Fighting Rough

12

Mandy couldn’t feel her feet or her hands.

Max was in worse shape. And it wasn’t a surprise. He was wearing the same jacket he’d been wearing all along. It wasn’t designed for cold weather, and it was amazing he’d made it this far with the jacket.

Now he was paying the price.

Mandy didn’t know if they’d make it back to camp before he froze to death.

“You’ve got to take my jacket, Max. Just for a little while.”

Max shook his head.

“It’s no longer a matter of being noble or whatever it is. You’re being stubborn, and it’s going to get you killed.”

“I recognize that tree,” said Max, through chattering teeth. “We’re close by.”

“And what if we’re not? What if it’s like the last three trees that I thought I recognized?”

“We’ll have to make a fire,” said Max. “It’ll get us through the night.”

Mandy wasn’t so sure about that. For one thing, she didn’t know if they’d be able to start a fire in the snow.

Maybe Max was right. Maybe this was time they finally found the camp. They’d been walking in circles for hours. Actual circles, not just that feeling when you’re lost and you think you’re walking in circles. They’d been intentionally walking in circles, hoping that they were close to the camp, and that they’d eventually stumble onto it.

For all Mandy knew, they could have passed twenty feet from the camp. They never would have known it.

Mandy trusted Max. He knew his limits. He was almost obscenely practical, even to the determinant of his own safety sometimes. But he’d always considered the safety of others. Especially Mandy. He’d never intentionally let his own stubbornness endanger her or the others.

But was Max fully aware of what he was doing? Had the cold affected him too much? Could she trust Max now? Was his judgment compromised?

Just when Mandy was thinking she might have to make some hard decisions, she saw something.

It was the unmistakable glowing light of a fire. It was roaring, a beacon of hope in the bitter harsh cold.

“Max,” said Mandy, tugging on his arm. “Look!”

“Fire,” muttered Max. “Fire…”

“Come on!”

“Could be a trap,” said Max. He was starting to slur his words.

A figure appeared. Mandy didn’t immediately recognize the silhouette.

Was Max right? Was it a trap?

The silhouette extended its arm. The light was lower now, and visibility was worse than ever. The snow hadn’t let up at all.

At the end of the silhouette’s arm, there was the unmistakable outline of a handgun, backlit by the fire’s flickering flames.

Someone shouted something.

Mandy raised her own gun.

She glanced at Max.

He had his gun raised too. But his hand was shaking badly. The cold was getting to him.

Was it possible they’d stumbled onto someone else’s camp?

Then Mandy heard a familiar voice.

Georgia’s. She was calling Mandy’s name. And Max’s.

The rest was a blur. Mandy remembered being taken by the fire to warm up, Max along with her. Blankets were draped over them. Someone took off Mandy’s socks and examined her feet, checking for frostbite. Someone was doing the same for Max’s.

As the minutes rolled by, Mandy was starting to warm up.

“What’s the situation?” said Max.

“Just focus on warming up,” said John, handing Mandy and Max each steaming cups of coffee.

“I’m fine,” said Max. “But the enemy’s out there. We can’t let our guard down just because we’re cold.”

“No,” said John. “We can’t.”

It was strange hearing the two of them talking. They had similar voices. It wasn’t just their accents. It was something about their cadences, and the way they emphasized certain words. The main difference between their voices was that Max’s was a little deeper, a little more serious. John, on the other hand, sounded by comparison, at least, almost a little less severe.

“We’ve got three people officially on watch,” said John. “But in reality, we’re all on watch.”

“This fire is going to just be announcing our presence,” said Max.

“They already know where we are,” said John. He started explaining what had happened, telling the story of the encounter he, James, and Cynthia had earlier.

“That doesn’t make sense,” said Max. “The guy we talked to from the compound said he was the scouting party. And you’re saying there are how many men here?” Max briefly explained what had happened when he and Mandy had been out looking for the man who James had spotted yesterday.

“We don’t know,” said John. “But there are a lot.”

“Maybe we should leave,” said Mandy. The coffee was already making her feel warmer, and giving her that mental resilience that only caffeine could provide. “They know we’re here. Did you stay here just because we were still out?”

John didn’t answer.

“We can’t leave,” said Max. “Not with this snow. We won’t make it.”

“Are you sure?” said Mandy.

“It’s time we made a stand,” said Max. “We’re not going to find anywhere better than here to live. If we can prove we can defend it, it’ll be ours for the long haul.”

“There are other places with deer,” said Mandy. “Other places to find food.”

“It’s just rolling the dice,” said Max. “And so far, every new place we’ve found has been worse than the last.”

“That’s not true. If we’d stayed at the farmhouse, we’d be dead by now.”

“You know what I mean,” said Max, standing up.

“Come on, Max,” said John, moving over to his brother. “Stay by the fire. You’ve got to rest and warm up.”

Max shook his head. “I’m fine,” he said. “I’m plenty warm now. Now, let’s see what you’ve got going for the defenses. The sun’s almost down, and they’ll probably attack after nightfall. We might not have very long.”

“Georgia’s figured everything out,” said John.

“Where is she?”

“On the other side of the van.”

The fire that Mandy sat near was up close against Jake and Rose’s van. The van seemed to make the heat of the fire feel warmer, probably by reflecting the heat back towards her. Mandy made a mental note of that, in case it would be useful in the future. But then she realized they’d done it on purpose. Obviously she wasn’t the first to take note of that useful trick.

Max glanced back once at Mandy before going around to the other side of the van, disappearing from view.

“Hell of a guy, eh?” said John to Mandy, who remained seated.

“He’s done us a lot of good,” said Mandy.

“I can see that. You all respect him a lot.”

“We’ve got good reason too.”

“Yeah,” said John, letting his voice trail off vaguely.

“What’s on your mind?” said Mandy, sensing that John wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure if he should or not.

“Oh, nothing,” said John.

“How’d you get this fire started?” said Mandy, eying the roaring fire.

“Lots of sap,” said John. “It lights up like nothing else. And dead wood still on the trees. It’s still dry, even in the snow.”

Mandy nodded.

“I guess we could be attacked at any moment,” said John, staring off into the swirling snow.

“Yup,” said Mandy.

“I guess I’ve gotten kind of used to it,” said John. “And you seem to have, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re just sitting there, enjoying your coffee, rather than running around like a chicken with its head cut off.”

Mandy shrugged. “I’m still so cold my limbs are almost too stiff to walk.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“I know what you mean. But I don’t know. I guess you’re right. I guess I’ve gotten used to it, too. And I trust Max.”

“I can see that.”

“Why do you say it like that?”

“Like what?”

“With that tone in your voice?”

“I don’t know,” said John. “You were asking what’s on my mind. Well, I’ll tell you. For weeks now, all I could think of was getting to Max. Finding Max. That’s all Cynthia and I talked about. I thought Max would have all the answers. I figured Max would have everything set up perfectly at that farmhouse. And when he wasn’t there, well, I guess it gave me something to keep going for.”

“You thought Max would fix all your problems?”

“I guess so. He’s my brother. I always looked up to him.”

“That’s not how he tells it.”

“Yeah, well, we’ve had our differences. I went my own way for a while. I’ve changed since that. I mean, the EMP has changed all of us.”

“So where are you going with all this?” said Mandy. “What’s the point?”

She was thinking that one way the EMP might have changed her was she had less tolerance for emotional ramblings like the one John was launching into.

“I guess I’m just disappointed,” said John. “I know I shouldn’t be.”

“You’re disappointed Max doesn’t have all the answers? Are you crazy? No one does. No one knows what happened. At least no one we’re going to run into. And no one knows what the future holds. All we can do is try to live out the next day. And Max is good at that. We’re getting good at it, too.”

“I guess you’re right,” said John.

But Mandy was already feeling mad. No amount of backtracking on John’s part was going to keep her from really letting him have it. Not at this point. She felt strongly about Max. Maybe she felt strongly for him.

“Now you listen here,” said Mandy, raising her voice. She was mentally preparing the little speech she was going to give him. She was going to tell him he had no right to even start to criticize Max. She was going to tell him that…

There was a noise behind them.

“What’s that?” said John, reaching for his handgun.

Mandy fumbled for her own gun. But her fingers were still stiff from the cold, and the gun seemed to be stuck in its holster.