Surviving Chaos

2

Mandy shivered in the cold early morning air. The sun had risen, and the fire from the night before was nothing but smoldering ashes. They’d split the night into two shifts, and Mandy had taken the last one. But she’d barely slept when it was her turn to sleep, and her body felt heavy and weak with fatigue.

They weren’t getting enough food. Most of what they did have was going to Georgia so she could recover. The lack of food wasn’t helping Mandy’s fatigue, or the headache she was developing.

It had been three days since Max had left. Mandy had watched him as he walked away, his limp diminished but still obvious. That image was burned into Mandy’s memory, and she wondered if she’d ever see him again.

What would they do without Max? Would they be able to survive?

They’d have to just keep going. That’d always been Max’s advice anyway, to keep pushing on, no matter how bad things seemed.

The Ford Bronco sat there, sunlight glinting off its dented chrome pieces and its mirrors. Mandy had grown to hate the sight of it. Aside from providing what was certainly uncomfortable shelter for Georgia, it was mostly useless. Until they got some gas, that was.

Since Max had left, only a single car had driven down the road. The road was out of sight, and they’d only heard it, speeding along, the engine roaring. They’d all waited, holding their breath, clutching the guns that had ammo. But nothing had happened. The car just kept driving.

They hadn’t seen anyone else. Wherever they were, they were out of the way. Significantly out of the way.

That was a good thing. The bad thing was they didn’t have any idea where they were.

Mandy had been poring over the maps ever since they’d gotten there. She was pretty good with maps, but there wasn’t much to go on in terms of their surroundings. There weren’t any markers on the nearby road. And they’d all been in such a panic fleeing the compound that they hadn’t paid any attention to where they were going. Mandy had been driving in a panic, Max had been removing the bullet from Georgia’s back, and Georgia herself was certainly in no condition to pay attention to road signs.

But even though she had a good reason to not know where she was, Mandy still cursed herself for her own short-sightedness. If only she could remember some landmark or road sign, she might have been able to find their position on the map. But no matter how many times she tried to replay the memories in her head, nothing came to her.

When Max got back, he’d be able to tell them where they were. Hopefully. That was if he got back, though.

Mandy sighed.

James and Sadie were asleep near what had become the campfire “pit.” They were unmoving forms, covered by all the clothing and fabric they had available.

One of them stirred, and a head popped up from underneath an old sweatshirt that was used as a blanket.

It was James, with his hair all wild. It’d grown longer since the EMP. It wasn’t like they’d had time for haircuts.

Or shaving. James was still a teenager, and he couldn’t really grow a full beard. But he had plenty of growth on his face, making him look older than when Mandy had first met him.

“Everything OK?” muttered James, sleepily, as he walked over to where Mandy stood at the edge of the camp area.

“Yeah, still no sign of anyone.” It was understood that this meant that Max hadn’t returned as well. “Your mom’s doing fine. I checked on her half an hour ago. She was asleep.”

“I don’t think she’s been sleeping that well, so that’s good.”

“Yeah, she was up a few times in the night. The cold’s hard on her.”

“At least she’s in the Bronco, I guess.”

“Doesn’t do that much, though.”

James nodded. “So what’s the plan for today?”

“We’re low on water. I was going to go get some, and check on the traps.”

“You look tired. Why don’t I go?”

Mandy shook her head. “You stay here and keep an eye on your sister and mom.”

“You sure?”

Mandy nodded. “I need to walk a little. Clear my head, and all that.”

James didn’t say anything for a moment. This was the way conversations had been going—slowly. The four of them really hadn’t talked much in the last few days. Short and brief conversations were the norm. They were too exhausted and hungry to chat. And they were worried about what would come next.

Mandy hadn’t eaten much, but she tried to ignore the pains in her stomach.

“You going to get the water first?”

“I’ll check the traps first, then come back for the water.”

They still had water in their water bottles. What they needed was food.

“You have the gun?”

James nodded.

They had two handguns with ammo. Max had taken his Glock with him, and the ammo had been stolen from all of Georgia’s hunting rifles. There wasn’t much ammo left, but so far they hadn’t had to fire a single shot.

Hopefully it stayed that way.

Mandy gave James a nod as she set off into the woods. She didn’t have much with her. Just her clothes, her gun, and her knife.

It’d be better, of course, to have more with her. A fire starter, a compass. Definitely a water bottle.

But the reality of the situation was that if something happened to Mandy while she was gone, then James, Sadie, and Georgia would be out of luck. They didn’t have duplicates of their essential gear, so if the one fire starter they had was lost, that was it for the rest of them.

Mandy walked in the opposite direction from the road, heading deeper into the woods.

Many of the leaves had started changing. Some of the trees were already bare. It was always a quick process, the changing. Mandy remembered that before the EMP, she’d gone through many autumns without even noticing the change.

But now, she was more connected to nature than she’d ever been. Mandy still didn’t feel at home in the woods. She felt out of her element, but she also felt safer here, with no one around, than she would have anywhere else.

Mandy’s thoughts turned to Max as she walked. What would he be eating? Would he even make it there with the injuries to his leg?

Up ahead, Mandy recognized a mark that Max had cut into the bark of one of the trees, indicating that a trap was nearby. Max had set them up. They’d caught nothing since he’d left.

But today was Mandy’s lucky day. Up ahead, she saw that the stone that’d been propped up had fallen. Of course, it was possible there was nothing inside, and that it had fallen by accident.

Mandy put her ear to the stone, and heard the unmistakable sounds of a small animal in the pit. It could probably smell her, and certainly hear her, and it sounded as if the animal was thrashing around, while squealing. Probably a squirrel.

As far as Mandy was concerned, it wasn’t a great trap. Sure, it had worked, and she’d take what she could get as far as good went. But Mandy’s problem was that the trap hadn’t actually killed the animal. She’d have to do that herself.

Mandy looked around and selected a fist-sized stone that had some weight to it. She tossed it in her hand, getting used to the weight.

She crouched down, holding the stone up in the air, ready to strike the squirrel as soon as she lifted the stone that had trapped it in the pit.

Mandy’s face was grim and serious before she suddenly broke into laughter. She hadn’t laughed in a long time, and it felt strange.

Before the EMP, she never would have believed that one day she’d be in the forest, so hungry that she was ready to bash a squirrel with a rock.

Mandy used to be the type of person who practically had a panic attack if she thought she’d run over an animal. She’d look sadly at dead animals on the road. She’d never had a dog or a cat of her own, but she’d wanted one.

And now she was about to smash an animal with a rock.

The laugher faded, and the grim determination returned to her face.

Mandy lifted the rock as quickly as she could.

Sure enough, it was a squirrel.

Maybe Mandy imagined it, but she thought she saw terror in the squirrel. It froze.

Mandy struck, her arm moving down as fast as she possibly could.

She hit the squirrel in the head, crushing its small skull.

Mandy had been lucky. She could have easily missed it.

But now she’d done it, and now she had to deal with the aftermath.

Her aim had been good. She hadn’t mashed much of the body. To her own surprise, Mandy didn’t feel squeamish about the squirrel brains, which were completely visible now. She was too hungry to be squeamish.

Mandy scooped up the squirrel, making sure not to let any of the skull’s innards spill out. They were edible, after all.

Mandy put the squirrel in the pocket of the oversized button down shirt she wore. It’d been one of Georgia’s, since Mandy hadn’t actually owned much practical clothing before the EMP, and she certainly hadn’t thought to take warmer clothes with her when Max had burst into her apartment and saved her life.

Mandy checked the other traps before heading back to camp, but there was nothing.

“Any luck?” said James, coming up to her as she approached camp.

Mandy pulled the squirrel out of her pocket to show him. His face lit up. “Looks like we’re eating good today.”

“Don’t get too excited. There isn’t that much meat, and your mom’s going to get most of it.”

“I know, trust me.”

“How’s she doing?”

“About the same. She woke up, but she’s asleep again.”

“That’s good. She’s got to rest.”

“She’s sleeping a lot, though.”

“You worried?”

“Of course I’m worried.”

“She’ll pull through. She’s a strong woman. As tough as they come.”

James nodded. “Trust me, I know. But our situation isn’t getting any better. I thought Max would have been back by now.”

“Me too,” was all Mandy said. “Come on, you can help me with this squirrel. Maybe we can make a soup out of it.”

“Why a soup?”

“Half the protein in an animal is in the form of collagen. All those ligaments and things will turn into gelatin if we boil them in water, but they’d be hard to eat on their own. And there are minerals in the bones that will leach into the soup.”

James nodded.

“The only problem is I don’t have any idea what I’m doing. I’ve never skinned a squirrel before.”

“Here, give it to me. Couldn’t be much different from a deer, right?”

It turned out that skinning a squirrel was quite a bit different from a deer. For one thing, it was much smaller, and the knife work had to be more delicate and careful.

Mandy watched as James used her Mora knife to do the best he could.

Sadie came over, looking worn out and sleepy. Her hair was a mess. She’d given up trying to keep it tidy and combed. She nodded at them.

Mandy half expected Sadie to say the squirrel with the mashed skull was gross, but instead she said nothing at all.

“How’s your mom doing?”

Except for sleeping, Sadie had barely left Georgia’s side. She was the one who was always there for her, and Mandy had had to tell her that she couldn’t sleep in the Bronco with her mom because there wasn’t enough room for Georgia to stretch out properly.

Sadie shrugged. “She’s asleep again.”

“I’m going to go see how she’s doing. Maybe she’s awake and needs something,” said Mandy.

James was concentrating hard on the squirrel, and Sadie was too sullen to respond.

As Mandy peered into the Bronco, it was clear that Georgia wasn’t asleep. Mandy opened the door.

“How you feeling?”

“Like shit,” muttered Georgia. “But I’m still alive.”

“Your kids think you’re asleep.”

“I just can’t stand them worrying about me so much. It’s easier to pretend I’m sleeping.”

“That doesn’t sound like you. You always confront everything head on.”

“I know,” muttered Georgia. Mandy could hear the intense pain her voice, in every syllable. “But the truth is it’s not that, really… I’m worried what’ll happen to them if I die.”

“You’re not going to die, Georgia.”

“Let’s be realistic. There’s a chance I might. No offense to Max, but he’s not a trained surgeon.”

Mandy nodded.

“I know he did the best he could, and I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for him. But if we’re being realistic, there could be a piece of the bullet still inside me. Or who knows, something might have been damaged inside me and we won’t know until it’s too late. Most likely, I’ll just die from an infection.”

“You’re on antibiotics. We’re not going to let you die.”

“I’m not trying to be morbid,” said Georgia, keeping her voice low so that her kids wouldn’t hear her. “But let’s just admit that it’s a real possibility. I’m no doctor, but I figure my body needs food along with antibiotics in order to fight off an infection.”

Mandy told Georgia about the squirrel.

“That’s good,” said Georgia. “But it’s just one squirrel. The fact is we don’t have enough food. And what are we going to do if Max doesn’t come back? Even if we don’t get discovered here, we’re not going to be able to make it.”

“We’ll figure something out,” said Mandy, but she wasn’t so sure.

“Just promise me you’ll take care of James and Sadie if something happens to me.”

“Of course. I’d treat them like my own. But you’re going to pull through, Georgia.”

But Mandy gazed down at Georgia, who lay on her stomach with clothing piled on top of her. She still wasn’t wearing a shirt, since they needed access to her wound to clean it and check it. She’d lost a lot of weight, as they all had. And over the last three days, she seemed to have grown much more gaunt.

Georgia was right. If Max didn’t come back, they were going to have a hell of a time surviving. It was time that they came up with a contingency plan in case something had happened to him.