Prepper Central: A Prepper Fiction Novel (Prepping - Together we will Survive Book 1) (6 page)

‘Okay, Kristoff, I’m just gonna plop the bullet out and then we’re more than halfway done. The other bullet merely grazed your right forearm, so a bandage should do.’

I tried to think of a song, a rhyme a joke- anything to get my mind off the screaming that pierced my ears after Cindy’s comment. Though it only lasted for a few seconds, I could hear the screams ringing in my ears long after.

‘We’re all done,’ Cindy informed us. I don’t think I’ve ever been this quick to my feet. ‘Okay guys, so what are you gonna do with him now?’ Cindy asked.

‘I was thinking we just cuff him in here until we talk to Stewart.’ Jonathan shone his flashlight at me and then Edward as though seeking approval.

‘Sounds good to me,’ I replied.

‘Um,’ came Cindy’s voice. ‘This part of everything isn’t really any of my business but I’m gonna ask you guys to take it easy on his right shoulder. So I’d say rather than cuffing his wrists together, you should strap him to something like that gate over there.’ She pointed to the staircase.

‘Yes ma’am,’ Edward replied.

‘Alright, well y’all have a good night now.’ She turned away to walk.

‘Cindy, can I talk to you for a minute?’

‘Yeah, absolutely,’ she replied, snapping the gloves off her hand in a manner that would prevent any blood from splashing on either of us.

I shone my light at Edward and Jonathan to get their attention. ‘Guys, do you think you can handle everything while I talk to Cindy?’

‘Yup, no problem,’ they replied.

Heavy breathing over my shoulder reminded me that Thomas was waiting to find out what
he
should do. Even though he’d been there holding the flashlight the entire time, all of us seemed to have forgotten about him midst of all the commotion.

‘You can come outside with me Thomas,’ I instructed. The chill of the night was more than I wanted to bear. Inside the house hadn’t been particularly warm, but it was nowhere as cold as the fresh air. ‘Just wait over there,’ I directed the light to the side of the house. Thomas did as he was told while I stood only a few feet away to speak with Cindy. ‘So, you know. Marge is due any day now and I was just wondering if there’s anything else that we need to do in preparation for what’s to come.’

‘I think you guys have been doing a great job,’ Cindy smiled. ‘I’m sure everything will be fine just be sure to call me when she gets anywhere between four and six contractions in an hour and I’ll be right over.’

‘Thanks Cindy,’ sincerity burst through my tone, ‘I honestly can’t tell you how lucky we are to have you.’

‘We’re all lucky to have each other Jimmy. It’s just sad that such a great moment has to occur at such an awful time.’

‘I like to see it as a glimmer of hope; as God’s way of letting us know that even in the midst of chaos, there are things worth celebrating.’

‘As you should Jimmy, as you should. And you know, I think this baby will uplift everyone’s spirits. I’m just happy that everyone’s okay and that we’ve all been safe for the most part.’

I wrapped my arms around Cindy, thanking her for being there. ‘Get some rest now,’ I said before she called out to the guy who had escorted her here, and walked away.

Now it was time to figure out what to do with Thomas. He was still standing where I’d instructed him to stay and I could tell that somehow, he felt safe being with us. However, what happened to him wasn’t my decision and the other members of our group would more than likely, not be as lenient as I was. Apart of me felt the need to shelter him- to help him to survive this disaster. Unfortunately, our group was clear on who was let in and it was imperative that we pushed our emotions away and thought about ‘us’ before we thought about ‘them’. But Thomas’ age, his innocence, his story, they all got to me, they all stung the deepest parts of my heart in ways that I hadn’t felt before Marge got pregnant.

‘Sir.’ His voice interrupted my thoughts.

‘Yes, Thomas,’ I replied.

‘What’s going to happen to me?’

I wanted to wrap my arms around his frail body and assure him that everything was going to be okay, but I couldn’t. Instilling a false sense of security into this young boy would have done no good for either of us. I searched my brain, trying to find the right words to say; trying to add a glimmer of hope to a situation I knew was as grim as grim could be.

‘You know, Thomas. What you did was wrong and the decision of what happens to you isn’t mine. I’ll do everything I can to make sure that they let you off with a warning?’

‘Can I stay with you?’ his words trembled the same way his body did.

‘I’m afraid that won’t be possible. They don’t just let new members in without reason. We’ve got a limited amount of resources and if we keep letting people in, then we’ll be taking away from ourselves.’ I knew just how harsh my words sounded, but they were true. Sure, there were a great number of us who would love to save each and every one of those souls on the other side of the wall. Unfortunately, shelling out resources would mean that we’d be robbing ourselves. Prepper Central was developed to assist those who belonged to it. Sharing wasn’t a part of the plan and with months going by with no sign of hope, there was no telling just how much longer our supplies would last.

‘But I can be useful,’ he proceeded. ‘I can help out. I’ll do whatever you guys want.’

‘Like I said, it’s not my decision to make. I’m sorry.’

I peeked inside of the house, hoping that my turning away from Thomas would stop him from going on about how resourceful he was. There was no chance in hell that everyone else would agree to him staying here. ‘Y’all done in there?’ I called out to Edward and Jonathan. A few seconds after hearing my voice, both men approached.

‘Oh damn, I completely forgot about the little one,’ Edward motioned to Thomas.

My eyes traveled in Thomas’ direction to see that he had his palms pressed tightly against his face. If it were light out, I was sure that once those hands came down, a face covered in tears was what I would see. A part of me was happy that the darkness was able to mute the pain that I would feel seeing just how torn Thomas was.

‘What do you think?’ Edwards asked.

‘About what,’ I replied. I knew exactly what he was asking. I knew that he wanted me to give him my opinion on what we should do with Thomas.

‘What do you think we should do with the boy?’ Edward made himself clearer.

‘I dunno, I was thinking we should talk to Stewart and see what he comes up with.’

‘Nothing,’ Jonathan replied.

‘Huh?’ I wasn’t quite sure what his ‘nothing’ meant.

‘He’s gonna do nothing about it. I got through to him on the walkie talkie and he said we should handle it and he’ll support whatever we decide.’

Now was my time to chip in; to suggest that he could stay here. However, with a pregnant wife, there was no way that I would be able to take on the responsibility of looking out for Thomas.

‘First of all, what are we gonna do with the other guy in there?’ I changed the subject.

‘Well, we’ve got to send him back over there,’ Jonathan said with an emotionless tone. ‘As a matter of fact, I think we should just send the both of them over there, if I’m being totally honest. We can’t afford to use up all our resources on everyone else. No one knows when this whole thing will blow over. No one knows when the president will crawl out of his hole and take charge.’

‘That’s the only option as far as I see it,’ Edward agreed.

My brain was in overdrive thinking of all the ways in which I could spare this poor boy from the horrors he would face once he went back to the other side. He was underfed, had no one to look out for him and most of all, he was young. ‘Well,’ I finally came to a plausible conclusion, ‘how about we use him to our benefit?’

Jonathan scoffed, perhaps unable to come up with a way in which this boy could work to our advantage.

‘Let me finish, Jonathan,’ I said boldly. ‘From what he tells me, the people on the other side send him around to scavenge or do whatever it is they want him to do and he does it, because he hasn’t got anyone. He says his parents were taken a while back and he’s just been on his own. Now, you know that they’re always coming up with different ways to get over here and steal our stuff. Sure, they’ve run out of ammo and all they’re not organized enough to come up with a foolproof plan of how to really attack us. But what if they do? Then we’ll be at a loss. We could have Thomas work for us, instead of them. He could listen in on their conversations and let us know whenever we should get ready to face a real threat.’

The nodding of Edward’s head told me that he understood what I was saying and perhaps even agreed. Jonathan, on the other hand, was a tough cookie to crack. His head shook from left to right the entire time I was talking.

‘How do you know he won’t turn on us?’ Jonathan finally said.

‘Well, we’ve got something that the other people don’t have. We’ve got supplies. I think if we help Thomas to fight his hunger, he’ll help us to fight our enemies.’

‘I don’t know man. Sounds like a botched up plan to me.’

‘It makes sense,’ Edward finally offered. ‘Rather than having to stay on our toes for a threat that we know is out there but have no idea when it will present itself, we can have a little messenger on the other side, collect the information we need.’

‘But why don’t you think those guys will turn on him too. You think it’ll be hard for them to spot him as a rat?’

‘No sir, they won’t turn on me’ Thomas’ weak voice interjected, ‘they trust me. Everyone over there trusts me. They tell me what to do and I do it. I’ve never let them down plus, if you give me food, I wouldn’t let anyone see it.’

I was happy to see that even though the decision would include Thomas heading back to the broken society behind our walls, he could revel in a part of the offer I had come up with.

‘So,’ I tried to calm my voice to not sound too chirpy, ‘would you say we figured out a plan?’ Jonathan was still busy shaking his head no. Edward didn’t reply. ‘Come on. We can’t stand here all day trying to figure out what not to do and what to do. If you come up with a better plan then please let me know but as far as I see it, having a spy on the other side is as good as it’s going to get.’ I was waiting for Jonathan to say, ‘off with their heads’, or come up with some other inhumane option. The guy was unforgiving. I guess that this attitude was something that he developed in the military. The enemy was the enemy and nothing more. ‘How about we vote on it? I say we offer him food in exchange for info. Who agrees?’ Edward’s hand shot up and Jonathan’s hands folded themselves in each other.

The decision was made whether or not Jonathan agreed with it was another story but one that wouldn’t be told. Thomas was let go while Kristoff would spend the night and be released in the morning after being looked at one more time by Cindy.

Short nights and long days were what this new life was all about. Having dropped my head on the softness of my pillow shortly before the sun rose, I hadn’t been able to fall into a deep sleep before it was time to crawl out of bed and get back to duty. My body had started to adjust to the lack of sleep and so, the heavy feeling that overpowered my eyes were quickly washed away with a splash of water to my face.

‘Good morning sweetie,’ I said to my wife who was busy rubbing oil on her oversized tummy.

‘Hey there,’ she replied. ‘I heard you guys had a pretty long night.’

‘How’d you hear that?’ Getting used to how fast news traveled wasn’t easy.

‘Cindy stopped by last night to check up on me and keyed me into what happened. I was worried about you Jimmy.’ A sadness developed in her eyes.

‘Cindy came all the way here?’ I asked, surprised. Cindy’s house was on the other side of the Cul De Sac, a lot closer to the area that Jonathan, Edward and I had been manning, than to my house.

‘Yeah. That’s really nice of her, isn’t it? Though I must say, I can’t believe after all that excitement with people jumping the fence that she came alone.’

To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. Sure, it was nice of Cindy to check up on Marge. However, her coming by herself was breaking a very important rule. During the night, we traveled in groups, period.

Rather than getting my wife riled up about how unsafe I thought it was that Cindy decided to wander so far from her home, I changed the subject. ‘So, what’s on your schedule for the day?’

‘Same old thing as usual. Cooking, cleaning, and helping your mom in the greenhouse.’

‘Sounds relaxing but you know, it’s about time you start taking things a little easy. You’re due in a couple of days and you don’t want anything going wrong.’

‘I know babe, but I can’t just sit around and do nothing. It’s already hard having everyone treat me like a baby I don’t need all the pity. I’m happy. I’m healthy and I promise you that I’m not overextending myself.’

I made my way over to Marge and placed a kiss on her cheek. ‘I know you’re taking good care of yourself and that little bundle of joy in you,’ I rubbed my hand over her bare tummy.

‘Did you feel that?’ she exclaimed.

‘I sure did,’ I smiled, positioning my hand over the spot where I felt the baby kick. ‘That feels like the kick of a real man.’

‘You think? Because I can’t shake the feeling that we’ll be having a girl.’

Marge and I had opted against knowing the sex of the baby. We decided that another element of surprise was worth the wait. Marge was convinced we’d be having a girl and I just knew deep down that a little Jimmy would be popping out of her soon. Many of the men in our group had placed bets on the sex of the baby and as things stood, the majority had their money- or in this case chocolate- on my wife having a girl.

‘It doesn’t matter what we have, I’m sure the baby will have his dad’s charm.’

Marge gave my shoulder a friendly punch. ‘You’re not that cute,’ she joked.

‘Oh, but I am.’ I flashed her my most attractive smile.

‘Okay, enough about you and your self-proclaimed hotness. I’ve got to get to your mom before she starts throwing a fit. We’ve been making up episodes of the soap operas since we can’t watch them anymore.’

It was nice to know that the ladies were finding things to occupy their time and take their minds off the happenings of the world. The men had tasks on their hands that were more stressful than any of us had bargained for. Rather than being able to sleep in for once, it was time for me to head out and meet a Humvee that carried the new members of our team. Though many in our group had protested against allowing them to enter our camp, Stewart gave the final yes. His reasoning behind agreeing to let these new members in was based on a need to increase our strength in the event of an all-out attack on our camp. He informed us that they’d bring along food and a great deal of other resources and thus, at least for the beginning, be able to pull their own weight. We had all heard the stories about groups of rogue military guys and the way they barged into neighborhood and stole from the poor. Though I knew that they weren’t coming into our turf to carry out their inhumane duties, the rumors were unnerving.

I reached into the closet and pulled out my boots. ‘I’m gonna head to the front to help out with the new guys who are coming in,’ I gave Marge information she already knew.

‘Just be careful.’ She flashed me a smile before leaving the room.

***

Out front, my regular partners in protection- Edward and Jonathan- were waiting. Now, the only person left to show up was Stewart, who would be responsible for talking to the guys and either sticking to his decision to let them in or going back on his word. I looked at the gigantic barbed wire fence that closed off the entrance to our Cul De Sac. Twenty-five feet wide and ten feet tall, there was more barbed wire than imaginable.

‘They’ll be here in a few,’ Stewart’s voice boomed from behind us.

I turned around to see that he was accompanied by two of the newest members of our group, Milton and Howie. These were the guys responsible for the people showing up. Apparently they had served in Iraq together and vouched for the resourcefulness of their comrades.

‘How’s it going, Stewy?’ I said as he got a little closer.

‘Eh. I’m just so ready for all of this to be over. I know that everybody’s been preparing for some kind of disaster ever since Prepper Central was formed but man, I would have rather wasted my money prepping for a thousand years than deal with this shit. I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to survive without a government. Everyone on the outside is going crazy and once all our supplies start to disappear, I don’t know what the hell we’re gonna do next.’

‘Well, we’ve got lots of plants and stuff, so we’ll be okay when it comes to supplying food.’

‘Yeah. That’s until everyone gets sick of eating apples and tomatoes. Plus, who knows how long it will be until a group of real rebels make their way in our direction and run over this place like a crash of rhinos.’

‘I say optimism is the best way out. You’re upping the military presence that we have here and I’m sure they know a thing or two about fighting in a battle. So, if that time does come, I think we’ll be able to handle it.’

‘I sure hope so because shit seriously needs to get better.’

Our conversation got interrupted by a loud roaring sound moving closer and closer to us. They were here. The deep army green Humvee rolled slowly in our direction. Out of the top pointed a machine gun, scarier in size and undoubtedly in power, than the vehicle itself. The presence of the Humvee was our cue to get to work, tearing the barrier down and letting them in. We dressed our hands in cut-resistant gloves before ripping the barbed wire down- a tedious task, but one that needed to be done. Luckily, another group would be taking over the front soon, and they’d be responsible for securing our gate. We moved to the side, creating enough space for the oversized vehicle to roll through with ease. Out of the top propped a head.

‘Hey y’all,’ the person said, looking around and waving his hand like the Queen of England. He had a sense of humor, clearly. That’s one of the things that our group was missing. Dad had been one of the few guys who managed to get people to smile. However, once all his jokes ran dry, even he didn’t have much to smile about.

The Humvee went up a few driveways before turning around and settling in front of the gate. It was a sight to be seen. If feet upon feet of barbed wire and armed men standing out front wasn’t scary enough, this monstrosity would surely do the trick. The machine gun on top, pointed in just the right direction and in that moment, I felt as though having the vehicle there already made agreeing to the new members worth it. I’d never driven in one of these vehicles before and thus, my interest was naturally piqued. Asking Stewart for a tour wasn’t an option as he was yet to remove the look of misery from his face. However, Mr. Queen of England, who was dancing out the top of the vehicle, definitely wouldn’t mind to give me a tour. I decided that once they were settled in, and Stewart was nowhere to be seen, I’d try to get a tour. Three men stepped out of the Humvee, all suited up in military gear, though I’m sure their uniform had a whole new meaning to them now.

‘Timothy,’ one of the men extended his hand and went from one of us to the other, blessing our palms with a firm shake.

The guy who had exited the Humvee second waited for Timothy to do his rounds before he chimed in. ‘Alex,’ he said and shook hands in an equally as firm manner as Timothy.

The last guy- the Queen of England pretender- introduced himself as Lewis and followed the actions of the previous two. Stewart was the one to carry out the introduction of Jonathan, Edward, and me. Milton and Lewis waited for the right moment to throw their arms around their long lost friends. The happy reunion went on for a good ten minutes before Stewart instructed them to follow him to his house for a breakdown of how we did things around here. When Stewart was far enough away, I turned to Edward who I was sure would be eager to join in on my excitement.

‘Pretty cool,’ huh, I said, raising my eyebrows to show my gleefulness.

‘Pretty darn cool if you ask me,’ Edward agreed.

Jonathan didn’t seem to share our eagerness to check out the Humvee, merely offering an, ‘it’s alright.’

‘Have you driven in one of these before?’ I asked, truly interested.

‘Absolutely,’ he answered, finally losing the Grinch tone he’d been sporting since last night. He went on to tell a story about being on tour in Iraq and how he and some of his buddies used to race Humvees around a makeshift track whenever they had the time to. It definitely made me happy to see Jonathan come out of his element and actually share a story he was passionate about. The only thing that had gotten Jonathan to open up to us, until now, was cards. Most nights, I’d bring along a pack of cards while we stayed outside and watched the nothingness that the night had to offer. Jonathan had told us that doing this brought him back to when he was on tour and that a pack of cards was something that they never left base without. This was believable. From Poker to Bullshit and Crazy Eights to Chinese ten, mustering up a win against Jonathan was difficult. However, when it came to Canasta, I had the edge, thanks to my mother for instilling the skills in me, one loss at a time.

We sat and waited for the other guys to arrive. Their tardiness forced us into securing the entry point. I was surprised to see that unlike other days, there were few people to be seen. Our camp was an intimidating one and thus, there was hardly anyone brave enough to stare us in the face while trying to break in. Because of this, late nights were when we really needed to stand guard.

‘Finally,’ Edward grunted.

I turned around to see four guys walking in our direction. ‘About time,’ I agreed with Edward. Tardiness was something that none of us appreciated. Having to wake up early day after day meant that patience was something we didn’t have much of.

‘What took you so long,’ Edward said roughly as the guys got closer.

One of the men-Harry- motioned to Edward to come over to him but rather than getting up, Edward returned the motion.

‘Someone claimed they heard some kind of screaming going on so we had to search around to see if we could figure out what it was.’

‘Screaming,’ I exclaimed.

‘Yeah. Could have been some people on the other side though. You never know what they’re getting up to over there,’ Harry nodded.

‘But you really think you could hear their screams from all the way over here?’ I asked.

‘Absolutely,’ Jonathan chimed in. ‘I can barely sleep with some of the noises that I hear coming from over there.’

Jonathan’s reassurance allowed the worry in me to subside. Still, I couldn’t help but to think about Thomas and the fact that it could have been him. He’d promised to show up with news whenever there was any worth telling and if ‘his people’ had found out, there’s no telling what they would do to him.

‘Didn’t sound like a little boy, did it?’ I asked, hoping to have my fears washed away.

‘Nah. They said it sounded like a woman,’ Derrick-one of the other guys- replied.

‘But everyone’s fine?’

‘Yup,’ Derrick answered.

Unfortunately, I would soon realize that things weren’t as fine as everyone thought they were. Okay, maybe it wasn’t something to panic about, but the minute I saw mom sprinting toward me, I knew just the words that would leave her mouth.

‘Her water broke,’ she said before catching a huge breath. ‘Your wife. Marge, her water broke.’

Mom’s clarification was unnecessary, considering there was only one pregnant woman amongst us. The look on her face was one of excitement and fear. I observed her for a minute, thinking about everything and nothing all at the same time. And then it hit me. It really hit me that soon, I would be able to hold my little boy or girl in my arms. The pregnancy would soon be over, replaced by a new life; a life that I needed to protect. Now, my breathing mimicked mom’s and it felt as though I’d been the one running. ‘Easy,’ mom said, placing her hand on my back. There was no doubting that she could see my heart lifting and falling in my chest. I was going to be a dad. My responsibilities would surge. Sleepless nights would have a whole new meaning. At that moment, I wasn’t sure I could handle it; I wasn’t sure that I was ready. What if I didn’t know how to hold our baby? What if he or she took one look at me and bawled non-stop? I wasn’t cut out to be a dad. Was I?