This Shattered Land - 02 (2 page)

“Hello
the camp.” I shouted, waving to them and trying my best to sound jovial.

From
their perspective, all they saw was a lone figure dressed in Army surplus
combat fatigues winding his way toward them through close stands of tall trees.
There was plenty of cover if they started shooting, but I was fervently hoping
it would not come to that.

“Stop
right there!” the woman shouted, taking aim with a lever action rifle.

I
didn’t stop, but I slowed to a shuffle and began edging behind the thick trunk
of a giant maple tree.

“Take
it easy, folks, I don’t mean you any harm.” I said. “You’re the first survivors
I’ve seen in a long time, I just want to talk.”

“Where
did you come from?” The man demanded, “How did you find us?”

“I
live in a cabin a couple of miles from here.” I replied. “I was out scouting
around and saw you folks cross the highway a few miles back where it intersects
with the AT.”

By
the time I finished talking I was more than halfway behind the big maple. I
knew that Gabriel had a good line of fire, and if things got nasty, I was just
going to take cover and let the sniper do his thing.

“Dad,
what’s an AT?” The boy asked from behind his father.

“Not
now, son.” The man said irritably, and pushed the boy further behind him.

I
smiled and leaned around the tree a bit. “It’s an acronym. Stands for
Appalachian Trail.”

“What
do you want from us?” The woman demanded impatiently, still pointing her rifle
at me. Her voice and posture held a note of confidence and authority that was
familiar in a strange sort of way. I regarded her, brows knitted trying to figure
out what she reminded me of. After a moment I had it—she talked like a cop. 

“I
told you, I just want to talk. If you don’t mind lowering that weapon, I’ll
step out and maybe we can have a normal conversation like civilized people.
What do you say?”

The
man and woman exchanged a look. Something imperceptible passed between them,
and they seemed to relax a bit. The woman lowered her weapon, but kept it where
she could bring it up quickly if need be. Smart lady. Maybe she really was a
cop.

“Okay,”
she said, “come on out, but keep your hands where I can see them.”

I
did as she requested and walked down the hill into the clearing. I got to
within a few yards of them and stopped, making sure to stay clear of Gabriel’s
line of sight.

“Mind
if I put my hands down now?” I asked.

“Not
with that pistol on your hip.” The woman responded. “Take it out slowly and
drop it.”

I
shook my head and chuckled. “Listen folks, I’ve been following you for miles.
If I wanted to try something, I could have done it fifty times by now. If you
want to keeps your guns pointed at me that’s fine, but I never go unarmed. Too
many infected around here for that.”

I
slowly lowered my hands and reached one of them out.

“I’m
Eric Riordan.”

No
one moved for a moment. The man and woman exchanged another long glance.

“I’m
Tom Glover. This is my wife Sarah, and the little fella behind me is my son
Brian.”

The
boy leaned out from behind his father and waved. “Hey.”

The
first of the adults to step forward was the man of the family. He was a couple
of inches shorter than me, which put him at about five-foot ten. He looked to
be in his late thirties, with salt-and-pepper black hair and intelligent brown
eyes. Much like me, he had not seen a barber or the business end of a razor in
a very long time. He was lean and spare, with the kind of dense stringy muscle
developed from a lifetime of hard work. He shook my hand, but kept his weapon
between us.

“We’re
not looking for trouble, but it’s been a while since we’ve seen anyone alive up
here.” He said.

I
waved off his apology, noticing that Sarah still had her gun at the ready.
“That’s alright, don’t worry about it. It’s a dangerous world out here, you
can’t be too careful.”

The
boy stepped out from behind his father and pushed back the brim of his hat,
appraising me with the same bright blue eyes as his mother. “How many of you
are there?” He asked.

“What
makes you think I’m not alone?”

“Nobody
could survive up here by themselves for long. You don’t look starved, and your
clothes are clean. Somebody has to be helping you.”

I
grinned. The kid was sharp. “You’re right. My friend Gabriel is back up the
trail a little ways. He should be along shortly.”

“Why
didn’t he come with you?” The woman asked, her tone suspicious.

A deep,
rough voice called out from the hillside behind me. “Just wanted to make sure
you folks were friendly.”

We
all jumped.

Gabe
appeared from out of nowhere, pushing back the hood of his ghillie suit and
striding into the clearing. The tall, powerfully built ex-Marine wore a thick
cloak of foliage and leaves, and carried his rifle with the large scope still
mounted to the upper rail. A pair of piercing grey eyes stared out from beneath
heavy black brows on a face that carried a painful collection of scars. Tom
took an involuntary step back and dropped a nervous hand to the pistol on his
hip. Gabe stopped in his tracks and held up a hand, white teeth contrasting
with a black beard that widened into a smile.

“Whoa
now folks, I know I’m ugly, but that don’t mean you need to shoot me for it.”

Nobody
laughed, but after a few tense seconds they did at least relax their grips on
their weapons a bit. Gabriel walked over to hand me his rifle and began
extricating himself from his ghillie suit.

“How
did you get so close to us? I didn’t even hear you.” Tom said, a little shaken.

“I’ve
been sneaking around in the woods since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Got
pretty good at it after a while.” Gabe replied, still smiling.

I
gave him an irritated glare while he rolled up his camouflage and strapped it
to the bottom of his pack. I very much wanted to ask him what the hell he was
thinking stalking down the hill like that and scaring these poor people half to
death. When he finished sorting himself out, he put his gear back on and I
handed him his rifle.

“I
have to admit, I’m surprised to see you folks. Eric and I haven’t seen anyone
up this way since the Outbreak.” Gabe said.

“We
haven’t been here long.” Sarah said, eyeing Gabe suspiciously.

Brian
stared at Gabriel with open curiosity and stepped closer to him.

“What’s
that?” The boy asked pointing to the sword on his hip.

“What,
this thing?” Gabe drew it from its sheath and kneeled down, holding the blade
up where Brian could see it. “You ever seen one of these before?” He asked.
Brian looked up at him with wide eyes and shook his head.

“It’s
called a Falcata. It’s a very old type of sword used by the Spanish, Greeks,
and even the Romans a couple of thousand years ago.”

“Can
I hold it?” The boy asked.

“Brian,
you most certainly may not.” Sarah snapped, glaring at her son. Gabriel
laughed.

“Oh
it’s okay, ma’am. I don’t mind.” He handed t he weapon to the boy hilt first.
Sarah frowned, but didn’t say anything.

Brian
grinned from ear to ear. He hefted the blade clumsily, took a few steps back,
and made a few half-hearted swings with it.

“Careful.”
Tom warned. “That thing ain’t no toy, son.”

Brian
sobered up a bit, and handed the sword back to Gabriel. “Thanks.” He said.

Gabe
acknowledged him with a nod, then stood back up and sheathed the blade.

“I
have a few pounds of smoked meat, and a case of pinto beans that I found not
far from here.” Tom said. “I don’t suppose you fellas have anything for trade,
do you?”

“We’re
actually running a little low on food.” I replied. “What will you trade for?”

Tom
and Sarah exchanged another look. Sarah seemed to deflate a bit, and finally
lowered her weapon.

“We’re
pretty low on ammunition.” Tom said. “Got any to spare?”

Gabe
pointed at Tom’s hunting rifle. “Is that a .308 you got there?”

“Yeah,
it is.”

Gabe
took off his pack and fished out a couple of twenty round boxes of 7.62
cartridges. They are not exactly the same as .308 rounds, but any rifle
chambered for that caliber can fire them. Tom’s eyes widened as Gabriel held
the cartridges out to him.

“How
much do you want for that?” He asked

“How
about a pound of meat and three cans of beans?” Gabe replied.

Sarah
still looked dubious, but Tom appeared to be considering the offer.  After a
few moments, he nodded and reached out to take the ammunition.

“I
guess that’s fair enough. Brian, go get these fellas a pound of venison and
three cans of beans.”

The
boy nodded and walked over to a blue tarp that covered a small cache of
supplies next to the makeshift grill.

“So
you guys live close by?” Sarah asked, stepping closer and looking us over.

I
nodded and pointed to the northeast. “About two miles or so that way. Got
ourselves a pretty nice setup. Solar panels, wood-burning stove, we even have a
fence around our property to keep the infected out.”

Tom’s
eyebrows went up. “No kidding? Damn, we might have to pay you a visit
sometime.”

I
smiled. “You’d be welcome. We haven’t had any visitors in…well, ever. It’d be
nice to hang out with someone other than this guy for a change.” I jerked a
thumb in Gabe’s direction.

Brian
brought over a plastic bag with the cans of beans and strips of dried venison
inside. I took it from him and stashed it in Gabriel’s pack.

“Listen
folks, I appreciate the trade, but we have a lot to get done today.” I said.
“We’re going to be heading over to Marion to hunt down some medical supplies in
the next day or so. We’ll come by and check in on you tomorrow afternoon, if
that’s alright with you.”

Tom
smiled and nodded. “I’ll look forward to it. Maybe I can bring down some game
with one of these here bullets and have supper waiting for you.”

“That
would be awesome.” I said. “If I hear any gunshots tomorrow, at least I’ll know
where it’s coming from.”

Gabe
nudged me on the shoulder with one oversized knuckle. “Why don’t you go get
your stuff so we can get a move on?”

“Oh,
right.”  I pointed back up the mountainside. “Is my pack still up the hill
where I left it?” 

“Yeah,
I didn’t touch it.” 

I
turned and trudged back up the steep hill to where I stashed my rifle and my
pack. I heard Gabriel talking to the family behind me as I left. Tom and Sarah
asked plenty of questions, and it seemed like they were genuinely curious to
learn more about us. I found myself looking forward to the prospect of having dinner
with the little family tomorrow night. I knew it was probably not a good idea
to be too trusting too soon, but I was tired of only having Gabe around for
company. Don’t get me wrong, he is a good and loyal friend, but anyone gets
tiresome if you have to spend too much time around them.

I
made the mistake of hiding my gear a little too well, and it took me a few
minutes to find it in the thick patch of foliage where I had stashed it
earlier. When I returned to the camp, Gabriel was showing Tom and Brian how to
tie their tarp full of food up in the boughs of a tree to keep the multitude of
brown bears in the area from getting into it. Sarah stiffened a bit when she
saw the high-tech assault rifle hanging from my chest on its tactical sling. I
hadn’t really noticed it before, probably because I was distracted by the rifle
she was pointing at me, but Sarah was actually quite pretty. She looked to be
in her mid-thirties, with bright red hair, blue eyes, and cute little dimples
in her cheeks. Tom was a lucky man.

We
exchanged a brief round of goodbyes and handshakes. Some of Sarah’s suspicion
of us seemed to have waned a bit, and she even managed a smile as she bid us a
good day. Gabriel told them to fire three shots into the air if they ran into
any trouble before we came to see them tomorrow. Tom promised they would, and
we set off to finish the hike back to our cabin.

“So
what do you think?” Gabe asked once we were well out of earshot of the camp.

I
shrugged. “They seem nice enough.”

Gabe
nodded. “They’ve managed to survive this long out here on their own, so I think
it’s safe to say they’re not stupid.”

We
were silent for a little while farther on our walk before something occurred to
me. “Do you think there might be other people around here? I mean, we live less
than three miles from those folks, and we didn’t even know they were here.
Couldn’t there be other people around that we don’t know about?”

Gabe
considered the idea for a moment. “I hate to say it, but you have a good point.
It’s big country around here with lots of places to hide. I know a lot of folks
that survived the Outbreak fled to the mountains to get away from the infected.
We’ll have to keep our eyes peeled.”