“How you feeling?”
“Like shit,” muttered Georgia. “But I’m still alive.”
“Your kids think you’re asleep.”
“I just can’t stand them worrying about me so much. It’s easier to pretend I’m sleeping.”
“That doesn’t sound like you. You always confront everything head on.”
“I know,” muttered Georgia. Mandy could hear the intense pain her voice, in every syllable. “But the truth is it’s not that, really… I’m worried what’ll happen to them if I die.”
“You’re not going to die, Georgia.”
“Let’s be realistic. There’s a chance I might. No offense to Max, but he’s not a trained surgeon.”
Mandy nodded.
“I know he did the best he could, and I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for him. But if we’re being realistic, there could be a piece of the bullet still inside me. Or who knows, something might have been damaged inside me and we won’t know until it’s too late. Most likely, I’ll just die from an infection.”
“You’re on antibiotics. We’re not going to let you die.”
“I’m not trying to be morbid,” said Georgia, keeping her voice low so that her kids wouldn’t hear her. “But let’s just admit that it’s a real possibility. I’m no doctor, but I figure my body needs food along with antibiotics in order to fight off an infection.”
Mandy told Georgia about the squirrel.
“That’s good,” said Georgia. “But it’s just one squirrel. The fact is we don’t have enough food. And what are we going to do if Max doesn’t come back? Even if we don’t get discovered here, we’re not going to be able to make it.”
“We’ll figure something out,” said Mandy, but she wasn’t so sure.
“Just promise me you’ll take care of James and Sadie if something happens to me.”
“Of course. I’d treat them like my own. But you’re going to pull through, Georgia.”
But Mandy gazed down at Georgia, who lay on her stomach with clothing piled on top of her. She still wasn’t wearing a shirt, since they needed access to her wound to clean it and check it. She’d lost a lot of weight, as they all had. And over the last three days, she seemed to have grown much more gaunt.
Georgia was right. If Max didn’t come back, they were going to have a hell of a time surviving. It was time that they came up with a contingency plan in case something had happened to him.
3
“Do you see that?”
“Sure as hell I do,” said Dale.
“What?” said Cynthia.
The three of them were lying on their stomachs in the dead leaves of autumn. Kiki lay obediently near them, not making a sound.
John passed his pair of binoculars to Cynthia, removing the cord from around his neck.
“He’s armed,” said Cynthia, after a moment of holding the binoculars to her face.
“What do we do?” said John, looking to Dale.
Dale put his own binoculars down, folded them, and stuffed them into his front shirt pocket. They were a very small pair, and very high-quality.
“Probably send up two of us to go talk to him, and keep someone back here with the rifle trained on him.”
“Good plan. You’re the one with the rifle. Sounds like you should stay.”
“You’re the best shot. You should stay back.”
“If you leave me behind, I’ll probably accidentally shoot one of you,” muttered Cynthia.
She was pretty good with a handgun now, but she and John both knew they had work to do when it came to their marksmanship.
“I’ll stay then,” said Dale. “Be careful. You’re staying with me, Kiki.”
John nodded as he got up. He gave Cynthia a hand. She brushed some of the leaves and dirt off her clothes, but John didn’t bother. He’d joked before that some of the differences between men and women hadn’t changed even after the EMP. But of course the reality of it was that everyone had had to forgo the niceties that an intact civilization had provided, like clean clothes and showers.
Despite her efforts, Cynthia’s clothes, like his own, were filthy. But at least they were mostly intact, torn only partially around the ankles, where they’d caught on some thorns.
“Come on,” said John, gesturing with his chin towards the man.
They moved slowly, John going first. He kept his gun in its holster, but carried his rifle in both hands. They had about ten feet to go before they’d be visible to the guy.
John could hear Cynthia breathing heavily behind him. His own heart was already racing. He knew the feeling well. Every new encounter with a person had the potential to bring a whole host of problems and unforeseen possibilities.
The best thing to do, probably, was to appear like they weren’t a threat. But that would only work if the man they were approaching was an honest guy only looking to defend himself.
They’d have to rely on Dale to back them up.
Fortunately, Dale was just the sort of guy you wanted to have backing you up.
They were within sight now. John waved his arms, and called out.
“Howdy!”
The guy saw them. Froze. Hand didn’t go to his gun. That was a good sign.
John and Cynthia kept walking forward. She was walking abreast of him now.
“No sudden movements,” whispered John.
“You don’t need to tell me that. I don’t want to end this day with a bullet inside me.”
“We’ll see what we can do.”
“Hey there,” called out John, as they got closer.
The guy still wasn’t reaching for his gun. But he didn’t speak either. He just glared at them.
Finally, when they were about ten paces away from him, he spoke. “What can I do for you?”
It wasn’t much of a greeting. More practical than friendly. Which was fine. They weren’t going to judge the guy on how polite he might have been considered in a pre-EMP world.
“We’re looking for a compound,” said John. “A self-sufficient community. Not sure if it has a name or not. But we’ve been told it’s around here.”
The man was silent for a while. John took the time to study his face. He had an honest look about him. He wore unpretentious, but practical clothing. His clothes were well-worn, but they weren’t dirty. They stood in stark contrast to John and Cynthia’s own dirt-stained pants and shirts. He had a beard, but it was neatly trimmed. His hair, too, wasn’t overgrown, the way his own was.
“Why are you looking for it?”
That was good. It was something more than “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m looking for my brother. I heard on… a radio… that he was staying at this community.” John didn’t want to get into the details of the radio, and certainly didn’t want to mention that Dale had brought it along. It was one of his most valuable possessions in the post-EMP world, and he’d said there was no way he was leaving it behind.
“Your brother, eh?”
“Yup. My brother Max.”
“Max?”
John nodded.
A dark cloud appeared over the man’s face, and he made no effort to hide his emotions.
“I don’t know any Max.”
But that didn’t seem like the truth. There was something in the way he said it that made John think otherwise. And he wasn’t going to let it go. It was his brother, after all.
“Come on, just help me out here.”
“John, he says he doesn’t know anything,” said Cynthia.
“But I know he does. I can see it in his face.”
“OK,” said the guy. “I know who you’re talking about, but he’s not here anymore.”
“What do you mean? Where’d he go?”
The man shrugged. “Hard to say.”