Stryker: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale (13 page)

“We’d better.
Stryker will be worried.” Hank and Jenna came out with a platter that carried
the bottle of bourbon and the glasses. After Hank poured the shots, they
toasted and sat back in their chairs. The sun was full now, and the heat was
beginning to shimmer off the land. Hank and Jenna sat on a love seat with his
arm draped around her.

“Jenna told me the
story,” Hank said. “What I don’t get is what Stryker was doing in the middle of
it. I guess I understand why you did what you did, Henry; but why did Stryker
get involved?”

Sarge thought about
it for a while and said, “That’s what he does. I don’t know how he got built that
way.” He stopped speaking, lost in thought, then added, “The only reason Erin
came along is because he thought she should be here to comfort Jenna when she
saw her parents were dead. The last time I saw him, before all this started,
was at a Burger King on base in Pendleton. He was supposed to be at an award
ceremony to get a Silver Star.” Sarge fell silent.

“What happened?”

“Well, nothing
happened. He said he lost four men and that wasn’t worthy of a medal. We ate
our burgers and he left. Anyway, we better get going. Jenna, you remember how
to get back to the ranch, just in case?”

“Sure. But, I
intend to come visit a lot. I want to stay in touch.”

“Jenna, go grab
them some fresh vegetables while I fill up a cooler with steaks. We’re going to
say ‘thanks’ the country way.”

“If you think I’m
even going to argue about it, you’re crazy,” Sarge said. They loaded a crate of
vegetables and the steaks and started back.

“That back there is
what you call a miracle,” Erin said as they entered the freeway.

“No argument from
me,” he replied, rubbing his belly.

As they pulled into
the ranch, they saw Stryker on the roof installing solar panels. He waved and
they waved back. As they parked the Jeep, he came down the ladder and said,
“Since she isn’t with you, I guess you have some good news.”

“Her dad, Hank, is
alive. Her mom didn’t make it,” Erin answered.

“In this world,
that’s in the win column.” Erin nodded her agreement.

“Where are the
other ladies?” Sarge asked.

“Putting in the
garden. Elle seems to know what she’s doing.”

“What’s going on
with the panels?”

“We found twelve
good ones at a neighbor’s house, and I got the eight new ones I bought last
week. So we’re good to go. The batteries and invertor we scavenged are still in
the truck. I’ll wire it up tomorrow and the house will have its own source of
power.”

“Got something to
show you in the Jeep, too,” Sarge said slyly. He opened the back hatch and then
the cooler. Stryker gazed down, saw butcher’s paper and then picked one up.
“Are these steaks?”

“Yes, and look in
the crate.”

“Fresh vegetables?”

“From Jenna’s dad.”

“I thought I was
going to have to wait for the trading post to get fresh food. What a treat!”

“Plus, if we want
to go shoot cows for meat, we can. Hank knows how to butcher them, so he can
show us how to do it.” Sarge went on to tell him about the wild cattle and
other livestock in Hank’s yard.

“When I was here
alone, I didn’t give much thought to long-term planning; but I guess we have to
now.”

“I didn’t want to
bring it up first, but you know eventually all the canned and dry food are
going to go bad, and we are going to have to produce it ourselves. Even MREs go
bad in fifteen to twenty years.”

“Of course, and the
gas for the cars will go bad eventually. I have 200 gallons reserve here, with
stabilizer. But, even that only extends the life for three or four years.”

“So, we either have
to build pens for the animals and expand the garden, or find somewhere we can
move that already has what we would have to build here.”

“We’re going to
need drip systems for the garden, as well.” Both men fell silent, looking
troubled, then Stryker said, “We haven’t even discussed the big issues, like
the fact there appears to be no way we can recover from this for generations.
We don’t have enough people left, apparently in the world, to rebuild factories
and open mines and refineries, power plants and the railway system. We are well
and truly screwed long term.”

“I know,” Sarge
said. “I don’t mind it for myself; I may not have much time anyway. What
bothers me are the ladies. They’re going to live a long time in a world that is
still moving backward. I keep hoping that things can’t get worse, but I know
they can and will. What do you think?”

“I think I wish we
had this discussion before I mounted those solar panels. They might have to
come down if we move.” Stryker shrugged, then added, “We’ll take the problems
on as they come. If we try to wrap our brains around all this stuff at once,
we’ll paralyze ourselves. Come on. Let’s go make dinner and worry about all
this tomorrow.”

Stryker dragged an
old Weber grill across the back patio and started the charcoals. They would
take around thirty minutes to settle into a nice glow, so he walked inside to
the kitchen, where the ladies were preparing roasted vegetables that were
already in the oven. Stryker went to the pantry, pulled out two bottles of red
wine that he scavenged from a house in town, and opened them with a corkscrew.
He set the bottles on the countertop, found wine glasses in the cupboard, and
set them next to the bottles. “Everyone help yourself,” he said, and walked
back out to the patio with a beer in each hand. He handed one to Sarge and sat
down on the settee next to him.

“Let’s keep it
light tonight and not talk about all the stuff we need to do. Give them a
chance to take it easy and just enjoy the evening. But we do need to talk to
them tomorrow,” Sarge said.

“I just opened two
bottles of wine for them.”

“That should do
it.”

“I got two more in
the fridge.”

“I didn’t know you
drank wine.”

“Only with steak.
Jill got me into that habit.”

“How’re you going
to cook them?”

“Rare.”

“You’re not taking
their orders?”

“First, only a
heathen overcooks a good steak. Second, I only know one way to make them. My
way. They want them better done, they can throw them back on the grill.”

Sarge waved an
empty beer bottle at him, so he drained his and went back inside. The
vegetables roasting smelled like heaven. The ladies leaned against countertops
and drank their wine. He went to the fridge, snagged two more beers, and said,
“How long?”

“About ten
minutes,” Elle replied.

“I’ll throw the
steaks on.” He walked back to the patio, handed Sarge a beer, and they watched
the sun begin to sink into the horizon, firing off a red-hued sunset as the
smell of the steaks cooking assaulted their senses.

“I’m really looking
forward to this,” Stryker said. “I haven’t had a steak in months.” He got up
and flipped the steaks, examining them closely and nodding his approval.

“We’re ready,” Elle
said from behind the screen door.

“Right with you,”
Stryker replied. “I need two more minutes, so go ahead and set the table.”

“Okay.”

Stryker stacked the
steaks on a platter and went inside the house. Sarge followed and they all
gathered at the island in the kitchen, grabbed plates, and loaded them with
vegetables and a steak each. They moved into the dining room and sat down.
Stryker took a wine glass with him, filled it, and stared at the others from
the head of the table. “Welcome to my home,” he said, raising the glass. They
all did the same, with Sarge using his beer bottle to toast. “Please consider
it your home from now on.” They sipped their wine and dug into full plates of
fresh food.

When they finished
eating, Stryker noticed that Elle left her steak untouched, but went back for
more vegetables. He looked at Erin, confused.

“She’s a
vegetarian,” Erin explained.

“When she’s done
grazing, pass the steak down to me. Anybody else want some?”

“I’ll take more,”
Sarge said.

“Me too,” Erin
grinned. When Elle finished eating, Erin passed Elle’s plate to Stryker, who
divided the steaks in thirds and handed the plate to Erin after taking his cut.
She did the same and passed it to Sarge.

Stryker got up and
went to the kitchen, grabbed the tray of vegetables, and returned to the table.
He scraped more onto his plate and passed it to Erin, who did the same. Sarge
finished it by emptying the platter. They all cleaned their plates and pushed
back from the table.

“My god! That was good,”
Stryker said. He passed the wine bottle to Erin and it went around the table
again until empty. The sun had set while the group ate, and they sat in an
intimate glow of faint light from the kitchen. The silence was comfortable and
they all seemed content.

“I suppose somebody
should clean off the table and do the dishes,” Elle said, then slumped back in
her chair. Everybody chuckled.

“Are we going to
make a plan for what we’re all going to do?” Haley asked. “I don’t like not
knowing what happens next.”

“The first thing
we’re going to do is digest this food. I guess we can meet up tomorrow and chat
about it; but I don’t really know enough about what everyone here wants to plan
anything,” Sarge said.

“The one thing I
know is we can do whatever we want,” Stryker added. “We can stay here, we can
go somewhere else, and we don’t really have any restrictions on us. So let’s
think big when we talk about it. Put it all on the table, turn it over and look
at the down side, and then we can decide what we want to do. Who knows, maybe
we want to go to Hawaii and live on the beach.”

“We’d have to get
there,” Erin said.

“That’s why God
made men who could make and sail ships,” Stryker replied. “I’m not saying
anything like that is likely. I’m just saying we don’t have to rule it out.”

“I’m just so happy
to be somewhere that I feel safe, I don’t really care. I guess later maybe I’ll
have feelings about it that I want to talk about. But for now, I’m just
grateful,” Haley said.

“Me too,” Elle
added. “I’d feel safer if we all slept in the same room, but I guess that isn’t
workable.” Stryker stared at Elle for a moment, then said, “if that’s what you
need, we can sleep in the master bedroom. You and Haley can have the bed. Erin
and I can take the floor. The only thing Sarge is afraid of is women, so he
will be fine on his own.” The women laughed at the comment, but Stryker added,
“I’m not kidding. We’re a team now, and if you need us to support you, we will
do that. It’s no big deal.” He paused and added, “You and Haley good with
that?”

“Sure.” Erin
replied.

“Okay, then let’s
do that.”

“You want to mount
a watch?” Sarge asked.

“Haven’t done that
since I’ve been here, but if you want to, get me up in four hours and I’ll take
the second. Erin can take the third, and Haley can wake us up.”

“I want to do a
watch too,” Elle said.

“You can after you
get weapons training,” Sarge replied.

“When do I get
that?”

“Tomorrow after you
get up.”

“So, you really
want to do the watch?” Stryker asked.

“Yeah, it may be
stupid, but I think we should.”

“Okay, get me up in
four.”

Stryker got the
sleeping bags out of the Jeep and positioned them on the floor a few feet from
the bed. Haley stripped down to panties and underwear and Stryker stripped down
to his shorts. Erin came over and climbed into the bag next to Stryker’s. Elle
came out of the bathroom dressed in panties and a bra and stood next to the
bed. She was magnificent.

“Ahh, yeah,” Erin
murmured, then rolled over in her sleeping bag. Stryker set a mental alarm
clock and was immediately asleep.

He awoke later than
evening, put on his clothes, and walked out to the living room. Sarge was
visible through the picture window sitting on the porch. He walked out, softly
closing the screen door behind him, and said, “Coffee?”

“Sure.” Stryker
went back inside and started the drip maker. After five minutes, he returned
with two cups and took a seat beside Sarge.

“Must be close to
midnight,” Stryker said. He had long since quit wearing a watch.

“About ten after.”

“You going to go
in?”

“In a bit. I’m not
tired yet.”

“So, how are we
going to play it tomorrow?” Stryker asked.

“I guess we just
lay it out the way we see it and go from there. It’s not like there’s a
playbook for this.”

“I wonder how
they’ll take it.”

“They seem like a
pretty resilient group. It’ll be fine.” He finished his coffee, rose with a
groan, and handed his rifle to Stryker. “See you tomorrow.”