This Fallen World, page 21
part #1 of Fallen World Series
I sighed and pointed to the chair she was talking about.
He sat down with tears still rolling down his face.
“Now calm down for a moment,” she said as she pulled the other rocking chair forward. Then she eased herself down into the chair.
Something about a woman who is seven months pregnant didn’t trigger his fear impulses as much as my ugly mug.
Slowly Neave began to speak in Spanish. She was slow and halting, but the boy’s eyes widened.
“I speak little English,” he said after a moment. “You not kill me?”
“Heavens, no,” she said. “But you have to tell us who you are.”
“We escape city,” he said. “Mi familia. We hide from bad men.”
“Your family,” she said. “Are they ok?”
“We starving, Señora.” He raised his hands pleadingly. “I sorry for steal huevos. I not take all. This man scare me.”
She looked at me with one eyebrow raised.
“What?”
She just shook her head.
Grady snorted. “Didn’t take the boy long to figure him out.”
“Really? Hell, he scared the bejesus out of me. I was trying to sleep.”
“Were you, now?”
“How many of you are hidden out there?” I said, changing the subject.
He gulped. “There are twenty…four. I take one huevo for each. Except last time. Took extra for mi hermana. She very weak.”
“This is what’s going to happen,” I said. “You’re going to lead me back to your family.”
“No hurt them!”
“Not going to hurt them,” I said. “Going to feed them and bring them back here. We will help you all.”
I reached into my pack and pulled the last of my jerky from the wax pouch. His eyes widened as he saw it.
“Here, take a piece. Save the rest for your hermana. Tell me. Can your people travel? I will take food for tonight with us.”
“They are weak. Only three can search for food.”
“Grady, go get us some of the patrol packs. At least five. That should do a couple days for twenty folks or so.”
“Gotcha, Boss.”
Pop was smiling.
“What?”
“Iron hand,” he said with a grin.
“Shut up.” I grinned back.
Not everything has to be terrible in a Fallen World.
* * * * *
Chapter 15
“I want to start a school.”
I raised my head from the pillow to look at her. She was standing in front of the mirror running her hands across her swollen belly.
“Okay.”
She looked back at me in surprise.
“We’ve got sixteen children running around the compound,” I said. “They need to remember a world that isn’t like this.”
“I love you, Zebadiah Pratt,” she said and sat back down on the edge of the bed. “And I want something before we have this child.”
“I do to,” I said. “Will you marry me, Neave Dalton?”
She was in my arms, and all I could hear was, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes….”
* * *
“You’re filling the wagon with books?”
“I certainly am,” I said.
Logan Withman just shook his head.
“Not just any books,” I said. “We’re going to hit the elementary schools and see if we can find enough text books to work with our kids.”
“Barely surviving, and you’re worried about a school?”
“Yep.”
“I guess it beats hauling corn.” He shrugged. “So, where too?”
I mounted Dagger. “The closest was Oliver Springs. I imagine we should start there.”
“You’re the boss,” he said, climbing onto the wagon we had harnessed to a pair of horses.
“I’ll ride ahead and scout the trail,” I said as Jimmy jumped onto the wagon seat alongside Logan.
“Hope we don’t get hit while you’re out too far.”
“Don’t worry, you got Jimmy with the wagon.”
“He doesn’t even carry a gun.”
I laughed.
“What?” Logan asked.
“You get hit, I’ll wager they’ll regret it.”
“If I need a gun, I’ll take one of theirs,” Jimmy said.
“Really?”
“Yes,” Jimmy answered.
“Don’t even doubt it,” Grady said as he rode past on Kennedy.
“Have to wonder what I got myself into,” he muttered. “You damn farmers are crazy.”
I just grinned and gave Dagger a light tap with my heels. He moved out in a light canter that would eat up distance. He could go at this pace for long periods of time. We reached the road, and I held Dagger to the side of the pavement. Pavement was rough on a horse’s hoofs if they weren’t wearing the right horseshoes. They used to make some that gripped the pavement but all we had was the regular metal shoes for most of the horses. Old Sammel the wagon horse had the only pair of road shoes we had found. They had a coating on them which helped with the slippage.
“Why would he call us crazy?” I said and patted the side of Dagger’s neck.
The big black horse snorted.
“Yeah, you got a point.” I sighed as I looked toward the east. “More rain,” I muttered and pulled the poncho from my saddle bags.
I was wearing the long coat I had gotten waxed, but the poncho was still better at shedding water. It would also spread out to cover most of Dagger’s back. He could stay semi dry under it.
“Alright, boy,” I said. “Let’s go see what they left us at Oliver Springs.”
The rain started shortly before I reached the school, and the big covered entry was welcome. Dismounting, I walked to the doors. There were four entry doors, and I was surprised to find them unlocked. Propping the first door open, I returned and opened its counterpart, leaving a six-foot-wide opening for Dagger to follow me inside.
“Let’s give this place a good look, buddy,” I said, walking down the large hallway. There were three sets of double doors on the right and another three on the left just ahead of us.
“My guess is cafeteria and gym,” I muttered.
Dagger snorted.
“You don’t think so?”
He snorted again.
“Well I think it is.”
Dagger’s ears turned forward, and his head came up. He was looking further down the hall. My eyes narrowed, and I slipped my .45 from its holster. Holding it in close to my chest with the barrel angled downward, I moved down the hall in the direction he was looking.
“Horsey,” I heard a whisper.
“Shhh.”
I stopped. “Alright, now, you can come out. I’m not going to hurt you.”
There was silence for a moment before two shadows moved from the darkness.
“Mister,” a small voice said. “Miss DiGeret told us not to trust anyone. But she’s really sick, and we need some help.”
The speaker was a little girl who looked to be about ten years old.
“Is she here?”
“Yes, sir,” the girl answered. “She’s in our classroom.”
“Take me to her, and I’ll see if I can help.”
“She’s gonna be mad,” the other kid said. He was younger than the girl.
“I don’t know what else to do, Timmy.”
I pointed to the boy. “You want to ride the horse?”
“Really?”
“Yeah, come on.”
The boy walked up with wide eyes staring at Dagger. I turned the big horse so he could see the kid. He dropped his head and blew air into the boy’s face.
“Dagger, this is Timmy.” I grinned as Dagger nudged the kid with his nose. “Timmy, this is Dagger.”
Timmy reached out and petted the horse’s nose.
“Come here, I’ll put you on his back.”
He smelled like a dirty little boy, and I smiled as he perched in the big saddle.
“Hold tight to that saddle horn, kid.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ok, little lady, lead me to Miss DiGeret.”
She nodded and proceeded down the hall. The door we stopped near was just a single door so I left Dagger in the hall and followed the two children into the room. There were seven kids besides Timmy and the girl. A pile of blankets in the corner moved, and I was staring into bloodshot eyes.
“Oh, Regina,” the pale faced woman said as she tried to sit up and failed. “What have you done?”
“You’re Miss DiGeret?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Zee Pratt and this little lady told me you needed some help. I’m a farmer from up near the county line. We’ve got a doctor there if you think you can make the journey. If not I’ll get him out here.”
“I can’t even seem to get out of this pile of blankets, Mister Pratt.”
“I’ve got a wagon coming that should get here in about two hours. Do you have any idea what is wrong with you?”
“Unfortunately, I do,” she said. “There’s nothing your doctor can do for me. It’s not treatable anymore.”
I nodded.
“We can get you somewhere more comfortable, at the least.”
“Just take care of my children,” she said. “I’ve heard the stories about what is going on out there. I couldn’t bear to see that happen to them.”
“The farmers won’t let that happen to them.”
“I have heard stories about some farmers.” she smiled. The door pushed open, and Dagger poked his head through. “My children have stayed hidden but they’ve watched some of what has happened.”
Several kids squealed as Dagger pushed his way through the door.
I looked over at the gelding. “What? Did you get lonely?”
He snorted.
“Horses.” I shook my head. “What are you gonna do?”
The teacher chuckled.
“We’ll get you back to the farm and let Doc have a look at you. He’s got some of the meds we’ve gathered. Maybe something you can use.”
“It is doubtful, Mister Pratt,” she said. “But there is always hope.”
Yes, there is, I thought. Even in this Fallen World.
* * * * *
Chapter 16
“There’s not much I can do for her, Zee,” Doc said. “I have some meds that will help for a few months, but no more than that.”
“Just do what you can, Doc.” I gripped his shoulder. “She kept those kids alive. She’s good people, and there aren’t as many of those in the world as one would think.”
“That’s the truth.” He shook his head. “I heard a saying once that people are nine meals away from barbarism.”
“It’s about right. Hungry people aren’t people anymore. You’ll see what they’re capable of when the food runs out. We’ve been lucky enough to avoid that. You can look in some of these people’s eyes and see what that toll is. What they did still haunts some of them.”
“Yeah, but some of them don’t seem to be phased by it.”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve had a girl in here with some injuries. Suspicious injuries. I think she was raped, but she won’t say anything. She wouldn’t let me do a full examination.”
“There have been a lot of those.”
“Yes, but they arrived in that shape.”
I stiffened and my eyes narrowed.
“Exactly,” he said. “This happened here.”
My eye twitched.
“I’m going to give you her name so you can keep an eye on her.”
“You do that,” I said. “We’re not having that happen here. I’ll be damned if we’ll let that go.”
“I agree,” he said. “Her name is Gail Fontaine. She’s twelve years old. Her and her father came to us about a month back as refugees. He was Obsidian Special Forces before all this and he’s Farmer’s Guard now.”
“Yeah, I remember him. Kord, or Kort, I think.”
“Kord,” he said. “Some of the guys who train with him have been in here.”
I nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on the girl.”
“Thanks, Zee.”
“Anything else going on?”
“Couple of new guys,” he said. “One came from the west with a bullet in his arm. The other from the east claiming to be a refugee.”
“Claiming?”
“I’m not sure why I said it that way.” he frowned. “Something doesn’t sit right with me but who knows? He went right to work. Turnbull is starting him training with the recruits.”
“I’ll get with Turnbull.”
“The other guy is in the Commons but his arm is patched up. He claims a machine gun turret took out two of his friends and nearly got him.”
“A turret?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Out in the middle of nowhere.”
“I probably want to talk to him.”
“I thought you might.”
“Turrets run on power,” I said. “If it’s still up and running, there’s power to it. I’d like to see where it’s coming from.”
“His name is Curtis.”
“Ok, I’ll find him.”
I turned and exited the infirmary. The girl worried me. If someone was trying to do that here in the compound it would need to be stopped in a hurry. Turning the corner, I caught sight of Gary, across the central square.
“Yo, Gee!”
He turned and smiled as he saw me. “Hey, Zee!”
I motioned for him to come over and waited for him to cross the square.
“I have something I need you to do.”
“Whatever you need, Zee.”
“I need you to keep an eye on someone for me. Report back to me and me alone. And Gee, don’t be seen.”
“Yes, sir. Who do I need to watch?”
“A girl named Fontaine.”
“Gail?” he asked. “What’s wrong with Gail? Did she do something?”
“No, I think someone has done something to her, and I need to find out who.”
I could see his face harden as I spoke the words. He was just a couple of years older than Gail.
“Someone hurt her?” he asked through grinding teeth.
“I think so, Gee.” I gripped his shoulder. “I need to know the places she is afraid to go. Watch her and don’t interfere. You report to me, and I will take care of things.”
“Yes, sir.”
* * *
“You’re Pratt?”
I turned to find a tall man with his arm in a sling. He was thin from too many days hungry, but I could see he was gaining strength from the solid meals he’d received since showing up.
“You must be Curtis,” I said.
“Yes, sir.”
“Doc told me a little about what you ran into out there,” I continued. “You care to tell me about it?”
“It was a complete surprise.” He wiped his brow with the unhurt arm. “Terry was right in front of me or I would have been done for. The damn thing popped right up out of the ground and just started firing.”
“Out in the middle of nowhere?”
He looked a little guilty. “We found a fence that was knocked down. We should have tried to look at the signs that were on the fence. We just thought there might be food inside. I never saw a building but we didn’t make it around the hill to look before the gun started firing.”
I nodded.
“It killed Terry and Fox before we could do anything. I ran and it stopped firing. It had to be set up on a sensor or something.”
“Could you show me on a map where you found it?”
“If you go out there, you be careful,” he said. “There wasn’t any warning. It just popped up and started firing.”
“We’ll be careful,” I said. “At the least we need to post warnings so others don’t wander in and get shot.”
“Yes, sir.”
The door opened behind us and I turned to find Gary standing there. I could tell he was barely containing his anger.
“I’ll talk to you after a while about that map, Curtis.”
“I’ll be waiting, sir.”
Curtis exited the door, looking nervously at Gary.
“What is it, Gee?”
“You were right, sir,” he said through clinched jaws. “But it wasn’t anyplace she went in the last few days. The only time I saw her hesitate was when she had to go home. I followed her home today. She must have been late or something, because he met her at the door and yanked her inside. Sir, I think it’s her dad.”
“Shit,” I muttered.
“We can’t just let him do…”
“We’re not,” I said. “I want you to stay here and out of the way. I don’t want you involved in what has to happen.”
“But you’ll need help, Zee.”
“You’ve done your part, son.” I squeezed his shoulder. “Now I’ll do mine.”
I felt the rage building up inside of me as I left the small building I was using as an office of sorts to keep up with the tallies from the crops. I saw Fontaine round the corner as I stepped out the door.
He was smiling and waiting in the makeshift street where we had built the housing.
“Saw your boy, Pratt,” he said, loudly. “You got him spyin’ on my girl?”
I walked toward him. “I heard some things that bother me, Fontaine.”
“I don’t give a damn if you’re bothered, Pratt.”
“I hear you’ve been hurting your daughter,” I said. “I think you’ve been doing more than that. I think you’re a lowlife piece of shit, Fontaine. I think you’re a pedophile, and I think it’s time you leave this compound.”
He grinned. “We’ll be gone tomorrow.”
“You’ll be gone tomorrow, Fontaine.” I stopped in front of him, maybe twenty feet away. “You’ll not be hurting that girl anymore.”
“That girl is mine, Pratt. She’s mine and I’ll do what I want with her. You think you can say any different? I was Special Forces. You got this reputation of bein’ such a badass. They ain’t never even seen bad. You were just a grunt.”
“Nevertheless,” I said. “You’ll be leaving without her.”
“No, I won’t,” he said. “I think I’m gonna kill you, Pratt. Then I’m gonna kill that old man who thinks he can run this place. I’m gonna kill that retard brother of yours who just stares off into space. Then I’m gonna show these people how this place should be run. You’re all a bunch of pussies.”
