Dark New World (Book 2): EMP Exodus (25 page)

Frank must be grumpy and Ethan had an itchy feeling it involved him. Maybe Frank and his wife, Mary, were arguing, though there was no sign of that earlier. Ugh. Well, there was still work to do and lunch—and a much-needed nap after, for the hottest part of the day—and then more work.

Lunch was still an hour away, so Ethan loaded a six-pack of water bottles into the wheelbarrow for the people in the field and headed back. Cassy had been drilling into everyone that they should try not to waste any trips. There was always something to do, something to bring back and save someone else a special trip. She’d said that and, as usual, was right. So, water bottles this time.

A similar sequence happened each time he finished loading the wheelbarrow. Push to shed, unload sheathes, find something useful for the way back, return. Wash, rinse, repeat. There was plenty of time to work out the situation with Frank during the mindless routine parts.

So, okay. (Ouch! Damned hole almost jammed up the barrow’s wheel this time. Gotta bring back a shovel and fill it in, next trip.) It was happening every time. If Amber was near, so was Frank, sometimes conspicuously so. He was being pushy. Was that just paranoia? Maybe.

As Ethan finished loading another trip’s worth of spring wheat, he saw movement from the corner of his eye and glanced toward it. Amber was coming toward him with two bundles of wheat, and wore a welcoming half-smile on her face as she approached. Okay, here’s the test…

When she had got to a dozen yards away, sure enough, Frank intercepted her. He spoke for half a minute, and the conversation looked heated. Amber’s smile flipped into a frown, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed, while Frank stiffened his stance; his back was turned so Ethan couldn’t see Frank’s face, but he certainly acted tense.

Then Amber turned her head to look at Ethan, looked away, turned, and stomped off into the field for more grain. She was radiating anger. Frank picked up her two sheaths and walked toward the wheelbarrow, eyeing Ethan, and stopped about six feet away. He looked at Ethan for what felt like a long time. It made Ethan damned uncomfortable. Yeah, Frank was a good guy, but this was getting weird. What on earth had Ethan done to earn this from Frank?

“Well? What’s going on, Frank?” Ethan asked. His tension showed in his voice, and he didn’t bother to hide his irritation. “You don’t stop me from talking to anyone else, so what gives?”

After a long pause, Frank broke eye contact and looked up into the air as he let out a long breath, a sigh of resignation. “Okay, Ethan. Here’s the deal. We like you, and you’re one of us. No doubts about that, and I want to make darn sure you know it. But this thing with Amber, well, it’s not right. Not yet, anyway. None of us who made this Clan during the trek are okay with it if you two go ahead. Not because we don’t like you, or her. Be clear about that, it’s important.”

Frank clearly had to work hard to get all this out in a level voice. Did he think Amber and he didn’t have to struggle with this? Was he maybe just a bit ashamed? He should be! But he started up again. “Look. Jed’s barely been gone a week. His kid still cries at night, I know y’all hear it sometimes. And even some of the new faces ‘round here, who heard the story, have come up to me to jaw about it. They weren’t even there, but they don’t like it, either. Y’hear what I’m sayin’, friend? Crank it back,” Frank said with a weird, almost driven look.

Ethan felt his throat tighten as a sinking feeling washed over him. Almost, he felt sorry for Frank. But just as quickly, it turned to anger. Who were they, to say who could do what? They weren’t the morality police in this new world, dammit. And the newcomers sure as shit had no business saying a damn thing about any of it. Hell, they were lucky just to be here with the Clan. What made them feel entitled to have any say on two veteran Clan members’ private lives? Screw that.

“Frank, I don’t give a damn what the new people think and neither should you. They don’t know us, we don’t yet know them and they’re here because
we, the Clan
, took mercy on them.” He paused to blow out some air, breathe, try to get rid of some of the anger he was feeling. “But I’m really hurt that you’d go against us on this, Frank. We didn’t pick this, it just happened, you know that.” He glared for a moment but it felt uncomfortable. He liked Frank, dammit, so he added, “I thought we were friends.”

Oh God, was that him whining? At Frank of all people? He felt a bit mortified. Try something else… “Amber likes me, and I like her, right? Why shouldn’t we have the chance to see where that leads? In this crappy new world, a little bit of happiness is hard to find. So tell me what’s wrong with that, Frank, or get out of our way. We can’t worry about who’s talking to whom.”

Frank’s tension eased a bit, and he smiled wanly. Like he got it. “Well, I
am
your friend, Ethan. And that’s why I gotta stop you two from rushing into what you both want to do. First because of Jed’s kid. She needs to mourn her dad without some guy she doesn’t really know hovering around her mom. Believe me when I tell you, the whole rest of your life will be easier if you hold back for a while, until she’s ready to let you in. Not even as just a good friend to her mom. Not yet. I hope that makes sense.”

Ethan found himself slowly nodding. Unfortunately, it did make a good kind of sense, though it totally sucked. But that still didn’t account for his friend turning on him like this. “There’s more, right? Well, what’s the other reason? You said ‘First,’ so what’s ‘second’?”

Frank looked startled for a moment, like a kid caught smoking, and then shook his head. “Yep, you’re right, and it’s more
important
than the first reason. The second reason is, both of you have to wait until
the Clan
is ready, because that’s what makes us a Clan, respecting the Clan’s wishes and expecting their help and support. It’s a two-way street. And for now, at least, the Clan does include the new people, because they may fail but they haven’t yet, and they’re with us. We’d be stupid to make them outsiders for no reason. We all let them in, so they expect the Clan’s help and support too, which means they matter. They have to. So then, why do you have to wait for the Clan? Think about it.”

He paused, looking thoughtful. “Like you said, Ethan, we’re in a different world now. It’s a dangerous world, it kills people. And we’re trying to build a new society, maybe better than the old one that stopped working when the lights went out. That world’s dead and will be for a long time. Maybe forever. And here, now, in our chancy new world, things still can get dicey again. They probably will, actually. So if you want to survive, and you want Amber and her daughter to survive with you in whatever safety there might be, then you gotta fit in. You
need
to make an effort to show you’re in the in-group, not an outsider. It’s that simple. You follow whatever morals the group has as a whole until the Clan feels more secure about you and Amber, or whatever. Even if you don’t agree.”

He gave Ethan a worried look, and Ethan broke into a laugh. Frank’s features turned angry until Ethan held up a placating hand, still smiling. “I’m sorry, friend. I know you’re right, and I’m not laughing at you. It’s just that I was reading about evolutionary psychology the other day and you just described it perfectly. I guess you’re pretty smart, but that doesn’t surprise me. You’re a good leader, after all.”

Frank looked uncomfortable. “Um… Okay. What the hell is evolutionary psychology and what’s it got to do with us? Sounds pretty useless outside a classroom.”

“Not really. I’m actually glad you reminded me. It’s a field where they figured out there’s an evolutionary benefit to showing the other people in a tribe that you’re one of them, that you share the same basic values. Every tribe—or culture—has a very clear bias on this, that, and the other thing they consider important. Showing you support their biases strengthens the group dynamic, and that’s important to survival, or it can be. You just pointed out that it’s important to survival right here, for us, if we want the tribe to pass on their genes and ideas from one generation to the next. That’s what it’s about.”

Frank grinned at the Clan’s resident intellectual geek. “That’s a mouthful, Ethan. But it rings true, eh? Go along to get along, I guess that sums it up pretty good.”

Ethan nodded, and replied, “Yeah. Nicely put. Okay, don’t worry about me. I won’t make any more waves about this until you or Cassy say so, just to be sure, because I’m not always good at being part of anything. But Frank… I don’t think I can wait forever.”

Frank nodded and chuckled, putting a friendly hand on Ethan’s shoulder as the chow bell rang in the distance. “C’mon, Ryder-man. Let’s go get some grub.”

* * *

1300 HOURS - ZERO DAY +18

Frank looked up from digging up the last potatoes of the season as Michael and Cassy rode back into the farm’s yard with two other people on horseback. Good, he thought. Her last trip had been disappointing and apparently gruesome. He stopped digging and stood straight, wiping his hands against each other then stretching his back and neck. That done, he smiled and waved. Michael was doing his eyes-everywhere thing, a scout being super-aware of his surroundings. Cassy saw Frank and waved back. When they came to a stop nearby, Frank walked over to help Cassy dismount and clasped her on the shoulder. “Welcome back, Cassy. Michael. Let’s get you all some water, and you can introduce us to your new friends.”

Frank caught an odd look between Cassy and Michael, and a similar glance between the couple they had brought in. Well, that was odd. He’d have to keep an eye on that situation. If it was a case of “too many tomcats in one room,” he and Cassy would have a decision to make. Frank just did not want to deal with it if he didn’t have to.

Cassy nodded. “I could use some water, and the horses must be thirsty. Thanks. So, this is a couple I knew before the lights went out. Mr. Dean Jepson and his wife, Monique. Jepsons, this is Frank Conzet, the guy who put our Clan together and led us safely here.”

Frank shook their hands. “Not just me, and not entirely safely. We lost one on the way, a good friend and a good man. And once we got here, Cassy’s the boss, not me. No amount of money could get me to take that role again,” he chuckled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. How do you know Cassy?”

Monique stiffened at that while Dean glanced at her, with what Frank thought was apprehension. Interesting. Dammit, there better not be bad blood there. No one needed that, but Cassy was just the sort of person who’d bring in people in need even if they weren’t a great fit for the group…

“Oh, we go way back,” replied Dean. “And it wasn’t always very friendly.”

Monique pursed her lips, then interrupted. “I was on the code enforcement team at County. Cassy didn’t like some of the codes. It went to an administrative hearing, and Cassy won. End of story, I guess. Anyway, that code doesn’t mean much anymore. It was a different time.”

Frank watched Cassy closely as Monique spoke, and was unsettled by the tense expression on her face. Yep, he’d keep a damn close eye on those two. “Well, that’s all over now, right? No codes need enforcing, at least not until things go back to normal. If they ever do. You’re very welcome here if Cassy says so, we can always use another set or two of hands. Got farming experience, Mister Jepson?”

Dean nodded. “I reckon I do, a fair bit of experience. I’m sure we can earn our keep pretty good, yes sir. Thanks for inviting us. We’ll see how this goes. I won’t be anyone’s burden, Frank. We’ll earn our keep or go. But we’re private folks stuck in our ways. I imagine it’ll be an adjustment but we’ll fit in if we can.”

Frank nodded and put on a friendly face, reflecting that now he knew the term, he could recognize evolutionary psychology when it happened right in front of him. Useful idea, that. Ethan was proving his worth in more ways than just as their resident geek genius about electronic stuff.

* * *

1500 HOURS - ZERO DAY +18

Cassy walked through her house, checking it room by room. Not looking for anything specific, she just felt better after she reassured herself that nothing was wrong. She did it a couple times each day, when time allowed. The living room was fine, though cluttered with everyone’s stuff. There was no way to keep it uncluttered with so many people in there, and she’d more or less given up trying. The kitchen too was in order, and
that
room
, as her mother called it, she kept immaculate. The others had damned well learned quickly not to leave a mess in there, she thought with satisfaction. Until they finished the outdoor kitchen, all cooking had to be done either over an outside fire pit or in her kitchen, and leaving a kitchen messy took unacceptable chances with health. In this world, it just wasn’t an option. There was a reason so many cultures put clean kitchens high on their lists of virtues.

So next, she headed upstairs and checked her bedroom. The door was slightly ajar. She hadn’t left it that way and Cassy tensed, approached the door with her hand on the grip of the .40 caliber she’d traded her .38 for, and flung the door open with a bang.

On the bed, Cassy’s mom jumped in alarm, then realized it was her daughter. “Goodness, Cassy, you’ll give an old woman a heart attack,” she exclaimed.

“Yeah right, Mom. You’re going to outlive us all,” Cassy teased. But then Cassy saw what was on the bed, and froze. It was a box of small glass vials, all but a few of them empty. “Mom… tell me that’s not your insulin. You have more, right?”

Mandy frowned, and shook her head. “No, dear, this is all I have left. I figured I’d tell you in a day or two if the scouts didn’t find any more while they’re out and about looking for other survivors.”