The Last Tribe (28 page)

John sat, sipping his second mug of
coffee, reprimanding the constant screaming and fart, butt, and poop comments
from the four kids.  The bedroom door opened at 6:30.  Solange emerged, fully
dressed and put together for the day.  She sat down with John at the small
dining room table.

“Tonight I suggest the kids go to
the apartment or we get a turn in the apartment.”  She smiled at him.  “Is
there enough coffee for me to have a cup?”

“I would never deny another person
coffee.  I am not a savage, yet.  Please, help yourself, now and always.”

She poured herself a cup and spoke
to John as if there were no kids screaming at the top of their lungs at the
cartoon movie.

“So few people left, we do not have
much to build a new world.”  She took a sip of her black coffee.  John pointed
to the sugar and a small bottle of milk on the table. She shook her head.  “On
our trip here, you said we might grow to twenty by the time we arrived in New
York.  I believe we will be lucky to have twenty after New York.”

“I know.  We will be pressed to
find better people than the five we just met, but it would be nice to find
stronger hands.  A doctor is a fantastic edition, but taking on three more
children and an older man?  The tribe is going backwards.”

“Less alpha males means less
threats, but you are right, we also sacrifice strength.  Peter is a leader, but
he is also wise and silent.  He will not cause trouble.”

John looked at her after the alpha
male comment.  “You are an interesting person, Solange.  I know why I am
paranoid, but why are you so distrusting of others?”

Solange took a sip of her coffee. 
“I was not the only survivor in Richmond.  There was another person, a man,
young, my age.  He was a local man, and did not go to college.  He drove around
trying to find survivors in a big black pickup truck.  It was November, late
November, and I had not seen anyone for months.  The first time I saw his
truck, I let it drive by.  I am a young woman, and I cannot defend myself, but
after months of solitude, I decided to trust the driver.”  She paused and looked
at John with vacant distant eyes.  “It was a decision based on my selfish
needs, not safety.  I will not make a mistake like that again.  The boy, his
name was Fred, just Fred, he never told me his full name, let me in his truck,
told me his survival story, something about being a kindergarten teacher,
living with his parents to help them with money.  I think the story was a lie,
I do not know for sure.  He asked me to tell him my story.  I stupidly told him
about how I was alone, how I was not from the area.  He drove while I tell him
things.  I did not realize, but he drove in circles and zig zags.”  She sipped
her coffee.  “After 30 minutes I have no idea where I am, where he has taken
me.  It is not close to the highway, it is not near town.  Even though I later
found my way back to Richmond, I could not take you to where I was.”  She
glanced at the children to make sure they are not listening.  “It is best they
do not hear my story.  I did not want Matt to hear it either.  He is too young
to know such evil.”

John gave a polite nod of
acceptance.

“We stop at a house on a small
farm.  It looks run down, but there are many nice things, things Fred stole or
took after the rapture.  I was driving a nice car, we all have things now.  I
was not concerned about the nice things.  I was scared that I was alone with
him, and we were in a place I did not know, and I had no way to leave the
place, but I am young, and I was more trusting five months ago.  I told myself
I was being silly.”

“There was a pond next to the
house.  He said there were fish in the pond, great for eating.  He told me to
take a fishing pole, catch him fish for dinner.  I was confused, and I asked
him what he was talking about.  He raised his voice to me and said, ‘you see
all this stuff?  It’s mine.  The rapture has given it to me and made me a
king.  I am in charge, and you will do what I say or things will go badly for
you.  Take a pole, dig for some worms, catch me a damn fish before I beat
you.’”  She did not raise her own voice while retelling the story.  She kept a
natural tone, as if the events happened to a different person.

John stared at her.  She maintained
a distant look in her eyes.  “I am so sorry.”  He said, putting his hand on her
hand resting on the table. 

“If the children start to listen, I
will stop.  I will not let them hear my story.”  She nodded her head in their
direction.  “So Mr. Fred sits down on his porch, and stares at me.  He has a
small refrigerator on the porch plugged into a generator, and he pulls out a
beer and starts to drink.  I say to myself, ‘Sol, this is bad, you cannot run
or walk away right now.  You need to smile and do what he says.’  So I take one
of the fishing poles leaning against the shack, I pull up a few of the
flagstones on the dirt walkway, find a worm, hook the worm, and throw it into
the pond.  I fished with my father in Ecuador.  I know where to find worms, how
to catch fish.  I catch a fish.  I reel it in.  I hold it up to show it to him”

“This Fred, he walks over to me. 
He looks at the fish, and he punches me in the stomach, very hard.  I drop on
the ground in pain, coughing.  I have tears in my eyes, but I do not cry.  He
yells at me, ‘you think a fish that tiny is going to feed me?  Try again.  I
will not punch you in the face.  You are too pretty to look at, but I will
punch you in the gut until you get it right.’”

“I am dirty and thirsty, and tell
him I will try again.  I ask for a glass of water.  ‘You want something from me
when you cannot even catch me a big enough fish to eat?  You can drink the
water from the pond.’  I tell him that I have water in my pack, my water, not
his.  He walks over to his truck, takes my pack out and throws it into the
pond.  ‘I own everything.  I own you.  You will drink and eat when I say.  You
will earn your food and water.  You catch me a fish, and I will tell you how
you can earn food.’”

“I drank the water from the pond,
and I did not eat for three days.  You can guess how he wanted me to earn my
food.  He said he did not want to rape me, that he was not interested in that. 
He wanted me to ‘want’ to be with him.  He thought making me be with him for
food was different than raping me.”

“Fred was a strong man.  He worked
with his hands before the rapture.  He was a little heavy, and his arm muscles
were very big.  When he punched me in the stomach, it hurt me.  I decided to
die on my feet.  I went to him the third night, I caught him three fish and
held them up for his approval.  He stood in front of me.  I could smell the
beer on his breath.  He nodded at me.  I lifted my knee to his groin with as
much strength as I had.  He was not expecting the move, and he went down
coughing.  I jumped on him, putting my hands around his throat, squeezing as
hard as I could.”

“This Fred, he was strong, but he
lacked determination.  I do not.  He swung his arms wildly, hitting me all
over.  I clung to his throat, staring into his eyes.  When he tried to get up,
I kneed him in the groin as hard as I could, over and over, holding his throat,
keeping my grip as tightly as I could.  His eyes were filled with terror.  His
head and face turned red, then purple.  His punches became weak.  I clung to
his throat long after he stopped moving.  I kneed him in the groin even when
his eyes were shut and he no longer flinched.  I held onto his throat until my
hands ached.”  She took a sip of coffee, looking at John calmly.  “As I said, I
possess determination and strength of will.” 

“Fred was a weak minded, stupid
beta dog.  The rapture set him free for a little while and made him think he
could act like an alpha dog.  When I was killing him, he became the beta
again.  He submitted to me, like weak people do.  He pretended to be something he
was not.”  Solange looked at the children again, making sure they were not
listening.  “An alpha would have taken me, not played some game to make me earn
my food.  This new world does not accept weakness or stupidity.  I was stupid
to get into that truck, but my strength set me free.”  She took a final sip,
calmly setting the mug on the table.

“I fished my pack out of the pond. 
I dragged his body off the porch and put it into the pond.  I cooked the fish I
caught for him.  I ate his food.  I drank his beer, wincing as it burned on my
bloody lips.  I woke up early the next day and used Fred’s truck, following the
sunrise east to the highway.  When I got back to campus, I moved into a nicer
house, lived there for five more months, and now you have found me.”

John’s coffee was gone.  He did not
refill his cup.  Solange got up, walked to the pot and brought it back to the
table.  She filled his mug and set the pot back on the coffee maker.  She sat
down, put a spoonful of sugar and milk in his coffee, and stirred it with a
spoon to mix.  “El encantado did not rid the world of evil.  I learned that
lesson the hard way.”

John did not respond.  He sat at
the table with her.  After a sip of the coffee she poured for him he spoke. 
“If you put the sugar in before the coffee, it melts and tastes better.”

“I will know for next time.” 
Solange put her hand on top of his hand, similar to his earlier gesture. 
“Thank you for listening to me, John Dixon, and thank you for being a good
man.”

John smiled at her, but it was his
turn to look down quickly, uncomfortable with the exchange.  He even blushed. 
A young woman, almost half his age, whom he had just met the afternoon before,
was touching his hand.  He could sense a connection, but he did not believe she
could have feelings for a man his age, particularly after only one day.   John
chalked up the touch and exchange of smiles as innocent. 

At 7:30 the door to the RV flew
open and Jay jumped inside.  “Their apartment is awesome!  They have a
fireplace, and tons of blankets, and books, and games and stuff.  It’s so much
fun!”  He looked around the RV.  “Is there any breakfast?”

“I can make some.”  John replied
with a smile.  “No one else has asked, they are glued to the movie.”  The kids
were watching cartoons.  John and Solange finished their coffee, and were
planning their day.  “I’ll go see if we have any eggs.  There is always cereal
or instant oatmeal.”

“Okay.”  Jay replied distantly.  He
watched the television, and barely paid attention.

Emily and Todd came in the RV.  Melanie
followed, carrying Casey.  They were chatting about the day, laughing about
Casey doing something funny.

“Good morning.”  Todd said
enthusiastically.  “How did we sleep over here?”

“The RV was up at 6am.  Solange and
I decided it will be your turn with the kids tonight, or more importantly
tomorrow morning.”

“Someone is grumpy.”  Emily replied. 
“Are you sure you’ve had enough coffee, John?”  She rubbed him on the back, the
way a sister in-law can.

“Don’t get me started.  My other
helper huffed off and is sleeping in the SUV.”  John made a gesture towards the
kids.  “I’ve resorted to the electric sitter.”

“Well, let’s have some breakfast
and figure out what we are doing.”  Emily looked at the TV.  “Okay guys and
gals.  Five minutes and it goes off.  Go play outside.  It’s cold.  Put on
sweatshirts.”

The kids screamed and ran around
for a second.  They put on shoes, pants, coats, grabbed soccer, kick, and footballs
and ran outside.

“Hey, make sure Matt is awake in
the car.  Pound on the sides and get his lazy bones up.”  John grinned.  He
turned to Melanie, “We have cereal and fresh milk.  It’s goat’s milk, but
pretty tasty.  I haven’t checked for eggs yet.  We might be able to offer you
some fresh eggs.  I think you, Peter, and Solange get first dibs.  It’s
probably been a while since you’ve had fresh food.”

“You have no idea.  That would be wonderful.” 
Melanie replied, excitement in her voice.

“Let me make sure there are eggs. 
Hate to make false promises.”  Todd replied. 

“May I see the chickens?  I love
farming and gardening.  If I wasn’t a surgeon, I would be a farmer.  I want to
see what kinds you have.”  Melanie was genuinely excited to look at chickens
and goats.

“Absolutely.  You can take over the
coop if you’d like.  We have no any idea what we are doing.  We just make sure
they have water and food, and eggs magically appear the next morning.”  Todd
smiled.  He opened the door for her and they went outside. 

Todd and Melanie bumped into a
disheveled Matt, standing in pajama pants, slippers, a fleece winter cap, and a
blanket over his shoulders.  He looked as though he woke abruptly. 

“Morning, Matt!”  Todd said as they
walked by.

“Morning.”  He grumbled. 

Solange handed Emily a cup of
coffee.  “John said you like to walk through houses, and that you are excited
to see the White House.”

“I do, and I am.”  Emily said back.

“Would you mind if I joined you?  I
also like to see houses and rooms.  I would enjoy touring the White House with
you.”

“Sol?  May I call you Sol?”  Emily
ask.

“Please.”

“May I give you a hug?”  Emily did
not wait for a response.  She put her arms around Solange.  The young woman
returned the hug uncomfortably.  “You just gave me one of the best surprises I
have had in a long time.  Of course you can join me, and I’m excited to find
another person who likes to walk through houses.  These other people think I’m
weird.”  Emily pointed around the room.  “I toured homes in Raleigh for the
last three months.  It’s how I found Hubba.”  She gestured with a tip of her
coffee cup to the still sleeping dog.  “Seriously, how is he still asleep?” 

She looked back at Solange.  “Thank
you for the coffee.  Did you sleep well last night?  I hope the kids weren’t
too much of a bother.”

“I did sleep well.  I have a large
family, or I should say I had a large family, and I miss a full house.  It was
nice to be around people, and wake up with screaming children.  I had many
nieces and nephews, and during family get togethers, they woke me up early to
play.  It was a nice memory.  I do not know if it will be nice tomorrow, but it
was nice today.”  She smiled.