Hell Happened (12 page)

Supper was a stew Mike had put together. There were large chunks of meat, potatoes, tomatoes, onions and celery and it tasted pretty good to Jerry. It was flavorful and had just a bit of spicy without being overpowering. It hit the hunger spot he had. He told Mike as much and the old man smiled. “After my wife died a few years back, I had to feed myself. She had been a great cook and I missed eating her food. Restaurants couldn’t do it justice, so I started learning how to make a few of the meals she used to make.” Pointing to the stew, “This was one of her best dishes.”

“I like it too,” Eddie said. “Me, too” and “Nicely done” came from others at the table. Mike seemed to inflate as he was able to share something of his wife, to whom he’d been married for 45 years, with these new friends. “I’ll be sure to let Shirley know,” he said.

There was small talk at the table about the garden and the fuel and the people they’d encountered today but nothing in-depth and too serious. There was no talk of what part Jerry and Eddie had played. It was by unspoken agreement that their actions were a verboten topic unless they brought it up and neither did.

After supper was over, the leftovers sealed up and put in the freezer except for a bowl Monica took in for Tony who was waking up, Jerry and Randy did the dishes so they could talk by themselves. Mike found a new book to read, Eddie put in a movie for himself, Monica and Tony, and Kellie went to her room to brush out her hair.

Jerry told Randy about what Kellie had said in the garden and bounced a few ideas off his son. Randy listened and nodded at some, thought seriously about others, disagreed with a couple outright. By the time dished were cleaned and put away, Jerry had decided what he was going to present to the group and he knew Randy, while not agreeing with everything, had been able to refine some of his ideas.

He asked Kellie to come down when she finished and join the rest of them in the living room. Tony was looking much better for his ordeal and sitting mostly upright. The kid had taken a beating, however his eyes were no longer glassy and vacant but alive with the will to live. Kellie sat in one of the chair’s she’d brought in from the dining area and allowed Molly to jump up on her lap.

Mike put his book down and Eddie
paused
the movie and everyone looked expectantly at Jerry as he sat down in his favorite chair he’d taken from the farmhouse.

“We have got to get better prepared,” he said without preamble. “It sucks that we lost Jeff and Terrill, may they rest in peace, but we did because we’ve been thinking about this wrong…no, I’ve been thinking about this wrong.

“I’ve been thinking ever since the world’s people died, Randy and I would just live out our lives here and pick up whoever came along and make them a friend and slowly build this into a little compound of people who survived.

“Today we found out not everyone wants what I pictured.

“Tomorrow morning we will change the way we think about the people left alive. We’re going to protect our shelter here better, going to find some supplies we really need, find ways to better communicate when we’re out and make sure the vigilantes think twice before screwing with us. We made some enemies today and they probably will come after us.

“If they do, I want us prepared. So here’s what I want to do. Tomorrow, four of us are going out to forage for supplies and this is what I think we need most,” Jerry said, starting to hold up fingers.

“One – medical supplies.
And I don’t mean just first aid kits. We need drugs and stuff that we can’t even imagine right now. Monica will be in charge of that because I think she has the most medical knowledge of all of us. The women also need stuff that women need,” no one laughed although Jerry expected Eddie to, “so one of our priorities will be a pharmacy.

“Two – walkie-talkies of some sort so everyone can have one.
We need to be able to communicate in some other way than just the CB. We need to find an electronics store. Randy will be in charge of that. He’ll also be looking for batteries for as long as we can find them. Duracell said their batteries last seven years on the shelf, but we can’t depend on that so we need to get what we can while we can. If he can find rechargeable batteries, we need to get as many as we can.

“Three – Survival books.
Monica showed us today how little most of us know of survival. We don’t have internet anymore, but we can all read. Mike, I’d like you to keep this mind.

“One other thing Mike, you seem to be the smartest of all of us, I’d like you to think of yourself as the general manager of our group. If you see something we need or see something we’re doing wrong or whatever, I want you to speak up. And don’t think you’re going to be ratting out Randy to me if you see him wasting gas, because Randy and I have already talked about it.”

“You want me to be your lieutenant, is what I hear you saying,” Mike clarified.

“Yes. And it’s because you obviously have 40 years more experience than Randy.”

“I was a lieutenant in the Marines and I think I can remember how to do that,” he said, giving them all another piece of his history. Jerry realized he’d thought the old bank executive was a soft, pampered man. Now he found out the man used to be a Marine and he knew from the TV show NCIS that a Marine was always a Marine. He’d underestimated the man and the man had let him so as not to undercut Jerry’s authority.

Putting fingers back up, Jerry continued. “Fourth – weapons, more than we have, but nothing we don’t know how to use. We found out today that there are people with hand grenades and they aren’t afraid to use them. Mike, I hope you’ll help us in that respect as well.

“Fifth – scavenging, we need to do a better job of it. Today we let opportunities pass where we could have picked up stuff at no risk to ourselves and we didn’t. When we see something we can use, we need to get it. If we see something we need, we get it because if we don’t and we need it we’re going to kick ourselves for being stupid. And if we don’t get it, someone else, like those sons of bitches today, will. We need to all start being smarter and that means me as well.

“Kellie, I’d like you to take control of the house and what’s in it and figure out what we need most so we don’t start looking for stuff we don’t need right away, like how we need more clothes for everyone, but not more beer, even though one would taste good right now.”

Kellie’s eyebrows shot up. “Me?
Why me?”

“Because you’re the most organized of all of us, even more than Mike.
I need someone who is smart and organized to make sure we’re not wasting resources chasing after stuff we don’t need. Also, everyone here knows you have the least amount of experience in survival, but you do know something about organization,” he explained in such a way so the woman was not insulted. He wasn’t being sexist by asking her to organize the
shelter,
he was just using the people he had in a way that helped the whole group.

“Will I get to be called Lieutenant Kellie?” she asked with a wink to Mike and to lighten up what could have been a tense moment.

Before Jerry could respond it was Eddie who spoke up. “Hey, yeah, Lt. Stone, though. You go by your last name. I like that.” Mimicking her higher pitched voice he added, “Lt. Stone has the bridge. Bring all weapons to bear and let’s go kick some alien assholes.” The little bit of comedic relief was welcomed by everyone. Eddie had changed a lot today, but the core of him was still the little wiseass with the smart mouth.

Bringing everyone back to the purpose of the meeting Jerry put up one last finger. The last item, but possibly one of the most important is fuel. We’re running out and we need some. Every time we’re out, we’re going to have to look for fuel. Randy will be in charge of making sure all the vehicles are always full and ready to go when we need them. Nothing would be as bad as having to pump 20 gallons of diesel into the truck by hand while someone else is waiting for back up 10 miles down the road.”

He looked around the room at everyone. “That’s what I have, anyone want to say anything?”

Eddie opened his mouth and Randy stopped him. He knew his friend well enough to know when he was about to make some inappropriate smart ass remark. “Shut up, Eddie.” Eddie smiled and closed his mouth.

It was Mike who spoke the sage advice. “You’ve given us a lot to think about, Jerry. I like your ideas, personally, but before we talk about it more, why don’t we all take the rest of the evening to think about it and in the morning we’ll hash out any issues we have.”

Everyone seemed to agree with Mike’s idea so Jerry stood up from his chair. “Good thinking, Mike. I’m a little tired and need a shower.”

Tony spoke up before Jerry could leave the room. “Thanks again, Jerry. I won’t let you down again.”

Jerry looked at the man. “You didn’t let me down, Tony. We all make some poor decisions and Jeff made some, you made some and I made some. All we can do is move on from here.”

With his good hand, Tony reached out from under the blanket and offered it to Jerry. Jerry took it gently and shook it solemnly the released it. “I need that shower then I’m off to bed. I’ll see you all at breakfast.”

~     
~
     
~

When he got to his room, he started stripping off his dirty clothes and tossed them into the white basket he kept in the corner. Tomorrow he’d collect up all of Jeff’s stuff that was in the room and clear a spot so Mike could move into this room.

Tomorrow things were going change, but the smell of his own sweat was enough for him to think more about right now than tomorrow. He put on the old robe he’d been given by his ex-wife eight or nine years earlier and went back down stairs, showered and brushed his teeth and put on clean shorts and tee shirt. Just before he retired for the evening, he
tussled
his son’s hair and told him good night and checked on Tony.

Monica would stay beside him tonight and there was nothing anyone could say to dissuade her.

In his room, he pulled a book from the shelf, a good science fiction novel that’d help him lose himself in someone else’s narrative before sleep. He was tired of thinking about today and even though he knew he’d never forget what happened, or stop second guessing himself, he knew he needed to sleep because he’d put forth some real plans for tomorrow and they were going to depend on him.

He hung up the robe on the back of the door to his room and climbed into the single bed, propped himself up so he could read comfortably. He just started the first paragraph when there was a knock at the door.

He assumed it was either Randy or Mike with a question. He was surprised it was Kellie.

Jerry was over 50 and had survived raising two kids, including a daughter whose teenage years were a roller coaster of emotions. His marriage had fallen apart, like half the other marriages in the USA and he survived that as well. By all accounts, as lives in the United States went, Jerry’s had been typical, without a lot of drama or stress. He had flirted with bankruptcy, but selling one quarter of his farm to a developer who had planned on building a housing development kept him solvent.

It had been difficult for him when his dad died, but he carried on in the stoic way his dad would have wanted. His mom passing three years later had been difficult as well, but his friends and relatives helped him through that too.

When he met Andrea and fell in love, life was good. Then their kids were born, Randy followed two years later by Amanda. They grew up and graduated high school. Randy went to the community college part time and helped on the farm and played video games. Amanda went into the Army to be a helicopter mechanic. Jerry thought about her every day and never stopped believing she’d survived the virus.

Six months after Amanda had joined the Army, Andrea was gone and six months after that, the divorce was final. Jerry’s life moved on.

By anyone’s measure, Jerry’s life had been boring. He didn’t participate in politics or
sports,
he attended church regularly, but not the bible study programs. He watched TV and farmed his fields, milked his cows every morning and every evening, tended the fields during the day and drank beer at the local Lions Club once in a while.

He wasn’t a handsome man, barely reaching six foot in height, his hair was leaving him quickly, his eyebrows a mix of brown and a strand to two of grey, an unspectacular jaw line, teeth that were just a little crooked and one was chipped. Despite working the farm his entire life, he never developed into a muscular man, taking after his mother rather than his dad. He was slender and had a wiry strength, but wasn’t a brute of a man.

He’d tried dating after Andrea divorced him and failed miserably so he quit trying. He didn’t have the inclination nor wanted to expend the effort. The drama was too much for the man who was used to an orderly, simple and drama-free life. He could live without hearing about some woman’s problems with her ex and her children and her job and her boss and her mother and her car and her etcetera, etcetera. The first date he had after Andrea had divorced him killed any desire for him to date again.

Were it not for
Remi
, his Cajun friend from high school,
he’d’ve
never met Sissy the week before the fall of the world and he probably would have gone to the grave having not given more than just a passing thought to enjoying the companionship of a woman again. He’d thought of her often in the weeks that followed, but knew she had died from the virus. The flame that had been rekindled died again.