely hungry, she wasn’t able to eat as much as she’d once been able to.
“Before you go,” said Max. “Let’s take a quick vote now that we’ve eaten. Who thinks we should leave in the van for greener pastures? The other option is to stay here, while more strangers arrive. Possibly very dangerous strangers. Raise your hand if you want to leave. Everyone gets a vote.” He looked at James and Sadie as he spoke this last part.
Georgia raised her hand. “I’m with you, Max,” she said. “I don’t think we can last here. At least not until things calm down. Maybe we can head somewhere to hide out for a while before returning here.”
“That sounds like a possibility,” said Max.
In the end, they all voted to leave.
“I’ll tell Chad,” said Mandy. “It’s not like his vote is going to make a difference anyway.”
“I doubt he’ll want to stay after being stuck on the roof,” said Max.
Mandy felt better with food in her stomach, but she still felt like she was constantly on the brink of falling completely asleep.
Chad was patrolling the area in front of the house. She saw his figure moving in the moonlight, his rifle in front of him. He was trudging along, rather than walking. She could tell by his stride that he was dead tired.
Mandy had to admit that he now seemed to have something in him, something that made him keep going, no matter how bad things got.
“Chad,” she called out, waving at him. She wanted to make sure she didn’t startle him. If he thought she was a stranger, he might shoot her. Given the events of the day, it’d be understandable if he was a little jumpy and trigger happy.
“Hey,” said Chad, approaching her.
His voice sounded incredibly weary.
“You feeling OK?”
“Sure,” said Chad, but he didn’t look OK. Even in the darkness, she could see that his eyes appeared sunken with fatigue.
Mandy explained the plan that Max had come up with.
“Wow,” said Chad. “So what was this all for? Nothing?”
“What do you mean?”
“Defending this place, trying to keep it for ourselves. What was the point of it all?”
Suddenly, Mandy understood him. It made her feel empty and depressed. After all, they were headed yet again into the unknown. Would they ever find a place that was secure and safe? In only two short weeks, the farmhouse had come to feel like home for Mandy. Would she ever have that feeling again?
“Well,” said Mandy. “I don’t think we have much of a choice. Max is right. We probably won’t survive if we stay here. Maybe we can come back. You’d better go get something to eat, Chad.”
Chad nodded at her, and began trudging to the other side of the house.
Mandy was left alone in the darkness.
15
They had decided to leave as early as they could. Rather than let everyone sleep before leaving, they’d realized it made more sense to leave as soon as possible, and then let themselves sleep in the van. They were all exhausted, and they all needed a lot of sleep. But with three people on watch, they’d have to take turns sleeping. It’d take forever that way, and they wouldn’t be on the road before more strangers were likely to arrive.
Max was trying to do it all. He was trying to get everything in order. He was trying to figure out which provisions were crucial to take, and which weren’t. After all, the van may have been big enough to fit all of them, but it wasn’t big enough to fit all of them, plus all the gear, even considering the fact that they could attach quite a bit of it to the roof.
Max was currently rooting through the packs from the attackers, remarking on what would be useful and what wouldn’t.
It was clear that Max was beyond exhausted. He’d been shot in the leg. He needed to rest.
“Max,” said Georgia. “You can’t do it all. If you want to be useful to us, you’re going to have to live. And that means resting. Let us handle it. I don’t know what we’d do if you died on us.”
“I’m fine,” said Max, but even his voice sounded exhausted.
Georgia knew that she wasn’t going to be able to get Max to actually go to sleep. He wouldn’t do it.
“Just handle the bags there,” said Georgia. “I’ll get the van ready. OK?”
Max nodded. He was smart enough to know what he couldn’t do. Although sometimes, like everyone, he needed a reminder here and there of his own limitations.