AFTER THE DUST SETTLED (Countdown to Armageddon Book 2) (11 page)

     Tears welled in Sara’s eyes.

     “But surely there’s another way.”

     “Honey, I’m sorry. We only have so much dog food stored. There’s no way to get more, and it’s something we cannot grow. If we have too many dogs it will run out that much faster. And if it runs out before the world is sane again, we’ll have to face the choice of feeding the dogs our own food or putting them all down so they don’t starve to death.”

     Zachary was on the security console. He listened in but didn’t add anything to the fray. Jordan, in the corner of the room, went to Sara and hugged her.

     Tom was outside feeding the livestock.

     Scott was certain that if Tom were in the house at the time, then he’d hate Scott too.

     Linda asked, “Have you asked Tom if maybe he could go to the feed store where he worked? Maybe he could load down his old car with bags of dog food. I’ll bet if he crammed that sucker full it would hold another two years worth of food”

     “I thought of that. It won’t work. You can’t get to Tom’s old feed store without driving through Junction. The people there have got to be armed and desperate. There’s no way they’re going to just let a man in a car drive right by them without trying to block his path and taking it from him. Or even worse, just shooting him as he drives past.

     Joyce finally put down her foot.

     “You will not put down any puppies. I forbid it. We will figure out a solution. We’ve been able to solve all of our other problems without killing innocent things. We’ll solve this one too. And I swear to God, Scott Harter. If you harm just one innocent puppy, I will never speak to you again!”

     In the end it was a moot point.

     And it was a huge burden off of Scott’s shoulders when Duchess finally gave birth two days later. To one healthy male, and one healthy female.

     They had their next generation of dogs. When Duke, Duchess and Blue passed on, there would be two puppies to carry on the cycle of life. And with any luck, by the time they had to make such a decision again, the world would be back to normal again.

     Now all they had to do was keep Duchess away from Duke and Blue when she went into heat again.

-20-

     “Hey, John, you got your ears on?”

     “Hello, Scott. How are you doing, buddy?”

     “I’m good. I’ve tried to reach you three days in a row now. I was starting to worry.”

     “Yeah, well, sorry about that. My generator bit the dust. The engine started smoking real bad while I was on duty. Hannah, bless her heart. She’s a wonderful woman. But she doesn’t know beans about anything mechanical. She saw the smoke, and the only thing she could think of was to throw water on it. And all that did was make it spit and sputter a bit. But it kept on running until it burned away all the oil and seized up.

     “It probably could have been saved if she’d have killed it when she saw the smoke. But I’ll never tell her that. She’d feel terrible if she knew. And she’s under so much stress now I’m just not willing to lay that on her.”

     “Where is she now?”

     “She’s in the back bedroom. One of the girls had a nightmare and she went in there to comfort them. I peeked in a little while later, and the poor thing passed out. Right there in bed with them. The three of them, peacefully sleeping, like they didn’t have a care in the world.”

     “What’s the situation in
San Antonio? Are things getting better?”

     “I don’t know. It’s hard to say. The violence has gotten better. The CDC was here yesterday. They showed up in a helicopter, of all things. I don’t know how in the hell they got it running, but they swooped in and asked who was in charge. We took them to the mayor’s office, and they said their next big concern is the spread of disease. From all the decomposing bodies. They’ve got us wearing masks now, like surgeons wear in hospitals. Any time we’re outdoors. And they’re saying that the sooner we burn the bodies the better.

     “I don’t know if you’re close enough to the city to smell the smoke, Scott. But let me tell you, it’s terrible. The smell of burning bodies. It permeates everything. It even gets in your clothes and hangs around long after the fires are out. And the fires are everywhere. The bodies are piling up so fast that we’re not taking them to the high school parking lots anymore. We’re just dragging them into the nearest street and piling them up. Then we’re soaking them in diesel fuel and setting them ablaze. When we come by the next day and notice the fire’s gone out, we douse them again and restart the fire. And we keep doing that until they’re reduced to a pile of bones.

     “That’s what we’ve turned into, Scott. A city of abandoned cars and piles of bones
.”

     Scott’s heart quite literally hurt. He was glad he was wearing his headset, so that the others in the room couldn’t hear what he was hearing.

     “Most of the large cities have reestablished radio contact now. We communicate with Dallas and Houston and Lubbock Police on a regular basis. The same situation is happening everywhere in Texas, and pretty much all over the country. Agricultural areas have it better than most. The Lubbock PD told me yesterday that most of the farmers up there have their equipment running well enough to grow crops, and they’re growing wheat and corn and other things that grow quickly to provide food for the survivors. They’re worried about growing enough to get them through the winter, though.

     “As for us down here,
San Antonio isn’t exactly known for its agriculture. We’ve emptied out all the seed stores in the area and are trying to distribute them among the neighborhoods. We’re taking big fifty pound sacks of corn and wheat seeds and breaking them down into one pound baggies. And we’re going block by block now. We’re giving each block the choice between wheat or corn, but not both.

     “We’re telling them to get shovels and dig up all their front yards. Dig them up and loosen the soil, and try to get all of the grass out. And to toss the grass aside, and then redig the soil, and get more grass out. We’re telling them that it’s essential they remove as much of the grass roots as possible, before they plant their crops. And then once they have the grass out, to fill their front yards with corn or wheat.”

     “Will that be enough to feed them?”

     “In theory it will. Most of the blocks are pretty decimated. The dead outnumber the survivors. On most blocks there are no more than five or ten people left alive. If they can work together and plant crops on every front yard on the block, it should produce enough food to keep them alive until the next year’s harvest.

     “At least that’s the general plan. The scientists at the college are saying we’re getting pretty close to the sustainability point. That’s the level where the amount of food we can grow is equal to or greater than the number of people left alive. They say that once we get to that point, we’ll stabilize. Provided we can avoid a plague from the decomposing bodies, that is…”

     “You and Hannah… do you plan to stay there?”

     “We’re hoping to ride out the storm. I mean, the worst of it is over now. And we’ve still got our food stores. It’ll keep us fed until the crops come in. Hannah is sneaking some of it out to share with some of the neighbors. She thinks I don’t know, and she’s trying to keep it a secret because she thinks I’ll be upset about it. But I think she’s a saint for doing so.

     “She’s also volunteered to head up our block committee. She’s coordinating all the efforts in the yards, getting them all dug up. We’re all tired all the time and weak from malnutrition, but we’re do
ing the best we can. Even when I come off a twelve hour shift and I’m exhausted, she’s got me out there digging for an hour. She says I have to help her set the example.

     “And I have to say, yesterday when I was out there with the neighbors, I saw something I haven’t seen in awhile. I saw hope in some of their eyes. Some of them are starting to believe that we can lick this thing. That they can survive.”

     “How much longer did your scientists say before you get to your… what did they call it?”

     “Our sustainability point. The point where we can grow enough crops to keep our population alive. They say for
San Antonio the magic number is about a hundred thousand people or so. And at the rate they’re dying, they estimate we’ll be there very soon. That’s sad, because we had just over two million people on our last census. I know that nearly all of our friends are gone. All of Hannah’s brothers and their families. Suicides, mostly. It’s a dreadful situation, Scott. Be glad you got out when you did.

     “And
fall to your knees and praise God that you’ve still got your children. That’s what I do each and every night.”

-21-

     “Thank you. It’s beautiful.”

     “You’re welcome. But I can’t take credit for it. I stole it from Mom’s flower garden. It’s the only thing in this whole place that’s as pretty as you.”

     Sara blushed.

     “Thank you. That’s sweet. And that’s why I love you so much. You’re so tender and gentle and wonderful. Nothing at all like…”

     She regretted the words as soon as she’d said them. She saw a strange look on his face, but he didn’t say anything. She hoped he wouldn’t. She hoped he’d just let it drop.

     He took the single yellow rose from her hand and placed it in her hair. But her hair wasn’t thick enough to hold it into place and it fell into her lap.

     “Oops. Sorry.”

     He tried again.

     And it fell a second time.

     “I don’t think it’ll stay in my hair without a pin.”

     “Oh. Okay. I guess there’s still a lot of things I need to learn about having a girlfriend.”

     “I think you’re doing just fine.”

     They were sitting in the grass in the back yard, watching her bunnies frolic. She had a habit of taking Monica and Chelsea out of their cage every afternoon so they could eat some of the fresh grass and get their exercise. It was always an adventure when it came time to pick them up and put them back in the cage. She and Jordan sometimes had to chase them through the garden and around the yard for several minutes before they finally cornered and caught them.

     But they had a blast doing it.

     “Sara…”

     “Yes?”

     “A minute ago you said something about others not being gentle…”

     This was it. This was what she’d been fearing for a long time. She almost told him to shush. That she didn’t want to talk about it. But he deserved to know the truth. It was starting to become more and more obvious that this was the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with.

     He had a right to know about her past.

     “Go ahead. Ask your question.”

     “A while back, that first night I came to your room and laid with you. Do you remember, you were crying and I came in to comfort you?”

     “Are you seriously asking me if I remember that night? It was one of the most amazing nights of my life. It started out so bad, and you turned it around and made it so very wonderful. And you think I could ever possibly forget that night? Sheesh. You really do have a lot to learn about girls.”

     Jordan felt sheepish. He thought he was being scolded, until he saw the smile on her face. She was teasing him.

     He cleared his throat and went on.

     “
Anyway
… I know I was clumsy and didn’t really know what I was doing, and I’m sorry if I wasn’t gentle or anything.”

     “Hush. You were wonderful. And you were amazing for a rookie.”

     “No, that’s not what I wanted to ask you. But thank you.”

     He smiled before going on, and she held her breath. Here it comes, she thought.

     “This might not be any of my business, and if you don’t want to answer I’ll understand. But that night was the first time I ever… did that thing. I think you could probably  tell that.”

     “Yes…”

     “Anyway, I had been looking forward to my first time for a long time. Preparing myself for it in my mind, I guess, so I could do it right. I paid attention in all the biology and sex ed classes so I knew how to do it without hurting you too much and such. But, well… it just wasn’t what I expected.”

     She could tell he was struggling to find the right words. And her instincts told her that, despite it being an uncomfortable subject for her, that she should help him.