Jackson Hole Airport
Behold!
The modern man of the twenty-first century providing food for his family and friends … by carrying a deer suspended on a tree branch while walking through three feet of snow for who knows how many miles. We have fallen so far so fast.
Even when I was a kid, hunting in the woods around Appleton and other places in Wisconsin, when we got a deer, we had other better ways to get it home. An atv to take it from the trail to the main road where we would throw it in the back of one of my uncle's pickup truck. Then we would take it to one of my grandfather's friends who would take care of the butchering for me.
And we thought we had it so rough.
I gave out a snort that made Sam, who was walking in front, look over his shoulder to give me a fishy stare. I gave him a nod and smile but neither of us said anything, talking took too much effort. He has been a trooper so far, he hasn't complain once about carrying this brute back to camp, although, we did have to stop a few times for a break. Sammy, who was walking behind us, keeping an eye out for any more surprises has also been quiet. When I was a kid, we never had to worry about coyotes, wild dogs, wolf or other humans who would gladly kill us for this deer.
It was nearing sunset when we finally turned off the main road to the airfield. Snowplows, I always hated them when I as younger. When I was a kid, snowplows meant I had to go to school that day instead of staying home to play in the snow. When I was a teenager, snowplows always came around five seconds after I finally got the driveway cleared, which meant after the plow went by, I would have to go back out and remove the snow it pushed into my driveway. In college, they would bury my car under a few feet of snow. However, now, I would sell my soul to Satan in a heart beat for a snowplow truck, with a working heater! Shit, who am I kidding, heater would be optional.
Linda was the first one out of the small terminal to greet us as we struggled across the small air strip with our deer. Even though we were still a hundred yards away, I'd know her outline anywhere. We married after our graduation from college in '12, just mere months before Madison was a ghost town and most of our families and friends were dead. We had to moved back in with my parents in Appleton a couple of months after graduation since the only job I could find required me to ask if you wanted a shake with those fries. Those four years of a liberal arts education was good for something I guess, I had a major in American History with a minor in bullshit and a new brand new best friend named Sallie Mae, who wanted to called me every month if I forgot to write.
I also remember bitching to Linda just how bad things had been back then and how they couldn't get worst. How I wish I could be so young and foolish again.
Thanks to Linda's education degree, with a minor in music, she had been able to wrangle a few tutoring gigs teaching pompous children whose 'way too rich for their own good' parents were convince they were the next Bach or Michael Bolton. So looking back, things weren't what we had planned on but they weren't dire either. The dire showed up later.
When they closed Florida and the Governor designated Milwaukee and Green Bay as the states two official Quarantine Zones, Linda and I high tailed up the road. My parents refuse to leave Appleton, they figure it wasn't going to be as bad as they were making it out, just something those morons in Washington were making up, again. It was just a fungus after all, with Florida contained the chances of it spreading up this far North was slim. Linda and I didn't put much stock in it either but prospect of good jobs was more than enough reason to get there ahead of the rush. Linda's parents were already living in the Milwaukee area so she wasn't to concern about their safety.
Ah, to be young and foolish.
We both got a job working on the Wall, busting our ass for twelve hours a day, seven days a week. And I mean busting ass, people probably hadn't worked like that here in the States since my great grandfather's days. And they needed a lot of people, even with modern equipment, the need for the Wall outpaced the equipment or skilled workers. Doesn't take much skill to push a wheel barrel or swing a shovel. And not everyone could cut it either, everyday there was a new person on the job. People were dropping out left and right, some from exhaustion, some to run away as the wild-fire call the Plague grew hotter, some died in the mad rush to get that Wall in place.
More died from the Plague, both inside and outside the Zone. I'm still not sure which plague got my parents, was it the Spores or just the old fashion plague of fear and hate. My parents never left their home, they died together while their house burned down around them. Linda, to this day, still don't know what happened to her parents, only that they never made it to safety.
Once the Wall was up, well there was still lots of construction jobs that still needed done. Before Hell set up shop on Earth, I had been in okay shape; maybe a bit pudgy and I might have smoke a cancer stick or two or hundred. During the construction and afterwards, I went from an unhealthy 240 to 148, quit smoking (black market prices were way too high) and gain more stamina then I have ever had; Linda was really starting to look great as well. It is amazing what not having TV or the Internet around can do for you.
We had the twins a year after the Civilian Government fell, September 13, 2019. While Sam inherited both Linda and my temperament, fireworks didn't happen often between us but when they did it was Forth of July in NYC every time, and our height. Sammy got our brains and her mom's looks, which is good because I would make one hell of an ugly woman. They both got their mom's blond curly hair, bright blue eyes, pale skin and soft features. Sadly, neither of them seem to inherited my great sense of humor, truly a sad, sad day for the world. They both just roll their eyes when I remind them of this fact.
"Hey you," Linda said giving me a full kiss on the lips. We were a lot more physical around the twins then our parents had been around us. They saw us kissing all the time, so often that they never even commented on it anymore and we always had a hug or two for them as well. In this world, you just never knew. "Wow, you guys did good!"
"We got lucky," I said softly as she went to hug Sam.
Boy, did we ever! I'm still shaking in my boots from that encounter with Little Lizzie Borden and Freaky Freddy Krueger. I don't put much stock in the whole God thing but damn if someone wasn't watching out for us today. I also hope that Sam now understood what that stupid 'survival of the fittest' crap he is always spouting off really looks like. God, please let him finally understand.
That girl's face had looked as if it had been used as a punching bag a few times in the past, can't imagine what the rest of her might look like and her dad, I have seen pit bulls with friendlier eyes and fewer scars. Neither of them struck me as the kind that would have any problem blowing out our brains … if they had chosen to do it. And that is the hardest part to get in to my son's head, they made the decision not to kill us.
Both of the Sams had been slow to duck when she spun around towards us, she had a clear shot at their heads. The fact that she choose to give us a warning told me a lot about her. And she made that choice no doubt about it. No one who can take down a deer with one arrow would've miss them from that distance. Her choice told me where ever she came from, where ever she is living at right now, had more than enough food and protection that she felt comfortable with her decision.
There was also the fact that her father trusted her enough to respect her decision to let us live! I never heard him, neither had the kids. He was a damn good hunter to move so quietly and quickly to get behind us. He could have blasted us in the back without us even getting to beg for our lives … but he didn't.
And they let us have their kill … for free.
"What … what happened?" Linda asked in a fearful voice as she looked between Sam and I, her blond curls bounce in time with her head.
"It's okay mom, we are all okay," Sammy said standing next to me as her brother nodded his head.
"Did you ..."
"We just ran into some of our neighbors, hon. They helped us with the deer and passed on some news, that is all." I nodded towards the terminal where some of the other adults standing around waiting for us to finish our reunion. "We better get this bad boy in there, my stomach is already angry enough as it is."
"Alright," her tone made it clear that it wasn't but she didn't know what else to say. I'm sure after we eat, I'll be spending a few minutes explaining our day. "It's been quiet here all day."
"Good, very good." I nodded to Sam, he turn back around and started heading to the building we decided to stay in for a couple of days. "I hope Jake knows how to butcher a deer, me thinks I am too hungry to do a good job at it."
"Ralph was able to snare a couple of rabbits while you were gone, Cindy and Jeff took Jeff jr and Sally with them to check some of the nearby cabins. They didn't find anything, must have been pick clean by those folks you met earlier."
"Probably mom," Sammy said quietly while walking on my left. "They didn't look as if they were starving to me."
When we got to the terminal, Chuck and Hank as well as the other adults all cheered our good fortune. Jake whistle out a tuneless note of admiration at our 'catch'.
"We still have some vegetables, a bit of barley, we can make a good stew out of this," Cindy said looking over our supplies as Sam and I laid the buck down in our 'kitchen', an old ticket counter that boasted their planes were the best way to see Yellowstone.
I let a smile form on my lips as I read that sign, I hadn't been totally lying to that girl. I had always want to come see the first National Park and one of the largest volcanoes in the world. I remember back in 2012, everyone was talking about the Mayans Calendar was predicting the end of the world on December 21, 2012. Some believe that Yellowstone was going pop it's top on that day, dropping tons of ash all over the country. I didn't believe it but Linda and I decided when we had kids, we had to go out and see it for ourselves. Now that we are finally here, it's not worth the risk to head up there. Shitty luck but that is life.
Of course, if you think about it all those crazies were right about the end of the world, they were just off by nine months.
"Anyway you want suits me just fine," I said suddenly feeling my age. By the looks of Samuel, he was feeling my age as well. "Come on Sam, let's go take a load off our feet."
"No argument from me this time dad," he said grinning as he headed over to our little corner.
"I'll stay here and help with dinner," Linda said as the Sammy and I walked away.
"Give me your water bottles, I'll go pack some snow in them," Sammy said as I sat down on a thick blanket we found in Minnesota.
One point in the snow's favor, it was a source of water … after an evening or so to warm up.
"No, take a break Sammy," I tugged on her over-size jacket sleeve trying to get her to sit down as well. "You've had a rough day too."
"I'm fine dad, I'll rest after dinner ..."
"No, you can rest now."
"Dad, I'm fine really."
"Just sit down," Sam mumbled out from my left. His eyes were already closed as he pushed his legs out in front of him. "You know he isn't going to shut up until you do what he wants. And I want to take a nap."
Sammy plopped down on my right, imitating her twin brother after she shrugged off her larger than needed jackets. Not for the first time I wish that the end of the world would have waited a few more weeks to occurred.
The trouble started in Florida towards Labor Day and burned through the South towards the end of September and early October, so most of the clothing found in the stores were still back to school and light fall styles. The heavier winter clothing wouldn't have arrived in the warehouses until end of October. There are probably semi trucks and ships on the coast full of warm clothing but none here in the Midwest. It had been hard to find enough clothing for Sam to wear but not as hard as it was for Sammy and the other little girls to find clothing.
You tend to forget the difference between girls and boys fashions that had existed back then until you wanted real clothing. While Sammy liked short dresses, shorts, and sandals; in the winter they were useless, as was most shoes out there for girls. All their clothing had been 'cute' and designed to be 'sophisticated' and 'darling' not a tough and rougher design that would actually be of some use in this new world. So all the warm clothing Linda and I had found for her over the years had been mostly boys, including her boots. It also saved on gathering things, since the twins weren't that much different in size until recently, so they could share clothing. Now, however, Sam was getting broader shoulders and bulking up in a good way while Sammy was most definitely no longer a little girl.
"I stink," Sammy said quietly with a sniff as the other children in the groups chased each other around the terminal.
They were pretty loud, I don't know if Sam or I could sleep with all that noise.
"I've said that for years."
I let out snort as I put my arm around the kids. Sam actually made a joke, with his sister! Been so long since that has happened, felt good to hear it.
"Shut up, you," she whined back. "And I am serious, I think I fucking pissed myself earlier."
"Then I beat you again because I am fucking sure I shit myself."
"Can you two not curse so much," I said as they both leaned into me while I closed my eyes.
"Yeah, fucking right," they said in unison.
I let out a chuckle and then lean my head back against the wall.
"Hey, time to wake up."
My eyes popped open to see Linda smiling face. Even after all these years, nothing makes my heart beat faster than seeing her gorgeous face. Back when I first met her in college, my buddies all tease me saying that she was at least a five. Too chubby, too plain, too small chested; yak yak; but when I saw her, well Venus would weep at how beautiful Linda truly was. Not only was she a looker; but she was also smart, had a beautiful voice to go with her body, could play the violin like no ones business and … she was just perfect in every way. My only question I had about her was her choice of men, I mean she picked me, didn't she? She had really bad taste in men.
"Have I told you how beautiful you are today?"
"Only every time you see me," she gave me a wide grin.
"What did I ever do to deserve you," Sammy said in a deep voice.
"I'm wondering what I ever did that was so bad to get you," Sam putting in his two cents with a high pitch voice and throwing his right arm over his forehead.
"Well, there was that one time in band camp." Sammy said imitating my mannerism.
"Wonderful," Linda rolled her eyes as the twins giggled. "You have finally corrupted them."
"Tsk, took long enough."
"I'm not sure if I should feed you now or not," Linda playfully stuck her tongue out at the three of us as she pick up the tray behind her.
Both the twins and I sat up straight, I'm not sure whose stomach was growling the loudest but all three would not be ignored.
"How long had we been asleep," I asked as she gave me my bowl first as well as a jar of water.
"About two hours, everyone else has already eaten." That would explain why it was so quiet around here, the children were off doing their evening chores. "There is enough left to last us a couple of days anyways."
The three of us ate the stew slowly, it was a trick I heard about one time. If you eat slowly and drink lots of water, your stomach will think it is full whether of not it actually was. Nice trick, can't wait for it to actually work for once. Our helpings had a lot of deer meat in it, which was nice. Since the three of us did all the hunting, scouting and majority of the watches, it wasn't so much as a perk as it was a necessity.
"So what did happen out there today?" Linda asked me as we finished our dinner.
"Can you hand me your pack real quick first?" She gave me a fishy look but didn't protest as she reached behind Sam to grab her pack. We all had packs, in them we carried a couple of change of clothes, as many socks as we could carry, ammo for the rifles and the family pistol, plus things we need for hygiene and to patch our self up. However, both Linda and I also carried items we thought we might need to make some trades. One of those items I was now pulling out of her backpack, a nice unopened bottle of scotch.
I drank the rest of my water and gave myself a nice health shot, then gave one to Linda.
"Come on guys, you deserve this as well," I said to the Sams. They both were kind of hesitant as I poured them a small shot. It wasn't everyday that I allowed them to drink, in fact this was a first.
I already knew that Sam has drunk in the past, usually shitty home-brew beer or moonshine as well as learned about sex first hand. That one had been hard to hide once Heather showed up pregnant. Sammy, however, was more of a mystery. I supposed it blind hope that many fathers have indulge in with their teenage daughters. I hope that she was still naïve in the ways of many things of this world but if she wasn't, she didn't advertise it like her twin. Even now as I watched her out of the corner of my eye, I couldn't tell if her facial expression while sipping the scotch were genuine or an act to make me feel better.
"Oh man," Sam said coughing a bit. "That's the real stuff, ain't it."
"It's an acquire taste," Linda said grinning. "Like everything about your dad, it takes awhile to develop an immunity." She took a taste and made a face as well. "Some things take longer than others."
"Scotch is good." I said in my most non-seriousness serious tone. "It will put hair on your chest, make a man out of you."
"Uh-huh, I don't think I like the idea of hair on my chest. Bet you don't either." Well, she had a point. Both of the Sams made gagging noises as she gave me a smile that lit up the room. "Plus, I'm a Milwaukee girl, beer was good enough for me growing up and it's good enough for my children."
"Here, here," the Sams said in unison.
"Heathen, I'm surrounded by heathens." They snickered as I pour myself another shot. I notice that none of the heathens declined a second round either. I'll civilize them sooner or later.
"So," Linda asked quietly as she squeezed herself in-between Sam and I.
"Well, like I said; we ran into a couple of our neighbors. They had us surrounded before we knew what was going on."
"How many were there?"
"Two mom, just two of them." Sam said as his mom put her arm around him. "A man and his kid, I think."
"She was about our age or younger," Sammy said leaning into me. "She kept us distracted while he worked his way behind us."
"I thought dad was the shit when it came to hunting but that guy," Sam stop speaking to take another sip.
"We never heard him come up behind us." Sammy said quietly. "I keep glancing behind us, one second it was clear, the next he was there. Fuck, he was there!"
"He was a bruiser alright, a fighter. He armed to the teeth and probably could have taken us all out without even using his firearms. His eyes ..." I shuddered as those eyes came back to me. They will be hunting my dreams for a few weeks I know it. "He had a southern accent, she had a New England accent; neither of them looked as if fighting was something they avoided very often. Like we said; they had us dead to rights, surrounded and out numbered."
"She was scary good with a bow mom," Sammy added nervously. "She fired off three arrows in less time then it would have taken us to shoot her. I never knew you could shoot arrows that fast!"
"Did you notice how she was holding her spare arrows," Sam sat up and faced his sister. "They were in her right hand. She always had three in her right hand as well as the one on the string."
"When you guys were cutting up the deer, she kept her left hand on her bow, holding the arrow in place. I saw a pistol on her hip but she never drew it. That bow was like a part of her arm or something."
"She is scary good," I said for emphases. "She has spent lot of time getting that good." I drained my glass in one shot and then looked at Linda, who was quiet and looking off to the distance. "We got fucking lucky."
"How did you get away, with a deer no less?"
"She decided we weren't a threat," Sam let out a sour chuckle as he leaned back against his mom. "Compared to them, we weren't."
"She decided? Not her father?"
"Well, no. She asked him what he thought, he didn't like Sam much but that because Sam was doing his best to get under her skin at the time." I looked over at my son, who had the good sense to looked embarrassed. "Learn anything today?"
"Boy did I," he sounded as if he really meant it and I hope to hell he does.
"Well, good because those two are what survive of the fittest look like," I added in just for good measure. By the way he finished his drink, I think it is safe to say he did get it. "Anyways, she had a good feeling about us and decided to let us live. She also gave us the deer, she figure we needed it more than they did."
"Which means that there are more of them out there, a lot more." Linda could draw the picture for herself. In America today, having enough to eat was as rare as starvation was twenty years ago. Having more than enough to eat so you could afford to give away a catch like that deer was unheard of, which meant that they were well fed and would stay that way all winter. "You think we are in danger here?"
"We will always be in danger until we find those Fireflies," I reminded her as I hugged her. "But I think we are safe from those two, for now. Still, I would rather not stick around too long if they change their minds. We'll need to let the others know we will be moving out tomorrow morning, as soon as it is light enough to do it."
"No problem," she said softly.
None of us moved, too wrapped up in each other to move. For the first time since Heather died, Sam hasn't been raging at Sammy, nor was Sammy silently taking the abuse. I understand, really I do. Heather meant a lot to Sam, was it love or not, we will never know.
All I know is that she was carrying his child, they were going to be married and start their own family. Sammy had bust a gut with happiness at her twin brother and her best friend since forever were going to be married. Neither Linda or I nor Heather's parents were overjoyed but we didn't get too badly bent out of shape either. This wasn't our time, when starting a family at fourteen could doom your life, where the boy would run away and leave the girl all alone.
Sam and Heather didn't have the same worries or pressure we had when we were growing up. Now they had to worry about food, clothing and damn Infected. The pressures were different today and the cost of failure was higher. In this world, failure equaled death. There are no social services, there isn't any welfare system, there are no safety nets. Everyone my age and up all claimed that we're grown ups back then but until the world fell apart, I don't think we really had to grow up. The Sams and the other kids, yeah they had no choice. They had to grow up in a hurry or die.
But no matter how much they had to grow up, they were still kids. They still thought that nothing bad would ever happened to them, even when they saw what happened to people who did stupid things everyday. They just had to go to the mall that day, they just had to grab a few things …
Sammy got bit, Sam was suffering from a concussion and Heather never made it out of the mall. Sam doesn't remember what had happened in the mall, he only remembered that Heather had been there one minute and the next he was outside with Sammy carrying him home. Sammy never told him or me what happened, she just cried and kept silent. She only asked that we save one bullet for her, she didn't want to change.
Sam nearly killed her himself once he was up and out of bed. I never seen him hit his sister, even as young children no one touched Sammy without Sam getting in the way and throwing punches at them. Even when Linda or I tried to spank her, Sam would do his best to get between us and Sammy.
But when he got out of bed, it took everything Linda and I had to get him off Sammy. It broke my heart seeing that, after everything that has happened in this world, that has happened to my family; nothing scared me more than the sight of Sam slamming Sammy's head into floor over and over. She didn't fight or scream out in pain.
That is when we also found out that she was bitten. Sam screamed at her that she would get no bullet from him, when she changed he hoped that he could get her outside again so she could live long time as a mushroom head.
God, that had been the worst day in history.
"Hey runner," Sam said suddenly.
I tense, so much for a quiet night.
"Yeah?" Sammy responded while curling up to me.
"Did you notice anything strange about that girl?"
Sammy and I both snorted out a humorless laugh as she responded. "You want the complete list or just the highlights?"
"Just … anything really stick out to you?"
"She has pretty green eyes," Sammy answer cautiously.
"I think … I think she smelled like you do."
"You were probably just smelling me, I told you I reek."
"Fttp, I know that; been craving a mushroom pizza every time you walk by."
"Thanks, jerk"
"It's just … I don't know maybe I was smelling you but ..."