road, wondering in his own mind what to do with this information.
And, since he wasn’t exactly a rocket scientist, he wasn’t even sure what it meant. Aside from the fact that these people, whoever they were, needed farm equipment.
Skully was damn tired of eating Ramen noodles and rabbits. He’d never been much of a vegetable eater before the blackout. But he sure would love some fresh tomatoes or strawberries.
Then he smiled, turned his wheeler around, and rode back to Eden.
Chapter 14
Frank and Jesse had three houses to go to finish up their gutter project. They’d wanted to get them all done before the next storm hit. But when they came out a couple of hours earlier they both looked up and saw rain clouds.
“Today will be the day we finally get a payoff for all our hard work,” Frank said.
Every house on the block had gutters now, except for these last three. And the remaining gutters were laying in the yards of the last houses, waiting to be installed. They could have been finished days ago, but they could only move as fast as their electric drills could hold a charge. And their drills were being charged on generator power. One at Frank’s house, one at Jesse’s.
They only ran their generators in the daytime. Typically, they were able to drill holes through the gutters and mount them every other day. By the end of those days, the drills would be dead or going there fast. And it would take all the next day on the chargers to recharge the batteries again. They used their off days to gather supplies, or to help the others bring down trees or till the yards. Or plant the seeds. Finding things to do every other day wasn’t hard. There was always work to be done.
The decision to only run their generators in the daytime was one they’d made early on, when the world finally grew warm enough for them to come out of hiding.
It had been Jesse who’d suggested it.
“We don’t know how many marauders are still out there. Just because we haven’t seen them in awhile doesn’t mean they’ve all moved on. If we use lights in our homes at night, they’ll be able to come right up to the windows and look in. And we wouldn’t even know they were there. They could pick us all off before we ever drew our weapons. Before we ever knew what hit us.”
It was a sound argument. But it didn’t sit well with everyone. Mike, nineteen years old and full of attitude, countered it.
“I’m tired of living in the dark. I’m tired of going to bed at sundown because there’s nothing to do. I want to be able to stay up late occasionally and watch a movie, or read a book, or play a video game. Who am I hurting by doing that? I mean, seriously?”
In the end, though, he yielded to the wisdom of his father. And it was a good thing.
Because less than a week later, the group heard a flurry of gunshots from another group of survivors three blocks over.
Frank, who’d earned the nickname “Saint Frank” during the early days of the thaw for spreading the word that food was available at the Symco Distribution Center, went to investigate.
An entire family had been wiped out.
Frank walked up as the neighbors were digging their graves.
“Apparently the marauders knew they had food. Probably saw them eating it at night. Killed all of them. It’s a damn shame, too. They were one of the few families who’d come through the whole thing intact. And they’d gone through the same hell as the rest of us, only to be blown away when things were getting back to normal.
“And what kind of man can bring himself to shoot a seven year old girl, anyway?”
Frank pondered the question for only a moment.
“They’re not men. Not any more. Maybe they were when this
And, since he wasn’t exactly a rocket scientist, he wasn’t even sure what it meant. Aside from the fact that these people, whoever they were, needed farm equipment.
Skully was damn tired of eating Ramen noodles and rabbits. He’d never been much of a vegetable eater before the blackout. But he sure would love some fresh tomatoes or strawberries.
Then he smiled, turned his wheeler around, and rode back to Eden.
Chapter 14
Frank and Jesse had three houses to go to finish up their gutter project. They’d wanted to get them all done before the next storm hit. But when they came out a couple of hours earlier they both looked up and saw rain clouds.
“Today will be the day we finally get a payoff for all our hard work,” Frank said.
Every house on the block had gutters now, except for these last three. And the remaining gutters were laying in the yards of the last houses, waiting to be installed. They could have been finished days ago, but they could only move as fast as their electric drills could hold a charge. And their drills were being charged on generator power. One at Frank’s house, one at Jesse’s.
They only ran their generators in the daytime. Typically, they were able to drill holes through the gutters and mount them every other day. By the end of those days, the drills would be dead or going there fast. And it would take all the next day on the chargers to recharge the batteries again. They used their off days to gather supplies, or to help the others bring down trees or till the yards. Or plant the seeds. Finding things to do every other day wasn’t hard. There was always work to be done.
The decision to only run their generators in the daytime was one they’d made early on, when the world finally grew warm enough for them to come out of hiding.
It had been Jesse who’d suggested it.
“We don’t know how many marauders are still out there. Just because we haven’t seen them in awhile doesn’t mean they’ve all moved on. If we use lights in our homes at night, they’ll be able to come right up to the windows and look in. And we wouldn’t even know they were there. They could pick us all off before we ever drew our weapons. Before we ever knew what hit us.”
It was a sound argument. But it didn’t sit well with everyone. Mike, nineteen years old and full of attitude, countered it.
“I’m tired of living in the dark. I’m tired of going to bed at sundown because there’s nothing to do. I want to be able to stay up late occasionally and watch a movie, or read a book, or play a video game. Who am I hurting by doing that? I mean, seriously?”
In the end, though, he yielded to the wisdom of his father. And it was a good thing.
Because less than a week later, the group heard a flurry of gunshots from another group of survivors three blocks over.
Frank, who’d earned the nickname “Saint Frank” during the early days of the thaw for spreading the word that food was available at the Symco Distribution Center, went to investigate.
An entire family had been wiped out.
Frank walked up as the neighbors were digging their graves.
“Apparently the marauders knew they had food. Probably saw them eating it at night. Killed all of them. It’s a damn shame, too. They were one of the few families who’d come through the whole thing intact. And they’d gone through the same hell as the rest of us, only to be blown away when things were getting back to normal.
“And what kind of man can bring himself to shoot a seven year old girl, anyway?”
Frank pondered the question for only a moment.
“They’re not men. Not any more. Maybe they were when this
Similar Books
