“To set the record straight,” Jared continued, his voice taking on less of a friendly tone, “Barry never said you two were chums. He said you’re intelligent, shared his belief that what happened was going to happen, and that you’re knowledgeable in the field of batteries and how they might be integrated into a portable or stationary solar system.” Jared looked around the immediate area they were standing in and shrugged. “I don’t know what you did to prepare, but I’m pretty sure whatever it was, it won’t last forever. All of us need to start growing food, and to do that, we need power and land. We have the land, and it’s in a fairly safe place, easy to defend, and has a year-round fresh water source.”
Dwight scratched his cleanly shaved chin and, again, gnashed at the inside of his mouth. “Okay, so I draw you a schematic showing how to put the whole thing together—what do I get in return?”
“No, we don’t want a drawing. We want you to come live with us, help us, be part of our community,” Jared informed him.
Dwight stepped back. “No, no, no, no, I can’t leave my house and Holly. I can’t—”
“Bring Holly,” Barry blurted out.
“She’s buried in the backyard, killed herself in our bedroom,” Dwight stated, staring blankly at Barry.
Barry’s heart sank and his mouth dropped open as Dwight finished his sentence. John was only paying partial attention to the conversation at this point as he studied the house. He was mildly surprised to see the windows and doors were shuttered in steel as if outfitted for a hurricane or an attack. John realized the house was designed in shape to offer a view of all the structure’s openings from different positions inside the residence. John studied the shutters and could see the faint outline of what could only be weapon ports. They were all closed, but every shutter had a port, and every port looked out onto at least one, and sometimes two, other steel-shuttered openings across from it.
Wow, John thought, he built a house with fields of fire in mind. As John stood evaluating Dwight’s thoughtful design, he noticed there were pry marks on several of the shutters, as well as an entire area off to his left that appeared to have been burned. The house had been attacked. The house was made of some sort of stone or brick, and the roof comprised of metal shingles, so the fire hadn’t taken. According to the bullet strike marks he saw on the walls, it was evident that whoever set the fire had been shot or shot at from one of the other ports.
John smiled to himself at Dwight’s astute foresight. Everything from the materials used to build his home, to the actual design of the structure’s shape was very well thought out. John wondered what the contractor must have thought when Dwight laid out the plans.
John turned to Dwight, who was still staring at Barry. “Look here, man, I know you ain’t getting any sleep at night trying to defend this place. I’m truly sorry about your wife, and I’m sure both Jared and Barry are too, but we all have lost a great deal since the solar flare hit. We all need to get back to living, and, well, quite frankly we need you, and from the looks of things here, you could use a little help yourself.” When John was finished, he took a step back and waited.
Dwight turned his head and looked at the outside wall where someone had recently attempted to burn his house down after being unsuccessful in gaining entry through the large front entrance. Someone had actually tried to burn down his home out of frustration that they were unable to get inside, kill him, and take his possessions—things he had because he planned for this event when they hadn’t. His shoulders sagged, then drooped completely, and John could see he was at the end of his rope.
When his wife took her life, Dwight had numbly cleaned up the mess and buried his bride in the yard the two had used to entertain friends before the solar flare. The same yard where the two would sit and enjoy each other’s company from time to time. While the pre-solar-flare world was, at times, an angry and corrupt place full of strive, it still operated under a certain set of rules and a certain code of conduct. The current world was sad, jarring, and lawless.
“I’ll make you all a deal,” Dwight said, turning and walking toward his front doors. “Come inside and we can talk over the details.”
The three men followed the now somewhat forlorn Dwight into his home. Once all four men were inside, Dwight locked the door and pulled down a large metal bar across the inward-opening front doors. The first thing Jared noticed were working lights. He hadn’t seen a functioning light bulb in over three months. All three men stared at the lights in amazement.
Barry laughed out loud and pointed at John. “Told you your list was wrong.”
Dwight looked at John and then back at Barry, question written on his face. “What list?”
John started to shake his head in an effort to stop Barry from explaining but was too late.
“John worked for the government, and they had a list of people in Silicon Valley the government thought could help get the country’s infrastructure back online.” Barry chuckled. “They didn’t have you on the list, Dwight.”
“Good,” Dwight muttered before turning to John. “You worked with the government?”
John pursed his lips and nodded. “Yeah, I was in the Army, and before that I was a Marine. When this thing happened, I was back east and one of only a few guys from my unit not deployed overseas. Our unit got orders from what seemed to be the remnants of our former government, and I was relocated
