The Rule of Three (32 page)

I knew that Herb had something up his sleeve.

“If it was up to me,” he went on, “we’d just be helping each other, but it’s not my decision. The committee that runs things at Eden Mills isn’t going to be happy about me giving away something for nothing, so if you can think of anything you have that you could offer back, something you have in big quantities, then we can talk about doing more.”

The two men from Olde Burnham looked at each other.

“Vehicles,” the second guy said, and shrugged. “We have vehicles.”

“We have some vehicles, and I’m sure you’ll need the ones you have.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “For some strange reason we have a huge posse of mechanics in the neighborhood. We’ve made trips to the nearby junkyard and were able to scavenge and repair over a dozen cars and trucks. We probably have a truck to trade.”

“Or maybe you could just lend us one of your mechanics to help with our conversions. We’re turning lawn mowers and snowblowers into go-carts and rototillers.”

The two envoys looked at each other. “We hadn’t thought about doing that,” the second guy commented.

“If you have a mechanic or two who can help us with the conversions for a few days, then we’ll be able to show them how it’s done. That’s the sort of exchange I think can help us both,” Herb said.

“We’ll talk to our people. We might be able to do that,” the first guy said.

“That would be great. I also want to invite you two to come to our community for a midday meeting and a meal,” Herb said. “If you have anybody who needs to see a doctor, you should bring them along with you.”

“You have a doctor?” he asked.

“We have four doctors and a medical clinic, as well as a dentist and a vet. Luck of the draw—you got mechanics and we got doctors. Any of your people or pets who are in need of treatment can come to our community and receive it.”

“Can you really make that offer?” the second man asked as his partner gave Herb a hard stare.

“You have my personal guarantee.”

“Well, thank you so much,” the nicer guy said. “I just don’t know what to say.”

“Just say you’ll accept our invitation. Why don’t you go back to your people and talk this over? We’ll expect you tomorrow, around noon.”

“That’s so generous. It’s just that … that…”

“You don’t know if you can trust us, correct?”

Both guys nodded.

“We’re not at war with you, my friends,” Herb said. His voice was soothing and soft and reassuring. “We are two little pockets of civilization. We can’t let this situation, the things we’ve all seen and had to do, take away our basic humanity. We are surrounded by savagery, but that doesn’t mean we have to become savages. We can become good neighbors. You have my word.”

Herb shook hands with both men, and I did the same. It looked like the second man was on the verge of tears.

“Come in off the gate on the south end,” Herb said. He gave them directions. “I’ll be waiting there for you at noon.”

“We’ll be there.” The second guy paused. “We’ll bring
two
of our mechanics. And if it’s okay, could we bring nine or ten people, mainly women and children, who need to see a doctor? Is that too many?”

“You bring whoever needs to be seen, even if it’s double that amount, and we’ll make sure our doctors are ready and that everybody has a good meal. See you tomorrow, and remember, despite what’s going on out here,” Herb said, gesturing around, “you have friends in Eden Mills.”

We turned and walked away.

“That went really well,” I said.

“It had some positives.”

“Extra mechanics would be a big boost to us. That’s a really big positive.”

“It’s important for us to be able to do it, but I can see the potential for terrible problems,” Herb said.

“What sort of problems?”

“They’re not the only ones who have been fixing old vehicles and putting them on the road. The more mobile people are, the more there is potential for them to come out here, in large numbers, and present a threat to us. And with more vehicles the demand for fuel goes up, and there’s still no ability to refine more. There will be more competition and conflict over the supplies that do exist.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“The first thing we have to do is go out and secure all the fuel we can find from every source and store it for both our own use and for trading.”

“And the second thing?” I asked.

“We have to become more fortified, build better walls, secure more arms, and be more able to defend ourselves from the assault that
will
come, sooner or later.”

“You sound so certain,” I said.

“I’m just not certain that it
won’t
happen. I do know human nature and believe there’s potential for things to get much worse before they can get even a little bit better.”

“Did you believe them, what they said?” I asked.

“There was no deception. I believed them.”

“And did you believe the things
you
said to them?”

“I’ll keep my word, you know that.”

“Not your word, but what you said about being friends, helping each other?”

“I think calling them friends was overstating for effect, but I know we can be allies and we can help each other. Besides, it’s only in our best interests to have communities out there like ours in both the short term and the long term.”

I gave him a questioning look.

“Short term, it’s good to have people who we can trade with, but also to share any danger that’s out there. It’s best that we’re not the only target. Anybody coming out from the city along Burnham is going to see them before they get to us.”

“And long term?”

“Society isn’t coming back together fast, and it isn’t coming back complete,” Herb said. “It’s going to be in smaller chunks, neighborhood by neighborhood.” He paused. “Although I’m starting to think that you’re having a bad effect on me.”

I snorted. “Me? How?”

“I really do
want
to believe that people will do the right thing. I blame that on you. For example, I wanted to believe that that meeting would go well.”

“And it did.”

“It did, but I still also had a scoped rifle aimed at their heads,” Herb said. “I’d like to believe, but I don’t want to have to rely on that faith for my life, or for the lives of those in our community. We can’t give up our faith in humanity, but we can’t let that faith blind us to what might happen.” He laughed. “I’ve got to make sure I don’t get too infected by your faith in people.”

*   *   *

“M-A-P, map … with the ‘P’ on a double letter score … so that’s ten points,” Todd said as he put down his tiles.

“That’s not bad,” I said. “You’re catching up.”

“I’m catching up to you but not to Lori. She’s killing us both.”

“What can I say? I’m more than a pretty face,” Lori said.

The three of us had been hanging out at Lori’s place, trying to distract ourselves from reality. I, for one, wanted to not think about the meeting that had taken place that morning, about whether people wanted to do the right thing or not.

“I’m not surprised I’m doing so crappy,” Todd said, “but I expect more from you, Adam.”

“It’s just not my night.”

I usually did do better than this in Scrabble, but tonight the tiles didn’t seem to be falling in the right order and when I did have a word that I could use I didn’t want to. My mind kept trying to arrange my letters to say things like “death,” “kill,” “cheat,” “destroy,” and “betray.” Herb was worried about me infecting him, but it was more like he—or, to be fair, the situation—was infecting me. I would have loved to put my mind somewhere else. Even Lori being here wasn’t enough. Even being up in the sky didn’t always work. It seemed like I needed that double dose of her beside me up in the air to feel better. But even then I felt guilty about having a little escape that nobody else did.

And what about my father? He was so far away, in the midst of what was probably worse than what was happening here. And he was alone, if he was even alive.

“Adam?”

I snapped back to reality and saw Lori looking at me, a little worry in her eyes visible in the candlelight we were using to play.

“It’s your turn.”

I looked down at my letters and at the board. I’d hardly registered what words they’d put down. I built off the letter “F” and put down “A-T-H-E-R” and felt my heart hurt.

“Nice one,” Todd said, in a way that made me think he understood where my head was at.

Lori counted the points. “The ‘E’ is on a double letter and you get a double word score, so that’s worth twenty-six points. That’s easily your best score of the night.”

“Do you know what would make Scrabble a better game?” Todd asked.

“What?” Lori questioned.

I knew better than to ask him.

“It needs to have either sex, action, or violence.”

“And how would you suggest that—”

“Please don’t get him going,” I said.

“Too late. I’m going already. What if you got to punch your opponent? You know, just as he was getting ready to lay down a big word score you get to pop him or at least give him a slap on the top of the head?”

“That would add an element of drama,” Lori admitted. “What about the sex part?”

“You could make it like strip poker except with Scrabble tiles.”

“And how exactly would that have worked out tonight?” I asked.

He looked at my score, his, and then Lori’s. “Not well. Not only would Lori have gotten to keep all her clothing but I think she might have added a coat. And me, well, I’d be butt naked … In fact I’d have had to pull out a couple of teeth.”

I started laughing. I pictured Todd standing there, shielding his privates with one hand and with the other holding a pair of pliers trying to remove a molar, and the image just seemed so hilarious that I couldn’t stop laughing. I doubled over and laughed louder and longer until I felt tears coming out, and then I realized the other two were just sitting there staring at me, not laughing. Todd and Lori looked worried.

I wiped my eyes, took a deep jagged breath, and gave them a goofy smile.

“I think I better call it a night,” I said. “I really need to get some sleep.”

“Clearly,” Lori said.

Todd shook his head. “You poor thing.”

I wished them both a good night and hurried away, leaving them hanging out in Lori’s basement.

They weren’t the only ones who were a little bit worried about me.

35

I pulled back on the stick and the plane rose up, clearing the houses at the end of the street and lifting up into the sky. We were on our way to Olde Burnham, where Herb wanted to discuss a few things with their leaders.

“That didn’t bother me nearly as much as the last time,” he said.

We kept gaining elevation and I banked to the left. I’d made it a habit to always make a pass over the neighborhood whenever I took off. It was reassuring to look down and see the progress below, especially in this past week. Each time there were more changes. The whole forest to the north was being harvested. We were using the timber for reinforcing the fence and even making some rough lumber. There were dozens and dozens of people working, saw blades and chain saws shimmering in the sunlight.

“This is much faster than driving and, I hope, much safer,” Herb said.

“That sounded like a vote of confidence! You have to learn to trust me more.”

“I trust you with my life. And you have to trust me.”

“I do. And, more important, our friends at Olde Burnham trust you.”

“It’s been a good partnership,” Herb said.

Over the last week there had been a lot of contact between us and them. Our doctors had helped take care of more than two dozen of them with things as simple as aches and sprains to as complicated as resetting a broken leg. There was even a minor surgery scheduled for next week. Our dentist had done a couple of fillings and an extraction, and the vet had seen some sick dogs. In exchange they had sent over two mechanics every day who were helping retrofit lawn mowers. I had a vision of a whole fleet of go-carts buzzing through the neighborhood.

Herb had also given them a long-range walkie-talkie from the cache of supplies taken from the police station. The systems weren’t great and there was a lot of static, but we actually could communicate between the two neighborhoods. It was good to know that we weren’t alone in this. We could actually make a
call
to somebody, sort of. We had friends—or as Herb liked to say, allies. I knew there was a difference, but still some of them actually
were
friends. There were half a dozen kids I knew from school or from being on the same baseball team. It just felt nice to be flying
to
something, to some people I knew, instead of feeling like I was continually traveling across hostile territory. Now, if I had to put down for emergency reasons, there was another place I could land and be helped.

“I’m glad we’ve gained their trust. Now if only I could get you to trust me around things that you might not necessarily agree with.”

“What sort of things?” I asked.

“Well, Brett for starters.”

“What makes you think I don’t trust him?” I said.

“Adam, remember who you’re talking to. We’ve had this conversation.”

It had sort of slipped my mind, but really, even if we hadn’t, there was no point in trying to lie to Herb.

“And it’s not just that you don’t trust him, you don’t like him.”

“I just don’t feel comfortable around him,” I admitted. “It’s like since this has started he’s changed.”

“Crisis doesn’t change people; it reveals them,” Herb said.

“You know, if you’re going to keep trying to sound like the Buddha you’re going to have to stop carrying two guns.”

“Even the Buddha would carry, given the circumstances,” Herb said.

“Okay, Mr. Buddha with a Gun, so what is that supposed to mean about crisis?”

“Brett is leading the patrols to protect the scavenger hunt. He’s shown himself to be brave, almost fearless, willing to take risks. That is very much who he is.”