Andy had her doubts about that last part.
“I did not want to go over all of that tonight since you all must be tired,” she continued as she rushed everyone to the front door and bid them goodnight.
Once they were through the gate and out of earshot, Charlie declared, “That was rather painless.”
“Almost painless,” his sister responded. “She sure has a way of making everything about her, doesn’t she?”
“Honestly, I was hardly listening,” Andy said. “I was more curious to know how the cheese got into my potatoes. That and her brother’s behavior. What a brat he is!”
“I didn’t notice him being bratty,” Ben piped in.
“That’s because you were too distracted by Nataliya’s flirting,” she said with an edge.
“Hey, I can’t help it if she finds me irresistible.”
“Then she’s got strange taste,” Jim teased, provoking a hard punch on the arm from his cousin.
Annoyed, Andy let out a moan and walked ahead of the others. Morgan caught up to her as the boys held back. “I wonder what important things she has to do at this hour,” she said.
“Who knows? Maybe Brian can tell us more tomorrow.”
“What’s this Brian like?” Morgan asked, lowering her voice.
“He seems nice enough, though we only met for a minute.”
“Is he cute?”
Andy shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so. Does it matter?”
“Not really. I was just curious. You think we’ll get to stay here for a while?”
“Don’t know. I guess we’ll see.”
“I hope so. I think we could be happy here.”
Happy
. Happiness had become practically irrelevant. But maybe Morgan was right.
Chapter X
A
ndy slept better that first night in Aspen than she had in months and attributed it to the cool mountain air, eating well the day before, and not having to drive around to find a new place to live.
After getting out of bed, she headed downstairs to the kitchen, grabbed an apple, and settled into a comfortable lounge chair on the large deck off the living room. She closed her eyes to enjoy the warmth of the rising sun on her cheeks, only to be stirred moments later by the sound of the glass door opening from the inside. It was Ben.
“Morning,” he said groggily.
“Morning. Sleep well?”
“Like a rock. You?”
“The same. I think I was asleep the second my head hit the pillow.” As he sat beside her, she asked, “Think you and Jim will stick around?”
He combed his fingers through his hair in that now-familiar way and cracked his knuckles. “For now.”
“For now? What else are you looking for?”
Ben faced her, his expression stern. “Nothing. I’m just saying that this place will do for now.”
***
There was a knock on the door. It was Brian. “Wow, nice house you guys got,” he said after stepping inside and giving it a once-over. “One of you must’ve done something right for Nataliya to give you this place.”
Andy raised her hands. “Definitely wasn’t me.”
He immediately understood her full meaning. “No, probably not. She doesn’t like most other girls her age, especially those who are pretty.”
She wasn’t sure whether or not he had just complimented her, but she didn’t dwell on it. “Come in,” she said, closing the door behind him. “Where’s your sister?”
“She’s at home. She wanted to come, but she had to take care of the horses.”
“How many do you have?”
“Four. They can be a pain to feed and care for, but we need them to haul things into town, especially with gas from the refinery being so hard to get.”
Andy opened her mouth wide in disbelief and then asked, “Gas is being
made
?”
“Yeah, but it’s a work in progress. It was only six months ago when it started being produced again, but since there’s only one refinery in Colorado, we have to bargain with nearby towns to get some. Luckily, most people here in Aspen don’t drive much. Everyone just uses their bikes or walks. Whatever gasoline we get is mostly for people who need to drive outside of town, like me and Susan.”
Andy led Brian into the living room and gestured for him to take a seat. “Still, I’m surprised gas is being made at all.”
“Why? The technology exists. We just had to figure out how to do it ourselves, like everything else.”
“I guess.” Everyone knew that performing brain surgery or building skyscrapers was possible; the hard part was learning
how
when there was no one left to teach.
Morgan descended the stairs just then and headed toward the living room. She held out her hand to Brian and introduced herself. “So I hear you live on a farm.”
“Yes. It was our childhood farm. After our parents died it was all we had left. Susan was so young, so it was up to me to take care of it and figure out how to keep the animals fed and healthy. But eventually we got the hang of it and began exchanging food for things in town.” Knowing that any useful commodity produced before the virus would soon run out, he and a few friends decided that if they could learn how to make things and perform the same jobs that adults had, they would survive indefinitely.
“So is that how you became a member of the council? Because you helped start everything?” Morgan asked.
“That plus I was one of the oldest survivors, so others were willing to listen to me, I guess. Age and experience were everything back then.”
“Who are the others on the council?” asked Andy.
“Five of them are friends that I went to school with. Two of them work as mechanics and repair things. The other three have farms like me, two for agriculture and one for livestock.”
“I assume Nataliya isn’t one of those friends. She doesn’t seem the mechanic-farm girl type,” said Andy with a chuckle.
Brian hesitated before answering, indicating there was a story involved, but just as he was about to answer, the front door opened. Jim, Charlie, and Ben entered.
“Afternoon. Are we interrupting?” asked Jim.
“No, we were just talking about how the council here was formed,” Andy said.
“How did Nataliya get to be a part of the council?” Morgan asked.
“Well,” Brian began. “I’m sure you all guessed that her family was insanely wealthy. Her father had to have been a billionaire to afford a house like that. I didn’t know her or her brother before then, but afterwards, she and her friends took most of the food in the supermarkets and most of the gas that was left at the pumps. Only after food and gas ran out did they finally realize they needed to work with others. Things got better after that, but she and her friends still have a lot of influence.”
“Why is that?” asked Andy.
He looked down at his feet and shook his head. “A lot of the younger girls think she’s the greatest thing because she still dresses and carries on as if the virus never happened. I guess she reminds them of how everything used to be. And a lot of the boys are afraid to get on her bad side. But in truth, Aspen would be much better off without them.”
“She had two girls cooking for her last night,” Morgan recalled with a frown.
“Exactly. They think she walks on water around here. I’m just glad Susan isn’t like that.”
“So you just have to put up with it?” asked Jim.
“Yeah, unfortunately, until more people see things my way. But in the meantime, Nataliya and three of her friends are on the council, and she’s technically the leader, but it’s really just a title to keep her happy. You’ll meet them all soon, but my advice is not to trust any of them.”
“What about Mikhail? What’s his story?” asked Andy.
“No story,” Brian said matter-of-factly. “He’s just a pain in the ass. Spoiled and lazy like his sister.”
“Do most people here own guns?” Ben asked, abruptly changing the subject.
“I think almost every home here has a gun of some kind. With all the wild animals in these mountains, people need to protect themselves—and of course we use them for hunting.”
“Was there ever a concern that people would use them against each other?” Ben continued.
“Not really, most people here knew one another growing up, and after the virus, nobody could stomach the idea of killing more people. I think it’s actually safer knowing that everyone has a gun. You’re less likely to get into a serious argument.”
“So what about us? What should we do for work?” Charlie asked.
“Well, it’s sort of up to you really, although I know that we really need more mechanics and people who are handy with equipment, and we need help on the farms. Raising crops and animals is a ton of work.”
“Ben and I can help you with the mechanical stuff,” Jim offered. “We’re good with fixing cars. My father was a mechanic.”
“That’s perfect. You can start tomorrow if you want.”
“I can help with that sort of thing too,” Charlie volunteered.
“Um, sure.” Brian sounded uncertain, understandable since Charlie, being both younger and smaller, didn’t immediately appear to be either particularly handy or strong.
But Morgan quickly stood up for her brother. “Seriously, when we were in Bermuda, he could fix just about anything.”
“Okay, sounds good,” Brian replied sheepishly.
“I can help on the farms,” she suggested. “I can also teach the younger children reading and writing and math. I did that in Bermuda.”
“Awesome, you can help my sister if you want. She works too much already. Or you can help my friend Scott on his farm. And I know Diana at the school needs some help a few days a week. There’s just too many kids and not enough teachers.” He turned to Andy. “What about you?”
She shrugged. “Any need for a doctor? Nataliya said you don’t have one here.”
“Nataliya doesn’t really know who does what jobs around here, but she’s right. We need one.”
“Well, I know a few things,” she replied humbly.
“She’s brilliant. She once saved my big toe from having to be cut off from gangrene,” Charlie said proudly.
“Well, I’m convinced,” Brian said. “You can work at the hospital, which is walking distance from here.”
“Great, I’ll go there later and check it out.”
Brian also explained that no job was considered more important than another, so everyone got paid the same amount for every hour they worked. One token per hour of work, whether you fed horses or taught a five-year-old their ABCs. While it wasn’t always fair, it kept people from arguing that their job was more important and they should be paid more.
“Who keeps track of how many hours someone works, or does everyone just trust each other not to lie?” asked Morgan.
“Well, that’s the tricky part. For most jobs, it’s obvious how many hours you put in because you’re working with other people, so you can’t really lie. Solo jobs are harder to track, but people around here know each other pretty well and know which people are more willing to lie about their hours than others. Those that lie get called out on it enough, and eventually they stop doing it.”
“What about Nataliya?” Andy asked. “If she doesn’t lift a finger, as you say, how can she earn any tokens?”
“She claims that her work as council leader is enough,” Brian said with disdain. “Believe me, I’ve tried arguing against it many times. I’m on the council and so are some of my friends, but we still work all day. I’ve just accepted that it’s a battle I’m not going to win.”
Chapter XI
Autumn 2022
T
he summer passed quickly, and though everyone was working long hours at their new “jobs,” they actually enjoyed being busy, the work giving them all a sense of purpose. The council voted unanimously that the five newcomers could stay after the first month, and despite Ben’s initial unwillingness to commit to staying in Aspen, he never mentioned anything about leaving again.
Despite her curiosity, Andy never asked Ben about his past. At random moments, however, she would sense a melancholic side to him that she attributed to some painful event that happened before they met. Though he laughed and joked along with everyone, there were times when his mind seemed to be miles and years away.
Andy jumped right into her work at Aspen Valley Hospital and usually spent eight or nine hours there every day. The first weeks were dedicated to cleaning up the place. The hospital was still well-stocked with drugs of all kinds that had barely been touched—much to her surprise—and when she asked Brian what happened when people got sick or injured, he said they had simply let nature take its course.
“But what if someone broke a bone or got seriously ill?”
“If it was a broken bone they usually took painkillers and let the bone heal on its own. But no one has gotten really sick yet, and antibiotics always seemed to cure infections.”
“So that’s it? Just painkillers and antibiotics?”
“Yeah. But we’ve been lucky, but luck has a habit of running out.”
Morgan tried actively to hide her pregnancy. She would do as much physically as everyone else, even though she felt tired and weak. Her belly was starting to show so she hid it with giant shirts and dresses. She was always on her feet and pushing her body to go beyond her capabilities.