Barren Fields (6 page)

Jeremiah nods knowing it’s true.

“Go back to the front of the store with the men and let me speak with Eddie alone.”

Isaac’s men and Jeremiah leave, and the rest of us step through the doors into the back of the store. Simone stays by me and the others head off to finish with the trucks.

“Eddie, you need to take us in. We won’t survive without some help and training.”

“Do you speak for
all
of your people?” 

“Yes.”

“So there is nobody back at your camp that will override what agreements you make if we agree to help you?”

“No one. I’m in charge of the group, for now,” Isaac replies. “I run the camp and keep things in order and under control, but if I don’t bring back some type of hope for how we can continue to survive, I won’t be running things for long.”

“That probably means Jeremiah would be in charge, right?”

“Yes, if I’m out, he would be running things. You need to know we already planned on going to your ranch before we arrived here. I thought you would be there and we could ask you for help, but Jeremiah was certain you would be dead and any supplies that were there we could take. Maybe even move everyone there and stay at the ranch if its condition wasn’t too bad.”

“I can understand why he would assume we were dead. Most of the world is gone.”

“It’s more than that, Eddie. My group,
my family
, we are all God fearing people and without anyone to communicate with after the fall, all of our time was focused on finding repentance for our sins. I thought you might still be alive, but he was convinced you would be dead or possessed because of your lack of faith.”

“And what does that mean?”

“He and several of the men that are closest to him said they would take your ranch even if you were still alive. To him it would be better if you were a Muslim than a non-believer.”

“And you expect me to welcome your group in when some of you are willing to kick me off my ranch or kill me and my family because I’m an Atheist?”

“I want you to know that if you bring us in, I will be in charge and those people won’t be able to do anything. If you don’t help us in some way, I don’t know if I’ll even be able to keep Mariah safe, and won’t be able to do anything if they decide to try for the ranch.”

“He would kill his own sister?”

“He believes he is trying to protect her soul. Hell, you saw me out there today. Even I shot our man before he could change because we all believed it. Sure, a part of me thought it was a disease we were dealing with and not demons, but I wasn’t sure. Now I know for certain it’s a disease, but it will take some time for the others. With Jeremiah, I’m not sure any amount of time or evidence will help.”

I nod trying to take in everything he’s telling me, and then look at Simone, who just shakes her head and shrugs her shoulder at my gaze.

“How many people did you leave back at your camp?” I ask while exhaling a sigh.

After looking at a small notebook, he says, “We left eight men to guard the camp, seventeen women and seventeen children. Seventeen women, including my sister, who shouldn’t be here.”

“Give me a few minutes to get the trucks on their way and talk this over with my people,” I say to Isaac, and he nods back at me.

“Are the trucks loaded?” I ask as I reach the loading dock.

“Most of our people and all of the Stick People that are going are loaded up. We were just waiting for your say-so to get everyone else on board to leave,” Donald replies.

Donald, Arthur, Samantha, and Simone gather close so we can figure out what to do. I motion for Hannah to come over so she can be a part of the discussion as well.

“They have over sixty people, including seventeen kids, who we would have to add to the ranch. Any idea’s or comments?” I ask.

“It will already be a stretch dealing with the thirty people we saved from this place. We’ll have to start some serious scavenging for more resources to take care of everyone through the winter,” Arthur says. “On that note though, Isaac’s people could be a big help in guard duty and caring for the Stick People we are bringing with us. However, they might be a danger if many are like his brother and consider anyone not adhering to their brand of Christianity as the Devil’s helpers.”

Simone and I look at each other knowing how true that is after what Isaac just told us.

“They seem like good Christian people to me,” Samantha adds. “Maybe some are a bit overzealous to my liking, but I don’t see what harm they would pose to us. Especially if they already know you and your family are Atheists and they still want to join our group.”

“Just being a Christian doesn’t make them trustworthy or your friends, Samantha. I know exactly the type of danger Arthur is talking about, and it is more real than you understand. Isaac thinks his brother and more of his men will be a danger to us if we don’t help them out.”

“Did he threaten you to get onto the ranch?”

“Isaac warned us that he wouldn’t be in charge anymore if this trip of theirs ended without major supplies and a better idea that they can survive another winter. Jeremiah doesn’t look kindly to people like Simone and me existing, and he won’t think taking what we have is wrong because he doesn’t think we are worthy of having it, at least not in the Lord’s eyes.”

Samantha gives an expression showing she’s unconvinced that they could be a real threat. “I think you might be inflating the danger a bit, Eddie.”

“Just think about how well the Catholics and Protestants got along in Ireland, and you’ll understand how dangerous even a small difference in religious belief can be, let alone something as serious as my family not believing at all. I’m not exaggerating. Isaac thinks his brother is a threat. I haven’t heard much from you, Donald. What do you think?”

“I think we have to let them join us and don’t think we have much of a choice at this point, do you?” he asks.

“No. We really don’t, I guess.”

“Why don’t we have a choice?” Hannah asks. “We can’t let them bully us into taking them in. We are better trained than they are, and the ranch is secure.”

I frown at the thought and think how to answer. “They are an armed group that trained at the ranch so they know the inside layout. They have a large group of women and children that they need to protect and are low on supplies. They know our group will be stretched to the breaking point trying to care for the Stick People, and they know the people we are taking in have less to offer us than Isaac’s group does. If we turn Isaac away, as decent a person as he is, he won’t be able to stop his people from trying to take the ranch from us. In fact, they would have every reason to turn against us and try to take what we have. I just hope the more zealous members of their group don’t disregard Isaac’s control of his group because they’ll be giving up too much.”

“And what would they be giving up?” Donald asks.

“Control,” I reply. “They didn’t let their women come here to fight, and I don’t remember any women training with them before when they were at the ranch. They also said they left some men to guard the women and children.”

“I did catch that. Why can’t their women defend themselves?” Simone asks.

“Exactly!” I say while nodding. “If they want to join our group, then they will be joining our group, not working as a secondary group on our ranch. That means even the women and able children are armed and trained to fight. That might be a deal breaker for them if they are segregating jobs by gender. It is also still my ranch, and I have you leaders and advisors picked out, whatever you want to call yourselves. Whatever hierarchy Isaac’s group has, they will have to earn their place and our trust on the ranch like everyone else we encounter. On a separate note, have we had any problems from the six survivors we told we weren’t taking with us?”

“No. They have stayed out of our way so far and are all by the rear bathroom last time I checked,” Arthur says, obviously disturbed by the subject. “Eddie, I don’t want you killing them. It isn’t something any of us want to see happen.”

Everyone nods with Arthur’s objection.

“Letting them live will end up costing us something eventually, you understand that, right? We know they are trouble makers and those types of people thrive from the misfortune of others.”

“We know some of them may cause problems eventually, but it doesn’t feel right killing all six when they haven’t done anything wrong yet.”

I look at each one of them, wishing they could step beyond the veneer of civilization they are holding on to so desperately. Letting these six people live is no different to me than letting a rattlesnake live in your garden. It’s ridiculous to choose what people think is the moral route if the moral choice could get you killed.

“I’ll let them live, but you all have to accept responsibility for what they do to us in the future. What they do will be on your shoulders like Chad Hansen’s actions are on mine.”

“They may not do anything,” Arthur offers.

“And they may not let you live to regret this decision,” I counter.

“You know they can’t survive on their own and what that means, right?” Simone asks.

“Yes... I know. We’ll have to take them with us. I hate the idea of trouble makers like them at the ranch, but with the threat from Isaac’s people, those other six skeletons don’t seem like much of a problem now. Maybe they’ll insist on not joining us and make all of our concerns a moot point.”

“What about not having Isaac’s group on the ranch at all?” Hannah asks.

“Do you mean killing them?”

“No, that’s not what I meant, but it is an option isn’t it? If they are threatening to kill us and take our supplies, they wouldn’t just kill us Atheists, they would kill everyone that worked with us. They would kill everyone at the ranch.”

“I can’t kill them because they are decent people. At least some of them are.”

“More decent than the six from here you were going to kill? None of them said anything about killing us or stealing our supplies.”

“Jeremiah is delusional because of his beliefs but at least he has a reason to think ill of me, even if I don’t agree religion is a good reason to do so. Those six others are just bad people and seem like the type that cause problems just for the sake of causing them. I’ll take a crazy religious person over a genuinely bad one any day.”

“I still don’t think we need to let them live at the ranch,” Hannah says reiterating her point.

“Besides the trouble we could face if we don’t let them in, they have seventeen children that will die if we don’t help them learn to survive. I don’t know their ages yet, but I can’t let that many young people go without help.”

“No, Dad, that’s not what I mean. If we are going to help them, why not have them move to the farm instead of the Ranch?”

“That is an excellent idea,” Simone tells Hannah and gives her a motherly hug that makes Hannah blush and look like the little girl I remember.

“That could help with all sorts of issues with them not feeling stifled and your lives not being threatened,” Arthur offers.

“That sounds good. If we can make the farm secure it would be a great place for them to stay. If you all think that will work, I’ll make that offer to them.”

A round of agreement is heard, and the group splits up to leave.

“Hannah, good idea. I should listen to you more often.”

Chapter 5

Gulf of Mexico

Eight Months Earlier.

The four men are a ridiculous looking group travelling across the Gulf of Mexico. George didn’t have much clothes below deck on his boat. His girlfriend, Heather, got seasick so he didn’t spend much time on it. He bought it right before he purchased the property in Mexico so he would have a large enough boat to make the journey across the Gulf. He was able to find one pair of shorts, two t-shirts, and a bunch of towels. Due to Keith’s grieving state, they opted to give him the shorts and a shirt, which fit him as well as George. The rest of them wrapped the towels around their waists and looked like they were headed to the showers.

The boat is stopped now and even under the canopy, the sun is oppressively baking them. The relieving wind of a breeze occurs with such little frequency and duration that they are certain the air is only torturing them when it decides to appear. They would take turns running the air conditioning in the cabin, but they don’t want to use the extra fuel for those generators. There is no guarantee that their destination in Mexico will be safe, and they need to save every drop of diesel in case they need to travel several hundred more miles after Coatzacoalcos.

They took turns piloting the boat through the night, foolishly not fearful of running into anything. By morning there were three close calls where they almost ended the journey with a spectacular crash. Twice with different oil rigs whose lights were off and once with a large oil tanker that was heading somewhere unknown.

Keith was at the wheel when the silhouette of the large ship came into view, creeping through the water at about five knots. Like the oil rigs, the tanker had no lights working but the engines were taking it to some unknown port or crash point. When he told the others about it in the morning they all speculated that the crew might have become infected during the day while escaping some port. When that tanker finally runs aground it will undoubtedly add to the unplanned ecological disasters that have occurred due to the absence of man.

Of their seven hundred and forty mile trip to the port of Coatzacoalcos, they estimate about six hours remaining or just under three hundred miles. They are stopped and waiting to leave so they can arrive shielded by the night. Besides their unusual appearance, none of the men speak Spanish and none of them brought their passports. The local government officials in that city are heavily corrupt as they are in most of Mexico, but bribing a port entry officer only works if you have something with which to bribe them. This group has nothing of value besides the food onboard.

The hope is that they can enter the mouth of the river and pilot the craft to George’s house without detection. The port police will either have to be asleep or busy to ignore them, and it is too much to hope that any of the port officer’s he dealt with in the past would be working when they arrive. George’s
fishing
boat is a 70’ open bridge convertible Viking yacht, so sneaking in is an impossibly long shot, but it is the best chance they have.

“We have some company coming,” Frank says while looking to the west.

What looks like another fishing boat is headed toward them. George looks at it with his binoculars.

“Looks like only one guy on board. He’s got some balls taking that boat out this far. It looks like a thirty-five footer.”

After he says the words, he realizes that the man may not be so brave as much as he might be running from something. That isn’t good news because west of their current position is Mexico. George grabs his shotgun and checks that it’s loaded, while they all wait for the boat to get closer.

“He isn’t slowing down,” Keith says as the approaching vessel continues on its course.

They can clearly see the man as his boat gets closer, and all except for George wave to him. The man sees them as well, but makes no effort to slow or turn his boat. There isn’t a concern of collision, although the man could destroy both of their boats if he decided to turn the wheel sharply into them as he passes. Keith, Frank, and Jack all see for the first time what George saw at the banks of the waterway in Shell Beach.

As the boat passes them by, it is obvious the man in it sees the group of four staring at him. He stares back at them with wide eyes and turns his body to keep facing them as his engines keep the boat he is in moving past and away. He looks odd as he is walking in place on his boat and running into the chair that is blocking his way from walking toward them. With a small bump from a wave knocking him to the side, he is free of the chair and walks to the end of his boat, climbs over the back, and steps into the water while never taking his eyes off of his potential meal.

George sits down, but the other three continue to watch the strange vision of a boat cruising off into the distance while its owner bobs a few times in the water before sinking out of sight.

“He didn’t even try to swim. He just walked off the boat and let himself sink,” Jack says with amazement.

“You don’t look too surprised,” Frank mentions to George.

“I saw them outside of New Orleans when I was picking up Keith and Maggie. I thought I could go into the city and find my family, but there were already hundreds of them lined up on the opposite bank, with what looked like thousands more still approaching. They had the same strange wide eyed expression on their faces and no other emotion. They make a horrible moan however, that is something I don’t look forward to hearing again.”

“Where did that guy come from?”

George takes out his Gulf map and traces the trajectory.

“If he didn’t change the direction of his boat, he must have come from Tampico, that’s about five hundred miles north of Coatzacoalcos, and three hundred miles south of the Texas border. I doubt he could have made it out here from Texas unless he refilled his gas tank somewhere along the way. That means the disease is already in Mexico as well.”

“How could it get down here so fast?” Frank asks.

“The letter my son sent me said they were giving the drug to first responders nationwide, and with the rioting and terror attacks around the globe, it’s a good bet that many other nations tried to use Zeus to solve their problems as well.”

“It could also be random boats with infected people like that last guy,” George offers. “When I came in from fishing to pick up Keith, there were hundreds of boats spread out leaving Lake Borgne. Many of those boats could have had infected people that were bitten but not yet turned. If that happened at every port, which is likely, then the boats will cruise until they run out of gas or run aground and take the infection with them.”

“So what should we do?” two of them ask at the same time.

“We should head in now,” George says. “It will still be light out and we won’t be able to sneak in, but if they are having issues with boats of infected crashing into the docks, they will probably be blowing up any vessels that attempt to sneak ashore. We also need to be able see what is happening on land before we tie up to my dock. It won’t do us any good to get off the boat if the banks are lined with infected people like in Shell Beach.”