World of Ashes (30 page)

             
As expected Lee wasn’t happy. “Well that was really fucking smooth.” He said, but found he didn’t have much to complain about. He wasn’t at all upset about being an uncle and refused to comment on the future crying. He just wasn’t any better than Ethan at accepting change, or that he couldn’t leave knives and guns and booze around the house anymore. He did however, bring up the fact that the wall was going to block off their road to home and they’d soon be issued a house within the boarder of the town proper. The Cally brothers didn’t relish the idea of abandoning their home, but it didn’t have to be forever. Ethan and his brother were both excited that Mary, at least, could cook. This would spare them from the slop at the chow hall.

             
“I guess I just wasn’t ready to hear that we’d have to leave the house so soon.” Ethan said as they finished prayer before eating. “I spent so long just trying to get back, and now I have to leave again. It kinda feels like giving up, ya know?”

             
“But won’t we be safer?” Mary asked.

             
“Much safer.” Lee said. “I don’t want to alarm anyone, but no one has seen Newton at all. It’s been a week since anyone can confirm seeing him, and he’s not at home. I think he might have been kidnapped, or we’d have found a body by now.”

             
Ethan sighed, “Forgive me if I sit this one out.”

             
“Yeah, I figured you would. Those two soldiers you rescued from the St. Clair armory are applying for your department, by the way. I think you made an impression on them because they weren’t even interested in First Cav.”

             
“They’re a cute couple.”

“Wait, they’re lesbians? That’s fucking hot, bro.” Lee was probably serious.

“I reserve judgment until I’ve seen the goods, but I think I can find work for them.” Ethan flopped down on the couch. He’d have to leave it too. The ugly brown monstrosity that was already used when his parents got it in the late to mid 1980’s hadn’t moved in twenty five years, the floor even warped toward it slightly if you spilled a drink, it’s frame solid Missouri oak and probably better built than a hybrid car. 

             
Keith interrupted Ethan’s wandering thoughts. “Have you been reading the paper? There’s been two political parties forming in town. Basically there’s the classic liberals and conservatives again, but, it’s more like the Hippies and Libertarians on one side versus the Spanish Inquisition on the other. There’s no Right, just Left, Middle and the Salem Witch Trials.”

             
“That fucking cult that set up out past the high school?” Ethan narrowed his eyes, looking backwards over the armrest of the ancient wooden couch. Mary picked up the paper and sat on the other end. She leaned against the heavily varnished lumber, the faux felt cushions a mottled collage of browns and tans in the pattern of a windmill and wheat fields. Almost any home that had been in the Missouri region before 1970 had had at least one of these heavy framed thrones. It was Ethan’s favorite couch, even if it sagged and needed to be sanded desperately. Thirty something years of gum, lost coins and probably even some dried pizza gave it that familiarity of home one longed for after a hard night of drinking. Mary just looked uncomfortable. 

             
“Yeah, those fuckers.” Lee tossed his fork onto his plate. “They want to reform the government into something resembling the original Puritan colonies, with elders and forced Sunday mass and strict biblical laws. They have some pretty ludicrous ideas if you ask me. There’s only about a hundred of them, but in a town of only five thousand that can carry a lot of weight.” 

             
“Sounds like the Christian version of Sharia Law to me. Should I go back and try to catch that truck?” Mary joked. “How can anyone listen to that? I’m not against religion, but I look at it like its a penis. It’s cool to have one, but please don’t shove it down my throat.”

             
Everyone laughed. “Trying to tell us something about Ethan?” Lee said.

             
“Shut up.” Mary’s eyes were fiery, already at home with the idea that Lee was family now, and not a superior. She felt very protective of Ethan now. It could have just been the hormones, but maybe it was more. Could it be more? They would have to try to make it more, if only for their child’s sake. 

             
“Kenly’s Constitution Party wants to enact a strict adherence to the US Constitution. It basically boils down to
Laissez Faire
markets and Small Government. Nothing but the Police, Fire, Ambulance and Army, and a few smaller municipal services and the rest Kenly wants left up to the private markets. He even has the plans in rough draft for Direct Democratic Control of the government through votes cast on local issues at three month intervals. That would reduce the need for Representatives and give more control to the people.”

             
“How many of the old U.S. laws are Kenly and his party planning to enforce?”

             
“Very little outside the actual Constitution and Bill of Rights. There’s the basics, don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t beat your wife, don’t beat your kids unless they deserve it, no drinking or doing drugs while driving, no shooting in crowded areas unless it’s self defense.” Lee rambled off laws he knew were already being enforced, as if Ethan didn’t know, he was on the front lines of that fight. It was all for Mary’s sake to hear them discuss it. “I think Kenly is intentionally leaving laws on drugs open to your discretion, Ethan. We already know how you feel about methamphetamines, but there are also no laws about the incredible amount of prescription pills out in the wild. Kenly wants you to come up with a policy to be voted on that would only put the most physically harmful drugs on a Contraband List. Meth, Crack Cocaine, Heroin and other Opiates. He doesn’t want alcohol, pot, or tobacco on that list though. He knows you’re not going to enforce those anyhow.”

             
Ethan considered his words, and what color underwear Mary might have on. Was it just him, or did she smell delicious? “This whole
end of the world
business has really made parents step up to the Ol’ Responsibility Plate. They seem to be acting like, you know,
parents
, forcing social graces and education upon their children. It’s gone lightyears to correcting the destructive behavior of modern kids. Since we have to have guns and large knives to protect ourselves we have mandatory firearm and fixed blade tool use classes for anyone who is going to carry in public. There’s no license for it, but you only get three warnings before we kick out of town if you use them irresponsibly. Haven’t had to do that much. I figure it’s because most of the stupid people who couldn’t handle life without their iCrap or having to use a gun every day have been weeded out by natural selection.”

             
“What’s the major problem in town, besides Zombies?”

Ethan had to consider that for a moment.
“Most arrests involve fighting under the influence of alcohol in crowded communal homes. I think if people could fan out in town a little we’d see a lot less restlessness. I plan to enforce a drinking age at 18. If they can vote and carry a rifle then they can have a beer as far as I’m concerned. We need to make it socially unacceptable to be drunk in public, though. Spain used to do that, and they could serve beer at McDonalds and in schools. The last time we found someone who had any significant amount of marijuana on them, it was a thief, and he’d pick pocketed the baggie off of an elderly woman with cataracts. To be honest, I think the only things we have to worry about are
really hard
are Zims and the Cultists.” Ethan smiled and quoted the Beach Boys. “The bad guys knows us and they leave us alone.” Lee rolled his eyes, unsure what his brother saw in “Oldies” music.

             
Mary was nursing a cup of coffee, though there were other things to drink. “Maybe I
should
have gone back to Texas. They don’t let religious groups step out of line down there anymore. Too many Arab immigrants got to starting trouble over imposing Sharia Law, claiming US law had failed and all that, thinking the Zims gave them free reign to do as they pleased. They weren’t even hiding honor killings or that they were attacking Christian churches and government facilities. This fuckin’ Texas general named Vierling lined a bunch of ‘em up outside the Houston court house and shot ‘em all with his own gun. Said he’d do it again in every major city until they stopped rioting over Islamic law in America and Texas. Then I’m pretty sure someone else in the congress deported a bunch of em too.”

             
“To where?”

             
“To a ship.”

             
“That then went…”

             
“To hell, probably.” Mary was looking at Lee as if the question were absurd.

.
              “What’s the word from Alaska?” Keith changed the subject from Islamic terrorism to something that actually mattered now. “Aren’t they still around?” He was having trouble getting his boots tied when one of the laces frayed.

             
“Yeah.” Mary got up and poured herself another glass of coffee. “We get messages from them via satellite once in a while. They’re not as organized or powerful as Texas. There was talk of the Alaskans taking what ships weren’t locked in ice flows and evacuating to the Aleutian Islands and Hawaii.

“Hawaii
was a Red Zone, but they think the tropical climate and the military installations on the islands might have reduced the infected population to a manageable level before it went dark. The Zims aren’t lasting long after death anyhow, not like those Voodoo things in the movies. Alaska is gonna try to clear all the islands. Evacuate their population there because the mainland is crawling. The nuclear winters are harsh there, even for the mountain men. It’s like a mini ice age. The Bearing Straight is closing, freezing over the colder it gets. I guess the mountains can’t hold Canada’s infected population forever, either. Most of the people who lived in cities aren’t taking the Alaskan winter very well and there are millions of refugees there. It’s much colder than they expected it to be and herds of livestock are dying off faster than people can eat them or build shelters.” Mary leaned her elbows on the table. “Texas was gonna send ships, but the oceans are too rough or iced over to get close to a major port. Too many rogue submarines too. Chinese, Russian, British, you name it, they’re basically pirates now. The world’s a dangerous place these days.”

Ma
ry could have listed more dangers, but a lot of it was scuttlebutt, rumors not to be trusted about ships full of infected washing ashore in areas once cleared. Sometimes at great cost these areas would have to be cleared again, assuming anyone survived. Islands of the Dead dotted the East Coast, the undead that floated away from them washing ashore on Florida’s pristine beaches. These guys were barely holding on, they didn’t need to know that too. Hope was sometimes the thin red line between life and death. Hopelessness could destroy a people’s morale faster than a bullet.

Etha
n showed Mary around the house when Lee went with Keith and Paula back to town. They were going to go to a bar while Mary and Ethan babysat Serenity. “This is my… well…
our
room up here.” He pulled down the ladder and they climbed into the attic. “Lee lives downstairs too, but only on the weekends. He stays at the barracks with the men who aren’t married. It probably does good for morale. When Paula and Keith move into the master bedroom I just kinda took over the upper level. It’s safer, so I made it more livable.” He went over to the Franklin stove and lit a fire. It was still going to get chilly at night, the paleness of the evening’s sunset through the overcast sky cast the upper living area in stark contrasts and shadows. Mary’s hair glittered in the blue shadows and orange light, Ethan wishing it would be an appropriate time to touch her already. Mary was completely out of his league, no chance she’d have so much as spoken to him before the apocalypse.

             
“So where’s your dog?” Mary looked around expectantly.

             
“I guess he’s still with Wigg. Which means probably at the Holiday Inn. The kids’ got a room there. I’ll get him in the morning if he wants to give him back.”

             
“Your home reminds me of someplace I’ve been before. Like a friend’s house maybe.” Mary smiled. “Look, you don’t have to keep the girlfriend charade up. I don’t like the title Baby Mama because I’m not a hood-rat
or
white trash, but-”

             
“No, Mary, I like you.” Ethan interrupted when Mary started trailing off. “I hope you and I have a future together, but you’re right, we met under the worst circumstances imaginable. What, exactly, are we supposed to mean to one another? I was holding out a false hope that Nicole was still alive, but I can let go now. I mean,” Ethan reached out and put his hand gently on Mary’s belly, “I have something and someone to come home to now. Someone to actually live for, rather than just waiting to die to meet them on the other side. I don’t want to throw that second chance away.”

             
Mary took a chance and kissed Ethan. He didn’t resist, he let it happen. It felt natural and right and neither wanted to stop. They made love again, this time knowing what they were doing, and not having to feel the guilt.