Without Law 9, page 17
“Okay,” Paige said. “I have granola bars, power bars, and apple juice.”
“Where the fuck did you get apple juice?” Tara asked as she picked up the small juice box.
“We’ve had it,” Paige said. “They just don’t get used very much, except for the kids.”
“Well, damn,” Anna said, and she grabbed a juice.
“I want everyone to take one of each of these bars too,” I said. “We’ll need to keep our energy up.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Paige said.
We ate our breakfast bars and sipped our apple juice quietly. The morning sounded calm as the birds chirped above us, and the sun shone through the top of the tent.
“Seems nice out,” Bailey said.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” I said with a smile.
“That storm came out of nowhere last night,” Paige said.
“Well, it is spring,” I said. “There’s typically a lot of storms in spring.”
“I guess that’s true,” the brunette said. “It just came on so suddenly.”
“It did,” I agreed.
“April showers bring May flowers,” Tara added.
“It’s definitely not April,” Anna laughed.
“Same diff,” Tara said and stuck her tongue out at the redhead.
After breakfast we packed up the tent and made sure all the supplies were loaded properly once more.
“How much longer do we have today?” Tara asked.
“About thirty more miles to go,” Paige answered.
“Of course,” the platinum blonde chuckled. “It can never be five miles, can it?”
“Of course it can,” Paige said. “But only when we’re five miles away.”
The platinum blonde narrowed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at the brunette, and I had to laugh.
“There’s a few hills today,” Paige said. “So we should be able to go downhill, which will be nice.”
“Good,” Tara said with a nod. “And hopefully we’ll make it to the harbor today and get a boat to take back home.”
“We can get there,” I said. “If we keep up a good pace.”
“Well, alright,” Bailey said with a grin. “Let’s go.”
“Let’s do it,” Anna said, and she pushed off and headed down the road.
I pushed off on my own bike and caught up to the redhead easily. She looked over, gave me a smile, and let me take the lead, but I turned back to make sure the girls were behind me before I continued on.
It was still early in the day, and the sun shone large and bright ahead of us. The wind felt good on my face as we rode, and I breathed in the fresh air. My body didn’t feel quite as sore, and I made sure to stretch out my limbs whenever I got an opportunity.
Yesterday I had been more relaxed with the pace, but we needed to cover a decent amount of miles today, and I wanted to get it done before dark, so I pedaled hard and looked back every so often to make sure the girls were behind me. Paige had said we had at least thirty miles to go, and though it was earlier in the day, I wanted to get through those miles as quickly as possible.
It was difficult to keep a steady pace with the roads in the condition that they were. After two winters with no road maintenance the ice and snow had taken its toll on the pavement and there were cracks and potholes everywhere. But as long as we kept a good pace and didn’t run into any trouble or more bad weather, I figured we could probably get to the harbor before sundown.
I kept our pace and checked out the scenery as we rode. There wasn’t much around, some tiny towns here and there with only a couple shops in them, but mostly it was fields, trees, or farm land that we rode by. The sun moved across the sky in a slow arc, and I was bound and determined to beat it to the harbor, so I pushed on faster until it was early afternoon and we had gone about twenty-five miles. Then, I pulled to the side of the road and caught my breath as I waited for the girls to pull up around me.
“Jesus,” Anna breathed as she stopped next to me.
“No kidding,” Paige panted. “I’ve been dying for miles.”
“I think I’m already dead,” Tara said, and she leaned over her handlebars and breathed heavily.
“Everyone grab some water,” I said as I fished my own bottle out of my bag.
“Hey, Tara,” Bailey said.
“What?” the platinum blonde breathed.
“We’re only five miles away,” Bailey chuckled.
“Fuck off,” Tara laughed.
“Sorry,” I said. “We needed to get there before sunset.”
“We’ll definitely make it now,” Bailey said.
“Yeah,” Paige agreed. “But we only have a few hours until sunset. We wouldn’t have made it if we hadn’t gone so fast.”
“And at this point five miles will feel like nothing,” Anna said. “We got this.”
“If you say so,” Tara said.
“Paige, do we have any more power bars?” I asked.
“Yeah,” the brunette said, and she pulled some out of her pack.
“Alright, ladies,” I said. “Eat one of these for now, we’ll make sure we eat well for dinner, but we just need a quick lunch for now.”
“I’m so tired I don’t even think I can chew,” Tara groaned as she took one of the power bars.
“You got this,” Bailey said with a playful elbow in her friend’s side.
“Yeah,” Anna said. “Aren’t you supposed to be good at using your mouth?”
“The best,” Tara said with a glare, but then she hung her head over the handlebars once more.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know everyone is tired. We’ll be there soon enough.”
“It really isn’t much farther,” Paige said. “It shouldn’t take long.”
Tara lazily ate her power bar, and I waited until she had finished before I rallied the girls back to the street.
“Alright,” I clapped after the platinum blonde had taken her last bite. “Let’s head out. We’ll be there soon.”
“Let’s go,” Anna said.
I pushed off once more, and all the girls fell in line behind me. Tara straggled a bit, but found her place soon enough, and we were on our way once more.
“What’s this place called again?” Anna asked after a while.
“Basin Harbor,” Paige answered.
“There’s a sign up there for it,” I said and I pointed to a road sign that indicated we were four miles from the harbor.
Those last miles seemed like they took forever as I watched the sun sink to the west. We were nearly there, and it looked like we would just barely beat the sunset, but at least we would be at our destination for the evening.
I followed the road signs and finally we came to a sign that said ‘Basin Harbor’ in large letters. The little village had a Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, and some sort of small restaurant. Other than that, there was only a small store front and plenty of boats on the lake.
I stopped my bike, kicked the kick stand, and hopped off.
“Oh, thank God,” Tara groaned as she came up behind me.
“Shhh,” I said. “Everyone get your weapons out while we take a look around.”
The girls said nothing, only took out their pistols. Even Tara went into full business mode when I told her it was time. I knew all of them had to be absolutely exhausted from the ride, but I was proud of their ability to put that on the back burner and focus on the task at hand.
The place looked pretty well abandoned, there were a couple cars outside of the restaurant, and plenty of boats. Since the storm had come down so fiercely the night before it was impossible to tell if anyone had been there or not since there wasn’t a lot of dust to gauge how unoccupied the area was.
I scanned the area and saw no one, but I couldn’t be sure we were alone until we went into the buildings. The first place I tried was the restaurant, but it was locked. Next I went to the store front and found it locked as well.
“You think that this place has been abandoned since the EMP?” Paige asked.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “But no windows are busted out anywhere, and the place is locked up.”
“Let’s take a look at these boats, then,” Anna said.
“Alright,” I agreed. “Maybe Rolly’s friend left with the others.”
“Yeah,” Bailey said. “Maybe he’s safe somewhere south.”
“Maybe,” I said with a small smile at the blonde.
I surveyed the area once more. I hadn’t seen any signs of life, but a friend of Rolly’s would probably be a pretty smart guy. I decided it would be better to try to call out. If he was there, we might pique his interest, and if he wasn’t, then there would be no loss.
“Wait, I’m going to call out for him,” I whispered.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Anna asked.
“If he is here, I want him to know that we’re friends,” I said.
“Alright,” the redhead agreed.
“Stay vigilant,” I said. “There could be others around.”
“Got it,” Paige said as she pulled her shotgun up to her shoulder.
“Henry?” I called out.
There was no answer, it was only quiet.
“Henry!” I yelled again. “We’re friends of Rolly.”
An old, salt and pepper haired man came around from the side of the storefront with a shotgun in hand.
Well, shit.
Chapter 11
“Who the hell are you?” he asked. “And how do you know my name?”
“We don’t want any trouble,” I said and I raised my hands slightly.
“Every one of ya has at least two guns on you,” the old man spat. “I don’t believe a damn word you say about not wanting any trouble.”
“Are you the owner of this place?” I asked.
“I’m the guy who’s telling you to get the fuck off my property,” the old man said, and he cocked his head to the side. “Is that not a good enough title for you?”
“Alright,” I said. “But if you want us off your property, you have to let us off the dock first.”
“Come on,” the old man said with a step to the side. “And ladies, you holster those guns.”
“Do it,” I said with a nod as I led my girls down the dock.
I could tell this guy was scared, and the fact that he had told the girls to holster their weapons and not just throw them in the water or on the ground told me that he really didn’t want to hurt them. He had also assured me that his name was definitely Henry and that he was the guy we were looking for, but I also understood that this was his property and if he needed to feel a bit in control that was fine with me, I was confident he wasn’t out to hurt anybody.
“Does the name Rolly mean anything to you?” I asked as I stepped off the dock.
“Lots of names mean something to me,” the old man said with narrowed eyes. “What does that name mean to you?”
“Rolly is our friend,” Bailey said softly.
“Yeah,” Paige agreed. “He worked at the school we went to, Piper College.”
The man leaned back and listened, I could tell he was still skeptical, but he definitely knew Rolly.
“Rolly’s how we found this place,” I said. “We needed a boat and he said that he knew the guy who owned the harbor and that he used to go fishing and ice fishing with you. How else would we have known that your name is Henry?”
“It’s true,” Anna added. “Rolly makes us coffee every morning and we all still live together on campus.”
“Rolly does make some damn good coffee,” the man said with a smile, but he hadn’t lowered the shotgun yet.
“It’s literally the best coffee,” Tara agreed.
“Rolly told you to come here, huh?” the salt and pepper haired man asked, and he looked us up and down.
“He did.” I nodded. “But we didn’t think you’d still be here. It wasn’t our intention to come steal from you.”
“Alright, then,” the man said, and he lowered the shotgun. “If you know Rolly, then I guess there’s no need to be pointin’ this at ya. That old man wouldn’t send someone up here who was gonna hurt me.”
“No,” I chuckled. “I’m sure he wouldn’t. He spoke fondly of you.”
“We were good friends before the world went to hell,” the old man said with a soft, remembering smile.
Suddenly a crashing sound came from the side of the storefront and I looked over to see two small figures scurry back behind the building.
The old man sighed, then yelled toward the building.
“Come on out here,” he called.
Two young children, a boy and a girl poked their heads around the side of the building, then slowly ran over to hide behind their grandfather.
“Rolly mentioned you had a family,” I said with a smile. “Who are these two?”
“They’re so cute,” Paige said.
“Hi,” Bailey said as she leaned down to smile at them.
“This here’s Rosy,” the old man said with a gesture at the girl. “And the little one is Donald. And I’m Henry.”
The two children had light brown hair and small freckles over their noses and cheeks. Henry had salt and pepper hair that looked like it had once been blacker than night, and where he had a wide nose and thin lips, the children had the opposite.
“I’m Tav,” I said and I held my hand out. “It’s nice to meet you, Henry.”
“Good to meet you, Tav,” the old man said with a small smile, and he took my hand in a firm shake.
“How did you all survive out here?” Anna asked. “There’s not much around.”
“Yeah,” Bailey added. “Winter must have been unbearable.”
“It wasn’t good,” the old man sighed. “We mostly fished. It got so cold there for a few weeks that the lake froze over.”
“That’s a huge lake to freeze over,” Tara said as she looked out at the water.
“It happens every few years,” Paige said.
“She’s right,” Henry said. “We ice fished and kept warm as best we could.”
“Well, we’re glad you’re here,” I said. “Rolly will be happy to know you made it through the winter.”
“How is the old man?” Henry asked. “He’s pretty proud, but you should know he has a heart problem that requires medication.”
“We know,” I said with a smile. “You were right though, he didn’t want to tell us at first. Luckily we were able to stock up on plenty of medicine for the winter.”
“Good,” Henry said. “I’m glad he’s still kickin’.”
“He even has a girlfriend now,” Tara chuckled.
“No kiddin’?” The old man raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “A farmer from up the way.”
“Hmm,” Henry said. “Well, good for him. In the whole time I’ve known Rolly I never knew him to date. Not after his wife passed.”
“I don’t think he ever did before now,” I said.
The sun had begun to go down and twilight had set in.
“So what do y’all need a boat for anyway?” Henry asked.
“All the gas has gone bad,” I said. “We need a way to get around that’s quicker than bikes.”
“Didn’t any Canadians try to take boats over the winter?” Paige asked.
“I had a few come through here,” Henry said. “But they all left quick when I pulled out ol’ Bessy here.”
“I’m surprised they gave up that easily,” I said with a shake of my head.
“I… uh… had to shoot a couple,” Henry said. “But I figure anybody who wanted a boat went up to the Burlington Yacht club instead.”
“Did you see some?” I asked.
“A few,” Henry said with a nod. “They went by on the lake there.”
“I see,” I said. “I don’t mean to be rude, Henry, but it’s getting dark. We do have a tent with us, could we set it up here for the night?”
“I think that’d be alright,” the old man said.
“We have food with us, too,” Paige said. “We can make you and the kids dinner.”
“That’d be great,” Henry said with a small, pained smile, and I wondered how well they had been eating.
“How about their mom?” I asked. “Is she here?”
The old man didn’t respond, he simply looked down and shook his head.
“I’m sorry,” I said gently.
“Thanks,” Henry said. “It was a rough year.”
The girls and I got the tent set up, then I built a fire and Tara cooked us up some dinner. Henry and the kids joined us around the fire and from the way they watched the pot I figured they were quite hungry.
“So Henry,” I said. “Maybe we can make a deal.”
“What kind of deal?” the old man asked, and he looked at me with narrowed eyes.
“We need a boat,” I said.
“I figured that much,” Henry chuckled.
“What is it that you need?” I asked.
“Well,” the old man sighed. “We could use supplies. You know, canned goods, blankets, but mostly food.”
“What if we trade you supplies for your boat?” I asked.
“I guess that could work,” Henry said. “But I want it to be a fair trade. I don’t want just one small box of stuff.”
“Of course,” I said.
“How would you get me the supplies?” Henry asked.
“Well, if we rode back down to get them that would take quite a while,” I said. “Not to mention it would be difficult to bring much back with us.”
“What if you let us take a boat down near our campus,” Paige said. “You can even follow us down there in a different boat, and we can give you supplies.”
“Hm,” the old man thought for a minute. “That sounds alright with me. You all won’t try to screw me over, will you?”
“Never,” I said with a shake of my head.
“Well, alright then,” Henry said, and he held his hand out for me. “That’s a deal.”
“Great.” I grinned.
“And you can see Rolly,” Bailey said excitedly.
“And Betty,” Tara chuckled.
“It’s true,” Bailey laughed. “You won’t find one without the other.”
“I’m happy for him,” Henry said. “He deserves some love in his life.”
“Dinner’s ready,” Tara said, and she dished up bowls for the kids and Henry first.
