Tempest of Tennessee (Episode 1): Tempest of Tennessee Page 12

  Damn, he was scaring me. “I had to take the chance.”

  “Love and caring does make a person stupid. What meds do you need?”

  I pulled Bella’s list from my pocket and read it to him, stumbling with pronouncing some.

  “Spell that last one,”

  I spelled it for him.

  “This will take a few minutes. Stay where you are. Don’t roam and don’t touch my house again.”

  The fact he didn’t rule out anything on the list gave me hope. Worn out from the long night of walking and running, I sat on the stone porch to wait.

  It took him a long time, but I heard him shout, “Are you out there, I can’t see you.

  I scrambled to my feet so the he could see me through the peephole on the door.

  “I’m sorry. I was tired so I sat down. I didn’t touch your house except for the doorbell button and the door when I first came.”

  “I bet you are tired. I’m not opening the door. The meds are in a bag by the Range Rover beside the house. Some of the pills are a different dosage than they need, but I put a note in the bag explaining that. I gave as much as I’m willing to spare. What is there should last them a few months. Don’t come back again because I’ve no more to give.”

  “Thank you, sir. God bless you.”

  “He’ll bless me if you don’t come back.”

  “I won’t come back.”

  He’d put the Causley’s medicine in two plastic grocery bags. Sitting on gravel beside the Range Rover, I stuffed as much of it as I could into my backpack. I managed to empty one bag and half of the other, and used the empty bag to double-bag the leftovers.

  ************

  I’m homeward bound. The stench of the dump is behind me and the roadblock is in sight. I didn’t see any guards, so I decided to check if anyone was still alive. There was life, but hiding behind the hay-rounds instead of standing in plain view.

  “Stop where you are! Come no closer!”

  I stopped and shouted, “Glad to see you all are still alive. Did the attack happen?”

  “Are you the girl who warned us?”

  “Yesterday, yeah, that was me.”

  “Come on until I say stop.”

  I didn’t know why they wanted me closer, but figured that if they wanted to shoot me, I was already within range. They stopped me twenty-feet from them.

  “We were told to watch for you, that you’d probably come back since you said you were going to town. You saved our lives. They came last night, and because of your warning, we were ready for them. We had one hell of a firefight.”

  I called back, “Did you kill any of em?”

  “One, but they killed two of us.”

  “I’m sorry you all lost people, but maybe they’ll be afraid to come back.”

  “We had a meeting about you this morning. We assumed you were going to town for supplies. Everyone chipped in a few things in case you did show up. You’ll still have to take the detour, but we’ll put your gift outside the barricade on the other side.”

  I wasn’t expecting a reward and said so. “I appreciate that, but I have a long way to walk and I’m carrying as much as I can.” Then I thought about Missus Smelt’s snuff.

  “Wait, there is one thing. An old woman wanted me to try to get her some snuff but I couldn’t find any. If you have some to spare, I’d sure like to take her some.”

  “What’s snuff?”

  “Snuff is powdered tobacco.”

  “I never heard of it, but I’ll check. Come to the other barricade.”

  I hadn’t specified a brand. It wasn’t as if I was at a store. I made the work-around trek along the creek. At the road, I turned to go to the far side blockade. As I approached, I saw a wagon sitting away from the hay-rounds.

  I stopped beside the wagon. It was a ‘Red Rider’. A quick glance showed that the people in the community had loaded it to the top of the wood side rails with canned food, toilet paper and paper towels. One thing in the wagon almost made me laugh. For some reason they’d topped the load with a Barbie doll.

  A middle-aged woman with blonde hair stood so I could see her head above the hay. “Honey, don’t leave yet, we’re still checking with people about the snuff. What’s your name?”

  “I’m Tempest, Tempest Full—, er, Tempest Waters.” I’d almost said Fuller, but from now on, it was Waters.”

  “Do you have far to go?”

  “It’s about another ten miles, on past Sweetlips a ways.”

  “That’s a long way to pull a wagon.”

  “Yes mam, it is. That’s why I won’t be taking it. The truth is mam, it wasn’t food but medicine for friends that took me to town, but I do appreciate the offer.” Then I thought of Sunia and I reached to the wagon. “I will take the doll though. I know a little girl.”

  The woman called, “Wait, someone’s coming with a bag. Maybe it’s the snuff. It’ll take him a minute to get here.”

  A bit later, I heard talk from behind the hay and then a man shouted, “Half of the people in the community had never heard of snuff, but we got lucky. Sarah Barker’s grandmother died a few years back and she remembered there was snuff in the boxes they’d put in their attic.

  “Sarah said she’s proud to give it to you and to say thank you. If you’ll back away forty or fifty feet, I’ll bring it out.”

  I backed away. A young man scrambled over the hay and laid the paper bag on the ground near the wagon. I reckon he was being extra smart and careful not to touch anything I might have touched.

  I waited until he was back behind the hay and went for the bag. Inside it were six round snuff tins.

  I called out, “Tell Miss Barker I appreciate the gift.” I dropped the Barbie doll in with the snuff, and called out a warning. “You all take care of yourselves. Don’t go into Henderson for any reason. There are dead bodies everywhere,”

  Almost home, the wind picked up, blowing cold and steady. At the Smelt’s place, I stood by the road and called for her. She was slow coming out of her door, but saw it was me and came toward the road, shotgun in hand. I met her halfway because of how unsteady she was with her walker on the snow.

  She stopped ten feet away. “Sorry about the shotgun. A body never knows when she might need it. It’s these times, you know.”

  Her complexion was ruddy and her eyes were red tinged. There was a chance her sister’s boy had brought her more than news about the town. “I know that there’re sneaks around. Stay ready for em. Have you had to kill any since yesterday?”

  “No, and I pray I don’t.”

  “How are you feeling?”

  She made a joke without a smile. “Not up to ‘snuff,’ you might say.”

  “Glad you said snuff. Good news for you. I found some, six tins, but it’s not ‘Tube Rose’. I’m sorry.”

  “Hon, don’t be sorry. Snuff is snuff and in a pinch, any snuff will do. Six tins and I been dreaming you’d bring one. How much do I owe you?”

  I snagged the doll and set the bag of snuff on the road. “You owe me nothing. It was gifted to me and I’ll do the same for you.”

  “Bless you, child. Get home out of this wind.”

  “I’m still alive, so I reckon I am blessed. I wish I could stay and chat, but I’m tired and want to get home. Watch out for sneaks.”

  “You do the same, Tempest. Don’t worry your head concerning me. I think my chatting will be asking the good lord to accept my soul. A dip of snuff now and then will ease the way.”

  ************

  Legs weary, feet blistered, I limped the final stretch, fighting a feeling of dread. The gang of survivalists the community fought wasn’t that far from us. They may have discovered the Causley’s, and the Popat family. The closer I got to home, the more I was sure I’d find them all dead.

  My dread dissipated when walking up the Causley’s drive, first the children and then the adults all came from the house to greet me. I was glad to see all the adults carried weapons.

  To halt the chi
ldren’s dash, I had to shout for them to stop, backing away as I did. Then I shouted, “Preeja, keep Sunil and Sunia away from me, there’s a chance I may have the plague.”

  John called, “How close can we come?”

  “No closer than twenty feet. The plague’s a bad one.”

  Preeja sent her children back to the house and followed the others to speaking distance.

  John said, “We were worried sick the entire time you were gone, worried and scared. What do you mean you might be infected?”

  “It’s too cold to stand out here and tell you everything, but I’ll tell you what you need to know.”

  I told them how the plague wiped out Henderson, that there was a gang of survivalists roaming nearby.

  “So you see, we can’t take the chance I’m not infected. I’ll need to stay away from you for a few days.”

  “No luck on the meds?” John asked.

  I had cause for a smile. “I got em all. After you go in, I’ll put em on the porch. Spray the batch with Lysol and let it set there for an hour or so.”

  “Thank the lord and thank you, Tempest,” Bella said. “John had a spell with his heart last night.”

  John added to that, “It was a bad one… heart went to racing a hundred miles per hour. You probably don’t know where the gang is headquartered?”

  “No, but I’ve been thinking. What you and Bella should do is stay with the Popat’s a few days. Take any food with you. Before you leave the house, make it look ransacked. That way if the gang does come this way, they won’t get anything and you won’t be here.

  “As long as we’re quiet back in the woods, they won’t have any reason to hang around. Get started now… Oh yeah, pull the batteries from all our running vehicles and hide em. Figure out something to disconnect so they won’t start if somebody tries to jump em off.”

  Vikas said, “I must tell you one thing. The snow, it tested slightly above normal radiation. I examined the booklet, which came with the meter. The reading remains within safe limits. Also was noted that in a nuclear event higher readings of radiation in precipitation can be expected.”

  “Do we need to take the iodine?”

  “No, the dangerous isotope of Iodine 131 has a short half-life. Already enough time has passed since the event to lower its potential for harm. The distance that the isotope travels through the air from the explosion is another factor that dilutes what does form.

  I’d reached my limit. Cold, tired and depressed, I left them to sort it. My little cabin and my bed were calling my name.

  ************

  Days chased one another. Preeja and Vikas took my words to heart. For four days, I didn’t see or hear a sound from Sunil and Sunia. Bella and John moved in with them. I saw almost as little of them as the children.

  We were far enough from the road that most sounds wouldn’t carry, but the smoke from our stoves was worrisome. Often as not, the wind carried it in the direction of the road.

  There was no way we could eliminate the smoke. We needed heat for warmth, but we could eliminate light showing from our windows. I covered my windows with black plastic and the Popat’s followed suit. I was glad we’d taken time to install Billy’s solar system, a noisy generator was out of the question.

  On the morning of the fifth day following my trip to Henderson, I woke early, felt physically recovered from the walk, and antsy was with excess energy. I figured enough time had passed and not feeling any sort of symptoms, I didn’t have the plague.

  Not having access to weather reports was a hassle, you never knew what to expect. The snow melted yesterday, but early afternoon the day turned chilly and by sundown, it was downright cold. The temperature had made a drastic swing during the night. Stepping out onto my stair landing, I turned right back around and shed my coat and hat, it was that warm.

  The rising sun was barely lighting the treetops, no one else was out of bed. It was probably too early for vagabonds, scamps and failed survivalists to be about as well. I decided to check on the Causley place.

  On one of my few outings from the cabin during my self-imposed quarantine, I’d checked the place two days ago. John had decided to leave the front door unlocked. “Unlocked, there won’t be a need to repair the door if thieves come.”

  As a ‘tell’ to show if anyone did come he’d stuck a tiny sliver of paper between the top of the door and the jamb. The paper would fall if someone opened it.

  Approaching from the rear, I went to the front to check the door. It didn’t take a slip of paper to tell visitors had come to check the house. The door stood wide open.

  I hadn’t been inside since the Causley’s moved in with the Popat family. Entering the house, the living room seemed normal. The kitchen was another story, but expected. John had described how they’d left the cabinet doors open and dumped the contents of some cabinet drawers onto the floor. They’d similarly done the same with their bedroom, making the house seem already ransacked.

  Leaving the house, I almost shut the door, but realized that if for any reason whoever had opened it should return, they’d find it odd if it was closed.

  Behind the barn, the mud left by melted snow revealed multiple sets of fresh footprints around all of the vehicles. John and Vikas had done as I asked and removed the batteries, but there was a possibility the sneaks would return.

  Walking from the barn, the thought came to me that I call them sneaks, but it could be anyone, not necessarily the gang that tried to raid the community.

  Any scavenger would think the house and property abandoned. I know I would do the same as whoever came here, check to place for anything useful. It was going to be hard, but I needed to stop thinking that everyone outside of those with me as our enemy. Not knowing the difference, friend or foe made life dangerous.

  Friend or foe, the fact that someone entered John and Bella’s home felt invasive on a personal level. I believe it had to do with my room cum-storage growing up… a room not really my own, watching it shrink over the years as more boxes were added. Invaded yes, but the subterfuge at the house seemed to have worked.

  On the walk back to the cabins, now alerted, I checked for footprints that would suggest they explored the trail leading from the barn into the woods and found none. As far as the vehicles, Vikas had assured me that even if someone brought batteries, he and John had disabled the electrical so none of them would crank.

  Closer to the cabin I heard the dull thud of someone splitting wood. Entering the clearing, I saw Sunil squatting by their chopping block splitting kindling. I stood for a moment and watched him. Since moving into their cabin he’d developed skill with a hatchet, standing a piece of wood on the block, moving the hand away and chopping before the piece could fall.

  He saw me coming toward him and a panicked expression crossed his face. To stop him from fleeing to his door, I said, “No need to worry anymore, I’m not infected. When you go in, let em know I’ll come over after breakfast.”

  Preeja heard me and opened their door, “I have breakfast almost ready. Will you join us?”

  I wasn’t turning down the invite. “Thanks. I’ll be over in a few minutes.”

  In my cabin, I gathered the Barbie Doll from my dresser. I’d worried about giving it to Sunia right away because of the chance it was contaminated. Beside the doll was a slingshot for Sunil so he wouldn’t feel left out.

  Meals with the Popat’s always had different odors than my normal fare, but their food was delicious. This morning, entering their home was no different. Even breakfast called for aromatic spices.

  They were already eating. The children sat on five-gallon buckets with a workbench for a table. The adults were at a rustic table John and Vikas cobbled from a pallet. A plate sat in front of a vacant chair.

  Preeja waved me to the table. “So glad you are with us. Sit, please. I bring you coffee.”

  I smiled back at Vikas, John and Bella and went to the children. Laying the Doll on Sania’s end of the bench, I said, “A gift from some nice
people I met while I was gone.”

  Taking it into her hands, she said, “A real Barbie. I’ve always wanted one.”

  I placed the slingshot and a bag of glass marbles on Sunil’s end. “This is from me by way of a dear friend.”

  He took it from the table and turned a puzzled face to me. “What is it?”

  Okay, I never dreamed there was a boy that didn’t know what a slingshot was. “It’s a slingshot. After breakfast, I’ll show you how it works. You’re gonna love it.”

  Taking my seat at the table, Bella said, “He’ll put his eye out.”

  Confused, I said, “Slingshots aren’t very dangerous to use.”

  Bella laughed. “That was a joke, Hon, from the movie ‘A Christmas Story’.”

  “I never saw it. We never celebrated Christmas. Sam said it was a way to make people spend money they don’t have. Anyway, we didn’t watch movies either.”

  John cleared his throat. “Sam didn’t need an excuse to not celebrate anything. I reckon now he has a great excuse.”

  Bella shook her head. “John, that’s not funny.” Right after chiding John, she gave me a disapproving glare for laughing.

  I thought it was funny, but didn’t want to upset Bella. “I’m sorry, but he’s right.”

  Preeja set my coffee beside the plate, took her chair next to me and said, “No more the jokes about death. We are ready to hear about your trip.”

  “No, you don’t want me to tell you while we’re eating… Oh yeah, someone went into John and Bella’s house, the door was wide open. Found footprints all around the tractor and other vehicles behind the barn. From the tracks in the mud, they didn’t go on the trail to here.”

  John said, “Well that proves there are other survivors. I doubt it was the gang you told us about, they would have checked such an obviously used path leading into the wood.”