Surviving Chaos

27

“You doing, OK, Mom?” said Sadie.

“I’m fine, Sadie.”

The truth was, the pain was getting worse. She didn’t know why. But she hoped that it was simply because of the journey. The going had been bumpy. That was the reality of being carried across uneven terrain on a makeshift stretcher. Every bump had gone right to her back, right to her injury.

But Sadie had checked it, lifting Georgia’s shirt up to expose her bare skin. She’d said it had looked fine.

Georgia shouldn’t have been worried. At least that was what she kept telling herself. If there’d been a fragment of the bullet that hadn’t been removed, she’d have a fever right now. And an infection. Maybe she’d be dead.

But maybe the antibiotics had been keeping it at bay. Maybe there was a splinter of metal there, working its way slowly to her heart, or some vital organ.

She had to keep a clear head, though. For her kids.

It was difficult, though. Georgia was not the type to get anxious. So it was a new experience for her. Probably compounded by the injury, the stress, and the lack of food.

“You think they’ll be OK?” said Sadie, looking up at her mom with worried eyes.

Georgia nodded. “James is with Max. He’s in good hands. As good as any.”

“But what about Mandy?”

“We’ll have to wait and see, Sadie. In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled. We can’t afford to let something happen to us while we’re here waiting.”

“But maybe we should go help. We can’t just sit here doing nothing.”

“Unfortunately, that’s the reality of the situation. There’s nothing else to do. The truth is that I can barely walk, let alone go running after some unknown threats. Trust me, I feel worse about it than you do.”

It was true.

Georgia was not the type for sitting back and letting others do the dangerous work. And she hated the idea of sending her son out there, while she stayed in the relative safety of the campsite. James and Max were about to face unknown dangers. And there was nothing she could do to protect them.

She kept her worries to herself. It was better if Sadie kept as clear a head as possible. The calmer Sadie was, the more likely she’d be able to spot someone if they were approaching.

“Sadie,” said Georgia. “Listen to me. I’ve got to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“If something happens to me, I want you to…”

Just then, Georgia saw it.

A woman.

Georgia froze, stopping midsentence.

Sadie turned her head to where Georgia was looking.

She was in her mid-30s. Tall, with long hair that hung past her shoulders. She had a pretty face, and an athletic build.

Georgia reached for the gun. She’d already thought over whether Sadie was better off with it, or whether she was. In the end, she’d decided that she was still the better shot, even with her injury. And she’d likely draw the fire, if there was any. If she was shot, Sadie could reach for the gun.

Funny where the mind went. These sorts of thoughts had become completely normal to Georgia.

Unfortunately.

But that was reality.

The hiker saw them. She stopped dead in her tracks.

Georgia was waiting for the woman to reach for her gun.

But she didn’t.

Behind her, a man appeared. About the same age. Also tall.

They glanced at each other, and then back at Sadie and Georgia.

They didn’t seem to have seen the gun yet.

Georgia made a quick strategic decision. She pulled her arm and hand completely under the blanket that lay over her. This hid the gun completely from sight. It was better if they didn’t know she was armed. If they tried something, she’d be better able to take them on.

“Hey there!” called out the woman, suddenly, waving her hand.

“Mom,” hissed Sadie frantically. “What do we do?”

“Stay calm, Sadie.”

The woman and the man started walking over. There wasn’t much ground to cover. They’d sort of come out of nowhere. The trees had hidden their approach.

“You folks OK?” said the man. He was athletic-looking, and was wearing trendy clothes that were now muddy and torn.

“We’re fine,” said Georgia.

Her pulse was racing. The presence of newcomers meant danger.

But, if she was being honest with herself, the impression they gave was of completely trustworthy people. An honest couple. Normal people. Nothing about them screamed danger.

“Mind if we sit down?” said the man. “I’m Jake, by the way.”

“And I’m Rose.”

Georgia nodded. “Just keep a decent distance. Yeah, right there is fine. And keep your hands where I can see them.”

Jake laughed. “We’re not trying to hurt you,” he said. “In fact, we were hoping you could help us.”

“Help you?”

“Yeah,” said Rose. “We’re… well, it’s a long story.”

Georgia realized that they hadn’t noticed that she was so injured she could barely stand up on her own. That she was so weak she wasn’t going to be of any help to anyone.

“How do you know you can trust us?” said Georgia. “Coming here, presumably unarmed, you’re taking a big risk.”

Rose smiled warmly. “You look trustworthy.”

“That’s not much to go on,” said Georgia. “Trust me, I know. And don’t worry, I’m not trusting you two either yet.”

“I guess you shouldn’t,” said Jake. “We’re desperate, basically. If you’re looking to take what we have, well, we don’t have anything.”

“If you’re desperate, then I can’t trust you,” said Georgia.

“I know you’re a good person,” said Rose. “I can see it in your aura.”

“My aura?”

“She’s kind of a hippy,” said Jake, rolling his eyes a little.

Georgia laughed in spite of herself.

“He never believes me,” said Rose. “But I always turn out to be right.”

“I think you’re just picking up other signals,” said Jake.

“What’s an aura?” said Sadie.

“Some silly new age stuff,” muttered Georgia. “Now tell me what’s going on.”

“Well, it all started out great,” said Rose. “We were traveling the country in our van…”

“We’re digital nomads,” said Jake, once again adding explanation to what Rose said. “Well, we were, obviously.”

“What’s that?” said Sadie. “A digital nomad?”

Sadie had already let her guard down. But Georgia hadn’t. She still had the gun trained on them underneath the blanket. They didn’t seem to notice, or suspect anything at all. Apparently Rose’s “aura” detector wasn’t able to pick up on handguns.

“We traveled anywhere we wanted to,” said Rose. “And we worked online…”

They continued talking, telling their story. Georgia listened, and Sadie asked most of the questions. Georgia made sure not to get immersed in the story. She didn’t want to miss a potential attack, if one was going to happen. After all, it could all be a ruse. If it was, though, it was a very, very good one.

Rose and Jake were a couple. They weren’t married, but they talked like they were, interrupting each other, and occasionally bickering over small things. They were remarkably upbeat considering what they’d been through.

In some ways, they hadn’t had it as bad as the others during the initial stages of the post-EMP world.

“Yeah,” Jake was saying. “We were already here on the hunting grounds when the EMP hit. We actually didn’t realize it at first. We thought something had just gone wrong with the van’s battery.”

“Wait,” said Georgia. “You said the hunting grounds. You mean the state hunting grounds?”

“Yeah,” said Jake.

“That’s where we are now?”

“Yeah,” said Jake.

They must have made a mistake with the maps. Somehow, they’d come farther than they’d thought.

Not that it mattered much.

“So anyway,” said Jake. “These guys started coming around. That’s when we heard about the EMP.”

“They were nice enough at first,” said Rose.

“But then they turned nasty.”

“They’re these pot farmers,” said Rose. “They had guns, and they came and took everything we had.”

“Everything,” muttered Jake.

Georgia looked at them carefully again. They had seemed healthy, for the most part, when she’d first seen them. But now she saw them in a different light. They looked malnourished.

Jake even had a bad bruise on his cheek, and Rose had a black eye.

“We finally got ahold of some food the other day,” said Jake. “We found some acorns, and we were making these weird pancakes out of them. But they came by again, and demanded them.”

“Jake refused,” said Rose. “And they hit me.”

Jake looked at the ground, growing red in the face. “I tried to defend her, but they just beat the shit out of me.”

“It was horrible,” said Rose.

“So anyway,” said Jake. “Basically, they’re tormenting us. They’ve taken everything from us. And we’ve got to get out of here.”

“Why don’t you just drive off?” said Sadie. “You said you have a van.”

“They stole our gas,” said Rose.

Suddenly, it hit Georgia. An idea. How had it taken her this long to realize it?

Sadie must have realized it at the same time, because she glanced over at Georgia.

“Is there anyone else here?” said Georgia. “In the area, I mean?”

“Not that we know of,” said Rose. “We haven’t seen anyone else. You’re the first ones we’ve seen who weren’t the pot farmers.”

“How many of them are there?” said Georgia.

“Three. Two main guys. One’s kind of the idiot lackey. And there’s this other guy. He’s huge but he doesn’t seem to talk. They communicate with him in sign language.”

“Mom,” said Sadie. “Do you think that’s what happened to Mandy?”

“Who’s Mandy?” said Rose.

“One of our friends,” said Georgia. “She disappeared today.” She didn’t mention Max and James. She still didn’t trust Rose and Jake fully. But they were gaining her trust quickly, and she was letting her guard down.

Jake and Rose exchanged a nervous glance.

“Do you know anything about that?” said Georgia, eyeing them.

“No,” said Rose. “Our van is a good ways away from their farm.”

“You say farm, but isn’t it too cold now to grow anything?”

“They have some special strain, I think,” said Rose.

Georgia nodded. “They beat you two up. But do you know why they’d kidnap someone? What would their motive be?”

“Who knows,” said Jake. “They’re pretty delusional. They keep talking about how they’ll be rich once the power comes back on…”

“They’ve talked about taking me and forcing me to work on their farm,” said Rose. “Free labor, you know.”

“Why didn’t they then?”

“I think they thought we’d find food if they left us on our own,” said Jake. “Not that we’ve had much luck with that. Just bits and pieces here and there. Nothing substantial.”

“In reality,” said Rose, “I think they just like having someone to come torment.”

“But they could do that easily enough if they made us their slaves,” said Jake. He paused for a moment, as if thinking deeply. “Nothing they do really makes a whole lot of sense, though. So I wouldn’t read too much into it. But about your friend… the answer is yes. I think that if something happened to her, it was likely these guys.”

Georgia nodded.

It was a lot to take in. But it sounded like Jake was right. It was probably the pot farmers that had gotten to Mandy.

“Well,” said Jake, folding his hands together. “We came looking for help, but it seems as if your friend needs more help than us. We have it comparatively easy.”

“I hate to think of her being forced to work on that horrible farm of theirs,” said Rose.

“I’m sorry we can’t be of any help,” said Jake. “But we can’t defend ourselves against them. I don’t know what we could do.”

Georgia thought to herself that if that was their attitude, they’d have a hard time no matter where they were. They had it comparatively easy, if some dangerous pot farmers were all they had to contend with. If they’d been anywhere else, they’d already be dead. Not that this wasn’t an area with the potential to be as dangerous as any. And not that the pot farmers weren’t a serious danger.

To Mandy, mostly.

“Max and James are already headed there,” said Sadie, piping up.

Georgia groaned inwardly. She hadn’t wanted to divulge the existence of Max and James yet. She didn’t yet completely trust these two newcomers.

“Who are Max and James?” said Rose.

Sadie must have seen the way Georgia had looked at her, so she said, “Nobody.”

“Well,” said Georgia. “The cat’s out the bag. They’re with us, and they’re headed to rescue our friend Mandy. Hopefully they’ve found her by now.”

Rose looked startled at the mention of two new people.

But Jake didn’t miss a beat. “Shit,” he muttered.

“What is it?”

“They’re going to run into problems if they reach that farm,” he said.

“Why’s that?”

“Don’t worry about them,” said Sadie excitedly. “They know what they’re doing. You should see Max… he can take down anyone.”

“That’s not true, Sadie,” said Georgia. “But we do have confidence that they’re up to the job.”

“The only thing,” said Jake, worry on his face, “is that that farm is booby trapped like crazy.”

“Booby trapped?”

“Yeah, they’ve got it set up where they’ll know if someone’s coming before they get anywhere near it.”

Sadie shot Georgia a worried look.

“How do you know?” said Georgia.

“They told me,” said Jake. “They told me not to get any ideas, not to sneak onto their place, because they’d shoot me in the stomach before I was anywhere near there… They said they had the whole place rigged up. And they said not to worry, that EMP hadn’t affected their defense at all. Shit, I wish there was some way we could warn your friends. It’s times like these you really wish cell phones still worked, right?”

Georgia didn’t say anything. She bit her lip in worry.

And she wasn’t the type to get worried.

At least not easily.

“Is James going to be OK, Mom?” said Sadie, tugging on her sleeve.

“He’s with Max,” said Georgia.