Pushing On

23

James and Chad were alone in one of the men’s quarters. James felt pretty good. He was full for the first time in a long, long time. He’d eaten and eaten and eaten, countless portions. They’d told him he could have as much as he wanted, and he couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. Max had been brutal with the rationing, allowing them all only certain quantities of food and water.

James was relaxing on his bunk. His gear was partially unpacked from his pack, spread out around him. He was wearing a change of clothes. They were the clothes that he’d kept clean in the bottom of his pack, never putting them on. It was something psychological, in some weird way comforting to know that he had a change of clean clothes.

And now he got to wear them.

There was a weird little rattling noise from Chad’s bunk.

“What’re you doing, Chad?” said James, looking over.

“Nothing,” said Chad vaguely.

“What’s the orange bottle?”

James had only seen a flash of it. Chad had put it away quickly when James had looked over.

“What bottle?”

James knew that he was just a kid in comparison to Chad. But Chad had been acting really weird ever since Albion. James felt that he had some sort of responsibility to take care of Chad, especially since none of the other adults were around.

Where was Max? He’d been gone for a long time. The thought occurred to James suddenly.

Maybe Mandy was right. Maybe Chad was taking something. James was well aware of Chad’s addict past.

James got up and moved swiftly over to Chad. Chad was concealing something in his right hand. His large fingers were hiding whatever it was. Probably the pill bottle.

“Hey!” said Chad, trying to pull his arm away from James.

But James was too fast and strong for him. He seized Chad’s hand and pried his fingers open.

“Give me that!”

James dodged Chad’s slow moving hands, got out of his reach, and moved out to the middle of the room.

“Vicodin,” muttered James. “Isn’t this the stuff you were taking before? This is why you’ve been out of it, putting us all in danger.”

“Whatever,” said Chad. “You don’t know how hard I’ve got it.”

“I know you’re full of shit, that’s what,” said James. He was angry. Chad’s decision could very well have put his own family’s life at risk.

“You’re just a kid. You don’t know shit. Now shut up and let me enjoy this.”

“You’re an asshole, Chad.”

“That’s what they’ve been telling me all my life. It hasn’t stopped me yet.”

“Just wait until Max hears about this.”

“Screw Max.”

“How can you say that? He’s done so much for us. Mandy told me how he risked his own life to save you from that mob.”

“I would have been fine. Max thinks he knows everything. We would have been better off if we’d just stayed at the farmhouse.”

“We’d be dead if we stayed there. You know that.”

“Pffft. It’d be fine. Max thinks everything is like a life or death situation. But it’s not that… You’ve all got to take a lesson from me and try to relax more. There’s no point in worrying about what you can’t change.”

There was a loud knock at the door.

Maybe that was Max now.

“Max?” called James.

“Shit,” muttered Chad. For all his big talk, James knew that Chad was still worried about Max finding out about his little secret.

The door swung open. And with some force.

A man appeared. It wasn’t Max.

It was a tall stranger. He had a big build and towered over James, who was standing there with the bottle of Vicodin.

“What’s that?” said the man. His voice was stern and deep.

“Uh…”

“Hand it over.”

James did.

“Vicodin,” said the man, examining it. “I don’t know what you’re doing with this, but drug use is not permitted here.”

“I was just trying to…”

“I don’t want to hear explanations. This is going to the pharmacy stash.”

The man pocketed the pill bottle. James had a funny feeling about the way the man did it. He had a feeling that maybe the pills weren’t going to a medical stash after all.

“Sorry,” said James. “I didn’t get your name.”

The man just stared at him, still not introducing himself.

“Here’s the deal. You’re all going to join up with us.”

“What?” said James. “Did you talk to Max already? He only wanted to stay for a little while to see how we liked it.”

“Don’t worry about Max.”

“What? What happened?”

The man ignored James’s question.

“As you may have noticed, we’re mostly men here. And we need more women if we want to grow and continue.”

“More women?”

“No one told you about the birds and the bees yet?”

James blushed. He was plenty old enough to understand.

“So obviously we’re more interested in your female companions, but we’ll let the two of you stay here too. We need men too. There’s plenty of hard physical work to be done. So you can stay if you’re willing to do it. And you’re newcomers, so you’ll be working twice as hard as those of us who set this place up. You’ve got to repay your debt somehow.”

James didn’t like the way this was sounding. Where was Max? Had something happened to him? Had they done something to him? And what was he saying about the women? They weren’t merely James’s “female companions.” They were his mother and sister, and he was quite fond of Mandy too.

James felt anger rising in his chest as the tall man stared him down with a stern gaze, just daring him to say something.

Chad, who hadn’t said anything, suddenly stirred from his bed. He stood up, and walked towards the man silently.

James stepped back to make way for Chad.

Chad had lost some weight since the EMP, but he was still a big guy. Sure, a lot of it was fat. But there was some muscle there too.

“You’re trying to kidnap Georgia, Mandy, and Sadie? What the hell’s wrong with you?”

James was surprised. He would have thought that Chad was too out of it to speak up.

Chad had slurred his words badly, but the meaning was still clear.

“It’s none of your business,” said the man. “You can make it easy or you can make it hard. It’s up to you.”

“I’m going to make it hard.”

Chad rushed the guy, not even bothering to swing his fists. He simply jammed his body forward, trying to body slam him.

But the big guy was agile, and he wasn’t screwed up on drugs like Chad. He had the reflexes Chad didn’t have, and he stepped to the side.

Chad’s head collided with the concrete wall and he fell down.

The guy was on top of him in an instant, straddling his chest. He pressed his thick forearm down into Chad’s neck, making it hard for him to breathe.

Chad moved his mouth, trying to talk, but no words came out.

“You don’t get a say in this,” growled the man, pushing his arm harder down. “Don’t you get that?”

Chad puckered his lips and spit in the guy’s face.

James was paralyzed with fear. He was just standing there. But anger got to him. It overtook the fear, and he sprang into action.

James’s bed was all the way over on the other side of the room. His rifle lay there. It was too far. The guy looked like he might kill Chad at any moment.

Chad’s face was turning a funny color. The life seemed to be draining out of him. He was kicking his legs.

James had to move fast. And he had to make the right move. The man was much bigger and stronger than James. James couldn’t afford to attack him and then receive a counterattack. He simply wouldn’t make it.

James reached under his shirt. His fist grabbed the metal handle of a skeleton knife Max had given him. “This might come in handy sometime,” Max had said, as he’d shown James how to wear it around his neck under his shirt.

The sheath was form-fitting plastic. The knife was securely inside it.

James tugged on it and the knife came out.

The big guy saw the flash of metal out of the corner of his eye.

But before he could turn, James was on him, going right for the guy’s neck.

James had to get it done in one shot. Stabbing him in the back was risky.

James had the edge of the knife almost against the man’s throat, his own arms wrapped around the guy. James’s body was pressed against the man’s back.

Chad was making gurgling noises. The weight of both James and the big guy was pressing down on him.

The guy’s hands were on James’s wrists, trying to keep the knife from his throat.

James pulled back with all his strength. But the guy was strong. He couldn’t get the knife there.

Not yet.

James leaned back with all his weight. It was too much for the strong guy.

James felt it as the knife cut into the skin.

Max had shown James how to sharpen it. He’d given him a little lesson, saying that it was a hard skill that needed plenty of time to master. Georgia, too, had given James some tips here and there. She’d shown him long ago when he was a kid, but he hadn’t retained it. The blade was still razor sharp with the fine shallow edge Max had put on it, running it along his leather belt for a final stropping.

The knife cut easily.

James pulled to the right. The blade moved across the man’s throat, slicing it right open.

The man screamed. A gurgling scream. Horrible and bone-chilling.

James felt the hot blood pouring over his hands.

James pushed the guy off of Chad. He fell with a heavy thud onto the concrete floor.

James only gave the body a quick glance. He’d killed before. This was nothing new, unfortunately.

“You OK, Chad?” said James.

Chad may have screwed everything up with his drugs. But he’d also tried to defend James’s family. Not to mention Mandy. That was worth something, wasn’t it?

Chad nodded, sitting up slowly.

“Come on, we’ve got to go. We don’t have much time. They’ll be coming for us. We’ve got to get to the women.”

James ran over to his pack and started shoving everything he could into it, as fast as he could. It’d been drilled into his head over and over again that the gear and supplies would often be the line between life and death. He needed that stuff. He couldn’t afford to run off without it.

James had his pack stuffed in mere moments. He grabbed his rifle. It felt reassuring in his hands. But he had a funny feeling. Something was off. He checked it, and cursed as he saw there was no ammo.

Then it hit him. There’d been no spare ammo in his pack either.

Someone had taken the ammo.

“Chad! Come on!” hissed James, as he rushed over to the dead guy.

People would be coming. And coming soon.

Chad finally got up. He moved slowly. But he didn’t move towards his own pack, which he hadn’t unpacked or even opened.

Chad got to the dead guy at the same time as James.

“Chad! Move out of the way. I need the guy’s gun. He’s got a pistol on his hip.”

“Get away!” cried Chad, blocking James’s access with his large body.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Getting what I need.”

“You’re getting those pills he took from you? You’re sick.”

James tried again to rush past Chad, to get the gun.

Chad turned, and with a nasty expression painted on his face, he gave James a furious shove that sent him tumbling down. James fell flat on his back, his head banging against the concrete. The fall took the wind out of him. He saw stars in his field of vision.

James’s vision was blurry, but he could see clearly enough to watch as Chad’s hand came out of the man’s pocket with the orange prescription bottle. He had a greedy expression on his face as he took off the cap with fumbling fingers.

A noise outside. Heavy footsteps.

“McGovern? What’s going on in there?” Another deep male voice.

Before James could move, someone was in the doorway, standing tall in the concrete door frame.

His face grew dark as he glanced to the ground, seeing McGovern’s body with his throat slit, a pool of blood gathering around him on the concrete floor.

The man’s hand flashed to his gun’s holster. He drew it and raised it, pointing it to Chad.

“What have you done, idiot?” he bellowed.

Chad said nothing. Instead, he glanced at James. His eyes seemed to say something. Maybe it was an apology, like he realized he’d screwed everything up. It was hard to say, though. It was just a glance.

Chad rushed the guy, letting out a yell as he did so.

The gun went off. The noise was deafening, echoes off the walls. The whole place was a perfect echo chamber.

Chad fell to the ground, his heavy body making a thud.

James stared up at the tall guy. Fear coursed through him. His blood ran cold. He was unarmed. The only loaded gun was on the dead man, about five feet away from where James lay on his back.