Nathan Jones

FUEL

This book is dedicated to my brother David, for all his valuable advice and encouragement.

Mere thanks just doesn’t seem like enough.

Foreword

In most post-apocalyptic fiction I’ve read the events that precede the story tend to be, well, apocalyptical: nuclear holocaust, EMP, major invasions, pandemics, etc. But considering how fragile our existence is, packed into cities completely dependent on everything we need being shipped in at the last possible instant and for the most part no longer possessing the knowledge or skills needed to be self-sufficient, I wanted to explore just how little it would take to bring about a major disaster in our day and age.

And so I wrote Fuel. Anybody who’s driven in extreme conditions (such as blistering desert or intense cold), knows that running out of gas without the things needed to survive even short term can quickly turn an inconvenience into a potentially life or death situation. An extended power outage during the coldest days of winter can be similarly eye opening. It’s a grim prospect to think of what might happen if the entire nation ran out of gas.

The events depicted in this novel are fictional. The characters in this story are also fictional, and any resemblance to anyone living or dead is entirely unintentional. While most locations are real some creative license has been taken in describing them, and the town of Aspen Hill is entirely fictional.

Prologue

Lights

Even a year later Trevor Smith still remembered exactly where he was and what he was doing when he learned Iran and Israel had nuked each other.

He’d been in Biology listening to Professor Adams drone on about phospholipid bilayers when people began shouting out in the halls. He’d even heard a few girls screaming. Only moments later the PA system had blared out the announcement that nukes had been launched in the Middle East and encouraged all classrooms to turn on the news. With some help from his TAs Adams had quickly turned the projector from his presentation to channel 4, with students shouting for him to go to their preferred news channels instead.

It turned out it didn’t matter since they were all showing the same things. Maps of the Middle East with lines showing the origin and paths of the dozen nukes that had been launched between the two countries, frantic newscasters relaying information in front of a background of satellite photos and shaky videos of cities being engulfed in mushroom clouds. The President and other world leaders making announcements forcefully urging calm so the nuclear war wouldn’t spread to the rest of the globe. Dry, completely speculative analyses on what could’ve caused the sudden launching of weapons of mass destruction between the two old enemies.

Classes had been canceled for the rest of the day, which in some ways was almost more difficult than trying to pay attention to school in all the chaos. It meant he had nothing to do but go back to his dorm and follow the news all day, browsing internet sources trying to figure out if someone, anyone, knew more than what the media was telling people. All he’d found were crazy and unfounded theories blaming anyone and everyone. School for the rest of the week had been almost a waste of time since none of the teachers really wanted to teach and none of the students really wanted to learn. Everyone just wanted to talk about what had happened.

It was a terrible disaster that had plunged the US into deep grief. Everyone had talked about it like it was the end of the world, and plenty of people had even cited it as evidence of the impending Biblical apocalypse. But in spite of all that the nation’s day to day life hadn’t changed all that much. Sure, there had been a brief but significant downturn in the stock markets and stocks had been declining ever since, and the US had led the world in sending relief efforts to help the areas around the devastated countries and any survivors who emerged from the wreckage, but the biggest impact had been oil.

The flow of oil had completely halted from the Middle East after that point. The price of gas went up by over two dollars a gallon overnight and there was a minor panic when it looked like the dollar would crash, but the US government managed to stabilize with reserves until they could produce sufficient oil from fracking on US soil, as well as drawing from the Canadian shale oil fields and piping the crude down to the gulf refineries. Some claimed production still wasn’t enough to meet demand and the government was still drawing heavily from reserves in order to maintain consumption at the current rates and avoid a panic. If that was the case no public official never admitted it and the story never touched the mainstream media.

As for the rest of the world, Russia, China, Iran, and a few other countries had already been talking for years about forming a new gold standard to compete with the petrodollar, and spurred by the disaster they finally implemented it, ramping up Russian oil production to be distributed to other nations. Including a European Union that suddenly wasn’t quite as much in lockstep with the US since they had to get their oil from somewhere and the US wasn’t exporting. Needless to say the new Gold Bloc had no interest in selling oil to the US: that reluctance didn’t quite reach the level of an embargo, but only because the US didn’t press the matter.

And so the country around Trev limped along, as the price of oil continued to climb and stock markets continued to plummet. The news was full of new oil drilling ventures that would solve the problem and put things back on track before things could get really bad, and great hope was placed on the vast potential of the untapped fields of northern Canada. In spite of the difficulties nobody considered this a prelude to a major catastrophe or any long term negative effects.

That was the current situation a year after the nukes flew, with the price of gas (and all products produced or shipped to stores using gas) more than doubling during that time. In some places gas edged up over $10 a gallon, although the government did its best to set a hard cap there and worked furiously to keep prices from rising any higher.

It looked as if they would succeed. Even Trev, who didn’t take the news or reassurance of politicians at face value and tried to dig deeper into the truth of the matter, thought that the nation might just pull through and all his efforts to prepare for the disaster he’d seen coming after the nukes flew would be unnecessary after all.

Those illusions were completely gone, now.

It was late at night and his classes started early in the morning, but still he sat up with his roommates watching the explosions on the television screen, captured from every possible angle using every bit of footage the news stations could beg, borrow, or steal. They weren’t fireworks, and they weren’t nuclear explosions. They weren’t bombs being dropped on enemies on foreign soil, or for that matter enemy bombs being dropped on US or allied soil.

The explosions were caused by the entire refinery operation along the Gulf of Mexico going up in flames.

Nobody knew yet whether it was an act of terrorism or sabotage from an enemy power. There was even some confusion about which explosions were from planted charges or boats filled with explosives docking with the refineries, and which were secondary explosions from the tanks of crude oil and refined gasoline igniting. But what even Trev and his roommates could see without being told was that the attacks had been thorough, hitting just about every refinery and storage depot. Even hours later the fires still raged everywhere, including across a large portion of the Gulf of Mexico from ignited oil spilled straight into the water and spreading across the surface to create a firestorm above the dark waters below.

The burning Gulf was probably the best visual representation of the millions upon millions of gallons of fuel that had gone up in flames. But more devastating than the fuel itself was the destruction of the operations designed to refine that fuel from the relatively useless crude oil piped in from elsewhere. This didn’t just represent a short term catastrophe but a long term disaster.

Trev numbly watched the alternative images of melting refineries and burning waters as the newscaster on the screen droned on about sailing itineraries and cargo manifests for the boat bombs that had caused most of the devastation, starting to go into detail about the identities and nationalities of their captains and crews. No pattern that anyone could see, no hints about the source behind it all, but Trev had to wonder how much it mattered now.

No nuclear bomb had landed on US soil. No EMP had detonated high in the atmosphere above them to wipe out the nation’s electrical grid and electronics. The refineries had been destroyed at night so the loss of life was minimal, and although the fires were fierce the summer had been a wet one and there wasn’t any danger of them spreading.

And yet in spite of all that Trev wondered if the panicked newscasters caught up in the moment, the President and other politicians making brief reassuring statements, or the people watching realized that millions of people were potentially about to die.

Most gas stations kept just enough gasoline and diesel to meet demand and their tanks were regularly refilled. Where did that gas come from? From the burning depots on the television screen. Those impressive fireballs represented most of the US’s reserves of fuel.

The nation had just run out of gas and there was nowhere else to get more.

His phone suddenly rang, and in spite of himself Trev jumped as he hurried to answer it. That was nerves, not surprise: everyone’s phones had been ringing ever since the news first broke about the disasters. Loved ones calling or him and his roommates calling loved ones to let each other know that they were all right, even though nobody on either end was within 100 miles of the attack. Trev had already called his parents to share the same reassurances.

Even without checking the ID he could guess who was calling, and sure enough when he pushed the talk button it was Lewis’s voice he heard. “Hey man.”

“Hey,” Trev answered. He expected his cousin to say something like “Can you believe this?” or “Pretty crazy, huh?”, but Lewis wasn’t the type to state the obvious.

Instead his cousin got right to the point. “I think this is going to be bad. Really bad.”

“I was thinking the same.” Trev took a deep breath. “I’m glad you called because I wanted to make sure you haven’t piled my bed full of junk. I’m coming home.”

“Good. I was about to suggest it, and the sooner the better. Right now if you can manage it, but either way I hope you don’t waste any time on things that probably won’t matter in a week.”

“No, I’ve got nothing I really need to do here, although there’s a few things I want to check out before I go and a few friends I want to say goodbye to. I’ll leave tomorrow morning as early as I can get away.”

After a few inquiries about family and some pointless speculation about the attack Trev hung up and headed to bed, leaving his roommates still gathered around the TV. He had a feeling tomorrow was going to be a long day and he wanted to get whatever sleep he could.

Chapter One

Not with a Bang

The morning after the Gulf refineries attack Trev didn’t even bother going to class or letting the university know he was leaving, probably for good.

During a mostly restless night he’d well and truly cut all mental and emotional ties with the heavily populated area around Orem, Utah, his college education there, and everything else in his old life. The only thing he was interested in now was saying a few goodbyes and maybe running a few quick errands, and then he was headed home.

Officially home was up in Michigan where his parents and younger siblings had moved a few years ago, but for Trev he didn’t have nearly that far to go. He’d spent his childhood in Aspen Hill, roughly 75 miles southeast of Orem, where his cousin Lewis Halsson still lived and looked over things while his parents and teenaged sister, Trev’s aunt and uncle and cousin, were on sabbatical in Norway reconnecting with their Scandinavian roots.

More importantly, his cousin had been preparing for a disaster since even before the nukes fell a year ago. And since he and Trev were practically brothers and had spent all their time together growing up Trev had been pulled into it too, reluctantly at first but with more commitment after the tragedy in the Middle East.

He’d helped Lewis purchase a sturdy half-cylinder aluminum shed, reinforce it, then bury it facing south for better sun exposure like they’d read about. The underground shelter would stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and almost as important to his cousin’s cautious nature would be away from prying eyes when the Schumer hit the fan. Lewis had then gone on to fill it with inexpensive wheat, rice, barley, and other grains, beans, honey, olive oil, and any canned foods he ran across while they were cheap. He’d also purchased other tools and supplies necessary for survival, including guns and ammunition.

His cousin had blown just about all his money on his preparations, everything he’d earned over a few hard summers installing security systems in cities back east. Trev had joined Lewis on those jobs, but unlike him had spent most of the money on paying his way through college. Although he had listened to his cousin enough to purchase about two years’ worth of wheat and other necessities, as well as a Mini-14 and a thousand rounds of ammo to go with the 1911 he’d bought when Lewis bought one for himself a few years ago.

At the time Trev had considered his spending choice the more practical one. In a world without a disaster Lewis was basically trading away his future to live an 1800s era settler’s life off the grid. Meanwhile Trev was making a few cautious preparations but also paying for college and a career in a world that still continued to function.

In the end it looked as if his cousin’s all-in gamble had paid off, grim as that sounded considering the situation the nation was in. Still, Trev was glad he’d prepared at least as much as he had, and also had a place to stay with someone who’d done even more and was better equipped to survive.

It felt a bit strange to not be heading to class as he left his dorm and made for campus, but with some luck and favorable timing he managed to catch up to Matt just before his friend went into his first class of the day.

Matt Larson was another resident of Aspen Hill, but although they’d all grown up together Trev hadn’t spent nearly as much time with him. He would still call Matt a close friend, though, and going to the same college had helped cement that friendship.

“Isn’t your first class English?” his friend asked, looking a bit puzzled as Trev flagged him down outside his classroom.

Trev shrugged. “I’m heading back to Aspen Hill. Today. I just wanted to touch base and let you know.”

Matt gave him a surprised look. “The attacks were all the way down along the Gulf of Mexico. You don’t expect anyone to attack us up here, do you?”

As Trev had expected, people were still thinking in terms of terror attacks. The more forward thinking may have been thinking about no longer having fuel for their cars, but very few, it seemed, had stopped to wonder about all the trucks that shipped necessities to cities. Not to mention that just about everything they needed like electricity and gas for stoves and heating also ran on the fuel that had gone up in flames last night and was still burning this morning.

In fact, as he’d walked across campus he hadn’t seen any sign that the students and faculty around him realized that their fuel-dependent society had fallen off the razor’s edge it was balanced on, and barring a miracle or government foresight that didn’t seem to be in evidence they were about to plummet into a very dark place. Aside from being a bit subdued by the refinery attacks people were going about their daily lives.

He saw nothing like the psychological impact of the nukes a year ago, which he supposed wasn’t too surprising since that had been the first event of a nuclear attack since WWII. Still, the Gulf refineries attack had hit much closer to home and was going to have a much, much greater impact on their lives, so they should be acting more affected. Didn’t they realize this could potentially be nearly as bad for the US as the nukes had been for the Middle East?

Trev leaned forward, lowering his voice. “Listen, that was most of the nation’s fuel reserves and refining capability that just blew up. Things are about to become really bad, and I think you should take some steps to prepare for it.”

Matt smiled slightly. “Surprise surprise, the preparedness nut wants to talk about being prepared.” At Trev’s glare he quickly held up his hands. “Look, I know it’s a problem but who cares if we don’t have gasoline for a while? I was barely using my car anyway.”

“We have no diesel either, which means no trucks bringing in food,” Trev said pointedly. “Probably no natural gas, either, which means no electricity, stoves, or heating. No electricity means no water, no flushing toilets or other waste management. And you’re about to find yourself in an area populated by millions of people who also don’t have food or water and desperately need it.”

His friend’s smile faded. “I don’t think it’s quite that bad,” he argued. “And anyway what about your grades? If you take off now you’ll have to do the entire semester over.”

Trev couldn’t believe his friend still wasn’t getting it. “In a week, a few weeks at most, our college educations are literally going to be the least of our worries.”

Before Matt could respond two hands clapped down on Trev’s shoulders. “Hey, man! Catching us to talk about what went down last night?”

The new arrival was Matt’s roommate, Chad. Trev had played pick-up basketball, volleyball, and even video games with them and a few others around the dorm and knew the group pretty well.

“Trev’s heading home,” Matt said. Trev did his best to suppress his annoyance at the blunt admission. “He thinks things are about to turn bad.”

“You’re leaving just a few weeks into fall semester?” Chad asked, voice thick with disbelief. He moved around so they were all standing in a sort of triangle off to one side of the hallway. “You’ll get incompletes in all your classes. And because what, gas prices will go up a bit more and prices in stores might go up too?”

Trev just shook his head. Chad was one of those people who liked to argue about everything but never actually changed his opinion, so explaining would probably just be a waste of time. An annoying waste of time.

Even if he’d wanted to, what would he say? The economy had been hovering on the brink for a year now. A lot of people had been betting on the nuclear war in the Middle East being what toppled everything and sent them back into pre-industrial society, but a miraculous recovery had been pulled off by people on all sides. They’d all limped along for months now, pretending it was business as usual and willfully blind to the fact that things couldn’t continue. And maybe some believed that after the Middle East Crisis the American way of life was indestructible and nothing would bring it down.

Trev knew better. “Listen,” he said, directing his words mostly to Matt. “You know this area has become one big sprawling line of cities, a dense population cluster filling most of Utah and Salt Lake valleys. That’s millions of people packed into a small space, and how much food do you think is actually kept on hand to feed all those people? Most businesses trim their operations so they don’t have any surplus stock cutting into profits, meaning delivery trucks usually come every week or even every few days to restock grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, and everything else. Now that all those trucks don’t have fuel we’ll be lucky if the cities have one or two weeks’ worth of food. And that’s not counting the inevitable rush as people try to buy up as many supplies as they can before everything’s gone.”

Chad opened his mouth to argue and Trev hurriedly kept going. “Now think about all the newsworthy riots of the last ten years, and the comparatively minor events that set them off. Compare that to millions of people knowing there’s no more food being brought in and what they’ve got is quickly running out. Even before the cities start running out of food rioting and looting will run rampant.”

“But you can’t know any of that for sure, right?” Chad argued. “Maybe knowing how serious the situation is will bring people together.”

It was hard not to laugh at that, although nothing about the situation was funny. “In small, tightly knit communities maybe. In cities? People riot over soccer losses.” He turned back to Matt. “Anyway I’m just saying you should keep your ear to the ground and be ready to leave in a moment if things start looking bad. I think you’ll be surprised at how quickly that happens.” He offered his hand for his friends to shake, then turned and hurried back the way he’d come.

Outlining the doomsday scenario had got him feeling antsy, and even though he doubted rioting would start immediately he still wanted to finish his business in Orem and be gone as quickly as possible.

But before he’d gone a dozen steps the loudspeakers throughout the building crackled. “Attention students. Be prepared for a message from the President of the United States, all channels. Teachers, please prepare for the broadcast.”

Trev turned and exchanged curious looks with Matt and Chad, then moved to rejoin them as they started for their classroom, which happened to be the nearest one. Whatever his urgency it couldn’t hurt to get information from a more official source and find out a bit about what they could expect.

As long as it didn’t turn out to be the Presidential equivalent of reassuring hand-patting.

It looked as if some students had used the excuse of the attack to ditch class, so there were plenty of seats available as they waited and stared at the Seal of the United States being broadcast on the projector screen at the front of the class.

Trev used the time to ask his friends a few subtle questions about how they and their families had prepared for a disaster like this. It was a bit of an intrusion of privacy, but at the same time Trev had been pretty frank with Matt about his own preparations and he was genuinely concerned about how the Larsons would be able to handle this disaster.

Matt didn’t seem to mind the questions, although the only good news he really had to offer was that his mom kept a well stocked pantry that should last them a month or so, and Matt himself shopped in bulk to save money on food and had enough for another few weeks that he could share with his roommates.

During their discussion Chad was surprisingly forthcoming, announcing that even though his folks were the weekly grocery shopping type they had enough savings to last them a long time if need be. Trev tried to be circumspect as he advised his friend to call his parents and suggest that they go to the store today and purchase quite a bit more food than they usually did. As much as possible, even. He extended that advice to Matt as well and admitted that while talking to his parents last night they’d already promised to go to the store and empty their bank account on nonperishables.

Their conversation was interrupted by “Hail to the Chief” blaring from the speakers, after which the screen transitioned from the Seal to a view of the President sitting behind his desk in the Oval Office. Although the older man’s face was grave, he didn’t have the harried and strung out look of someone who’d spent a sleepless night being briefed on how serious his nation’s situation was. Good acting and makeup?

“My fellow Americans,” he began in a solemn tone. “I know we are all reeling from last night’s tragedy along the Gulf of Mexico. It was a terrible, senseless attack in which hundreds of innocent people lost their lives, and I assure you we are doing everything in our power to identify the culprits so they can be brought to justice.”

Trev couldn’t help but wonder if, despicable as the attacks had been, hunting the perpetrators down was the best use of the nation’s resources at the moment. Luckily the President’s next words addressed that.

“However, terrible as this attack was locally for all the states along the Gulf, I must now address the ramifications for the nation at large.” He reached down and picked up the single sheet of paper resting on the huge desk, glancing down at it. “As of our current best estimates, 73% of the nation’s refining capabilities and 42% of the nation’s fuel reserves were destroyed in the attack. But severe as the loss of our reserves were I must stress the dire situation of our loss of the refineries themselves.”

He paused to stare directly at the camera. “I won’t beat around the bush, citizens. Following the Middle East Crisis last year this administration elected to dip heavily into the nation’s fuel reserves in order to keep the economy running smoothly until we could set up our own fracking and drilling operations and make a deal with Canada for the plentiful shale oil they’ve begun producing. We’d been making good progress on that front, but a year of consuming more than we produce has dropped our reserves down to critical levels.

“To put it bluntly, the nation has run out of gas. We were entirely dependent on what was produced from our refineries just to keep up day to day operations.” He paused for a moment to let that sink in. “Now let me stress that we are maximizing production in our remaining refineries, and massive construction projects have already begun to get more refineries up and running as quickly as possible. We estimate that in three months’ time we’ll be back up to 45% production.”

He said that like it was good news. Trev had his doubts whether that timeline was accurate, but whether it was or not in three months winter would have set in and half the population could be dead from cold and hunger. And that was just assuming that further attacks or even riots didn’t impede the efforts. By the time fuel production got up to speed the infrastructure that relied on it might not be around anymore.

Or for that matter the government might not be around anymore as the nation descended into chaos.

The President continued firmly. “We’ve got a lean winter ahead of us, my fellow Americans, but we will pull through. To aid with that I’m issuing an official crisis alert with the following mandates: First, all local and state governments and Federal agencies are authorized to purchase or requisition all remaining fuel from any private sources that may hold it, to be used for emergency and national defense purposes. I want to see it in public hands where it can do the most good.

“Furthermore, it’s time for us all to become more responsible about energy consumption. The nation’s consumption barely decreased following the Middle East Crisis in spite of our reduced fuel production, forcing us to deplete our reserves. That option is no longer available to us so we have no choice but to tighten our belts. With the suggestion of my advisors and feedback from state governors we’ve decided to hold off on imposing martial law or calling this a state of emergency, but I am still calling for all citizens to reduce consumption to the bare minimum needed for survival.

“That includes only using water for drinking or washing, only using electricity for lighting at night, reducing heating and air conditioning to the bare minimum and learning to live with more extreme temperatures, and being more prudent when it comes to waste and unnecessary usage of any goods or services. Beyond that, those with necessities to spare are strongly encouraged to donate to their local communities.”

The President stood, planting his fists on his desk and fixing the camera with a piercing stare. “I do not say this lightly, citizens of this great nation. We will be facing harder times than we as a nation have ever faced before, but if we pull together we will pull through until the situation can be stabilized. Until then we must all swim together to stay afloat.”

Trev shook his head at that. He was all for encouraging words, but the President’s sentiment sounded like a bad one. If half the people couldn’t swim then all they’d manage is to drag those who could swim down with them. Thanks to Lewis and his forward thinking Trev had done quite a bit of preparing, and he didn’t like the idea of being rewarded for that by giving away all the food he’d prepared, enough to last him for over two years if necessary, in order to feed hundreds of people for a few days.

He’d made sure he was ready for something like this. It wasn’t selfish to live when the alternative would barely help the unprepared and would just guarantee he’d starve to death too.

The President had a few more words to say, mostly specific comments to local and state leaders about procedure moving forward, and then he closed with “May God protect and provide for us in these dark times,” and sat back down. A moment later the screen winked back to the Seal of the United States.

There was a long silence as the people in the classroom digested the reality of a situation that was worse than they’d thought, and then the professor abruptly stood. “Class dismissed. See you tomorrow.”

Not likely, Trev thought. He’d wasted enough time saying goodbye to just one person and it was time to go.

Matt followed him as he headed for the door. “Well I’m sure that set your mind at ease. It sure made me feel a lot better about the situation.”

“Why?” Trev asked with a shake of his head. “The only thing the President could’ve said that would’ve really gotten us out of this mess is that he’d somehow convinced the Gold Bloc to give us aid. Since he didn’t mention a word of that everything else is just false optimism and reassuring words to a terminal patient. You do realize that when someone says “tighten our belts” they could mean anything from missing a meal or two to spending a winter eating rats and boiling leather boots and jackets to keep from starving to death, right? From the way he described the situation it’s sounding more like the latter.”

His friend nodded doubtfully. “If you say so. I’m going to wait a few weeks before I pass judgment, give the nation a chance to pull itself back onto its feet.”

“Why wait? You could come down to Aspen Hill with me right now and get a head start on preparing for what’s to come.”

“How, by sitting around my house fretting about things I can’t change while I burn my bridges at the university by skipping out partway through a semester?” Matt laughed. “I’ll stay, although I suppose if things don’t get back to normal I’ll see you down in Aspen Hill in a month or so.”

“I have a feeling I’ll be seeing you sooner than that,” Trev replied. He shook Matt’s hand one last time before making his way back to his dorm as quickly as he could.

Chapter Two

With a Whimper

Before Trev headed for his car he ducked into his dorm room just long enough put on the underarm holster for his 1911 and slip on a light jacket to cover it. Bringing the reliable .45 might have been bordering on paranoia just for going shopping, but he had no idea how quickly chaos might descend and preferred paranoid to dead. Besides, with his concealed carry permit he was perfectly within his rights to wear the pistol, even though it would be the first time he’d taken it anywhere outside his room since coming to college, aside from to the car on breaks when he went down to Aspen Hill to practice with it at the range.

With its somewhat unfamiliar weight constantly drawing his attention, not to mention making him feel awkward and conspicuous, he made his way to his car and pulled out of the lot.

As he drove he didn’t see any signs that the world had noticed the abrupt change in the status quo, even after the speech they’d just heard. No panicked people in the streets, no rioters or looters. No gunshots or sirens in the distance, no screams of horror and cries for help. Just like it had over the last year, America would sink into its final oblivion blissfully unaware.

Sure, there were quite a few more vehicles than usual on the road, people out to do whatever last minute preparations they thought would help for the lean times ahead. He also saw more people than usual out on their lawns or front porches in small groups, talking about the recent events. Some were looking up at the sky, as if idly hoping to catch a glimpse of some major disaster while they stood there gawking.

This trip was intended to be a short one, since much as he’d like to just drive straight for home he couldn’t go just yet. He still had a ton of stuff in his room, stuff he’d lugged around all this time and barely used, keeping it for no reason other than that in a situation like this he’d be glad he had it. And he was.

But at the moment he was headed to the nearest gas station. Technically he had enough fuel in his tank to travel the 75 miles to Aspen Hill and then some, a deliberate decision on his part just in case he ever had to make the drive without the opportunity to refuel. But with the local, state, and Federal governments seizing all the remaining fuel he wanted to get as much as he could before it couldn’t be got for love or money. Not only would he fill up his tank but he also had four 3-gallon gas cans in his trunk he’d been meaning to fill up before gas prices got too outrageous, and then it had been too late because gas prices became outrageous.

It didn’t matter now. Any money left in his wallet, in his bank account, and under the limit of his credit cards would soon be worthless. The economy had barely been limping along as it was, and with zero fuel sure to grind commerce to a halt it was about to crash and burn.

To his dismay when he reached the nearest station he saw it was filled with vehicles. That wasn’t the problem, though: on every single gas pump an “OUT OF ORDER” sticker had been put over the fuel type selector buttons. And if that didn’t get the point across, judging by the blank screens the pumps were all turned off.

Trev grit his teeth as he took in the sight. He should’ve expected that the government would act first to secure the sources of fuel and then make the announcement. Specifically for the purpose of preventing people like him, and the dozens of people crowding the station lot with their cars and trying to make the pumps work who’d had the same idea, from snatching up all the fuel before it could be seized.

He was tempted to go in and talk to the station attendants to confirm his suspicions, but the poor employees were already being harried by a crowd of customers demanding they turn the pumps back on. Trev had a feeling that could become a potential source of violence, and he assumed the City Council would soon send a tanker truck around to all the gas stations and other places where fuel could be found to pump it all in and take it somewhere more secure.

As for Trev, he had a feeling it would be a waste of time but he wasn’t ready to give up yet. There might be some stations that were slower to respond and were still selling gas, or at least hadn’t turned off the pumps so he could pay with a card before they did.

He signaled and edged out of the turning lane, continuing on to the light and reentering the turning lane there. He hadn’t seen the roads this crowded since before the Middle East Crisis, and while he’d cursed the bureaucracy that had kept the streetlights on their stupid high-traffic timers back when the streets were deserted and he was forced to wait for several minutes at an empty intersection for them to finally turn, now they were actually performing their function again.

So he sat waiting at the light, cursing the waste of gas but with traffic this dense not wanting to turn off his engine to save fuel and end up pissing off everyone behind him.

Although it looked as if the driver of the SUV in his rearview mirror was already pissed off enough, considering the vehicle was lurching forward then easing back in an obvious display of impatience. The SUV was riding his tailgate so hard Trev expected to be nudged at any moment. If he hadn’t already assumed some uncharitable things about the guy from the fact that he was driving a vehicle that had to get less than twenty miles to the gallon when gas was over ten dollars at the pump, this display would’ve confirmed it.

Finally the driver backed up a bit, but only to roar past everyone in the turning lane on the oncoming traffic side of the road while everyone at the intersection was stopped by red lights. His impatience allowed him to turn left about two seconds before their light turned green and the cars in front of Trev started going. The driver also flipped everyone a rude gesture as he passed. In spite of the situation Trev did feel a bit of satisfaction since, unlike the SUV, he had seen the patrol car sitting in the gas station lot.

The patrol car roared out after the miscreant, lights already on as he wove through traffic and forced the SUV to pull over for a ticket. Unfortunately that meant everyone who’d just turned left had to shift lanes to accommodate the slowing vehicles, which wasted more time than if the asshole had just waited two more seconds.

In spite of his satisfaction at seeing the SUV’s immediate karma Trev had to wonder why the police were bothering with traffic stops in this situation. With fuel so scarce all law enforcement and emergency vehicles should’ve been back at their respective stations, only brought out when they were truly needed. Maybe the local government had decided that keeping order on a day like today was important enough to justify the waste of gas.

Or maybe they were just super eager for the extra revenue from that ticket in an economy that was about to collapse.

Either way Trev had his own problems as he drove for the next nearest gas station only to find it also closed down even though its lot was packed with cars searching for fuel. He kept going to another one just down the street and it was closed too. Common sense told him today wasn’t the day for exercises in futility, but Trev wasn’t about to give up on his idea just yet so he kept going looking for more stations.

It was the same for the next one he tried, and the one after that. On the sixth gas station he finally gave up and turned at the next light to make his way back to campus by a different route so he could try the gas stations along it and maybe get lucky, although at this point he wasn’t holding his breath. The change had been too sudden, and he’d been caught unable to adjust from a world of plentiful, if expensive, gasoline to one where it couldn’t be found anywhere for any reason.

Sure, there’d probably be a burgeoning black market for the stuff soon, but he had no idea how to even go about finding that sort of thing, and anyway he didn’t need it enough to justify the effort. He had enough to get home, which meant the extra he’d been driving around looking for was just his hoarder instincts kicking in to stock up on something that was no longer available that he might have a serious use for later but probably wouldn’t.

Once he got to Aspen Hill he didn’t plan to do much traveling until this all blew over. If it did.

The dense traffic certainly wasn’t helping his mounting frustration as the minutes ticked slowly by and the rumble of his engine reminded him that precious gas was being burned away the entire time. Trev did his best to control his temper as he drove past another packed station with a row of closed pumps. All that time, and more importantly fuel, wasted searching for an open pump when he should’ve realized it was pointless in the first place.

The street he was on took him past a supermart, and on impulse Trev pulled into the parking lot and searched for a spot close to the entrance. If he couldn’t get gas he could at least use his remaining funds to purchase some stuff he might need to survive while stores still had stocked shelves, before the trucks stopped coming in and everyone realized how much they needed those necessities and began hoarding them towards their own survival.

Which may already be happening. Since the gas stations had been crowded it was unsurprising that the store, too, was crammed with people looking to stock up for lean times. People who in retrospect had probably made the right choice compared to everyone still trying to find any gas that hadn’t been seized.

He made his way into the store, and in spite of himself was a bit surprised by the commotion.

Over the years he’d seen videos from before hurricanes where people descended on stores like locust swarms to fill their carts with every single edible thing on the shelves, even pet food. He’d assumed since this current disaster wasn’t quite so obviously immediate people wouldn’t be as voracious. But from the long lines of customers waiting to go through checkout with food items spilling from their carts, it looked as if even if they didn’t realize just how bad things had gotten they’d still decided to err on the side of caution.

Trev grabbed his own cart and made a beeline for a specific aisle. From what he could see the locusts still hadn’t picked the store bare just yet, but more importantly they were going for all the wrong things. The carts around him were filled with perishables from around the edges of the store, fruits and vegetables and dairy and meats, as well as heaping piles of freezer bags and cartons from the frozen food aisle. Stuff that was easy to prepare, especially if you had a microwave, but would eventually go bad even if their fridges kept working.

And with no fuel there was no telling how long the power would be on.

A few of the more levelheaded shoppers were going for canned goods, which was obvious from the huge bare swatches on the shelves when he arrived at his aisle of choice. Unlike the other shoppers who’d grabbed specific items Trev was indiscriminate as he shoved his arm to the back of a shelf and literally swept the cans from it into his cart as he walked down the aisle.

Near the end the shelves were lined with plastic bags of rice and dried beans which looked as if nobody had taken any at all, a regrettable oversight on their part considering how long those foods would last if properly stored. And they were also some of the cheapest products in the store! Trev abandoned his hunt for cans and gathered up as much rice and beans as the cart could carry, making a hill that rose over its walls so bags threatened to slide off with every movement.

Not finished there, he began gathering the boxes of cans tucked at the back of some of the upper shelves and shoved them into the bottom space above the wheels. A part of him wished he’d grabbed another cart, but he was pretty sure that would’ve been unmanageable. Besides, he didn’t know if he had enough money even for what he had here.

At long last he made his awkward, wobbly way to the front with his cart, catching bags as they fell and stopping once to adjust everything. His only other stop along the way was to pick up a few cases of bottled water that he awkwardly balanced on the pushbar leaning against his chin. By that point the cart was so weighted down it was actually slightly difficult to push and the wheels squeaked alarmingly as he went, and he couldn’t help but notice a lot of people giving him odd or amused looks. Although some were looking at their own carts piled high with junk food and cereal as if having second thoughts. Those odd looks made the wait in the checkout line uncomfortable, but finally it was his turn to start stacking things on the conveyor belt.

The cashier gave him a dirty look as she finished ringing up the previous customer, which Trev ignored as he piled the belt higher and higher. He had a feeling she was going to be even more annoyed with him soon.

With gas prices doubling over the last year prices for just about everything else had jumped up too, in some cases several times more than they’d been. Food especially, which he was seeing at the moment as his purchases were rung up and he saw the outrageous numbers flashing across the screen. Ironically smaller stores that tried to draw from local sources of dairy and produce were now competing nearly as well as the retail chains that shipped things a far greater distance. He’d heard that some of those big name stores in smaller towns had begun closing in droves, as many as one a day, while business was still thriving for the local marts.

Of course since trucks didn’t have fuel to bring in goods it wouldn’t be long before every store closed, and even before that the outrageous prices he saw today would look reasonable compared to how they’d skyrocket as the shelves emptied. Assuming store managers reacted fast enough.

“Can you just ring me up to $143.00?” he asked the cashier as she whipped things across the scanner, the total already over $50.00. She paused to glare at him, forget that the customer was always right, and he felt almost bad as he continued. “And then can you ring me up another $275.00?” That was the cash he had in his wallet and the balance on his debit card, respectively. “The rest you can ring up on my credit card.”

“Dude, are you kidding me?” one of the customers behind him demanded.

Trev turned and gave the man a level look, then turned back and noticed the cashier hadn’t started again. “Look, sorry for the hassle but it’s the only way I can do this.”

“Maybe you should’ve thought of that before you decided to singlehandedly host Cinco de Mayo,” the same customer back in the line said snidely, glaring at the bags of rice and beans overflowing on the belt.

Trev ignored him, also weathering the cachier’s glare as he waited for the older woman to start ringing him up again. “I knew I should’ve called in sick this morning,” she finally muttered as she got going again. Thankfully she did as he’d asked and tallied up three separate bills for his different payment methods.

Which took even longer than he’d been afraid of, to the point that he was worried a riot would start in the line before she was done. By the time he swiped his credit card and waited for it to authenticate for the final purchase people back there were openly swearing at him, using some pretty foul language too. The girl directly behind him had even intentionally rammed her cart into his back twice. He was glad his card didn’t reject the large purchase or someone might have shanked him with a carrot.

The three totals added up to just over a thousand dollars, which put him firmly into debt. At this point he hoped he was right and the economy actually collapsed, or he was going to have to do another summer’s work installing security systems just to pay off his credit card debt. Then he felt bad for hoping for a disaster even if it was almost certainly going to happen.

He thought he might still have a bit more money on his card before hitting the limit, but as he helped the bagger finish loading up his cart and started out of the store he decided he’d pushed his luck far enough and it was time to pack up his goods and head down to Aspen Hill.

It felt good to load everything into his car and see how much space it took up. That was a lot of meals he’d be taking down to the shelter with him, which made him feel better about the fact that his own food supply there wasn’t nearly as large as his cousin’s. Considering what he’d seen of Lewis’s preparations last time he’d been down there even this wouldn’t come close to evening things up, but he’d be better off than he otherwise would’ve been.

All in all he felt pretty good about the morning’s efforts, even if he hadn’t been able to buy any gas. The only thing left to do in the city was drive back to his dorm and load up all his possessions.

* * *

Trev had intentionally saved his room for last because some of his most valuable stuff was in there. He hadn’t wanted it sitting in his car while he was away doing something else because losing some of those items would be really painful in a survival situation.

Which he was continuously reminded of as he pulled everything from his closet, where he’d meticulously packed it into every spare inch of space, and piled it all on his bed.

He had his backpack, expensive even though it was military surplus, which he’d carefully loaded with gear and supplies for an extended hike. Among other things was a self-inflating sleeping pad, a compact lightweight sleeping bag rated for 30 below zero, a one man tent, a quality hatchet, 2 pairs of merino wool long underwear, a change of clothes he’d picked out to be durable and warm, the best pair of hiking boots his cousin could find in his research that Trev had already spent some time breaking in, 5 pairs of merino wool socks, a top rated camping water purifier and extra replacement filters, a merino wool balaclava, and a quality pair of ski goggles for intensely cold weather.

He also had enough food for two weeks in there, food that was designed to be convenient to eat while traveling that also gave good energy like jerky, vacuum sealed dinners, a trail mix of dried fruit and nuts, energy bars, and peanut butter. The last major item of consideration was a reasonable amount of ammo for his two firearms, where weight was a concern on a long trip. The rest of the pack was filled in around the bigger stuff with toiletry items, a large variety of firestarters, a sturdy folding knife for chores around camp and a heavier skinning knife, flashlights and candles and an electric lantern, and fifty feet of thin nylon rope with carabiners he could clip to his belt.

Trev hadn’t researched or shopped for most of the stuff, since Lewis had been preparing his own pack and Trev had just convinced him to send along all his recommendations so he could get the same things. To his chagrin he hadn’t even used any of it enough to really familiarize himself with how it worked. For the more complicated stuff like the tent and the water filter he’d left the instructions in so he’d at least be able to figure them out if necessary, but learning to use everything had always been one of those things he’d intended to do but hadn’t found time for.

One of his regrets, especially now, was that he’d never even had a chance to go out on an extended camping trip with the pack and really test himself and his preparations and, if need be, weed out the stuff he didn’t need. Lewis had gone on a few trips like that and had invited him to come along, but Trev had always been busy with school or other stuff and couldn’t spare a week or even a few days.

He supposed his opportunity to make up for that oversight had arrived now that he was in a real disaster situation. Assuming he didn’t end up regretting his lack of familiarity with stuff he really needed.

But that was just his pack. In his closet he also had a complete set of serious winter gear, the kind you could practically live in outside in the heart of winter if need be, enough buckets of wheat, beans, and honey to last him six months, with the other year and a half’s worth of food storage already down at the shelter with Lewis, bottles of olive oil to go along with it, a 50lb box each of peanuts, cashews, walnuts, and pecans, the remainder of his thousand rounds and half a dozen magazines for each of his firearms, gear to properly carry, store, clean, and maintain his firearms, along with extras of the parts that wore down quickest, a good pair of binoculars, several unopened tarps and four thick wool blankets, a propane stove, a propane lamp, several extra propane tanks, a floodlight, and half a dozen road flares. He also had a few boxes of MREs he’d gotten cheap.

Between the MREs, the nuts, the olive oil and the buckets he figured he had nearly a year’s worth of food, plus however many months extra he could stretch out the stuff he’d gotten at the store. Most of it he’d gotten fairly inexpensively, and now that he looked at it and thought of the tough times ahead he was intensely grateful for his forethought. Everything else seemed less daunting, knowing he had enough food for difficult times.

Most of the other stuff in the closet was, like with his pack, things Lewis had recommended or had been buying and had offered to let Trev go in with him on. Trev had joked several times that even though he paid for his own stuff he still felt like he was taking advantage of all his cousin’s hard work, to which Lewis had always replied that knowledge was free and it was more than worth it to have him prepared too.

The final thing he pulled from his closet, resting it carefully atop the buckets beside the bed, was the locked hard case containing his .223 Mini-14 tactical rifle. He and Lewis had purchased their 1911s together a few years ago, and since then his cousin had purchased several other useful and very valuable guns and several thousand rounds of ammunition for each along with a dozen spare magazines where applicable. But unlike his cousin, once he’d got his Mini-14 Trev considered himself to be set for personal defense.

Aside from personal items like clothes, electronics, books, and assorted small odds and ends that was everything Trev had in his room. Most of what he’d left down in his and Lewis’s shelter in Aspen Hill was more buckets of food and stuff he mainly intended to use while living in the shelter.

Trev inspected everything, judged how many trips it would take to get it all to his car, then shrugged into his pack, snapped closed the waist belt, and picked up his rifle case and a few bags full of boxes of ammunition to take out first. He wanted to get all the stuff that would draw immediate attention into the trunk of his car and out of sight before he really began moving things, since those were his most valuable possessions and some people would make a big deal out of a gun, even one being responsibly stored and handled.

Before moving in he’d asked ahead with dorm management about storing firearms in his room and had been assured that it would be okay as long as they were unloaded, stayed in locked cases, and he never brought them onto campus for any reason or took them out of their cases on the dorm premises. When he showed them his concealed carry permit they said it would be okay to carry concealed to and from his car if he was going somewhere else, but that was as much as he could expect so close to a university campus.

With thoughts of avoiding potential trouble about his firearms in mind he nodded to his roommates Jim and Connor in the living room but didn’t stop to chat, hurrying out into the hallway and making for the nearest exit to the parking lot.

His presence didn’t go unnoticed, although fortunately nobody freaked out. But as he left the building and walked down the sidewalk towards his car he heard a few catcalls from windows and from guys playing frisbee or kicking back on lawn chairs. A couple did their impressions of survivalist nutjobs, talking in old coot voices about how the world was ending, the woooorld was endiiiiiiiing. A few even started singing famous songs about the end of the world.

Trev ignored them all. If they weren’t smart enough to get out within the next few weeks, or at least take steps to ensure their survival, they wouldn’t be laughing for long.

He quickly reached his car and opened the trunk, shoving his gun case inside and then shrugging out of his pack. He’d tossed it inside and was pushing it to the back when he saw someone he recognized walking across the lot towards the dorm from the direction of campus. He recognized the sandy-haired man and paused to wave. To his surprise Nelson waved back, and then even though the two hadn’t spoken for over half a year turned and made a beeline for him.

Nelson DeWitt had been one of Trev’s classmates in Statistics during the Middle East Crisis. The two had shared a study group and he’d talked to the guy a bit, and after the bombs fell the group had spent long hours discussing world events and Trev had even talked with them a little about preparing for a disaster closer to home. He wasn’t exactly friends with the man, but not just acquaintances either. What immediately popped into Trev’s head when he saw the guy, though, was one of the more memorable conversations they’d had near the end of the semester, and one that was hard to not think of under the circumstances.

They’d just finished their study session and Nelson and some of the others were heading out for pizza. It was pretty common, and they’d actually had enough of their sessions at the restaurant to pretty much be regulars. They even had a game of seeing who could drink the most glasses of free refilled root beer while they were there. The record was sixteen, and Trev had stopped trying to win when he’d had eleven in one sitting and spent the rest of the evening feeling like he was going to explode.

This time, though, he’d refused the offer to join them. When pressed a little he’d explained he wanted to get to a sporting goods store before it closed since it was the last day they were having their sale on several quality camping items he had his eye on.

This had led one of the girls, a cute brunette named Ellen, to ask if he was into backpacking, sounding excited that they had that in common. Trev usually didn’t broadcast just how serious he was in his preparedness efforts, but he liked the group and more importantly had been trying to work up the nerve to have a real conversation with Ellen for the last few weeks. So he’d answered “Yeah, that too.”

Pretty vague, but Nelson knew him well enough. “Oh, getting your Bug Out Bag, eh?”

Trev had admitted that was a priority, and endured the ribbing that followed. One of the guys even started humming the theme to a zombie TV show that was big at the moment. The conversation had eventually gotten around to food storage, before people started getting impatient about getting some actual food rather than talking about it.

What stuck in Trev’s mind, though, was that just before the others left Nelson lagged behind a second and apologized for tossing him into the spotlight like that. Trev had asked his study mate if he wanted to come along and get his own camping supplies and Nelson had just laughed.

“Nah, man. You know if things go to pot everyone’s going to be dropping like flies, and everyone who does live will probably wish they hadn’t. I figure I’d rather be one of the former.”

That had genuinely shocked Trev, especially after the recent nuclear war in the Middle East had cemented in his mind just how much he wanted to survive. He’d been tempted to argue that starving to death was a horrible way to die, not to mention that most religions frowned on suicide and what Nelson proposed was toeing the line, but he really didn’t know the guy well enough to press the issue. So he’d just said his goodbyes and headed out.

Now, with his row of gas cans in the back of the trunk, his gun case still in sight, and his backpack sticking out conspicuously, Trev couldn’t help but notice the way Nelson was looking at his possessions, seeing the fruits of his efforts to be prepared. His former study mate was probably thinking of that conversation, too, because he looked a bit embarrassed as he came up to Trev and gave the trunk a curious once-over.

“Crazy day, huh?” Trev asked, feeling somewhat awkward. The situation was too serious to feel satisfaction at being right, but he did feel slightly vindicated in his viewpoint.

“Yeah, sure,” Nelson mumbled. “Looks like you’re bugging out.”

“That’s the idea. You should probably get out of the city too before things get too bad.”

The student glanced at him, then away, and shrugged. “Yeah, it looks that way.” Without another word he continued on towards the dorm.

Trev watched him go. The conversation had been innocuous enough and Nelson hadn’t seemed suspicious, but something about it made him uncomfortable. He finished shoving his pack in, closed the trunk and double-checked it was locked, then hurried back to the dorm.

When he came in Jim turned from the sandwich he was making. “You leaving, buddy?”

“Yeah,” Trev said. “I have a feeling this situation’s going to get pretty bad so I’m heading home to ride it out.”

Connor, waiting for a burrito to microwave, walked over and clapped him on the shoulder. “Sad to see you go, but I’m not sure I blame you. I’ve been thinking maybe I should try to find a way to get home too.”

It embarrassed Trev that he didn’t know the freshman well enough to know where “home” was for him. They’d only shared the apartment for a few weeks since the start of school. “That’s probably a good idea if you can manage it. Especially if you live far away from a city.” Trev paused for a moment. “Hey, how’d you guys like to earn a few boxes of MREs?”

* * *

With the help of his roommates Trev had his car loaded up and ready to go pretty quickly, which was a relief considering how long it was taking him to get away.

He’d already brought the MREs out into the kitchen to show them, assuring them that even if they seemed unappetizing now they’d be happy to have them before too long. He’d also advised them to fill up every spare container they had with water, since it was anyone’s guess how long the power would last and once it was out the water wouldn’t be far behind as the remaining pressure gradually petered out.

The two students helped him get his last load into the car, then shook his hand a final time before heading back inside. Trev took a moment to do a bit of rearranging so he’d have a better view through the rear windshield, and he had the driver’s side door open and was about to finally get into his car to head off when his phone rang.

Lewis, no surprise there. “Where are you, man?” his cousin asked, annoyance mostly hiding his concern. “I was expecting you hours ago.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I heard the President’s address and decided I’d try to get some gas before it was all snatched up by the government, but didn’t have any luck any of the places I went. Then I stopped to blow the rest of my money on nonperishable food and finally it’s taken me a while to get all my stuff loaded up from my room. But I was just about to get on the road… when…”

Trev slowly set his phone down on the driver’s seat and straightened, looking over the open car door. Nelson was back and walking towards him, but now the guy was wearing a jacket. Even though Trev himself was wearing a jacket the day was mild enough to not need one, and since the sandy-haired student hadn’t been wearing one before this was suspicious. Especially since he had his hands jammed into the pockets.

His suspicion turned to alarm when Nelson had closed the distance between them to about ten feet, when he saw the man pull his right hand out of his pocket, jerking it like he was gripping something that was catching on the inner lining.

Things became a blur for Trev as he pulled aside his jacket flap with his free hand to draw his 1911 from its underarm holster, cursing inwardly when it caught on the strap he’d forgotten to unsnap and he wasted precious moments getting it free. All he remembered afterwards was that he wasn’t acting in a panic or anything like that. There was a quick, but clear, chain of conclusions he’d reached that lead him to draw his weapon and bring it into firing position even though Nelson was going to beat him to the punch.

First off this was just the beginning of the catastrophe. Things weren’t nearly bad enough yet for people to be acting based on desperation or extreme hunger. Which meant that unless Nelson was a psychopath he wasn’t ready to actually shoot his gun, especially not out in public like this. The man had probably figured that since Trev was into preparedness he could get some easy supplies off him.

Which is why Trev didn’t stop moving even though Nelson finished drawing a sleek 9mm, a Glock 17 he thought, and pointed it at him. Now that his former study mate turned bandit had seen him going for his own gun, if Trev stopped now he probably would get shot. He finished yanking his .45 free and brought it up, falling into stance with the correct grip Lewis had shown him like he’d done once or twice a year on the firing range since he’d first purchased the weapon, focused on the front sight aimed at Nelson’s center mass even as he thumbed the safety off.

Nelson froze, gun wavering as he gaped at him. The would-be robber obviously hadn’t been expecting any resistance, and before he’d even considered pulling the trigger his window of opportunity had passed.

Trev felt himself shaking, struggling to keep his aim steady even as he tried not to show how hard his arms were trembling from tension and, he’d readily admit, fear. This was the first time he’d ever had a gun pointed at him for any reason, even by accident, and no matter what he might assume about the person behind the trigger he had no way of knowing whether the intent to kill was there.

When he spoke he realized his voice was also shaking, so he tried to pass it off as anger. “So much for your idea of just dying when disaster strikes, huh?”

Nelson smiled, almost sheepishly. “It’s a lot easier to say stuff like that when it doesn’t matter. Now that the disaster you predicted is actually here I kinda want to live.”

“And the Glock? Doesn’t seem like something you’d get ahead of time when you were just planning on rolling over and giving up on life.” Trev was having a harder and harder time keeping his voice casual. He couldn’t believe he was standing in the parking lot of his dorm in a standoff with a classmate.

The student’s answer was a quick shrug. “My uncle’s a gun nut. He gave it to me for my birthday. Took me out shooting with it a couple times so I know what I’m doing.”

“I doubt it. How about you just drop it and walk away?”

“Why don’t you instead?” Nelson’s surprise was passing, and by his growing confidence he had seen Trev’s show of nerves. With a casual flick of his gun he pointed at the car. “While you’re at it, why don’t you toss me your keys too?”

The gun flick was a mistake. Even though the Glock was once again pointed at him Trev had got the information he needed. He calmly stepped back far enough to shut his car door then lunged forward, closing the distance between them in moments. The sandy-haired man was just starting to gape in shock as Trev grabbed the 9mm by the barrel, shoving it aside. Even as he did that he kicked up at Nelson’s gut with all his strength. His study mate yanked frantically on the gun for half a second, then Trev’s foot connected and he released it and folded over double with a strangled noise before dropping to the ground.

Keeping his 1911 pointed at the man one-handed the entire time, Trev awkwardly rotated Nelson’s gun in his other hand so he could shove it muzzle-first into his pocket as he backed away. As he did he noted how much gunpowder residue coated the barrel beneath his fingers: it had been shot plenty but not cleaned afterwards. Small surprise, since that wasn’t the only sign of inexperience the idiot had shown.

Before Nelson had finished rolling on the ground Trev had backed away a safe distance, gun once more in a two-handed grip. “Take off, Nelson, and be glad I’m not hauling you to the police. They have enough problems to deal with without worrying about some moron who doesn’t even cock his gun before trying to rob someone.”

The guy glared at him with equal parts pain, confusion, and anger. “How do you know that?”

Trev tapped the 9mm in his pocket. “My first firearms instruction was from my uncle. His pistol of choice is also a Glock, and before we did anything else he ran us through safety rules for it. I got to see his weapon in all stages of readiness, enough to recognize that your finger on the trigger was way too far back so there’s no way the weapon was cocked. And since the gun isn’t cocked it’s not very likely that you even had a round chambered.”

Nelson managed to push to his feet, still hunched over slightly. “Can’t blame me for trying, right? You made it sound like you had plenty. A perfect target.”

Trev ignored that. “Walk away. If I see you again I’ll shoot you.”

His classmate held up his hands in defeat. “Can I at least have my gun back? You can keep the bullets, I just don’t want to be defenseless.”

He couldn’t believe the balls on this guy. The sandy-haired student acted like he’d been caught cheating in a board game rather than trying to hold up an acquaintance at gunpoint. “What’s wrong with you? Go.” When Nelson didn’t immediately move he raised his voice to a shout. “Go!”

At that Nelson finally turned and staggered away, back to his dorm and inside.

As soon as he was gone Trev flipped the safety back on his gun and holstered it, then sagged down to the pavement leaning against the front of his car. In a way the encounter he’d just had was almost unreal. He’d spent the last few years frankly talking to his friends about the preparations he thought they’d be wise to make and the reasons he thought they were necessary. For the most part their response had been at best polite amusement at his quirky viewpoints, at worst good-natured ribbing. Or not so good-natured ribbing.

And yet the only person who’d actually taken his words to heart enough to see the seriousness of the disaster when it finally arrived hadn’t been interested in preparing, he’d just wanted to rob Trev and benefit from his preparations. It was almost enough to make him lose faith in humanity.

Not to mention quite a bit of confidence in himself. Not only should he have seen Nelson coming a lot sooner but he should’ve been a lot quicker on the draw. And when he had his gun out? His aim had been wavering all over the place, his finger hadn’t been properly positioned on the trigger for a smooth surprise break, and if he’d actually had to shot the recoil would’ve caused him problems like it always did.

Lewis had frequently warned him that his one or twice a year visits to the shooting range weren’t nearly enough for him to even claim competency, let alone proficiency. Trev had tried to make up for that with dry fire practice, but even there he’d slacked off more than he should. And it had nearly cost him when his life depended on it. Once he got down to Aspen Hill he’d apologize to his cousin and really work on improving his-

Oh, Lewis. He’d spent the last half a minute or so sitting there dazed while his cousin was on the phone. In fact he could faintly hear muted squawking coming from beyond his still partly-open car door. He snapped back to reality and rushed to retrieve his phone.

“Trev? Trev! Come on, you idiot, what’s going on?”

Trev took a breath. “Sorry man, I’m here.”

“About time! You just vanished mid-sentence and after that all I heard was some shouting. What happened?”

“Someone tried to rob me in my dorm’s parking lot in broad daylight. I managed to get his gun away from him and send him packing.”

There was a long pause. “Whoa. I didn’t expect things like that to be happening this soon.”

Trev noticed his hand holding the phone was shaking. “Me either. Listen, I need to call you back. I’ll be on the road in a few minutes and on my way down. We can talk more then.”

Once he’d hung up with Lewis he took a few more minutes to steady his breathing, then lifted his phone again and dialed Matt’s number.

“Hey. You make it to Aspen Hill?” his friend asked when he answered.

“No, still in the dorm’s parking lot.

“Wow really? You said goodbye over two hours ago.”

“Yeah, I was a bit delayed. Hey could you come out here? I’ve got something I want you to have before I go.”

“Sure, I can cut my lunch break short. Be right there.”

Trev shoved the phone into his pocket and leaned back against his car, straightening every few moments to look around in all directions. He didn’t exactly expect Nelson to come back and try anything else, and he couldn’t see why anyone else would be a specific threat to him, but after having a gun pointed at his head it was impossible not to be a bit jumpy. Especially when he’d had so little sleep on top of a tense night and now adrenaline was pumping through him.

After what seemed like half an hour Matt finally showed up. Trev hurried over to meet him halfway. “Don’t suppose you’ve changed your mind about going home?” he asked. “That offer to ride down with me is still on the table.”

Matt gave him a patient look. “I’ve already made my choice. Besides, I’m not ditching my car even if I don’t ever use it.”

Trev wasn’t surprised his friend was sticking to his guns. Speaking of which… he pulled out Nelson’s 9mm, ignoring the way Matt jumped in alarm at the sight of it, and offered it grip-first, careful not to muzzle himself as he did so.

His friend’s dark brown eyes stared at the weapon cautiously, but he didn’t reach out to take it. “What is this?”

“This is a Glock 17,” Trev answered evenly. “It belonged to Nelson DeWitt, who just tried to rob me with it.”

“What?” Matt demanded in shock. He started looking around frantically. “Are you okay? Where is he? What did you do to him? Have you called the police?”

“I kicked him in the stomach hard enough to make him rethink his life choices. He’s probably whimpering in a corner somewhere. I didn’t call the police about it because they already have enough to deal with and I didn’t want to waste any more time up here. Although I suppose you could spread word around the dorm about what he did in case he tries to rob someone else.” Trev shook the gun slightly. “Come on, I’d feel better knowing you had this in case you need to protect yourself.”

His friend still wouldn’t take the gun. “Is it loaded?”

Trev started to answer, then hesitated. He’d only assumed there wasn’t a chamber in the round. Flipping it back around to hold pointed at the pavement, he ejected the magazine and quickly did a mag and chamber check. To his relief there wasn’t a chamber in the round, which would’ve made his heroics against Nelson much more horrifying after the fact. He offered the gun and the full magazine separately to his friend. “Nope. Come on, man, don’t act like it’s made of acid. You’ve gone to the range with me and Lewis plenty of times to shoot, and with your dad too.”

“I know,” Matt said, abruptly taking the gun and mag and shoving them into different pockets, staring down at them as if wondering how they’d got there. “It’s just that having a gun down in a small place like Aspen Hill feels different than carrying one around the university dorm.”

They stood awkwardly for a few seconds, then Trev offered his hand to shake again. “Well, Lewis is climbing the walls waiting for me to get down there. He had to listen to my entire standoff with Nelson. Take care and be safe, man. Hopefully I’ll see you soon.”

Matt shook his hand absently, still staring down at the gun in his pocket. “Yeah. Uh, thanks for this.”

Trev nodded and climbed into his car. Then, finally, he started the engine and turned himself in the direction of home, leaving Matt waving in his rearview mirror.

Chapter Three

Mistakes

Trev was finally on his way, although that meant he was immediately bogged down by traffic once more. He wanted to shout at these idiots to get off the road and stop wasting gas, but then again he was one of them.

Although he supposed the streets couldn’t stay this congested for long since eventually each and every one of these vehicles would run out of gas and have no way to refuel. Which wouldn’t matter much to him because he’d already be long gone.

As he drove he turned on his radio, something he hadn’t done for a long time since he preferred to plug in his phone and listen to playlists. Unsurprisingly all the stations were broadcasting news or talk show host commentary or rebroadcasting the President’s speech, with music few and far between. Trev flipped around a bit looking for something he was interested in.

For the moment all the news was either grim discussion about the Gulf refineries attack and speculation on who’d carried it out, or hopeful stories about people all over the nation calling in to express their love of their country and commit to helping out their communities any way they could.

Trev appreciated the sentiment, but none of what he heard sounded very practical. He was far more interested in one talk show host commenting on the run on gas stations from east to west coast, although he could’ve done without the man’s mockery of morons waiting at closed pumps after the President had already claimed that fuel for more important government purposes.

As he left the populated areas behind and made his way up Spanish Fork Canyon the traffic faded until he was one of the only people on the road: apparently the business that had people flooding the streets in their vehicles was centered around town. The smartest thing they could’ve done would be to get in those cars and drive as far away from any population centers as they could on the gas left in their tanks, but Trev supposed they were still too invested in their houses and lives for such drastic action.

He hoped they didn’t come to regret that decision in a few weeks when they were starving and the city around them was being torn to the ground by rioters.

After the tenseness of his departure the drive was almost disappointingly routine. He’d gone between college and Aspen Hill dozens of times in the last few years visiting family, spending time with Lewis fishing up in the Manti-La Sal mountains or building the shelter together, or just unwinding on school breaks.

To get to Aspen Hill he just had to follow Spanish Fork Canyon and then continue along Highway 6 towards Price, turning west fifteen or so miles north of the city onto a smaller road for the last several miles to get to the greener valley Aspen Hill nestled in between a few hills and the foothills leading up to the Manti-La Sal range farther to the west. Trev had followed the scenic route route through the canyon often enough he practically could’ve driven it in his sleep, although he always enjoyed driving it this time of year with the hillsides taking fire as the autumn trees turned.

He’d gone about a third of the way home and had not too long ago passed where Highway 89 split off from 6 in a long winding road down into the valley below. Now he was nearly to a point where the route ahead reached a downhill series of curves and switchbacks, but unfortunately at the last part of the uphill climb leading to it his engine started sputtering in a way that suggested his hopes for the limitless capacity of his gas tank were in vain.

Trev stared at the the fuel gauge in shock: he hadn’t expected this. Maybe he really would’ve been better off just leaving immediately.

Without much choice but to squint his eyes, ease off the gas to try to make it last as far as possible without losing momentum on the upward slope, and pray he could make it, Trev listened to the sputtering get worse and worse. About ten feet short of the top of the slope with his car slowed almost to a stop his engine died, sputtered back to life, and started making horrible noises as it struggled to burn the last few wisps of fumes still in the tank.

It died for good, and Trev actually held his breath as his car coasted the final few feet, teetered, and then slowed on the slight level stretch before the downhill slope.

He unbuckled his seatbelt and leapt out of the vehicle before it could come to a complete stop, throwing his shoulder against the doorframe and pushing with all his strength. His car kept moving, helped by his effort and its last bit of momentum, and Trev did his best to keep it going. The long downhill slope felt like it was far, far away, but somehow he managed to push the distance to it and threw himself back behind the wheel, panting, as the car began to pick up speed again.

After a moment he yanked the door shut and focused on navigating the curving road that hugged the gently curving downward slope to a saddle below before the road began going uphill again through the steepest and most mountainous part of the drive. With the engine dead he’d lost power steering and brakes, which was the last thing he wanted while going downhill on these roads, so even though he knew it was horrible for the brakes he rode them constantly to keep to a reasonable speed, putting his whole body behind his foot to push the stiff pedal. He also moved over to the left lane as far as possible from the dropoff beyond the road’s shoulder.

The steering was a bit more hair raising without power, especially since even though the road wasn’t too bad the edge was a steep slope dropping hundreds of feet to level ground below that would be almost as bad as a cliff. Using his own muscles he had to yank the wheel hard around even these wide corners to avoid that fate. The entire time, as he felt his speed increasing in spite of his efforts to brake and his car veered dangerously close to the edge at every turn, he couldn’t help but think of some of the horror stories he’d heard growing up of accidents on these winding roads. He eventually put down the emergency brake partway, which mostly solved the problem, although he had to endure the stink of brake pads burning the rest of the way down.

Finally after over a mile of downhill driving he reached the bottom and released the e-brake, coasting towards the uphill stretch farther along. After letting momentum take him as far as it could he finally pulled onto a wide shoulder well off the side of the road and stopped the car. Once there he took a few moments to settle his rattled nerves, then punched the steering wheel.

He’d had more than enough gas in the tank to make the drive, he was sure of it! There was no way the driving he’d done this morning, even with idling at stop lights in traffic, had used up so much that he only had enough in the tank to go 25 miles. Either the gauge was off or his tank had a small leak or he’d overestimated how far he could go with the gauge at that point or something. Maybe all the extra weight of supplies in his car had eaten up more fuel than he’d expected?

But like it or not here he was, out of gas in a world where gas was near impossible to get. With that in mind, not long after he’d reached the bottom of the hill he’d had a momentary temptation to abandon all common sense and yank the wheel sideways. The wild maneuver would’ve sent his car veering off the road and onto a short but steep downhill slope to the valley below, bumping and jouncing its way towards a copse of trees at the bottom. With some luck he might’ve survived the wild descent and managed to roll behind their modest cover where the vehicle couldn’t be seen from the road.

He’d opted to park right here on the side of the road instead. It wasn’t that he was hoping to be seen and hopefully rescued, since he had a feeling no vehicles would be coming by any time soon. And even if they did they probably wouldn’t stop, while if they stopped he could almost guarantee they wouldn’t loan him any gas. He wouldn’t be able to hitch a ride to the nearest station to fill up a tank, either.

If he’d been truly on his own he probably would’ve made that decision to give his car up as lost and try to hide it and its precious contents from potential thieves, but thankfully even if he was a screwup who misjudged what he could manage in an emergency Lewis wasn’t. Thanks to his cousin at least it wasn’t the end of the world.

Well it was, but he wasn’t exactly out of options thanks to Lewis’s foresight and preparedness. He pulled out his phone. “Hey man,” he said when his cousin answered. “I’m out of gas about 25 miles southeast of Orem.”

“That’s it?” Lewis demanded. “I thought you were keeping enough in the tank to make the drive down here if you needed to.”

“Enough plus a bit extra,” Trev agreed, trying to keep his voice calm as his anger at the situation flared up again. “I had less than I’d expected, or maybe I wasted more than I thought this morning trying to fill the tank before fuel vanished entirely.”

“Yeah you were talking about that before that guy tried to mug you. Were the gas stations all tapped out?”

“Nah, it was the President’s speech. Someone in the government had already gotten to all of them and purchased everything in their tanks for emergency purposes.”

There was a long pause. “Well at least the fire departments and police stations will be able to get their vehicles where they’re needed in the face of the inevitable coming riots.”

Something in his cousin’s tone let Trev know Lewis had one of his unorthodox opinions on the matter. “You don’t think it was a good idea to get control of the fuel supply in the hands of the people who could do the most good with it?”

He could almost sense Lewis’s shrug. “Good for the government’s continued operation, sure. But depriving citizens of the chance to buy fuel, and doing it everywhere all across the nation, will have ramifications of its own. For one thing it’s going to stall the economy, and I mean shifting to reverse while going 75 miles per hour and dropping the transmission stall it, to the point that it would take a miracle for it to get going again.

“One unintended consequence of the government snatching up all the fuel is that almost immediately all the trucks scheduled to deliver necessary shipments won’t be able to refuel. None of the cities will care about that, and in fact they’ll probably be happy that trucks full of food and other useful things are stranded there where they can make use of them. But it means that every place food is produced is instantly cut off from every place where food is consumed, which means for perishables you’re going to see most of the nation starving while a comparatively small part of the population is sitting on food going bad faster than they can eat it. To say nothing of the huge stockpiles of nonperishables like grain and corn, where a few people will have it but they can’t ship it where it’s needed. Which is great for them but sucks for literally everyone else.”

“Yeah, that’s a bit more of a problem,” Trev agreed. “And like you said the cities with those massive stockpiles are going to be even more eager to hold shipments and keep the food and the fuel for themselves.”

“There’s also the fact that without fuel almost none of the nation’s crops are going to get harvested this fall. That means even if we could manage to find fuel somewhere we’re looking at major food shortages next year and probably farther down the line as well. And that’s just commercially. On the private side of things not having access to fuel is going to strand everyone who’s currently traveling wherever they were after the President’s speech, or the next place they try to gas up afterwards. That includes all the planes that have been grounded to save fuel for emergency flights.”

“Well that certainly applies to me,” Trev said, slapping the steering wheel.

“You and a surprisingly large percentage of the population. Even during this last year with fuel prices climbing steeply, with the way our society functions a lot of people have to travel for work or to visit distant relatives or for countless other reasons. Access to relatively cheap, plentiful fuel has made us a mobile people, and now that the fuel’s gone the nation’s going to boil like a kicked anthill as all those stranded people scatter in every direction trying to get home. And they’re not going to have an easy time of it since everywhere they go will be as bad as where they left.”

Trev always liked discussing current events and possible future dangers with his cousin, but now didn’t really feel like the time. “Speaking of not having an easy time of it, I’ve got a long walk ahead of me and you’ve got a ton of fuel in a tank in the shed. Can you come pick me up?”

“Sure, let me gas up the truck and I’ll call you when I’m on the way. You’re still on the highway, right?”

“Right,” Trev said, thinking of his wild urge to ride the steep slope off the road. He must’ve been half crazy.

“Okay, I’ll see you soon.” Lewis abruptly hung up, and Trev put the seat back to rest until his cousin showed up. It had been a mostly sleepless night, and combined with the morning’s excitement he was surprisingly tired. It felt good to just shut his eyes.

When his cousin’s ringtone sounded Trev was almost annoyed, even though it signaled help he desperately needed. He fumbled his phone out of his pocket. “Hey. On your way?”

There was an uncomfortable silence. “Um, actually… I’m having a bit of trouble with the gas.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Trev said in disbelief. Lewis, who thought of everything, caught as off-guard as Trev had been by all this? “I thought you had a 50 gallon tank that you kept full.”

“I’ve got my tank, sure, but the last time I refilled it was a year ago and I just topped off what was already in there, going back over two years.” Lewis made an annoyed sound. “It’s not that the tank’s even empty: I’ve still got over 30 gallons in there, give or take. It’s just I haven’t had to use any of it for months and, well, it’s old gas.”

Trev did his best to control his rising dismay. “But you had fuel stabilizer in there, right?”

“Duh.” His cousin sounded equal parts sheepish and impatient. “That only does so much though. I didn’t even realize there was a problem with the gas until I filled the truck and tried to start the engine, and let me just say it wasn’t a pretty sound. I might be able to get away with using gas this old for chainsaws and other small tools, maybe even ATVs that have more leeway with that sort of thing, but I wouldn’t want to try it in any more vehicles.”

Trev stared at his windshield. “I’ve got most of my most important stuff I’ve been gathering for years with me, not to mention I spent the rest of my money, emptied my bank account, and maxed out my credit card buying a ton of food at a store before starting down. My car’s filled with things we could really use.”

Lewis was one of the most pragmatic people Trev knew, not one to just walk away from useful supplies. “Well I guess I could take my wagon cart and make a trip of it,” he said slowly. “But that would be a lot of effort and we probably still wouldn’t be able to take everything. It would also take me a few days to get up there and I’d have to leave the shelter unguarded just when people might be most tempted to ransack it. Is it really enough to be worth it?”

Trev thought of all the stuff in his car, over five thousand dollars worth of incredibly useful and important items. Then he estimated how much he and his cousin would eat on as many round trips as it took to bring everything, even if for later trips he’d be able to bring his own wagon cart. He thought they’d still definitely be able to ferry down way more than they’d use, a net gain.

Then again, compared to the stores of food they had piled in the shelter what he had in his car was just a bonus, not to mention that at any point while he was away somebody could come and loot his car and make any further trips a waste. Lewis was right that it was better not to risk themselves any more than necessary when it came to the difficulty of travel and possible attack. Besides, if he had to he could just pack down his most valuable stuff like his guns and a decent a mount of ammo and still be fairly well off with what he had down in the shelter.

“I guess it’s better not to travel in an emergency situation if you can avoid it,” he admitted reluctantly. “Especially not if somebody stole our place out from under us while you were out bringing down my junk.” He sighed. “I just hope whoever finds this stuff sitting on the side of the road gets good use out of it.”

There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence before his cousin finally spoke. “Um, I hate to point out the glaringly obvious but why don’t you just cache everything? You’ve got a shovel and some tarps, don’t you?”

Trev slapped himself on the forehead. “Right, I really should’ve thought of that.” But then his mounting excitement faded. “It would still be sitting right here, though. We’d have all the same problems getting to it that you just brought up.”

“I’m sure you’d rather have the option of solving those problems later than losing your stuff entirely,” Lewis replied. “I mean if worse came to worst you could always let people in Aspen Hill know it’s there, that way if anyone wants to make the trip to go after it at least it’ll be a neighbor benefitting rather than some random looter.”

He supposed that made sense. “Okay I’d better get to work. See you in a few days.”

“For 50 miles with a full pack?” his cousin said lightly. “I expect to see you here tomorrow before noon.”

Trev grimaced at his phone after his cousin hung up. He seriously hoped that was a joke, since to go the distance in that time he’d pretty much have to walk nonstop. That would be brutal even without lugging as much as half again his weight in a backpack.

Time to worry about that later, though. He spent a few minutes digging out his spare tarps and the folding camping shovel from his backpack. All bought at Lewis’s suggestion, since he wouldn’t have even thought of them. Then he set them on top of a pair of buckets and made the first trip down the steep slope to the copse of trees he’d spied earlier. He might not be able to hide his car behind them but he should be able to find a great spot for a cache.

There was one, near the middle of the copse in an ideally sized clearing with trees blocking the view of the outside world in every direction. His first task was to dig down as deep as he planned the hole to be and then wait a bit in order to make sure no groundwater seeped out: caching all his expensive, important stuff in what basically amounted to a well was about the best way he could think of to destroy it.

The water table around here was incredibly low, usually hundreds of feet deep, and it didn’t rain too often, but with something this important it was better to be safe than sorry. After he’d dug down about three feet and waited a few minutes, making a trip to the car for another load, he felt the bottom of the hole and satisfied himself that it was bone dry and should stay that way.

He still dug the remainder of the hole with a channel at the bottom, which he filled with most of the smaller and medium sized rocks he dug up to make a drain. The drain was an idea he came up with on the spot, and between it and the tarp he hoped everything would stay dry.

It was hard to guess exactly how big the hole needed to be to fit all the stuff he planned to leave behind, so he went the extra mile and made the hole bigger than he thought he strictly had to. The small shovel wasn’t his ideal tool and he spent most of the roughly two hours he spent digging cursing at it, and at the frequent rocks he encountered in this stony soil. At least he had plenty of experience digging, most recently while helping Lewis bury their shelter with the aid of a backhoe and their back muscles, so the job was familiar enough.

Finally he had a hole he liked, or at least one that was good enough after hours of backbreaking work on top of a sleepless night. Trev paused for a meal of jerky and trail mix and drank most of a bottle of water from one of the cases, then extended his break a bit longer as he lined the hole with one of the tarps.

After that it was time for more backbreaking work ferrying everything down the steep slope. He started with the buckets and boxes as a base, then filled up the space on top and around them with plastic bags full of cans and bags of rice and beans. For a bit of added water protection he tightly tied the grocery bags shut before piling them on, leaving enough leeway in the handles so he could still carry them that way later.

Last of all he piled on all the more delicate and valuable stuff he didn’t want destroyed inside a sort of nest between the softer bags filled with rice and beans, covered it all with his blankets and winter gear that was too heavy and bulky to take along in his pack, then covered it with a second tarp and made sure the upper tarp would drain water to the ground below rather than somehow making its way inside.

Once he thought everything was as good as possible he grabbed the shovel and set to work on the final difficult task of filling the hole, with was thankfully much easier than digging it in the first place. And finally he spent several minutes smoothing the dirt and then kicking dead leaves and mulch from the rest of the copse over the spot, then gathering any deadwood he could find to spread around to further disguise it. Then he stood back to inspect the area and make sure nothing would draw the eye.

It looked pretty good. At last, after roughly four hours of exhausting work, he was finally finished. He sincerely hoped it was worth it. He’d heard the sound of a few semis and a single car driving by on the highway above while he’d been working, but unsurprisingly none had stopped. He didn’t know whether that was a good thing, since they wouldn’t know about his supplies or his cache and be tempted to steal from him, or a bad thing because it meant he couldn’t hitch a ride.

Oh well, maybe he’d get lucky and another semi or car would pass by going the right direction and offer him a ride once he was on his way.

All that was left was to find a way to shove everything he’d left out to take with him into his pack or tie it to the outside. He had so much stuff that he ended up taking out his sleeping bag, tent, tarp, and inflatable pad and wedging them under the pack’s front straps as he pulled them tight in order to fit everything else inside. He still had to strap his camping shovel across the back and carry his Mini-14’s case in one hand, balancing it out with a bag of ammunition and sundry items in the other.

It wouldn’t have been ideal if he’d had to do the slightest bit of climbing, but for just walking along the road it should be okay. He gave his car a once-over to make sure he had everything, locked it up, and then with some effort lifted his pack and pulled it onto his shoulders, grunting at how heavy it was as he buckled and adjusted the waist and chest belts.

He’d done his best to keep the weight at 80 pounds, not counting the stuff he’d be holding in his hands, since that was the weight he’d heard soldiers carried in the field. He might have gone a bit over, but either way the pack was so heavy he had trouble leaning over to pick up the case and bag without losing his balance. That, too, wasn’t ideal, but he only had to go 50 miles and this was all stuff he felt he needed to take with him.

Trev worked his shoulders under the pack’s straps, hefted the stuff he’d be carrying, and gave his car one last longing, slightly resentful look. A half hour of driving this morning, maybe closer to forty-five minutes. That would’ve taken him at least another third of the distance, maybe even gotten him to within 10 miles. No help for the past, though, so he got going.

Since he’d ended his drive at the bottom of a hill with even steeper hills ahead he got the treat of having to climb for the first few miles, which was an excellent way to demonstrate that he’d definitely packed way, way too much. By the time he’d gone a mile he was absolutely exhausted. The pack, which had seemed cripplingly heavy at first, now felt like a mountain on his back, threatening to topple him over with every tottering step.

Eighty pounds, he’d figured. Now he was wondering if it didn’t weigh closer to a hundred. And for that matter, those eighty pound packs were being lugged by trained soldiers in the best shape of their lives. He rarely exercised more than the occasional game of volleyball or swimming at a nearby apartment complex’s pool. Even that wasn’t really swimming, more goofing off with his roommates.

There was no help for it, he was going to have to lose some weight. Hopefully not physically, although that would probably happen all too quickly once meals started getting scarce, but his pack definitely needed lightening. He hated the thought of throwing away any of the stuff he’d spent so much time and money acquiring and carefully fitting into the pack’s limited space, but he’d never make it to Aspen Hill like this.

Did he go back and cache some more things? Maybe just stow them in the locked car to save time? The thought of wasting the mile he’d already walked sickened him, but at the same time he was already exhausted and with a pack this heavy he’d have trouble going 5 miles in 24 hours, let alone 50 like Lewis had joked.

Trev stood tottering in the middle of the road, gritting his teeth at the array of undesirable choices in front of him. Then with a curse he dropped the stuff in his hands, fumbled his pack’s belts unbuckled, and let the crushing weight slip from his shoulders with a groan of relief.

About that time the roar of an engine turned him around in time to see a car coming fast around the curve behind him. Trev suddenly found the strength of desperation and grabbed his pack in one hand and the bag and gun case in the other, staggering towards the side of the road half-dragging everything. The approaching car swerved around him with a hand on the horn, and as it disappeared around the next corner going way faster than the speed limit the driver stuck his hand out the window to flip him off.

Trev collapsed by the side of the road, wheezing. If he’d been paying attention he might’ve heard that car sooner and could’ve tried to flag him down for a ride, or at least not been standing in the middle of the road like a blinded deer. He honestly hadn’t expected anyone to come driving this way ever again, as if the moment fuel stopped being available it would disappear from everyone’s tanks.

He’d have to pay attention in the future, and maybe he’d get lucky and find someone he could hitch a ride with. Until then it was time to drop off some stuff.

He started off by eating a proper meal rather than just snacking, using up some of his two weeks’ worth of food, then gulped down a bunch of water from one of the 4 1-liter stainless steel containers he’d brought with him. He was sure he’d be able to get water at any town or house he passed and he also had his filter with him, so he might as well drink up a bit of extra weight. He was even tempted to dump some water out, but he wasn’t quite that desperate yet.

Then he went through his pack and sorted out everything he didn’t absolutely need. That was harder than he’d expected because he felt like he needed everything, or would in the future. But coming at it from a purely pragmatic eye he tossed his tarp, since Lewis had plenty at the shelter, his spare clothes, since they were something he could probably easily replace, a bunch of the smaller camping stuff that was redundant like firestarters and a bottle of liquid hand sanitizer that was way bigger than he needed, especially since he had a bar of soap in one pocket. He also unloaded a metal pan filled with a camping kit since he didn’t plan on doing any cooking, his camping hatchet since he didn’t plan on lighting fires, and his shovel since its main use, burying any waste, would just take up time he could spend walking.

And, a painful parting, half the ammo he’d packed. It didn’t take up much space but pound for pound was the heaviest thing he was carrying. He wrapped everything in the tarp and stowed the bundle between two big boulders along the side of the road that made a wedge-shaped depression, then covered it with smaller rocks to build sort of a cairn that completely covered it. Hopefully nobody would give it a second look and poke around, but if so there wasn’t much he could do about it.

Shedding the excess weight took off more than 20 pounds, and more importantly gave him room to put everything in the pack instead of having to carry some of it in his hands, which would make walking and balancing much easier. The pack still felt agonizing when he shrugged back into the straps and belted it on, but at least it was manageable compared to what it had been.

This was his reward for being unprepared and making poor decisions. 26 miles into the trip and he’d already cached just about everything he had that wasn’t in Lewis’s shelter.

Spurred on by that cheery thought, Trev continued on down the road as the sun sank towards the horizon slightly behind him and to his right. He had less than 5 hours of daylight left and a long, long way to go. With no other choice he took it one step at a time, doing his best to ignore the complaints of his muscles and keep up a good pace. He was forced to stop frequently for rest, drinking more water but avoiding eating more food to prevent cramps.

The distance seemed to crawl by compared to when he’d been driving, and his assumption that he’d be able to walk the usual pace of 3 miles an hour was replaced by the grim reality that with his heavy burden he was having trouble going 1. All the while he watched the sun sinking and realized that far from being able to reach Aspen Hill sometime tomorrow, it would probably be the day after that at best.

By the time the sun started to set Trev was beyond tired. He knew he was exhausted too, and for more reasons than because he was panting like a bellows and his muscles felt like rubber. He’d started to stagger a bit with every step, even more off balance thanks to his pack, and common sense told him he should stop for the night or at least pause to rest more. But he was already resting every few minutes and it was eating up time he didn’t have.

He could stop when he got home, and the faster he went the faster he’d get there. If he couldn’t push past exhaustion when it really mattered and keep a good pace then he wasn’t ready for the end of the world. In retrospect he should have realized that was a stupid way to look at things, but in his state he wasn’t exactly thinking clearly.

At least he’d reached another downhill slope in the road. It presented its own work on the muscles, sure, but still felt almost like a vacation compared to the brutal uphill slog. His speed even increased slightly.

The help of gravity gave him the boost he needed to keep going as the sun disappeared and twilight began sinking into full night. There was no sign of the moon rising, and Trev kind of wished he’d paid attention to what phase it was in so he’d know when he could expect to get a little light. As it was he didn’t want to give away his position with a flashlight, even though there probably wasn’t too much danger from lawless elements before things had even started to go sideways. Even with the light fading he could still see the road he was on and keep following it, which was all he really needed.

Besides, he might need the flashlight batteries in the future.

Looking at it later Trev could blame inexperience and impatience for this series of poor decisions that seemed rational at the time, and giving in to exhaustion and blind stubbornness rather than thinking things through certainly didn’t help. But either way he had no one to blame but himself as he stumbled along the downhill slope and suddenly found his right ankle giving out on him in a blaze of pain.

Before he quite knew what was happening he collapsed onto his right knee, slamming it hard into the pavement, and then sprawled sideways from the weight of his pack. That extra weight worsened what might have otherwise been minor injuries, and he ended up curled up on his side in the middle of the road cursing through gritted teeth and doing his best to ride the wave of excruciating pain throbbing through his body from his ankle and knee. To distract himself from it he scrabbled blindly around on the road with his hands, searching for what had made him fall.

At first he passed over the culprit entirely, sure it couldn’t be responsible, but after another minute of searching with his hands he found nothing but smooth pavement. What had made him stumble couldn’t even be called a pothole, barely more than a dip in the road an inch or so deep. He would’ve missed it entirely if he’d been walking a foot to the left or right.

A pothole. He’d injured himself on a pothole in the middle of a smooth road. How stupid was that? Pain giving way to anger, Trev tried to force himself onto his feet to keep going.

He immediately collapsed back to the road again, falling into a seated position leaning back against his pack, and his cursing gave way to a frustrated moan. His rubbery muscles couldn’t support his weight, but more importantly the moment he tried to stand on his right leg it reminded him of his new injuries with sharp jolts of agony. He was done for the night, and with an injury like this he might be laid up for a week.

Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. Who was he even kidding anyway? He’d felt so smug about how prepared he was for the end of the world, laying up a few supplies in a backpack and defending himself against an idiot who hadn’t even known how to use a gun. But for all his “foresight” he hadn’t even stored enough gasoline for the drive home in case of an emergency, and used up what little he had in a greedy bid for more he didn’t need.

And he’d never bothered to prepare himself for walking long distances, especially not while carrying a heavy backpack. Not to mention he didn’t know the first thing about first aid. And even though he had the tools he needed for a situation, like a flashlight, he was too stupid to use them.

And the rifle and pistol he was so proud of? He was barely competent with them, going out to the range a few times a year and firing off fifty or so rounds. He barely ever practiced drawing and holstering, he’d mostly ignored Lewis’s advice on dry fire practice, and he still had problems with anticipating the recoil and actually hitting the target.

Ready for the end of the world? He was a joke, barely more prepared than Matt or the others he’d left behind. Overloading his pack, pushing himself past exhaustion and walking in pitch black just begging for an injury that would keep him off his feet just when he needed to be moving, with no idea the proper way to treat the injury. Even common sense should’ve helped him more than this.

With some effort Trev dragged himself over to the sparse grass at the side of the road, doing his best to favor his right leg and not make the problem even worse. He hadn’t seen another car since that one that had roared past earlier, and with crippling fuel shortages it was anyone’s guess whether he would, but it wasn’t like he wanted to camp in the middle of the road anyway.

The thought of trying to set up the tent in his pack made him groan. It was difficult enough just to unbuckle the belts and shrug out of it, then root around inside for his sleeping bag. With his hurt leg it took forever to scoot inside and ended up being a miserably painful experience. And if it did rain or dew in the night he’d stupidly left his tarp behind to shed less than a pound of weight, because he’d assumed he’d have the energy or even ability to set up his tent.

As he lay awkwardly on the rocky roadside, gritting his teeth against the throbbing in his leg and staring up at a clear, starry sky, he came to a realization he should have had a long time ago: it wasn’t supplies that spelled the difference between life and death in a real disaster. Once those ran out or if they were stolen or, in his situation, if he couldn’t even carry them, he’d be in the same situation he would’ve been in not having them at all.

It was knowledge and learned skills he needed to survive long term, and survive any situation life threw at him. That and deliberate, educated consideration of the situation to avoid making possibly fatal mistakes. He should’ve taken a page from Lewis’s book and learned all the things his cousin was learning, mimicked his pragmatic and thoughtful approach to life.

Maybe, like Matt, Trev hadn’t really believed this day would ever come. Or maybe he’d assumed that preparing with some supplies would be a good enough substitute for knowledge and skills. Or maybe, arrogantly, he’d been thinking that if he needed any of that knowledge or those skills Lewis would be around to help him.

As he did his best to fall asleep in spite of his intense discomfort he decided he was going to need to learn some important things, and quick. And he needed to be ready to solve his own problems because he couldn’t always count on someone else being there to help him.

For crying out loud, he hadn’t even thought to pack painkillers!

Chapter Four

Day Seven: Morning

In spite of a sleepless night and waking up to find his ankle and knee bruised and swollen Trev felt a lot more hopeful the next morning, the second day after the attack.

He had the food to rest and heal up for as long as he needed, and enough water for another day or so as well as a top quality purifier. He’d also gotten ahead of himself in survivalist mode and forgotten that most of the rest of the world thought this was going to be a temporary disaster, and the bad news had only been sprung yesterday anyway. Power was still running, which meant water too, and there might even be a car coming by that he could hitch a ride with.

All in all even if it was the end of the world, it wasn’t the end of the world. The important thing now was to focus on doing what he could for his leg and plan out his next moves. He’d gone just over 30 miles yesterday, which meant that he just had 45 left to go. And a lot of his problems the day before had come from lack of sleep and tiring himself out digging the cache, so he was more optimistic he’d get farther if he saved all his energy for walking. He could up his speed from just over a mile an hour to at least 2, maybe more.

Once he was back on his feet he could make it the rest of the way in two or three days even if he moved at a snail’s pace, as long as he moved constantly. He’d also take it slower and rest when needed to prevent exhaustion and any future injuries.

A tortoise could beat a hair with a broken leg any day.

First things first was to test his leg. The knee was heavily swollen and bruised and bending it was excruciating, but the ankle was what really worried him. He thought he’d just rolled it, but carrying that much weight while falling he might’ve actually broken it instead. With the muscles stiff from swelling and not moving all night it was painful to try to move his foot at all, but he grit his teeth and did his best to try moving and rotating it. In spite of the ache he was able to, which ruled out a broken ankle and made him feel a bit more hopeful.

Even though he’d tossed his clothes he’d kept his extra pairs of socks, since experience had shown him what it was like taking an extended hiking trip with dirty socks and the problems they could cause with blisters and other nuisances. He took a moment to put on another sock and wedge his sheathed skinning knife between the two as a crude splint. Once he’d put his shoe back on and tied a short length of rope around the hilt higher up the ankle it kept his foot fairly straight.

He couldn’t do anything for his knee at the moment besides take his only other piece of clothing, a sweater in case it got cold, and wrap it tightly around the joint and then tie it off. That would keep it from bending too much, at least. All in all it was a pretty pathetic bit of first aid, but he thought it might be enough to let him limp a few feet. He carefully levered himself up on his good leg, straightening awkwardly, and took a few careful steps.

It hurt, and he had to almost completely favor his right leg, but he could walk. Leaving his pack behind he limped down the side of the road to a spot with a wider shoulder where trees grew up the steep hillside almost to the road. There he gathered the straightest sticks he could find to make a more proper splint, then went back and laboriously dragged his pack down to the trees as far from the road as he could get and still have a level surface, where it took him way too long to set up his tent.

For most of that day he rested, keeping his leg still and occasionally dozing. He called Lewis to let him know what had happened and that he’d be later than expected, noting when he did that his phone was nearly dead. Another thing he hadn’t thought of. His cousin chewed him out for his carelessness while looking over his injuries from a few photos of them that Trev sent him, in between discussing specific details. As far as they could tell the knee was just bruised and the ankle was heavily rolled.

The good news there was that neither would prevent him from walking, although Lewis still advised that he rest a few days, then be careful and take it slow. Trev hung up and shut off his phone to save the battery in case of an emergency, then did as the doctor ordered. For the rest of the day boredom was a bigger problem than discomfort, although he tried to make the most of the time by practicing drawing and holstering his 1911 in the few positions he could manage without being able to stand or kneel.

The morning of the third day he was relieved to find that the swelling had gone down significantly, and after a bit of careful stretching his leg and limbering up he was able to walk around. His muscles were sore from the first day’s exertion, but by noon he’d decided he was ready to set out again and packed up his camp.

He managed to go a few hours before he found himself tottering on his feet, his knee a mass of pain even though he couldn’t bend it through the splint. Learning from his earlier mistake he immediately stopped to rest for another few hours, then continued on until sundown at a very slow, deliberate pace.

The morning of the fourth day after the attack he found the swelling was almost gone and he could walk with barely any pain. He didn’t even need the splint anymore. He was able to make a bit better time, although still nothing like he would’ve wanted. He hadn’t seen a single car since that one on the first day.

His worry that day was water. He’d been drinking less than he should on the previous days to conserve his supply, which was a bad idea, but he’d still run out last night and had woken up thirsty several times. But luckily after only a few hours of walking he found a house surrounded by a log fence and with a gravel driveway built well off the road. The residents were willing to let him refill his water bottles, and while he was there Trev also got a good long drink.

He asked the family if they had any spare gas, since depending on how much they had it might open up all sorts of options. But if they did have any they weren’t willing to admit it, and although he would’ve like to talk to them about what was going on in the world they seemed edgy and uncomfortable, maybe because of the rifle case on his pack that the wife kept looking at. So as soon as his bottles were filled Trev thanked them and continued on his way.

By that point his injuries were actually less of a concern than fatigue. He’d been doing his best to take it slow, but carrying the heavy pack for extended periods of time was taking its toll and he wasn’t getting many chances to rest his muscles. He decided to rest most of the fifth day and continue on the sixth.

While he was resting he found a pond on some private property but didn’t see any sign of a house or any other way to contact the owner. He got his first opportunity to break out his water filter and read the instructions on how to use it properly. It was surprisingly simple, but he still had to wonder how long it would’ve taken him to figure it out on his own.

The day of rest helped him more than he realized, even though he woke up on the sixth day sore and feeling like he had zero energy. In spite of that he made good speed, managing to travel most of the rest of the way to Aspen Hill before dark. It was the first day he’d really gone any sort of significant distance, although still far slower than he would’ve preferred.

Finally on the seventh day, an entire grueling week since the attack, he woke and packed up camp, passing the sign he’d slept beneath informing him that the turnoff for Aspen Hill was only 5 miles away, with the town itself another 4 miles along that road with the mountains of Manti-La Sal looming farther to the west.

50 miles carrying a pack that stretched him to the limits of his strength had turned out to be a much farther distance than he’d expected, especially while nursing injuries, but with any luck he’d be there sometime in the afternoon.

* * *

Professor Vasquez wasn’t there when Matt arrived for his first class seventh day after the attack. According to Heidi, his TA, the professor hadn’t shown up for any of his classes yesterday afternoon either, his office was empty and locked up, and he couldn’t be reached on his cell phone.

The Spanish teacher was in good company considering that less than a quarter of the enrolled students had shown up for class. That made three of Matt’s seven classes canceled, and in Chemistry they’d just spent the last few days watching the news while Dr. Harris spouted off his opinions on who’d been behind the attack and what the future of the US held, theories that made Trev’s dire predictions seem sane in comparison.

All things considered Matt wouldn’t be surprised if his remaining classes folded within the next few days, and he finally decided to accept reality and not even bother attending them. He had a feeling that no matter what he might want his college experience had pretty much been put on hiatus.

He couldn’t believe the change the university had gone through in just a week. It seemed like everybody had just given up on things returning to normal. The students and faculty who still remained spent most of their time huddled in groups talking about the situation or watching the news: ironically in spite of the heavy electricity restrictions being enforced by campus administration all the lounges were lit pretty much 24/7 and every TV turned on to various channels.

On his way back to his dorm Matt passed through the bookstore, more out of curiosity than because he needed anything. All the books were still there, but the stands that had held food or impulse buy nicknacks were disconcertingly empty, although he did find several empty 2-liter soda bottles that he gathered up to take back to the dorm with him.

Even the big bulk candy dispensary against one wall was cleaned out, aside from an array of flat multi-colored splotches on the floor around it that painted a pretty good picture of what had happened since he’d last been through here. He could just imagine students pushing and shoving to fill their backpacks as candy spilled everywhere to be trampled underfoot.

Not that the cafeteria was any better. Most of the restaurants had closed and all the various food stands and shelves were empty. The only business booming there was the ration line managed by the administration, which stretched back across the cavernous space in spite of the fact that they scanned your card to limit you to a once a day visit and you got barely a cup of food, usually oatmeal or some nuts and dried fruit.

Matt had already been through it not half an hour ago before heading to the class that turned out to be canceled. While in line he’d done his best to read his textbooks as he shuffled forward with the other students and faculty jostling impatiently around him. The pitiful meal had barely seemed worth the effort, but his dorm’s kitchen was looking pretty bare in spite of the couple weeks’ worth of cheap food he and his roommates had had on hand and the scrounging he and Chad had done the first day. He wanted to conserve what was left for as long as possible.

A fight had broken out just after he got his food, ending up in a mad shove forward that had turned the meandering line into a blob around the food counter as people clamored to get their share before the chaos made the ration dispenser close. In that odd way of things the desperate effort to try to prevent something ended up being the cause of it, and within minutes the people manning the counter fled back into the kitchen and locked the door, leaving the crowd to fight over the abandoned food.

For all he knew the ration line was closed for good now, just like his classes were shutting down. How long before the campus became a refugee camp as students and faculty with nowhere else to go struggled to survive?

Ironically in spite of everything that conspired to make up Matt’s mind to finally give in and go home, the way Trev had warned him a week ago that he should, he’d stubbornly stayed waiting for the straw that broke the camel’s back. Had it finally arrived with what he’d seen in the ration line followed by the cancelation of his Spanish class? Deep in his mind he knew it had, although he wasn’t consciously ready to admit he was returning to his dorm from classes for the last time.

The campus was eerily deserted, with the sort of hush that reminded Matt of the tension in a crowded room just after somebody shouted angrily and was escorted out. Or around groups of fans from different teams before a fight broke out. Either way the stillness gave Matt the willies, and he hurried from the bookstore to his dorm.

He found the lounge packed with students as usual, not only because power to the rest of the building was shut off during the day but because news developments literally occurred hourly to be displayed on the several large screens. Sometimes minutely. Ironically while the physical world ground to a standstill the internet kept going a mile a minute, at least until the power ran out, so even though news teams couldn’t physically go out to where events were occurring they could still get video footage from people at the scene. The background behind the newscasters was usually dominated by shaky camera clips urgently narrated by their breathless, usually barely audible owners.

He paused to watch the news for a while, although the developing stories and video feeds were so similar they could’ve come from one place instead of all over the nation. It turned out the “wait and see” policy the President had advocated on the first day after the attack wasn’t much better than Matt’s own. In less than a week Matt had been proven wrong about people holding together until things could get back to normal, but the Commander-in-Chief’s resolution hadn’t even lasted that long.

An official nationwide state of emergency had been declared just 3 days after the attack, after the first riots started and the first cities began reporting food shortages critical enough that already tens of thousands of their citizens were going without meals. Martial law and a strict curfew had been imposed on the cities with the largest populations and the President had appeared back on TV for another speech.

This one hadn’t been quite as calm and reassuring, and the only nuggets of good news offered were that construction of the new refineries was already underway and that the Federal government had officially dispatched FETF, the Federal Emergency Task Force, along with elements of the National Guard working with other branches of the Armed Forces, to render aid and restore order in the cities where circumstances were most desperate. He also promised further aid to every city in the nation as the situation warranted. And, finally, he’d practically begged citizens to remain calm and orderly, stating that civil unrest would only cause problems for everyone.

The attempts by the nation’s leader to impose order were largely ineffective, and over the next few days even though the news constantly reported on new events they always followed the same trend: looting and riots in major cities, fires burning unchecked through entire neighborhoods, crime shooting through the roof, and local government officials who hadn’t had enough fuel to even truck in food now not having enough to send police and emergency vehicles where they were needed after the first few hours.

The news was interspersed with PSAs and statements from public officials, actors, religious leaders, and other prominent people urging everyone to remain calm and exercise social responsibility in the face of this crisis, which didn’t seem to be helping at all judging by the news stories regularly appearing of escalating violence.

Chaos raged in state capitols and along the east and west coasts, with any city with a large population getting a taste of it. Even though it was far too soon for people to be starving experts were already estimating death tolls in the tens of thousands, a number they grimly projected could increase by an order of magnitude within the next few days, and probably rise into the tens or even hundreds of millions over the winter if the fuel crisis wasn’t resolved.

Matt was shocked by how quickly things were falling apart in spite of the rationing and emergency measures cities under Martial Law had to have taken to prevent just this sort of thing. His waning hope that things would eventually go back to normal had long since given way to alarm as he instead saw things spiraling further and further out of control, with no sign of any return to normalcy on the horizon.

For the first few days newscasters had optimistically parroted the President’s assurance of quickly building new refineries and using the nation’s last reserves to make sure food and necessities were trucked to population centers all over the U.S. to outlast the crisis. They’d spoken of the various measures being taken to secure vital supplies and of doubling the workload at remaining refineries to meet increased demand.

But after those first few days after the attack the news reports of developments in solving the crisis dwindled down to nothing, and Matt couldn’t help but feel that in spite of the old saying that no news was good news, the eerie silence on the subject of when they could expect the refined fuel to start flowing and food trucks to start running again was very, very bad news. The sort that hinted at a long term disaster instead of a short term crisis.

The long and short of it was that it was only a matter of time before riots started here as well, and he had a feeling that was going to be days or even hours as opposed to weeks. Matt couldn’t take looking at the shaky videos of fires raging out of control and crowds hurling rocks and bricks at capitol buildings anymore, so he hurriedly left the lounge and made his way to his apartment.

The dorms were split into apartment clusters with four rooms each shared by two people, with two shared bathrooms and a kitchen and small living area completing the space. Five of Matt’s roommates had already left, including Chad, and he barely saw the two who remained. Neither was anywhere to be seen when he entered the apartment and took the soda bottles over to the sink to wash them out and fill them with water. Trev had seemed sure the power would go soon and the water would quickly follow, and Matt wanted to be sure there was plenty around just in case.

He was actually a little amazed that, thanks to the power restrictions and whatever fuel reserves the electric companies were running on, they still had plenty of running water and lights at night and even internet and cell phone service. And yet the flow of trucks bringing food and other necessities into the city had slowed to a trickle, quickly seized by city officials for rationing when they arrived, and only a week after the Gulf refineries attack the city had already run out of food and people were going hungry all around him.

Was Trev right, and that was all the food available in the entire city at any given time? A week or so? Sure, Matt could guess people were hoarding whatever they’d managed to snatch up and those who’d acted fast were doing okay. But even with all the stores with full shelves, the restaurants stocked for service, and the warehouses where extra food was stored until it was needed, not to mention locally produced food like orchards and egg and dairy services, he would’ve expected the food to last at least a month.

Although to be fair, with millions of people packed into a relatively small area even what seemed like a lot of food would disappear pretty quickly into so many hungry mouths.

Trev had been right. The government wasn’t going to save the day any time soon and things weren’t going to get any better, at least not before they got much much worse. Matt couldn’t see any real reason to stay when even a lot of the professors were abandoning their classes, and he was starting to see why his friend had been so worried about being in a city during a disaster. It was as he was filling the last of the bottles that Matt’s budding resolution to get out of the city crystallized into a determination to not wait another minute. It was time to head home, not just for his own sake but to be there for his parents when this chaos eventually reached even their small town down in Carbon County.

Before he left, though, he wanted to implement one of Trev’s other good ideas: stocking up on essentials.

Sure, he wasn’t stupid enough to think that there’d be any food left in stores at this point. But food wasn’t the only thing people needed in an emergency, and there were a lot of things people might have overlooked in their desperation to meet their more immediate needs. Things like toothbrushes, floss, soap, blankets, over the counter medicines, even toilet paper. If he could spend all his remaining savings on stuff he might be able to use or trade later then he’d still end up in a better position than if he came home with nothing but the clothes on his back.

He had to at least try, especially after Trev and Lewis had made him look like a blind fool caught with his pants down in a disaster with nothing prepared. He had enough fuel left in his car to take him home, or at least most of the way, and even if he didn’t quite make it he could always ferry the supplies the rest of the way. If worse came to worst he could borrow Tom Hawsett’s horse and parade wagon for the trip. To go shopping meant he’d have to walk to the nearest store and bring the supplies back to campus pushing a grocery cart, maybe making several trips for everything, but that wasn’t so bad.

But before he could head back out the door to walk to the nearest superstore, which was about a mile away, the door to the nearest room opened and his roommate Trent shuffled out. The tall, gangly student made his way to one of the couches in the living room, slumping down in the dim light coming in through the windows and staring at the blank screen. The twenty-five year old, who was still working on his bachelor’s, had always been a bit odd and rarely socialized with his roommates, but this behavior was strange even for him.

Matt paused in heading out the door and made his way over. “What’s up?”

Trent didn’t even look over at him. “Nothing, man.”

He usually would’ve left it at that and walked away, but this didn’t feel like a leave obvious problems alone sort of day. “Nothing? You’re sitting in the dark staring at a blank TV. Come on, what’s up?”

His roommate made a low noise and dropped his head into his hands. “Just stuff.”

“Yeah.” Matt went and sat on the opposite end of the couch. “I just went to a canceled class after walking away from a riot in the cafeteria, then decided to finally give up on my college education and worry about getting home instead. I know about stuff.”

Trent laughed. “Yeah, education. We won’t be able to wear our little square hat and gown and get a rolled up piece of paper anymore. Too bad.”

Matt frowned. He actually cared a lot about education, which was why he was here. But he really wasn’t in the mood to argue, especially not with the roommate he barely even saw.

So he kept silent, and eventually Trent began talking. “I visit a psychiatrist, you know? I was going to the university services and talking to one of their psychologists, but he thought I needed more than just counseling.”

“Okay.” Matt didn’t quite know what to say. He wasn’t surprised, not with the way Trent acted, but he hadn’t expected it.

“So for the last year he’s had me on antidepressants for generalized anxiety disorder. I don’t know if it’s been helping, I guess. But with prices really getting out of control in the last six months I told him I couldn’t afford the prescription, that maybe it was an expense I could do without. A few months ago I tried going off it.”

Matt nodded. That seemed reasonable, he supposed. The time to figure out if you can do without something is when it’s hard to get.

Trent made another low noise, almost a moan, and clenched his hands into fists at the sides of his head, gripping clumps of hair. “It was bad. I felt like, I don’t know, I don’t really want to talk about it. But after about a week off the drugs I was so messed up I tried to kill myself.”

“I had no idea.” Matt clamped his mouth shut, embarrassed about his response. But what did you say to something like that? “I’m sorry, man.”

His roommate shook his head slowly from side to side, and kept it up as he started talking again. “My psychiatrist told me I should get back on the meds. He dropped my dosage down to more affordable levels, but it was enough. Things got a bit better.”

“Well that’s good.”

Fiercer head shaking. “No it’s not! As soon as I heard that the trucks wouldn’t be bringing in shipments, not even of necessities, I called and asked my psychiatrist about my medication. He said he wasn’t sure whether or not pharmaceuticals were going to be shipped in, but that local distributers were withholding SSRIs and antipsychotics for treatment of the criminally disordered and those who were a danger to themselves or others.”

Matt frowned. “But that’s you, isn’t it?” As soon as he said it he was afraid Trent would be offended. “I mean sorry, that’s a messed up thing to say, but aren’t you on some suicide watch list or something?”

His roommate shook his head with another low moan. “I never told him about it. I just said it was really bad without the medication and I couldn’t handle it anymore. I figured maybe I was just being overdramatic or something.”

A short silence settled and Matt shifted on the couch, unsure what to say. He was glad Trent was turned away from him so his roommate couldn’t see how uncomfortable he was. “Can’t you go to another doctor? Or maybe tell your psychiatrist how serious it is?”

Trent shook his head again. “I’m afraid he won’t give me any even if I tell him, but he’ll think I’m unstable and have me committed or something. It’s not really that bad. It isn’t.”

It sounded pretty bad to Matt, but he couldn’t say that. “Well what if you cut your doses down even more? Just took it when it got really really bad?”

A shrug. “I think that’s what I’m going to have to do. But it’s not going to be good. It’s going to be an awful few weeks until gas starts flowing again. And not just for me. Did you know Utah ranks highest for percentage of people with mental disorders in the US?”

Matt hadn’t known that, and he wasn’t sure how much he liked hearing it. Things were already looking bad only a week after the attack. Add in the highest percentage of people with mental disorders in the country, all of them off their meds, and what did that equal? Heading down to Aspen Hill was looking more and more attractive, and the sooner the better.

Trent abruptly stood up. “You think I’m a nutjob, don’t you?”

He stood up too. “Hey no, no man. Sounds like it’s the meds that’re causing your problems, that’s all.” He didn’t know how convincing he sounded. This was his first time really seeing mental problems firsthand, and even though he felt bad for the guy and sympathized with his problem he also felt a bit uncomfortable.

Trent glared at him for a second then turned and stalked to his room, closing the door quietly behind him. For some reason that made it seem all the more odd to Matt, who’d been expecting a slam.

Now seemed like a great time to get out of the apartment and go shopping, but as he left the dorms and campus grounds behind he couldn’t help but wonder about other medical problems. Mental issues were certainly serious, but what about people who required insulin or dialysis or chemo or other critical treatments? What about people waiting for transplants? For now it would just be missing their meds, but once the power went out would the government have enough fuel to power whatever backup generators hospitals needed to keep running?

It wasn’t just starvation or violence, the death toll from those reliant on modern medicine was going to be devastating as well.

Those thoughts put Matt in a bleak mood as he walked the distance to the store, and he felt a sudden urge to call his parents. He pulled out his phone and dialed his mom’s number, who answered within moments of the first ring. “Honey, is everything all right?” she demanded in a frantic voice.

He closed his eyes and opened them again. She’d called at least three times a day during the last week, usually in response to some news story she’d seen about violence erupting in a nearby city. “Nothing like that, Mom. I just wanted to call ahead and let you know I’m coming home.”

“Thank God,” she said. “What with Trev having left a week ago and still not here I’ve been extra worried about—”

“Hold on,” Matt interrupted. “Trev isn’t there yet? He left the morning after the attack!”

“Oh I know, it’s a terrible story. Apparently he ran out of gas less than a third of the way home and had to walk, but then he injured his leg and that slowed him way down. Last I heard from Lewis his phone had died but he was going to take it slow to avoid any more accidents. It’s amazing how such a small thing can become so serious, isn’t it?”

Matt was getting more and more experience with small things becoming serious. “Yeah. I hope he makes it safely. But anyway I just want to do a few things up here and then I’ll be heading down. I’ll let you know when I’m almost there.”

“Okay honey. I’ll get your bedsheets cleaned and have a hot meal waiting for you.” His mom paused, then continued in a hushed voice. “I’ve had word from Mayor Anderson’s office that our area’s power plant is running critically low on fuel. Even with all the City Council announcements about cutting down to strictly necessary appliances and only using lights at night, and to add to that Officer Turner’s warnings about fines for disobeying the new policies, people are still not reducing their consumption. I just wanted to let you know in case the house is dark when you arrive, so you won’t be worried.”

That news did worry Matt, although not for the reasons she thought. It seemed like Aspen Hill wasn’t immune to all this trouble either, which meant going home wouldn’t be some magical cure to all his problems until the government solved this disaster. Intellectually he’d known the reality of things, but it was still a bit of a shock to hear.

“All right, Mom. I’ll try to get some candles and flashlights for us.”

His mom’s tone turned surprisingly stern. “Oh we’re all right with that for a few weeks. You just worry about coming home, honey. I’ll finally be able to get a decent night’s sleep not having to worry about you up there where a riot might start any minute. Between fretting over you and April and the boys it’s a wonder I’m not bald from stress.”

They said their goodbyes and Matt hung up, not liking the reminder about riots. He sort of wished he’d thought to bring the Glock Trev had given him. It had stayed in his room since he’d gotten it because it was prohibited on campus and Matt spent all his time there, but he had a feeling it might’ve been a good idea to bring it along.

Or was it? He didn’t have a concealed carry permit like Trev or Lewis, and even if it was legal in Utah the sight of a gun being openly carried might spook people and end up causing more trouble than it prevented.

Besides, it was just a twenty minute walk to the store.

Chapter Five

Day Seven: Afternoon

Lewis had picked a small lot a mile or so northwest of town to build his shelter on.

Trev hadn’t cared too much about the location when he’d agreed to help his cousin with the project, partly out of boredom and partly because he really had taken Lewis’s warnings about preparedness to heart and the opportunity to earn himself a place to sleep in the apocalypse seemed like a good deal. Now, though, footsore and shoulders aching from lugging a cripplingly heavy pack for 50 miles, he blessed that one mile less he had to walk with every step down the dirt road leading to the pair of low hills the shelter was nestled between.

A hundred steps. That was it, after the hundred thousand or so he’d just walked getting here. He was almost home.

He saw a sudden movement on the nearer hill, which turned out to be Lewis rising from the concealed post they’d constructed up there to watch the approaches to the shelter. Trev had helped dig it when it all seemed like a game, imagining hordes of zombies converging on the position while he blew them away with his newly purchased Mini-14 and his trusty 1911.

Now, in the middle of a pretty grim situation, it didn’t seem quite so lighthearted. Especially when he saw his cousin sling his prized HK G3 across his back as he started down the hill at a trot, waving excitedly.

Trev waved back just as excitedly, taking the opportunity to unbuckle his pack’s belts and let it slip off his shoulders even though he wasn’t quite to the finish line. With his phone dead and occupied with making it home he’d been pretty much cut off from everything for the last week, and as eager as he was to finally rest he was equally eager for news about what was going on out in the wider world. After all the planning and speculation he’d done with Lewis it seemed almost unfair that when it all finally went down he was trapped on the road missing everything.

His cousin threw his arms around him, not seeming to mind his sweaty back, although he did back up after a moment and wrinkle his nose. “Well, even if I hadn’t seen you coming I would’ve smelled you before you got too much closer. You’ve definitely been on the road exercising hard for a week.”

“Nah, just a bit of light backpacking,” Trev replied as Lewis helpfully picked up his pack to carry the rest of the way.

His cousin grunted slightly. “Light? I can’t believe you came 50 miles carrying this much weight! Are you crazy?”

Trev grimaced. So he had overpacked after all. “I even left 20 pounds or so of stuff wedged between a couple rocks after I’d gone a mile. I didn’t want to leave anything important behind.”

“Like your brain?” Lewis hefted the pack. “No wonder you injured yourself and it’s taken you this long!”

“Yeah, it’s good to see you too.” Trev clapped his cousin on the shoulder, nearly overbalancing him. “Have you talked to my folks recently?”

“Yeah, they’ve been calling at least once a day asking if you’d made it yet, every single time making me promise I’d call as soon as you arrived. Checking in with them is probably one of the first things you should do.”

“Definitely. How about your family? You heard from them?”

His cousin nodded, smile fading to seriousness. “They’re doing pretty good, all things considered, although more worried than they’ll admit about being out of the country during all this. My dad tells me Russia has been demanding more concessions for the oil Norway exports in from them. It looks like the Gold Bloc is trying to grow their influence now that the U.S. is collapsing on both the fuel and economic fronts and they’re the only game in town. The Scandinavian countries will suffer along with the rest of Europe during this mess, but all things considered my folks might actually be better of there than in Aspen Hill.”

“Except here you’d be able to help them with all your preparations,” Trev pointed out.

Lewis hesitated. “Well yeah, there is that. I was just trying to look on the bright side.” That sort of dampened the mood, and his cousin quickened his pace. “Let’s get you settled in and you can wash up and change into clean clothes, then sleep if you want. I’ve installed a shower to go with the sink and toilet in the bathroom since you were here last.”

“All on solar power?” Trev asked incredulously.

His cousin shook his head. “The water’s gravity fed from a tank I buried on the hillside above the shelter to keep it from freezing. It’s not heated and we’ll have to refill it by hand now that vehicles aren’t working, but we may as well enjoy it while we have it. Luckily we’ve got the stream running out of Aspen Hill Canyon not too far away, and there’s always the spring in town so drinking water won’t be an issue. One of the reasons I’m glad I built the shelter here.”

“If you’ve got a water tank and functioning bathroom I guess that means you haven’t stopped working on this thing the entire time?” Trev asked as they came around the hill. In a small depression between it and the second hill was a shed butted up against the nearer hillside to provide slight insulation, not far from the aforementioned buried water tank. But that smaller shed was just for storing tools and Lewis’s gas tank and other outdoor things: most importantly, a stone’s throw from it rose a rounded hump of earth that stretched 20 feet wide and 40 feet long.

That was their shelter, a corrugated steel half-pipe shed planted in a six foot deep hole, then reinforced and covered over with three feet of dirt for insulation. On the top of the mound an array of solar panels pointed towards the sun overhead, while on the sides of the mound it looked as if his cousin had made a garden with terraced rows of the sorts of hardy plants that could survive with little water.

At the front of the mound, pointed southward facing the smaller aboveground shed, a gently sloping ramp led down to the front doors, which were recessed behind a wooden entryway with a heavy metal-sheathed door to provide added insulation as well as security. By all appearances that was the only entrance, but Lewis had also created a bolt-hole in the back to a hatch covered over with a foot or so of dirt.

His cousin led the way inside, flipping on a switch to a string of low-power LEDs that did a pretty good job of lighting the wide open interior, which was partitioned with screens around the bathroom area on the side closest to the tank on the hill above and a sleeping area across from it. Farther back the shelter was mostly filled with storage, Trev’s modest stacks of buckets, boxes, and cans alongside Lewis’s far more impressive pile that rose over his head.

The ceiling was ten feet tall in the center, sloping down to about 5 feet before it steepened to form the walls. From the outside the space looked impressively large, but inside it was cavernous, even with all the storage it was filled with and the living and bathroom spaces partitioned off.

Trev paused in the entryway to look around. As always when he really stopped to look, he felt equal parts pride and disbelief that they’d created all this with their own two hands. Of course Lewis had done the lion’s share of the work in planning, purchasing materials, and working on the finishing touches, but Trev still felt a fair bit of satisfaction.

Lewis tossed him a towel. “It’s a weak water stream and you’re not going to like the temperature, but that should encourage you to hurry up so we can catch up.”

Trev nodded and made his way over to his bunk in the living space, which was made of a board and mattress sitting on top of food buckets for a base. Beside it was a trunk where he’d stored a lot of things he’d need if he ended up living here long term like clothes and blankets, as well as the rest of his ammunition sitting on the bottom. Since he’d been forced to ditch half of what he’d had up in Orem he now had 900 rounds of .45 ACP and .223 each. That had seemed like a lot at the time, but now he wondered.

Sometime soon he wanted to check and make sure the ammo hadn’t gotten damp, but for the moment he pulled out a pair of boxers from an unopened 12-pack as well as a T-shirt from an unopened 6-pack, both of which he’d bought extra of while clothes shopping and had tossed in there in a rare fit of inspiration. He also grabbed an old but clean pair of jeans.

For all of Lewis’s warnings the shower was equal parts unpleasant and glorious, although Trev was quick to soap and rinse and get out of the cold stream before he started shivering uncontrollably. Once he dried off and got dressed he felt like a human being again. The outdoor carpet Lewis had used for the floor, which could be swept if necessary, felt a bit uneven and gritty under his feet as if it hadn’t been swept any time recently. That or the fact that it was in a shed buried underground with a dirt ramp leading up to a dirt clearing made it hard to keep clean. He’d either have to start wearing socks or slippers indoors or get used to the feeling.

Lewis was in the small kitchen space at the back of the shelter, but since the solar panels were working just fine Trev made his way over to the electronics array near the desk that served as his cousin’s “office” and plugged in his phone, then gave his parents a quick call to check in and briefly explain what had happened and his hike down.

He also got news from them about how they and his younger brother and sister were doing. They were worried about things but optimistic, with the food storage he and Lewis had pestered them into getting as a strong buffer against the winter. Before he could mention heading up to Michigan to meet up with them, or urge them to come down to Aspen Hill and stay in the shelter, his dad beat him to the punch by insisting Trev stay there until things settled down, if they ever did.

“We’ll be fine,” he promised. “You just worry about yourself for now.” And with a few final goodbyes and well wishes they hung up.

Not long after that Lewis came back into the living area and offered him a bowl. It was just canned chili heated over a camp stove, but after a week of jerky and trail mix the hot meal could’ve easily counted as one of the better ones Trev had ever had. He gulped it down as quickly as he could without seriously burning his mouth, and as he did Lewis filled him in on what had been happening in the outside world.

The news wasn’t good. Trev had been expecting to hear about riots and looting, but the sheer breadth of the chaos still left him stunned. Especially when Lewis mentioned that the turning cogs of the Federal government had essentially abandoned Washington D.C. to the rioters. The nation’s Capitol was tearing itself apart in a wave of mindless destruction and unchecked fires while the President and his staff had fled to the all-but impregnable Presidential command bunker. Meanwhile congressmen, senators, and various Federal agencies had all either hunkered down in their buildings behind security cordons manned by guards with serious crowd control measures who used them on anyone who came close, returned home to their own states, or fled to prepared fallback locations to continue desperately trying to keep the nation running as order and authority disintegrated around them.

FETF was becoming more and more of a presence, the only way cities were getting any sort of relief in the form of food and other much needed supplies, and more importantly taking over a lot of the crowd control duties that city governments depleted of fuel and in disarray in the chaos simply couldn’t handle themselves.

Surprisingly the Utah and Salt Lake valleys were among the few dense population clusters left in the nation that hadn’t reported any major chaos, but from the sounds of it they weren’t far off. Trev could hardly believe that he’d left things relatively normal, and then while hiking incommunicado through sparsely populated areas the nation had fallen apart without him seeing a single sign of it.

As they talked Lewis naturally gravitated over to the back of the shelter and his most recent preparations, like he tended to do during conversations, and Trev followed. It looked as if his cousin still had about the same number of buckets he’d had when Trev was last around, roughly enough food storage to live four years on, but he’d added other things too.

Trev noticed a dozen bags of protein powder slung across the stack, and mentally cursed himself for not thinking of that himself. He had plenty of rice and beans, and he’d heard they were a decent replacement, but in the absence of meat and dairy that powder could really do a lot.

That reminded him of something else he should’ve worried about. “Have you checked my food storage lately?” He now had about 18 months’ worth for himself, since a good chunk of it had been up in Orem with him and was currently buried 50 miles away, but the food in here was all he had left and he couldn’t afford to lose any of it.

Lewis nodded. “Of course. I checked everything just after the attack a week ago. Your stuff is in good shape, no humidity or anything. It’s a shame about what you had in your car but you’ll get by.”

“Better than the people who came into this with nothing, thanks to your constant nagging to get prepared.”

Trev had meant that as a joke, but it wasn’t really a subject for levity and his cousin just gave him a sober look. “After the Middle East Crisis a year’s worth of struggling to stay financially afloat as food got more and more pricey strangled most people. They were barely buying enough to get them by to the next paycheck with no extra to fall back on. And that compounded the problem since with the decreased demand stores and restaurants brought in smaller shipments, meaning the cities had less food on hand.

“Pretty much the worst conditions for the attacks and the fuel cutting off completely. For most people what they have is it. The rest is all gone and there won’t be any more. Food prices skyrocketed within the first forty-eight hours, for those stores quick enough to react, and a lot of riots began at stores or around government structures when people discovered there was no food to be found and went to demand a solution.”

“Yeah, although even this last year bulk prices for wheat, rice, beans, and other staples have been low enough that anyone with two cents to rub together could’ve stocked up at least a little,” Trev argued, thinking of his roommates and Matt and especially Nelson. “But it seems like as everyone watched food prices rise they started buying less food, day to day practically, as if some part of them couldn’t justify purchasing at an increased cost and they were holding out for prices to go down again.”

He shook his head, looking at his cousin’s huge stockpile and his own more modest pile alongside it. “It’s almost like everyone was blindly going with the “buy low, sell high” policy for essentials with a disaster looming on the horizon. They should’ve seen where a steeply rising slope of fuel and gas prices could potentially lead and prepared for it however they could, but instead just about everyone I knew up at school seemed to double down on the hope that things would get better or at least stay where they were, and no collapse could possibly happen.”

Lewis sighed. “I hear you. Right up until the attack last week everyone was still laughing at “preppers”. And now they’re all starving and it doesn’t seem quite as funny.” Rather than looking satisfied by the vindication of his viewpoints his cousin seemed resigned. “You know. In a perverse way I almost think it would’ve been better if this had all happened a year ago. It’s like the last year weakened us to make this blow fatal, when if it had happened a year ago the nation as a whole might have managed to come out better, or at least lasted a few weeks more before things got really bad.”

A grim silence settled as they both looked over their preparations and contemplated what the nation had in store. Then Trev cleared his throat. “So what do we do now?”

Lewis shrugged. “Hunker down and survive in here. Although I have to admit I’m a little worried.”

“About the nation running out of gas and facing slow starvation and worse?” Trev asked with a grim smile, trying to lighten the mood with some dark humor. “Gee, I wonder why.”

His cousin shot him an irritated look. “I mean the fact that we’re 75 miles away from a population center with millions of people who have zero food and none coming in, and with mountains to the east and desert to the west they’ve only got so many directions they can go. Even on foot that distance doesn’t seem so far when you think of an endless wave of hungry mouths flooding over this entire area.”

Trev frowned. “I always figured they’d go north or south along I-15, or maybe try to make their way east along I-80 or Highway 40. Even Highway 89 through Sanpete county would be more understandable since it’s fairly green and leads somewhere. But why would they head for Carbon county? There’s nothing around here worth traveling towards besides maybe Price, and aside from where we’re at along the greener strip below the mountains the area is so dry they can’t be hoping to live off the countryside.”

“Highway 6 is a fairly big road, and refugees will be taking every road looking for somewhere to go. If nothing else they’ll make for I-70 hoping it will take them somewhere where things are better. They can’t stay where they are so they have to keep going, even if it’s hopeless.”

“Okay so they’ll be coming. But isn’t that why we hid this place underground and between two hills, a pretty good distance away from Highway 6? They’re not going to find it easily.”

Lewis shook his head. “I’m afraid that’s not going to be enough. We’re a half hour’s walk away from the center of town, and even though Aspen Hill is well off Highway 6 on a smaller road we are on a road and people will eventually find us. Not to mention the City Council took Federal money to accept refugees in an emergency situation, so that’s potentially hundreds of people coming right for us.”

“Wait, what?” Trev demanded. “Since when? This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

“Yeah well they weren’t exactly broadcasting the information. Just the Mayor and council members knew, along with a few county and state people. But pretty much every rural town across the nation has the same sort of deal going, so even if they’re keeping it hush-hush news is bound to get out if you know where to look. I’m not 100% sure about Aspen Hill, but I know for a fact other towns in Carbon county have taken the deal, and I’d be genuinely surprised to find any town that hasn’t.”

Trev frowned. “Why? The Feds can’t be giving out enough money to buy the supplies to actually help hundreds of people in an emergency situation for any length of time. Why would towns take a bad deal like that?”

“You really have to ask?” his cousin said with a grim smile. “The Federal government pushes pretty hard to get local governments to accept their money with all the strings attached, and you’ll find corruption in small towns as often as in the Capitol. Besides, it’s free money now on the promise of fulfilling future conditions. Shortsighted politicians almost always take that kind of deal.”

Lewis shook his head as if to clear his troubled thoughts. “But I get the feeling that a few hundred people sent this way are just going to be a drop in the bucket compared to the flood of refugees fleeing the cities. I don’t know. I’m genuinely afraid that after all the work we put into this place we might have to abandon it after all.”

“And go where?” Trev demanded, not liking this line of thought at all. “We can defend this place if we have to. That’s what our guns are for, right?”

“There are more people up north than we have bullets. Anyway do you really want to think about massacring a bunch of starving, desperate people, even if we could manage it without being overwhelmed and ripped to pieces? Even if they’re trying to steal from us and maybe even kill us it’s still a horrible thing to contemplate. Besides, if they managed to swamp Aspen Hill and all our neighbors ended up dead, either from direct violence or through slow starvation when the extra mouths eat all the food, what then? Wind up living next to the people who at worst murdered our friends and at best starved them out, or completely alone in a valley full of corpses?”

Lewis shook his head again, answering his own question. “No, we can’t just count on ourselves. It would be safer and easier if we could, but we can’t ignore the fact that we’re a stone’s throw from the people of Aspen Hill. We just need to make sure the town survives with us, and we’ll all be stronger as a community anyway. If we can manage it.”

Trev felt a surge of relief. His cousin was extremely pragmatic, especially where the issue of preparing for long term survival was concerned. He’d been afraid Lewis would insist that they go it alone and leave their neighbors to their own devices. “So we’re going to give away some of our food?”

“No, not if we can avoid it,” Lewis said hastily. “I don’t want anyone in town knowing just how much food we have to keep them from getting any ideas. Besides, it may seem like we have plenty now, but three meals a day just between the two of us will do its work on even this stockpile. A town full of people would chew through it in weeks or even days. Besides, it’s always good to keep the option of trading that food for things we need.”

“Okay, that makes sense I guess. So if not food then how exactly are we going to help the town?”

“We can volunteer our help doing whatever Aspen Hill needs: guard duty, manual labor, foraging, that sort of thing. Show we’re part of the community.” His cousin abruptly straightened. “And tonight’s a great opportunity to begin doing our part to make sure the the town pulls through.”

“How?”

Lewis held up his phone, quickly opening up a text message. “Town meeting, and only a week after the attack too.” That was said with some serious sarcasm. “Looks like Mayor Anderson has finally noticed society is crumbling around him.”

* * *

Matt was relieved to see the supermart was still open when he arrived. From some of the stories he’d heard from roommates who’d gone for groceries he’d half expected the place to be stripped bare.

It was almost odd to walk across a nearly empty parking lot, but even though there were no cars there seemed to be twice as many people as usual coming and going on foot. He nodded to a couple girls heading towards the major street and the sidewalk alongside it leading down the hill that he’d just come from, but they only clutched their purchases tighter, huddled closer, and gave him a wide berth.

From the looks of it they were carrying grocery bags filled with hair care and beauty products, and Matt couldn’t help but wonder what possible use they thought they were going to get out of them. Maybe they’d originally come for food and felt they couldn’t leave empty-handed.

Matt had no such illusions. He’d check the food aisles as he passed them, sure, but his goal was the sporting goods section. It occurred to him that a lot of things that would be useful for camping would be equally useful in a general survival situation.

Surprisingly, in spite of the larger than usual crowds the checkout lines weren’t all that crowded. Had people just come to browse hoping they might find something useful? That seemed a waste of time to Matt, especially when he was feeling greater and greater urgency about leaving the city. He grabbed a cart and hurried into the store.

As he’d expected the food aisles were all bare, not so much as a sideways can or crumpled cereal box to be seen. Even so a few people were poking around the shelves, as if searching for places where food might have fallen and been overlooked. Matt was more interested in a display of AA batteries in front of one aisle that still had several packs left. Into the cart they went.

When he reached the sporting goods section he immediately saw that the guns and ammo were all gone, nothing but bare shelves and empty gun racks. Either the store had pulled the items at the behest of the government or because they anticipated future trouble or all the guns and every single bullet had already been sold. The thought of the dozens of weapons those racks behind their locked cases had held and the ammo to shoot them tens of thousands of times being somewhere out in the city in the hands of who knew how many people with dubious purposes made Matt distinctly nervous.

Why hadn’t he brought the Glock Trev had given him? This was exactly the time when he’d feel better about having it, but instead he’d left it in his room like a good law-abiding citizen entering a potentially lawless situation.

In front of the gun aisle was a stand filled with cans of bear spray, a spillover from the hunting and camping supplies the next aisle over. Matt couldn’t help but notice that the spray was effective up to 30 feet and capable of incapacitating a full grown grizzly, at least according to the sign. It was almost funny to see that even though every single gun and round of ammunition was gone only a couple of the cans, which would be a very effective and mostly non-lethal method of self defense, were missing from the display.

Those seemed like just the sort of potentially useful trade goods Matt had come for, so he picked up the stand and dumped the dozens of cans into his cart. As he did a few passing shoppers tossed him dirty looks. “Did you want some?” he asked.

The only response came from a woman with a cart loaded up with blankets and sheets, who sniffed. “No, but you could at least save some for other shoppers.” Matt looked pointedly at her own cart, and she had the grace to look slightly embarrassed as she hurried on.

The encounter reminded him that it might not be a terrible idea to check out blankets himself. With winter on the way they seemed pretty important.

The camping aisles were depressingly empty of things like knives, machetes, matches, flashlights, candles, lanterns, and charcoal briquets. He did find a few tarps, tents, and sleeping bags to toss into his cart, as well as some bug spray and mosquito netting, although he wondered if those last two were the most useful things he could be purchasing. There was also a display of slingshots that people had overlooked in favor of more obvious weapons and hunting implements, and like with the bear spray he emptied the display.

The next aisle was tools and hardware. Here, too, the things that could make potential weapons like hammers, sledgehammers, crowbars, and gardening implements had all been snatched up. The sight made Matt feel almost as uneasy as the empty gun racks. How else could he feel about a place where food was nowhere to be found and people were stocking up on improvised weapons? He did stop and pick up all the available boxes of nails and several measuring tapes, since they were small and useful, and almost as an afterthought grabbed a few empty gas cans and some plastic tubing. They’d probably be useless but he could store water in them if nothing else.

Then it was on to the sports aisle.

True to form baseball bats, golf clubs, hockey sticks, and even things like baseballs and golf balls were nowhere to be found. Matt couldn’t see anything useful here unless he was trying to stave off sheer boredom, although he did empty a display of playing cards at the end of the aisle into his cart. That was one of the main ways his family had always entertained themselves on camping trips, so they seemed like a good thing to grab.

His cart was nearly full, so he decided he’d swing by the bedding aisle and then head for the checkout lines.

There weren’t many blankets to be found, although he found some mattress pads and loaded them into his cart since they were basically the same thing. As he stood in the aisle debating whether to grab pillowcases for improvised carrying sacks sudden furious yelling from the back of the store not far away caught his attention, and he cautiously made his way to the end of the aisle to see what was going on.

That wasn’t the shouting of disgruntled customers. It was the hoarse, top of the lungs, pissed off to the point of having an aneurism screams of someone who was either in the middle of a total meltdown or was about to start seriously beating someone.

He peeked around the shelves and saw that the noise was coming from behind a swinging door leading back to the stockroom. As he stared, tense, a sudden ringing made him nearly jump out of his skin. His phone. Acting purely on panic he reached into his pocket and shut it off before it could draw any attention to him.

When he’d silenced the call he peeked around the shelves again, just in time to see an employee stagger backwards through the swinging door. At first Matt thought the man was running away from something, but when he collapsed to the ground curled up in a fetal position clutching his face Matt realized the employee had been hit.

Only moments later several men about Matt’s age or younger, carrying improvised weapons that might have been the missing merchandise he’d noticed in the aisles he’d passed through, burst out the door and began kicking the downed man. “You said there’d be food back there!” the same man who’d shouted hoarsely before yelled.

“I warned you we mostly just use that area for breaking down boxes and almost all our merchandise is kept stocked on the display shelves! I just said it’s a big space and there might be some stuff hidden away and forgotten in a corner or something.” The employee screamed at a particularly savage blow to the head, curling up in a tighter ball. “Please, stop! I’m helping you.”

That invited a burst of profanity from several of the punks as one slammed his wooden baseball bat down across his victim’s shoulders. “You’re supposed to have groceries!” he yelled.

“What do you think you’re doing?” an older man demanded, approaching. He wasn’t wearing an employee uniform so Matt had no idea why he’d decided to intervene, but it immediately turned out to be a mistake as the enraged gang turned and rushed him with their weapons. In moments the good Samaritan was a bruised and beaten heap on the ground like the employee, while all around them customers began screaming as they fled in all directions, many abandoning their carts.

The hoarse ringleader made a beeline back for swinging door into the stockroom, pushing it open to shout through. “No food, no guns, nothing! Let’s trash this place!”

In response dozens more college age men streamed out of the stockroom, most with their own weapons and a few even brandishing guns. They immediately began shoving over shelves and smashing displays, all the while making noises that sounded more animal than human, amidst some of the vilest language Matt had ever heard.

He’d seen enough. Actually too much, since if he’d had the slightest bit of common sense he would’ve run for his life along with all the other customers the moment he saw the employee being attacked. He ran to grab his cart and sprinted it towards the front of the store, as behind him the noise of destruction and unleashed fury continued. He kept glancing over his shoulder, expecting to find the rioters chasing him down, but he seemed to have escaped their attention.

After a nightmarish eternity that couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds he reached the front of the store. Once there he stopped, looking around helplessly. The doors were choked with customers streaming outside, pushing full carts of even carrying armfuls of stuff. All of it had to be stolen, since there were no cashiers behind the registers and what few employees remained had either fled or converged on the disturbance at the back of the store.

Which left him in a bit of a bind. He wasn’t a thief and didn’t plan to start now, but at the same time he really wanted the things in his cart. A lot of this stuff could make a huge difference for his family if trucks weren’t bringing in necessities.

As he stood there debating ethics a bright blur of motion from the back of the store caught his eye, and he turned in time to see flaming rolls of toilet paper arcing over the aisles, burning tails fluttering like comets. Almost absurdly, as he watched the sight his immediate thought was that he should’ve picked up some toilet paper himself.

From the source of the thrown projectiles someone was gleefully shouting about toilet papering the place, and a few loud, high pitched yips of laughter followed the suggestion as more flaming rolls flew. As far as Matt could see no fires had started just yet, but even with plastic floors and metal shelves it was only a matter of time.

He pushed down his panic, and before he could think better of it ran his cart to one of the self checkout stations and began running everything over the scanner as fast as he could, stuffing it all into plastic bags. The small station was mostly meant for purchases of just a few items and the pile of bags quickly overflowed onto the floor, but he kept going with almost manic desperation, flinching at every shout and crash behind him.

Once again he found himself regretting that he’d left Nelson’s gun behind in his room. Sure, carrying a gun around town was viewed as strange these days, but with riots breaking out all over the nation there was literally never a better time to open carry. As he was seeing for himself right this very moment.

Idiot! It was like he was still stuck in stolid citizen mode. Even while watching on the news as entire neighborhoods burned and state capitols were torn apart, and after deciding to leave the city before the chaos reached it too, here he was jaunting off to the grocery store to go shopping for a few things before hopping in his car and fleeing for his life. He was even paying for his goods while the store literally burned around him!

Finally Matt’s patience ran out as somewhere in the store a woman’s screams rose over the other shouting and yelling before abruptly going silent. He grabbed the most expensive item left in the cart and scanned it a dozen times, hoping that was enough, then with fumbling fingers yanked out his credit card and ran it, pounding out his PIN. It seemed to take forever for the card to authorize, and while he waited the deafening noise of rioting behind him continued and he actually thought he could smell smoke. A red glow was spreading from the back of the store.

The card scanner abruptly made a buzzing noise and text popped up on the small screen. “AUTHORIZATION FAILED: SERVER DOWN.”

“Are you kidding me?” Matt muttered under his breath. He’d definitely stayed too long now and he didn’t have any more time to waste on this BS, so he tossed his credit card on the scanner along with all the cash from his wallet and began stuffing the full bags into his cart on top of all the loose items he hadn’t been able to scan.

The doors were still clogged with fleeing people when he pushed his cart into line. From what he could see the doors at the opposite end of the front of the store were stopped completely by what looked like the beginnings of a brawl as the owners of two carts jammed in the doorway punched at each other while the crowd around them shoved wildly trying to force them through. For no reason he could see he watched a woman waiting behind the two fighting men abruptly jump on one’s back and begin pummeling his shoulders and head, screeching, at least until they both went down and were swallowed up by the crowd behind.

Matt turned back in time to see a young man in the line ahead of him twist around and snatch one of the bags from his cart. “Hey!” he shouted.

The kid, who was around 14 or 15, sneered at him. “What, got a problem with me stealing your stolen stuff?”

He was about to protest that he’d paid for his things, kind of, but before he could the line in front of the door moved and they were both shoved forward, caught in the flow of panicking people struggling to leave the building. As he was pushed along Matt hunched over his cart to discourage any more would-be thieves, and after what seemed a nightmarish eternity of pushing and shoving he finally burst out into the afternoon sun, the crowd around him dispersing in all directions now that they were past the bottleneck.

Matt fled across the parking lot in the sea of humanity, while behind him he heard the deafening crash of glass breaking. He glanced back to see that the rioters had reached the front of the store and were throwing carts through the windows, while behind them a hellish red glow spread and wisps of smoke escaped into the outside air.

* * *

The crowd around Matt streamed off in different directions as he pushed his cart out of the parking lot and started up long hill that led to his dorm. Nobody seemed to be going the same way, or at least they didn’t follow him up the sidewalk, which was a relief since it meant he wouldn’t have to keep looking over his shoulder.

After a few minutes he decided he’d made it a safe distance from the store, so he pushed the front wheels of the cart off the edge of the sidewalk so it wouldn’t roll away and pulled out his phone.

The first people that had popped into his mind after escaping the chaos of the supermart were his sister April, her husband Terry, and their two young sons. The family lived up in Midvale, nearly smack dab between Utah and Salt Lake valleys where trouble from either could spill over to them. He turned his phone back on to call her.

April answered on the third ring, and in spite of himself Matt was relieved to hear her voice. “You okay?” he immediately asked.

“Isn’t that my line little bro? You’re the one calling me.”

Matt wasn’t in the mood for banter. “Listen, I just escaped a riot in a supermart.” He glanced over his shoulder. “It’s burning behind me. With how tense everything is I’m afraid it might spread.”

“Wow, really? The fire or the riot?” Although April’s words still seemed lighthearted she sounded genuinely worried.

“Yes.” It was a common game between them to provide two options and answer yes for both, but for Matt the response was almost automatic. “Are things quiet up there?”

There was a long pause. “Yeah I think so. We’ve spent the last few hours cataloguing our food storage so I haven’t even checked the news. I don’t hear shouting or sirens, though.”

That wasn’t too reassuring. “Listen, I’m heading down to Mom and Dad’s. I really think you guys should too.”

“We’ve talked it over,” April answered, sounding a bit frustrated. “Terry hasn’t been able to find any gas anywhere. He’ll keep looking, but with enough food storage to last us through the winter we decided we should stay put and hope the government sorts this all out. We’re on the outskirts of things so if we lay low we should be able to avoid any riots or other trouble happening in denser populations to the north or south.”

That seemed sensible, but after what Matt had just been through he had his doubts. “How are you set for water? Trev warned me that if the power goes out, which it almost definitely will, the water will stop flowing too. You should get as much as possible stored away while you still can, even if you have to fill your sinks and bathtubs. And try to get firewood too.”

“I know,” his big sister replied somewhat impatiently. “We’ve given a lot of thought to preparing for difficult times in the last year and I think we’ve got our heads on straight. To be honest I’m more worried at the thought of you stranded alone down in Orem, especially if you just escaped a r—”

“Sis?” Matt cut in quietly. “I’m going to need to call you back.”

Coming down the sidewalk towards him was a fairly large man in baggy jeans and a short sleeve black shirt with some metal band on the front worn over a long sleeve white one. But what immediately caught his attention was that the man had an aluminum baseball bat propped on one shoulder. That and he was staring straight at Matt with the sort of look that made Matt’s instincts scream for him to run.

Matt slowly pocketed his phone, then stepped closer to his cart to provide more room on the sidewalk for the guy to pass. Seriously, was there a single reason he could think of why he hadn’t brought the Glock? He had to be the biggest idiot on earth. “Hey, how’s it going?” he asked, doing his best to sound calm.

The baseball enthusiast gave him a predatory smile and spun the bat in one hand as if limbering up. “It’ll be great when you gimme that cart.” He sped up, closing the twenty or so remaining feet between them at a fast walk.

Matt stared at the guy, then at his baseball bat, and felt his temper snap. Was this a joke? He’d never been attacked or robbed in his life, and now he’d just escaped a riot in a burning store and this goon wanted to steal his stuff in broad daylight on the side of a major street?

Before the mugger reached him Matt leaned over and scrabbled around in the bottom of his cart until his fingers closed around a can of bear spray. The guy slowed, eyes widening, as Matt yanked off the seal over the trigger and pointed the nozzle at him. “You ever been hit with this stuff?” he asked. “It’s for bears. Just imagine what it’ll do to you.”

The mugger eyed the spray warily and started to back away, raising his hands in surrender. “Easy, man. I’m just going to wa—”

Mid-word the big guy changed direction and charged forward, the bat held over his head suddenly less about surrender and more about being raised to smash down on Matt’s head. Matt was so surprised by the sudden attack that the mugger had nearly reached him before he pulled the trigger. The stream of bear spray hit the guy right in the center of his chest, and as the baseball bat started to descend Matt dove aside while at the same time guiding the line of concentrated pepper up into his attacker’s face.

The mugger screamed and his bat nearly clipped Matt’s shoulder as it went flying away. But the criminal had forgotten about Matt, his bat, and everything else in the world aside from searing pain as he lifted his hands to his face and crumpled to the ground, swearing profusely.

Even though he’d been the one shooting it, Matt had been close enough to the spray when it landed that some misted back at him, making him cough as he staggered away chasing after the bat. Just a whiff of the stuff was enough to make his eyes water and his nose start to run, and he didn’t envy the mugger his experience. The guy’s cursing had been replaced by phlegmy, wracking coughs that sounded almost like he was puking up his guts, and the few breaths he managed to take were forced and raspy.

Matt picked up the bat and tossed it into his cart along with the bear spray, then grabbed the cart’s pushbar and yanked it back onto the sidewalk, running it past the downed mugger while giving him as much space on the sidewalk as he could. Once he was past he still stared over his shoulder every second or so for the next few hundred feet to make sure he wasn’t being followed.

That last thing he saw before he reached the top of the hill and its curve blocked his view of the attacker below showed the big man still writhing in pain, the noise of his wracking coughs reaching Matt’s ears for a ways afterwards.

He glanced down at the bear spray sitting on top of the pile of grocery bags, feeling equal parts relieved and sickened by the narrow escape from a dangerous situation. Those rioters back in the store had been complaining about all the guns being gone, but not ten feet from the empty racks had been a less lethal weapon that could still do the job. He was glad he’d grabbed the powerful pepper spray and even more glad it had been handy when he needed to defend himself.

He was still so high on adrenaline that he actually jumped when his phone rang, although of course he should’ve expected it after hanging up on his sister. But it wasn’t her name on the call it was his mom’s: April must’ve called her.

“Matt!” she said, sounding frantic. “I finally managed to reach you! Your phone was ringing earlier but it suddenly went to voicemail, and then April said she talked to you but you suddenly hung up. Are you okay? Why are you at a store with rioters instead of on your way home like you said?”

“I’m fine, Mom,” he said quickly, deciding not to tell her about the mugger. She’d only worry. “Sorry about the phone. The riot was just starting and I turned it off so I wouldn’t draw attention. But I’m fine, really, and I’ll be on my way home soon. I just got delayed by things more than I expected.”

“You should’ve left already,” she insisted. “I thought you were leaving hours ago!” Matt started to answer but she kept going, almost frantically. “Have you seen the news? Riots just broke out in Salt Lake City, and now you’re getting caught in them too. You’ve got to get out of there!”

“I will,” he said. “I promise, Mom, I’ll be there in a couple of hours at most.”

She started to reply, but mid-word his phone beeped and fell silent. Puzzled, he looked down to see that the signal had been lost.

What? The signal strength here was as strong as anywhere else in the valley, and he’d never had a dropped call. Had the cell phone company run out of power and cut off service? Or had the riots spread to some saboteur knocking out the cell tower up on the mountainside?

He waited a few minutes but the signal never returned. Great, his mom had already been freaking out and now this. He’d be seeing her soon enough to ease her worries, he hoped, but before he left he’d check to see if any of his roommates had a working phone, or maybe if the dorm’s landline was still up.

Decided, he slipped his useless phone back into his pocket and wasted no more time getting back to his dorm. He even trotted on the level and downhill stretches, and in spite of the bat and bear spray in his cart and the fact that nobody was seemed to be coming his way or paying him any special attention he didn’t relax until he was back on campus.

If the grounds had been deserted this morning now they were almost eerily empty. Matt felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight out as he pushed his cart towards the dorms. It was only mid afternoon but the place felt like it would in the middle of the night, and walking across it he had the irrational sense that he was doing something wrong even though he’d taken this route at this time of day hundreds or even thousands of times.

It was almost a relief when a security guard appeared around a corner up ahead, although the relief faded pretty quick when the man scowled and made a beeline for him, raising his voice to a shout. “What are you doing?” He pointed at the cart. “What is that?”

Matt slowed to a stop, puzzled. “I went shopping.”

The man sneered. “Yeah right. Five finger discount?”

“I paid for this stuff!” Matt protested indignantly.

The guard toyed with his belt, almost but not quite fingering the pistol holstered there. “Listen, kid. I’ve got to say that with riots spreading all over the city you pushing a shopping cart full of swag with a baseball bat sitting on top makes you look a lot like a looter.”

“I paid for it!” Matt repeated.

“Whatever. They don’t pay me enough to care either way.” The man jerked a thumb towards the dorms. “Get to your dorm. Campus administration has declared a 24 hour a day curfew as long as the riots continue.”

Dismay surged through him. “I was just going to pack up some things and drive home!” he protested. “I’m not planning on staying here!”

“Not planning on staying here,” the guard mimicked snidely. “Poor guy. It must be so terrible having to sit comfy on a couch watching the world end on TV. And lucky me I get to be out here making sure you’re safe to complain about the privilege.” He jerked his thumb at the dorms again. “Dorm. Now. And don’t let me see you outside again.”

Silently fuming, Matt allowed himself to be escorted to his dorm. Thankfully the security guard had nothing else to say across the short distance, although he also didn’t offer to help Matt get his cart through the doors. He seemed perfectly happy to stand there watching Matt’s clumsy efforts, though. Matt finally got his cart into the lounge, ignoring the odd looks of the students sprawled on the couches or across the floor there as they watched the news doing just what the guard had accused Matt of.

There was no way he was going to hang around until the riots ended. He had a feeling they would only get worse from here, and maybe even spread to campus. Curfew or no he intended to leave today. He’d just wait until it got dark and sneaking out was potentially easier. Decided, Matt made his way back to his dorm to pack up everything he’d need.

At least now he had plenty of time to try to get in touch with his mom.

Chapter Six

Day Seven: Evening

Trev didn’t even realize his phone had lost signal until he got to the auditorium and heard other townspeople who’d come for the meeting talking about it.

He stepped aside at the entryway and pulled out his phone. Sure enough he was showing no signal, not even roaming. Lewis was also checking his phone when Trev glanced over, and at his questioning look his cousin shook his head. They’d been busy all afternoon cataloguing stuff in the shelter and making a few adjustments and improvements Lewis couldn’t make alone and had been waiting for Trev to come down and help with, so neither of them had tried to use their phone. He wasn’t sure if no signal meant all the service providers had cut out at once, or if maybe the nearest cell towers had been knocked out. How would that affect the internet?

Before he could explore those thoughts further he was intercepted by a bustling dress and strong arms enveloping him in a tight hug.

“Oh Trev, it’s good to see you made it safely,” Mona Larson, Matt’s mom, said as she stepped back and patted his arm. Her face was scrunched with worry that he doubted was for him. “Matt said you were heading down and Lewis told us about your injury, but we still started worrying when you didn’t show up after a few days.”

Trev lifted his leg a bit to wiggle his foot and tap his knee with his knuckles. “I was off my feet for a day or so but I’m fine now. I just made it in earlier today.”

“Well be sure you don’t push yourself too hard!” she said, concern genuine even in her distracted state. “I was worried you might make your injury worse what with all the distance you still had to walk. Is it healing properly?” Before he could answer her impatience seemed to get the better of her. “Listen, have you heard from Matt? I was in a call with him when it dropped, and before that he’d got caught in a riot and I think me may have been attacked when April was talking to him because he suddenly hung up on her.”

“Matt was caught in a riot?” Trev demanded, having trouble sorting through her frantic whirlwind of words but definitely catching that. “Is he okay?”

“That’s what I’m asking you! His call was dropped while I was talking to him and if he’d left after that he should’ve been home by now! It’s been more than twice as long as he needed to make the drive.”

He and Lewis exchanged glances, and his cousin shook his head. “I haven’t talked to him since the day after the attack,” Trev answered. “Did his call drop when the cell service went down?”

She frowned, although she looked a bit embarrassed. “Well yes. But the call just ended so suddenly I was afraid he might’ve been caught in an explosion that took out the cell service or something. I know that sounds silly, but with him in the middle of the riot it’s hard not to think like that.”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Trev assured her. “Everyone’s cells all went dead at the same time so it’s pretty unlikely he was anywhere near whatever knocked them out. Have you seen anything about Orem on the news?”

The matronly older woman’s frown deepened in genuine frustration. “I don’t know. Cable went down about the same time as the phones, so no internet or TV and the signal from most of the broadcasted TV and radio stations is too weak to make it down here.”

Well that answered his question about internet. Say what you will about the shelter he and his cousin had built being a perfect setup for the end of the world, but it was isolated. Lewis had relied on his phone for internet while living there, which obviously was no help now. “Maybe the Mayor and City Council will have some news about what’s going on up north,” he offered.

That seemed to be enough to placate Mrs. Larson. She nodded and gave him another hug, and Lewis one as well, then hurried back to where her husband was saving her seat near the front of the auditorium.

Trev and Lewis had just barely found seats near the back when John Anderson, Aspen Hill’s Mayor, stood and walked up to the podium. Behind him the City Council sat on folding chairs, looking uncomfortable for more reasons than just the plastic seats.

“Good evening, everyone,” he said, the speakers booming his voice across the small auditorium. “I think you all know why we called this meeting.” He waited, perhaps expecting a chuckle from the crowd, but got only silence so he hurriedly continued. “Aspen Hill is in a true disaster situation, unlike anything we’ve seen before. It’s up to us as a town to plan for how we’re going to deal with our problems and all work together to survive until order can be restored. But first there’s something important we need to tell you all.”

Trev tensed. From the look on the Mayor’s face whatever it was wasn’t good. He looked to be physically working himself up to the news, and the stony faces of the councilmen and women behind him didn’t bode well either.

Anderson took a deep breath, then continued. “A few years ago we accepted Federal funds with the agreement that in an emergency situation we’d take in refugees from the more populous areas up north. Just before the cell towers went down this evening FETF, that’s the Federal Emergency Task Force, called in to let us know they’d already sent the first group our way down Highway 6 on foot.”

Although thanks to Lewis he’d known about the town’s arrangement to take in refugees Trev was still surprised by the admission that people were already on their way. The new surge of outrage and anger he felt at the news was also unexpected. He thought the room would erupt into angry shouts, but instead it remained silent and people didn’t seem to be responding to the bombshell. Either nobody fully realized the gravity of what the Mayor had just revealed or they were too stunned to respond.

Then Ed Larson, Matt’s dad, surged to his feet from his place beside his wife up in front. “Years ago?” he shouted. “Why didn’t you ever tell us about this?”

Anderson fidgeted a bit. “It was a budgetary matter.”

There were a few murmurs of disbelief at that. “Bringing in refugees when we’re struggling to survive a disaster is a budgetary matter?” Mr. Larson demanded. “Then what did you do with the money to prepare to accommodate all these people?”

The Mayor turned a beseeching look back at the expressionless City Council behind him, but they may as well have been statues for all the help they offered. The tall, charismatic man was normally fully in control of things, but then again he’d probably never had to face his constituents and admit he’d royally screwed up. “We, um, diverted the funds to other important projects.”

That finally got a response from the crowd, a sort of building roar of protest and anger. Trev found himself on his feet along with a few others and couldn’t help but shout. “So in an emergency you just planned to fob the refugees off on us while you spent the money? There are millions of people in the cities up north!”

Trev wasn’t the only one shouting, but his words got a few encouraging cheers from his neighbors. Anderson patted the air, trying to soothe the crowd. “Now, now, it’s not going to be like that,” he insisted. “We were only assigned a few hundred people, and it’s not like we’re alone. All the other towns in rural areas made the same deal with the Feds so they’ll help share the load.”

He might as well have been shouting into a hurricane as the auditorium descended into chaos. People were shouting over each other, Anderson kept pounding the podium and sending bursts of feedback into the mic when he tried to talk over the noise, and even the City Council had begun fidgeting nervously at the uproar.

Finally Lewis stood up next to Trev and put his fingers to his lips. Trev barely managed to cover his ears in time before his cousin’s piercing whistle cut through the noise. The tumult died down, mostly because everyone was looking around to see who’d made such a racket.

In the silence Lewis spoke calmly. “First off, with no supplies being trucked in everyone in the cities will be migrating out to rural areas in search of food and to escape the desperate violence of starving people. However many people you agreed on with your secret deal I can pretty much guarantee we’ll be dealing with thousands or even tens of thousands more. If not us then definitely Price, and that’s too close for comfort.”

The noise started up again at that, mostly in agreement, but Lewis raised his voice to a shout to keep going. “You all know that the claims of rural towns being full of food is mostly a myth. We may have a few farms and animals around here, sure, but our main crop is hay and while we do have some sheep a lot of our animals are horses. We’ve relied on trucks bringing in food every bit as much as the cities have. Now that the trucks have stopped I’d be willing to bet half the people in town are already going hungry, or will be soon. Aspen Hill is facing a hard winter. We’ll be lucky if we survive to spring, and although we all know it intellectually I don’t think any of us really comprehends just how terrible starving to death is.”

There were a lot of agreeing shouts as Lewis continued. “And after we survive this winter we still have to figure out how to survive beyond that point. Even if we did just have to deal with the few hundred refugees the Feds send our way it would be too many. A few dozen would be more than we can handle.”

His cousin’s calm, rational words seemed to have hit home, and although they produced an agreeing murmur the chaos mostly died down. “A gloomy prediction,” Anderson admitted, “but you might have a point. What you failed to mention is that the government will have things sorted out long before winter. The refugees we bring in will only be temporary.”

“How will they sort things out?” Lewis demanded. “Even if the economy hasn’t collapsed and there’s no rioting in every city across the nation with millions of people starving to death, where would the government get the fuel to start shipping what we need again? The Gulf refineries provided most of our fuel after the Middle East Crisis, and with them gone we have nothing else.”

“The Gold Bloc will lift their oil embargo when they see how bad things are for us,” the Mayor said, not sounding too convinced by his own words. “Or the government will think of something.”

“None of that matters and this isn’t really the time to argue any of that,” Mr. Larson cut in impatiently. He was one of the few people still standing. “Lewis is right that if we don’t get help we’re in serious trouble, so for now we should prepare for the worst and assume we’re on our own. Maybe for the long haul.”

Lewis nodded, throwing the older man a grateful look. “Which is why the only thing we can do is turn the refugees away.”

Trev knew the suggestion was coming, and he hated hearing it now as much as he’d hated hearing it the first time his cousin had made it. Unsurprisingly the auditorium immediately filled with voices of dissent and even a few boos.

“Impossible!” Anderson spluttered, his earlier chagrin replaced by outrage. “We promised we’d take those people in. We accepted Federal funds! Besides, we couldn’t call ourselves Christian if we turned away people in need.”

“If we offer to feed everyone who comes to us we’ll all be starving in weeks, including those we try to help,” Trev interrupted in support of his cousin. “Besides, we didn’t promise to take refugees in. We didn’t accept Federal funds! I’m not starving to death this winter to keep a promise you made that I didn’t even know about. If you’ve got some magical store of food and shelter for hundreds of people that’s one thing, but don’t try volunteering our food and houses.”

Lewis’s suggestion to turn away the refugees had gotten a bad reception, but Trev’s arguments got a bit of grudging approval. To drive the point home Mr. Larson spoke up as well. “It’s a terrible thing to contemplate, but I’m afraid the boys might have a point. I’m all for helping those we can, but we won’t help anyone if we give what we don’t have. We’ll just be in the same boat as those who come to us.”

Anderson’s expression had turned anguished. “I hate it. I hate the thought. A lot of us have got friends and family up north. They’re all people just like us. Do we want to let them come all this way and just leave them to die outside our city limits?”

“Not our city limits.” That was Randall Turner, the town’s lone contracted police officer, who’d spoken. “There’s too many potential problems with having a bunch of starving, desperate people a stone’s throw from the town. In a way it’s lucky we’re surrounded by mountains and tall hills with only three roads in that we can set up roadblocks on.”

“So not just turn desperate, hungry people away, but put armed men on our borders to do it with threats of violence?” Anderson said heavily.

“Welcome to reality, Mr. Mayor,” Turner replied. “Desperate people won’t politely go somewhere else when asked. Especially not if they’re following emergency evacuation orders to come specifically to our town.”

“And what if the Federal government comes around asking why we’re turning away refugees we promised to help?” Mr. Marsh, the City Councilman sitting right behind Anderson, called out.

Turner didn’t seem to have an answer for that, and a somewhat awkward silence fell. Trev felt like he should say something in support of their position. “Then we’ll still be alive to explain our decision when they finally get here. I have nothing but sympathy for the plight of the refugees, and nobody can argue that their situation isn’t going to be terrible. We should help them as much as we realistically can, but that’s the thing. How much, realistically, can we help them when we’ll be lucky to survive this winter ourselves?”

Anderson abruptly held up his hands. “Hold on now, I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The City Council already voted to accept the refugees in, but the town consensus seems to be against that so let’s put it to a general vote.” He paused for a moment, then continued more formally. “All in favor of accepting refugees into Aspen Hill?”

The proposal was met with stony silence in the room, and not a single hand in the crowd lifted. Anderson looked back helplessly at the councilmen and women behind him, but in spite of their earlier resolution their hands were all down too. “Very well. All opposed?” The City Council kept their stoic postures, still as statues, but the auditorium filled with rustling as everyone else raised a hand. The Mayor’s shoulders drooped with defeat. “Very well. We’ll collaborate with Officer Turner and volunteers from the town on setting up and manning roadblocks.”

After a long, thoughtful pause he abruptly straightened and continued hastily, as if to leave the unpleasant issue behind. “On to other matters. As you should all be aware by now resupply from outside sources has nearly completely halted for the foreseeable future. As it stands we’re basically limited to what we already have or can produce in town. Now when when we spoke with FETF earlier they encouraged us to keep things business as usual to avoid a panic until things could get back to normal, but after some debate with the council we’ve decided that’s not going to be enough.

“As of today all restrictions on hunting, fishing, and gathering on public lands is suspended. If you have or can think of any means of producing food we strongly encourage you to do so. Furthermore, anyone with an excess of fuel, food, or other necessities is encouraged to donate to the town storehouse, which will be set up in Tillman’s Sporting Goods and organized by Councilwoman Tillman. Please see her for more information about donating or receiving aid. Now we do realize the need to see to your own survival, but you should also be aware that our chances of getting through this will be better as a community. We can’t afford to all go our own way and die alone when together we can pull through.”

Trev both agreed and disagreed with that line of thinking. Like Lewis had said, they needed the town to be strong for everyone’s wellbeing. But at the same time they had to be ready to look after their own wellbeing if the town couldn’t pull through. He couldn’t help but think of the President’s speech after the attack where he talked about everyone sinking or swimming together. That sort of strategy would just see everyone dead where a few could have lived, same as if they decided to accept all refugees and try to share out food equally.

Anderson continued his spiel in the same rapid, almost panicked pace, as if trying to get through unpleasantness only to find more unpleasantness ahead. “Be advised also that power and therefore water is expected to fail within the next few days, if not sooner. The spring at the edge of town flows naturally and is therefore not dependent on pumps, so get used to drawing your water from there until we can think up a better solution. Although the Aspen Hill Canyon stream is another potential source of water we strongly advise against drinking from it unless you ensure the water is thoroughly purified first. The water can be used for other purposes, such as manually flushing toilets or watering gardens.

“On the subject of sanitation, we should warn you that it’s anyone’s guess how long before the sewer system backs up, and we definitely don’t want that. We caution you all to have outhouses dug and constructed before the sewer system fails, and be prepared to plug your toilets just in case. Even those with septic tanks should be aware that the tank will eventually fill.”

That wasn’t a problem at the shelter. Lewis had created a drainage field for the septic system that would last pretty much indefinitely with minor maintenance. Yet another thing Trev could be grateful for while living with his cousin.

The Mayor’s speech drew him back in. “Also, obviously, without fuel the garbage trucks will not be running. Garbage can potentially cause as many sanitation problems as sewage, so we urge you all to dig garbage pits well away from your houses to dispose of your waste. We’ll also be organizing teams to dig public latrines and waste dumps at suitable locations and could use volunteers for that.

“Moving on. After much discussion we’ve decided that we can’t rely on the strength of the dollar as a means of currency, and trying to do so would be pointless since we’re cut off from the rest of the world. Therefore we advise all citizens to switch to a barter system instead. However, although you would be wise to no longer accept dollars as payment we still feel it will be prudent to keep the previously accepted dollar value of items as a standard for trade to avoid confusion. We understand that in any economy values will shift according to supply and demand, and even at the best of times the value of goods is open to negotiation, but those price tags at the store are a good place to start any haggling.

“Now, we have to stress that volunteer efforts are as important as, if not more important than, material donations. We encourage all citizens to seek us out for any ways you can be of help in the community, especially if you have any skills that would be of use. Most especially, if we’re to follow Officer Turner’s advice about roadblocks we’re going to need to keep them manned in rotating shifts. That’s a lot of people volunteering a lot of time, so if you know how to use a firearm and can spare even one shift a week that would help tremendously. We’ll even find a way to furnish you with a firearm while you’re on shift if you don’t have one, as long as you’ve got the skill to use it.”

The Mayor actually reached up to wipe at a bead of sweat on his forehead, then smiled in a self-deprecating way. “All right, then. That’s the general stuff, now let’s get down to brass tacks and talk specifics.”

* * *

After the meeting Lewis led the way over to where a harried-looking Councilwoman Tillman was fending off dozens of people vying for her time. From the sound of it far more of them were requesting aid than offering it.

Catherine Tillman was the wife of John Tillman, owner of Tillman’s Sporting Goods, who Trev and Lewis had gotten to know pretty well during their building project since it also doubled as the town’s hardware store. Although the woman showed no favorites she did get to them faster than some of the others.

“Trev, glad to see you made it home safely,” she said, shaking his hand warmly. “We were all worried when we heard you’d injured yourself and had a long walk home.”

“Thank you,” Trev said awkwardly, not sure why they’d navigated the crowd to be here. He looked at Lewis.

“I’d like to donate 500lbs of wheat to the storehouse,” his cousin promptly said.

“And 100lbs from me,” Trev hastily added, although he hadn’t been planning on a donation. It felt flimsy and tacked-on compared to Lewis’s offer, but he didn’t have nearly the food supply his cousin had stored away. Also hadn’t Lewis been against donating food in their earlier discussion since it might give away that they had extra to spare? And 500lbs! That was 40 weeks’ worth of food for a grown man, give or take. Sitting through the meeting had obviously changed his mind.

However flimsy Trev’s donation felt right after Lewis’s offer, 100lbs was two months’ worth in its own right and probably more than he could spare. At least Catherine didn’t seem to think his donation was pathetic. Her eyes widened as she looked between both of them. “Well that is very generous, thank you! Bring it by any time, or let us know if you need help getting it out to the store. Or I suppose I should say storehouse, now.”

Even as Lewis assured her they had large sturdy wagons just for that purpose and could manage on their own her attention was diverted to the next person clamoring for her time, and Trev allowed the crowd to push him out into a clearer spot along with his cousin.

“Well, if it isn’t our town’s two biggest proponents of shirking Christian charity.”

Trev turned to see Anderson approaching through the crowd. Before he or Lewis could respond Catherine, who’d overheard the remark, broke away from the people she was with to intercept the Mayor.

“Now that was an unfair thing to say,” she scolded with her hands on her hips. “These two young men just donated generously to the storehouse.”

The Mayor had the grace to look embarrassed and quickly continued, getting right down to business. “Listen, I hear you boys live a bit beyond the northern outskirts of town. Since you seem so keen on turning people away maybe you can guard that northern border for us, out far enough to give plenty of advance warning of danger and turn back anyone who comes by.”

Trev wondered if Anderson could be any more of a jerk, insulting them and then asking them to do something for him. It was like the man wanted them to refuse so he could validate his low opinion of them.

Lewis wasn’t happy about the request either, although not for the same reason it turned out. “All due respect, Mr. Mayor, but we’ve got our own troubles trying to survive same as anyone. Night and day patrol duty over that large an area is an impossible job for two people, and doesn’t seem quite fair when there are hundreds of other people in town who could help out. Weren’t you just encouraging everyone to man the roadblocks, even if it was for just one shift a week?”

Anderson glanced at Catherine, who was still facing him off as if to remind him she was a part of the conversation even if she wasn’t saying anything. “Look, that’s a fair point. We’re just a mess right now trying to get things organized. Could you at least keep an eye out up there for a few days until we can get a patrol roster going? A week at most.”

Trev exchanged looks with his cousin. Lewis had said they needed to contribute however they could, and this seemed like a good way to do that. His cousin seemed to agree, because after a few reluctant moments he sighed. “We’ll do what we can with rotating shifts.”

That was a brutal schedule, alternating 8 and 16 hour days with no time off. Trev didn’t like the thought, but if it needed to be done and he’d promised to do it he intended to. He nodded to show his agreement.

The Mayor’s expression lightened a bit with relief. “Good, good. I’ll make sure you guys have radios. Do you have your own guns?” The both nodded. “All right, good. You can bring the radios around to recharge at Officer Turner’s office whenever you need, and report in at the same time or over the radio.”

“We can report in over the radio,” Lewis said firmly, which was a relief to Trev since it would save them a walk to town and back. “We’ve got solar power at home so we’ll be able to recharge the radios ourselves if you’ve got spare chargers.”

“Solar, eh?” Anderson said with a whistle. “Sounds like you boys are set up. Wish we had more of that to go around in town.” He spent a few moments arranging some final details and then excused himself to get back to the people pressing for his time.

“Well I notice he didn’t bother to say “thank you” in all of that, so I’ll do it for him,” Catherine said, squeezing Lewis’s arm encouragingly. “Thank you.” She glanced over her shoulder and sighed. “Excuse me, I’ve got my own impossible task to manage. You boys take care of yourselves out there.”

With that business done they stopped for a moment to talk to the Larsons and share their best wishes on Matt’s safe return, then Lewis led the way to the door.

“I can’t believe that guy,” Trev said for his cousin’s ears only, eyeing Anderson as they slipped outside. The Mayor was shaking hands and easing fears among the crowd. “So we’re unChristian for not wanting everyone in town to starve to death?”

“If I have to be the one to speak the hard truth that leads to everyone’s survival I’m willing to do it,” Lewis replied. “And even if everyone thinks I’m heartless, you notice nobody was in a hurry to disagree with me and say that maybe we really should let thousands of people come eat all our food so we all starve to death.”

“Yeah, funny how that goes.” Trev stretched and groaned, sore from sitting in a chair for so long after a week of walking long distances. “Can’t wait to start a thankless job barely anyone will even know about.”

“We’re not doing it for recognition, we’re doing it to protect the town. Besides, at least you can just bring your weapons and a daypack for the shift. It’ll feel like a vacation compared to lugging that overloaded pack for a week.” His cousin glanced at his leg. “You going to be up for it?”

“My leg’s fine,” Trev said, which was mostly true. The pain and swelling were almost completely gone, just a slight twinge when he really stretched it. “Come on. I don’t know about you but I’m exhausted. After the week I’ve had I wouldn’t mind sleeping for twelve hours straight.”

* * *

It didn’t take Matt long to pack everything he though he’d need, so while he waited until full dark so he could try to slip out to his car he watched the news with everyone else in the lounges. He was there for the breaking stories of the riots beginning in Provo and Orem, including the one at the store that seemed to have been the first and some newscasters speculated might have tipped others off when people saw the smoke. He thought he might have seen himself in some of the grainy camera footage, although he couldn’t be sure.

That pastime ended around sunset when the power went out. Due to the suspicious timing some of his dorm mates speculated that the city had deliberately cut power to try to discourage the rioters and encourage everyone to just go home. Matt wasn’t sure if that made sense, especially since with the power cut the rioters might be tempted to light more fires to see instead of giving up. Not to mention that without lights they’d have an easier time looting without being caught.

Either way the RAs came out in force about that time shooing everyone to their rooms and urging them to sleep until morning. Instead Matt pulled out one of his two small but powerful LED flashlights and did a last check of his room. He was using the cart to haul most of his stuff, better organized to fit his personal things, as well as rolling his full suitcase along behind him. He’d also put Trev’s Glock in his jacket pocket in case he needed it.

Once that was done he wheeled everything out to the apartment’s living area and sat on the couch waiting as it got darker and darker outside the windows. That reminded him uncomfortably of Trent, who he hadn’t seen all day. None of his other roommates seemed to be around either, leaving him alone in the dark.

He found himself again wishing he’d managed to get ahold of his mom on the land lines. They’d all shown a busy signal, either because the lines were down or because service had been cut off. He hoped she wasn’t worrying too much. He’d sent her an email on a friend’s computer since internet was still up, so hopefully she’d gotten that.

When it was finally completely dark Matt called a goodbye to roommates that probably weren’t even there and left the dorm. Down the hall he could see flashlights swinging around in the lounge, students talking quietly about what was happening, but he turned the other way to leave by the side doors. It was eerily dark outside, made even more unnerving by the ruddy glow of fires on the horizons all around.

As he pushed the cart and pulled his suitcase he expected the security guard from before to come chasing after him, but nothing happened. He reached his car and quickly tossed everything in the backseat, then pushed the cart over to the sidewalk and wedged it there. After a last look at his college and dorm to say goodbye to his old life, Matt opened his car door and slipped behind the wheel.

Before anything else he closed his eyes for a moment in a silent plea. It had been months since he’d last used this car, and although he knew he still had a few gallons in the tank the gauge read empty. But that wasn’t a problem, was it? He’d heard you could drive 50 miles after the gauge reached empty, and that would take him most of the way home. All the way if he was lucky.

He put the key in the ignition and turned it.

The engine sputtered, trying to start, and after a few long seconds finally turned over with a low rumble. He leaned back, grinning in relief, and reached down to put the car into gear. But just as he started to shift into reverse the engine sputtered again, tried to keep going, then abruptly died with a rattle and the squeal of a fan belt coming to a stop.

Matt sat frozen, staring at the steering wheel in blank disbelief. He knew he shouldn’t have been surprised that the car was completely out of gas after sitting on empty for so long, but he still felt a little bit betrayed.

50 miles! Isn’t that what everyone always said? When the gauge was on empty the car could still go 50 miles before dying. That would’ve at least gotten him into familiar territory where he could approach people who were practically neighbors for help getting the rest of the way home.

He punched the roof a few times, then shoved the door open and sprang out of the car, slamming it shut and leaning back against it to stare at the sky overhead. Along with fires painting the horizon in front of him red he could hear distant shouts and screams, which from far away sounded a bit like an outdoor music festival. Except it wasn’t.

What was he supposed to do now? He’d waited too long to buy what he needed from the stores, so now if he tried to make the walk down like Trev he’d be stuck with almost no food or water and nothing to carry it in besides his school backpack, which meant he couldn’t really carry a sleeping bag or anything very bulky. He supposed if it was literally life and death he could walk 75 miles without much food, although the trip would be brutal, but without water it would probably be impossible.

There was no help for it, he was going to have to gather up the water bottles he’d filled up for his apartment, most of them still sitting in the kitchen, and load up his backpack with everything he could find. His only hope was that he hadn’t waited too long to l-

“Psst!”

Matt yelped and whirled towards the noise, unconsciously grabbing for Trev’s gun tucked in his pocket. His hand missed twice going in, then the gun got caught in the fabric and he couldn’t manage to tug it free. After an embarrassing ten or so seconds he was still struggling as he finally got a good look at the person who’d approached him.

Or at least her silhouette in the near total darkness. He was pretty sure it was a girl standing on the sidewalk beside his car, with long hair and wearing her backpack while rolling a suitcase along behind her. She was in a dark sweater and jeans and was really hard to see.

“Uh, hello?” he hissed, letting his hand drop away from the gun. He’d really have to find a way to draw it faster so he didn’t end up dead in a real emergency.

“Hi,” the girl whispered back, raising her free hand to wave. “Um, we haven’t really met before but I’m in your English class. Samantha Hutchins?”

Matt felt himself relaxing. “Oh yeah, sure. You go by Sam, right?”

“Yeah, but only because it’s like the only nickname that works.” Sam hesitated. “Listen, this is going to sound weird but can I hitch a ride with you?”

Matt blinked. “I’m heading down to Aspen Hill. Didn’t you say you came from back east when we introduced ourselves on the first day? New York City, right?”

“Oh, you were paying attention?” the girl said in a teasing voice, sounding a bit pleased. Matt didn’t have the heart to admit that he had a good memory and hadn’t specifically been trying to learn more about her. Although as he recalled she was pretty cute: petite, with long black hair and a decent tan. But it had been a big class so that was about as far as impressions went.

Sam continued. “Yeah, I’m from the Big Apple. But you know it’s got to be way worse than even around here without food being delivered in, and anyway how would I even get there? I’m just happy to go wherever you’re going if you’ll have me along.”

He turned and kicked at his front tire. “I don’t know if you noticed but I’m out of gas. This car isn’t going anywhere, so unless you want to walk 75 miles with me you’re probably better off looking for another ride.”

“No worries,” Sam chirped. Matt could almost hear the smile in her voice. “Don’t carpoolers help pay for gas?”

Matt couldn’t help but laugh. “Gas stations haven’t been open for over a week. I know, my friend drove to a bunch of different places when he ditched town and that was the day of the President’s speech.”

It was Sam’s turn to laugh. “That’s not exactly what I had in mind.” She patted her suitcase. “Can I get loaded up? Then if you’ve got a spare container and hose I’ll show you where we can get this piece of junk topped off.”

“Sure,” Matt said, surprised but immensely relieved. He turned on his flashlight to help her see as she loaded up her backpack and suitcase, giving his hasty packing job a curious look.

It turned out it wasn’t the mess she was interested in, though. “You managed to go shopping? At first I was saving my money hoping to buy tickets for a plane or bus home, and by the time I realized there wouldn’t be any or any food coming in it was too late and all the food was gone. Looks like you got mostly other things.” She finished shoving her stuff in. “Got another flashlight?”

Matt nodded and fumbled in his other pocket. “Sure, here.”

“Okay, but we should probably keep them off until we need them. I ran into some security earlier and he was a real jerk.”

That made him laugh again. “We must’ve run into the same person.”

“Probably. Come on.” Matt hurriedly gathered up the gas cans and plastic tubing he’d gotten from the store, then followed Sam past the dorms and onto the eerily quiet campus. They walked side by side squinting into the darkness ahead as the dark-haired girl made a beeline for the Natural Sciences building, where she pushed through a locked door that had been left open using tape. He couldn’t help but find the situation strange, although he had no reason to suspect his new traveling companion. Even so, surrounded by pitch black silence it was easy to imagine himself being led somewhere to have his organs harvested.

Luckily Sam was quick to produce his flashlight to light their way down a hallway, although as he pulled out his own light and followed he once again felt a moment of concern when she led him through a door onto a stairway that led down to an underground level. “Um, where exactly are we going?”

Her dark head bobbed slightly as she turned to look back at him. “Shared labs. Half the professors in the building have a project going down here, everything from simple tesla coil experiments to some pretty high tech stuff.”

“If you’re about to tell me that my car is going to be run by a tesla coil…”

She laughed again. “Nope. Sorry for the mystery, it was just fun to see your reactions.” They reached the bottom of the stairs and she turned a hard left to reach a little alcove beneath the suspended steps. “I was a TA for Professor Guthrie, and before he took off for home a few days ago he had me fetching things for him from down here. Look.”

Tucked into the back of the alcove was a generator, a surprisingly large one, and as Sam finished she gave the tank bolted to the side a sturdy kick. Matt heard liquid sloshing inside. “Last time I came down here I noticed this and saw that it still had gas in it. Either the people working with it forgot it was here or they’ve already left like Professor Guthrie.”

Matt grinned as he crouched beside the generator, setting down his two 5-gallon cans and untucking the length of tubing he’d been holding beneath his arm. “I’m glad I’m the one you decided to hitch a ride with.”

“Yeah well I wanted to get away before these store riots I keep hearing about turn into something even worse, and considering it’s the middle of the night you seemed like the least rioty looty murdery option available.” Sam paused. “Okay the only option available, but you always seemed like a nice guy in class.”

“Oh, you were paying attention?” Matt asked with a slight smile, repeating her earlier words. Her only answer was a soft laugh.

The tank was up high enough that he could siphon the gas into the cans, which meant he had the delightful experience of breathing in fumes to get the liquid flowing. Thankfully he managed to not suck in a mouthful of gasoline in the process. It turned out the tank held a little more than six gallons, aside from a few last ounces he couldn’t manage to siphon out. With the miles per gallon his “piece of junk” managed he now had enough to make it twice the distance to Aspen Hill.

Sam offered to carry one of the cans but he refused. The gesture wasn’t so much chivalrous as the fact that carrying two similar weights in either hand balanced each other out, which for heavier things was almost easier than carrying half the weight unbalanced in one hand. Not that the cans were all that heavy. Instead he let her guide the way with the flashlight as they hurried out of the building.

Together they slipped through the darkness back to his car, where Matt filled the tank while Sam kept watch for security guards or other unfriendly faces. Finally they got in and Matt pumped the gas a few times to prime the engine, then held his breath and turned the key in the ignition.

The engine rumbled to life and ran smoothly, and he turned and grinned at the dark-haired girl finally fully revealed by the dome light. “Next stop, Aspen Hill.”

Sam grinned back. Just like he remembered she was pretty cute. “Great! Where is that, exactly?”

* * *

After everything that had happened that day Matt was a bit worried they’d run into trouble on the drive down, maybe car problems or roads being blocked. With the riots he even feared possible ambushes. But everything was uneventful as they left the city behind and made their way along Highway 6.

He spent the drive talking with Sam and got to know a bit more about her, and had to admit he liked what he heard. Although she qualified for student loans she’d been working part time during school and full time between semesters to keep the debts as low as possible.

She’d also picked a sensible major, although he hadn’t thought so at first. When she first said she was studying food sciences he’d thought glorified cooking, at least until she explained how the study dipped into the fields of microbiology, chemical engineering, and biochemistry. He was even more impressed when she went into detail about the complicated process of creating natural and artificial flavors in labs and the research and testing required, not to mention the production end of things. It looked as if her future was in a lab or factory, not a restaurant.

Or at least would be when the world got back to normal.

He also told her a little about himself, his time on the basketball team in high school and his mechanical engineering major at the university. It turned out that their fields had some interesting overlaps that made for a lengthy discussion, and the hour and a half drive ended surprisingly quickly, so he was turning off the highway and onto the smaller road leading to Aspen Hill before he even realized it.

Sam seemed surprised the drive was already over, too, and she had nothing but nice things to say about the town. Matt had wondered if growing up in such a big city would give her a disdainful view of rural living, but if anything she seemed to love the large yards and open countryside, and especially the black silhouette of the Manti-La Sal mountains looming to the west.

They weren’t the only ones surprised at their arrival, it seemed: Matt actually saw people coming out onto the porch to stare as he drove by. Were running cars really that unusual? Aspen Hill had one gas station so the City Council should’ve had fuel to use where needed, but maybe they were saving it for emergencies.

His parents’ house was a block off Main Street near the center of town, a modest 2-storey structure with a large yard that had a few fruit trees, some currant bushes, and a small vegetable garden his mom kept up, mostly for fresh greens. The lights in the living room were on, and as Matt pulled into the driveway behind his dad’s old truck his parents came rushing out of the house to stand on the porch waving.

His mom even took it a step further, coming down to practically pull him into a hug as soon as he got out of the car. “You’ve scared me half to death tonight!”

Matt hugged her back. “You didn’t get my email, then?”

“No,” his dad answered as he came down the stairs to clap Matt on the shoulder. “No cell phones, no internet, no cable.”

The sound of the car door opening turned Matt around, but before he could introduce Sam his mom beat him to the punch. “Oh, you’ve brought a guest!”

Matt knew his parents well enough to know that in spite of the grim present situation and the lack of warning that Sam would be with him there was no accusation in her tone, just surprise and pleasure. As well as that familiar unspoken question that everyone comes to recognize when bringing a member of the opposite sex anywhere near inquisitive parents.

“This is Samantha Hutchins. She’s in one of my classes, and when she saw I was leaving town she asked to come along. She found us the gas we needed to get here, and without her we wouldn’t have even gotten out of the dorm parking lot.”

“Hi, Mrs. Larson,” Sam began, pausing hesitantly as his mom rushed around the car to literally greet her with open arms. The dark-haired girl looked surprised at the hug, but she wasn’t awkward in returning it.

“Mona, please,” his mom insisted. “Welcome.”

“Thanks.” The hug ended and Sam stepped back, shifting a bit awkwardly. “And call me Sam. Look, I don’t want to be a bother. If there’s a hotel in town I’ll go ahead and stay there until I figure out what to do.”

“Absolutely not,” his mom said, equally insistent. “We have a spare guest room and I had a big dinner waiting for my son that’s ready to eat with a little heating. There’s plenty for two and I couldn’t dream of sending you away. Besides, there’s no hotel in town. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you like.”

Sam was about to answer when the lights in the house abruptly flickered and went out. Not just those but the streetlights as well, and also the few other houses in sight that had still been lit up. In the sudden darkness Matt exchanged glances with everyone.

“Well it was bound to happen soon,” his mom said with a sigh. “Ed, you’ll need fetch the camping lanterns so Matt and Sam can unload. Good thing we had them ready just in case.” She put her arm around the younger woman. “Now really, dear, I couldn’t forgive myself if I let you go wandering off in the dark. Come on, let me show you where you’ll be putting your things.”

As the two made their way into the house, their way lit by Sam’s flashlight, Matt grabbed some things out of the car and started after them with his own flashlight. On the way he passed his dad coming out with two brightly glowing electric lanterns. “How bad is it?” he quietly asked.

His dad shook his head. “We had a meeting tonight about it. I’ll tell you tomorrow after you’ve had a chance to rest. But basically we’ve already got hungry people in town and refugees are on the way. I supported your friends the cousins when they suggested we turn the refugees away and Officer Turner is going to be putting up roadblocks tomorrow. He’s looking for volunteers to man them.”

Well that was a bombshell to drop after saying they’d discuss things in the morning. But Matt just nodded tiredly. “I’ll talk to him about volunteering tomorrow.”

“I think that would be good. But for now let’s worry about getting this thing unloaded so you can get some sleep. Looks like you managed to bring back some things that might be useful.” His dad paused, then continued awkwardly. “So about Sam. This is, um, the first time you’ve mentioned her.”

He felt his face flushing in embarrassment. “I barely even knew her before tonight. I was a bit surprised when she asked to come with me.” He looked up thoughtfully at the light coming from the guest room. “But from what I’ve seen I’m really impressed with her. She’s a good person.”

His dad chuckled. “Didn’t mean to put you on the spot. Come on, let’s get to work.”

Chapter Seven

Helping Out

Matt woke up early the next morning, troubled by worries about the future. Since he could hear noises in the kitchen he went downstairs and found his mom and Sam working together to cook food with no electricity, using the little propane camping stove his dad must have pulled from the shed. He stopped in to say hello and let them know he wanted to do some errands before breakfast, and his mom let him know that his dad had gone to Tillman’s to pick up water jugs they could fill up while they still had pressure in the tap.

“I think I’ll go down and meet him there then. There’s some things I need to get too.”

“Oh then you should take Sam with you, show her around the town,” his mom immediately suggested.

The dark-haired girl looked torn by the offer, but after a moment shook her head firmly. “There’ll be plenty of time to see the town. I can’t just run off after I said I’d help you.”

Matt was surprised to find he was a little disappointed. He’d wouldn’t have minded a chance to spend more time with her. But he supposed there’d be plenty of time for that, too, so he put on his shoes and walked the block or so to Tillman’s Sporting Goods along Main.

His dad wasn’t there when he came in. Tamara Raymond, Scott and Catherine Tillman’s married daughter, was the only one in sight as she greeted him from behind the counter. “Hey Matt, good to see you made it into town safely. Your mom was really worried about you after the phones died. If you’re looking for your dad he just left with my dad to check a few things. Or did you come to donate?”

“Hey Tam,” he replied, coming over to the counter. He was awfully fond of the petite auburn-haired woman, since she had enough school spirit for the entire town and even though she’d graduated five years before him had always come to his team’s basketball games to cheer them on. He wasn’t sure what she meant about donations, though. Maybe something for the cheerleading squad, which she still helped out with. “Just here to buy a few things.”

She smiled. “You came just in time then. We’re about to turn this place into the storehouse and most of the stock will probably be the first donations.”

Matt blinked in surprise. “Storehouse?”

Tam’s return look was equally surprised. “The town storehouse. Mom and Dad donated the store for a location. Anything extra people have comes here to help the town through the winter. I guess you must’ve missed the meeting, but didn’t your parents tell you about it? Ed had a lot to say.”

“First I’m hearing about a storehouse. Anyway at the moment I need some stuff for this.” He pulled out the Glock Trev had given him, which he’d emptied at his house and checked several times to be sure, and set it on the counter. At the moment he only had one full magazine and the gun itself, and if he was going to help Officer Turner at the roadblocks he’d want everything else he needed for it.

She picked it up and did a quick chamber check. “Just bought it? Always liked these, and this one is almost new.” She frowned. “Dirty, though, and looks like it’s been that way for months.”

Matt felt embarrassed, even though he had no reason to be since he wasn’t the one who’d owned the firearm. “Yeah, I just got it. Will it still shoot?”

Tam racked the slide and dry fired the gun a few times into a compartment against the back wall behind her that was specifically designed to mitigate accidental discharges. “Probably, although you may run into malfunctions. I’d clean it thoroughly before use anyway, or at least not wait too long doing it. Keeping it dirty like this long term can damage sensitive mechanisms.” Her tone became stern. “And also I like to see firearms properly cared for as a matter of principle. They’re not just expensive tools… properly cared for they can literally be the difference between life and death.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said, fighting a smile. Tam had been a cheerleader in high school and was now married with a young daughter, but for all that she was her father’s girl: a tomboy through and through. “I’ll need cleaning tools for it then. I also need a holster and some ammo and several spare magazines. Whatever you recommend.”

With her help he was able to gather up all the things he needed plus a good bit of extra ammo, and once he had his stack of goods he took them over to the counter to be rung up. He’d been keeping the money for next semester’s tuition in an envelope in his room, which was more than enough, and he figured since tuition was out of the picture now so he might as well make use of it. He might even buy some extras after doing some careful shopping at a later date.

But when he pulled out the stack of 20s, 50s, and 100s to pay up Tam frowned. “Oh. Um…”

“What?”

She gave him an uncomfortable look. “We’re not taking money for items anymore.”

Matt tried to work his mind around that. “But you’re a store. Also the internet’s down so credit and debit cards won’t work. If you’re not taking cash and customers can’t charge purchases then how do I pay? I don’t have a checkbook.”

“We’re not taking dollars in any form,” she said, then hurried to continue at his further confusion. “Since we’re effectively cut off from the rest of the world we just decided that going to a barter system made sense. Before we went dark yesterday there was word that the dollar’s dropping like a stone, and none of us want to make deals today only to have a neighbor come around tomorrow complaining that we cheated them paying with worthless money.”

“And when did you decide this?” Matt demanded, looking at the couple thousand dollars in his hand. What now, he had a bunch of money and nobody in town would take it? Even with all that was happening they had to have more faith in the dollar than that. He’d worked really hard in sales at a used car dealership to save up that much!

“The meeting last night. You didn’t hear anything about it from your parents?”

“No,” he said miserably. “Look, Tam, all I’ve got is cash.”

The auburn-haired woman frowned. “I’ll have to ask my dad, but I don’t think he’s going to go for it. It’s not you it’s the money itself, and that’s a liability we can’t take even for old friends.”

“What’s a liability?” came a voice from the backroom. Scott Tillman emerged from the open door leading Matt’s dad. He was wearing his reading glasses which suggested he’d been doing paperwork.

Matt went over and shook the older man’s hand. “I’m trying to pay in cash but apparently the town decided to go to a barter system. Whose crazy idea was that?”

Tam snickered, and Mr. Tillman smiled slightly. “My wife’s. Catherine felt that moving to a barter system before the US economy collapsed and the dollar became worthless would at least keep the local economy fairly stable. The rest of the City Council seemed to agree. Didn’t you hear about the meeting?” Behind Matt Tam made a choked noise, like she was trying not to laugh again.

Matt shot her an annoyed look over his shoulder. “No. But I tell you what, I’m going to be at the next one if you’re making these sorts of decisions.”

“I’m sure we can work out an arrangement, Scott,” his dad said, then glanced at Matt. “This is all stuff you need, right son?”

He nodded. “Well yeah. If I’m going to volunteer for the roadblock I’d like to have a clean gun, plenty of ammo and extra mags, and a reliable holster.”

“You’re volunteering to defend the town, eh?” Mr. Tillman asked. “Well then tell you what, we can set you up on credit for now and next time you come around we can talk about bartering.”

Matt rubbed at the unshaven stubble on his chin. He hated owing anyone anything and did his best to avoid debt, but at the same time this stuff could save his life in the future and his money was useless. Besides, he had all the stuff he’d bought at the store up in Orem, as well as his other possessions. He should be able to find something to pay the debt off. “All right. That would be great, thanks.”

Mr. Tillman nodded and got behind the counter beside his daughter, taking a cheap pen and clipboard from beneath it as he began looking over Matt’s purchases. Under “Matthew Larson” written large and underlined in its own column he began making a list of all the goods.

As the older man worked Matt watched him in confusion. “Um, the tally’s right there on the register. Why are you writing everything down?”

Tam shook her head at him, and his dad chuckled. “Tally up with dollars?” Mr. Tillman asked. “We’re not on dollars anymore, so it has to be the goods themselves we jot down so we can guess at their value later. The dollar value is just a place to start.”

“Yeah, but in a barter system the value of the stuff I’m getting can change at any moment. Especially the longer we go without getting supplies.”

Tam shrugged. “Taking credit presents its own complications I guess. We’re still feeling this all out as we go but we’ll do our best to give you a fair deal.”

Matt wasn’t happy about it. The Tillmans were the most honest people in town, but even though he trusted them it was uncomfortable being in a situation where nothing stopped them from talking up the value of the goods when it came time to settle.

“Well just so long as you know what you’re getting into,” he said as he picked up the paper bags Tam loaded his things into. “I think I can manage bartering, since I’m probably one of the few people in town with any real negotiating experience. I was selling cars to pay my way through college, remember.”

Mr. Tillman glanced past him out the store’s big window, to a couple parked vehicles in the parking lot with empty tanks. “I know. I won’t hold it against you.” His daughter laughed.

Matt finally smiled too, appreciating the humor of the situation. Of course he’d also appreciated the humor of it while trying to sell cars with gas prices climbing steeply all last year. “Thanks again. I’ll be back when I’ve got the time, depending on what Officer Turner says and what my family needs from me.” He turned to look at his dad, who’d come to stand beside him. “Breakfast is probably done by now.”

His dad waved him on. “I’m going to stick around and help Scott in here. If you get some free time maybe you can swing by too and see what needs doing. Bring your new friend Sam if she wants.”

“Ooh, a new friend?” Tam asked, brightening. “And a girl. Does that equal girlfriend?”

Matt felt his face reddening. “We just met,” he protested, backing through the door. “I’ll, um, let Mom know you might miss breakfast Dad.” With that he turned and hurried away.

Back at home he came into the kitchen to see that his mom and Sam had prepared an enormous breakfast. At first glance he was dismayed at their irresponsibility, but then he realized that with the power out the food in the fridge was probably already going bad, and what was in the freezer wouldn’t be far behind.

As they ate he let his mom know what her husband was up to, then quizzed her on what he’d missed at the meeting. Sam was an active participant in the discussion, genuinely seeming to care what happened in the town. To Matt’s surprise she even agreed with the decision to turn away the refugees, although he’d still been on the fence about it in spite of being willing to help Officer Turner.

“I know it’s a bit hypocritical since I’m basically one,” she admitted. “But we saw how the food situation is up in the cities and it sounds like it’s only a bit better down here. If all those people come around looking for a meal any hope the town has of surviving goes down the drain.”

“Well I agree with just about everything you said,” his mom answered. At Sam’s quizzical look she smiled. “Except that you’re not a refugee, you’ve got a home right here.”

Matt had expected Sam to protest, but to his further surprise her eyes welled with tears and she went around the table to hug his mom. “I’ll find ways to pull my weight, I promise. You can’t know how grateful I am.”

She abruptly turned to Matt, businesslike. “Speaking of which, your mom mentioned you were going to go see about helping at the roadblocks. I want to come and volunteer too.”

“Sure,” he said, pleased at the chance to spend more time with her. Although he didn’t know how he felt about her being in a potentially dangerous situation. He cleaned the last bites off his plate and stood. “Should we get going?”

The dark-haired woman nodded and hurried to grab her shoes. While she was doing that Matt retrieved the holster he’d purchased from the bags still near the door and looped it on his belt, then holstered his Glock. Sam gave the gun a curious look as she finished putting her shoes on, but she didn’t comment on it.

Together they set off north along Main Street to the edge of town, where his mom mentioned that the policeman and town volunteers were setting up the first roadblock. On the way he pointed out a few features of Aspen Hill and named the neighbors who lived in all the houses they passed. Sam seemed interested in the information, but he couldn’t help but notice her eyes constantly darting to the mountains to the west.

“This has been my favorite thing about living in Utah,” she admitted when he asked her. “I love having mountains on my doorstep. Back in Provo-Orem I’d go up to Rock Canyon on weekends to hike the trail. I even tried rock climbing with friends a few times, although I wasn’t very good at it.”

Matt had always appreciated the beauty of the mountains himself, but he hadn’t really thought about them since they’d always been around. “There’s some nice lakes up there,” he offered. “I’ve been fishing a few times with my dad and the Halssons.”

“Halssons?” she repeated.

“My friend Lewis and his dad. He’s the cousin of another of my friends, Trevor Smith, and Trev was up at the university with me.” Matt made a face. “He warned me about leaving Orem after the attack and even offered to let me come along when he left, but I assumed things would get back to normal before too long, or at least wouldn’t get bad as quickly as they did.”

“Well I’m glad you didn’t go,” she said, patting his arm. “It may be selfish, but I’d still be stuck up in Orem if you had.”

“Yeah, I’m glad too,” Matt glanced north along Main. “I should go out and say hello to the two sometime soon. They’ve got their own place up northwest of town.” He was about to tell her about the shelter that he’d done a little to help the cousins build and had visited a few times after it was finished, but Lewis had asked him to keep quiet about it and he respected that request.

Main Street ended in a road that led out to Highway 6. Just outside the city limits, a stone’s throw from the spring Aspen Hill had first been built around, he saw men working together to push cars into place perpendicular across the road, in such a way that they could be pushed to either side to let vehicles in if necessary. More cars were situated behind them all the way to the sidewalks, and a few heavy dressers had been placed across the sidewalks to finish blocking the way.

The properties on either side of the street were fenced in, which did a fairly good job of preventing anyone from going around, but more important to securing the roadblock were the people themselves. Turner had a shotgun slung over his shoulder with a bandolier full of shells looped across his chest, as well as his service weapon at his hip. The handful of other men helping build the roadblock were also armed, some with pistols and other with rifles leaned up against the dressers where they could be quickly picked up if necessary.

Matt made his way over to the policeman and introduced Sam, then mentioned they’d like to volunteer for helping with roadblocks or wherever else they were needed. Officer Turner nodded at that, looking approvingly at the 9mm on Matt’s hip. “I’ve seen you out at the range a time or two, so I assume you’ve at least used a firearm before.” He turned to Sam. “How about you?”

The dark-haired woman looked a bit sheepish. “Once, on a date a bit over a year ago. We rented an automatic rifle of some kind at a gun range in Salt Lake City and he let me try it out. I, um, wasn’t very good with it, but I’m willing to learn.”

Turner smiled slightly. “Well I appreciate the offer and we can put you on the list, but at the moment we’ve looking for people who won’t shoot themselves in the foot or smack themselves in the face when their firearm recoils. If you want to help out there’s plenty you can do, though: Councilwoman Tillman is organizing volunteers for all sorts of things down at the new town storehouse.”

Sam nodded, although she gave Matt a slightly disappointed look. Had she wanted to stay with him? “I will, thanks. But I hope you’ll keep me in mind if you need anyone, even just to run errands or be a lookout. I want to help out.”

“That’s the spirit.” The policeman turned to Matt. “By the way, I don’t know if you’ve heard yet but with the power out the Mayor wants to get the word around that anyone who’s got more perishable food than they can eat before it goes bad is welcome to bring it to the storehouse for vouchers. He’s going to bring the freezer units from Mercer’s grocery store around and hook them up to a few generators. We’ve got enough fuel to keep the units running until we’ve eaten up the food in them, and to help empty them quicker the town’s going to hold a parking lot potluck at around 6. Everyone’s invited, and we’ll use up the food that’ll go bad the soonest or doesn’t freeze well.” He glanced at Sam. “There’s another way you can help out, if you want to come early and help the Councilwoman and her volunteers cook it all up.”

“Sure,” Sam said uncertainly. “I’m not much of a cook but I’ll do what I can.”

“I’ll come along too,” Matt offered. “It’ll be fun.”

Turner abruptly turned towards the men working on the roadblock. One of them, Tam’s husband Carl Raymond, had been tying the bumpers of the two cars across the road together. “Don’t do that,” the policeman shouted, starting over, “we need to be able to move those in a hurry!” He paused to glance back at Matt. “We should be good for today, but come around tomorrow morning and I’ll let you know when your shifts are.”

“Okay, thanks,” Matt called at his back. He turned and glanced at Sam. “Sorry if he was rude.”

She gave him a puzzled look. “He’s fine. Should we head back to Tillman’s and see what we can do, then?”

Matt hesitated, glancing northwest past the few houses outside the town limits. About a mile beyond them were a few hills leading up to the foothills below the mountains. “Listen, I’ve got another errand to run real quick. Can I meet you there in about an hour?”

“Oh I can go along too,” Sam offered.

He shook his head, cursing Lewis’s paranoia. He didn’t want to insult Sam or suggest in any way that he didn’t trust her, but at the same time he couldn’t bring her around to the shelter without the cousins’ permission. “It’s going to be a long walk and I’ll just be visiting some neighbors to let them know about the potluck. They live far enough out that they might not have had a chance to come around to hear about it.”

Luckily she didn’t press the issue. “Okay, I’ll see you at Tillman’s.” With a quick wave she headed back the way they’d come, while Matt made his way around the roadblock towards the hills.

He’d been relieved to hear from his mom that Trev had made it safely, but he wanted to go around to personally make sure his friend was okay and see how the cousins were faring with all this. He was also interested to get their opinion on everything, since preparing for society’s inevitable crash and burn had been their area of expertise for years.

* * *

There was music playing on the other side of the heavy metal-sheathed door leading into his friends’ shelter when Matt arrived.

At first that completely threw him for a loop, wondering how they’d managed it with the power out, until he remembered the solar panels up on top of the rounded dirt hill the shed was buried beneath. Trev and Lewis might not even know the rest of the town had been thrown back into the Old West days.

He knocked loudly with his fist to be heard through the thick door and over the music, and about half a minute later it cracked open to reveal Lewis in the doorway, wearing camouflage gear and holding a can of chili in one hand. “Oh hey, Matt, you made it home,” his friend said, stepping aside. “Your mom was worried about you last night at the meeting. Come on in.”

“Thanks.” Matt followed his friend in and over to the small living area they’d set up beside the door, which had a couch and a few beanbag chairs, and settled onto the couch. “Sounds like those solar panels are paying off,” he added with a jerk of his head to refer to the music in general. “At least until you get sick of the songs in your collection.”

His friend plopped down on a beanbag and set his chili on a nearby table, leaning back and grinning. “That might take a while. I’ve got ten terabytes of movies, TV shows, music, and books on a server. I don’t know if I’ll even be able to get through it all in a lifetime.”

Matt whistled. “Ten terabytes! You must’ve been pirating for years.”

His friend gave him an insulted look. “Not a single thing. I converted over my parents’ old collections of songs, TV shows, and movies, and Trev’s parents’ stuff too. I also found cheap or even free collections of older stuff online. As for the books a lot are free downloads from legitimate sites, but most are from projects that collect free domain works, especially the old historical and cultural classics, and archive them for posterity. Sure, it was a bit more effort doing it that way and I had to go with what was offered, but I’m not complaining.” He suddenly brightened. “You should bring your family over for a movie night sometime.”

“Yeah, sure.” For some reason talking about movies after what he’d seen in the city yesterday annoyed Matt. “Where’s Trev?”

Lewis pointed vaguely towards the back of the bunker. “On patrol. Mayor Anderson asked us to watch the northern border. We were up early this morning finding a good patrol route and planning things out, which took us about four hours. Even though it means he’ll have to patrol longer today Trev asked for the four hours remaining in the shift, so I’d come on to do a full eight hour shift afterwards. It means he’ll basically be doing 16 hours, and I’m a bit worried about how he’ll hold up doing all that just after getting done with a 50 mile hike, but he was pretty insistent.”

“Wait, hold on,” Matt demanded incredulously. “You guys are trading off eight hour shifts? Officer Turner’s got a dozen men at the roadblock and half of them are sitting around!”

His friend shrugged. “Anderson’s sorting it out. He said it would only be a few days until he could set up a better patrol roster, a week at most.”

Matt thought about being sent home from the roadblock today and the vaguely promised future shifts if he was needed. He almost regretted volunteering there now, since it seemed like he could do much more good here. At least with three people they’d all be doing 8-hour shifts a day instead of trading off 16 hours. “Listen, I’m going to be doing shifts at the roadblock but I can help you patrol too. Tell Trev I’ll take the last shift tonight, and once I see the schedule for the roadblock I’ll fit in as many patrols out here as I can.”

Lewis nodded. “Thanks, that’s actually a huge relief. Come by around 8 and we can walk you along the patrol route before your shift starts. If you don’t have a flashlight I’ve got one for you, and it looks like you still have that pistol Trev got when Nelson tried to mug him.” He said that last with a nod at the gun at Matt’s hip. “You’ll probably also want to bring food and water, and dress warm.”

“Okay sure.” Matt hesitated, almost apologetically. “By the way, the town’s holding a potluck at 6. I don’t know if you want to cancel your shift or what, but…”

“I’m good,” his friend said, “but I’ll let Trev know.” He reached for his can of chili and took a bite. “So I guess that’s all settled. How about you? It sounds like you had an exciting day yesterday and I’d be interested to hear about it. The news can only tell you so much about what it’s like to be caught in up in the chaos.”

Matt shuddered. “I managed to get away before things got really bad.” He briefly described the riot at the store, the mugger on the sidewalk and defending himself with one of the dozens of cans of bear spray he’d dumped into his cart, curfew at the dorms, and the fires on the horizons. He also told his friend about meeting Sam and her help with the gas to get down to Aspen Hill, then asked if she could maybe come around to see the place sometime.

Lewis hesitated, looking reluctant. “You know I don’t like telling anyone about this place. Aside from my family you and your parents are pretty much the only ones who know exactly where it is. Everyone else just knows I live somewhere north of town.”

“She’s a good person,” Matt insisted. “You’ll like her.”

“I’m sure I will. There are a lot of good people in town but I still like to be cautious.” Lewis frowned thoughtfully, then sighed. “I guess if she ends up staying with you long term, which is probably going to happen since I don’t know what else she can do, she’ll pretty much be part of your family. If you decide she’s really trustworthy at that point of course she should know.” He abruptly grinned. “After all, I did invite you guys to a movie night.”

“It’d be my first underground movie,” Matt admitted, looking around the shed with its rounded walls. “I’ve already seen this place a few times but it’s still pretty impressive how you managed to bury it. Not sure what the point was, though: staying hidden from prying eyes?”

“Didn’t we ever tell you when you were helping us with it?” Lewis asked. Matt shook his head. “Putting it underground is for staying warm in the winter and cool in the summer, mostly. Although being hidden and less likely to draw attention is definitely a plus.”

That made Matt frown as he looked around again. “I can see that for the summer, maybe, like a cave being cooler than outside, but in the winter you’ve got the ground all around you constantly leeching heat out of this place. How is that better than a raised and insulated house?”

“Because a raised and insulated house isn’t really all that insulated. Just think of how fast it heats up or cools down when you turn off the heat or air conditioner. Underground the temperature stays fairly constant, going up a bit in the summer and down a bit in the winter but never too extreme. It also makes great insulation so the temperature change is slow when it does happen.”

Lewis stamped his foot on the carpeted wooden floor. “This place isn’t quite as ideal as true underground, since it has to be ventilated which lets cold or hot air in depending on the season. It’s also not buried quite deep enough to truly match ground temperature, which stays around 55 degrees fahrenheit year round. Still, it’s way better than a frame and wallboard house: no matter how cold it is outside the coldest this place has ever gotten is 40 degrees, and even on the hottest day of summer it’s always comfortably cool in here.”

His friend pointed at the large stove in the back corner and the stovepipe snaking its way along the ceiling to disappear upwards out of a hole near the front. “And we’ve also got the stove to heat the place up to something more comfortable than that, and with the underground insulation it doesn’t take nearly as much firewood to get the same results as heating a house like your parents’.”

Matt nodded slowly. “All right, I suppose that makes sense. But if this does so much better than normal houses for heating and cooling then why doesn’t everyone build houses like this?”

Lewis shrugged. “It’s a consequence of introducing modern heating and air conditioning into every household.”

He stared at his friend in complete befuddlement. What did that have to do with anything? “You’re going to have to explain that to me.”

“Think about it. Before heating and air conditioning were developed to the point that they could be installed in every home and run off the power or natural gas grid, people didn’t have easy solutions. In every region the world over people built houses suited to the climate, based on decades, centuries, or even millennia of human ingenuity and trial and error. Houses that were optimized for keeping the occupants warm in the winter and cool in the summer were necessary. Now the standard is framed houses of wallboard and plywood, poorly insulated and with big windows that are even harder to insulate, and everything aboveground. It’s no wonder they’re barely fit to live in now that the power and gas aren’t coming in. Which people will find out pretty quick as the weather turns colder. Even houses with wood stoves like yours won’t be quite as comfortable as their occupants hope.”

A good argument, but it still irked Matt that Lewis seemed to have had that speech prepared. “You just know everything, don’t you?”

His friend didn’t seem particularly insulted by the accusation as he took another bite of chili, chewed, and swallowed. “I try. The main problem most people have is shortsightedness, and with the introduction of easy heating and cooling everyone was quick to abandon all the past wisdom about climate appropriate houses for their regions in just a few decades, in favor of the ubiquitous frame houses that aren’t really suited to any climate but a perfectly temperate one without needing a lot of heating and cooling. I try to avoid being shortsighted.”

“Yeah well it shows,” Matt said shortly, looking around the shelter with its piles of food near the back. He liked Lewis and respected the guy’s careful nature and willingness to learn and understand things, but on the flip side sometimes it felt like his friend wasn’t afraid to throw in an explanation even when it wasn’t asked for, in a tone that bordered on smug superiority.

Or maybe that was Matt smarting at being caught completely unprepared by all this while Lewis and Trev were better off than anyone in town. Either way it annoyed him. He stood up. “Well it was good to touch base. Feel free to come around any time, and be sure to let Trev know about the potluck.”

“Sure, and I hope you’ll visit more often.” Lewis got up and led him to the door and outside, squinting around at the bright day. As Matt started to walk past him towards the dirt road leading back into town he added. “By the way, good thinking with that bear spray. I’ve got a couple small cans of pepper spray on keychain rings for personal defense while jogging or whatever but that’s it. If you want to do some trading bring as many as you like by.”

“Okay,” Matt said, thinking of the buckets and boxes of food in the shelter. That could really help his family, and also might provide him with something he could give the Tillmans in payment for the stuff he’d purchased earlier. “Take care out here, okay?” Lewis nodded, and feeling a bit better about the visit Matt made his way back to town.

* * *

The parking lot outside Tillman’s was crowded when Trev arrived for the potluck. It looked like most of the town was there.

He meandered through the crowd, greeting people he knew and stopping to chat if they wanted something. He was tired after his patrol shift that had ended a few hours ago, especially since his body was still recovering from the hike down, but compared to lugging around his heavy pack for a week walking the patrol route with just his daypack, weapons, radio, and other necessities for the shift had almost been a vacation.

Well okay, it was still eight hours of steady walking with frequent breaks to inspect the area with his binoculars, but it wasn’t brutal. He hoped his cousin would quit worrying about his condition now that he’d proved he was up to the task.

From what he was getting from his chats, as well as overheard snatches of conversation, the inspiration for this potluck was to use up the food going bad in people’s unpowered fridges and freezers. That didn’t affect him or Lewis since his cousin had long since finished the few groceries in his small fridge and had moved on to eating from their food stockpile.

From the sounds of it the town had set up freezers from the grocery store in the storehouse for whatever food people brought in, trading it for storehouse vouchers, but from what Trev saw of the food being prepared near the store on large grills or along long tables, most of what people brought was going to be eaten tonight.

That felt like a waste, but at the same time they were racing against spoilage anyway so better to eat it than watch it rot. And Trev supposed it was good for the town to have events like this to remind everyone that they were part of a community and would be better off surviving together.

Still, he wondered if Lewis would approve. His cousin might’ve suggested they find ways to preserve the food instead and stretch it out as long as possible. And maybe he’d have a point saying that, since a party like this hinted that people still didn’t get how serious things were. Or maybe they did and were trying to pretend otherwise for a few hours.

Either way he planned to eat his fill.

He found the Larsons up near the front helping out with preparing and serving the food, although Matt took a break from moving platters to the serving tables to greet him. His friend also introduced him to Sam, the girl who’d driven down with him. Trev didn’t know her, but he had to admit she was cute and seemed nice. From the fond way the people working around her talked as she excused herself for a moment to greet Trev he also had the feeling she’d earned a lot of goodwill by pitching in to help.

After the introductions she returned to her work, and Trev grinned at his friend. “You could do a lot worse for a traveling buddy.”

Matt gave him an embarrassed look. “We’re just helping her out,” he insisted. Then he paused. “Although you’re definitely right.”

Trev chuckled and clapped his friend on the shoulder, then made his way over to the line of people waiting for food. He wanted to talk to Anderson and Turner about the patrol he and Lewis had worked out, as well as ask them how they were coming finding more people to work the shifts. But the smell of grilling meat and other cooking food was too tempting to pass up, especially since he and Lewis had decided to strictly limit their meals to the daily calorie consumption for an active adult male to stretch their stores out as long as possible.

His cousin also wanted to use up the wheat, rice, and beans in the buckets at the same rate as the more convenient canned food, which meant there’d be a lot of cooking to do. Luckily Lewis had thought ahead and had huge bags of spices of every variety, especially salt, as well as canned jalapenos and tomato sauce.

Still, cheating a bit this afternoon would be nice. He just felt bad that Lewis couldn’t be here to enjoy it too, although he’d try to finagle his cousin a plate since he had a good excuse for his absence, being out on patrol defending the town.

Once he’d worked his way through the line Trev filled up his plate and went over to where the Larsons were sitting with a few other families. They seemed interested in his trip down, so he talked a bit about it and what he’d learned. Although he didn’t mention the cache or bring attention to needing to leave anything behind when he abandoned his car.

After an hour or so Matt and Sam joined them, and it was Matt’s turn to talk about his week up in Orem and watching the situation at the college deteriorate, then the riot and his near mugging. By the end of the story Trev almost didn’t mind the time he’d spent walking considering what he’d managed to avoid by leaving early, even though he’d ultimately arrived on the same day as his friend.

After the story Scott Tillman pulled Matt to the side, and Trev overheard them talking about the remaining gas in Matt’s car and something about a debt. Matt didn’t look happy about giving up the gas, and he haggled fiercely over it before the two men finally shook hands.

By then it was nearly time to go, so when Matt returned to the table Trev suggested they head out. To his surprise Sam offered to join his friend on the shift, even though it meant a chilly, sleepless night hiking in the dark. Matt firmly refused, insisting she’d worked hard that day and besides she was already committed to helping clear up after the dinner. She looked disappointed, and for that matter Matt didn’t look much happier about leaving her as they left the parking lot and headed up Main. His friend already had a daypack and warm coat with him, ready for the shift.

“She sure wants to stick around you,” Trev ribbed his friend as they walked. “I like you, buddy, but I wouldn’t want to spend a miserable night walking with you back and forth for twenty or so miles just for the company.”

Matt looked embarrassed. “She just wants to help.”

“So I’ve seen. Still, do yourself a favor and assume maybe she might be interested in more than just being helpful. It sure looks as if she likes you.”

“Come on, man, we’ve only known each other for a day!” his friend protested. “Don’t start ringing the wedding bells just yet.” Trev laughed, earning an irritated look. “Besides, we need to be worrying more about the situation the town’s in right now. You’re the one who’s always obsessing about survival.”

Trev held up his hands. “Fine, fine. Let’s talk about the patrol route, then. I can’t tell you what it’ll be like at night, but I can tell you how my shift went for me and some spots I noticed where you’re more likely to see people traveling.”

Matt nodded, and as the two continued on they got down to business.

Chapter Eight

Refugees

It was the morning of the fourth day since they’d volunteered to patrol north of town and Trev was halfway through his fifth shift.

Even with Matt helping out by stepping in for two shifts the nonstop duty was taking its toll, and the only upside Trev could see at the moment was that his legs were basically solid iron at this point. He’d taken a walk into town yesterday to do some errands and talk to Turner, and it had felt like going out to get the mail in comparison to the hiking he was doing on his shifts.

The worst had been the second day, when he’d had to do the morning shift and then after an 8 hour break gone back to do the night shift. The combined walking was almost as much as the entire week he’d done coming down from Orem, with only being in much better shape and carrying only the essentials in his daypack making it possible.

At least if he had to head back north at this point for some reason he’d be much better prepared for the hike now. With just his daypack he could probably even manage the 50 miles in 24 hours Lewis had joked about after his car ran out of gas the day after the attack, although he’d probably be on the verge of collapse after such a brutal hike.

The patrol route he and his cousin had worked out was about an hour’s walk away from the shelter and about 5 miles or a two hour walk from one end to the other and the same time back, meaning they could manage a complete circuit twice a shift. The walk to get to the route was farther than either would’ve preferred considering how much the extra distance lengthened an already lengthy hike, but at that point there was a long narrow hill that branched out from the foothills to the west and tapered east by southeast until it ended at Highway 6.

The highway entirely bypassed the town several miles east of it, meaning most people traveling along the only major road in the area would most likely pass right by without stopping. To increase the chances of that Officer Turner and a few volunteers had followed the highway digging up any signs that mentioned Aspen Hill and bringing them back to town.

Anderson hadn’t been happy with that destruction of public property at all, but like with many other things pragmatism had overruled his objections. Between taking down the signs and the roadblocks just outside of town on the three roads leading to the highway Aspen Hill was now fairly secure. Combined with Lewis and Trev’s patrol to the north, along with a patrol run by a few more neighbors south of town on that border, they’d managed to set up along all routes travelers could easily reach their town by.

Although Trev did hope that when things got more settled Turner would set up a patrol west of town, even if the only ways in from that direction were a few dirt roads leading up to the foothills and the slightly larger and better maintained gravel then dirt road going up Aspen Hill Canyon into the Manti-La Sal range and eventually meeting up with Highway 31 along some fairly terrible roads that required at least an SUV or better yet ATVs to navigate. It wasn’t likely they’d see many people at all coming from that direction, but with millions of people on the move from the Utah and Salt Lake valleys unlikely wasn’t impossible.

For the time being, though, the town’s patrols and roadblocks were as close to a continuous sphere as possible. Or at least as close as Trev and Lewis were willing to get considering the already daunting task. If the Mayor and Turner didn’t add more people to the patrol roster soon then Trev’s days of walking long distances had only just begun, and he could look forward to following the hillside from the highway to the foothills of the mountains and back again twice on each eight hour shift before meeting up with Lewis or Matt at basically the midpoint where the route was closest to the shelter so he could walk home.

They also traded off their single piece of body armor to the person on patrol at that time. Or more accurately Lewis’s body armor: his cousin had talked to him about buying his own, but Trev had decided that would be going overboard and he needed the money for other things. Now he kind of wished he’d taken Lewis up on his offer, mostly because after a few days of being passed around between three people constantly walking long distances the heavy vest was really starting to stink. And since it was always in use they hadn’t had a chance to clean it or even air it out.

In spite of all that the walking was his only real complaint about patrol duty. His cousin might’ve been a lot less happy with the task, preferring to remain at the shelter continuing to do all the chores he wanted to complete before things really went sour, but in a lot of ways Trev actually didn’t mind walking the south side of the hillside just below the west-east spine, out of sight of anyone coming from the north. It was surprisingly peaceful and the weather was cool and slightly breezy, which added to the sunny days made for just about perfect conditions for mild exertion.

And fairly regularly, long before the walking made him tired, he’d pause as part of his duties to poke his head up from behind whatever cover he could find. From those fairly comfortable positions he’d use the scope on his Mini-14, or more often his binoculars, to inspect the hills and valleys to the north for any sign of movement.

So far there hadn’t been any. In fact, over the last few days he’d almost been able to forget he had the unenviable task of stopping anyone who did come and turning them away from the town.

It looked as if his good luck had run out, though, because about halfway along the route going back towards the highway he poked his head up above the hillside behind some sagebrush to see a wisp of smoke rising on top of the next hill north. A quick inspection with his binoculars showed him a small and tidy camp, already broken down, and three men with heavy backpacks picking their way down the hillside roughly in his direction.

Trev watched them with nervous apprehension, not so much worried about what they might do as what he now had to do. Guess it was time to do his job. Taking a deep breath he rose to his feet and tucked his binoculars back in their case at his belt, then checked his 1911 in its underarm holster and his rifle slung on his back. After he was satisfied he could get to them quickly he picked his way down the north side his own hill towards the three men.

Over the last few days he hadn’t had much to do aside from think about any eventual encounters with people he might have. He’d planned ahead to how he’d respond to specific dangerous situations, but more of his time had spent trying to find the best way to tell frightened, desperate people that they needed to go away.

He’d come to the conclusion that the best way to do it was to treat any wanderers as if they were lost and point them to the highway in a way that would take them around Aspen Hill, hopefully without even realizing it was there. That would prevent any potential confrontations in the first place if they really were lost or had no destination in mind.

So as he got within shouting distance he raised a hand in greeting, friendly but at the same time wary for any sign of one of them going for a weapon. “Hey guys!” he called. “Looks like you might be lost. Highway 6 is just a few miles east of here and that should get you wherever you’re going. You can follow this hill behind me right to it.”

The three men kept coming, not aggressively but to make conversation easier, even as they exchanged confused looks. “We’re not lost,” the older man in front called back as he raised his hand to display a handheld GPS. Judging by his build and facial features he was probably the father of the other two. “This is taking us right to Aspen Hill. FETF directed us down there for shelter and aid until things calmed down, even gave us the coordinates.”

Blast. It looked like the first ones to show up along his patrol were people he was going to have the hardest time turning away. Trev stood trying to think of something to do, and as he did the three refugees finally got close enough to be in more normal talking distance and stopped, confused by his standoffishness. “Look,” one of the younger men said in a reasonable tone, “if we’re trespassing on your land we can go around. We’re just trying to get to Aspen Hill where we can finally get our first decent meal in days.”

Trev sighed. It was probably best to be direct. “It’s not about trespassing. Aspen Hill has closed its borders. We’re not letting anyone in.”

This time the looks the three men exchanged were dismayed. “The FETF official in Provo told us to come here,” the older man protested. “Us and everyone in our neighborhood and others. She assured us Aspen Hill knew we were all on our way and would be ready for us.”

It was almost physically hard to force the words out in the face of the hopeless expressions in front of him. “We’re not ready, I’m sorry,” Trev said. “We weren’t in much better shape than Provo when this all happened and we’re struggling to survive ourselves. I hate to say it but there’s no help in Aspen Hill. You’d be better of finding someplace else.”

“That’s BS!” the man who hadn’t spoken yet burst out. He was only a bit older than Trev, his dark wavy hair grown nearly to his shoulders and tangled from travel. “You can’t turn us away when we’ve been promised a place.”

Trev hated confrontations. Hated them so much that until Nelson’s attempted mugging he’d never even been in a real fight. But this was what he was here to do so he was going to do it. “The town’s decided, I’m just here to turn people around if they come this way. I can’t make the decision of letting you through.”

The young man pointed angrily at the radio clipped to Trev’s belt. “Why don’t you call them up and ask, then?”

It was a reasonable request, but letting them talk to someone in town would just increase their chances of being let through. The three men looked like decent people, but hourglasses had a way of filling one grain of sand at a time and it would be the same with the refugees if the town started making exceptions. “We’d just be wasting everyone’s time since they’ll tell you the same thing I’m telling you.”

The older man rested a hand on his son’s shoulder to calm him down. “What if we tried to just walk past you?” he asked quietly. “Would you shoot us?”

Trev immediately shook his head. “I’m only armed for self defense. But if you try to enter the town I’ll have to call in for backup and things will get unfriendly fast. The town is closed, just take my word for it and look for somewhere else to go.”

“That’s not going to work. We came ahead to give Aspen Hill advance notice and help prepare the town for our group, almost sixty people. Where would we all go if the town we were supposed to get help from turns us away?”

In the end Trev had to look away from the man’s calm stare. “I’m telling the truth, we don’t have anything for you. If we tried to take you in we’d all be starving that much sooner. You need to go somewhere else.”

The three men exchanged despairing looks. “Tell your town about us,” the older son said harshly. “Tell them you’ll have to live with what you’ve done, with the kind of people you’ve become.” Trev couldn’t think of an answer, and with that the three men turned to follow the hill east to the road. As they walked away the guy about his age slowed until he was walking behind the others and turned to give Trev a rude gesture with both hands.

Doing his best not to shake at the adrenaline of the situation Trev started back the way he’d come, to the spot just below the top of the hill on the south side so he could continue his patrol. As he went he lifted the radio to his mouth. “This is Trevor Smith on the north border. I just turned away three men sent to Aspen Hill from Provo by FETF officials who say they’ve got a group of more than 60 coming behind them.”

He paused, settling his nerves, and then continued. “The first of the refugees are here.”

* * *

Matt learned about the refugees Trev had encountered when he arrived at Roadblock 1, the first one constructed on the north end of Main Street, for his shift at 4 in the afternoon. He confirmed it when he checked in with Officer Turner, who was sitting on a lawn chair on the hood of one of the cars pulled across the road staring northeast in the direction of Highway 6. The man had a beer in his hand, and the half gone six pack sitting beneath the chair suggested it wasn’t his first.

The policeman shifted in his seat to look at him, taking a swig. “Yeah, that’s what it sounds like. Advance warning for a group of 60 or so people. I sent a couple guys up the road to check Highway 6 a few hours ago. They’re going to hang out there and and see if the group passes by or makes for the town.”

“What do we do if the refugees try to come in?” Matt asked.

“We do what the town voted on and make them turn around,” Turner said grimly. “It shouldn’t come to violence, though. At worst I’ll flash my badge and put a little law enforcement authority behind the town’s resolution.” He shifted on his seat again, sighing. “I hope it doesn’t come to violence. When I contracted out to Aspen Hill to become a small town policeman I never expected to be made the de facto leader of its militia in an SHTF scenario.”

The comment surprised Matt for several reasons. First off he hadn’t really considered that the people at the roadblocks and on patrol were part of a militia, although he supposed that’s technically what they were. He also hadn’t expected a thirty year old, trained police officer to feel uncomfortable in charge. “I’m sure someone else could take over if you wanted.”

“Like who?” Turner asked, snorting. “Anderson? One of the squabblers on the City Council? One of the few veterans in town, all from wars that happened decades ago? Like it or not I’m the best trained and qualified for the job.”

“And you’re doing a good job,” Matt offered. He meant it: under Turner’s direction the roadblocks had gone up quickly and efficiently, the guard and patrol rosters were taking shape nicely, and the officer had made sure the signs pointing to town along 6 had all been taken down. Matt wouldn’t have even thought of doing that.

The man shook his head. “Yeah well sitting behind a roadblock isn’t what I’m worried about. Ever since your buddy radioed in about the refugees I’ve been dreading our first visitors. I know I spoke for turning them away at the meeting but I hate having to be the one who actually does it.”

Silence settled as Turner brooded, finishing off his beer and tossing the can out beyond the roadblock. “What about the other towns in the area?” Matt asked. “Have we heard from them?”

The officer snorted and reached down for another beer. Matt couldn’t say he was happy about the man drinking on duty. “Yeah, we can reach them on the radios. They’re all taking in their refugees like good little citizens and some have even decided to take in all comers, not just the ones FETF sends their way. Price is even trying to set up a local network to get all the towns in the area working together to share the load.”

He popped the top on his beer and took several long gulps. “They’re pissed at us, I can tell you that. I haven’t been cussed out that bad since the Academy.” Turner abruptly swore and slammed his can down on a plastic armrest, making a bit of foam splash out. “Can you believe the town leaders, making that dirty deal behind our backs? And FETF sending a bunch of helpless mouths to feed our way! And while I’m complaining I’d sure like a crack at whoever blew up the Gulf refineries.”

Matt shifted awkwardly, not sure what to say. He glanced at the other men on duty, most of them to either side of the road sitting on the dressers pulled across the sidewalks, but they were all pretending they hadn’t heard the outburst.

Before he could say anything Turner abruptly stood and reached down to grab the rest of the six pack. “You’ve got the hot seat,” he growled, yanking the radio off his belt and tossing it onto the chair. “Call if anything happens. I’ve got some business back at the office.”

Without another word the officer hopped off the car, stumbling on landing, and strode purposefully towards the town hall. Matt hesitantly climbed up to the chair and grabbed the radio, settling down on the plastic seat.

“The others in your shift are taking their time getting here,” one of the other men on duty grumbled. “Just because we don’t have power doesn’t mean telling time is suddenly impossible. Where’s everyone’s watches?”

Matt shrugged. Looked like Turner wasn’t the only one on edge: maybe it was good a new shift was coming in before the refugees got here. Assuming they actually tried to get in.

A few minutes later the other people on shift with him began trickling in. Matt filled them in on the situation as the people in the earlier shift left, then together they all sat tensely waiting. An hour passed, then two, at which point he got some relief from boredom and tenseness when Sam came to visit him. The dark-haired woman had brought water, a gesture he appreciated even though he had plenty and the spring was a stone’s throw down the street, and then she joined him sitting on the hood of the car facing out of town.

“You’re awfully quiet today,” she said. “Worried about the refugees?”

Matt kept staring at the hills to the northwest, ultimately leading up to the mountain pass on the horizon that Highway 6 went through to reach Spanish Fork. “Kind of, but not really. I can’t stop thinking about April and her family up in Midvale.”

That was, if anything, an understatement. When he’d spoken to his sister just before the phones died she’d seemed intent on riding out the chaos right where she was and had assured him that they had enough food storage to do it. But in spite of that he’d still been worrying about her a lot these last few days since making it to Aspen Hill. Especially following the chaos he’d escaped from in Orem, when his sister’s family might be going through the same and he had no way to contact them and make sure they were okay. Learning about FETF sending refugees south had compounded his worries yet again, and now after hearing about Trev’s news regarding the arrival of the first wave of refugees his worry increased even more.

“She has her food storage and a good house,” Sam said, doing her best to sound reassuring. The dark-haired woman knew April’s situation since Matt’s parents were worried too and his mom frequently mentioned her and reassured herself that they had what they needed, while his dad mused aloud about the difficulty of making the trip on foot with young children and how long it might take them.

Matt shook his head. “Trev had a lot of food storage up in Orem and he still decided it would be better to come south. The cities are dangerous.” She nodded, seeming unsure how to respond, and Matt fell into brooding silence again.

Even if April and Terry decided to stay in Midvale, what if FETF sent them south with other groups of refugees in spite of their wishes? Were they somewhere on I-15 or Highway 6 struggling to make the long trek with scant provisions and a two year old toddler and a five year old in tow? What if they’d been sent north or east instead of south? What if the small town FETF was evacuating them to was Heber or Goshen or Manti or who knew where? Would the task force coordinators be understanding about the fact that April had family waiting in Aspen Hill and help speed their way south, or would they try to insist they go where they were told?

A thought had started brewing in his mind last night and had stuck there all morning, that waiting and worrying wasn’t enough. He should be doing something, and that something was going north to find his sister’s family and help them get back to Aspen Hill. He cursed his decision to trade the remainder of the gas in his tank to Mr. Tillman to partially pay for his purchases, and cursed almost as much his decision to drive straight down here rather than heading up to pick up his sister and her family and bring them down. He would’ve had enough fuel in the tank to make the trip, and surely Sam would’ve understood the need.

But thanks to his thoughtlessness and shortsightedness here he was, over a hundred miles away and with no way to help April’s family if they needed it.

Matt closed his eyes and settled down with his palms flat on the roof of the car, struggling to calm his thoughts. There was no reason to panic just yet. If FETF was coordinating relief up in the cities and sending refugees where they’d prearranged for them to go then they had to have the situation under control in spite of the riots. For all he knew there might even be FETF coordinators leading the groups of refugees and helping them get where they were going.

Once the refugees started arriving he could go out and ask the FETF people, or the refugees themselves if they were unescorted, what the situation was like and how well the task force had things in hand up north. Most likely the news he got would settle his fears, or at the very least give him a better idea of what action he needed to take moving forward.

Assuming he wasn’t once again reacting too slowly to the destabilizing situation and it was already too late for April and her family. Matt violently shook his head to dismiss the horrible thought, abruptly climbing to his feet so he could carefully scan the area around them to make sure no one was coming.

“It seems like a bad idea to tear yourself apart worrying,” Sam said. She’d jumped slightly in startlement at his sudden movement, but after a moment she also got to her feet to stand beside him. “Why don’t you tell me about April and Terry and their boys? I’m looking forward to meeting them.”

Matt shot her a grateful smile and eagerly accepted her distraction, telling her about his big sister, his brother-in-law Terry who’d just graduated medical school studying to be a surgeon and was interning at a hospital in Salt Lake City, and their two tow-headed boys Aaron and Paul.

That opened Sam up to talking about her family in New York, a topic she’d avoided until now. Her parents were divorced and her mother was remarried, but she was still an only child. From her tone she didn’t have too great a relationship with either of them, but in spite of that she sounded genuinely worried. Matt felt a bit bad that she’d had to suffer that worry alone up until now, and wished he’d thought to ask about her family sooner.

Before they knew it another hour had passed and Matt was halfway through his shift. About that time, though, Carl Raymond called in on the radio. He was one of the two men Turner had sent out to watch the highway, and he had news that they’d spotted a large group of refugees heading south in their direction.

For a moment Matt wondered if he should reply that Turner wasn’t at the roadblock anymore, but before he could the policeman answered over the radio, probably using one of the ones recharging in his office. “Roger that. Stay out of sight and we’ll see if they walk past us.”

“Understood,” Carl replied. “Turning the radio to silent for a bit.”

After that the silence became tense. “This is awful,” Sam finally said, lifting up on her toes as if hoping to catch a glimpse of the highway. “I hope they just go right by so we don’t have to turn them away.”

Matt nodded grimly. “Me too. Do you think you could go let my parents know what’s going on? Just in case.”

“Sure.” She fidgeted awkwardly, as if she wanted to say something, then abruptly blurted “Be careful, okay?” Before he could answer she lifted a hand in farewell and hopped off the car, hurrying down the street.

After that the tense minutes continued to tick by in silence for almost a half hour, until finally a squawk on the radio made Matt hurriedly straighten. “Officer Turner? This is Carl Raymond out on Highway 6. We’ve got a group of refugees trying to take the northernmost road to Aspen Hill.”

The radio almost immediately crackled with a response. “This is Turner. You’ve turned them back, right?”

There was a long pause. “Um yeah. Well kind of. We told them the town’s closed and that they should continue south to Price where the other refugees are going. They aren’t trying to force their way past us or anything, but after we talked to them they started setting up camp right on the highway at the turnoff, saying they won’t leave until they’ve talked to the Mayor. They’re pretty pissed.”

Turner cursed. “How many people? Is it the 60 person group Smith warned us about?”

Another long pause. “Uh no, or at least maybe. We’ve got over a hundred people here so some of them might be part of that group.”

Matt stared at the radio in shock. A hundred people camped out on the highway. And this was just the first group, the people who’d made the trip down from Utah Valley the quickest.

“That many uninvited guests sitting on our front door,” the policeman muttered, barely audible over the radio. “Okay, Raymond, stick around and keep an eye on them. Let us know if they get antsy or try to come our way.” He abruptly changed his tone to almost a bark. “Listen up, Roadblocks 1 through 3. I’m going to send around what nonlethal weapons my office had stocked, and if you’ve got anything like that I’d encourage you to bring it with you on shifts. From now on if anyone who isn’t a resident of Aspen Hill approaches the roadblocks you are not to let them get within twenty feet. Give them a verbal warning, then if that doesn’t work use those nonlethal tools to deter them. Under no circumstances are you to use firearms unless you come under attack yourselves. Everyone acknowledge.”

Matt looked around at the other men on shift with him, who’d gathered around to listen to the exchange. Most looked too surprised or intent on the conversation to realize he was looking for a response, although a few met his eye and nodded. Matt lifted the radio to respond, but before he could roadblock 2 beat him to it, with 3 not far behind. Once the air was clear again he transmitted. “This is Matthew Larson at Roadblock 1, acknowledging your order. I’ve got bear spray and am prepared to use it.”

After a short pause Turner responded. “All right, then. I’ll go tell Anderson and the City Council what’s going on. We’ll see if they want to bother with responding to the refugees or try to wait them out. Until then sit tight. Over and out.”

The rest of his shift was infuriatingly quiet, with no news either from the men watching the refugees or from Turner or anyone in the city government about what they were going to do about the new arrivals. Between the tension and the tedium Matt felt like he was trapped in a cage, and more and more he found himself standing on the roof of the car to get a better view northeast.

When his shift ended later in the afternoon he was tempted to stay around waiting for news, or maybe go directly to town hall and find out himself, but he wanted to get home to report the day’s events to Sam and his parents and talk to them about the situation.

Still, he had a feeling that not knowing was going to make sleep difficult to find that night, and he honestly hoped Anderson and Turner and the City Council had decided on a solid plan of action.

Chapter Nine

Plight

The next morning Matt and Sam made their way up to Roadblock 1 to see what was going on, even though Matt didn’t have a shift that day and had been planning on doing a shift on patrol north of town to relieve Trev.

To their surprise they found a crowd of Aspen Hill residents gathered, over a hundred people. The Mayor and the entire City Council were huddled at the front of the crowd, just behind the roadblock, and Matt learned from the people near the back that a delegation was going out soon to meet with the refugees.

Matt paused to ask some questions and learned that during the evening shift at the roadblocks Anderson had sent a dozen men hauling freight carts from Tillman’s to bring water to the refugees. That was a kindness Matt hadn’t even thought of, and he was glad the Mayor had. He also thought it was smart to not send even a little food, to reinforce the town’s position that they had none to spare.

Anderson hadn’t gone with the water, and he’d instructed the men bringing it to drop off the jugs and come back with as little contact as possible other than to send along assurances that he and the City Council along with Turner would meet with the refugees the next morning. Mostly to give an official message reinforcing Aspen Hill’s stance that they weren’t taking anyone in. From what the people Matt chatted with had heard it was the council’s hope that by shutting down all communication aside from that one message and by keeping the refugees on the highway it would encourage them to keep going south to where they’d be more welcome.

Once he’d got the gist of things Matt excused himself and turned to Sam. “I’m going to volunteer to go with them as part of the escort.” Part of his intention was to make himself useful, but a stronger motivation was to check out the camp and, if possible, learn where they’d come from and whether any of them had news about whether FETF was sending refugees their way from Midvale. It was too much to hope for that anyone in the camp would have specific news about his sister’s family, but he was going to ask around just in case.

It would also give him an idea of how refugees fared on the long walk south, so he’d know how April and the others would fare if they were also forced to make the trip.

“Why?” Sam asked with a slight frown. “You don’t have a shift today and there’s plenty to do around the house.”

“I’m really worried about my sister,” he confessed. “I want to see what it’s like for the refugees, see if anyone has heard anything about Midvale or the nearby areas. And maybe I’ll get lucky and someone will have news about them, although that’s a long shot.”

“I understand.” The dark-haired woman patted his shoulder sympathetically. “I could come with you and help, if you want.”

“That would be great.” Matt said glanced over at the forming delegation. “We can see, but I think Turner wants to keep it to as few people as possible. He might not even want me along.”

They made their way up to ask, and it turned out Matt was pretty much right. Turner bluntly thanked Sam for her willingness to offer but refused, stating that aside from the Mayor and City Council he was only bringing half a dozen men as security. “You can come along too if you’re offering,” he told Matt. “The more guns the better, up to a point.”

Sam looked disappointed as she stepped back into the crowd. “You need to teach me to shoot,” she told Matt. “I feel like I can’t do much to help.”

Matt gave her an incredulous look. “You spend just about every day helping, either at the storehouse or around my parents’ house.”

“Well yeah,” she admitted. “But I still wish you’d teach me to shoot.”

He wasn’t sure he’d be the best teacher since his own experience boiled down to the odd trip to the shooting range whenever he’d come down to Aspen Hill from college, usually borrowing Trev’s or Lewis’s 1911 and paying for the ammunition he used. But he supposed he was better than nothing. “I will,” he promised. “Bullets are precious, but I can at least take you down to the range to get you familiar with the gun and show you how to do dry fire drills. It wouldn’t hurt to do more of both myself.”

Not too long after that the delegation left. Fourteen people in all, with Anderson and all five members of the City Council in a clump at the back, while Turner led Matt and the other six men up ahead a ways. The police officer had his shotgun and service weapon, a couple of the men had rifles, and the rest bore holstered pistols of all calibers. Matt only hoped they didn’t come off as too aggressive when they reached the refugees.

It was a fair distance, but for Matt the hike didn’t feel very long compared to the two patrol shifts he’d done north of town walking 20 miles over 8 hours: in just under two hours they came in sight of Highway 6 and the refugee camp. On the road a couple hundred yards from the highway the two men Turner had assigned to keep watch in the night were sitting blearily on some lawn chairs with blankets wrapped around them, even though the morning was already pleasant. Turner clapped each man on the shoulder and sent them home, assigning two men from his group to take their place once the delegation left.

As for the refugee camp… Matt wasn’t quite sure what to say. It almost didn’t look like a camp at all since there were so few tents. Instead most of the families huddled together beneath blankets right off the side of the road, for some their few possessions sitting nearby in children’s wagons or wheelbarrows, while most of the rest had backpacks or wheeled suitcases.

There was one big tent with a few smaller ones scattered around it in the field beside the junction where the highway met with the road leading to town. From that tent several men emerged and started forward to meet the delegation, joined by others in the camp until there were about twenty of them. Although they did their best to look calm the refugees were glancing nervously at the weapons Matt and the others carried.

“About time you bother to come out and talk to us,” an older man at the front of the group called. “We’re citizens looking for help, not hobos and vagrants.”

Anderson stopped the delegation about ten feet away. “I’m John Anderson, Mayor of Aspen Hill.”

“Kendall Farnsworth,” the older man replied reluctantly. He gestured curtly to the two men beside him, both in their early 20s. “My sons, Benjy and Rod. Does knowing our names make it easier to treat us like human beings?”

The Mayor’s mouth tightened. “It’s not about that. We’d help you if we could but we have nothing to spare. I hate to say it but you wasted your time coming here, so the best thing to do is go somewhere else. There are towns farther south that are taking in refugees, and from what I hear Price is organizing a relief network to care for you all.”

“Yeah, your man guarding north of Aspen Hill mentioned the town isn’t in much better shape than Provo,” Kendall said, narrowing his eyes. “And those folks who stopped us here yesterday said the same. Which must mean you’ve got tens of thousands of people waiting in ration lines to get a cup of food apiece? That all your businesses have been looted and ransacked and the local government has fled or is in hiding while rioters wander around demolishing random municipal structures?”

“Well no—” Anderson started to say, but the refugee talked right over him.

“But surely you’ve got gangs of thugs roaming the streets mugging anyone brave enough to go anywhere during the day, and at night breaking into entire neighborhoods full of houses and tearing them apart for food and valuables? That your town’s crime rates for murder, rape, and theft have skyrocketed? And I’m sure your people haven’t had a meal in days, because aside from a small number of hoarders who emptied the stores and restaurants in the first few days everyone else is starving?”

Anderson shifted uncomfortably. “Okay fine, we’re better off than that. But we don’t have food to spare either.”

“Not to spare, but you do have food,” a woman in the crowd of refugees who’d gathered behind the twenty men shouted. “What, saving it for a rainy day?”

“For winter,” Councilwoman Tillman shouted back from her place behind Anderson. “And we don’t have nearly enough. A lot of us will go hungry.”

“But all of us will thanks to your broken promise,” Kendall cut in angrily. “Your town has what, a few thousand people in it?”

“Nine hundred and fifty, give or take,” Anderson replied coolly.

“Well there’s just over a hundred of us here. You could easily take us all in.”

Anderson shook his head, but it was again Catherine Tillman who answered. “No, we couldn’t. And what about the next group who comes, and the next? We’re sorry for your circumstances, we truly are, but Aspen Hill will stay closed. Find somewhere else to go or just sit here on the road.”

Matt shot the older woman an alarmed look. That was as good as an invitation to set up a permanent camp. Hadn’t they come here to convince the refugees to move on? The councilwoman seemed to realize her mistake almost immediately, but it was too late to take the words back.

Kendall pounced on it. “You know what, I think we will. Except we’re going to move closer to town, within walking distance of this spring your people bringing water last night told us about. Not just because of the water, though: we had a group pass us by on the road heading south early this morning and we didn’t like the looks of them. We’d all feel safer if we were off the road.”

“No don’t do that!” Anderson said, giving Catherine an angry look. “You need to leave since we have nothing to offer you.”

“Neither does anyone else,” Kendall’s son Rod said, judging by his tone trying to turn anger into sarcasm. “If we have nowhere else to go we’re happy to stay right here. Besides, you said your town is closed, you didn’t say anything about the area around it. We can sit right in front of these roadblocks your people mentioned and if you don’t like it tough. Attack the camp and show us what kind of people you really are.”

The words were greeted with murmurs of agreement and even a few cheers and hurled insults from the crowd of refugees. Anderson held up his hands desperately for calm. “Now hold on, there’s no need to talk about violence. I don’t think it’s a good idea to camp right outside of town because that’s just asking for trouble, but if you think you can find a good reason to stay in the area nobody’s stopping you. Just be aware that no matter what happens you won’t get any food, and none of you will be allowed inside Aspen Hill’s city limits for any reason, either.”

“You’ll at least let us use your spring though, right?” Kendall demanded.

Matt looked between the two groups despondently. He didn’t like the thought of a permanent camp, not at all. Not only because it could be trouble but because it meant they’d have the people they were refusing to help sitting right where everyone in Aspen Hill could see them, which would make holding to the town’s resolution that much harder.

He almost wished Anderson would refuse the request, but however morally gray withholding charity from these people might be, refusing water was downright wrong. That was one thing the town had plenty of, something these refugees vitally needed to survive and couldn’t find easily anywhere else around here unless they wanted to drink unpurified water from the stream.

“Of course,” Catherine answered when the Mayor hesitated. “That’s one thing we do have to offer, at least.”

Kendall glanced at the refugees around him, then sighed. “We hope you’ll change your mind once you see we’re decent people. Would you at least spend some time in camp, let us introduce ourselves and tell you our situation and what brought us here?”

A few members of the City Council murmured their disapproval of the idea, and Turner shook his head firmly, but after a thoughtful pause Anderson nodded. “I think that would be a good idea.”

“Come on, then,” the refugee said, turning. “I suppose first I’ll introduce you to the rest of my family.”

Matt followed the delegation as they went from family to family, listening to their stories and sympathizing with their plight. As they went Kendall wasted no opportunity to guilt them about their decision to turn the refugees away. The older man really knew how to tug at the heartstrings, all without openly accusing them of being selfish jerks.

That was a restraint the other refugees didn’t share, as they spiced their stories of fear and suffering with bitter mentions of their hope of a refuge in Aspen Hill keeping them going. Anderson was the main target of their anger, and the Mayor looked more uncomfortable with each passing minute. Not that anyone else in the delegation was truly comfortable with the situation.

Matt wanted nothing more than to leave immediately, and the only thing that kept him around besides his responsibility to the group was that while mingling among the refugees he had plenty of opportunities of his own to talk to people.

In spite of their bitterness the refugees were eager to talk about what they’d suffered, and while listening he found opportunities to ask questions about Midvale and specifically his sister and her family in the vanishingly slim hope that someone, anyone, might have news. Nobody did, but nothing he heard on that walk through the camp reassured him that April’s family would be okay.

After about a half hour a call from the north end of camp warned them that more refugees were approaching down the highway. A small group of a dozen or so were visible at the moment, but who knew how many might be coming behind them. Anderson immediately made his goodbyes and ushered the delegation back out of camp and down the road leading into town.

Matt supposed he could understand why the Mayor wouldn’t want to be there when the group arrived, so he wouldn’t have to say the same things all over again. Maybe he even planned for the refugees themselves to give the bad news and send the group on south, in their hope that if their camp remained small eventually the town might take pity and let them in.

In a way it was the very sight of how Aspen Hill was by necessity treating these poor people that made up Matt’s mind. If Terry and April and their two young sons could expect the same sympathy and charity on their trip south, a trip he was more and more sure they’d have to make to escape the chaos in the cities, they were in for some bad times.

He had to go up there and help them, had to find them himself and personally make sure they made it back down to Aspen Hill safely. He’d never forgive himself if they vanished into a sea of human suffering and he never learned what happened to them, with only guilty nightmares fed with details from the refugees to hint at their fate.

He needed to make the trip north, but he wasn’t sure he could do it alone.

* * *

Trev was extra vigilant after encountering the three refugees the day before. The knowledge that there were people coming directly for Aspen Hill, and thanks to things like GPS could do it without even following the highway, made it all the more likely he might encounter more.

Not to mention that after turning refugees away there was a much greater chance people might try to sneak into the town, and under those circumstances it was unlikely their intentions would be honorable.

So far he hadn’t met anyone else off the road, though. The rest of his patrol yesterday had been uneventful, and this morning he also hadn’t seen anyone except people passing south on Highway 6. Rick Watson, who’d had the night patrol from 10 til 6, said he hadn’t seen anyone either, which made sense since not many people would be traveling off the road at night.

Turner had finally put more men on the patrol roster, three to be exact. Also kids, to be exact. Trev had to wonder if there’d been less volunteers for the job of walking 20 miles over a period of eight hours compared to six hours sitting behind a roadblock, and only the younger guys had the energy to try it out. Rick, his brother Wes, and Pete Childress were all still in high school, Rick a senior and Wes and Pete sophomores, with Pete about six months older than Wes.

All claimed to know how to shoot and had been given weapons to take on patrol from the stockpile Mr. Tillman had donated to the town storehouse, but Lewis had still insisted they avoid trouble entirely and just radio in if anyone approached the town, then abandon their patrol until Turner could send men to turn the interlopers back. The three kids hadn’t been happy at that, and Trev had a feeling if they did run into anyone while on patrol they’d try to handle it themselves.

Stupid, to assign those three. Even if there weren’t any other volunteers Trev didn’t like the thought of kids that young patrolling alone. Sure, Rick was only a few years younger than him so the sentiment was a bit absurd, but he still wished they’d been put on the roadblocks and Turner had sent older, more experienced men who could handle any difficult situations that might come up. And if nobody volunteered he should have gone the next step and assigned people anyway.

Trev also didn’t like them being armed, since it was anyone’s guess whether they might waste time and bullets taking potshots at shrubs to pass the time, or might panic in a tense situation and shoot first and ask questions later. From what he knew of the three they were good guys, at least, but he wasn’t sure they were up to the task.

He also had to admit that getting only three more people was kind of BS. That still meant taking every fifth patrol, which meant at best he’d be out here every other day. Still, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

At the moment Trev was heading west towards the foothills, after spending a bit more time than usual on the eastern tip of the patrol hill overlooking Highway 6 watching what seemed like an endless trickle of refugees clumped in small groups passing by. He’d radioed their presence in, but judging by the apathy of the response he had a feeling people heading south on the highway weren’t exactly news anymore. He only hoped Anderson and Turner had thought of how they were going to deal with things when that trickle of humanity became a stream or even a river. Especially if they decided to take a detour into Aspen Hill.

The fact that they were there was another reason why Trev had to be more watchful, so even though he walked faster than usual to make up for lost time along the beginnings of a trail their constant walking back and forth had trampled, he also stopped more often to peer north over the top of the hill, and tried to do it behind cover.

When the highway was about a mile behind him he paused yet again to poke his head up behind a familiar shrub, using the scope of his Mini-14 to save time rather than taking the trouble of getting out his binoculars and putting them back. He didn’t see anything, and he was about to sling his rifle over his shoulder and duck back down to the trail to continue when he caught sight of a flash of blue disappearing behind a patch of tall bushes down below.

He paused and started to lift his rifle to check through the scope again, then thought better of basically muzzling a living target and finished putting it away, going for the binoculars instead. He lifted them just in time to see a woman wearing a bulging school backpack stumble into sight from behind the last bush in the patch, heading his way.

She was older than him, late 20s or early 30s probably, wearing short shorts and a snug sleeveless T-shirt. He doubted she’d intended to wear those clothes when she set out, or maybe she had. Either way she had to be regretting it now with her exposed skin fiery red with sunburn and her legs scratched from pushing through underbrush. She also had that dusty look of someone who’d been walking off the road for a while, and her steps were uneven and clumsy like she was having trouble putting one foot in front of the other.

A refugee from the group he’d watched passing on the highway? There weren’t too many other explanations considering the direction she was coming from. But no, if she’d just left the highway she wouldn’t be that dusty and scratched up, would she? She looked as if she’d been trailblazing for a while.

Unfortunately the trail she was blazing pointed right for Aspen Hill, and even slow and plodding as she was she’d reach it eventually.

Trev grimaced, really hating this turn of events. He knew what he had to do, and this was why he was out here. It was a duty he’d volunteered for himself after insisting that they couldn’t let the refugees in, and he hadn’t changed his mind on that count. He just hadn’t expected he’d have to turn away a starving woman who obviously needed help.

Why couldn’t it have been a group of ragged and belligerent ruffians who’d cuss him out and make it feel easy for him to turn them back? Trev had lost most of his guilt about the three men yesterday after the guy his age flipped him off. Although even if this woman made it unpleasant he didn’t think he could possibly turn her back without feeling like complete garbage.

Still, no help for it. For good or ill the City Council had spent the emergency money on other things, and there simply wasn’t any food for even a few dozen refugees, let alone a few hundred. The town would be lucky to survive the winter as it was. Trev took a reluctant breath and stood, crossing the top of the hill and making his way through the sage on the downward slope towards her.

The woman’s head was hung low in exhaustion, eyes on the ground, and she didn’t even see or hear him coming until he reached the bottom of the hill, more than halfway to her. But finally she paused, tucking a strand of blond hair hanging in front of her eyes back behind one ear, and looked up. She immediately saw him and froze, eyes widening with fear. Without a word she shrank back, nearly stumbling on a stone she’d just stepped over, and her eyes darted between his face and the Mini-14 poking over his shoulder.

“It’s all right,” Trev hurriedly called, carefully keeping his hands at his sides to show he meant no harm. He didn’t relish turning her back but he certainly didn’t want to frighten her. “I’m a scout from the nearby town.”

A sort of desperate relief filled the woman’s face. “A town!” she breathed. “How far? Is there a place I can stay?”

Seeing her pitiable condition was almost enough to make him rethink his insistence that they turn away the refugees. Even knowing the grim reality of the situation it seemed inhuman to have to refuse her, monstrous even, and he felt physically sick as he forced himself to shake his head. “I’m sorry, I’m here to turn everyone back. The town is walled off between the hills, all the roads blocked. We’re not letting anyone in.”

Her relief slowly bled away into a sort of stunned disbelief. “But they told me there’d be a place for me when they sent me south away from the riots.”

Trev couldn’t meet her large blue eyes, welling with tears, and had to look away. “Which town were you sent to?”

“P-Price,” she said in a quavering voice. “I’m almost there, aren’t I? Is that the town you’re guarding?”

“No, Price is farther south. If you follow this hill behind me east you’ll reach Highway 6 in about a mile. You can follow it south to where you’re going, and you’ll find refugees who can help you get there.” As he finished speaking he started to unsling his daypack to give her all the food and water he had. He couldn’t let her past but he wasn’t completely heartless.

She must have thought he was going for his .223. “No!” she nearly screamed, stumbling forward a few steps before dropping to her knees. At first Trev assumed she’d tripped until he realized she was literally begging. “I can’t go back to that! You don’t know what it was like in the group I was traveling with, what they do to—” she cut off with a ragged breath and lifted her clasped hands beseechingly. “Please, whatever your name is. I’ll-I’ll make it worth your while if you let me into your town. I’ll do anything.”

From the way the woman said it Trev had a feeling he knew exactly what she was offering, and the sick feeling in his gut got worse. He’d never even considered going to a prostitute or paying for sex, but even if he had he’d never forgive himself if he forced this woman to resort to such a desperate act just to survive.

Nothing up to this point had come close to driving home the point of just how bad things had become, or how much worse things would become before they got better. If they ever did. And Trev’s resolve completely vanished in the face of his disgust at himself. “No, it’s all right,” he said quickly, “I’ll bring you in. We can’t let you stay, I’m sorry, but at least we can give you a meal and a bed and maybe some food to help you get to Price.”

Her hopelessness was replaced by an almost absurd look of relief and gratitude, and seeing it Trev had to look away again, for some reason feeling even more guilty than with her begging. “Oh thank you, thank you! I won’t cause any trouble, I promise. I’m a good person, I’ll get along. And maybe when you see that you’ll let me stay.”

Trev didn’t respond, and he still couldn’t look at her as he realized why he felt so awful. How many other good people would they have to turn away? Would his neighbors have any more stomach for the task than he did? He could convince himself it was just one person he was bringing in, and just a single meal and maybe a few provisions, but there’d be more situations like this in the future. Probably every day if things among the refugee groups on the highway were as bad as this woman made it sound. With so many they wouldn’t even be able to offer a meal to most, which meant they’d either have to turn away people in this same sort of desperate circumstance, or try to help and end up starving along with them.

But then he’d known it would come to this from the moment he joined Lewis in arguing that point at the town meeting. The expression “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” had never felt more applicable.

“I’m Trev,” he said, offering her his hand.

She took it with both hers and clasped it like a lifeline. “Amanda Townsend, but call me Mandy. Thank you!”

Trev retrieved his hand as quickly as he could without being rude, and to disguise it finished his earlier motion of reaching into his daypack to pull out a bag of jerky and his water bottle. Mandy accepted them almost reverently, although she wasted no time in lifting the stainless steel container to her cracked lips and swallowing in desperate gulps.

In spite of her sunburn and grime she was an attractive woman, although considering her earlier offer it almost felt wrong to notice that.

He walked a few steps away while she ate and drank and pulled the radio off his belt. “Trevor Smith on the northern border here,” he said. “Can you send someone else to take my place out here for a few hours? I’m bringing in a refugee, over.”

There was a long silence, then an unfamiliar female voice said “You’re kidding, right? The same Trev who pretty much demanded we turn away refugees at the town meeting?”

Trev felt his face flushing. “She’s about to collapse from exhaustion and deprivation. I thought we could at least give her a meal and a place to spend the night before sending her on her way.”

The reply came after another uncomfortably long silence. “Oh okay. That seems like the Christian thing to do.” He wondered if that was sarcastic. “By “we” I assume you mean “me and Lewis” can give her food and a place to stay, right?”

“Yeah, I do,” Trev replied with a sigh. He’d intended to feed Mandy with his own food from the start, but whoever it was on the other end of the radio didn’t have to make him sound like such a tool. Then again he was going directly against what he’d publicly said earlier. “Over and out.”

“Yeah we’ll see if we can find someone to take over for you, but your best bet is to ask Lewis on the way into town. Cya.”

Small chance he was going to take a stranger to the shelter to talk to Lewis about taking over for him. His cousin would kill him if he did. He’d just have to leave the northern border open for a bit, and if trouble came of it there was no one to blame but Turner for not setting up a better system to deal with people on patrol needing to head back to town for some reason. Well, Turner and Trev himself, since he could technically just send Mandy on while he continued his patrol. But uncomfortable as he was about letting her in at all the thought of letting her in unescorted was even worse.

He turned back to find the sunburned woman gnawing on the largest piece of jerky in the bag. “Do you need to rest? The town’s about four miles away.”

“As long as I can eat on the way,” she replied. Trev nodded and started up the hill and she was quick to fall in behind him.

On the way back he was feeling too guilty about his borderline hypocrisy to talk much, but after Mandy had finished eating she was happy to fill the silence for the both of them by telling her story.

She’d been a dental hygienist in Spanish Fork before the attack, single and living in a one bedroom apartment with less than three days of food in her cupboards since she mostly ate out or ordered in. For the first few days after the attack she’d treated things as normal, going to work and eating at her usual restaurants. It wasn’t until she saw her favorite places closing down because of lack of ingredients that she realized that food wasn’t making its way into the city and she should probably start stocking up just in case.

It was almost too late when she went to the store, as she saw to her dismay that all the food aisles were empty and other items were quickly being snatched up as well. She’d even gone to the pet food aisle in desperation, only to find that it, too, was bare. It was pure good fortune that she found a small bag of cat food that had somehow gotten mixed with the kitty litter and escaped notice. The idea of eating pet food revolted her, but she’d purchased it all the same in case of a real emergency.

She’d started eating from it the next day, while at the same time going door to door around the apartment complex begging to purchase food. Some gave her a bit out of the goodness of their hearts, although nobody accepted any of her money, but she was still getting hungrier by the day and was almost out of cat food.

When the riots started a week after the attack Mandy started to get really scared and seriously considered leaving, but there was nowhere to go. A single man living a few apartments down offered to let her ride with him and some friends to Denver, where they’d heard FETF was setting up a relief station, but she’d assumed he was a creeper with bad intentions and had refused.

“I’ve spent the last five days wishing I’d accepted,” she admitted to Trev. “Now that I’ve seen really bad men I realize how harmless and generous my neighbor was.”

The night of the riots the disaster became personal for Mandy, when a group of hoodlums began looting her apartment complex. She’d woken up to screams, crashings, and the sound of gunshots, and had scrambled to hide in the foot space beneath her vanity, pulling the small stool in after her and stacking some dirty clothes on it until she was hidden.

She’d waited there for almost half an hour listening to awful noises all around her before she heard the sound of people breaking into her apartment. For the next fifteen minutes she listened as her stuff was thrown around in the living room and dishes in the kitchen were smashed as if for fun. Then the looters had found their way into her room and began tossing it down for anything worth looting.

Mandy had sat in petrified silence watching through a tiny opening between the clothes piled on her footstool and the corner of the foot space, barely daring to breathe as her bed was overturned and her closet ransacked. Her dresser drawers were emptied on the floor and her clothes tossed around as they searched for hidden valuables, and she’d been forced to listen to them making crude jokes as they pawed through her underwear. With each passing second she’d grown more and more certain that they’d eventually find her, and when they did she’d soon wish she were dead.

But the closest the looters came was searching the vanity directly above her and smashing its mirror. Then they all started shouting and left in a rush to go on to the next apartment.

Even after they were gone Mandy waited for more than an hour without hearing any noises anywhere in the rest of the complex, cramped in the tiny space sobbing her eyes out, before she finally found the courage to crawl out and look at her devastated home. The looters had stolen all her valuables and destroyed most of what they didn’t take, shattering her last illusions of normalcy. She’d gone out into the complex to find other families gathered comforting each other through the tragedy, and even with others around her had never felt so alone.

Luckily a Hispanic family living one floor up kindly welcomed her into their home, although the next day FETF arrived to inform everyone in the apartment complex that they’d been assigned to a temporary evacuation shelter in the city of Price to the southeast. The coordinators gave the families enough food for a few days and showed them the route to take along Highway 6, then sent them on their way unescorted.

Along the way Mandy’s group joined up with other evacuee groups heading in the same direction until there were hundreds of them strung along the highway in a line as far as the eye could see. Even though her group was among the first people who’d set out they did pass a few other groups, although far more often were passed themselves.

On the third day Mandy was dismayed when she recognized many of the men in a group that had just caught up to them as the same ones who’d ransacked her home. And true to their nature they’d immediately joined with other men of the same vile morals and seized control of the growing caravan, confiscating all food to “properly oversee its distribution”. From then on the distribution to anyone not in that group was halfhearted at best, with men offered little and women and children scarcely better treated. Only the most attractive women in the caravan ate as well as the looters, provided they gave the thieves-turned-despots a reason to be generous to them.

“It only got worse from there,” she admitted to Trev about an hour later as they climbed over the last low rise before town and came in sight of Aspen Hill’s first houses still about a half hour away. “Eventually the hoodlums stopped trading and started taking, if you get my drift. That’s when I decided it was time to leave, even if it meant setting off away from the highway on my own. I knew there had to be some towns around here, some way to get to Price.”

The description of what she’d gone through sickened Trev. “Did your group say anything about stopping at Aspen Hill or passing through the town?” he demanded. If so he could talk to Deputy Turner about doing something to stop what was happening.

She shook her head. “They’re following 6 all the way there. I was traveling well off the road so I’d stay far away from them.” The blond woman gave the houses a longing look. “Oh look at this place. It’s like the riots and all the violence up north completely passed it by. I wish I could stay here.”

Trev shifted uncomfortably. “If you were sent to Price you should keep on going there. Like I said, I’m happy to offer you a meal and a bed, maybe a bit of food to help you make it the rest of the way, but that’s all I can do. The town decided together not to take in refugees.”

“But what if you took me in yourself?” she demanded. “If you’ve got food to spare you could feed me, and nobody would have a right to say you can’t be generous with your own possessions.” She reached out and shyly took his hand. “That would be okay, wouldn’t it? I promise I’d pull my own weight.”

Trev took his hand back, uncomfortably reminded of her initial offer. He wanted to help her, but at the same time she was a complete stranger. He was almost certain Lewis would refuse to take her into the shelter, and for that matter he wasn’t sure he wanted the commitment of being completely responsible for her future wellbeing just an hour after meeting her.

Just like with the town’s decision to refuse the refugees, if he took Mandy in he’d feel more and more pressure to take in anyone else who came by his patrol route. And he wasn’t about to be a hypocrite who told other people not to take in refugees then did it himself. Besides, two people eating from his stores halved the amount of time he could live off them: careless generosity could clean him out pretty quickly.

And he needed that food. He was still worried he didn’t have what it took to survive long term, and that food was the only buffer he had to figure things out. As terrible as it made him feel to send her on it was the best thing. “Sorry, I can’t,” he said. “You need to go on to Price.”

Mandy frowned at him. “Well fine then. Thanks for a meal and a bed at least.” She didn’t sound nearly as thankful as she had before.

They continued the rest of the way into town in silence. Trev followed the dirt, gravel, and then narrow paved streets towards Main Street, planning to follow it to town hall and talk to Turner or Anderson or whoever about his decision to take Mandy in. The situation was made more awkward by the fact that he couldn’t take her to the shelter and she needed a place to stay.

But it turned out he didn’t need to go that far. A crowd was gathered at Roadblock 1, and it looked as if a delegation to the refugees was just returning when he arrived.

Before he could seek out Anderson or Turner Matt caught sight of him and waved frantically. “Trev, I’m glad I found you!” his friend called, hurrying over. “Listen, I’m really worried about—” he cut off abruptly, looking over Trev’s shoulder at Mandy. “Who’s this?”

“This is Mandy,” Trev said, stepping to the side to introduce the refugee. “I found her heading our way on the north border.”

Matt gave him an irritated look. “Weren’t you the one telling everyone that we can’t survive if we welcome people in? You sure managed to convince everyone else!” Trev could only look helplessly at his friend, and after a few seconds of angry silence Matt glanced at Mandy and took in her pitiable state, then looked quickly away to give Trev a slightly more understanding look.

Trev took his friend by the arm and led him away a short distance. “Listen,” he whispered, “has anyone been out to the refugee camp to check things out? From what Mandy told me on the way here things were pretty bad in her group, and those people out there might be having the same problems.”

“That’s what I needed to talk to you about,” Matt replied. “At least kind of. It is pretty bad out there, and the refugees want to camp closer to town to avoid more dangerous groups even though we’re not letting anyone through the roadblock…” he said that last bit with another pointed look at Mandy. “But that’s not the problem.”

His friend fell silent, looking worried. Trev waited for a few seconds and then lost patience. “What is it, then?”

“I went out with the delegation so I could look through the refugee camp,” Matt said heavily. “I was searching for news about my sister and her family. They were planning to stay put in Midvale, but with things so bad up north I was hoping they’d come south after all. But nobody has seen them or recognized their names, and from what I’ve heard from the refugees about their trip south I don’t want my sister’s family in that sort of danger. Terry’s great, but I’d feel better if they had more people protecting them.”

“You’ve got that right,” Mandy said over Trev’s shoulder. “If your sister’s hot you should definitely be worried.”

Trev gave the sunburned woman an irritated look. Whatever she’d suffered that was a pretty callous thing to say. “I’m sure she’s fine,” he quickly said.

But even as he said it he felt his own worries for April’s family. Trev had heard all about the chaos in the valley from his friend after Matt had finally decided it was time to get out, and had heard more from his cousin about the dire situation in other cities. If Terry and April and their boys were still back in the middle of that they could have run into real trouble.

But as a friend he thought he should be the voice of hope. “If they just decided to stay put until things calmed down they might have avoided all the trouble,” he offered. “They could still be up in their house in Midvale. It was on the outskirts closer to the mountains, right?”

Matt shook his head, but not in answer to his question. “The refugees had plenty to say about what’s going on up there. Looting, rioting, even gunfights in the street. Word is FETF has come in to restore order, but before they did anything else they sent off the refugees to their designated evacuation areas. After that nobody’s quite sure what’s happened up there, and with the internet and phones out there’s no way of telling.”

“We could try Lewis’s radio,” Trev offered. “There’s got to be people up there exchanging news.”

To his surprise Matt shook his head firmly. “I need to go up there,” he said. “It’s the best way to find out what’s really going on, and if I can find my sister and her family I can help them get back down here safely.” He hesitated, then squared his shoulders and looked Trev square in the eye. “Will you come with me?”

The request hit him like a blow. That was a huge thing to ask, even for a friend. After all Trev had done to make sure he had a place to escape from the chaos, and especially after he’d left immediately after the attack just to avoid getting caught in it, going back up into the cities was the last thing he wanted. They could end up getting shot, or at the very least robbed and stranded with no food in a desperate situation.

A situation April and her family might already be in. Matt’s sister was enough older than them that she’d barely acknowledged Trev’s existence, aside from to come down on him and Matt and Lewis hard for any disturbance that pestered her. But at the same time he she was a good person, and he knew his friend loved her and absolutely adored his nephews. He’d even showed Trev pictures of them after visits.

“This is insane and it’s going to end badly,” Trev warned. “Do you really want to go over a hundred miles to get there and the same distance back, about half of it through densely populated areas where who knows what kind of violence is happening, on the off chance your sister might still be at her house? We might pass right by her and never know, so she gets here safely with her family while we end up dead up north trying to save her.”

“We’ll follow Highway 6 up to I-15 and take it the rest of the way to Midvale,” Matt said. “That’s the only way they could go so if they’re headed south we’ll meet them.” His friend met his eyes miserably. “Please, Trev. I don’t think I can do this alone.”

Trev looked away. “Fine. But I’ll need you to find Mandy a bed and let Turner know we’ll both be away so he’ll need to replace us on our shifts. Pack up just what you need, food and water and a sleeping bag and warm clothes, along with your gun and as much ammo as you think you can carry over long distances. I’ll go pack up and let Lewis know what I’m doing.”

His friend grabbed his hand and pumped it. “Thanks, man! Don’t worry, after all the walking we’ve done on patrols this trip will be a snap. We’ll be up and back with my family in no time.”

He somehow doubted that. They might be in decent shape but April and her family wouldn’t be, and traveling with children was always difficult. “Head to my place when you’re ready,” he said. “I’ll be waiting.” As he turned and walked away he cursed himself for an idiot, but he really couldn’t refuse his friend.

He was definitely going to strip his pack down to just the bare essentials for this trip. The only downside was that he’d probably have to bring food for more people in case Matt’s family didn’t have enough.

Chapter Ten

Human Tide

“Aspen Hill is a lovely town,” Mandy commented as they made their way to his house. “I’m glad FETF sent me to the evacuation shelter here.”

Matt gave the refugee an uncomfortable look. “FETF may have sent you, but we decided we’re not taking anyone in.”

The sunburned blond’s expression turned alarmed. “Trev promised me I could stay here, that he’d take care of me! Didn’t he ask you to get your parents to let me stay at your place until he got back from helping you?”

What? Matt frowned, trying to remember what Trev had said. His friend had just wanted her to have a temporary place to sleep, hadn’t he? Matt hadn’t intended to offer Mandy a permanent bed in his parents’ house. They were already struggling for food as it was.

But then again he’d done it for Sam, and Trev was risking himself going north with Matt to find April’s family. If Trev had promised to take care of the woman and Matt was taking him away so he couldn’t, didn’t that mean it was up to him to sort it out? Although wasn’t that more Lewis’s responsibility as Trev’s family?

“Yeah, I said I would,” he agreed reluctantly. “But I can’t speak for my parents.” He’d have to see if they could talk to Lewis about getting some of Trev’s food storage to feed her. That seemed reasonable at least.

She gave him a relieved look and took his arm. “Oh thank you! When Trev dumped me on you I thought he was trying to break his promise.”

That annoyed him. “Trev doesn’t break his promises. He just agreed to walk into whatever’s going on up in the cities to the north to help me, right?”

“Of course,” Mandy said, letting go of his arm. “I didn’t mean it like that. I was just afraid he’d forget in the bustle of getting ready to go.”

“Sure,” Matt said, turning to look ahead. He saw Sam stopped dead in middle of the street, staring at him with wide eyes, and in alarm he immediately felt like he’d done something wrong. He hurried to meet up with her, waving.

“Who’s this?” Sam asked. He’d expected her to sound suspicious but there was no trace of that in her words.

Matt hurriedly introduced the two women. “Trev promised her help, and I agreed to ask my parents to find her a bed since he’s going with me up to Midvale and won’t be here to take care of her.”

Sam’s eyes had started to soften at that, but as he finished she stiffened. “Wait, what?”

“We’re going up to find April’s family,” Matt said firmly. “I have to make sure they all get down here safely.”

The dark-haired woman’s eyes flashed angrily. “Are you insane? You saw what we escaped from and you want to go back into that?” Before Matt could answer she abruptly calmed herself, looking a bit embarrassed. “Sorry, I was just surprised. If we’re going we’re going.”

Now it was Matt’s turn to stiffen. “Wait, what? I can’t take you with me.”

“You’re not taking me with you, I’m going with you,” she corrected, although for the life of him Matt couldn’t see the distinction. “I want to help.”

Matt turned and gave Mandy a helpless look. “You just came down, can you tell her what she’d be getting into?”

“Oh believe me, I can,” the blond woman assured him. She stepped over to Sam and leaned close, whispering in the younger woman’s ear for quite a while. At first Sam looked merely attentive, but after a while her eyes widened in horror and she visibly paled, then abruptly threw her arms around Mandy and hugged her tight in sympathy.

Matt looked between them, somehow thinking he didn’t want to know what the refugee had said. “I’m sorry, Sam. I don’t want to leave you but at least I know you’ll be safe here.”

The dark-haired woman gave him a sad look, then gently turned Mandy towards the house. “Come on, let’s get you washed up and in clean clothes. It’s just cold water I’m afraid, but we’ve got soap and shampoo.”

Mandy laughed. “With these sunburns hot water would be a nightmare anyway. Thanks.”

Matt caught up to the two women as they made their way to his house, opening the door for them and explaining the situation to his mom as Sam led the refugee upstairs to the bathroom. It wasn’t ideal, having it there with no flowing water or power, but since it was the only bathroom in the house they didn’t have much choice but to haul water up the stairs for the toilet and for washing.

He just hoped the sewage didn’t back up. He had no idea what caused it or how likely it was, but if it happened that would be a nightmare. They’d have to plug the toilet and dig an outhouse or something. Although he seemed to recall his dad mentioning that the topic had been brought up in the meeting and residents were being encouraged to dig outhouses even before the sewer system failed. It made him feel bad about leaving, thinking of all the stuff his parents and Sam would need his help with.

His mom greeted the news of a new guest with equanimity, although she definitely agreed about getting some of Trev’s food from Lewis. “I’m happy to help a friend, and if he’s going with you we do owe him, but we just don’t have the food to take anyone else in. It would be impossible.”

“Did Trev really agree to take care of her?” Sam whispered, coming into the kitchen. “I mean Mandy seems nice and it’s a nice thing to do, but she’s a complete stranger. Also isn’t he the one who made a big deal about keeping refugees out?”

Matt could only shrug. The decision really didn’t make much sense to him, but he had to trust that his friend wasn’t being irrational. “How is she?”

“Fine I think. I loaned her some more sensible clothes and showed her the system we’re using to wash up.” Sam glanced back at the stairs, frowning. “Poor woman. She’s had a pretty terrible time.”

“Hopefully that’s all behind her.” Matt turned back to his mom. “I’m sorry to leave you to find a way to handle her but I don’t want to waste a minute. The sooner I can get April’s family back here the better off they’ll be.”

“I know, and I agree,” his mom said, coming over to give him a hug. “We’ll make do, right Sam?”

“I still think I should go with you,” Sam insisted stubbornly.

Matt didn’t know whether to be pleased or annoyed that she wanted to stay with him even after he’d already told her no. “It’s going to be dangerous up there. I don’t feel comfortable putting anyone but myself at risk.”

“You asked your friend to go,” she pointed out.

He hesitated, trying to think of a way to respond without insulting her. He was pretty sure she could handle herself, but he didn’t want her to be put in a situation where she had to. “Trev has already been in a fight. Some guy tried to rob him at gunpoint just outside his dorm room.” He patted the 9mm at his hip. “This is the would-be robber’s gun, if that tells you anything.”

She opened her mouth, still stubborn, and Matt quickly cut her off. “Besides, I’d feel a lot better about things if you were here to help my parents. Things are going to be tough and they might not be able to handle it alone. Right, Mom?”

“Of course, dear,” his mom said, hugging Sam. “I couldn’t sleep at night knowing I let you go into that. I’ll be worried enough about Matt, but it’s our family and our problem and it has to be done.”

Matt glanced sidelong at the stairs where the refugee had disappeared. “Also I’d really appreciate it if you could help make our guest feel welcome.”

After a few stormy seconds of silence Sam finally relented. “Fine, but be careful.” She stepped closer and punched his arm. “You’re my traveling buddy, remember?”

Although her tone was flippant her expression hinted at something far more serious. Or at least he liked to believe it did. Matt felt his face flushing and suddenly felt really awkward. “I will,” he promised. “And you be careful too. Things might get unfriendly around here if the refugees decide they want to enter town after all.”

Before she could answer a creak on the stairs turned them both around to see Mandy descending wearing some of Sam’s borrowed clothes, which looked too small for her. The blond woman seemed much more revived after washing up, even if it was just with a clean cloth and soap in cold water, although the skin on her face, arms, and legs was terribly sunburned. At the sight of her Sam immediately hurried to get her a cup of water, which she gratefully accepted and gulped down in several long swallows.

“My parents are happy to let you stay until me and Trev get back,” Matt offered the refugee. “You can use my room for now.”

To his surprise Sam hurriedly spoke up. “I think it would be better if I moved into your room so she can have the guest room. She’ll be more comfortable there.”

Matt wasn’t sure how to interpret that. He was also a bit embarrassed at the thought of her being in his room, although of course she’d seen it before. It wasn’t exactly an embarrassing relic from his days as a kid, but he did have a lot of paraphernalia from his time on the high school basketball team hanging on the walls, as well as a few posters of his favorite players and one or two bands. And he’d also collected a lot of cheap used CDs growing up as MP3 players took over in popularity.

What if she found time to search through them and didn’t like his taste in music? Of course, considering the fact that the power was probably out for good he doubted she’d get a chance to hear any of it.

His mom gave the two of them an amused look. “That’s very generous.” She went over and put an arm around Mandy’s shoulders, careful of the sunburn. “Come on, dear, let’s get you settled in.”

Matt glanced awkwardly at Sam. “I need to get packed up.”

To his relief she beamed at him, seemingly back to her old self now that things had been settled. “I’ll help.”

* * *

“You’re out of your mind.”

Trev gave his cousin an irritated look as he continued emptying the pockets on his backpack. “It’s his family, man, and the guy’s so clueless he walked right into a riot. I have to help him.”

“You’re not much better off than him,” Lewis insisted, moving around to get in front of him. “This is crazy. We could at least try to get my fuel working in a car, or maybe try to find a vehicle that can run on it.”

“You’ve been trying that for days,” Trev argued. “All you’ve managed to do is gum up your truck’s fuel injector, and Mr. Tillman’s ATV didn’t even splutter when we tried it in there.”

“So find a way to trade some gas.” His cousin grabbed his arm as he reached for some clean clothes. “You do not want to walk into the mess up there. Besides, how will you get them down?”

Trev shook his head. “There’s no gas left in town. Running the fridges took a lot, and so did everything the town used the first week. What little remains is being used to charge batteries for radios and flashlights.”

Lewis sighed. “Think about this carefully. Here you have a home, a community, and everything you need to survive. If you leave here you become just another refugee, and refugees are the first to die when the Schumer hits the fan. You do not want to become one.”

“We’ll have enough food to get there and back easy,” Trev promised. “And I’ll make sure to avoid other people. We’ll be in and out without talking to anyone.” He carefully set aside his Mini-14, ammo, and all the gear for it to stay behind. Taking two guns plus ammo for both of them was excessive, and anyway he didn’t want to be shot on sight for openly carrying a tactical rifle. It may turn out to be a bad decision, but he’d prefer to trust his .45 in its underarm holster. And over long distances losing the weight would make a huge difference.

His cousin ran his hand over the rifle’s stock. “Maybe I should go with you if you really plan to go.”

“You’ve got to watch the shelter,” Trev argued. “Besides, I can’t ask you to do that. Especially not after you just got finished telling me what an idiot I am for going.”

“He’s my friend too.” Lewis sighed again. “Although we do need to make sure you have a place to come home to and you’re right that I don’t really want to go. This is a bad idea, Trev.”

“I know.” Trev straightened and gave his cousin a solemn look. “Matt needs me and I said I’d do it.”

There was a long, uncomfortable pause as they stood staring at each other. “I’d better get you some protein powder to take with you, then.” His cousin turned and started for the back of the shelter. “And some flashlights.”

By the time Matt came around they had Trev’s pack loaded. It felt full with the sleeping bag, pad, and tent, but when he put it on it was half the weight of when he’d first brought it down. Courtesy of taking just the bare essentials. Lewis checked their friend’s pack and made him leave behind a few things, then gifted him with some protein powder as well.

After a few brief goodbyes Trev and his friend were on the dirt road leading away from the shelter, headed for Highway 6. At first Trev argued that they should head north and a bit east cross-country until they reached Helper, at which point the terrain got rough enough that it was better to just follow Highway 6 the rest of the way to Spanish Fork even if there was more risk of running into refugees and any trouble they might cause. He even pulled out the small map of Utah Lewis had given him so he could trace the route with his finger.

Matt immediately shook his head at the suggestion, insisting that he had to stay along Highway 6 and then I-15 the entire way because he wanted to run into refugees, if not to ask them about news up north then at least to check each group for his family.

Trev vehemently disagreed with the idea of walking right on the highway in sight of everyone, and after some effort managed to convince his friend that it would be better if they stayed barely within sight of the road with binoculars. That was a reasonable compromise, where they’d be close enough that Matt could check the faces of the refugees they passed looking for his sister and her family, but far enough away to avoid notice. Which meant they’d start by circling north around the new refugee camp springing up outside the town’s borders beyond Roadblock 1, then take that road all the way to the highway and go from there.

Once they’d agreed on their course Matt immediately sped up to a quick trot, almost a run. Trev didn’t even try to keep up, instead calling after his friend. “Whoa, slow down! Don’t tire yourself out.”

Matt did slow, but only to look back at him impatiently. “I want to find April’s family as quickly as possible. I don’t care if I get a little tired.”

Trev sighed. “It’s over a hundred miles to Midvale. You going to jog the entire way with a pack on your back? Believe me, I just finished a 50 mile trek and I learned a few hard lessons.”

His friend paused, torn. “We can rest when we get tired,” he said stubbornly.

It was hard to believe that after spending years on the high school basketball team Matt hadn’t learned a few things about his body’s limits. But then, he’d never really been on a long trek either, and Trev had been even more hopeless less than two weeks ago. “How do you feel after a game? Ready to rest for five minutes and go do it again? You can sprint for a few minutes at best and then your body’s dead tired even after a long rest. Or you can walk for hours and take a short rest and your body will be ready for more. Believe me, it may not seem like we’ll travel faster by going slower, but with constant walking we will. And we’ll also reduce the risk of accidents and be less exhausted when we get there.”

Trev continued forward at the same pace he’d gotten accustomed to on the journey down as well as on his patrols, and when he caught up with Matt his friend fell into step beside him. “This may not tire us out,” he complained, “but going this slow is going to be agonizing.”

With a soft laugh Trev leaned over and slapped his friend on the pack. “We should be able to keep up this pace all day. You’ll be surprised how quick we make the trip as long as we’re careful to avoid accidents.”

The first part of the hike was uneventful. They reached 6 in under two hours and found plenty of refugees all following it south. Trev was surprised how many people there were, considering how few places there were to go aside from Price or straight on south to I-70 where they could follow it into Colorado. He supposed they could also keep going south to Moab, but that was just more dry, barren wasteland. And anywhere they might go aside from Price was a daunting distance without supplies, and more importantly with water scarce most of the way.

But here the refugees were, fleeing from a bad situation hoping they weren’t going into a worse one. As planned Matt and Trev stayed barely in view of the highway, and from that point on Trev was surprised at just how much the hike felt like patrolling. They were following a line of hills running to the west of 6, staying just below the ridge on the opposite side and poking their heads up with every passing group of refugees so Matt could search for his family.

It slowed them down, definitely, because there were a lot of groups and his friend took a few minutes every time to meticulously check each face with Trev’s binoculars. But even with the stops Trev kept them to the same steady pace, eating the miles behind them. He also made sure his friend was frequently drinking water, and every couple hours they pulled out the portable food they’d brought and ate as they walked.

Since both were used to patrolling neither had trouble keeping up the pace for the hour or so it took following the highway to reach Helper, at the mouth of Spring Canyon. Aside from Carbonville along 6 a bit south of Aspen Hill it was the only real town between Price and Spanish Fork. Because of that a considerable refugee camp, over a thousand people and possibly even more than the population of the town itself, had sprung up just south of the town along the Highway.

Trev was all ready to circle west around the camp and town both and make straight for the canyon, but before he’d finished scoping out the place with his binoculars Matt started right for the refugee camp. Hurriedly following his friend, he took one look at their destination and put two and two together. “You’ve got to be kidding. We don’t want to walk into that hornet’s nest.”

“We have to check,” Matt insisted. “What if April and her family are somewhere in there? We’d save ourselves a who lot of trouble and could just take them right back home. If nothing else we could ask for news about Midvale, and someone might have seen them or heard something about them.”

“There’s millions of people up in the Salt Lake and Utah valleys,” Trev grumbled, although he fell into step beside his friend. “If anyone did know anything about April’s family it would be like finding a needle in a haystack.” Matt just shrugged stubbornly, so with a sigh he checked his underarm holster beneath his jacket. The backpack straps made it slightly awkward to get to, but Lewis had helped him adjust it before setting out so it was possible. As he did that he noticed his friend checking his own Glock in its hip holster.

They passed a few groups of refugees heading the other way and got some odd looks about the direction they were going. Trev supposed that all these people were following the flow of humanity out of the cities, so seeing two idiots fighting against the flow to head the other way was unusual. Luckily odd looks were all the problems they encountered, and the refugees seemed just as eager to avoid them as they were to be avoided. Especially when the bedraggled passersby caught sight of Matt’s openly carried pistol.

For all Trev’s fears as they approached the camp he didn’t see anyone who looked threatening. Most of the refugees seemed dispirited, not aggressive. In a way looking around the sprawling camp and seeing signs of so much human suffering as almost as daunting as threatening looks would’ve been.

Where could these people go? Who could they turn to for help? The government? From the sounds of it the Federal government was fractured and scrambling, facing the impossible task of fighting the chaos erupting all over the country. How much attention could they spare from that to protect and take care of hundreds of millions of US citizens fleeing population centers?

There was no help to be found anywhere, no place well enough off to accept so many mouths to feed. It almost sickened Trev to think it, but he wondered how many of these people would survive the winter.

Matt led the way over to where a family was setting up blankets and sleeping bags on a tarp under the open sky. Three adults and four children ranging from toddlers to early teens looked at him warily as he approached. “Hey,” he said, waving. “My name’s Matt Larson. I’m looking for my sister, April Lynn. She lives up in Midvale with her family and might be heading this way.”

The only man among the group straightened. “Sorry, we came down from Mapleton. I haven’t heard of anyone from Midvale.”

The older of the two women came and took his arm. “What about the FETF camp opening up in Salt Lake City?” she asked him.

Matt gave her a hopeful look. “What do you know about it?”

The woman looked over at the man to answer, and he shrugged. “Just that it’s there according to what refugees are saying. We weren’t sent south by FETF so we don’t know what they’re telling people, we decided to leave on our own before the wave of people fleeing Utah Valley clogged Highway 6 and brought their chaos with them. It was already happening when we left.”

“Which areas are being sent to the camp?” Trev asked. “Any idea if Midvale might be evacuated there?”

“Maybe,” the older woman replied. “From the sounds of it people on the outskirts of the population centers are being evacuated, while everyone in Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas that don’t have anywhere to go are being admitted into the camp. Midvale might be close enough to be included in that.”

The man obviously decided it was his turn to get some information. “I’m Hal and this is my wife Janet,” he said, holding out his hand. “Looks as if you folks came from farther south. How are things there?”

“Not good,” Trev answered, shaking the offered hand. “Lots of people pouring into the area and there aren’t enough resources for them. How about you? Where are all you folks heading?”

Hal shrugged. “South along 6. It’s the only real way to go, right? There’s nothing to the west but desert and badlands, east would be a nightmare trying to get through the Rocky Mountains, and to go north we’d have to go through some seriously bad rioting in Provo-Orem, Salt Lake, and Ogden.”

Trev shot his friend a glance, noting that Matt’s expression had grown even more grim at that news. “And what about south?”

The older man frowned. “Pardon?”

“You looked at a map? There’s nothing, nothing, then more nothing, all the way to Moab or along I-70 to Grand Junction. And as you go it’s going to get drier and drier. It’s not much better than the desert to the west.”

Hal obviously didn’t like hearing that. He scratched at his cheek, frowning. “Not sure what else to do. Stay here in Helper? There’s no food here. Or try our luck farther south in Carbon county?”

Trev shook his head. “Ever stop to consider it’s going to be as bad wherever you go? Most places will be about as hospitable as Helper.”

Janet fixed him with a belligerent stare. “Well they’d better find a way to help us, at least until FETF can step in. What would they do, send us on into the desert to starve? Not in Utah.”

Trev opened his mouth to argue the point, but before he could Matt shot him a warning look. “Well thanks for the information. I hope you guys find a solution.” He pulled Trev away as the couple got back to setting up their crude campsite.

“So what now?” Trev asked. “Head for this FETF camp?”

Matt shrugged. “Midvale’s still on the way to it so I guess we’ll try April’s house first, and keep looking over the refugees along the as we go for signs of them. Until then, though…” He abruptly cupped his hands around his mouth. “April! April Lynn! Terry Lynn! Are you here?”

Trev cringed, looking around as every eye turned their way. The last thing he wanted was to be the center of attention. But then again this was the quickest way to search the camp, even if it put them in more danger and might piss people off. He hated drawing notice but it was probably the right idea.

With a sigh he followed as his friend meandered through the camp, shouting the names of his sister and her husband. Before long they got to the other side, the only response to their calls refugees swearing at them and a few halfheartedly thrown rocks. Since they were already in the thick of things Trev didn’t bother suggesting they go around Helper and just followed his friend through the town, noting how the highway was cordoned off to keep the refugees from wandering into town and men with guns were out in force in case anyone passing through started any trouble.

Finally they got through Helper and entered Spring Canyon, and in spite of still being surrounded by refugees Trev breathed a sigh of relief. Although he still insisted they get off the road again.

Staying out of sight was a bit more difficult at that point. They crossed over to the other side of the canyon and followed the hills opposite the road, usually no more than a stone’s throw away, and did their best to keep behind cover. It slowed them down considerably, and a few times they were hailed by passing groups of refugees in spite of their best efforts to remain unseen, mostly to make sure they weren’t planning to cause trouble. In spite of all that they got through the canyon in a couple hours without any problems, and on the other side returned to their position within binocular sight of the road.

The going got harder and harder as Highway 6 meandered its way towards Spanish Fork Canyon, even though they still had a long ways to go to reach it. At some points they had no choice but to walk on the road itself in spite of their best efforts, but luckily there was plenty of room across the four lanes and the refugees they passed seemed perfectly happy moving over to the side of the highway as far from Trev and Matt as possible as they passed.

At one point they encountered a larger group of refugees that was mostly men, and Trev unconsciously checked his gun as he saw some of the looks being shot their way. But either the group wasn’t aggressive or the sight of Matt’s openly carried gun deterred them, and although they didn’t move over to the side like the smaller groups they caused no trouble. Still, Trev breathed a sigh of relief when they were well away from the group.

After about 12 hours of walking they reached the ghost town of Tucker near the eastern end of Spanish Fork Canyon, roughly half the distance between Aspen Hill and Spanish Fork. By then it was starting to get dark, and Trev also noticed Matt looked tired enough that he was stumbling a bit. They could still go a bit further that day, but since this was a fairly good location for a camp he insisted they stop for the night and led the way well off the road.

Matt was only too happy to follow, and eventually they found a good spot in a copse of bushes on the top of a low rise, where they’d be able to see anyone approaching but were blocked from the view of the tide of refugees still passing by on the highway down below. They both groaned in relief as they took off their packs, and when Trev started setting up his one-person tent his friend was quick to start on his own. After that they spent the rest of the twilight stretching their legs and getting a good drink and a more substantial meal.

“You know what I miss?” Matt asked as he crunched on a handful of peanuts. Trev made no response, waiting for him to continue. “Clean underwear.”

He glanced askance at his friend. “Missing that, are you?”

That earned him an annoyed look. “You know what I mean. Warm out of the dryer, fabric softener clean underwear.”

Trev chuckled. “You know, when I was loading my backpack on the trip down I had six clean pairs, fresh from the store and rolled up tiny and portable. I ended up leaving half behind. Funny how you can look back on your past self as a total idiot. Didn’t take up more than a couple square inches and weighed next to nothing.”

Matt laughed too. “Hindsight.” He took a swig of water and rotated his shoulders, groaning. “Man, you’ve done 2 patrols in one day? I thought the 8 hour shifts I did helping out were brutal enough.”

“We’ve made good time today,” Trev said. “Around 30 miles, I’d say. With any luck tomorrow we can start early and well rested and get in a full day, and that’s when we’ll really put some distance behind us.”

His friend nodded. “Another good 12 hours like this, even where Highway 6 gets difficult, and we’ll reach Spanish Fork and be at the start of the heavily populated areas. That’ll be sometime in the mid to late afternoon tomorrow.” His friend grinned at him. “I can’t believe we’re going to make it that far in less than two full days traveling. From your horror stories about the trip down I was expecting the going to be a lot slower.”

Trev grimaced. “Well my pack weighs half as much this time and I’m in probably the best shape of my life, so that helps. But just be ready to have to slow down when we reach Utah Valley.”

“Why? It’s level terrain and good roads the entire rest of the way.”

“Yeah, through dense population clusters.” Trev took a last bite of trail mix from his pack, then washed it down with a few good swallows of water. They’d have to find a place to refill their water bottles tomorrow if they wanted to keep up this pace. If worse came to worst they could always use his filter to draw from Utah Lake or one of the water sources flowing to it.

After that he was about ready to turn in, and Matt didn’t protest as he headed for his tent to inflate his sleeping pad. On his initial hike down to Aspen Hill he’d found himself grateful he’d purchased it, since it made the ground infinitely more comfortable, and curled up atop it in his sleeping bag he quickly fell asleep.

Chapter Eleven

Into the Fire

They woke up early the next morning and immediately packed up their camp and set out. The trip was uneventful as they followed Highway 6 northwest keeping to the hills wherever they could as the road began hugging more and more cliffs with nowhere to go but on the pavement itself. For most of that walk to Spanish Fork nothing exciting happened, just walking for hours on end along uphill and downhill terrain doing their best to give the refugees they passed a wide berth. Since they set out early they encountered refugees camped along the side of the road, although even at that hour many were on the move and some looked as if they’d already been walking for hours.

The most notable thing about that day was the number of refugees they passed. Trev had expected dozens or maybe hundreds, but judging by the sheer volume of humanity pouring past them along both sides of the road the number had to be closer to thousands. The sight was uncomfortable, not just because of what it meant for the people around them but also because of what it meant for every single town and city in their path.

“Lewis sometimes jokingly called the people fleeing the cities during a collapse and overwhelming the rural areas with their numbers the Golden Horde,” Trev said a couple hours into the hike when Matt expressed his frustration about trying to find his sister among so many faces. “I’d almost say they’re more like a locust swarm.”

His friend gave him a disgusted look. “I don’t think it’s fair to say that all refugees are ravenous parasites.”

Trev frowned. “Well it’s not the most pleasant thought, but if they can’t fend for themselves they have to get their food from somewhere.”

“So? They’re still people. People it’s wrong to just automatically assume are bad.”

“Whoa, whoa, when did I ever say that? They’re not all bad people, probably not even most of them. But they’re desperate people, and desperate people will do whatever they have to do to survive. The best ones might go back to being good people once the crisis has passed, but if the crisis never passes there’s no predicting what they’ll do.”

“So you don’t think it’s possible to be desperate and still keep your moral values?” Matt demanded.

Trev shrugged. “Of course it is. The problem is that the people who do keep their moral values are more likely to die faster. As time goes on the probability of meeting an honest, trustworthy refugee is going to decrease. Sure, if we have help for them they’ll be all smiles and gratitude, but then they’ll usually come back asking for more and the gratitude will slowly disappear while the expectation of generosity remains. Then the moment you have to say no in order to have enough to save your own life they’ll almost certainly turn angry and entitled.”

“Then what, we mistreat refugees just in case they’re bad apples?”

His friend’s judgmental tone was starting to annoy him. “Quit putting words in my mouth, man. I’m just saying that no matter how kindly we treat others, and even while we do as much as we can to help them, we should also be cautious and prepared for anyone we meet to be dangerous. If they’re not dangerous the worst that happens is we look a bit cautious and untrusting, but if they are dangerous we’re ready for whatever they might try.”

Matt looked away. “Maybe you’re right.”

“You know I’m right. Do you know how many people have already died? It could be hundreds of thousands or even millions by now. And most of that is from violence because we’re not even to the three week point where people who had no food when the disaster struck should be starving to death, so you know that number’s going to go up fast.”

Trev couldn’t help but notice how uncomfortable his words were making his friend, but he couldn’t ignore reality. “These refugees are in serious trouble and they know it. Do you think if they had the chance to take everything we had so we’re the ones in serious trouble and they might live a bit longer most of them would be worried about the ethics of it?” He pointed at the gun on Matt’s hip. “That’s why they don’t, and we’d better hope we don’t run into anyone who’s willing to shoot first and talk later and manages to catch us by surprise. All we can do is be ready for them.”

His friend abruptly quickened his pace. “I’m not liking the thought of how many of these people might end up in Aspen Hill,” he muttered. That was probably the closed he’d come to admitting Trev had a point.

“Yeah, me neither.” Trev sighed and hurried to catch up. “Look, the locust swarm remark was a rotten thing to say and I do feel bad for these people. It’s just that we’ve got enough problems with the refugees who were already sitting outside the town when we left.” Matt kept going at the same fast pace and Trev raised his voice slightly. “Hey slow down, we’ve still got a long way to go.”

On that 12 hour stretch to Spanish Fork the only noteworthy event was when they passed Trev’s car halfway through the hike. He wasn’t surprised to find that the vehicle was completely trashed, windows broken and doors and roof heavily dented as if someone had taken a crowbar or tire iron to them. The trunk was open, the carpet covering the spare tire flung aside and the spare tire itself nowhere to be seen.

“Looks like someone was really serious about looking for food,” Matt said as they came alongside the vehicle.

Trev looked away, feeling a bit sick. He’d bought the car used and it had caused almost as much trouble as it was worth back when he’d been driving it, but it had represented freedom of movement in a way he really had to appreciate under the circumstances. “The vindictive side of me almost thinks the piece of junk got what it deserved for not getting me all the way home. I’ve done enough walking in the last two weeks to last me a lifetime.”

Matt glanced over, probably wondering if that was a dig at him for asking Trev to come along on yet another long journey. Trev hadn’t meant it that way. “Well it’s not like it would’ve been useful any time soon,” his friend replied. Trev nodded and didn’t look back as they continued down the road.

In the late afternoon, just after Trev shared the last of his water with Matt, they finally reached the last hill overlooking Spanish Fork, which Highway 6 passed through to join up with I-15. Trev looked that way, thinking back to the first day of the attack when he’d driven this route. It seemed like a lifetime ago now.

“Civilization at last,” Matt said wryly, shoving a handful of peanuts into his mouth as he caught up. Trev wasn’t sure the salty snack was the best idea until they found a source of water.

“Maybe,” he replied. “Before we head in there I should warn you that this isn’t society anymore, it’s a war zone. We’ve got two big rules from now until we get to your sister’s house: One, we don’t be seen. Two, we don’t be heard. By anyone. We treat this like we could get attacked at any moment, because that’s reality. We stick to cover, backyards and alleys if we have to, and we go as close as possible to a straight line towards our objective.”

“Our “objective?” Matt asked, amused. “Okay Mr. Military Man.”

Trev ignored the jibe. “Or maybe we could avoid the Interstate and the cities entirely and cut straight north to follow the foothills. They’ll lead us all the way up to Midvale and we can completely avoid trouble.”

Matt was already shaking his head. “We have to stick with I-15 so I can keep watching for April’s family. That’s why we’re here, remember?”

Trev frowned. “It’s going to get a lot harder to do that now that we’re in populated areas. I was antsy enough walking on Highway 6 with so many people around, but there’ll be ten times that number on the Interstate. I don’t know if it’s even possible to avoid trouble, and I really doubt we’ll find a way to stay at binocular distance from the road to avoid being seen.”

“So we get seen,” his friend said with a shrug. “We just have to keep our guard up.”

“Now’s the exactly the time when we want to avoid notice,” Trev answered patiently. “All these refugees fleeing the cities, what do you think they’re running from? Trying to find food, sure, but for most of them they’re running from the violence in the cities. Which we’re about to walk into. Besides, we can move faster than your sister’s family. What if we keep going to Midvale following the foothills and search there, and if we can’t find her then we take the Interstate down looking for her?”

“Or what if we take the Interstate up and not waste time, and if we find her we can head to the foothills then?” Matt smiled. “Come on, man, you know I’ve got a point.”

Trev supposed his friend did. He sighed. “Fine. Lead on.”

* * *

It turned out Trev didn’t mean that literally, since his friend continued to take the lead as they continued along Highway 6 through Spanish Fork making for I-15. Matt didn’t mind following behind, since he had to put most of his concentration into searching the faces of the stream of refugees heading south and was happy to let Trev navigate for them.

His friend chose to follow the Interstate on the right side, in the strip of undeveloped land between where the fence and the first houses began. Matt would’ve preferred to walk on the outside of the fence where the way was unobstructed but they’d be in sight of everyone on the I-15, but his friend chose to cut through people’s yards, hopping smaller fences between houses and leaving Matt to look for places where he could see over the usually tall, noise-canceling fences blocking sight and sound of the Interstate.

This route seemed dangerous to Matt, especially in these chaotic times, but Trev argued that most of the owners of the yards they were cutting through had probably already been evacuated and were now part of the sea of humanity on the Interstate.

His friend was proven wrong just a mile after beginning their new strategy, when he hopped a fence and nearly landed on a snarling dog.

Trev yelped and leapt straight upwards to escape snapping jaws, twisting in midair to desperately clutch the top of the fence and swing his legs up. Matt grabbed him and helped pull him over, while in the other yard the dog continued to snarl and bark. When they heard shouts and saw the door to that house slam open as the dog’s owner came to investigate the noise they bolted back the way they’d come, vaulting three fences before cutting away from the Interstate and onto the street running parallel to it on the other side of the houses.

“You okay?” Matt asked between pants. His friend nodded. “This isn’t going to work. We should just follow the outside of the fence like I wanted. Even if people see us what’s the harm?”

“We get robbed and murdered?” Trev shot back, also panting. “Look, maybe it’s time to accept reality and just make for your sister’s house along the foothills. For all we know she’s still there, or they’ve gone to the FETF camp.”

“Nobody else on I-15 is getting robbed,” Matt snapped, losing his patience. “Would it really be so bad to follow it?”

“Nobody else has anything to steal,” his friend shot back. “And we’re going a different direction than everyone else. We’d be obvious targets the entire way, and even if we could defend ourselves it would probably come to shooting people. Do you want that?”

Matt hesitated. “How about a compromise? We follow this street and check out the highway along any open spots. Even if I miss a few groups at least I’ll be able to do what I can.”

Trev looked like he wanted to point out some more flaws in Matt’s reasoning, but surprisingly he just nodded. “Fine. Let’s go.” He began following the sidewalk, doing his best to stick to the cover of cars or fences as he eyed the houses around them, the street ahead, and even the street behind warily with one hand tucked up under his jacket holding the concealed .45 there. Matt followed his friend’s example and also stuck to cover, warily watched in all directions, and kept a hand on the 9mm at his hip.

They’d only gone a few blocks when Trev abruptly stopped, out in the middle of the road with no hint of a reason why. He was staring ahead, and Matt hurried the rest of the way along the fence they’d been following to peek over his friend’s shoulder. “What is it?”

“Roadblock.”

The answer was unnecessary since Matt could see it now. Two police vehicles parked across the street at a large intersection ahead, with a few of those plastic barricades out to make it clear they hadn’t just parked there for fun. Three policemen were leaning against the front bumpers, looking bored. From the looks of it the cross street connected to the Interstate and they were there to direct people in that direction.

“Uniforms,” Trev mused. “Might’ve stolen them.”

Matt shot his friend an incredulous look. “What, you think they’re robbers disguised as cops?”

“No, they’re probably law enforcement. Even if someone was stupid enough to attack the police they wouldn’t try to impersonate them on an open road. If they were caught the way things are now there’s every chance they’d be shot on sight. Besides, this street leads to an onramp so you’d expect to see a roadblock.” His friend turned and started around Matt, heading back the way they’d come.

Matt stared after him. “Hey, where are you going?”

Trev glanced back. “To find a way around. No need to take this street.”

How about that? Matt knew his friend was almost as paranoid as Lewis but this was absurd. “What’s the big deal? They’re policemen, here to protect and serve. They might even have news about Midvale or could give us some other help.”

“Or they could have some problem with us or what we’re doing,” Trev said with a shrug. “No reason to go looking for trouble.”

“What trouble? It’s just some cops watching a street. If anything, acting like we’re avoiding them would be even more suspicious. Then talk about finding trouble.”

His friend paused, looking longingly down the fence to a back yard. “I don’t like it, Matt. These are troubled times, only an idiot walks up to potential problems.”

Matt was losing his patience. “These are the people who stop problems!”

Another shrug. “I’m not so sure of that.”

That was as much as he was ready to hear. “Well you can go around,” he snapped. “I’ll see you on the other side. Or maybe they’ll be able to give me a ride farther north and you can keep walking on your own.”

Trev made a frustrated noise and seemed to give up, moving to rejoin him. “This is a bad idea,” he warned.

They started forward down the street, and Matt couldn’t help but notice his friend’s obvious furtiveness. “Quit acting like a criminal. We haven’t done anything wrong.”

“And you think that’s going to matter?” But by then they’d drawn the attention of the officers, who quickly straightened and moved into cover behind the cars. All were holding their service issue weapons ready to draw. At seeing their reaction Trev fell silent, squared his shoulders, and moved out into the middle of the street with his hands held out at his sides to walk directly towards them.

Matt followed, watching the three men gripping their weapons and feeling a sudden unease. He’d had more than a few encounters with policemen, and there were a few he’d seen who seemed to like fondling their pistols whenever they talked with people. He’d always thought those types were a bit gung-ho, the sort who liked to swagger and feel big, but there was no harm in it. But these guys had spent a week dealing with riots, and to his eyes the gesture didn’t feel like swagger.

Whatever he’d said to Trev, he was beginning to wonder if his friend hadn’t had a point. Protect and serve or not those were real guns, and he didn’t like the fact that the policemen looked ready to draw them as he and Trev approached.

But that was just Trev’s paranoia infecting him. He’d lived in Orem for the last few years and these men were practically neighbors.

“Afternoon, officers,” he called.

The greeting didn’t dispel the wariness of the men at the roadblock. “We’re here to direct refugees to the Interstate,” an older policeman called back. “If you’re caught off I-15 you’ll be lucky to only get a face full of pepper spray, and if you’re caught looting or causing public disorder you’ll be shot on sight. If you’re looking for assistance go to the FETF camp on Antelope Island, directly northwest of Salt Lake City, or to the prepared relief stations in the towns to the south. You’ll find shelter and food at those locations, but here you’ll only find trouble.”

“We’re not refugees, sir. My sister lives up in Midvale with her family. We’re on our way to get her.”

The older officer’s eyes stayed narrowed. “FETF has resources for finding lost family members. Take the Interstate up to their camp and check there.”

“I will, thanks. But I’d like to check her house first since she may have stayed put.”

“She might not’ve had the chance,” one of the younger officers said. The other two policemen had let go of their guns after the first exchange but he was still fiddling with his. “The rioting was heaviest in SLC and Ogden and a lot of citizens in the area were evacuated to the FETF camp. You’re going to want to go there.”

Matt had a feeling he might end up at the camp anyway, but he still intended to try his sister’s house since it was on the way. No need to irritate the policemen by explaining that, though. He started forward again. “All right, I’ll try there first. Thank you.”

He hadn’t gone more than half the distance to the roadblock before the two younger officers, a wiry guy not much older than him and a slightly overweight man with a mustache, were darting forward to intercept them. “Put down your packs,” the wiry man shouted. “And keep your hands where we can see them.”

Matt froze. “What’s going on?”

“Contraband check,” the older officer said, making no effort to sound reassuring.

That only made him more worried. “What counts as contraband?” And more important, but not something he was about to ask outright, what was the punishment for being caught with it? He was uncomfortably aware of the Glock on his hip, and for that matter Trev’s concealed 1911. His friend might have a conceal carry permit but the officers might not be terribly sympathetic about that.

It was better to be up front about it. He carefully unbuckled his pack’s belt and moved his buttoned shirt’s tail out of the way so the 9mm was clearly visible. “I’m carrying a—”

In an eyeblink three guns were pointed at him. “Hands in the air!” the mustached man screamed. “Do it now!”

Matt immediately obeyed. “Is there a problem?” he asked, trying to hide his terror. “I was carrying it openly, at least the best I could while wearing a pack and a buttoned shirt.”

The guns didn’t waver as the mustached man inched carefully forward to pull the Glock from its holster and toss it aside. “The Governor issued a ban on firearms,” the older officer answered. “All law-abiding citizens are required to turn them in.”

“Since when is giving up our second amendment rights abiding by the law?” Trev demanded. He’d dropped his backpack but was making no move to reveal his own concealed weapon. His voice was also shaking, either from fear or anger. Judging by how he was handling this situation he seemed to be one of those people who managed disagreements badly and let his emotions completely overwhelm him.

The policemen noticed it too, and their fingers were starting to look itchy around the triggers. “There have been gunshot fatalities in the riots,” the wiry officer said. “You don’t want to run into an armed mob, do you?”

“No I don’t. Especially when I’m unarmed myself.” Trev was actually visibly trembling now. “Another sacrifice of freedom for security?”

For Pete’s sake, Trev, shut up! Matt thought frantically. They were going to end up in jail.

The wiry fellow started towards his friend, either to frisk him or to punch him in the face. Trev seemed to realize it too because his common sense finally kicked in. “I have a concealed carry permit,” he said hastily, raising his hands to the level of his head. “I’m carrying a 1911 in an underarm holster beneath my jacket.”

“Hands behind your head,” the man ordered, waving his gun. Trev complied, and a moment later his jacket was yanked aside and his gun drawn free. “Keep ’em there,” the policeman said, tucking the gun into his waistband. Trev was thoroughly patted down, then the officer backed away.

While his friend was being frisked the overweight officer ordered Matt back half a dozen feet and started rooting through his pack. A heavy hunting knife was tossed over to join Matt’s previously discarded 9mm, along with a few boxes of ammo and some spare magazines.

Before too long Trev’s pack received the same treatment as he was directed back to stand beside Matt. His friend watched his gun being set in the pile with an almost sick look on his face; that 1911 was one of his favorite possessions, and Matt had gone with him to the shooting range outside Aspen Hill a few times in the last few years so they could practice with it. He knew his friend went twice as often without him.

Then the officers began making a second pile with all the food from their packs. “What are you doing?” Matt blurted, surprised.

The wiry fellow glanced up. “You stupid, dude? We just told you, contraband check.”

“You’re pulling out food.”

The older officer spoke up, sounding bored. “Martial law mandates that any food being carried within city limits is to be assumed stolen and immediately confiscated. Also FETF regulations make it illegal to hoard more than 2 weeks’ worth of food and mandates that it be confiscated from offenders, so you might be guilty on both counts.”

A federal offense to hoard food? And any food you carried was assumed stolen? Matt had never heard anything so ridiculous. That basically made possessing any food while traveling illegal, and if you had food storage and stayed put you were also hosed. “This is less than two weeks’ worth,” he protested. “It might not even be enough to get to Midvale and back once I find my sister’s family and we have to share it between us. Anyway I give you my word it’s my own food, legally purchased.”

“It doesn’t matter, it’s the mandate,” the older officer said. “We have to take this, but if you need food you can go to the FETF camp for assistance.” He was starting to sound like a broken record, and every answer was FETF.

“Can’t we keep at least a day’s worth?” Matt asked, not caring if he sounded like he was begging. “Enough to get to Midvale?”

“Anything you need will be provided at the FETF camp.”

Yeah, go begging to the government when you just stole my food so I can’t take care of myself anymore. And I suppose they’ll give us travel rations for the trip home, too? Matt felt a growing wave of despair. What was going to happen if he depended on the FETF for what he needed to survive? What about April and her family and the food they needed? They might all end up trapped on Antelope Island, unable to leave unless they wanted to starve. Just more refugees among the tens or even hundreds of thousands.

No, if worse came to worst he could go hungry for a few days to get back, although he worried about his sister and especially her children having to do the same.

“This is robbery, you know.”

Matt whirled. “Seriously, Trev, shut up!” he snapped, all of his anger at this situation spilling out at his friend.

Trev ignored him, glaring at the officers rifling through their packs. Matt saw with uneasiness that the older officer had put away his gun to draw out a smaller, plastic device with a blunt square tip. A taser. That was even worse, wasn’t it? The policeman might not just outright shoot someone who hadn’t done anything, but he probably wouldn’t be as shy about using a stun gun.

Incredibly enough, Trev kept going. “We’re just trying to get to his family and bring them home, and you’re going to make that almost impossible for us? Don’t people already have enough problems?”

The wiry officer glared at him, finger shifting slightly on the trigger. “Going to get violent, tough guy? I could picture you at one of the riots throwing a brick at my head.”

Oh no. Oh no no no. They were so going to end up in jail. Why couldn’t Trev just shut up? “We’ll get to I-15 as quickly as we can and follow it the entire way,” Matt said hastily, trying to sound calm. “Can we go?”

The older officer watched Trev with narrowed eyes. “You know, son, I’m tempted to call a van over and have you hauled off to Point of the Mountain. That’s the camp where all the rioters are hauled after we round them up. You want to paint us as the bad guys just like everyone else, but you’ll notice that I haven’t tased you yet. Even though I’m very, very tempted.”

Trev looked like he had something to say to that, but by some miracle he kept his mouth shut and looked away instead.

Matt spoke for him. “He won’t cause any problems, officer, I promise.”

The policeman dragged his eyes away from Trev and glanced over at him. Matt felt like a criminal under that considering gaze, and it was all he could do not to hunch his shoulders. Finally the man nodded. “I wouldn’t stay too long in the valley. The public unrest is only going to get worse from here on out.”

He nodded back, feeling a surge of relief. “Thank you.” The officers finished rooting through the clothes and camp equipment still in their packs, then gathered up the food, knives, and guns and walked away. Trev knelt and began shoving his remaining possessions back into his pack, and after a moment Matt followed suit. As quickly as possible they slung their packs over their shoulders, not even bothering to belt them, and started through the roadblock towards the onramp leading to I-15.

Matt felt like he was walking past an unchained rottweiler as he edged around the patrol cars, doing his best not to make any threatening moves or come too close to the glaring officers. After they were past the roadblock Trev came up alongside him, then quickened his pace and pulled ahead.

Matt hurried to catch up to his friend, who said nothing. The look on Trev’s face was curiously blank, the only sign of emotion his white-knuckled grip on the straps of his pack as they followed the ramp onto the merging lane. Matt didn’t blame him: he was pretty pissed off himself.

After a few minutes of incredibly oppressive, temper-thick silence he cleared his throat. “I bet you think this is my fault.”

Trev laughed harshly. “No, you did the right thing. Duck and cower, jump to help them as they rob you blind, make your friend sound like a crazed lunatic when he protests and tries to defend our rights, then thank them when they mercifully let you go rather than hauling you off to a prison camp for the horrible crime of walking down the street.”

Matt’s anger boiled over. “I didn’t have to make you sound like a crazed lunatic, you idiot. We might have convinced them to let us keep our food if you hadn’t called officers of the law robbers.” No response. “Besides, at least now we won’t have to worry about running into armed thugs.”

“Aside from the ones we just ran into?” Trev laughed again. “You don’t get it, do you? Real criminals will all still have their guns because they know how to keep them hidden. Everything those policemen think they’re doing to “protect” us only serves to make honest citizens helpless while mildly inconveniencing real criminals.”

Matt resisted the urge to snap back. It was starting to sink in that unless April and Terry still had their food storage it was going to be an awfully long, hungry trip the rest of the way and back. He was already feeling the first pangs just thinking of it, and the thought of what lay ahead made him feel queasy. Had he ever in his life gone more than a day without eating?

“I guess we’ll be walking on I-15 up to Midvale after all.”

“Did you finally change your mind?” Matt asked, unable to help himself. “Or are you doing some ducking and cowering of your own obeying the police officers’ directions to stay on the Interstate?”

Surprisingly Trev didn’t rise to the bait this time. “Our weapons and food are gone. We don’t have anything to steal anymore so it doesn’t matter if we walk right through refugee groups wishing them a nice day. But at least we have your talents of persuasion to keep us from getting shot in the head now that we’re unable to defend ourselves.”

“Well you’re just full of sunshine and rainbows, aren’t you?” Matt demanded.

“Sorry, I just got robbed at gunpoint because you wanted to go through a police roadblock in a riot zone. All so I can help you find your family, who might not even be home when we get up there and could be literally anywhere among millions of people on the move. I really should try harder to keep a positive attitude.”

Matt wanted to stay pissed off but his friend had a point. After all the stupid things Trev had just said and done, though, he couldn’t bring himself to admit it. He just fell silent and kept walking, at least for five minutes or so as Trev fumed beside him. Then he remembered. “We’re not completely defenseless,” he said, pausing to dig in his pack. As his friend watched he pulled out a couple cans of bear spray and tucked one into his pocket where he could get to it fast, holding the other out.

Trev took it, looking slightly mollified. “I’m surprised they didn’t take these too.”

“Me too, actually. They’ll be better than nothing.”

“So now we just have to worry about starving to death.”

For the love of… would his friend ever let up? “Yes, we have to worry about starving. I guess we’ll just have to forage for food on the way.”

“No foraging,” Trev replied, ignoring his tone. “We don’t have time, it would be dangerous to look, and after all this time you’d have to be an idiot to assume there’s food to be found in the city without serious searching. Not to mention that any food we did find would be heavily guarded. Get ready to go hungry, and remember that a human can survive three weeks without food. We’ll worry about eating once we’ve got your sister’s family safely out of the cities.”

Matt made a face. “We’re going to be walking that entire time, we need something or we won’t have the energy to keep going. Have any ideas?” He tried to sound snide, but it was sort of ruined by the fact that he really, really hoped his friend actually did have some.

To his surprise Trev nodded. “You saw my abandoned car along Highway 6, right? Well I might not have mentioned that it had a ton of food in it that I had to leave behind.”

It was hard not to laugh out loud as relief surged through him, and Matt felt all the anger and tension that had built up during the confrontation with the policemen and since fading away. He threw an arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Seriously? That’s amazing!” His smile abruptly vanished. “Wait a minute though, your car was completely trashed. There’s nothing in there.”

“Doesn’t matter. I cached the stuff.” Trev abruptly stopped and turned to face him. “But now we’ve got a decision to make. Do we go back and crack into the cache or do we keep going to Midvale, find your family and get them out of populated areas, and grab the cache on the way down?”

Matt frowned. “Why wouldn’t we go get it?”

“Because you’re talking about a 30 mile round trip, maybe more. It’s only a bit more than that to Midvale at this point. And if we bring more food with us we might have to worry about it being stolen again, by authorities or by anyone else we meet. Since our destination will very likely end up being a FETF camp anyway the food we brought would be as good as gone, and we’d lose almost a full day going to get it.”

Those were all good points. “You’re talking about over two full days of going hungry, assuming we go directly there and come directly back and somehow managed to make the same time with April’s family traveling with us. It’ll probably end up being twice that time, maybe more since the camp will be an even farther walk. Do you really want to go almost a full week without eating?”

Trev smiled. “Not quite a full week. If your sister’s still at their house they might still have their food storage, and if they’re at Antelope Island we should be able to get a meal there. It is a refugee camp after all.”

Matt couldn’t argue with that reasoning. His sense of urgency prodded him to continue on and find April and her family as quickly as he could, but things could get really bad really fast if they didn’t have food. “If you’re willing to go hungry I’m willing to try it.”

His friend responded by turning and continuing on up I-15. They passed a swarm of refugees coming the other way, many of whom called out asking for news or ribbing them for going the wrong direction. Matt did his best to respond with his own jokes and wise cracks, but he couldn’t help but notice that Trev had sunk into brooding. His friend was probably still steaming about the roadblock, and Matt couldn’t blame him. He’d come to rely on his Glock and he’d paid dearly for ammunition and accessories for it, but it had still been a gift and he hadn’t had it for long. Losing the 1911 had to be much harder.

He only hoped they didn’t miss those guns before they got back to Aspen Hill.

With all the chaos in the populated areas Trev continued to voice his fears that they’d run into trouble walking on I-15 with so many people around, and kept his hand near the bear spray in his pocket and encouraged Matt to do the same. But it turned out violence on the road wasn’t very common at all, and for more reason than just that everyone was tired and dispirited and more interested in flight than fighting.

For all the breakdown of law and order there was a government presence on I-15 keeping the peace and protecting the refugees. Not just on the roadblocks leading into cities like the one they’d encountered, either. As they walked north they passed small fortified emplacements manned by policemen or highway patrol every ten or so miles, as well as six-soldier squads from the various Armed Forces wearing FETF armbands and patrolling up and down along the median, nonlethal weapons ready to use at the slightest sign of disorder. Matt saw more and more of these squads the farther north they went.

And they weren’t just there for show, either. At one point Trev and Matt had to swing wide around a large group that had stopped in the middle of the road for some internal dispute with lots of yelling and even a bit of pushing. As they walked past the disturbance a FETF patrol coming the other way hurried over, raising shotguns loaded with beanbag rounds to pan the entire group as they shouted for everyone to break it up.

The crowd immediately dispersed, and without even bothering to find out what had happened the soldiers split the group to keep the people involved in the argument apart and sent them to walk on different sides of the median. They then followed along between the two groups for a ways to make sure they stayed separated.

Far from being resentful of this show of force everyone on the highway, even those who’d had weapons pointed at them, looked grateful at the imposition of order. Matt couldn’t help but wonder if the highway was actually the safest place in Utah Valley in spite of the endless throng of refugees. He doubted either FETF or law enforcement were keeping anything near this sort of presence in the cities themselves. They realistically couldn’t, not with all the rioting and with fires burning unchecked.

At least he assumed there were fires. The horizon ahead was so hazy that Matt would’ve thought they were clouds if the sky wasn’t perfectly clear, but he knew that wasn’t it. The haze had to be from smoke, and it was coming from the direction of the sister cities of Provo and Orem. There was a lot of it, too.

The presence of raging fires in the cities didn’t surprise him at all, considering what he’d seen before leaving a week ago. It might’ve been tempting to believe everything was still calm while they’d been hiking through the houses of Spanish Fork before hitting the roadblock, where there hadn’t been much sign of the violence and chaos that raged in more populated areas farther north.

But even there Matt had still noticed a few smashed windows and doors gaping open as if the houses had been swiftly abandoned or looters had broken in and left them like that. He’d even seen a few front lawns with possessions smashed and scattered across the grass, like they’d been tossed outside through doors and windows for the sheer joy of it.

His guess that he was looking at smoke from numerous fires was confirmed a few hours later as the sun went down, when he saw the haze ahead start to glow from beneath. Around that time they reached a point where I-15 passed right next to Utah Lake, and Trev guided them off the highway to refill their water bottles using his fancy purifier. He also made sure they both drank to bursting before continuing on.

The lake water looked nasty and Matt had strong doubts about it, but Trev’s purifier was a quality one and seemed to do the job. By the time the water had been run through it seemed okay, aside from a stronger than usual mineral taste. Still, Matt let his friend drink first since it had been his bright idea.

Although the purifier worked pretty fast it still consumed a lot of time filling so many containers, and while he waited Matt watched the glow beneath the clouds hanging over the valley ahead go from a slight orange to a dark, livid red. It looked as if entire cities were burning, the glow spreading everywhere.

Trev finished filling the bottles and they continued on, doing their best to ignore the first pangs of hunger. While they walked the Interstate in the deepening twilight Matt noticed that all the buildings in sight hadn’t been as fortunate as the ones down in Spanish Fork. Every window he saw was smashed, every door destroyed or removed and the doorways gaping open. Walls had been graffitied with obscenities, some directed at just about every demographic that could possibly be blamed for the Gulf refineries attack but the overwhelming majority at the government itself for dropping the ball. FETF especially seemed to have drawn the brunt of the tag artists’ fury, in spite of the fact that they were here imposing order and giving aid.

And those were the better off buildings. Some were no more than burned shells, and the farther north they went the more fire damage they saw. Until finally they passed a residential area that had completely gone up in the flames, even the lawns turned to ash and playgrounds reduced to twisted and melted wrecks.

It wasn’t much longer before full dark made further travel too difficult to continue, much to Matt’s relief. They were both exhausted, in spirit as well as in body. And yet in spite of the difficulty the flow of refugees flooding the road still continued south, their steps lit by the livid red glow of fires on the horizon. Neither Matt nor his friend had said a word in hours, not since commenting on the devastation when they first began seeing signs of it, and at some point they both decided to stop at once.

Still without a word being said Trev led the way to the right side of I-15 and across the strip of barren land to the fence running alongside it. Even after tossing their packs over to lighten themselves both had trouble climbing the fence, and Matt didn’t drop down on the other side so much as roll over the top and fall, barely managing to keep from injuring himself as he landed. Trev dropped down beside him with a loud grunt, and together they picked up their packs and made their way to the dense thicket of scrub oak that had drawn Trev here.

With a bit of poking Matt found a space inside the thicket big enough for them to lie down in, and they crawled their way inside and pulled out their sleeping bags, not even bothering with their tents. Together they lay side by side, staring at the dull red glow filtering through the branches above and around them.

“Wake me up if this place catches fire,” Matt said as his eyelids drooped shut. His friend snorted, either in amusement or irritation, and not too long after that he fell asleep.

Chapter Twelve

Urban War Zone

The tap water the Larsons had managed to store after the power went out had long since been used up, which meant a trip to the town spring was necessary at least once a day.

Sam always volunteered since it took two people to carry enough water and Matt’s parents were so busy it was hard for them to find time to both get away. She did her best to stay busy throughout the day, too, although hard as she tried she never quite felt like she was doing enough to make up for the incredible kindness the family had shown her.

This time she was going with Matt’s mom while his dad Ed worked a morning shift at Roadblock 3, the one leading southeast before connecting with 6 and therefore the least likely to see the approach of refugees. Although some still came regularly enough that the roadblock had to stay manned. Ed had felt like he needed to take over for his son at the roadblocks while Matt went after April’s family, so that’s where he spent at least one shift a day.

Turner had put a lot more people on duty protecting the town since the refugees first arrived, to the point where there were no longer enough volunteers for all the different patrols and to man the roadblocks. He’d even finally allowed Sam to begin taking shifts, armed with a can of bear spray Matt had given her before he left. Her first one was tomorrow morning, and in spite of Ed’s grumbling about the job, and Matt’s similar complaints before he’d left, she was actually looking forward to it. A lot more than she was to waiting for her turn to draw water, that was for sure.

The town spring, a rarity in any town let alone one so close to the desert wastelands a hundred miles or less in any direction to the east, west, or south, was situated at the north end of town a stone’s throw from Roadblock 1. That was ideal for everyone involved since it allowed the refugees to come and get water where Officer Turner could keep an eye on them, without them needing to enter the town far enough that they might potentially cause problems. From what Sam had seen the spring flowed constantly with a gush about twice as strong as a garden hose, beginning a tiny stream that made its way join the stream flowing down from Aspen Hill Canyon at the southeastern edge of town. Both formed a a small pond there where animals could be watered and irrigation water drawn before continuing on southwards.

At the moment a group of ten or so refugee women escorted by a couple wary, angry looking men were at the spring filling everything from small plastic water bottles to buckets from the pure, cool water which had been captured from its flow directly from the ground and diverted into a pipe sticking out of a concrete block at about waist height. There were also four 5-gallon jugs the men had already filled and were ready to tote back to their camp. Sam joined Mrs. Larson in waiting a cautious distance away from the group for their turn to fill their own empty 5-gallon jugs.

Or she supposed she should start thinking of Matt’s mom as Mona, since the kindly older woman kept insisting. Just as she’d insisted on warmly welcoming Sam, a complete stranger, into her home and making sure she was comfortable. Sam knew generosity from the poor neighborhood where she’d grown up in New York City, but there it had always been a sort of squinty, suspicious generosity that suggested wary eyes to go with open hands.

Mona had offered something different, an open heart, and with all the chaos in the world Sam wasn’t quite sure how she could adequately show her gratitude for such kindness. Aside from offering to help out however she could and working at it as hard as she had the energy for. And carrying two 40lb jugs with the help of an improvised strap around her shoulders definitely counted as hard work.

That train of thought reminded Sam of the other guest in the Larson household, probably still asleep at this time of day or at least pretending to be to avoid work, and she felt her good mood sour. Watching the refugees collect their water while thinking of the Larson’s guest who’d recently been one of them made her see their work in a less pleasant light.

Officer Turner was keeping tabs on the refugee camp, and from what she’d heard from Ed things weren’t so good there. Even though refugees kept coming and going the camp grew larger and larger, some staying in the hopes that they’d eventually be let in, others too tired to keep on southwards in the slim chance that they’d find a town to take them in. The camp had now grown to over three hundred refugees even though only half of the original group was still around, and from the sounds of it the best people among that group had moved on. Including Kendall and his family and people like them, which left behind the more lazy and contentious refugees.

If what Ed said was true then Mandy fit right in with the people out in the camp. Sam tried to be generous, she really did, but it was getting harder and harder.

“Poor dears,” Mona said, eyes also on the refugees. It was obvious her thoughts hadn’t taken the ungenerous turn Sam’s had. “It really is awful, isn’t it? There aren’t many roads around here that don’t lead to waterless wastelands. They just don’t have anywhere to go from here unless they want to make a brutal hike south to I-70, but what does that get them aside from running into the refugees that are sure to be coming from Denver?”

The older woman shook her head. “Unless they want to head south from Price on Highway 10 to Huntington, then follow 31 west into the Manti-La Sal National Forest. But they don’t want to be up in the mountains at this time of year, and beyond that in Sanpete county they’ll probably find the same problems as here in Carbon. Their best bet would be to head back north the way they came and keep going past the cities and on into Idaho, maybe turn east or west up there where there’s more water. But with the riots that’s not really a solution either, is it?”

It sounded like Mona was seriously trying to think of some solution for the refugees, but Sam had no answer to give. She didn’t really know the area around here that well, and at the moment she could only be grateful that thanks to Matt she wasn’t in the same situation those weary, desolate women were.

No response seemed needed since Mona had plenty to say. “Ed calls them the Golden Horde, a term he got from those survivalist cousins. He’s convinced there’s going to be more than these few hundred before winter comes, lots more.” The older woman squinted north as if she could see the desperate chaos of the cities to the north. “I think he’s probably right for once.”

“They’ll have to see there’s nothing for them here and move on,” Sam offered. “We’ll have a hard enough time supporting ourselves so we’ll have nothing to give them, and once Officer Turner turns them back they’ll be on their way again.”

“I suppose,” Mona said doubtfully. “And facing the same problem of where to go that they had in the first place.”

Sam shook her head, still with no answer. “I just hope they don’t turn violent like they are up north. We’d have trouble defending ourselves from just these few hundred refugees, and if they’re joined by thousands more they might—”

She cut off as Mona made an alarmed noise and bustled towards the refugee women, dropping her jugs where she’d been standing. Somewhat hesitant, Sam dropped her own jugs and trailed a few steps behind the older woman.

The ten women had finished getting water and were starting back towards camp, but one of them had fallen behind a bit. She was younger, probably close to Sam’s age, and limping. But what Mona must have noticed was that her face was deeply bruised.

“Oh you poor dear!” the older woman said, intercepting the girl and clucking at her face in sympathy. “What happened to you? Who did this?”

The other refugees all stopped at the intrusion, which obviously wasn’t welcome: the two men set down their jugs and started forward. “Never mind her,” the older man snapped. “It’s none of your business.”

Mona faced down the two men with admirable fearlessness, although Sam couldn’t help but notice that she did glance over at the roadblock where Officer Turner and a few other armed men waited. “You think it’s not my business when I see signs of a woman being beaten?” she demanded. “Was it you?”

The man’s face reddened dangerously, but before he could responded the bruised girl herself spoke up, voice soft but fierce. “What do you care, anyway?”

Taken aback, Mona turned away from the two men to look at her. “What do you mean? I can’t sit by and watch you get treated like this.” She took the girl’s arm gently but firmly. “Come on, Officer Turner is just over there. You can tell him what happened and—”

“And what, get sent back to the camp as a snitch and see how Razor thanks me for it?” the girl demanded, snatching her arm back and glaring under her bruises. “You townies turn us away and give us nothing besides water we have to carry ourselves, but suddenly you start caring enough to stick your nose into our business when one of us gets smacked around? How about my dad who got clobbered in the head when he tried to protect us from burglars before we came south? Have you ever sat helplessly beside a loved one, knowing there’s nothing you could do as you watch him die?”

Mona turned a helpless look to Sam, as if for some support, but Sam didn’t know what she could say. “We do what we can,” she suggested feebly.

The girl spat on Mona’s shirt. “That’s what you do,” she shot back. “I’m better off trusting to my arrangement than hoping for whatever generosity you’ve got to give.” She juggled her bottles into a more comfortable grip in her arms and stalked away, still limping painfully but seeming too angry to acknowledge it. Behind her the other refugees quickly followed, most turning dark looks back at them as they went.

Sam wasn’t sure what sort of arrangement the girl had found, but just thinking about it was enough to make her feel sick.

She jumped slightly when Mona turned and rested a hand on her arm. “We knew it was going to be hard to turn them away and they’d probably hate us for it,” she said sorrowfully. The older woman’s eyes reflected tears in the morning sunlight. “I just wish there was something we could do.”

Instinctively, Sam pulled Mona into a comforting hug. “We didn’t make the problems in the world,” she answered fiercely, “we’ve just got to deal with them the best we can. There’s no guilt in what we can’t do.”

Mona hugged her back tightly. “I suppose you’re right,” she whispered, half a sob in her voice. “But I’m afraid I’ll be seeing that poor girl’s face whenever I think of the people in that camp.” She abruptly straightened and pulled away, turning to retrieve the water jugs she’d dropped to chase after the refugee. As she started for the spring she spoke over her shoulder. “If nothing else it puts a face to them, and that pity might inspire us to ways we can help them we might not otherwise have thought of.”

Sam hurried to bring her own jugs over to be filled, but she felt a bit doubtful in spite of how much this awful scene had shaken her. Pity was all well and good, but after what Mandy had confided to her about Trev last night before bedtime, combined with the roundabout admission from the bruised girl, she had to wonder if they might have to worry about more than just violence from the refugees.

There were other things starving, desperate women turned to besides theft. She supposed whatever private mutual agreements people made were none of her business, but the thought still left an unsettled feeling in her gut.

She wished the refugees would just leave. All of them, including Mandy. Sam had done her best to be kind to the Larsons’ newest guest and get along, but the woman was lazy and whiny and had a real nasty streak she hid from everyone else. For now at least.

Mandy had as much as told Sam that she wasn’t happy about how Trev had made her all sorts of promises and then dumped her off to be a burden on complete strangers while he ran off to save someone else. She claimed she was sick of being treated like an outsider, and if Trev didn’t come home soon to take care of her she was going to spread around the deal she’d made with him that she’d already filled her end of. And she’d make sure everyone knew who the bad guy was in the story.

If the blond woman’s claims were true Sam almost didn’t pity the man the imminent destruction of his good name, Matt’s friend or not. Maybe he could leave along with Mandy and the refugees, and good riddance.

As long as he brought Matt home first.

Once they’d filled their water jugs they left them waiting at the spring so Matt’s mom could make her way over to the roadblock to talk to Officer Turner. Sam came along too in case she needed to add any details or confirm the story.

After the older woman had told the policeman what she’d seen and what she feared was happening to the bruised woman Turner nodded grimly. “I can’t say I’m surprised. We’ve had refugees coming by to report crimes of theft and assault in the camp, even hints of racketeering. It’s not the first time I’ve heard about this Razor she mentioned. But we can’t do much about the situation but advise them to leave the camp and try to find a safer place.”

Mona drew herself up indignantly. “You’re not even going to try to solve the crimes or bring the criminals to justice? What about your duty?”

The officer’s round face reddened. “At the moment my duty is to keep these refugees out and deny them any help. How do you think they’d take it after all that if I came barging into the camp asking questions and arresting people? I’d probably end up shot.” Mona opened her mouth to protest further and he continued angrily. “Besides, even if I wanted to bring law and order to a tent city filled with hundreds of people I just don’t have the manpower. I’m having a hard enough time finding enough men to keep our borders secure, and it doesn’t help that some people who’ve already committed to help have wandered off with excuses like searching for family in rioting cities.”

That was obviously a barb about Matt and Trev going north to pick up April and her family, and Mona didn’t miss it. She frowned for a few moments, then gave up and let the matter drop. “I suppose it is what it is. Any word on the towns farther south since the phones went dead?”

Turner nodded grimly. “Chauncey Watson has been manning the shortwave radio at the town hall. Practically 24/7, even sleeping there most nights. He feeds me whatever news he picks up. It looks like to help with their relief efforts taking in all the refugees Price is trying to set up as the head of an interim local government with all the nearby towns. Problem is when I say all the refugees I mean all of them. Anyone who shows up, not just the ones they agreed to with the FETF deal.”

The older woman frowned. “How can they manage that? We’re having trouble just feeding ourselves.”

The officer shrugged. “Well Price’s guy on the radio claimed a convoy of food trucks coming up from the south ran out of gas ten or so miles out of town, which helped, but the truth is they’re not managing. Price is practically begging hat in hand for any food or other aid Aspen Hill can send. Mayor Anderson personally got on the radio to refuse, and let me tell you if they were pissed at us for turning away our own refugees they’re foaming at the mouth about us refusing to help them.”

He paused as if thinking about it, then shook his head. “Looks like your husband and those cousins at the town meeting had the right idea when it came to turning away refugees. From the sound of things the towns south of us are going to be in some real trouble within the next few weeks, if not sooner. I just hope they can figure it out without dragging us into it. The guy on the radio mentioned that a lot of the refugees we turned away have made their way down there and are talking nonstop about how greedy Aspen Hill is to anyone who’ll listen.”

“Well if it’s greedy to not share what you can’t spare then generous sounds a lot like stupid,” Mona said with a sniff. “Glad the Mayor had the sense to say no, and I hope it stays the most used word in his vocabulary.”

“Still, I feel bad for the folks down there,” Turner replied, scratching his stubbly chin. He had the good beginnings of a beard going, which made his face seem a lot less round. “They don’t have the benefit of a naturally flowing spring like we do here so clean water is an issue for them. They were in a better situation fuel-wise starting out than we were, and they’ve done a good job gathering and hoarding all they could, but most of their what they’ve got is going to keeping the water purification and pumping stations operating to meet the area’s water supply. Word on the radio is that they’ve actually cut power lines to keep people from drawing electricity, keeping just a few key buildings open for citizens to draw power from for vital services like washing clothes or gathering for social visits or just to have light to read by and do other stuff. They’ve been going with almost nothing for a lot longer just to reach where we’re at with our spring.”

“We don’t have electricity either, though,” Sam pointed out.

Turner glanced at her. “Well yeah, but for us it’s just a major inconvenience. Once the towns farther south run out of power they’re going to have the worst time getting the potable water they need, and that’s resources and effort they’ll have to divert from finding food. Add thousands or even tens of thousands of refugees into the mix and they’re going to be in real trouble in no time flat.”

A heavy silence fell as they all considered the grim situation. Then Mona abruptly shook her head. “Well I think that’s enough doom and gloom for one day. Lots of work to be done, and I wouldn’t mind finishing hauling this water home sooner instead of later. I’m not a sturdy young lady like you anymore, Sam. Good afternoon, Officer Turner.”

Sam smiled at the comment as she followed Matt’s mom back to the spring and with some work got the strap around her shoulders and picked up the heavy jugs. People might call her petite, or less politely short, but she couldn’t think of any time she’d ever been called sturdy.

But whatever physical challenges she had to face, she’d meet them head on and find a way to overcome them. This was the world she lived in now and she wasn’t going to let it get the best of her.

* * *

The farther north Trev and Matt went the more refugees they encountered going the same direction as them.

Of course even going at a steady walk they outpaced the others on the road, most of whom were bedraggled, exhausted looking, and usually carrying bundles of possessions or pulling wagons or luggage loaded up with whatever they thought was worth taking with them. Everyone seemed so intent on putting one foot in front of the other that even within groups of people there wasn’t much talking, and anyone not part of the group was viewed with suspicion if they came close.

Trev had felt hungry when they woke up, but once they started walking the feeling diminished for some reason, and while he felt a bit more tired than usual the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other was still fairly straightforward. They kept going at about the same pace, and with one plodding step after another passed through Utah Valley and eventually put it behind them.

Which was a relief since as bad as the glow of fires last night had been the sign of the devastation in daylight was even worse. They could see wildfires burning unchecked in the foothills above Provo, spread from the blazes below, and huge swathes of buildings were blackened husks. There was also an acrid tinge of smoke to the air that made him reach for his water bottle more often than usual, as much to wash the taste away as out of thirst.

Aside from the roadblocks on the streets leading to the interstate Trev didn’t see a single sign of life in that ruin, although they had heard distant pops of gunfire from somewhere in that direction earlier in the morning. At the sound of it all the refugees ducked their heads and walked a little faster, and Trev and Matt did the same.

By the time they reached Thanksgiving Point in the early afternoon, roughly half of the remaining distance to Midvale, there were nearly as many refugees heading north as south. The FETF patrols had separated the two streams of humanity onto their own sides of the highway as if they were still following traffic laws, and either through habit or because most people huddled in the right lanes to stay farther from the armed soldiers Matt and Trev found themselves passing everyone in the left lane. Matt even made a lame attempt to start using bicycle turn signals when they had to leave the lane for some reason, although Trev had a hard time appreciating the attempt at humor.

At this point he was definitely feeling weaker than he had during the previous days of walking, but either because his body was in starvation mode or because of the exercise the building hunger remained in the background, barely noticed. Still, he hoped April and her family were waiting at their house with all their food storage.

The lack of meals was starting to take its toll, and even though they tried slowing down they still ended up having to take short breaks to rest every hour or so through the late afternoon. Matt was still also doing his best to check everyone’s faces for any signs of his family, and if the FETF patrols had allowed it Trev was sure he would’ve walked on the other side of the highway to ask refugees if they had any news. Between those two factors they didn’t reach Midvale until the sun was about to set.

After yesterday’s experience at the roadblock Trev didn’t bother with an off ramp. Instead he led the way to about the point where Matt said his sister’s house would be two or three miles due east of them. Then, after checking to make sure no FETF patrols were nearby and they weren’t in sight of any of the fortified law enforcement emplacements, Trev purposefully walked off the Interstate with no sign of furtiveness. Nobody tried to stop them or even call after them as they walked right up to the thick noise-canceling concrete partition, where with a boost from Matt Trev made it to the top then helped his friend over.

They found themselves in a backyard and both crouched silently, alert for any signs of dogs or movement within the house. After waiting long enough to be confident they were probably safe Trev pulled out the can of bear spray he’d got from Matt and checked to make sure it was ready to fire, then put it back in his pocket and tried drawing and aiming it a few times.

His friend watched, amused. “Dry fire practice with pepper spray?”

“Easy to make mistakes when you’re panicking. Had a problem with that when Nelson tried to mug me.” Trev pocketed the spray a final time and started cautiously towards the house, talking over his shoulder. “From now on we stick to cover, we don’t talk unless absolutely necessary and try not to make any more noise than we have to, and we keep our eyes and ears peeled. Things don’t look quite as bad here as they did down in Utah Valley, but in a way that could be even worse: people wouldn’t have any reason to stick around burned down buildings but they might still be lurking here.”

“Gotcha,” Matt whispered quietly, patting his shoulder for further confirmation. Trev nodded and continued forward.

He’d learned his lesson from sticking to backyards when they’d encountered the dog yesterday, so this time he followed the front yards along the street, doing his best to stick to cover and dashing across any open spaces after careful checks to make sure nobody was around. In spite of his care he kept them at the best pace he could, for once pushing through fatigue in favor of speed: he wanted to make it to April’s house before dark since having to use flashlights would draw unwanted attention.

For the moment his biggest worry was intersections, since they’d have to be out in the open for longer and would be visible to prying eyes in several directions at once. At the first one they reached he carefully checked the streets to the left and right for any signs of movement, then tapped Matt’s shoulder and whispered “You check right, I’ll check left. Go fast and be ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.”

His friend nodded and Trev came to his feet and started across the pavement at a lope, making for the fence of the large house on the other side with Matt hard on his heels. They were halfway across the intersection when his friend abruptly stopped, staring down the righthand street. “Oh no.”

Trev immediately bolted for cover, reaching for his bear spray. He’d only gone a couple steps before realizing that Matt hadn’t moved and didn’t look afraid, so he slowed to see what had caught his friend’s attention.

He saw it immediately. Down that street the bodies of several dogs were scattered across front lawns and sidewalks, lying in pools of blood or with bloody trails from where they’d tried to drag themselves to safety. Their fur was matted and stained red, and from the injuries Trev could tell that the poor creatures been gunned down in passing, probably with an automatic weapon.

Matt stared at the sight, looking a little sick. “I’ve heard about this,” he said quietly. “In a disaster people can’t feed their pets, but they don’t have the heart to put them down either so they set them free. The dogs can’t survive on their own and form feral packs that attack any humans they encounter, so they have to be put down on sight.”

Trev nodded. “Probably FETF or law enforcement.” Sad as it was to see so many once faithful pets slaughtered and left to rot, he couldn’t really fault whoever had done it. The last thing he wanted was to run into a pack of starving dogs, especially not once they started traveling with Matt’s young nephews, who’d be especially vulnerable to animal attacks.

His friend abruptly shuddered and hurriedly finished crossing the intersection. As he went he pulled out his bear spray, holding it ready, and Trev was quick to do the same. Just in case the pack had been larger than those eight dogs and some had escaped and might still be lurking around.

“I hate what’s happened to the world,” Matt muttered as they continued on, glaring around warily for signs of danger.

“Just think of home,” Trev advised, although he had to admit he felt the same at the moment. He couldn’t wait to find Matt’s family and get far, far away from the cities.

By either luck, carefulness, or maybe because the area was deserted, they managed to make it ten blocks without even seeing anyone. Just as the sun set behind them they crossed another intersection to a block where all the houses had several papers taped to their front doors, and in spite of his caution and desire for haste Trev crossed over to the nearest house to read one. They were all white printer paper bearing the same single sentence in large font:

“THIS RESIDENCE HAS BEEN EVACUATED TO THE ANTELOPE ISLAND FEDERAL EMERGENCY TASK FORCE CAMP.”

Trev flicked the paper, snorting. “Fantastic. They might as well have put up a sign that says “Hey! Come loot these houses!”

His friend ignored his dark humor. “It sure looks like April and Terry got taken there,” he mused, still staring at the notice. “But I still think we should check their house out just to be safe.”

“Well duh, we’re staying the night there anyway aren’t we?”

Matt opened his mouth to answer, but before he could the sharp crack of a nearby gunshot spun them both around. It was coming from a few streets over by the sound of it, but as more shots shattered the silence Trev bolted for the nearest cover in the opposite direction, his friend hard on his heels. He dove behind the concrete wall encircling the house and crawled on his elbows along it, staying behind its cover until the two-storey building was between him and the source of the gunshots.

As soon as he was sure he was covered he pushed to his feet and bolted across the yard to vault the fence into the backyard of the house behind it, where he ducked down against the wall and sank into a sitting position with his back against it, panting.

Matt sank down beside him a few seconds later. “I don’t know if that was close but it scared me half to death,” he whispered.

“Me too.” Trev sucked in a couple more breaths, fighting hard to calm himself. “You know what would be great to have right now? My 1911.”

“Dude, seriously?” his friend demanded. “You want to go into that again here? Are you ever going to let it go?”

“Sure. When I get my head blown off by someone I can’t defend myself against.” Before his friend could think of a comeback Trev pushed up into a crouch and made his way cautiously across the backyard, looking around to make sure there were no threats in sight. When he reached the house he hugged the wall around to the front yard, where he stopped and turned to his friend. “We still going the right way?”

“Yeah.” Matt started forward, taking the lead, and Trev obediently followed.

They went another mile like that, as the light around them quickly faded to the point where visibility was starting to be a problem. About this time the street lamps should’ve come on, and it felt weird to be walking along without their light. Weird and definitely inconvenient, although Trev guessed they’d still manage to get where they were going before it became too dark to see.

After another block the street they were following reached an elementary school, looming undamaged and silent in the darkness. The intersection in front of it was mostly blocked by the burned, blackened husk of a tipped over truck.

“That’s a FETF truck,” Matt said in a low voice, staring at the gutted wreck. Trev nodded. Today they’d seen their first moving vehicle in a long time, driving north fast along the left lane of the highway blaring its horn to get people to clear the way. An undamaged version of this one. His friend continued. “Do you think that was an accident or were they attacked by rioters?”

Before Trev could answer he saw movement in the back of the truck, and he froze and slowly ducked back behind the bushes they’d taken cover behind, peeking his head down low to see beneath the branches. A moment later a grimy, soot-stained figure in a hoody and jeans dropped down onto the street, clutching a garbage bag full of who knew what gleaned from the burned remains of whatever supplies the truck had held. The figure looked around furtively, then darted towards the nearest cover against the elementary school’s wall.

Before he reached it a chorus of howls rose from the direction he was running and half a dozen people burst through the school’s front door, pinning the scavenger with flashlight beams. The figure froze like a deer caught in the headlights, and Trev caught a glimpse of a pale, dirty face beneath the hood. Then the would-be looter turned and sprinted the other way, clutching the garbage bag to his chest.

His pursuers followed hard on his hills, still whooping and screaming in a way that made every hair on Trev’s body stand on edge. They almost didn’t sound human. The figure stumbled and in desperation threw his loot away, hoping they’d leave him alone, but only one of his pursuers stopped to grab the bag while the others sprinted after him.

For about half a block Trev thought the guy was going to escape, but then he glanced back to see how close his pursuers were and a flashlight beam caught him right in the eyes. The scavenger flinched away, blinded but still running at a full sprint, and stumbled over a curb with a cry of pain. He went down hard clutching at his ankle, and in moments his pursuers closed the remaining distance, kicking him and beating him with bats, golf clubs, and gardening tools.

The sheer brutality of the scene sickened Trev, and it went on way longer than it should have. He shut his eyes but the sounds were nearly as horrible, and he didn’t dare move in the irrational fear that in spite of the fading light, the distance, and the noise the thugs were making one of them would see or hear him.

Finally he heard a shout louder than the others and opened his eyes to see that the thug who’d picked up the looter’s bag was crouched over it rummaging inside with one hand and shining his flashlight in to see with the other. “It’s all junk!” he shouted. “The moron didn’t find anything better than we did. He must’ve been hungry enough to eat charcoal.”

The mob around the downed looter broke up in disappointment, hurling obscenities as they made their way back to the school. Their victim remained unmoving on the sidewalk, and Trev was glad it was too dark to see any details.

He jumped when Matt rested a hand on his shoulder. “Come on,” his friend whispered. “Let’s get out of here.”

Nodding, he followed as his friend moved slowly and quietly back the way they’d come, heading down to the last intersection they’d crossed so they could loop wide around the school and its vicious denizens. Once they were a few blocks away his friend sagged back against the house they’d taken cover behind and leaned his head against the wall.

“I can’t believe they beat that guy to death right in front of us,” he whispered. “Did that seriously just happen?” Trev made no response, too shaken to say anything, and his friend continued. “Even if they’re desperate and hungry how do people get like that? It’s only been about two weeks since the attack. Before that they were probably all decent, law abiding citizens.”

Trev shook his head grimly. “I don’t know about decent. Some people are just waiting for society to break down so they’ll have the chance to try the things they’ve always wanted to do but didn’t for fear of the consequences. Others are just going along with the crowd, since something about chaotic situations makes people more willing to do things they wouldn’t normally dream of doing. Either way there’s been plenty of other disasters where the rioting and looting started in days, so it’s not like it’s surprising to see it two weeks into the slow collapse of our country.”

Matt sucked in a final breath. “This isn’t the end of the US just yet. I have to believe things will get back to normal. The government’s still going on the new refineries, right?”

“Maybe. But think of what we just saw, think of Utah Valley mostly gone up in flames. How long do you think it’ll take for things to get back to normal from that?”

“Let’s get to April’s house,” his friend said in answer, pushing away from the wall. “It’s almost dark.”

They continued on, hurrying in spite of their hunger and exhaustion. The only thing that slowed them down was caution as they constantly looked around for signs of danger, one hand on their flashlight and the other on their pepper spray. The closest they came to running into other people was when they saw moving lights in one of the FETF evacuated houses and heard the sound of things breaking and people shouting. They went out of their way to go around the disturbance and hurried on.

Finally, just as Trev’s adrenaline was starting to give out and he’d begun shaking slightly from tension and exhaustion Matt led the way to one house along the middle of the block. Its windows were dark and there were FETF notices on the door, just like all the others.

“I think that confirms where April’s family is,” Trev whispered as he followed his friend onto the porch and pulled down one of the papers. It was too dark to read but he could just barely make out the familiar large, blocky letters.

“Yeah, I think so,” Matt answered grimly, trying the door. It was locked, but before Trev could suggest breaking the window pane above the doorknob his friend crouched down and pulled a false rock from among the others strewn beneath a carefully manicured rosebush. It felt like it took forever for him to fumble out the key and unlock the door in the dark, and then they slipped inside, ears straining for signs of movement inside the house.

“April?” Matt called, just loudly enough to be heard through most of the house. “Terry?”

After ten seconds or so of near absolute silence aside from their own strained breathing Trev rested a hand on his friend’s arm. “They’re not here,” he said quietly.

Matt nodded. “Let’s keep our lights off.” He was probably thinking of the looters’ lights they’d seen in the other house and how clearly obvious they were. “Come on, this place has a basement.”

His friend started to move, and Trev could barely make out his silhouette vanishing along the entryway, leading him down the hall before turning hard right at a door and pulling it open. Trev edged cautiously through the doorway so he wouldn’t end up falling down the stairs, making sure the door was shut behind him, and together they made their way down. “Any windows down here?”

In answer Matt flicked on his flashlight, revealing a small children’s playroom with a door to one side leading into an office.

They quickly searched the basement, partly shielding the flashlights while going into each new room just in case there was a window Matt had forgotten about, but they didn’t see any. Beyond the office was a closet the family had been using for food storage, completely bare and with even the carpet ripped up. The small bathroom next to it had a bathtub half-filled with water.

April had taken Matt’s advice about stocking up on water, which was good because Trev had been worried about how they were going to refill their water bottles. Especially heading up to Antelope Island since around the Great Salt Lake fresh water might be hard to come by. But because the water had been sitting for who knew how long Trev insisted on filtering it just to be safe.

After that they agreed it was too risky to search the rest of the house, and besides that they were both too exhausted and shaken by what they’d seen in the last hour. Since they knew the family wasn’t there anyway they decided to save further exploration for morning and go to sleep.

That was easier said than done, as Trev curled up on a futon in the office while Matt took the couch in the playroom. Now that they’d stopped walking hunger pangs were hitting him hard, reminding him that it had been over 24 hours since he’d eaten and he’d spent a large portion of that time walking.

He also found himself listening intently for any sound other than his own breathing and the slight noises his friend made in the other room. Luckily he didn’t hear anything at all from outside since that would’ve definitely kept him awake, but between hunger and hyper-alertness it took him almost an hour to fall asleep, especially after about a half hour when he drifted off only to half dream he saw someone coming down the stairs in the blackness and he started awake in a panic.

That completely woke Trev up, and he sat up listening wild-eyed for any sounds on the stairs or in the other room beside his friend’s soft snoring. He didn’t hear anything, but that wasn’t enough so he got up and padded to the stairs, climbing them to the door and listening at it, then opening it quietly and checking the house’s entryway. The door creaked slightly, which was a bit of a relief since he thought he’d hear that if anyone tried to come downstairs.

The image of the poor looter being savagely beaten to death wouldn’t leave his mind as he got back in his sleeping bag, and he half wondered if they shouldn’t start sleeping in shifts. But he was too exhausted at the moment and this was a relatively safe place. It was something to consider if they had to spend a night somewhere more exposed, though.

His last thought as he fell asleep was to wonder if Matt had locked the front door.

Chapter Thirteen

Antelope Island

A quick search of the house high and low the next morning confirmed it was abandoned.

In spite of the disarray in the master bedroom and the room where Matt’s nephews had slept it didn’t look like they’d been ransacked, more like hurried packing. They also discovered that like the bathroom in the basement all the other bathtubs and sinks in the house were stopped, and a few even had some water left in them.

That all pointed to April’s family heading to the refugee camp like they’d assumed, which meant there wasn’t anything left to do in Midvale. They refilled their water bottles and drank as much as possible one last time, and after that Matt decided to do one last tour of the house, even checking the attic, before leaving. Last of all they poked around the yard to see if anything stood out.

Matt sat down on one of the tiny swings on the little swing set, looking tired. Trev wondered if he’d slept poorly too, or maybe was really starting to feel the hunger. Trev certainly was: this morning his gut felt like it was eating a hole through his belly, a constant gnawing pain that seemed to get worse and worse.

His friend spoke up. “If it’s like the roadblock down in Spanish Fork, if hoarding more than two weeks’ worth of food is now a crime, then my sister and her husband were definitely guilty. FETF will have confiscated it just like the police did with our food. After that they wouldn’t have had much choice but to go to the FETF camp or try to make their way south and we didn’t see them on the road. Which doesn’t necessarily mean they hadn’t been there, but it’s obvious our next move is to head to Antelope Island and check it just to be sure.”

Trev nodded. “At that point if we haven’t found April’s family then all the possibilities I can think of will be exhausted. Our best bet will be to head back home and pray to find them there.”

“Right.” Matt stood, and after one last look around the yard started for the gate. “Is the island a peninsula right now? If so it’s probably around 30 to 40 miles to reach it. Otherwise we’ll have to take the long way around to get there by the causeway in Syracuse, almost double the distance.”

Trev frowned as he followed his friend. He hadn’t considered that. “If they’ve set up a refugee camp big enough to take in people from the entire Salt Lake Valley it’s hard to believe the causeway would be enough to handle the incoming traffic. The water level has to be low enough to make it a peninsula.”

“Fingers crossed. If it’s not too deep we could probably wade it anyway.”

They carefully checked the street before hurrying through the gate and making for the nearest source of cover. After what he’d seen last night Trev was eager to get out of Midvale. But at the neatly trimmed hedge that followed the driveway down to the street his friend ducked low and stopped, forcing him to stop as well.

“I just want to make sure we’re clear on where we’re going,” Matt said in a low voice. “Do we make our way back to I-15 and follow it north as far as we can before cutting west to Antelope Island, or take the more direct route northwest through West Valley City and part of SLC?”

“The Interstate,” Trev answered immediately. “Even if it’s the longer route I don’t want to go through the cities any more than we have to. Not after last night. And following the highway we might find a FETF presence directing refugees all the way to Antelope Island, which means the same sort of protection we’d find on the Interstate itself.”

His friend looked relieved as he continued down the hedge. “I’m glad we agree because the highway definitely gets my vote. You were right about the cities being like a war zone.”

Trev nodded, following. “The military presence along the highway is actually a relief. Those evacuating refugees would be getting picked apart like a savannah carcass if someone wasn’t around to protect them.”

“I’m just worried about what happens to them when they get out of the cities, away from FETF protection,” Matt mused, pausing at the end of the driveway to look around again before leading the way to the next source of cover. “Especially if their guns are being confiscated by overzealous law enforcement. I bet highway banditry is going to run rampant.”

“I bet it already is. That’s something we’re going to have to worry about more on our way south with your family. Especially now that our guns are gone.”

His friend gave him an irritated look, and Trev wondered if he wasn’t needling him too much about what had happened at the roadblock. He was still pissed about losing his 1911, but stupid as Matt’s idea to approach it directly had been he was also partially to blame for going along.

But Matt let the issue drop. “Should we forage as we go?” he asked. “I can’t remember ever being this hungry. My head’s killing me.”

Trev hesitated, really tempted by the suggestion, but after only a moment he shook his head. “We wouldn’t find food easily and searching would just put us in danger. Besides, it’s only been about thirty-seven hours or so. Even though we spent most of those hours either walking or sleeping and used up a lot of energy we should still be able to go a bit farther. If we can reach Antelope Island they should have food for us.”

“I hope,” his friend muttered. “What if they’re in as bad shape as everywhere else?”

Trev didn’t have any answers. “Let’s go. I’d rather be walking towards our goal than talking about how hungry I am.”

In a way making their way through the city in daylight was twice as hair raising as it had been last night. Trev felt exposed every time they left cover, and found himself running to get out of the open, expecting to hear gunshots or feel a bullet in him at any moment. Twice they did hear gunshots, although thankfully nowhere near them, and on one occasion they had to swing wide around a block where a large group of looters, possibly the people from the school, were breaking into the evacuated houses and trashing them as they searched for anything of value.

The only upside he could think of was that at least it was light enough to see clearly. No jumping at shadows like they had last night, wondering if any shape sticking out from a tree or bush might be an enemy.

In spite of their hunger the night’s rest had done them a lot of good, and even moving cautiously they were able to reach I-15 in good time. It seemed odd to be moving openly around so many people after the terror of going through the “populated” areas, but in spite of Trev’s wariness around law enforcement and FETF soldiers it was actually a relief to have them around keeping the peace.

He noticed that Matt kept trying to speed up their pace, either in a hurry to find his family or hoping for that meal Trev had guessed at. Trev had to keep telling him to slow down, reminding him that it took less time to move a bit slower than to have to take frequent breaks. His friend grumbled a bit, but he slowed down whenever Trev mentioned it. Either way they were still outpacing everyone on the road aside from the patrols.

Without food and with hunger hollowing out their insides it was the longest day yet. The constant walking over the last few days was also starting to take its toll on their bodies in spite of the relatively mild pace they’d set, and even with Trev’s arguments about the benefits of going slower they ended up having to take a break every few hours after all, to slump in whatever shade they could find and drink a bit of water.

The only other change that day was that several FETF convoys passed by, all headed south on the other side of the median. Every time one passed the FETF patrols would go into a frenzy clearing the road of refugees, showing every sign of opening fire at anyone who so much as took a step towards the vehicles. The convoys were mostly made up of food trucks, but there were a few armored transports at the front and back of the line with soldiers leaning out with automatic weapons looking ready to fire at the slightest provocation.

“They’re looking a bit jumpy,” Matt mentioned several hours into their hike while watching the fifth convoy of the day pass. “Not sure I like seeing soldiers on the verge of opening fire on civilians. This is Utah, not some place in the Middle East.”

Trev shrugged. “Wouldn’t surprise me if convoys have been getting attacked. That’s a lot of food and other vital supplies driving past. If people are willing to murder some guy with a garbage bag full of charcoal from a burned out truck they’d go for these too if they had the numbers and equipment.”

“It’s insane,” Matt said with a shake of his head. “Just over two weeks and this place is already like a war torn third world country.”

“What do you mean, “like?” Trev asked. It wasn’t completely a joke. He immediately felt bad about the flippant remark, but after being confronted by a barrage of awful things he felt like if he couldn’t laugh at something he’d go insane.

His friend wasn’t ready to let the remark go, though. He stopped and turned to glare at Trev. “Do you just hate our country or something? I haven’t heard you say a single good thing about our government, and the sight of all this suffering doesn’t seem to bother you.”

The question offended Trev, but he did his best to keep his anger in check. “The government isn’t the country. I love the US, but by that I mean the people and the culture and the places I’ve visited. I love the communities I’ve lived in, especially Aspen Hill, and want to help them however I can. I also wholeheartedly support those willing to uphold the just and and moral laws of the land. But I also support the Founding Fathers’ ideas on the role of government, and you have to admit that ours has long since expanded beyond that role. Especially in the last few decades.”

Trev looked at the stream of refugees around them. “As for this suffering of course it bothers me. It’s just that when you’ve accepted that the nation is heading towards some sort of collapse, when it actually happens it doesn’t come as quite a shock and it’s easier to acknowledge reality. And thanks to Lewis and my own observations I accepted that long before the Gulf refineries attack.” Trev turned back to his friend. “It doesn’t make it any easier to see, but what choice do we have but to keep going?”

His friend looked away, and after a moment started going again. Trev caught up and they walked for a while in silence.

Salt Lake City was in even worse shape than Provo-Orem had been. Fires didn’t seem to have been quite as much of a problem, but in their place had come other destruction. Some of the skyscrapers were burned out wrecks, their steel cores skeletal, but for the most part they were unburned but nearly every window was shattered. The streets were filled with rubbish, as if looters had emptied out buildings to sort through the junk for anything of value, and the few people he saw moving along the sidewalks or weaving through the permanently stalled cars in the streets had the furtive look of the hunted. Across one intersection a streetcar had been tipped over, and its heavily dented roof suggested it had borne the fury of kicking feet and blunt instruments.

The only relief was that they didn’t see any bodies, either because someone was taking them away for respectful disposal or, less likely, not as many people had died in the violence as Trev feared. Either way it was a relief to get through downtown.

In the early afternoon they reached the junction where I-80 split from I-15 going west, and there they found a FETF station with several water trucks offering a place to refill their bottles and emergency medical aid for those who needed it. That was also where FETF directed them down I-80 towards the refugee camp with a promise of a meal when they arrived. It turned out Antelope Island was indeed a peninsula at the moment, dry and clear with only a few places of inch-deep water.

While Trev and Matt had a long drink and refilled the few bottles they’d emptied on the morning’s hike, Trev noticed that most of the traffic heading north with them was turning east towards Antelope Island, leaving a much thinner stream of humanity to continue on up I-15. Another thing he noticed was that there was almost no one coming east along I-80: the traffic was all one-way. Which made sense considering that west of here was nothing but salt flats and desert most of the way to California. He was pretty sure none of the people leaving I-15 were planning on going anywhere but Antelope Island.

There was nowhere else to go in that direction.

They followed I-80 past Salt Lake City International Airport, which surprisingly enough had a few flights taking off and landing. Transports bringing desperately needed supplies to FETF for the camp, Trev was certain. Not too far beyond the airport another FETF station turned them all due north on the final stretch to Antelope Island. As he had guessed not a single person kept going west past that point, and they followed along in the sea of humanity like bits of driftwood.

It was nearing late afternoon as he and Matt made their way up a slight rise that they noticed people stopping at the top of it, clumping together and murmuring to themselves in relief, surprise, and in a lot of cases dismay. They discovered why once they finished making the climb and saw the view below.

Antelope Island was big, covering a larger area than all of Salt Lake City. Because of that size it might’ve been tempting to assume that the camp huddled up against a fence topped with barbed wire stretching all the way across the end of the peninsula to close it off wasn’t all that large. Only it was. Large enough to hold the population of Aspen Hill a hundred times over, maybe more.

“What are we going to do?” Matt mumbled, staring at the sprawling carpet of tents in despair. “There’s got to be tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people in there! There’s no way we’ll find April and Terry and their boys in all that!”

Trev shook his head in mild disagreement. In spite of its size the camp was much, much more organized than any other refugee camp he’d seen. For one thing there was the fact that it had actual tents, made of canvas and arranged in orderly rows, with latrines strategically located to efficiently service the maximum number of people. Even if the camp had a hundred thousand people in it that sort of planning was actually a very good sign.

He looked at the well-guarded entrance, near the southwestern end of the fence closest to where they were. It looked like an amusement park entrance on steroids, with several open gates, FETF coordinators lining tables beneath shaded tents, and hundreds of FETF soldiers making their way among the newcomers directing them this way and that almost like shepherds. “We might actually be in luck. Come on.” He started forward.

Matt balked. “Oh, now you want to go talk to the men with guns?”

“Actually yes, I do. If we talk to these FETF coordinators and let them know who we are and what we want, after we enter the camp there’s a better chance they’ll let us leave again. Also we can ask them where to find your sister’s family.”

Matt gave the massive sprawling encampment a doubtful look. “What, you think the guards at the gate are going to know about a family of four out of the thousands and thousands of people in there?”

Trev smiled. “Say what you will about FETF, they’re bureaucrats at heart. Look at those pavilions, at what you have to go through to get into camp. They’ll have a list of names of everyone in there, I guarantee it.” He shifted impatiently. “Which is another reason we have to go in through the front gate. If we try sneak in we won’t be on the list and we might not be able to just walk out. They might even detain us.”

“Your paranoia is getting a bit old,” his friend complained. “This isn’t a prison camp, it’s a disaster relief camp.”

“It’s a refugee camp created because these people were caught up in massive riots in the cities they lived in,” Trev answered sharply. “Even if those cops down in Spanish Fork were right about the rioters being sent to Point of the Mountain and these being innocent refugees looking for help that doesn’t change much. The people who run the camp aren’t going to want these people leaving and wandering around endangering themselves or causing more trouble. Even if we do come in the proper way they may try to detain us within the nice little barbed wire fence here “for our own good.”

“For the love of all that’s good and holy!” Matt snapped, losing his temper. “This isn’t Nazi Germany, Trev. This isn’t Communist China. This is America, and in America citizens aren’t unlawfully detained by an oppressive government!”

Trev lost his temper as well. It had been a long few days, full of frustrating and terrifying events, and he was tired and hungry. “Tell that to the policemen three days ago who threatened to haul us to Point of the Mountain just because we protested having our property stolen at gunpoint.”

As the tension between them grew Trev suddenly became aware that the people surrounding them were gawking, with a mixture of amusement, confusion, and fear. Matt noticed it as well because he suddenly threw up his hands. “Enough! Just enough, okay? We’ve almost found April, we’re almost to where we can go home. It’s almost over. Just, just shut up and let’s get on with it, all right?”

Trev took a breath and glanced back at the FETF workers at the camp’s entrance. “You do the talking, all right?”

“Yes, that’d be great. I’d love it if you’d just keep your mouth shut.” Matt shoved past him, and after a moment trying to calm himself Trev caught up and walked at his side.

In spite of the large numbers of people entering the camp Trev couldn’t help but notice that nobody was leaving. That didn’t make him feel any better, but he tried to convince himself that it was just because the refugees had nowhere to go and not because they couldn’t leave. That tide of humanity was being fairly competently managed by the FETF coordinators, who were able to process people without too much of a bottleneck. It took less than an hour for Matt and Trev to work their way through the line to one of the pavilions, meaning with any luck they’d have all evening to start their search.

There a pair of soldiers frisked them and searched their backpacks. There was a bit of trouble about the cans of bear spray, at least until Matt insisted they were for self defense only. Trev half expected the men to confiscate them anyway, but to his surprise they were given back.

An even more pleasant surprise came when they registered with a FETF coordinator and Matt mentioned he was searching for his family as he handed over their driver’s licenses. The woman actually took out a laptop, which must’ve been wirelessly connected to some FETF server, and quickly did a search.

“Terry and April Lynn,” she repeated, having Matt confirm the spelling as she typed in the names. Her expression cleared. “Okay yeah. They came in four days ago with the third group from Midvale. They’re in Section F, fifth tent on the right.”

Matt gave Trev a jubilant look, and Trev threw an arm around his friend’s shoulders in celebration as Matt turned back to the woman. “That’s amazing! Thank you so much!”

The coordinator quickly gave them directions to his family’s tent near the northeastern section of the fence and explained how the camp had been split into sections. Once that was done she gave them back their licenses, along with stamped IDs to wear around their necks, and assigned them to bunks in Section AE near the back of the camp while explaining how to get there.

Finished with jumping through bureaucratic hoops, they joined the stream of people heading into the camp. Most of the refugees made their way along the wide lane going back to their assigned bunks, but Matt immediately turned right to follow the lane a stone’s throw from the fence towards Section F. The lane ran by tents to the left and a large clear area cordoned off with tape to the right near the fence itself, with frequent signs warning that anyone who neared the fence would be subject to crowd control measures.

Those signs and the view of the soldiers on the other side of the fence giving them suspicious glares made Trev feel uncomfortable, so in spite of Matt’s protests he made his way one lane over to walk among the tents.

It turned out that might not’ve been the best decision, since they hadn’t gone far before nearing a trio of men sitting on camping chairs beside one of the tents, their feet stretched out into the lane. The first word that popped into Trev’s head when he looked at them was “punks”. They were dressed in cutoff denim vests over black t-shirts and wore black jeans, complete with enough dangling chains and piercings to almost be cliché, and one sported borderline obscene tattoos on his arms and across his throat and part of his lower jaw. It wasn’t just what they were wearing, either: everything about their expressions and the way they slouched in their seats looked like trouble.

Any illusion that they weren’t there to block the path was immediately shattered when the tattooed guy stood. “Hey newcomers,” he said, crossing his arms as he moved in front of them. The two punks he’d been sitting with smirked. “Those are some nice backpacks. Look like they might be full of useful stuff. Which is lucky for you since this is a toll road, and the only way past is giving me something worth my time.”

Wow, the camp’s seedy element was pulling a stunt like this just a few hundred feet from the soldiers at the entrance? Trev glanced at his friend and, doing his best to keep his expression calm and his hand from shaking, took out his bear spray and pointed it at the would-be tollman’s face. “Get lost.”

Their assailant’s two friends started to stand, pulling knives, but froze when Matt pointed his own bear spray at them. As for the thug in their path, his tattooed throat bulged slightly as he swallowed, expression uneasy. “Looks like you guys get a pass,” he said, sidling over to join his friends. “I wouldn’t turn your back on us as you walk away though.”

The threat was probably serious, but there was no reason not to let the punk save face a little now that the danger was past. Trev nodded at Matt and together they stepped over to the other side of the lane and edged past, staying wary and walking almost sideways for almost a hundred feet before they turned and hurried on.

“Well I’ve got to say it, man, you’ve got guts,” Matt said, tucking his can back into his pocket.

Trev felt a bit embarrassed, especially since he had to take a deep breath to get control of his nerves before answering. “I’ve just noticed that in a lot of dangerous situations if you act suddenly and decisively you can get a huge advantage. Then if you press that advantage you can resolve the confrontation quickly. The main thing is knowing when to act, or whether or not to take that kind of gamble at all.”

His friend nodded thoughtfully. “So you like the blitz method. Seems like a good way to look at things.” He glanced over his shoulder. “If we can’t avoid a confrontation, at least. We should watch our backs in here.”

“Hopefully we won’t be staying long. Although I wouldn’t mind a meal and the promised cot. Fingers crossed your sister’s family is where that lady said they were.” Trev quickened his pace.

Matt caught up to him and lowered his voice. “Doesn’t it, um, bother you that we got mugged inside the refugee camp? And they had weapons! Isn’t FETF keeping the peace here?”

Trev glanced over his shoulder at the punks now far behind them. “I wish I could say it surprised me but yeah, it bothers me. Notice that so far we’ve only seen soldiers at the camp’s entrance or patrolling outside the fence?”

His friend abruptly broke into a trot, probably realizing what it meant for his family if the camp wasn’t such a safe place.

It was hard to blame him. Safety was always a major concern, and from the looks of things FETF had just given the refugees here a place to sleep and meals and then left them to their own devices, which was a recipe for disaster. The camp may have been organized but the people weren’t, and from what he saw there wasn’t much being done to impose order.

In spite of the massive number of people very few were out and about, which meant everyone must have been hiding in their tents, and the few people he did see looked wary and regarded him with suspicion. Everyone he saw was also wearing dirty clothes, suggesting that FETF hadn’t found a solution to laundry yet. He hoped they were doing better for the other aspects of hygiene.

The more he saw, the more determined he was that they shouldn’t stay long.

The fifth tent on the right in Section F turned out to be large enough to hold a dozen people, partitioned with curtains around distinct family units. Matt asked a few women sitting in the doorway about the Lynns and they were invited into the tent, following an older woman to a partition near the back. Matt perked up when he heard childlike voices coming from inside and called out his sister’s name.

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then with a happy shout a small shape burst out from behind the partition and rushed over to throw his arms around Matt. That was his nephew Aaron, who was 5 if Trev remembered correctly. The young boy babbled a disjointed recounting of recent events while Matt held him, grinning in relief, and as he spoke April came out carrying Matt’s other nephew, two year old Paul, followed closely by her husband Terry. At the sight of his uncle Paul squirmed free to also rush over and join the hug.

With Matt’s brown hair it was easy to miss his Scandinavian ancestry, but April was tall and blond. Terry was also tall and blond, with hints of red in his hair, and thanks to that their two boys were both towheaded.

Trev held back to let the family enjoy their reunion as Matt straightened to throw his arms around his sister while his nephews hugged his legs, then reached out and shook Terry’s hand. April was talking a mile a minute, asking questions one after another without waiting for any answers and expressing disbelief that they were here.

Matt briefly explained about seeing how difficult things were for the refugees around Aspen Hill and deciding he had to come up and help his sister and her family get safely down to town for his own peace of mind. Once he was finished April and Terry shared their own story about what had happened since the attack.

It turned out that the Lynn family had been well situated in their house, since it was in an out of the way neighborhood far from any riots. To add to that her neighbors had set up an armed watch program to deter the opportunistic looters who were taking advantage of the chaos to raid houses, especially in neighborhoods in more isolated areas. Between the watch and the food storage they’d managed to prepare beforehand they were actually fairly optimistic about their chances of hunkering down and outlasting whatever was coming, even if it took all winter.

Ironically it wasn’t looters that shattered that dream. Or at least not lawless ones. Four days ago FETF had gone door to door in their neighborhood to offer assistance. From how April described things it sounded like the relief coordinators and their Armed Forces escorts had gone in asking about the household’s supplies and wanting to see an inventory of whatever food the family had so they’d have a better idea of what aid was needed. Then, if they discovered that the house had more than two weeks’ worth of food, they’d pounce in and confiscate everything and “recommend” that the family go to the Antelope Island camp where they’d be cared for.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it deceitful,” Terry said when Trev expressed his outrage at the tactic. “Their motivations were certainly genuine. From what I hear anyone with less than the restricted amount was given assistance just as promised. It was only people breaking the hoarding laws that had their food confiscated.”

“But they didn’t even leave you with two weeks’ worth,” Trev protested. “They used a law almost no one knew about to punish you for thinking ahead while rewarding your unprepared neighbors.”

“It’s not a reward, just desperately needed charity,” Terry replied, although he didn’t sound convinced.

“I think I’m with you on this one, Trevor,” April said. “It was a pretty rotten deal. But it turned out it didn’t matter anyway since FETF also confiscated everyone’s guns “for our protection”, so the neighborhood watch couldn’t really guard us anymore. With no one to defend us and no food just about everyone decided they’d be better off here in the FETF camp.”

“Now let’s not judge them too harshly,” Terry cut in hastily. “Remember, they’re managing this disaster on a nationwide level. We might have our own individual problems, but they’re trying to keep as many US citizens alive as possible. I’d say they deserve some leeway for that.”

Trev wondered if the couple was really as sanguine about what they were describing as they acted. If it had happened to him he’d be spitting blood. In fact, it had happened to him and he was splitting blood. They’d stolen his 1911! They hadn’t even cared that he was a responsible citizen with a concealed carry permit, or for that matter that those neighborhood watch men protecting the Lynns’ house were using those guns to safeguard their homes and community. How could April talk about them confiscating the weapons “for their protection” without sarcasm dripping from every word?

Matt must’ve sensed he was about to blow a gasket. “How have things been since then?” his friend hurriedly asked. “Have you been all right in camp?”

Terry was about to answer when his wife shushed him and gathered little Paul in her arms. “It’s bad in here,” she confessed, holding her son tight. “Really bad. Women have been attacked. There’s been murders. The FETF soldiers don’t come in very often, only when it gets really rowdy, and then they come in with pepper spray and riot gear. They treat us like criminals in here. Terry hasn’t slept well since we arrived, staying up nights too afraid for our safety to sleep.”

“Why didn’t you leave?” Trev asked.

Terry shot him an annoyed look, even though it was a fair question. “They tell us it’s even worse out there. People starving, rioting and looting. Thugs rule the streets and there’s no food anywhere to be found. Looters tried to break into our house the night before we were evacuated and nearly succeeded before our neighborhood watch drove them away, and the neighborhoods around us didn’t fare so well. At least here we eat twice a day.”

“How many calories?”

They all looked at him like that was an odd question. From Terry’s blank expression it was also one they couldn’t answer. “I don’t know, two meals.”

Matt shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Pack up anything you need and get ready to leave in the morning. There’s food in Aspen Hill and it’ll be much safer there.”

To Trev’s surprise April and Terry shared doubtful looks. “Do you have enough food for all of us to make the trip down?” April asked.

Matt also looked surprised. “Well no. It was all confiscated at a roadblock down in Spanish Fork.”

“Spanish Fork!” Terry exclaimed. “So you’ve come the rest of the way hungry? You’re in as bad shape as we are it sounds like.”

Trev shrugged in annoyance. “We’ve gone hungry for a couple days and it’s been hard, and we’ll all have to go hungry for even longer to make it back to Aspen Hill. But it’s better than staying here.”

April gripped her husband’s hand tightly. “I don’t know. The FETF coordinators say things will settle down within a week or so, and then they’ll have buses to drive us home.”

Trev laughed in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? Provo and Orem are burning and the foothills above them are walls of flame. Every building in Salt Lake City has been wrecked and we know firsthand that the houses in Midvale have all been trashed by looters. Things aren’t going to get better in a week, and you just got done telling us how horrible it is in camp. There’s over a hundred thousand people here, all completely reliant on whatever supplies FETF can bring in while they still have fuel. How long do you think it’ll be before they run out and you all wind up starving to death in here?”

Aaron abruptly started crying at his tone, and everyone glared at him. “That’s enough, Trev!” Matt said sharply. “Give us a minute, will you? I want to talk to April and Terry.”

Trev wanted to explode at his friend for getting on his case after everything he’d done to help him, but he realized it was hunger and fatigue affecting his behavior. Matt knew the situation as well as he did, and his friend would be better suited to convincing his family about what needed to happen. At this point Trev would probably just end up antagonizing them and making them even less likely to go if he insisted.

“Sorry,” he said shortly. “Been a rough few days.” He turned and left the tent, finding a spot not far away where he could lean against the canvas and rest.

About a half hour later the others filed out of the tent and Trev made his way over to them. “We’ll go,” Matt announced. “Tomorrow morning, after we’ve had two good meals and rest.”

“Good news there,” Terry added with a smile. “At least for you guys. Camp policy is that new arrivals get double rations for their first meal. To make up for any deprivation they might’ve endured before reaching the camp.”

That was good news, and Trev found himself grinning. “Sorry about my earlier blowup.”

April came over and gave him a hug. “There’s nothing to be sorry about, you were just telling us what we needed to hear. Thanks for coming to help us. You didn’t need to do that.”

Trev shrugged, embarrassed. As a group they made their way to the large mess tents near the entrance where FETF workers were checking ID necklaces to make sure nobody was trying to sneak an extra meal. The line was long, and the sun sank lower and lower on the horizon as they waited.

“My favorite camp pastime,” Terry said dryly. He was tossing a little soft ball to Aaron to pass the time, while Paul chased after it trying to get it from his older brother. “It’s like the world’s biggest neighborhood potluck. Except people try to steal your ID to get more meals. From what I hear the FETF coordinators really run you through the ringer if your tag gets stolen, too, because people have tried to swindle them by claiming they lost their tag to get extras.”

“Good to see everyone’s pulling together in a time of crisis,” Trev said wryly.

Once they reached the end of the line they got bad news: apparently the double rations policy had ended yesterday. Not only that but after they’d gotten their bowls of canned soup and had moved away to eat April insisted the portions were smaller than they had been last time.

“Those are both bad signs,” Trev said between shoveling down his food. He intended to lick the plate clean. “Cutting rations will lead to unrest in the camp and FETF knows it. They’d only do it if they had to.”

Terry gave him a tight smile. “We’ve already agreed to go, man. You don’t need to keep selling us.”

“I’m just saying,” Trev answered with a shrug. “You think things were bad out in the urban sprawl? Think how they’d be if a riot started with everyone packed close together in tents. Flammable tents.”

An awkward silence fell. Matt cleared his throat and reached into one of his backpack’s pockets. “Everyone remember how to play Scum?” he asked. “How about we finish up here and play a few rounds before bedtime? It’d be nice to lighten the mood.”

Trev got the hint. “Sorry, I’ll stop being such a downer.”

After dinner Trev and Matt escorted April’s family back to their tent, then after an hour or so of relaxing and socializing headed towards the back of the camp to the tent the FETF coordinator had assigned them. When they found it Trev noticed that it had more of a bachelor feel to it, with no partitions and a bunch of other single men ranging from late teens to the elderly.

He and Matt were both ready to crash after their first meal in days and immediately headed to their assigned bunks near the back of the tent. Once there they flipped for top bunk and Trev won. It was a dubious honor, because for safety’s sake they decided to put their backpacks up there tucked around his head with each of his arms through a strap. Trev immediately realized it was going to be an uncomfortable night, but it beat having their stuff stolen. He also slept holding the bear spray, and encouraged Matt to do the same.

Even though they were both ready to sleep the others in the tent weren’t, and some stayed awake until late in the night talking or playing cards. Trev supposed if the refugees didn’t have anything else to do in camp than sleep then such late nights wouldn’t be too unusual, and better they were spent playing cards than causing trouble. Luckily they didn’t make too much noise and Trev was mostly able to sleep through it, only waking slightly at sudden outbursts of noise, usually laughter. That didn’t stop him from clutching his bear spray each time he started awake. Especially at one point late at night when he heard shouting from somewhere else in the camp, along with a few screams.

He couldn’t wait to be out of here in the morning.

Chapter Fourteen

Unexpected Bounty

Just after dawn Trev and Matt gathered their packs and went to find April’s family, leaving everyone else in the tent still asleep after their late night.

The Lynns were all packed and ready to go as well, the adults and Aaron wearing school backpacks while Terry also pulled a child’s toy wagon piled high with their few possessions. As a group they made their way to the mess tents for a morning meal of cereal with chalky reconstituted powdered milk, refilled their water bottles at the station near the gate, and when they were finally ready to leave walked over to where refugees continued to stream into the camp in a solid but orderly flow.

Once they got to the gate Matt went ahead of the group and introduced himself to the soldiers there, then explained their situation. To Trev’s surprise the FETF guards listened patiently to his friend’s story, only stopping to ask a few clarifying questions like how far away Aspen Hill was and what their situation would be like when they got there.

When Matt finished the soldiers looked at each other and shrugged. “All right, travel safely,” one said as the others turned to clear them a space to go the other way against the flow of refugees.

Trev did his best not to look shocked. He’d actually felt a lot of trepidation coming to the gate, afraid they wouldn’t be allowed to leave. But even while hoping that they’d be able to he hadn’t expected it to ever be that easy.

In spite of himself Matt looked a bit surprised too. “Just like that? We were afraid we’d have trouble getting out.”

One of the soldiers handling the refugees shrugged. “We’re having a hard enough time feeding and managing everyone here. If you’ve got a better situation somewhere else and you can take care of yourselves everyone wins.”

“How about food for the journey?” Trev asked, stepping forward. “On the way up here the food in our packs was confiscated at a roadblock.”

At that the soldiers lost a bit of their good cheer. “Don’t know anything about roadblock confiscations,” the first soldier answered. “If they’re happening none of those supplies are making it here. Are you sure it wasn’t thieves pretending to be law enforcement?”

“It looked pretty official,” Matt answered, giving Trev a warning look. Looked like his friend still didn’t trust him to open his mouth after the way he’d handled himself at the roadblock. “They said it was some sort of martial law mandate that all food being carried by people should be considered stolen and confiscated.”

The soldiers exchanged apathetic looks and a few shrugged. “Sounds like BS to me. I haven’t heard of any mandate like that. They were probably just after your food.”

Trev had to wonder why the cops at the roadblock would make up a law just to steal their food when they already had them at gunpoint. Maybe to help them sleep better at night knowing they’d done something slightly less vile than armed robbery, or maybe so he and Matt wouldn’t complain to other law enforcement? Or maybe there really was such a mandate and these FETF soldiers didn’t know about it.

Matt didn’t seem to care about any of that, his focus on the here and now. “Anyway it happened and now we’ve got no food and a long way to travel. Is there a way we could get some rations? Some refugees told us you’ve been giving people enough to get them to wherever they’ve been sent.”

“We were, for a while,” the lone female soldier in the group said. “Now we aren’t. Sorry, we have our own mandate that’s actually real and came down the chain. We can only distribute food within the camp, to encourage people to stay put. It’s the best way to prevent more riots as well as making it easier to be sure everyone’s getting a fair share.”

“Most of the people in here had nothing to do with the riots, though,” Trev pointed out. “Weren’t the rioters being sent to Point of the Mountain?”

A few of the soldiers snorted. “The ones we caught,” the first soldier replied. “I wouldn’t be so sure that makes many of the refugees we’re protecting in here innocent. From what I’ve seen I’ll bet you good money that the rioters were some of the first people to come looking for a handout when we set up this camp. And it’s not like the people in here have been twiddling their thumbs and singing Kumbayah, either. We’ve had constant problems keeping the peace, and more crimes and instances of mass unrest seem to happen every day.”

The soldier who’d been speaking pointed to the cleared path through the crowd in invitation. “So leave while you still can and best of luck to you out there.”

“Thanks,” Matt said sincerely as he caught Trev’s arm, motioned back to his sister and her family, and hurried through the crowd. Once they were out of ear shot his friend turned to him. “Come on, man. Talking to the FETF guards made me uncomfortable enough without you interrogating them. With every question you asked I expected them to change their minds and turn us back. Is there some childhood trauma you’re working through that makes you lip off to people who can cause you problems?”

“You don’t think it was worth it to at least ask and maybe get some food for the trip?” Trev shot back. “Besides, I didn’t say anything they’d have a problem with.”

“You never know these days,” Matt said, but he let the matter drop.

To avoid the flood of refugees coming the other way they walked a hundred feet or so to the right of the beaten path, uncomfortably aware of eyes on them with every step they took. Trev wasn’t happy about the attention, and he became even less happy a little over an hour later when they reached I-80 and he realized the others wanted to go straight south from there rather than following the highway back to I-15 and taking the Interstate all the way down to Spanish Fork.

“We’re not like you guys,” April said firmly when he protested. “We don’t have the strength to go days without food, especially not the boys, and since we won’t be able to manage nearly the same speed as you did coming up we have to find a solution. We talked it over with Matt and agreed it would be better to skirt the suburbs west of the big cities so we can forage: anything left in gardens, animals we might be able to catch, heck, even insects.”

“Also we’ll be near the Jordan River so we can get water more reliably,” Terry added. “We don’t have many bottles so we have to stay closer to whatever water sources we can find.”

Matt nodded. “I told them about your cache along 6, so our priority will be to get there as quickly as possible. But until then we need food so we have to try this.”

Trev didn’t like it but he could see the point they were making. Terry and April had to bring their possessions in an overloaded wagon and small backpacks, they weren’t used to hiking, and they had the children. There was no way they’d be able to race hunger south to the cache. “It’s going to be ten times more dangerous even in the suburbs so we’ll have to be constantly on guard. And we might not even find food,” he warned.

“Then we keep going towards our goal as we look and we travel carefully.” April gave him a patient look. “If you want to split off and rush for home we’ll understand.”

He did his best not to feel insulted by the offer. He’d come all this way to help them… did they honestly think he was going to ditch them now just when things were getting hardest? In answer he started across I-80, motioning. “Let’s go, then. It took us 4 days to get up here, it might take twice that long getting back. The sooner we get started the better.”

The others followed as he led the way east on the Interstate to the first off ramp. Where it reached the first intersection they stood for a long time looking at the street leading south and listening for any sounds of danger.

“Shouldn’t we keep going?” Terry asked.

“Shh,” Trev hissed, starting for the nearest source of cover behind a parked van on the other side of the intersection. “Time to get back to slinking our way through the urban jungle.”

Matt followed, wary and with a hand on his spray, and when they reached the van they stopped and looked around warily as they waited for the others to catch up to them. “What are you doing?” April asked.

Matt turned to her, expression grim. “We’ve seen a lot of chaos on these streets while making our way up here. Some really bad stuff. Luckily we were able to avoid it by being careful, but on our way south we need to do our best to be quiet and not be noticed. So no talking and we keep our ears open.”

“Okay sure,” Terry said. He glanced back at the wagon, which Paul was currently riding on while Aaron walked alongside. “I might have to have you help me with this and carrying the boys as we travel.”

“No problem.” Matt sighed, staring at the street ahead. It was quiet and empty, for now. “I wish I had more cans of bear spray for you guys, just in case. We’ll have to make do with what we have.”

Trev ended up walking about a block ahead of the group to scout for danger. That worked out pretty well because even as slow and careful as he was being he still managed to stay ahead of the others. The Lynn family had their sons to deal with and weren’t used to walking, both of which slowed them down in subtle but noticeable ways.

In spite of his caution he didn’t so much as hear anything to suggest people were around. Either they were lucky or everyone nearby had already evacuated to Antelope Island. Or maybe the looters preferred to do their mischief in the dark with such a strong FETF presence not far away.

In any case the hike went smoothly as the somewhat chilly morning gave way to noon. At about that time Paul and Aaron began complaining about hunger. April explained that since they’d only had two meals in the camp this wasn’t unusual, but Trev was still worried about the noise they were making. Especially when Paul began crying and looked on the verge of a meltdown.

“We need to search for food,” Terry told him when he dropped back to see what the commotion was.

Trev frowned. “Where exactly are we going to find it? Even if we went house to house I guarantee anything in the pantries was eaten weeks ago, probably even before looters came through here looking for scraps.”

“I’m not thinking of pantries,” April said, pointing up at a nearby hill where more upscale houses formed their own little neighborhood. They were set back in large yards. “There’s a good chance we’ll find gardens, fruit trees, or other things there.”

“Decorative plants, maybe,” Trev said doubtfully.

“It’s worth a look.” Terry led the way to the next intersection and started making for the wealthier neighborhood, and Trev once again hurried ahead to resume his scouting: richer houses meant looters were more likely to be sniffing around.

When they reached the neighborhood he searched carefully, but although all the houses had broken windows and a few had furniture and broken dishes strewn across the yards none looked occupied. He dropped back to rejoin the others and see which house they wanted to check out first.

It turned out no searching was required at all. April took one look at the nearest front yard, which was carefully cultivated with rosebushes around the porch and lining the sidewalk leading up to the front door, and grinned. “Jackpot!”

Trev frowned. “How? I’m not seeing any garden or fruit trees.”

Matt’s sister grinned at him. “There’s food right in front of you, Mr. Know-It-All. Sure, people might’ve grabbed every can, box, and tin in the pantry, but they only went for the food they were familiar with.” To demonstrate April walked over to the nearest rosebush and plucked off one of the fat seed pods. “Haven’t you ever heard of rose hips?”

“That’s what those are?” Trev asked, surprised.

“Oh hey, yeah,” Matt said, slapping his forehead. “Man, I’m such an idiot. Now’s just the time when they’re in season, too. Not to mention we’ve been walking past tons of dandelions and other edible weeds.”

Trev stared between the two siblings in blank confusion. “Edible… weeds?”

His friend had already plucked off a rose hip of his own and pulled out his small pocketknife/fingernail clippers, the only thing resembling a weapon the police at the roadblock hadn’t confiscated, so he could cut off the ends and slice it in half. As Trev watched Matt used the knife’s tip to scoop out the seeds, then began carefully scraping the inner wall to remove the small white hairs. After carefully inspecting the inside to make sure it was clean Matt popped it into his mouth, groaning with satisfaction.

Following his friend’s example Trev plucked a rose hip off the bush and used his fingernail to dig out the end, then popped it whole into his mouth. He was used to eating fruit with seeds and planned to just spit them out.

“Uh oh,” April said. “Bad idea. Spit it out, Trevor.”

“Huh?” he asked around a full mouth. The rose hip was slightly tart, but otherwise tasted delicious.

“Spit it out. Didn’t you see Matt scrape out those white hairs? Those things are like fiberglass and have been used to make itching powder, so imagine what they’ll feel like going through your insides. Also the seeds are slightly toxic.”

Trev hurriedly spat it out. Served him right for ignoring his friend’s demonstration of how to properly eat it. “This is a great idea,” he said as he grabbed another rose hip and used his fingernails to do what Matt was doing with his knife. Terry had a multi-tool he was using while April also used her fingernails. “I should’ve thought about edible plants on the way up. Lewis would have.”

“And I should have, too,” Matt added, passing cleaned rose hip halves to his nephews, who immediately popped them into their mouths and chewed contentedly. “Mom makes weed salads every now and again. They don’t taste great but they’re healthy and don’t cost anything.”

“It doesn’t look like anyone else has figured it out, either,” Terry said, looking around the yard with a relieved smile on his face. “If you know what plants to eat we shouldn’t go too hungry on our way south, dear.”

As Trev chewed on his first seed pod, which was surprisingly a lot like fruit, he felt a surge of relief. Although he’d kept it to himself he’d been really worried about trying to make the trip south to Aspen Hill with kids in tow and no food. It had seemed daunting to the point of impossibility. But if there was stuff they could eat planted right in people’s yards, food homeowners had cultivated for ornamental purposes and left behind, then that would solve a lot of problems.

In fact, they’d be able to harvest enough rose hips from just the bushes in this yard to fill their packs and wagon. They might not even need to forage for anything else. This house’s owners and their love of roses were a godsend.

After filling up on a bunch of the fruits they began plucking as many as they could and stuffing them into backpacks and atop the wagon. They picked through nearly half the rosebushes before they decided they had enough, and Trev was just suggesting that they continue on when he caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eye.

He turned to see a young man, maybe seventeen or eighteen and dressed in grimy clothes, creeping up on them with a revolver in his hand. He was only fifteen or so feet away, partially hidden by a rosebush.

When the kid realized that Trev had seen him he burst out of hiding. “Everybody hands in the air!” he shouted, waving the gun wildly so it pointed at all of them and none of them. “I’m going to take all your stuf—”

Trev dove to the side, yanking his bear spray out of his pocket.

The move caught everyone else by surprise, probably because none of them believed anyone could be that crazy. Trev could hardly believe he was doing it himself but he knew he had to act, mostly out of anger at himself for getting so distracted with food that he let his guard down and failed to protect the group.

The mugger gaped for almost a full second before yanking his gun around to focus on Trev as he fell. From the looks of it Matt had been frozen in surprise, but when he saw the threat to Trev he hastily pulled out his own can and aimed for the teenager’s face.

Trev squeezed the trigger and the two streams of pepper spray flew at nearly the same time. Unfortunately he landed just as he shot and it threw his aim off to one side of the mugger’s head. Luckily Matt’s shot was better and he hit the kid on the chin, walking it up into his mouth, nose, and eyes.

Trev wasted no time scrambling back to his feet to close the distance to the mugger as the teenager screamed and staggered sideways, pistol falling to the ground as he lifted both hands to clutch at his face. He hadn’t even got a shot off. Trev snatched up the gun and backed away with it at about the same time the mugger crumpled to the ground, making choking noises. He aimed the weapon at their attacker in spite of his incapacitated state.

For a moment the only noise was the punk hacking and coughing as everyone stared between him and Trev, and then Matt shoved his bear spray into his pocket and went over to grab his shoulder. “Are you insane? You could’ve gotten us all killed!”

Trev gave him a crooked smile, still buzzed from adrenaline and relief at the good outcome. “Just myself. Since I moved first he aimed at me, which meant even if he’d managed to shoot me you would’ve been able to get him before he hurt anyone else. I figured it was worth the risk. You’d be surprised how long it takes people to respond if you move without warning. There’s a reason firearms instructors teach that anyone within 10 feet, sometimes as much as 25 feet, can potentially reach you before you can fire a shot.”

Matt shook his head, looking impressed. “It was stupid, but I’ve got to admit it was also pretty awesome.” He glanced down at the revolver Trev held. Trev thought it was .357 or .38 special, although he wasn’t too familiar with revolver calibers. “Hey, at least now you’ve got a gun again.”

Trev reversed the pistol to hold the barrel and offered it to him. “You mean you do. You’ve got a family to protect and I’ve got my Mini-14 waiting at home. Besides, you’re the one who tagged him.”

“Uh uh,” his friend said firmly. “I’m the idiot who lost you your 1911, and I know how much you loved that thing. This isn’t the same but it’s better than nothing. Besides, you’re a better shot.”

Trev hesitated, then shrugged. “Kind of hard to say no.” He idly thumbed open the chamber, then snorted and upended it over his hand. Six spent shells spilled into his palm. “I guess it didn’t matter what we did. He was out of bullets.” He flipped the chamber closed and tucked the empty revolver inside his backpack. The cops at the roadblock hadn’t taken his underarm holster, also now in his pack, and he thought it would work for this gun too with a bit of adjustment.

“Well you can keep your eye out for some,” Matt said absently, glaring at the mugger. The kid was still lost in his own little world of extreme discomfort. “What do we do with this guy?”

“I say let him go,” April immediately said. “He’s learned his lesson.”

Trev agreed. “He’s going to have trouble functioning for a while after that, and he doesn’t have a weapon anymore. Maybe the best justice is to leave him here surrounded by far more dangerous people and see if the golden rule teaches him any lessons.”

Matt suddenly started for the kid and lightly kicked his shoe. “Hey.”

“Sorry, man!” the mugger yelled, curling up into a fetal position and trying to squint at Matt through bloodshot eyes. “I’ll leave you guys alone, I promise!”

“You’d better. That’s not what I wanted to talk about.” Matt leaned down and pointed. “See those rosebushes in the yard? The rose hips, the seedpods, are edible. We’re going to leave now so you can hang out here and have as many as you want.”

Straightening, his friend made his way back over to the group and led them away from the house and out of the neighborhood. Trev was quick to follow, eager to get some distance between them and the mugger even if he was out for the count.

Once they were well away from the expensive houses they continued south along the streets, and since they’d found food and didn’t really need to stay in the city anymore Trev led the way west to the edge of the suburbs, where a road ran basically abandoned with only a few houses and some fenced in industrial lots and buildings dotted along it. Better yet, there was also a bit of cover in the way of bushes and trees.

“That was awfully kind of you, telling him about the rose hips,” April told her brother as they walked along.

Matt shrugged. “We’re not going to be around so they’d just go to waste otherwise.”

His sister grinned impishly at him. “I noticed you didn’t warn him about the white hairs, though.”

“Well he did try to rob us at gunpoint,” Matt answered, deadpan. “I suppose he’ll figure it out eventually.” In spite of the tense situation Trev found himself grinning.

“The itchy bottom teaches best,” April said with a laugh, and at that little Aaron walking behind her laughed too, even though he probably didn’t understand what was funny.

* * *

Although the trip south with the Lynns took much, much longer, just as Trev had predicted it would, it was surprisingly uneventful. They were finally traveling well away from other people like he’d wanted to do from the start, sticking to cover on the western outskirts of the populated areas. It was slower going with the wagon and having to take turns carrying the boys most of the time, since they were too tired to walk or simply refused to do so. But with careful rationing the rose hips they’d gathered lasted them, keeping them at the edge of hunger.

The only times they ventured in along the streets was to get water from the Jordan River, and there Trev and Matt went together in the evenings while the others set up camp, leaving a can of bear spray with them just in case. Trev was worried that after using the bear spray once there might not be much left in there, but talking it through with Matt they figured that each can had about 5 continuous seconds’ worth, and if they’d both sprayed for about a second there was still quite a bit left. They decided from then on to be better about aiming and try to spray for around half a second at a time to stretch out what was left, since the pepper spray was their only means of defense aside from possibly trying to bluff attackers with an empty revolver.

During Trev and Matt’s forays to get water their good fortune continued, and while they heard noises that suggested others might be around they never saw anyone. That wasn’t enough to make Trev let down his guard, but he did start to entertain an idea. So during one such trip for water three days into their journey south, just when they were nearing Utah Lake and the point where they’d need to veer southeast to Spanish Fork, they passed a hardware store and Trev paused in a covered spot in sight of the front windows to stare inside. “I’d like to go in.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Matt demanded, pausing in his sweep of the area to turn and look at him. “Stores are bad news, man, and that one’s probably already been looted bare anyway.” He grimaced and shifted position slightly. “Besides, I doubt they stock toilet paper.”

That was an unpleasant reminder of Trev’s own discomfort. They’d run out of TP yesterday, and with no other option had been forced to resort to using grass and leaves like he’d heard people talk about doing. It was the first time Trev had ever been reduced to such measures, and sparing the unpleasant details it didn’t work nearly as well as advertised. He was actually considering taking a dip in the river no matter how cold it was, and for more reason than because he desperately needed a bath.

“I want to see if I can find shovels and can openers,” he answered. “And if we happen to find toilet paper too I doubt any of us would complain about it.”

His friend gave him a meaningful look. “Ooh. In that case yeah, let’s take the risk.”

They quickly darted across the parking lot, eyes and ears peeled for any sign of unfriendly people lurking about. Trev didn’t see anything, and judging by the sorry state of the inside of the store he wasn’t surprised. Every section looked to have been stripped nearly bare, including the gardening and home improvement sections. While he headed down the aisles looking for what he needed Matt made a beeline for the restrooms at one end of the store, disappearing inside with his flashlight.

As Trev had feared all the full sized shovels had been taken, probably to be used as weapons. But in the camping section he found small folding shovels. They were poor quality and doing the job with them would be a huge pain, but he grabbed a few anyway. He also had his own shovel hidden with the other stuff he’d unloaded a mile down the road from the cache, and between them it would probably be enough. He also found a display of cheap can openers, the kind that never seemed to work properly, but with no other options he dumped all of them into his pack.

Having found what he’d came for he spent a little time browsing, hoping to find a knife to replace the one he’d lost at the roadblock even though he was sure they’d all been looted. As he was searching Matt emerged from the bathroom carrying one of those big rolls of brown paper towels from the hand-drying dispenser. “Score,” his friend said, grinning. “There were also a couple rolls of TP under the sink. I guess that wasn’t a priority for looters, although I bet it’ll become one as soon as they run out.”

Trev noticed that Matt’s hands were glistening slightly with hand sanitizer. “Leave a present behind?”

“Yeah, best poop I’ve had in a week.” His friend didn’t look the slightest bit embarrassed. “Sure there’s no water and it didn’t flush, but it beats squatting behind a bush.” he shrugged out of his pack to load it with the paper towels, which along with the toilet paper mostly filled it, and then together they continued on to the river to get water.

That evening they made their way back to I-15 to go the rest of the way south to Spanish Fork. Trev couldn’t help but notice that the FETF and law enforcement presences were greatly reduced from when they’d been this way last, although one convoy did pass them headed south, and the flow of refugees was also about half what it had been. Were the cities finally emptying out? The refugees he did see looked even more hungry and desperate than before, and he and Matt kept the bear spray close and gave other groups a wide berth.

“I don’t want to be a refugee,” April said quietly. “It’s terrible, the suffering and hopelessness. Once we get to Aspen Hill let’s stay there for good.”

Trev had to agree, although part of him wanted to point out that at the moment they pretty much were refugees. Sure they had a bit of food, and more waiting for them roughly two days away in his cache, but they were just as vulnerable as anyone else on the road.

Back on the highways, first I-15 and then Highway 6, their speed improved. Not just because it was a straight road to travel and they didn’t need to spend quite as much time scouting for danger but because April’s family was a bit more used to walking, even though hunger and fatigue were causing them to slow down. They still managed to make it the rest of the way to the cache by the end of the fifth day, going in two days nearly the same distance they had the previous three.

On the morning of the fifth day they finished off the last of the rose hips they’d gathered, along with a few other assorted weeds Matt and April had found along the way. Aside from a single scraggly raspberry bush with some overripe berries that was all they’d had since the FETF camp, and that day all anyone could talk about was the cache. In spite of their weariness they kept pushing forward, hoping to reach the cache before it got too dark to travel. Spurred on by that lure they consistently passed the other refugees following Highway 6, a comparatively smaller number than those on I-15 but still thousands of people.

They managed it, barely, at sunset making their way down the hill Trev had coasted down on an empty tank what seemed like years ago but was really only 20 days if he had his math right. The excitement at what lay at the bottom gave spring to all their steps, which combined with the downhill slope let them cover the distance quickly.

His poor car was in even worse condition than the last time he’d seen it, now with the tires slashed and the roof caved in as if a heavy person had jumped up and down on top of it. He had to wonder who had the energy for that sort of senseless destruction while racing against death by thirst or starvation.

There were a few refugees in a group ahead of them, and they’d passed others about fifteen minutes ago who’d catch up too soon, so they stopped for a while near his car to rest and wait until the coast was clear before hurrying down the steep slope to leading from the highway to the copse below, getting into the cover of the trees just as they caught sight of people coming into view on the road above. Trev could only hope they hadn’t been noticed as he led the group to the small clearing.

“So now we finally get to use those shovels and can openers you grabbed,” Matt said, staring at the ground where he’d dug the cache as if expecting an angel to rise out of it. “Please tell me you’ve got a ton of food in there.”

Trev grinned, barely caring how his legs nearly buckled as relief washed over him when he saw that his attempts to hide the hole he’d dug had succeeded. “Not quite a literal ton, but it’s enough to last me about a year. And that’s not counting the cartful of stuff I grabbed from a grocery store on the way down. That’s probably another two or three months easy. I’ve also got some cases of bottled water.”

“That’s amazing,” Terry muttered. “And you’ve had that much food just sitting here all this time?”

Trev shrugged as he set his pack down and dug out the shovels. “I didn’t really have a way of getting it down to Aspen Hill. I probably would’ve tried at some point but I had other things to do.”

“Like coming to help us,” April said, resting a hand on his arm. “And now you’re sharing all this with us. It’s a godsend, Trev. You’re a godsend.” Terry and Matt were quick to agree.

Doing his best to hide how his face flushed with embarrassment at the praise, Trev handed out the shovels and together they got to work. Even with the small, inadequate tools it only took a few minutes of frantic digging to get down to the cache, drawing on their last reserves of strength and driven by hunger.

Terry was first to hit it, pausing when his shovel struck dirt with a crinkling sound and throwing his shovel away. He dropped to his knees, staring at the spot in excitement. “I hit tarp!” he nearly shouted. He began digging with his bare hands, scrabbling to get a grip on the plastic mesh.

Trev put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “We’re going to have to do a lot more digging before we can uncover the tarp.”

Matt made a choking noise. “I know you told us how much there was, but it still hasn’t sunk in.” He got to work again in nearly a frenzy, digging down to the tarp and then expanding the hole around the edges. Trev joined him, and Terry retrieved his tool to continue as well. Finally they got enough of the tarp uncovered that working together at one end they managed to heave it and the remaining dirt off.

As Matt and Terry dropped the tarp and fell to their knees beside the hole Trev yanked on it one last time, partially displacing the blankets underneath, which the other two men pulled aside to reveal the things he’d cached nearly three weeks ago.

April also fell to her knees beside the hole, and together they all stared at the bags of food and other gear piled atop boxes and buckets with expressions of awe and almost desperate need. April was the first to reach into the cache, pulling out one of the tied shut grocery bags with a grunt of effort and ripping it open with her fingernails. She pulled out a can almost reverently. “Green beans,” she said, making a noise that was half laugh, half sob. “I hate green beans.”

In direct contradiction with what she’d just said the blond woman accepted the can opener Trev offered her and attacked the top with almost desperate frenzy. Once it was open she dropped to sit cross-legged with her two children crowding around her and pulled the lid away. The three of them immediately set to scooping in mouthfuls of the stringy food with their bare hands, dripping green bean juice all over their dirty clothes.

Trev handed out more can openers and they all got to work opening cans and filling their bellies with real, solid food. The rose hips had felt like manna from heaven, but even while eating them the last few days Trev had craved something more substantial. Now he finally had it.

They gorged themselves that evening, eating extra to make up for the lean days, and then at Trev’s insistence they took out as much food as they thought they’d be able to carry with them to Aspen Hill. Terry and April transferred the lightest of their things to Aaron’s small backpack so they could fill their only slightly larger school packs, then got to work finding a way to load the wagon to capacity beneath their few possessions.

As for Matt and Trev’s backpacks, they were larger and could hold more and Trev actually had to empty a few things from his friend’s pack to lighten it, reminding him of the harsh lesson he’d learned his first day. Matt protested that he was willing to overburden himself if it meant having more food when they got home, and Terry quickly offered to share the load, so Trev stopped arguing and focused on his own pack. He also planned to pick up everything he’d unloaded a mile down the road, assuming it was still there, so he packed with that in mind.

In the end it felt like they barely made a dent on the cache. Trev had them help him cover it up again with blankets and the tarp, then they filled the hole back in and covered it with a carpet of leaves and sticks to camouflage it once more.

That night they slept in the clearing right on top of the cache. For Trev it was the best night’s sleep he’d had since the FETF camp, with a full stomach and the comfort that the long, harrowing journey was nearly over and they were almost home. It didn’t even occur to him that he was facing the same 50 mile trek that had nearly defeated him the first week after the attack, and yet after all the traveling he’d done it felt like no more than the final stretch.

Chapter Fifteen

“Aid”

Just before noon on the 22nd day after the Gulf refineries attack found Sam making her way to Roadblock 1 for a shift.

She’d done four so far, all fairly uneventful. The biggest trouble they’d encountered was a brief scuffle between refugees and “townies”, as the refugees had taken to calling the residents of Aspen Hill, at the spring a couple days ago. A few of the men manning the roadblock with her had hurried to break it up, sending the refugees back to camp and the townspeople back to their homes, and that had been that.

At least within the town itself. Troubling news had been making its way around the roadblocks that people were being robbed outside of town. Some blamed bandits, others came to the more logical conclusion that the refugees were causing trouble, but either way Mayor Anderson and Officer Turner had tightened the town’s borders even more and cautioned the residents of Aspen Hill to stay behind the roadblocks and patrols.

When Sam arrived at the roadblock she saw that the town’s lone policeman-turned-leader was there for an inspection, currently talking with Chauncey Watson, who she’d done a shift with, and a tall man about her age with light brown hair and the lean, wiry look of someone who ran track or marathons. Or in this case went on frequent long patrols, since from the descriptions she’d been given she guessed this was Lewis Halsson, Trev’s cousin. Matt had told her about how draining the shifts had been the few times he’d helped out, and from what she understood Lewis did them frequently.

When Lewis saw her he broke off his conversation with Chauncey and Turner and came over, offering his hand. “We haven’t had a chance to be introduced yet. Sam, right? You came down with Matt.”

She nodded, warily accepting the handshake. “You’re Trev’s cousin Lewis.”

He nodded back. “That’s right. Guess they haven’t come back yet, and I don’t suppose you could’ve heard news about them. I haven’t been getting anything that could tell me how they’re doing on my shortwave radio, either.”

“We’re praying,” Sam replied. “Mona says that’s all we can do at this point.”

“Right.” Lewis agreed. Then he paused, looking a bit uncomfortable. “So I had a visitor from your house a while back. A lady named Amanda Townsend, said you sent her along to get food since Trev promised to take care of her.”

At the mention of the refugee woman Sam’s mood immediately soured. Hard as she’d been trying to get along they’d been fighting lately, partly because of Mandy’s bad attitude and partly because Sam kept confronting her about doing her fair share to help out. Or doing anything at all for that matter.

“Yeah, she came back with enough to last her a week.” Sam didn’t mention that in spite of needing Mona to prepare the food for her, and in spite of the Larsons’ generosity feeding her up to that point, the woman hadn’t shared any of it. And after what she’d gotten ran out she’d gone right back to eating the Larsons’ food again without a word of gratitude. “Did she tell you why Trev made that promise?” she continued, more coldly than she’d intended to.

Lewis’s expression flashed briefly with anger before going carefully blank. “No, but I heard it from other people. It’s a bold-faced lie. Also I would’ve preferred that nobody but people I trust know where I live.”

A somewhat uncomfortable silence fell. Sam wasn’t sure what she believed, but she wasn’t about to express her doubts to the man’s own cousin. Finally she cleared her throat. “So are you on shift at the roadblock?”

Matt’s friend shook his head. “I’m in charge of patrols for the northern border so that’s where I do my shifts. I just came down to talk to Officer Turner about a few things. Chauncey was here too and since he also listens to his shortwave radio, way more obsessively than I have time for in fact, we got to talking about events out in the wider world.” He motioned, an offer for her to join him as he made his way back over to the other two men to continue their conversation.

“What news is there?” she asked, following.

Turner heard her and answered. “Well Chauncey here has been following a network of amateur radio operators spanning most of the country.”

The retired high school teacher nodded. “Even with the internet and phones down there’s still a lot of information being passed around if you know where to look and can make some good friends over the airwaves. I was just telling these guys about those refineries the President was talking about building the day after the attack.”

“You’ve heard something about them?” Sam asked, excited in spite of herself. Those refineries represented hope, a chance that all this madness the country had sunk into might be ending sometime in the not so distant future.

Chauncey snorted. “Something? Those projects are half of what gets talked about on the radio, them and the entire mess surrounding them.”

“Mess?” she repeated in dismay. “So the construction isn’t going well?”

The radio operator laughed outright, either not noticing or not caring how he was bursting her bubble. “It isn’t going at all. All those cities full of starving people, because the government decided that instead of diverting all remaining resources to bringing supplies to the big cities to cushion us from the collapse they’d try to build refineries from scratch. That on top of using all the resources not going into the construction to keep our soldiers supplied so they can defend our borders and keep the peace in the major cities. If our country still had a robust economy and could depend on outside help that sort of juggling act might have worked, but we’ve spent decades spiraling our national debt out of control and alienating the rest of the world.”

Chauncey shook his head. “To make matters worse the convoys the Federal government was sending to the construction sites kept getting attacked by people desperate enough to go up against armed soldiers in military vehicles. Some convoys were delayed, some were hijacked altogether, but between the raids and the government running out of resources the project started to stall. I’m afraid the refineries are pretty much a failure at this point, but the death knell will come when Russia invades Canada.”

Sam stood stunned for several seconds. “Wait, Russia invading Canada? Since when? You can’t just throw something out there like that!”

The retired teacher shrugged. “Sorry, it’s easy to forget that what’s common knowledge on the radio may not have gotten out there. Word from our friends up north is that the Gold Bloc is seriously leaning on them to sell all their accumulated crude oil that they haven’t been able to do anything with since the Gulf refineries were destroyed. Word is that whatever elements of our Armed Forces that can be spared from other duties are up there trying to prevent the deal with subtle and not so subtle threats. But considering the situation our country’s in those threats are like waving a wet noodle.”

Lewis nodded. “Word is that the recalled military units from all over the world, the ones that made it home at least, are being diverted to Canada to “bolster their national defense”, which Canada isn’t too pleased with since they were on the verge of joining the Gold Bloc to help stabilize their economy. The US can’t afford to lose our major source of oil because that would pretty much spell the end of us, and Canada can’t really do anything about our soldiers “protecting” the oil because they don’t have the military might to kick us out. Things are shaping up into an invasion up there, and literally the only card the US still has left to play is our nuclear arsenal. Word is that with the first Russian to set foot on Canadian soil the nukes will fly.”

“That’s insane!” Turner muttered, shaking his head. “If we can’t even use that oil why are we risking even further trouble and guaranteeing no other country will want to help us just to keep it out of everyone else’s hands? It’s like losing a race and taking a dump in the victor’s trophy.”

Sam nodded vehemently, still numb from all this terrible news. Although she could’ve done without the analogy. “Besides, the oil’s not even ours!”

Chauncey shrugged again and waved vaguely at the sprawling refugee camp just visible down the street beyond the roadblock. “Look around, the world’s insane. Short term if we let Russia have that oil things might get better for us, assuming the Gold Bloc throws us a bone. Long term we’d be a crippled bird with a tiger crouched over us ready to pounce at our weakest moment, with no real way to claw our way back to any sort of strong position on the world stage. If Canada joins the Gold Bloc and stops sending us oil then Mexico and the Central and South American countries will quickly follow suit, leaving the US with no real choice but to cave to the Russians.” The older man gave her a stern look. “You want to live in a world controlled by the Gold Bloc?”

Sam wanted to point out that things hadn’t turned out so good with the US calling the shots on the world stage, but at the same time she didn’t want to see her country attacked. Didn’t want it bad enough that even starving and desperate for help she’d still want to see her fellow Americans pick up their guns and fight off the invading country rather than putting their necks under the boot.

“Do you think what remains of our government would actually launch the nukes?” she asked quietly.

“Why not?” Chauncey said with a weary sigh. “Our people are dying by the millions to the chaos alone, and we’ve just reached the point where people with no food after the Gulf refineries attack will be starving to death so the casualty numbers will soon skyrocket. Our government is in tatters and our hope of finding a way out of this mess is getting smaller and smaller. We’re already sinking, and in that position it’s a lot more tempting to throw a noose around your enemy’s neck and pull them in with you, so nuclear war will definitely be on the table. We’ve got nothing to lose and Russia knows it, which is the only thing that’s held them off until now. But if Canada invites them in and asks for their help booting out US soldiers sitting on their oil the Gold Bloc might just take that chance. If they do who knows what happens then?”

It was almost unbelievable. Here Sam and the community were fighting tooth and nail just to survive the upcoming winter, and somehow even in this situation the threat of war still loomed over them. Then again, when a country was at its weakest was just the time when its enemies were most likely to attack, so maybe it wasn’t so unbelievable.

Turner cursed. “Well all this is plenty grim, but we should be worrying more about what’s closer to home.” Oddly when he said that he didn’t turn to look north at the refugee camp, but south.

Sam’s frown deepened. “What do you mean? More news?”

Lewis nodded. “You could say that. FETF sent a major supply convoy to Price to aid with their growing refugee camp. Word is the refugees there number in the tens of thousands now, with more arriving every day.”

“More importantly,” Chauncey cut in irritably, “they’re very aware of Aspen Hill. A FETF administrator was on the radio talking to me this morning. Chewed me up and spit me out every way you can imagine, grilling me for information on the town and our own refugee camp and demanding answers I couldn’t give. I was tempted to just sign off but I was afraid if I did I’d end up on some Federal naughty list and wind up paying for it the moment they get here.”

Sam started in surprise. “You think they’re going to come here?”

“We’re not standing around at this roadblock for the pleasant conversation,” Turner growled. “From their questioning Chauncey seems to think they’ll be sending someone our way, probably soon. We’re here in case that “soon” is now.”

“But wouldn’t they come to Roadblock 3 to the south?” she asked.

“Maybe. But they know the refugee camp is outside this roadblock and that seems to be what they’re interested in.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” Lewis said with a shake of his head. “They’ll stick their noses in Aspen Hill’s business. It’s what they do best.”

The conversation turned to other things as they waited. Sam soon cemented an impression of Lewis as polite and knowledgeable, but also reserved and even a bit on the doom and gloom side. It was obvious he expected the worst from the FETF visit and was sticking around to see just how bad it was going to be. That made Sam nervous, although she didn’t necessarily agree herself.

After all, it was the Task Force’s job to send aid and that’s what they were doing. What trouble could come from that? If anything they’d make things much better for the refugee camp outside of town, which would in turn make things better for Aspen Hill. They might even have aid for those in town who didn’t have enough and were forced to draw from the town storehouse.

About a half hour later Chauncey’s prediction came true, as a whistle from the man standing atop one of the cars keeping watch with binoculars drew their attention. Sam followed the others as they climbed up onto the vehicles or dressers that made up the roadblock, and even without binoculars she could see the two vehicles bearing FETF markings parked in the refugee camp. One looked like a troop transport, bristling with soldiers looking warily out at the refugees, while the other was obviously a supply truck.

“If that’s full of food that could solve a lot of problems,” Chauncey said eagerly.

At his side Lewis shook his head. “Divide it between the five hundred or so people in the refugee camp, along with however much they want to share with the town, and you’ll be surprised how fast it empties. Not to mention the presence of food will encourage more refugees to stick around when they might’ve otherwise kept going down to Price. That aid truck could end up a net loss for us.”

“Well I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.” Turner unsnapped the radio from his belt. “Roadblock 1 to Town Hall. Get Anderson and anyone you can find from the City Council out here. FETF is out in the refugee camp and will probably be here soon.”

* * *

From what Sam could see the FETF convoy seemed to consist of 12 soldiers in the troop transport and the driver of the supply truck, who also seemed to be in charge: a short, slender bureaucratic looking man in a suit.

At the moment the two trucks were still parked on the road in the middle of the camp, the soldiers deployed in a perimeter around them while the man in the suit spoke with a handful of refugees. The refugees were led by a man who was nearly as short as the bureaucrat and looked fairly nondescript. Considering some of the burly goons in the refugee group Sam wouldn’t have pegged this guy as the leader, but he was definitely the one talking to the FETF agent.

“Not sure I like that,” Anderson fretted, peering anxiously out at the trucks. “Talking to the refugees first is going to bias them, especially since the refugees aren’t going to have anything good to say about us.”

Behind the Mayor stood Catherine Tillman, Mitch Marsh, Bert Peterson, and Charles Mercer of the City Council. That was all of them now that the fifth council member, Tom Watts, had taken his family up to their cabin in the Manti-La Sal mountains earlier in the week. That had caused quite a stir in town, since they’d left quietly and no one knew about it until they were gone. Sam heard the councilman had left a note on his front door inviting the town to give his house to anyone who needed it, and that was that.

“Don’t be so paranoid,” Councilwoman Tillman said mildly. “FETF are professionals, I’m sure they’ll take an unbiased stance.”

“I hope,” Lewis muttered from his place beside Sam, for her ears only. “But professionals or not they’re still human, and whatever the situation the plight of those refugees is going to tug at the heartstrings. Not to mention our government has a habit of taking from one group to redistribute to another.”

Sam glanced at him in disapproval, then at the Stars and Stripes hanging from the building to the left of the roadblock. Anderson had put it up as part of the welcome to FETF to show that they were still fervent US citizens, and its raising had inspired an impromptu Pledge of Allegiance from the assembled townspeople. Sam had been one of the first to join in, and she noticed Lewis had as well, so his comment seemed a bit out of place. “That doesn’t seem like a very patriotic thing to say.”

Lewis tore his gaze from the trucks to look at her. “Don’t get me wrong. I love my country, I love the people in it, and I love the community I live in. But the current government, or what’s left of it after everything that’s happened, has done a lot deserving of criticism. The first patriots had plenty to say about when any form of government becomes destructive to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Before Sam could respond, assuming she could think of anything to say to that, a shout went up from the crowd gathered behind the roadblock as the distinctive noise of engines roaring to life drew everyone’s attention back to the FETF trucks. Aside from the drivers the soldiers had fanned out in front and behind the trucks and were escorting them toward the roadblock at a slow pace, weapons held at the ready.

“You don’t think they’re going to attack us, do you?” Anderson asked nervously.

“Looks more like they’re afraid we’re going to attack them,” the councilwoman replied. She turned to Turner. “Unless you really want to fight Federal troops and think you can actually win I’d do what you can to make our people at the roadblock look friendly.”

The officer nodded and barked out orders, and the armed men at the roadblock quickly set down their weapons and moved to stand behind Turner. While they were doing that the Mayor and City Council members climbed over the cars to stand in front of them as a formal delegation.

The FETF convoy stopped about fifty feet away and the bureaucratic man driving the supply truck got out and approached flanked by two soldiers. He came right up to Anderson’s delegation and acknowledged them with a nod, but as he did his eyes remained on the roadblock, freckled face nearly as red as his hair in an expression of genuine anger. “Why are you obstructing this road?”

To his credit Anderson held his ground. “Things are bad right now. The town has a right to secure its borders.” He stepped forward and held out his hand, doing his best not to loom over the smaller man. “I’m John Anderson, Mayor of Aspen Hill.”

The FETF official reluctantly took it, looking as if he wished he could wash his hand afterwards. “Riley Ferris, Federal Emergency Task Force. I’ve been assigned to be administrator to this area.” His expression darkened further. “Why is there a camp with hundreds of starving people less than a mile from your town?”

“That would be us securing our borders,” Officer Turner called from his place behind the roadblock.

Ferris turned to look at him. “And you are?”

“Randall Turner, contracted police officer for Aspen Hill.”

“I see. So you should know that it’s illegal to obstruct a roadway and restrict US citizens from traveling on public property.” Turner opened his mouth to reply but Ferris spoke over him, nearly at a shout. “I’m not stupid, I know why you’re keeping the refugees out. That’s a lot of mouths to feed with no hope of new supplies coming in any time soon.”

“I’m glad you understand,” Anderson said, looking relieved.

The FETF administrator turned back to him. “I do. I just don’t agree. I’ve been interviewing people in the refugee camp, and wasn’t I surprised to learn that many of them are people my colleagues up north sent south to Aspen Hill as part of the FETF emergency plan that’s been in place for years.”

The Mayor gave the people behind the roadblock a helpless look. “The town voted not to accept the refugees.”

Ferris straightened to his full height, barely coming up to Anderson’s chin. “You don’t get to vote on breaking Federal mandates! Your city accepted money as part of the program. In what world do you think it’s legal or for that matter honest to sign up for something and then after you’ve received all the benefits arbitrarily decide you don’t want to keep your end of the bargain?”

Anderson opened his mouth to make some feeble protest but Ferris talked right over him. “Either way it doesn’t matter. I’m here to make sure the residents of Aspen Hill and the refugees are all taken care of until order is restored. I’ve been put in charge of this area, so you and your City Council and your police officer and his little militia will all be reporting to me.” He waved at the roadblock, then back at the two vehicles he’d come with. “And the first thing you’re going to do is tear your illegal road blockage down so I can drive this relief truck full of food into your town.”

The mayor nodded, shoulders sagging slightly in defeat, and motioned to Turner. Immediately a dozen men leapt forward to pull the cars aside, helped by the two soldiers who’d come with Ferris. As they did the FETF administrator questioned Anderson and the City Council about the state of the town, and when he learned about the town storehouse he announced that it would become the FETF base of relief efforts. From that point on all his questions focused on what supplies the town had managed to scrape together.

Sam alternated watching them talk and watching the roadblock go down. At her side Lewis did the same. He hadn’t said anything since Ferris’s arrival, but with each moment he was looking grimmer and grimmer. “Aspen Hill’s in big trouble,” he abruptly whispered. “That man’s going to ruin us.”

She shot him a disapproving look. “Don’t you think you’re being a little harsh? Sure, Mr. Ferris may be turning the town on its head a little, but he genuinely seems to care about the refugees. I think he means well.”

The tall young man shook his head. “I strongly disagree. But even if he did mean well it doesn’t matter, does it? We all know what the road to hell is paved with.”

Sam decided to not even bother responding to that. As they watched with the rest of the growing crowd of townspeople the roadblock was fully dismantled and the trucks driven slowly through.

“One last thing before we go check out this unauthorized stockpile of yours,” Ferris said, dusting his hands off as if he’d taken part in tearing down the obstruction. “I’ve been instructed to begin a food for firearms program. Inform your people that for the next week they’re encouraged to turn in any firearms they own. They’ll be given a week’s worth of food for each one. I’d say that’s a fairly good deal.”

“In what world?” Lewis muttered beside her, almost to himself. Sam kind of had to agree: without weapons how would they defend the town, or hunt for that matter? Not to mention most guns cost way more than a week’s worth of food.

“In these desperate times there might be some willing to take that deal,” Turner allowed reluctantly. “But I won’t be, and I’ll encourage my people not to either. We need to defend the town.”

The FETF administrator’s eyes narrowed. “No, you don’t. I’ve been assigned to oversee this area and I won’t tolerate a militia. They’re all the protection you need.” He said that last as he jerked a thumb towards the dozen soldiers he’d brought with him.

“All the same,” Turner replied solidly, “I think I’ll just hold onto my firearms, thanks.”

“Yes, you will,” Ferris smiled thinly. “As the town’s sole police officer you’re now under my direct command, as dictated by the Federal Emergency Martial Law Act. As for everyone else in this town, including your wannabe soldiers, the food for firearms program is just the carrot. If they haven’t turned their weapons in by the time the week is up they get the stick: their weapons will be confiscated without reimbursement and they’ll be put on a FETF watch list.”

“Well I’ve seen enough,” Lewis abruptly said, turning away.

“Where are you going?” Sam asked, startled.

“Back home. Got some work to do.” He held out his hand. “It was nice meeting you, Sam. Take care.”

“You too,” Sam said, firmly returning the handshake. He seemed a lot more decent than she’d expected after hearing Mandy’s tales about his cousin, and after spending some time with him a niggling part of her wondered if the refugee woman wasn’t lying about her deal with Trev like Lewis insisted. It seemed like a horrible thing to lie about, but then again it was Mandy saying it.

She watched him walk away, winding his way along side streets to make his way northwest of town while circling well around the refugee camp. After the camp sprang up she knew Turner had collapsed the patrol routes to run just beyond the town’s limits, but even though Lewis lived beyond the roadblock the patrols still watched that area. Mostly to keep a close eye on the refugee camp, which made an odd patrol pattern that ran off the road for a ways around and beyond the refugee camp in a wide perimeter. But the important thing was that in spite of living out of town he wasn’t going into possible danger. At least she hoped: things were about to be turned on their heads and there was no guessing what might happen next.

As the convoy made its way towards Tillman’s, dragging most of the crowd in its wake, Sam made her way over to Turner. “If the roadblock is down does that mean my shift is over? I want to go tell the Larsons what’s going on.”

He sighed. “Looks that way. I guess these guys are in charge of securing the town now.” He glanced back at the refugee camp, frowning. “You know, in a way it’s almost a relief to not be responsible for it anymore. These professional soldiers are much more qualified for the job.”

Sam nodded uncertainly and quickened her pace to outdistance the slowly moving trucks, making her way down Main towards Tillman’s and her home a block away.

Ferris had just blithely announced he was taking over the town storehouse for his relief efforts, and it was obvious those efforts would focus on the refugees. What did that mean for everything the people of Aspen Hill had gathered at that location for their own needs? Was he taking it just like that, without a word of protest from anyone? Would those who’d donated be able to come and reclaim their things rather than see them go to feeding refugees the town couldn’t possibly hope to support?

In spite of the supply truck she had to wonder if the “aid” Ferris had brought was really going to help at all, or just make things worse like Lewis predicted. She didn’t like to think ill of the government, especially not when they were the only hope of putting things to rights, but she kind of wished Aspen Hill had just been left alone.

For the first time since arriving in Aspen Hill with Matt she was truly worried about the future. She hoped he’d come home soon: even if having him around couldn’t logically change much about their situation it would be a huge weight off her shoulders.

Chapter Sixteen

Homecoming

Matt had talked things over with Trev, April, and Terry, and even knowing it would slow them down significantly they’d agreed it was a good idea to leave the highway past Helper and follow back roads, some little better than dirt tracks leading to and from the foothills below the Manti-La Sal mountains, the rest of the way down to Aspen Hill.

Knowing about the refugee camp outside town they couldn’t be certain what the situation would be like after being gone for nearly two weeks, and after everything that had happened they didn’t want to take any chances. They’d approach the town from the northwest or even due west, in a direction where it was very unlikely they’d meet anyone else.

So the morning of the third day after reaching Trev’s cache, the 23rd since the attack and the 12th since leaving town to find April’s family, they guessed that they were within a few hours’ walk of home and set off at a brisk walk along the dirt road. Even the children seemed to have a spring in their step, walking without complaint. Little Paul still needed to be carried frequently, but Aaron seemed to have gotten used to walking and with three solid meals a day was doing a good job following behind with one hand holding the wagon for hours at a stretch.

It was a chilly morning, an unpleasant reminder that Halloween was only a couple weeks away and autumn was marching on to winter. They’d all broken out jackets or sweaters last night and were still wearing them, waiting eagerly for the sun to warm things up to more comfortable levels.

Two hours into the walk with only a few more hours until noon there was still little sign of that, and Matt shivered and pulled his hands into the sleeves of his jacket, wishing he’d thought to bring something warmer. “Cold today.”

Trev nodded grimly. “Could be fluke bad weather, or it could be a sign of early winter. Just what we need.”

Matt decided it wasn’t worth the effort to get on his friend’s case about the doom and gloom. “I feel bad for all the people up in the FETF camp, and for that matter in the refugee camp just outside of town. I wonder if they’ve given any thought to just how bad winter’s going to be with nothing but a tent. The cold might kill more of them than hunger.”

“To be honest I wonder if the townspeople have thought about it,” Trev answered bluntly.

Everyone gave him a surprised look. “In Aspen Hill?” April asked, frowning. “What’s there to think about? Everyone has a house.”

His friend shrugged. “They do, but most houses aren’t even all that well insulated these days. What makes them a shelter is the gas and electric heating. I think a lot of people who’ve always relied on that are going to be awfully surprised at how quickly their houses lose heat once it cools down, and how hard it is to heat up all that open uninsulated space to tolerable levels.”

Matt frowned, thinking of his conversation with Lewis weeks ago. “Your cousin mentioned something about that too. You really think houses will be that useless?”

“Oh they’ll still be better than tents, but if you’ve looked closely at any winter power outages that lasted more than a few days you’ll see a surprising amount of suffering among unprepared residents. Even deaths.”

“But Mom and Dad have a wood stove,” April cut in, looking worried.

Trev nodded. “Which might literally be a lifesaver. It might be smart to take a bit of time away from finding food to make sure you’ve got a decent woodpile, and that you use any spare blankets or carpets or packing foam or whatever to better insulate the room with the stove. You might all end up sleeping in there when winter really sets in, and spending your days there too.”

“Meanwhile you’ve got an underground shelter with your own stove and a nice big pile of firewood,” Matt pointed out. He was ashamed to admit it, but he was almost indirectly asking if his family might be able to move into the shelter if things got bad.

His friend got the hint. “That’s really something I don’t have much say in.”

“But you helped Lewis build the place,” Matt protested.

Trev shrugged. “Sure, I helped my cousin build the shelter with unpaid labor. But he owns the land and bought all the materials. I’m almost a guest myself. Besides, you know how he feels about keeping quiet about the place and avoiding notice.” He fell silent after that and Matt didn’t press the issue.

An hour after that they came in sight of Aspen Hill nestled between the hills to the southeast, and with a bit of cheering made their way down the hillside they were on, follow a winding road through dense thickets of scrub oak and other underbrush.

They were only a few miles out of town, excitedly talking about reunions with family there and finally having a warm bed to sleep in and a safe place to stay, when they rounded a bend to see five men on the road ahead.

Matt immediately slowed, wary. He assumed the group was a patrol from the town, since he couldn’t imagine who else it would be this close to Aspen Hill, but at the same time he didn’t recognize any of the men. They were all unshaven and wearing dirty clothes, as if they’d been out here a while, and all but one of the men were taller than him and much larger. Three were also carrying aluminum baseball bats, and from their expressions they weren’t interested in a pick-up game.

It was a bit of a relief to see that the single short, skinny man in the group, who was fairly nondescript with brown hair cut short and also the only one without tattoos on his arms, seemed to be the leader. He had both hands thrust deep into the front pockets of his baggy jeans, but he took one out to motion to the others. As they started forward he used that hand to wave cheerfully. “Hey guys!” he called.

Matt waved back cautiously. “Hey! You from Aspen Hill?”

All five men burst out laughing at that. “Seriously?” the leader asked. “Do we look fat, well equipped, and conceited?”

Alarmed, Matt started to reach for his bear spray, noting Trev doing the same next to him, but before either of them could get out their cans the nondescript short man whipped his other hand out of his pocket to point a small caliber pistol at Matt’s head. At his cue the other man not holding a baseball bat pulled out a larger handgun to point at Trev, while the rest raised their aluminum weapons threateningly.

“Ah ah,” the leader said, waggling a warning finger before tucking the hand not holding the gun back into its pocket. “Whatever you’re reaching for, take it out slowly and toss it over.” Matt complied, tossing the bear spray at the nondescript man’s feet. Once Trev’s can had also been tossed over the leader smiled. “Good. We don’t want to hurt you guys. You can keep going once you give us all your stuff. Consider it a tax for the privilege of entering the great town of Aspen Hill. That’s where you’re going, right?”

“Yeah,” Terry said cautiously. “Why?”

The men, who Matt guessed were refugees, chuckled. “Why not? Wonderful Aspen Hill! Where the men are men, the women are women, and everyone’s a heartless monster.” Even when he said that last bit he still acted cheerful.

“What do you mean we don’t want to hurt these guys, Razor?” one of the thugs with a bat growled. “I sure do.”

At that little Paul, clutched in April’s arms, began to cry. Either he sensed her fear or the man’s harsh tone frightened him. The refugee leader, Razor apparently, turned to glare at his lackey. “Cool it, man. But don’t worry, you still might get a chance if they don’t do exactly what I say.”

Trev started to move, and for a moment of pure panic Matt thought he was going to try something crazy again. But his friend was just raising his empty hands. “We won’t try anything. You can have all our stuff.”

“You’re right, I can.” Razor motioned with the gun and his three goons with bats rushed forward to strip off their backpacks and take the wagon, while he and his other armed friend kept Matt and Trev in their sights. “Even if you tried to stop us we’d take everything anyway, but this way you don’t get hurt. Especially the blond, there. She’d probably pimp out for a pretty good price back in camp even though nobody has anything.”

April gasped and shrank back, clutching Paul tight. “Leave my wife out of this,” Terry shouted, stepping in front of her.

Razor lost his amused expression in a flash, and just as quickly snapped his free hand back out of his pocket. In it he held a folding straight razor, the kind used for shaving, which he flicked open one-handed as he started for Matt’s brother-in-law. “You just had to open your mouth,” he snarled, running his thumb along the blade. It cut deep enough to make him bleed, and Matt wondered if this guy that had seemed like the calmest of the refugees was actually a psycho.

“They’ve got food, Razor!” the thug who’d taken the wagon suddenly yelled, straightening from rustling through the things stacked inside to hold up a can in triumph.

While Razor was momentarily distracted Trev slowly eased over to put himself between the nondescript man and Terry and April, making no threatening movements. “Yeah, we had food,” he said quietly. “Now you’ve got it and all our other stuff too. How about we just go, okay?”

For a moment Matt was sure his friend was about to get cut, but then Razor made his weapons disappear as quickly as he’d pulled them out, his hands once more shoved deep in the pockets of his baggy pants. “Thanks for your patronage, guys,” he said sarcastically. “Once you’re in town feel free to let your people know their borders are being watched, and they can expect much worse than what we gave you if they try to leave. Any of them that still have guns won’t for much longer, and even if that pencil neck Ferris sends his guys out after us we’ll just disappear for a while and come back later. So let Aspen Hill know they’re under siege and would’ve been attacked already if Ferris hadn’t shown up. I hope they’re ready to get a taste of what it’s like to be desperate and at the mercy of others, staring at a border they can’t cross.”

Matt wasn’t sure what the punk was talking about, but he wasn’t about to stop and ask. He started down the road past the five thugs as quickly as he could, leading the others and fighting the urge to look over his shoulder.

As he passed Razor the man casually leaned down and picked up a can of bear spray. “This is what you were defending yourselves with?” he asked, pointing the nozzle at his face with a grin. “Not a bad idea. Work well?”

“Yeah. You definitely don’t want to get sprayed with it,” Trev answered reluctantly.

“I’ll bet.” Razor flipped the can in his hand and without warning sprayed Terry in the face. April’s husband went down with a strangled noise and she screamed and dropped to her knees next to him, even as little Paul in her arms began choking and coughing from the residual mist in the air.

The refugee turned the still-spraying nozzle towards Trev, and Matt watched his friend start to duck away, too late. But before the spray could reach him the flow petered out to nothing.

“That’s it?” Razor demanded, glaring at the empty canister. “A few seconds? No wonder nobody uses this stuff.” He flung the can at Trev’s face, hitting him in the forehead. “Get out of here.”

Together Matt and Trev picked up a choking, wheezing Terry between them and did their best to drag him away as April hurried ahead with the two boys. After a hundred feet or so Matt glanced back to see that the refugee bandits were digging through the wagon and their backpacks, laughing as they tossed clothes aside to get to the food and other useful stuff inside.

Once they’d put a few curves in the road between them and Razor’s thugs April rushed back to take Terry in her arms, pulling him gently down to the ground with his head in her lap. “We have to wash out his eyes!” she snapped.

Terry nodded, looking scared as he choked out some desperate advice. “I’ve interned at the hospital long enough to see what pepper spray does. I could go temporarily blind, but more importantly if I pass out you need to check to make sure my airways stay clear and I keep breathing.”

Trev was already pulling a water bottle from his pack. “Let’s be quick. I want to get away from that nutjob before he decides to do anything else to us.”

For a tense minute they doused Terry’s face and flushed out his eyes, nose, and mouth, as April used the sleeve of her sweater to wipe away the snot streaming from his nostrils while he hunched over on the road, hacking and spitting over and over again. Matt had a lot more sympathy for the other people he’d sprayed when he saw his brother-in-law’s misery. Even if it had been necessary to defend himself it still looked like a miserable experience.

Long before Terry seemed the slightest bit recovered he pushed to his feet, staggering slightly. His eyes were scrunched shut and every time he opened them they were bloodshot and endlessly leaking tears. “Let’s get out of here,” he insisted. “Just guide me along, okay?”

Matt and Trev got under his arms to support him again while April led the boys ahead, and they walked as quickly as they could in the direction of the town. As they went Matt did his best to sort out what had just happened.

Who was Ferris? Why had Razor claimed that nobody in town had guns? And more importantly why was Turner letting this psycho and his refugee thugs mug people just a few miles outside of town? If Razor really didn’t care if they told anyone about him then did that mean he didn’t think there was anything the people in Aspen Hill could do to stop him?

“I have a feeling we’ve been gone too long,” Trev said grimly.

Matt tried to smile in spite of the adrenaline pumping through his system. “At least this time it’s not the cops taking our stuff.”

His friend surreptitiously patted his underarm holster, where he had the empty .357. “And at least they didn’t frisk us. For once I get to walk away from a shakedown without losing my gun.”

“What do you think they meant about Ferris and no one having guns?” Terry asked in a phlegmy voice.

Trev shook his head. “We’ll find out soon.”

Matt was slightly alarmed when they hiked the entire rest of the way to Aspen Hill without seeing anyone. Where were the patrols? It was bad enough that Razor was robbing people just outside of town, but if there was nobody defending the place he could just waltz right in and start looting houses or who knew what else.

At the edge of town were the houses on larger plots of land, widely separated and usually connected to the gravel road by dirt or gravel driveways. They walked several blocks before they reached their first paved street, and to Matt’s shock he saw a dark-haired woman walking along it towards them. That shock turned to elation when he recognized her, then a little bit of worry as he thought about how close she was to the edge of town with no one between her and Razor’s thugs.

Sam had been looking down at her feet, but when she finally looked up and saw them she slowed to a halt in the middle of the street, staring at Matt with wide eyes. He gently extricated himself from Terry and started forward, calling her name, and at that she gave a happy cry and rushed forward to throw her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder.

He returned the embrace awkwardly, looking down at her with surprise. Not to mention a surprising amount of his own happiness at seeing her. As they hugged the others reached them and gathered around, and April gave him a strained but genuine smile. When the hug still continued his sister mouthed “see you at home” and hurriedly ushered the others on down the street to give them some space. Or maybe to get Terry to their parents’ house where she could make him more comfortable.

They were almost out of sight before Sam finally pulled back, cheeks a bit pink at her show of affection but still smiling broadly. “I’m so glad you’re back! We’ve all been worried sick about you since you left, waiting each day for you to make it home with no way of contacting you to find out if you were okay.”

It surprised him how good it felt to hear that she’d been worried. It was also surprising that in spite of the hardship she must’ve suffered she somehow looked even more lovely and alive than he remembered. “It was a long and hungry walk and we saw some terrible things, but we didn’t run into any real trouble.” He kept the encounter just outside of town to himself.

Her beaming smile abruptly slipped. “Oh, you probably want to get home and see your parents and then finally get some rest. I was going to go help the Widow Harris since she told your mom she’s got a whole garden of root vegetables, carrots and potatoes and beets and radishes, that need harvesting. She said if I help her dig them up she’ll give me a quarter of them.” Her smile slipped even more, coming perilously close to a frown. “I want to come back with you, but I already said I’d help and we could really use that food.”

“I’m not that tired,” Matt said, which was nearly true since it was still early in the day. But even if he was exhausted he would’ve agreed to endure being pummeled by 2x4s for a chance to spend more time with her. “How about I come and help you?”

Sam gave him a hopeful look, but immediately shook her head. “I can’t ask that of you. Not after traveling for so long.”

On impulse he took her hand and started back down the road. Mrs. Harris’s house was only a few blocks away, and even the work of digging would seem like a vacation compared to the endless walking. Or at least a change.

She didn’t protest anymore, seeming happy to walk along beside him holding his hand. Her own hand was small and soft in his, aside from some calluses on her palms from the hard work she must’ve been doing while he was gone. After a short, contented silence between them she abruptly spoke. “I can’t believe how much in my life has changed because of asking you to let me come south with you. Everything would be different now if I’d lost my nerve and stayed in my dorm.”

Matt smiled at her. “Regretting not finding somewhere else to hitch a ride to?”

“Are you kidding?” she asked incredulously. “I’d probably be a refugee like one of those poor people out in the camp, if not worse. You have no idea how fortunate I feel that I found you, that you and your parents were willing to welcome in a complete stranger as practically family.”

Her eyes darted away from his face timidly, then back to meet his gaze. “Actually I was sort of wondering if you regretted it. I pretty much tossed my stuff in your car and said I was coming along, and since then I’ve been nothing but a burden when your family already has enough to deal with.”

“Now you’re the one who’s kidding,” Matt chided gently, squeezing her hand. “You provided the gas, remember? And ever since we got here you’ve been doing everything you could to help around the house and out in town. I mean you were on your way to do some serious shoveling to earn food to feed the family when I saw you. If you’re a burden I’d be happy to carry you anywhere.”

Sam’s cheeks flushed again, and Matt abruptly felt embarrassed at the sappy comment. But then her wide smile returned and she squeezed his hand back, turning to look forward again. The contented silence settled between them once more, and in spite of all his weariness and worry Matt couldn’t think of many times when he’d been this happy.

He was home. April and her family were home. And in spite of the hardships ahead they weren’t refugees. They had a home, a family, and a community willing to support each other. “So any news about the town?” he finally asked. “Have you all been doing all right?”

She hesitated, looking over at him. “We have. The, um, City Council finished crunching some numbers recently and discovered that if the winter was mild, we butchered livestock and were able to forage like we have been, and we severely reduced our rations during the coldest days, about 80% of the town has enough food to last until spring.”

Matt wondered how she felt about that. For him, especially after seeing and even being part of the sea of humanity moving through the cities up north, that number seemed phenomenal. As long as his family was on the right side of it. “That’s better than I’d hoped.”

She nodded, then hesitated again. “That was before a FETF relief convoy came with a truck full of food, though.”

“Here?” Matt demanded, surprised. He would’ve expected them to send all their aid to Price, since he’d heard that’s where refugees were being taken in.

“Here,” Sam solemnly confirmed. “Yesterday at around noon. They forced us to take down the roadblock and Ferris, that’s the administrator, took over the town and claimed the storehouse as his base of operations. There’s a lot of people worrying that he’s going to give all the food in there plus everything in the truck to the refugees out in the camp. He’s starting a ration line tomorrow and everyone’s allowed through. From what I hear a lot of the newly arriving refugees who’d otherwise have kept going down to Price are now sticking around because of the ration line, hoping to get fed.”

From his own experience with FETF and what his sister had told him Matt could almost guarantee that was what they were going to do. “Up north they were confiscating all the food from anyone with more than two weeks’ storage,” he grimly told her. “April and her family lost everything and had to go to the refugee camps even though they would’ve been pretty well off.”

It was Sam’s turn to be surprised. “Two weeks? That’s more than half the town, including your parents!”

Matt nodded, stopping abruptly. “Listen, I hate to bail on you but this news changes a lot. I’ve got to warn my parents and help them hide our food before FETF starts going door to door. Can you handle the harvest alone?”

“I could,” she said, coming over to take his hand, “but there’s no need to worry. Ed hid all the food last night. It should be safe.” She sighed. “I wish I could say the same about his hunting rifle. He was on a shift at Roadblock 3 with it when FETF came and Ferris saw him and the others with their weapons. He basically told them right then and there that they could participate in the food for firearms program or have them confiscated at gunpoint.”

Matt wished he was surprised at that news. April had talked about her neighborhood watch program being disarmed as well. “Food for firearms?”

“Ferris’s tactic to get people on board with the confiscations.” The dark-haired woman tugged on his hand, starting forward again, and as they continued on she started filling him in on how things had changed in town, especially since FETF’s arrival.

* * *

Trev was happy to escort the Lynns the rest of the way to their parents’ house. Not only because he wanted to make sure Terry made it without trouble but because he wanted to find Officer Turner and tell him about Razor’s thugs and the robbery.

He knew he should’ve been more angry about having his stuff stolen, again, but he was so relieved to be home that for the moment it hadn’t sunken in. Besides, once he got back on border patrol maybe he could do something to prevent others from suffering the same fate. It worried him that the back of town didn’t seem to be patrolled nearly as well as the north, south, and east ends. He’d talk to Turner about that, too.

Mr. and Mrs. Larson were out working in their garden when they arrived, and Aaron immediately gave a happy shout and rushed through the gate to throw his arms around his grandmother, little Paul squirming out of his mother’s arms to follow. Mr. Larson caught him and tossed him into the air a few times, much to the toddler’s delight.

Trev hung back as April and Terry joined the group for their own reunions, while Mrs. Larson fretted worriedly over Terry’s face. When she finally turned to him Trev expected his own hug from the motherly woman, but instead he got a very flat look. “I’m glad you made it back safely,” she said in a cool tone of voice.

He hesitated, confused. After the huge risk and sacrifice of traveling up north with Matt to find her daughter’s family he’d expected at least some warmth and gratitude from the older woman. “Is something wrong?”

“I’ll say,” his friend’s mother snapped. “That girl you left with us. Didn’t do a lick of work, lounges around making demands and spitting venom, and keeps saying you promised to take care of her. She even got in a screaming row with Sam and clawed her arm.”

He stared at Mrs. Larson, bewildered. “Girl I left? You mean Mandy? I just told her she could have a meal and a bed for the night before moving on to Price.”

It was her turn to look bewildered. “Price? Why on earth would she go there?”

“That’s where FETF sent her. I was going to give her enough food to make the trip.”

“Well then one of you is lying,” Mrs. Larson said coldly. “She told me FETF had sent her to Aspen Hill and when you brought her in you promised her a permanent place to stay with you.”

Trev couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Wait, you don’t think I’m the one lying do you?”

The older woman waited too long to answer, which was answer enough. “Anyway it’s your problem you dumped in our laps,” she finally said. “Now that you’re back you can sort it out, and good riddance.”

He supposed that was reasonable, although he could hardly believe she was siding against him after complaining about how lazy and argumentative Mandy had been. “Of course, and I’m really sorry she caused you trouble. We were in a rush to get gone and I didn’t have time to explain her situation, which must have led to some miscommunication—”

“You don’t understand,” Mr. Larson cut in sharply from where he stood behind his wife still holding his grandson. “That hellcat’s been nothing but trouble for us, but we made a promise to take care of her while you were out helping Matt and April and we kept our promise. But that girl? She—” he abruptly cut off, looking down at the children uncomfortably, and when he continued it was in a much lower voice, barely audible. “She says you traded, um, adult favors for letting her into town, and the promise of more of the same to let her stay with you.”

Trev stiffened with shock and outrage. “I did not!”

Mr. Larson nodded, not quite in disbelief. “Whether you did or not that’s what she’s claiming. And not just to us, either. She’s making sure the entire town knows the deal you made with her, and I’m sure she’ll insist you’re beholden to keep your end of the bargain now that you’re back.”

This was a nightmare. After all the arguing Trev had done to keep out the refugees, if Mandy was going around telling everyone he’d only let her in for sex he had to look like worse than a hypocrite. No wonder the Larsons had given him such dirty looks. It was a wonder he hadn’t been slapped. “Where is she?” he asked grimly.

Mrs. Larson turned and nodded to the house. “Probably sleeping in at this time of day. Or at least pretending to avoid work. I’ll go fetch her.”

But before the older woman could take a step a happy squeal from the porch turned them all around, and Trev stiffened in shock when he saw Mandy rushing down the steps and across the yard to throw her arms around him. Almost before he knew what was happening she’d pressed her lips firmly to his, then pulled away and rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m so glad you made it back!”

It was hard to be gentle as he pushed her away. “Are you crazy? What are you doing?” he demanded.

The blond woman backed away, giving him a bright, false smile that did nothing to hide the anger smoldering in her eyes. “Welcoming you back. I’ve been longing to see you again so I could take care of you properly.” She paused, just for a moment, and although her tone didn’t change somehow the intent behind it did. “And so you can take care of me like you promised.”

Trev glanced towards the others, only to find that Matt’s family were retreating to the porch. Even as he watched they disappeared into the house and swiftly closed the door behind them. He still lowered his voice, although he did nothing to hide his anger. “You’ve been telling everyone I made you have sex with me to get into town?”

Mandy’s fake smile remained. “Of course. It’s the truth, isn’t it?” Trev gave her a hard look, and finally after almost a minute of frosty silence her mouth thinned to a straight line. “It’s the truth I needed,” she snapped. “You were going to send me off to Price with a meal and your best wishes, where I’d be packed in with tens of thousands of other refugees and end up starving to death. If I wasn’t raped and murdered first.”

As she’d been talking her expression and tone grew more and more cold, until she was practically spitting venom. “But you didn’t bother to tell anyone my visit was just a one night stopover before moving on, did you? Thanks to that I got to stay in the one town that has its head on straight and is looking out for itself. I’ve been able to eat decently every day while you rushed off to play hero and couldn’t tell anyone the truth. And now that you’re back it’s too late because I’ve already told everyone my own truth and not even your friends will believe you.”

Unfortunately she seemed to be right on that count. “Just what “truth” are you telling them, specifically?”

“That I’m the victim of a predatory monster who offered me food and shelter in return for being his virtual sex slave. Thanks to that I’m offered sympathy instead of resentment, and even the people I’m a burden on like the Larsons get mad at you instead of me.” She curled her lip in contempt. “I don’t regret doing what I had to do to survive.”

Even after hearing her admit it outright Trev still found it hard to believe she’d actually done what she claimed. It was all he could do to control his rage as he considered the implications. “You’re going to go back to the refugees,” he said through clenched teeth. “And I don’t want to see you near me or any of my friends.”

The woman gave him a look with such venom that even after everything Trev was still shocked by it. “No, you’re going to take me to this shelter of yours where I’ll be your guest for as long as I want, no strings attached. Otherwise I’ll go to FETF about how you’ve exploited me. Even with everything that’s happened soliciting prostitution is still illegal in the United States of America.”

Trev couldn’t believe Mandy’s gall, but everything else flew out the window as his mind snagged on one word. “FETF? What are you talking about?”

She laughed. “They sent an administrator to take over Aspen Hill yesterday, along with a dozen soldiers to make sure the town does what he says. All you greedy townies refusing food to starving people are about to get your comeuppance.”

All thoughts of Mandy and her attempts at character assassination immediately faded to the background as the implications of this set in. “You do what you want,” he said. Without waiting for a response he turned and sprinted towards the shelter.

Behind him Mandy laughed mockingly. “I will! No matter what happens in this world people are people, and people will always rush to the aid of a damsel in distress. You really shouldn’t have crossed me.”

You mean I really shouldn’t have helped you? But Trev was already out of earshot and didn’t care enough to reply. He had more important things to worry about than Amanda Townsend: for good or evil he was done with her, and he hoped he never had to see her again.

But somehow, deep down, he had a feeling that he was only at the beginning of the trouble her lies would cause. Even after he’d helped her she seemed determined to do everything she could to ruin his life, and if enough people believed her she’d probably succeed.

Chapter Seventeen

Evicted

When Trev arrived at the shelter he found Lewis hauling two buckets out the door, and was relieved that his cousin had realized the implications of FETF’s arrival too.

“I hope you’re doing what I think you’re doing,” he said, hurrying to kick a rock out of his cousin’s path. If Lewis was relieved or even surprised to see him he didn’t show it, so urgent in his task that he barely paused to nod Trev’s way. He seemed to be heading directly east towards the second, higher hill that partially hid their buried shed. Beyond it was a fairly mild stretch of low hills to where the foothills began, then the mountains of the Manti-La Sal range beyond them.

Lewis grimaced, setting down the buckets and rotating his shoulders. He looked as if he’d been at work for a while. At that point finally he paused to grab Trev’s shoulder and pull him into a quick hug. “Glad to see you made it back safely, even if you stink even worse than before.”

His cousin motioned to the buckets as he continued. “And if what you think I’m doing is caching our stuff then yes, I am. FETF is in town. It’s only a matter of time before they bring “aid” to the area by rounding up any extra food to redistribute to the refugees. We need to hide as much of this as we can before they come around trying to get their hands on it. Our guns, too.” He quickly filled Trev in on Ferris’s arrival, tearing down the roadblocks, dismantling the town’s defenses, and taking over the storehouse.

When he was done Trev nodded grimly. “April’s family got a firsthand look at how they operate up in Midvale, so I’m not surprised they’re doing the same here.” He grimaced, glancing towards town. “I was hoping Aspen Hill would refuse to let them in. We’ve already voted to turn away refugees, after all, so FETF has no business here. But it looks like as soon as the first petty bureaucrat showed up everyone changed their minds.”

“They did more than change their minds, they bent over backwards.” Lewis also glared towards town, as if he could see Ferris taking over the storehouse across the mile and a half of distance. “The townspeople are sheep. They don’t care that Washington DC burned. They don’t care that the Federal government is at best in exile, at worst struggling to keep from imploding. They don’t care that the nation is on the rocks and we’re on our own and nobody is coming to save us.”

His cousin took a deep breath. “When Ferris came they didn’t see a “petty bureaucrat” with two trucks and a dozen soldiers. They saw an extension of the vast and infinitely powerful Federal government that doesn’t exist anymore. In their minds he’s the lifeline to the help that’s going to solve everyone’s problems. So if Ferris tells them to give up all their food so it can be redistributed to refugees they’ll do it, expecting that more FETF trucks full of food will be coming in the future.”

“And they won’t,” Trev said, but in spite of his experience with the FETF up north there was the slightest question in his voice.

Lewis had been leaning down to pick up his buckets again, but at that he paused to stare at him. “You’ve still got the barest flicker of hope about that?” He took a breath, then lowered his voice even though nobody could hear them. “Trev, it’s on the radio. More FETF help isn’t going to be coming from up north because the FETF doesn’t exist up there anymore. The Antelope Island refugee camp rioted after a food shortage led to rations being severely cut.”

Trev stiffened in shock. “Antelope Island? I was just there!”

“Then you’re lucky you left. Thousands of refugees went on a violent rampage. The fuel, food, and munitions depots were all seized, FETF soldiers ran for their lives before their own weapons could be turned against them, and over a hundred thousand people flooded back out into the ruins of Salt Lake City. The area has erupted into chaos again, and this time I don’t think anything’s going to stop it.” His cousin finally picked up the buckets and started for the hill again.

After a few moments standing stunned at the news Trev hurried to follow. “Does anyone in Aspen Hill know?”

His cousin shrugged slightly, not pausing. “They’ve got their radio. But even knowing it won’t matter to them because they can’t put two and two together. Ferris is Federal, which means he’s authority, and even if now he’s as much a refugee as anyone and his authority extends exactly as far as the fuel in his trucks can take him everyone will still mindlessly obey his orders. Because that’s what people do.”

A long, uncomfortable silence settled, and then Trev took a deep breath. “Okay, what do you need me to do?”

“Help me move things.” Lewis pointed up the hill with his shoulder. “I’ve finally got the woodpile moved and the cache hole dug where it was. Took me most of yesterday with this rocky soil, and by the time I had it big enough I was too exhausted to start moving buckets. I’ve been hard at work all morning but it’s taking me longer than I expected. Hauling a hundred pounds more than a hundred yards, a good chunk of it uphill, is a lot different than walking for hours. My muscles just aren’t used to it.”

Trev grimaced. “I’m pretty wiped out myself but I’ll do what I can.” As Lewis continued up the hill he headed back to the shelter to grab some buckets of his own. With his cousin’s secretive nature he might’ve hoped that it would take FETF a while to learn about their place, but after Mandy’s threat he had no idea how long they had to get this done so he was in a hurry.

Speaking of which, he should probably give some warning about her. As he carried two of his own wheat buckets towards the cache he met Lewis coming back the other way and followed his cousin back inside to fill him in on his confrontation with the blond refugee, then back out and they carried their buckets towards the cache together talking as they went.

Trev was even more outraged when he learned that the reason Mandy knew about the shelter was because the Larsons had sent her out to get some of his food to “keep his promise”, and had a few choice words to say about it.

“I don’t think she started out as a bad person,” Lewis offered once he’d let off some steam. “I’m sure the experience of being a refugee made her desperate enough to do what she wouldn’t otherwise do.”

Trev shook his head, hefting his pair of heavy pails and quickening his pace a bit. “That’s a reason, maybe, not an excuse. I’m sure people who’d want to kill us and steal our supplies have good reasons too.”

“It’s just an attack on your reputation, though. In the end it’s not the worst thing she could’ve done to you.”

It actually kind of annoyed him that his cousin was trying to defend Mandy. He wasn’t the one getting smeared by her lies. “We’re in a close-knit town where we have to depend on each other for our lives. Reputation can make all the difference. Also don’t forget she plans to rat me out to Ferris. She’ll probably tell him about our shelter.”

“Yeah, that’s a much bigger problem,” Lewis agreed grimly. They reached the peak of the hill and Trev got to see the fruit of his cousin’s efforts.

True to Lewis’s words Trev saw that his cousin hadn’t been carrying things for long. His effort since FETF arrived yesterday had produced a good sized, tarp-lined hole where the woodpile had been, with that entire massive stack of wood scattered everywhere to clear the space beneath. That made sense since the area around here was all sparse grass and the occasional shrub, and a cache anywhere else would be immediately noticeable. Especially one as big as the one Lewis was working on. For this one once it was filled they could move the woodpile back over to hide it.

When he’d first arrived here after being gone so long for school Trev had wondered why the woodpile was so far from their shelter, all the way on the other side of the hill. Lewis had answered that he’d needed the flat space directly in front of the shelter for driving while loading supplies, and over the hill was the next closest flat spot off the dirt road. His cousin had also mentioned that if an enemy set the wood on fire the farther it was from their front door the better, which seemed a bit paranoid to Trev.

Either way here it was, and that was good because it meant the cache would be farther away from the shelter, and possibly harder to discover since it was out of sight behind the hill.

They carefully arranged their buckets in the hole to efficiently fill the most space possible.“You did a good job with this hole,” Trev offered. “But there’s a lot of stuff in the shelter. How much can we cache?”

“Not even close to all of it, that’s for sure, but as much as we can.” Lewis grunted in annoyance as the bucket he was trying to lower into the hole tipped over and he was forced to hop in to right it. “Just remember that every bucket you take out is around a month’s worth of meals, and that’s just for the wheat at about 1400 calories per pound, which is near the lowest CPP out of all the food we’ve stored. Those are meals you’ll be glad you have this winter, or next summer, or even the winter after this one depending on how much we can save.”

Fair enough.

On the way back to the shelter Lewis paused at the top of the hill to scan the perimeter with a small pair of binoculars he carried on his belt. That reminded Trev and he told his cousin about Razor and his bandits robbing them. Not too far away from here, in fact.

“Yeah, we’ve been having trouble with them since even before Ferris showed up,” Lewis said grimly. “I’ve been keeping a close eye on the horizon, but although I’ve seen them a few times they haven’t come close enough to worry about. That might change now that FETF is disarming the town. You’re carrying your 1911, right?”

Trev shook his head. “Taken at a police roadblock.” His cousin gave him an incredulous look and he felt a surge of embarrassment. “I’ll tell you about my trip when we’ve got the time. For the moment, though, I have this.” He pulled out the revolver they’d taken from the would-be mugger.

Lewis took it and looked it over. “Model 65. Pretty nice. Needs cleaning, though.”

“You have any .357 rounds on you?” Trev asked hopefully.

His cousin shook his head. “Sorry, just .308, .45, 12 gauge, and .22. I only tried to stock up on ammo for the guns I own.” He handed it back. “We’ll have to see if we can find you some before FETF makes anything gun related disappear.”

Trev put the useless gun back in his underarm holster. “I guess I’ll carry my Mini-14 for now. Hopefully it won’t be too much of a pain while moving stuff. I don’t want to get caught with my pants down around Razor again.”

Once back in the shelter Trev retrieved his rifle and slung it securely on his back so it wouldn’t jostle or get bumped while moving buckets. Then he and his cousin got down to serious work emptying their food storage into the cache.

A couple hours later they finished filling the hole, not just with buckets but with all their ammunition and Lewis’s G3, pump action shotgun, and .22 rifle, all in waterproof containers. With his cousin wearing his 1911 that was all their firearms accounted for.

True to Lewis’s predictions the cache fit barely a third of their supplies, and his cousin looked unsatisfied as they made some final adjustments so the buckets protected the more delicate stuff in a hollow, then covered everything with a sheet of plywood that could hopefully hold the weight of all the dirt and the woodpile itself. Once Lewis was satisfied with the job they covered everything up with more tarps and arranged them so any water would be redirected around the cache. Then they filled up the hole, using proper shovels much to Trev’s relief, and got to work stacking the wood back into a pile over the disturbed earth.

They finished the job in the early afternoon and took a break sitting on the hilltop eating cold chili from cans. Lewis brought up getting started on another cache once the meal was done and they began discussing possible locations that were near enough to carry the supplies by hand or in their wagons, could be easily concealed once the cache was complete, and wouldn’t put them under the guns of Razor’s roaming thugs.

It turned out to be a moot point, because just as they were cleaning up after their meal and getting ready to get started again Trev caught sight of a distant group of people approaching from the direction of Aspen Hill.

He jostled Lewis’s shoulder, pointing, and his cousin quickly took out his binoculars to check. After a long, tense silence he saw Lewis’s shoulders visibly sag. “Looks like the FETF is sending an official party. Ferris, Turner, and half a dozen soldiers.” He suddenly stiffened. “And there’s Mandy! Guess you were right about her ratting us out.” His knuckles whitened around the small binoculars. “Unbelievable… she’s the one person who never should’ve known about this place. It’s hard to be mad at the Larsons but seriously, what were they thinking?”

Trev squinted at the distant group, catching sight of a hint of green at the back of the group. Mandy had been wearing a green shirt. “Don’t blame them, she’s my fault. I should never have let her into town.”

“Hindsight.” In spite of his cousin’s even tone he looked pissed as he put away his binoculars.

Trev supposed it didn’t matter now. “So what do we do? Fight?”

“Against half a dozen soldiers in body armor?” Lewis asked incredulously. “Besides, we don’t want to get on the wrong side of government agents no matter how questionable their actions.” His cousin abruptly pulled them both back behind the cover of the hill and removed his underarm holster with its 1911 to hand over to Trev. “I’m glad we got the ammo and my other guns out to the new cache already,” he said, tone urgent. “Listen, take these and hide them there too, then hurry back. I’m going to go lock up the shelter.”

Trev accepted the weapon, glad he was carrying his own revolver in its underarm holster as well as his Mini-14. “You want to meet them unarmed?”

“The outcome’s the same either way, and anyway meeting them unarmed looks less aggressive. Also if they’re in the mood to confiscate weapons rather than push their stupid food for firearms program I don’t want ours anywhere to be found.”

That made sense. Trev nodded and trotted down the hill to the woodpile, doing his best not to jostle the guns he held. Once he got behind the cache he hurriedly pulled wood off the pile in the spot they’d planned for easy access, scraped away just a few inches of dirt, and lifted the corner of the tarp to tuck the guns underneath, including taking off his underarm holster to store the revolver as well.

Once he’d covered the cache again he decided to circle far north to return to the shelter from a different direction so he wouldn’t give anything away if he was spotted. It meant going all the way around the shelter to get to the south facing door, but to his relief by the time he climbed up to stand next to Lewis, in the concealed sentry post atop the shorter hill the underground structure had been built against, Ferris and the others still hadn’t arrived.

As they waited he got a chance to get his first look at Ferris, a small weasel of a man whose stick-up-the-butt posture and absurdly out of place suit screamed petty bureaucrat. He also got a good look at Mandy, who was doing her best to hide behind the six soldiers in full riot gear, including bulletproof shields and helmets. Looking at them Trev was glad they’d hid their guns.

When the group arrived Lewis led the way down to where the road passed the bottom of the hill to meet them. His greeting was directed at Turner, not Ferris. “What’s this about, Officer?”

Turner had the grace to look shamefaced. “I’ve been made the Aspen Hill FETF liaison. Hoarding food in excess of two weeks’ supply is illegal according to Federal law.”

“Since when?” Lewis asked evenly.

Before the policeman could answer Ferris spoke up. “Actually, hoarding has been illegal for years now. The law just hasn’t been enforced because it’s a minor issue at any time except during a disaster. Like now.”

Lewis seemed ignore the interruption, still looking at Turner. “Are you going to help these soldiers rob the people you swore to protect and serve?”

Turner’s guilt vanished into irritation. “Come off it, Halsson. You’re sitting on enough food to feed half the town while people are starving. This is better for everyone.”

“Everyone but the people you’re robbing,” Lewis said, voice still calm. Trev had to admire his cousin’s cool head: he knew from personal experience that if he was the one talking he’d be shaking from nerves by now, like he had at the roadblock up in Spanish Fork. In fact even though he wasn’t saying a word he still had to fight to keep motionless and stay calm.

Ferris gave a fake yawn. “Sorry if I have no sympathy for selfish lawbreaking hoarders.” He abruptly turned to stare contemptuously at Trev, who gave a start of surprise at the sudden attention. “Not to mention scum who solicit sex from starving, desperate women.”

Trev opened his mouth to protest but Lewis put a quieting hand on his shoulder, still speaking to Turner. “Is he being charged with anything?”

The officer also glared at Trev. “Not at the moment. As long as he denies the charge it’s “he said, she said”, and anyway we’ve got more important things to worry about. Like that illegal bunker you built without getting permits and filled with hoarded supplies that can help the town.”

Lewis was starting to look irritated, but his voice stayed calm. “From what I was able to find in my research the structure is perfectly legal. It’s a shed, not intended for habitation. I’ll admit we’re living there now, but you can hardly fault us for that considering the extenuating circumstances.”

Before Turner could answer Ferris abruptly held up a hand. “Quit wasting our time, hoarder. As of this moment your assets are forfeited, including the structure used to hide illegally stored supplies. You are ordered to vacate the premises.”

His cousin finally turned his attention to the FETF administrator. “And if I refuse?”

“Then we’ll be forced to take legal action against you,” Turner cut in, “up to and including use of force if you resist. You preppers should’ve thought of the consequences before behaving so selfishly.”

“Selfish?” Lewis demanded, finally losing his cool and losing it bad. “We anticipated future problems and spent every extra penny we had on necessities instead of on luxuries and impulse buy items like the rest of the country. We prepared for the possibility of disaster. We learned the skills we’d need to survive. Those people out there in the refugee camp? They didn’t prepare. They didn’t think ahead. And when disaster finally came they were in a terrible situation they did nothing to prevent. And now they want you to take everything from us so they can have it even though they’ve done nothing to deserve it and you’re calling us selfish?”

Turner flushed. “You’re selfish because you knew a disaster was coming and only thought about saving yourselves.”

Trev couldn’t help it, he burst out laughing. “Dude, less than a minute ago you called us “preppers” like it was something between a joke and a swear word. Before the attack whenever I talked to people about what I’d do if things got bad they actually laughed at me, and just about everyone looked at me like I was a nutjob. How exactly do I go about saving anyone else when they think I’m a joke or a loony?”

“For that matter why should we?” Lewis interrupted. “Ultimately our responsibility is to ourselves, and if there’s a problem we can never depend on anyone else to help us if we can’t help ourselves, and no one to blame for the consequences. You’re talking like everyone else who didn’t help themselves has a right to be helped now, even if you have to force other people to help them. Besides, after the disaster hit we donated more food to the storehouse than just about anyone else in town, so I’d say we’ve already done our part.”

Ferris abruptly cleared his throat, looking impatient. “This isn’t about who’s right and who’s wrong, it’s about the law. It’s illegal to have more than 2 weeks of food storage and according to the testimony of this woman you have much, much more than that, so it will be confiscated. You built this structure without permits or proper blueprints or any official oversight hoping a loophole would save you, but it won’t. It, too, will be confiscated. If you’ve got a problem with that take it up with your local, state, and Federal leaders at the next election. Until then obey the law or be arrested, and be grateful we’re not bothering to arrest you anyway.”

Trev opened his mouth to protest further, but before he could the FETF administrator shot him a dark look and raised one fist in a silent command. The six soldiers with him lifted their weapons to the firing position, and for the third time in his life Trev found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. Unlike Nelson, though, he doubted these guys had forgotten to chamber a round. They were as ready to use their weapons as the law enforcement at the Spanish Fork roadblock had been. He very slowly lifted his hands in surrender.

Lewis’s shoulders sagged in defeat and he also lifted his hands in surrender. “I guess there’s not much we can do about it,” he said. “Can we at least cart out the bare minimum necessities? Winter clothes, blankets, camping equipment, 2 weeks’ worth of food, and personal items?”

Maybe Ferris was feeling generous after his huge score, or maybe there was a shred of decency left in the man, but he nodded slightly. “We’ll keep an eye on what you load up.”

Trev almost laughed in relief. The necessities would be vital, of course, especially the winter gear and camping equipment, but the most important thing on that list wasn’t anything his cousin had mentioned but what they’d be using to carry everything else.

They had two wagons. One was a sturdy cart Lewis with his typical forward thinking had purchased while they were still building the shelter, capable of hauling eight hundred pounds and big enough to haul a decent volume, with either a pushbar or a belt harness for pulling it. In truth its weight capacity was far better than one person could manage, and Trev had never seen his cousin tow more than three or four hundred pounds on it.

The other wasn’t nearly as impressive, just a 4-wheeled moving dolly Trev had talked his parents into letting him keep after they moved to Michigan, which he’d screwed a sheet of plywood cut to size over a frame of 2x4s onto and used a basic rope tied in the front two corners to pull it. It wasn’t nearly as reliable and couldn’t hold even half the weight of the other one, but it was just as important they have it. As long as they stuck to roads of some kind, even dirt, they would be able to haul their stuff if need be.

Trev hadn’t even considered the wagons sitting beside the shed behind them as a necessary resource until Lewis mentioned them, but there was no way they could’ve walked away with two empty wagons while leaving everything else behind without drawing immediate suspicion about what they were planning to haul. Now, thanks to Lewis’s quick thinking, that problem was solved.

Lewis reluctantly turned and started for the front of the shelter as everyone followed behind. Trev could see his cousin’s reluctance to unlock the heavy metal-sheathed door and lead the way inside, but Lewis did it.

Turner whistled as he stepped inside, and as Ferris followed he looked on the verge of soiling himself in delight. The soldiers all cursed in disbelief as they filed in, while at the back of the group Mandy tugged on the FETF administrator’s arm and gave him a smug “I told you.”

“Make yourselves at home,” Lewis said, very nearly not sounding sarcastic. “We’ll start gathering up our necessities.” He motioned to Trev and hurried over to the living area, pulling an already prepared backpack out from beside his trunk and setting it on his bed. He opened the trunk next and began emptying it of winter gear and other useful items.

Trev started for Mandy to confront her about her role in all this, but before he’d gone more than a step a FETF soldier gave him a warning glare from behind his face protector. “Don’t even think of it.”

He stopped. “I just wanted to—”

The man stepped between him and Mandy. “Don’t touch her, don’t talk to her, don’t even look at her.”

Trev nodded and turned away to begin his own packing. As he went Mandy sauntered over to a beanbag in the living area and plopped down onto it, calling at his back. “You know I’m getting a reward for this. Two weeks’ worth of ration vouchers.” He ignored her as he hurried to his bed and began piling things up, although he couldn’t help but notice that the soldier seemed to have no problem with her talking to him.

He didn’t have nearly the store of useful supplies his cousin had, but he gathered up everything he thought his wagon could hold and began moving the stuff out to the wagons by the shed as Lewis followed suit.

Meanwhile Ferris had taken out a clipboard and was already tallying the food stores and other items as the soldiers began shifting things around as if searching for hidden loot. Trev interrupted them just long enough to gather up two weeks’ worth of canned food for himself and Lewis.

By the time they’d finished loading up the wagons with everything they could manage from the shelter Trev had begun to feel like a trespasser in the comfortable, snug underground home they’d created. Ferris was already acting like he owned the place, barking orders and cataloguing everything. Lewis seemed to feel it too, because he was in a hurry to tell the FETF administrator that they were ready to leave.

Before anything else Ferris forced them to go through the indignity of being frisked, then the short, thin bureaucrat personally inspected their wagons for contraband or whatever else he thought he’d find. Trev couldn’t help but feel a little tense as the man poked through his possessions, worried that some arbitrary whim on the man’s part would get him in trouble, but thankfully Ferris didn’t raise any alarms as he moved on to Lewis’s larger and better filled wagon.

Once the administrator had rummaged through their stuff to his heart’s content, withholding a few small but valuable items for what seemed purely greed or spite, he stepped back and waved them on their way. Lewis wasted no time in pulling his wagon down the dirt driveway from the shelter to the dirt road, where he turned west towards the foothills leading up to the Manti-La Sal range.

Trev hurried to follow, doing his best to ignore the itchy feeling between his shoulder blades that the FETF soldiers had their guns pointed at his back. He didn’t turn to check.

* * *

With his cousin leading the way they pulled their wagons up the road to where it ran behind the hill out of sight of the shelter.

Two wagons loaded with a few pitiful possessions. Everything they had left in the world aside from what was in the cache. Trev knew he should feel angry but instead he just felt numb, like he’d been hit in the same place too many times and it didn’t hurt anymore. It seemed like ever since the Gulf refineries attack people had been robbing him, more often successful than not. It was BS, and within him was building the sort of dull, grinding frustration that threatened to overflow into a boil.

Once they were well behind the hill and out of sight Lewis cut across the sparse grass and around a few scrubby sage plants to the woodpile, dragging his wagon behind it in case Ferris or one of his soldiers climbed to the top of the hill searching for them. Trev followed, glad the wood was stacked high enough to block them from sight. He hoped the soldiers didn’t come sniffing around, but he had a feeling they were too busy looting the shelter and celebrating their find.

While Trev busied himself digging down to the cache so they could start pulling out enough food to fill the wagons he couldn’t help but notice with some uneasiness that his cousin had retrieved his rifle and pistol. With almost chilling methodicalness Lewis put down a spare winter coat and began field stripping both weapons to make sure they were ready for use.

He did it quickly, showing the familiarity of long practice, and once he was done he did several magazine and chamber checks with each, then began doing carry and aiming drills starting with his G3.

Trev watched it a bit nervously. “Uh, Lewis?”

“Just making sure there’s no problems with my equipment,” his cousin said shortly.

“Okay. It just, um, kind of looks like you’re getting ready to go start shooting things. Things wearing body armor.”

Lewis had been doing drills that entire time, but at that he finally paused, glanced at Trev, then sighed and set his rifle back down on his coat and slumped to a sitting position with his back against the woodpile. After a second he hit the ground, then his leg, and swore quietly to himself.

Trev was glad that at least his cousin kept his head enough to keep it down so the people just over a hundred yards away on the other side of the hill wouldn’t hear. “I know man, it sucks.”

“Three years, Trev. Installing security systems all day and cramming into an apartment with 5 other people to save money, all to earn enough to pay for everything I needed. And every second of extra time I wasn’t doing that I sunk into the shelter. Endless hours researching, purchasing, building, improving, learning, and practicing. That’s my life.”

“I know,” Trev said quietly. “I barely did a tenth of what you did, and most of it was thanks to the time you’d already spent researching and finding places to buy things, and I still feel like I’ve had my gut ripped out through my mouth. I can’t even imagine how it is for you.”

“It’s not just the time we spent,” Lewis said through gritted teeth. “That shelter was our future, our short term survival and longterm thriving. It’s literally life and death. And that smug little weasel just comes and takes it all away from us to give a whole bunch of unprepared entitled parasites meals for another few days.”

Trev slumped down next to his cousin, resting his head back against an uncomfortable chunk of wood. “This is all my fault,” he said miserably. “I lost us everything.”

His cousin shook his head and sighed. “They would’ve found out about this place eventually. They’re thieves, they wouldn’t leave us alone as long as they knew we had supplies they could steal. Plenty of people in town knew we had those supplies who might’ve eventually let them know, or they could’ve discovered the place while scouting around town.”

“But if Mandy hadn’t ratted us out we would’ve had time to get everything safely cached.”

Lewis looked over at their wagons piled with winter gear. “We managed to get as much as we could out of there. It could be worse. At least Turner decided not to mention our guns even though he knows we have some. Maybe he’s not a complete tool even if he is helping Ferris.”

Trev wasn’t sure he believed that, and he didn’t think Lewis did either. In spite of his calm words his cousin was practically grinding his teeth as he continued. “In a way there’s a small silver lining. After Mandy ratted us out, if we’d managed to cache everything Ferris would’ve taken one look at our empty shelter and known we had. He would’ve forced us to show him the caches. Maybe this way he’ll leave us alone now that he’s taken what’s in there.”

That made Trev feel even worse, and he was about to apologize again when his cousin stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “You took pity on a starving woman and helped her. You couldn’t have known she was a terrible human being who’d try to destroy your life for self-serving reasons.”

Trev nodded, although the reassurance didn’t make him feel any better. “So what now? The Larsons would probably take us in.”

“No,” Lewis said immediately. “Between FETF and the refugees this place his going to be full of starving people before winter even arrives. If we stay we’ll only have to worry about more thieves, including those wearing FETF uniforms. I’d rather spend the winter where we can be sure we’ll be alone, and where we might be able to hunt and trap ourselves some meat and even forage, since I snagged my book with all the information on edible plants in the area. A place we know well and have spent plenty of time exploring.”

His cousin was staring straight ahead, and Trev followed his gaze to the Manti-La Sal range looming over them to the west. “You’re joking,” he said, immediately hating the idea.

“I’m dead serious,” Lewis shot back.

“Our hideout? It’s barely a lean-to! We’ll be dead in a month if we last that long.”

While growing up he and Lewis had spent a lot of summers up in the mountains near Electric Lake and following the Huntington River. They’d fished, explored, camped, and swam. They even had a little inflatable raft they’d used on both lake and river.

But they’d only been up there during the warmest months of the year in June, July, and August, since at that high elevation the snows came early, fell deep, and stayed late. Of course there was also plenty of water and game, the entire area was blanketed with forests full of deadfall they could use for firewood, and Trev had even found patches of wild raspberries and golden currants. But at the same time…

The hideout really was just a lean-to, dug out of the side of the mountain and crudely made of deadfall and tarps. Sometimes it wasn’t even good shelter on summer nights, especially when it rained, and he didn’t see it as an option at all for winter.

But Lewis just smiled at his protest. “It’s not as bad as you remember. I was up there this summer cutting firewood to bring down, both for personal use and to sell, and I spent some time making the place a proper shelter, including installing a small wood stove. It still leaves a little to be desired, but nothing we can’t improve on when we get there.” His smile widened. “More importantly the price of fuel started to really skyrocket halfway through the project, so I decided the firewood I’d already brought down would have to be enough. I never bothered to get back up there and haul the rest down, which means there’s still enough up there to last us the entire winter.”

Trev shook his head doubtfully. “We were already worried about how difficult winter is going to be. Now you want to head to the place with the most vicious and long lasting winter you can possibly experience in this area and stay there? Even camping out right here would be better!”

“Would it, though?” Lewis shot back, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at where they could still hear the distant shouts of FETF goons going through their stuff. “We were worried about how difficult the winter would be for the town, not us, and we’ve got the best winter gear possible. Because conditions are so brutal up there we wouldn’t have to worry about being bothered by other people.”

There was a long, strained silence as Trev thought that over. To be honest he wasn’t nearly as keen to stick around in Aspen Hill after everything Mandy had done to trash his reputation. Hard as he knew it was going to be there was also a certain appeal to heading up to the hideout. “We’d have another long hike ahead of us,” he finally said with a sigh.

It wasn’t an exaggeration. To get there they could either go directly over the mountains or travel south to Huntington and follow Highway 31 up to Candland Mountain for around 75 miles, uphill most of the way. That was the long, long way around since their hideout was basically on the other side of the mountains about 15 miles to the west of them. Yet even so the long way was the easy way to go, since the alternative was taking the poor, rock-strewn, brutally steep road of gravel transitioning to dirt up Aspen Hill Canyon just behind town, then following other dirt and gravel roads that weren’t much better to meet up with 31. A much more direct path but over much rougher terrain.

There was no question which route they’d take, since not only was it shorter but it was almost guaranteed they wouldn’t meet many people along the way, if any at all. There was also the added bonus that their shelter was northwest of town which put them slightly closer to their destination, and they could follow the dirt road next to them right to the Aspen Hill Canyon road.

At his capitulation his cousin nodded and actually managed a strained smile. “You’ve been having all the fun road trips lately. My turn to go on one with you.” He shrugged. “Either way we’ll need to wait until tonight to load things from the cache. I don’t want to do it with Ferris just on the other side of the hill.”

Trev nodded. “While we wait I’ll go say goodbye to Matt. Think it’s okay to let him know where we’re going?”

His cousin hesitated. “I’d say no, but if we can’t trust him we can’t trust anyone. It’s probably good to have at least one friend down here anyway. Go on, I’ll try to hide the cache better and keep watch over it. The mood I’m in I almost hope someone comes to steal it.”

The words were said half jokingly, but from the way Lewis glanced towards the home they’d just been kicked out of Trev wasn’t completely sure. He hoped for all their sakes that Ferris was too busy cataloguing his newest score to go poking around.

Trev left his weapons behind with Lewis and went straight south to avoid the shelter and prying FETF eyes, then headed east for town and made his way along the smaller streets. To his surprise he met Matt leaving the Larsons’ house with a plastic bag in one hand.

When his friend saw him coming he immediately made a beeline over. “Trev!” he said, clapping his shoulder. “I was just heading over to find you. I heard how my parents treated you and felt terrible about it, especially after everything you’ve done for us.”

It was a bit difficult to shrug that off after they’d taken Mandy’s side against him, but Trev managed to. “It’s fine.”

“From the sound of things it really wasn’t. They’d had to put up with Mandy for almost two weeks listening to her slander you so they weren’t in the best of moods when you arrived.” Matt lifted the plastic bag. “Listen, me and April explained the trip and everything that happened and they wanted me to apologize to you on their behalf and thank you as well. We also wanted to give you these cans of bear spray. I realize it’s a pathetic gift compared to what you’ve done for us, but I felt like I had to give you something.”

Trev took the bag, trying to smile in spite of his foul mood. “Thanks, man, but you know I’d help you any time. I’m just glad we all made it safely.”

His friend’s smile faded. “Although things aren’t as good as they could be, are they? I heard about Ferris, and I know you and Lewis really need to worry about FETF poking their noses where they don’t belong since you’ve got your shelter and all the stuff you’ve prepa—”

“He’s already there,” Trev interrupted. “Kicked us out and stole everything.”

Matt flinched and slowly went white. “Holy cow, already? And they took everything? You had supplies to last you for years, and beds and a stove and bathroom and everything else. A perfect setup.”

Trev could only shrug, still too raw about it to say anything, but after an uncomfortable silence he cleared his throat. “Listen, I wanted to talk to you about the cache we left behind on the way down. I’d have a bad time trying to get it on my own, so if you and your family can think of a way to bring it back here you can have it all.”

Matt gaped. “Seriously? We can’t take that, especially not after you just lost so much.” But even as he said it he stared longingly north as if envisioning all the supplies they’d reburied. That food could make a huge difference for the Larsons this winter, which was why Trev had decided to give it to them if they could manage to get it.

“We’re not as bad off as you think even after losing our place,” Trev assured him. “We’ll be okay. And I wanted to do something to make it up to your family for putting up with Mandy for me. Not to mention being such good friends for as long as our families have known each other.”

“Thanks, man,” his friend said sincerely. “That could be the difference between life and death.”

Trev nodded, although he felt he had to give a word of caution. “It’s a lot of food, yeah, but between you, Sam, April and her family, and your parents that cache might run out quicker than you think. Even if you go to half rations this winter, which you’ll probably have to do.”

He glanced back towards the shelter, feeling his jaw tighten in spite of his efforts. “Word of advice, though. Keep it a secret from everyone, and when you do bring it down bury it where Ferris can’t find it and don’t take it out until you really need it. He’s taking the big stuff now and holding to his “regulation” about 2 weeks of food storage, but I’ve got a feeling in the future he’ll start robbing you guys of anything he can lay his hands on.”

“Right,” Matt said somewhat dazedly. Then he blinked and focused on Trev’s face. “Hold on a second, “you guys”? You’re talking like you’re leaving.”

Trev nodded and jerked his head towards the mountains to the west. “We are. Up to our old summer hideout.”

“Over the winter?” his friend demanded incredulously. “That’s crazy! You’ll be socked in under 10 feet of snow for nearly nine months!”

He smiled a slightly crooked smile. “And still somehow more hospitable than living under Ferris’s size 9 boot.”

Matt shook his head almost frantically. “Don’t go. You can stay with us in our house. You’ll be perfectly welcome.”

“Thanks, but your place is going to be crowded enough. Anyway me and Lewis are kind of looking forward to getting away from people.” He gripped his friend’s shoulder for a moment. “Don’t worry about us, we’ll find a way to survive. You and your family do the same.”

Matt reluctantly nodded and offered his hand, then on impulse pulled Trev into a crushing hug. “Thanks. For April and her family, for beating me around my hard head until I finally saw reason about coming home, and for all your help and advice. For everything.”

Trev hugged him back, a bit embarrassed to realize tears were trying to sneak free. “Anytime, man. Stay safe.”

They separated, a bit awkwardly, and after a few final farewells Trev turned and started back for the woodpile. He’d been looking forward to his first good night’s sleep in a long time in his own bed inside the shelter, but now it looked as if he might be staying up late tonight.

He was beyond exhausted, his body screaming for rest after traveling so far almost nonstop all this time, miles and miles every day. But it looked like his journey was far from over.

Winter up in Manti-La Sal National Forest. His journey was just beginning.

Epilogue

Returns

Ferris got what seemed like half the town out to empty their shelter. From the sounds of it the people of Aspen Hill were celebrating as they made a human chain complete with carts, small wagons, and even a larger horse-drawn wagon to take everything back to the storehouse. From their behavior it was clear they considered Trev’s and Lewis’s devastating misfortune to be a bounty as great as the supply truck FETF had brought.

It was hard to listen to that from behind the woodpile without secretly thinking some very resentful thoughts about their neighbors.

The only saving grace of the town celebration was that by nightfall the shelter was completely empty of anything useful, even the solar panels stripped off and taken back to be installed where they could be put to better use. That meant nobody was around to witness as Trev and his cousin uncovered the cache enough to get at what they planned to take with them.

Between the two wagons they decided they could carry around 600lbs of food, mostly canned but with a base of 6 buckets, plus all their other necessities piled on top. That was more than 6 months of food for two people, which should be enough for them to eat fairly well all winter, even up at their hideout where winter lasted longer, provided they could do even a little hunting and foraging to supplement their diet.

Along with the food, winter gear, and camping supplies they also brought a good chunk of ammunition for the weapons they were going to bring. For Trev that constituted all the ammo for his .223, while Lewis left behind his shotgun and .22 rifle and all the ammo for them because of weight concerns, taking only a quarter of his store of ammo for his HK G3 and 1911, which meant still had more for each gun than Trev had total, and the guns themselves.

Altogether it was around 600lbs of food, 200lbs for the guns, ammo, and accessories, and 100lbs for their winter gear and camping equipment. Added roughly 75lbs for the weight of the wagons themselves and 25lbs for water and it came to around 1000lbs, split 600 on Lewis’s sturdier wagon and 400 on Trev’s.

There was some uncertainty about whether Trev’s wagon could handle that much weight on bad roads, but they wanted to keep the distribution of weight as even as humanly possible. That was because almost as big a concern as the wagons was whether the two cousins pulling them could manage that much over long periods of time, especially uphill. They would definitely be going much, much slower.

The last thing they did to get the wagons ready for travel was lash everything down tightly with rope, then throw tarps over everything and tie those down as well. Now the wagons could even tip right over without spilling anything or damaging precious equipment and could be easily righted, which would save time later.

Although Lewis’s wagon had the pushbar he opted to remove it and go with the belt harness, while Trev wrapped his heavy winter coat around his waist and tucked it up into even more padding so he could fit his wagon’s rope over it in an improvised belt harness of his own. They’d have to take turns hauling the lighter and heavier wagon, and going uphill they’d probably have to pair up to haul the wagons one at a time on the steeper stretches, especially Lewis’s, but it would be worth it to have all those supplies.

As long as they didn’t get robbed again. But as Trev slung his Mini-14 where it could be easily brought to bear and he watched his cousin practice drawing and holstering his .45 in its underarm holster, he was resolved that now that they were down to nearly the last of their vital possessions any bandit would have this stuff over his cold, dead body.

But preferably theirs.

Lewis had night vision goggles, a treasure among all the other things he’d prepared and thankfully one Ferris had overlooked, and so he took the lead with them while Trev followed behind. In spite of the weight their wagons rolled smoothly even over dirt road, as long as they avoided any rocks larger than a pebble, but from feeling the resistance of pulling that weight at even a slow, measured pace on flat ground Trev had a feeling the trip up the mountain was going to be brutal the moment they started going up even a slight slope.

Their pace would probably make even the speed he and Matt and the Lynns had managed on the way back to Aspen Hill seem blazingly fast in comparison, but at least they’d be strong as mules by the end of the trip.

The dirt back roads, most of them barely ATV trails, were silent and deserted as they followed them in the direction of Aspen Hill Canyon and the road leading up it. They did their best to be silent, too, ears pricked for the sound of movement or voices around them and eyes straining for any telltale lights. But it looked as if nobody but them was interested in traveling at night, and aside from a few times when they had to get their wagons unsnagged from protruding rocks they encountered no difficulty.

After they’d gone about half a mile Lewis glanced back at him, the silhouette of his head oddly distorted by the goggles. “You know I can see you frowning. What’s up?”

“I’m still having trouble getting over what Mandy did,” Trev admitted. “I can’t believe anyone would act like her.”

He couldn’t see his cousin’s expression, but when he spoke he sounded sympathetic. “If it makes you feel better I can pretty much guarantee you that even after everything she’s done to get ahead and the trouble she’s caused you, you’re still better equipped to survive than she is.”

“So? She’s got Ferris to bail her out.”

Lewis stared thoughtfully back at the town. “For as long as it suits him. I’ve got a feeling those two are birds of a feather. Either way all Mandy has are her lies and manipulation, and once those stop working for her she’ll be up to her neck in it.”

“I’m not sure I’ll be any better off,” Trev muttered. “You’ve spent all your time learning what you needed to know to survive, but more and more I feel like I was just playing around with getting prepared and now it’s too late. At best I got the bare minimum supplies and equipment to survive without ever learning the skills.”

Lewis clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s the nice thing about knowledge, you can pass it on to other people. I’ll teach you what I know and together we’ll figure out the rest. But you shouldn’t be so quick to pile on yourself… you’re not as hopeless as you think.”

Trev felt a little better after that, which made slogging through the darkness blindly following his cousin a bit more bearable. And for the first time since learning about Mandy and then losing all their stuff to FETF he even felt cautiously optimistic about the future.

At least until they reached the canyon road and had followed it a few hundred yards, when they rounded a switchback and saw the glow of a campfire in a clearing between the trees off the road ahead.

Lewis immediately pulled his wagon out of sight to the side of the road and motioned for Trev to follow him. Once there he motioned again for Trev to stay with their stuff and started forward alone, rifle held ready across his chest as he crept ahead with his night vision goggles. Just before Lewis passed out of sight around the bend Trev saw a slight glint atop his cousin’s head and realized Lewis must have taken the goggles off so he wouldn’t be blinded by the light of the fire.

After a few minutes his cousin returned, leaning close to whisper. “Three men, pretty roughly dressed. One’s got a machete and another a baseball bat. Couldn’t tell if the third was armed. I waited and looked around carefully but I didn’t see or hear anyone else.”

“Think they’re Razor’s thugs?” Trev whispered back.

“Probably.” His cousin hesitated. “What do you think?”

“I think they’re a problem to anyone they meet, and we’re better armed and have the element of surprise,” Trev replied. “Besides, if we can’t find a way past them we’ll have to take the Highway 31 route, and we’ll probably run into people trying to rob us a dozen times before we reach the hideout.”

Lewis didn’t sound happy when he finally replied. “I guess you’re right, it’s now or never. Come on.” He started forward and Trev followed, leaving their wagons behind. Choosing his foot placement carefully in the dark was a bit unnerving for him, knowing the slightest misstep could give away his presence, but they’d only gone about ten feet before his cousin paused. “Hey, stay a bit behind and try to keep to cover. I’ve got the body armor so I’ll go ahead and do the talking.”

Trev didn’t like that, but his cousin had a point so he nodded. They started forward again, moving slower and slower the closer they got to the campfire and trying to keep to the edge of the road where the scrub oak and grasses as well as a few trees gave them some cover.

Before too long they got close enough to hear the three men talking. Or at least the man with the machete talking, constant complaining from the sounds of it, while the others did their best to ignore him. “This is a waste of time,” he growled, swinging the heavy blade against the log he was sitting on. “Nobody’s coming this way even during the day. We’re freezing out here when I could be back in camp in my nice warm blankets with one of Razor’s nice warm girls for the cost of a bag of potato chips.”

“So go complain to Razor,” the apparently unarmed companion snapped. “He’s always looking for someone to cut. Otherwise shut up. We’re supposed to be watching for people and I can’t hear a thing over the sound of your constant pissing and moaning.”

Trev stiffened and made his way next to Lewis, leaning in to whisper right in his ear. “That third guy who just spoke. He was one of the ones who robbed us with Razor this morning. He’s got a large caliber pistol. Also that’s my backpack.” He pointed at the pack leaning against the log the gunman’s buddy was haphazardly swinging his machete at.

Lewis nodded. “We’ll shoot him first if things go sideways. Come on, their talking is giving us a good opening to get close and they’re all backlit by the fire.”

Trev nodded back and followed behind as Lewis increased his pace slightly, raising his gun to a firing position to be ready in case they were discovered. Trev followed suit, doing his best to focus his wavering sights on the gunman as he felt his way along the road with slow, careful steps.

In the end they weren’t discovered, and it was Lewis himself who revealed them when they were within spitting distance of the camp. “Everybody on your knees and hands in the air!” he shouted so loudly that Trev jumped nearly a foot.

If he was surprised then the thugs around the fire soiled themselves. They exploded into motion, cursing and scattering, but before any of them had more than started to move Lewis fired a shot. All three men froze.

“You, the big guy near the backpack. I know you have a gun, so take it out very slowly and toss it over. If your finger gets within an inch of the trigger my next shot hits you dead center in the chest.”

“Who’re you?” the man growled, carefully pulling a big handgun out from where it had been tucked at the small of his back. It wasn’t a 1911, but from the size of the bore Trev thought it was a .45 of some sort. The thug carefully tossed it over, and it thumped lightly into the grass at the roadside.

“Grab that,” his cousin told him, stepping aside to keep his line of fire. Trev nodded and slung his rifle, hurrying over to pick up the pistol then backing away again as he tucked it into his belt and brought his rifle back up into firing position.

“I said who are you?” the man demanded. “Do you have any idea who you’re messing with? You don’t want to cross Razor.”

“The backpack next,” Lewis answered calmly. “And while you’re at it your two buddies can toss their weapons over. Nice and slowly.”

After a somewhat resentful hesitation the bandits complied. Trev quickly checked his backpack and saw to his relief that although his food was gone his clothes, tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, water purifier were still in there. And aside from his ammo being missing a lot of the stuff he’d picked up from where he’d deposited it a mile past his car along Highway 6 were also inside, along with a lot of the firestarting and other sundries in the pockets. He also saw a skinning knife even though he’d lost his at the roadblock, and guessed it must be the thug’s. He stuffed the machete and bat into the pack and slung it over his shoulders, then retrieved his rifle and backed away again.

“All right,” Lewis said, sounding satisfied. “Now here comes the awkward part.” He fumbled in the pouch at his waist and pulled out an unopened package of zip ties, tossing it to the one who’d had the gun. “Tie up your friends.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” the man growled.

“Would you rather I shoot you?” Lewis took a step forward, raising his aim from the man’s chest to his head. “And do a good job. I’m watching.”

The thug grudgingly complied, cursing the entire time, and under Lewis’s direction the other two men lay down on their stomachs and had their hands zip-tied behind their backs, then their ankles. Once the other two men were secured Lewis had the thug also lay down on his stomach with his hands behind his head, and with his cousin covering him Trev hurried over to tie him up. It took a bit longer than he would’ve liked, fumbling to get the end of the zip tie through the hole, but he finally got the large man’s wrists and ankles bound.

After he finished that he checked the other two men’s bonds and added an extra tie around each of their wrists and ankles, just to be safe. Lewis then tossed him some packages of foam shooting earplugs and told him to plug their ears and turn them facing away from the road. He also had Trev pull their coats up over their faces.

“Good.” His cousin said when he was done, giving him an apologetic smile. “Sorry to boss you around, but I’m going to wait here and keep an eye on these guys. You know what to do, right?”

“Right.” Trev rushed back and retrieved Lewis’s wagon, pulling it past the bandits’ campsite. With their ears plugged and their eyes covered hopefully they wouldn’t realize he and his cousin had a thousand pounds of food and other valuables with them. With any luck the thugs would assume they were a patrol from Aspen Hill and wouldn’t follow them up the canyon and try to cause trouble.

It took a while, but he finally got both wagons far enough up the road away from the campsite that even if one of the thugs managed to get free he and Lewis would be able to continue on without being seen or followed. Once he was done he returned and nodded to his cousin.

Lewis nodded back and made his way over to the former gunman, yanking the plugs out of his ears. “Consider this a warning,” he said. “If I catch you out here again I’ll shoot you on sight. I’d suggest you head down to Price and make a new, preferably law abiding, start in the refugee camps there.”

His warning given Lewis replaced the earplugs then turned and hurried back to the road, starting up the canyon for their wagons. Trev followed, checking over his shoulder to make sure the thugs were still tied up just before they rounded a bend. “Is it okay to leave them there?”

“For them or for the town?” Lewis asked. Trev shrugged. “It’ll have to do, since the only alternative is killing them and I haven’t seen anything that suggests they deserve to die. Razor robbed you but let you pass once he had your stuff, right? So we return the favor.”

“Return the favor with my own stuff,” Trev grumbled. “We just took their weapons and my backpack.”

His cousin nodded. “I don’t like to consider myself a thief. We took your things back and we took the weapons so they couldn’t threaten other innocents. That’s good enough for me.”

Speaking of which… Trev pulled out the handgun he’d retrieved and handed it over to his cousin. “Is this a .45?”

Lewis pulled his night vision goggles back on and looked it over. “Yeah, a Glock 21, 13 round mag. Although this one only has four bullets left.” He looked up and Trev saw a flash of teeth as his cousin grinned. “Would you say that’s karma? You lose a .45 and get one back, and in the bargain Aspen Hill is a little bit safer.”

Trev liked the thought of that, although it was kind of annoying to only have one magazine for the gun when he’d had extras for his 1911. Still, beggars couldn’t be choosers. “You’ll let me borrow some of your ammo, right?” He’d left his back with the cache.

“Sure.” Lewis glanced over his shoulder, looking a bit uncertain. “Do you think we should tell the town those guys are tied up out here?”

That same thought had been bouncing around in his head, and Trev sighed. It was a couple miles to town from here, which meant an hour to walk there and back if he hurried. After watching their former neighbors gleefully loot their shelter it was tempting to just say forget them and keep going. “It could be risky, but it’s probably the right thing to do,” he said with a sigh. “Can you watch the wagons and keep an eye on their camp too?”

His cousin nodded, so Trev shucked off his reclaimed backpack and handed over his rifle, then broke into a trot back down the road. The bandits were still where they’d left them, squirming in their bonds, and Trev hoped they didn’t have any friends lurking out in the darkness. He was now unarmed aside from one of Matt’s cans of bear spray and Lewis had the goggles and the body armor. If he needed to see he could use a flashlight, but he preferred to use moonlight and not risk it.

An hour to give the town a heads up about some tied up thugs, and then when he got back they’d still have to push on as far as they could up the canyon to get well away from town and any danger of possible thieves lurking around before they could finally stop to sleep.

It was going to be a long night.

End of Book One

The story continues in Shortage, Book Two of the Best Laid Plans series.

For questions, comments, or other feedback the author would be glad to hear from you at Tradern8@gmail.com.

Copyright

Copyright © 2015 Nathan Jones

All rights reserved.

Content

Nathan Jones
FUEL

Foreword

Prologue Lights

Chapter One Not with a Bang

Chapter Two With a Whimper

Chapter Three Mistakes

Chapter Four Day Seven: Morning

Chapter Five Day Seven: Afternoon

Chapter Six Day Seven: Evening

Chapter Seven Helping Out

Chapter Eight Refugees

Chapter Nine Plight

Chapter Ten Human Tide

Chapter Eleven Into the Fire

Chapter Twelve Urban War Zone

Chapter Thirteen Antelope Island

Chapter Fourteen Unexpected Bounty

Chapter Fifteen “Aid”

Chapter Sixteen Homecoming

Chapter Seventeen Evicted

Epilogue Returns

Copyright