John was in spectacular physical shape, while Jared was slowly becoming more physically fit than he’d ever been in his life. Barry was still struggling, having only walked a great distance once in his life, which was now. Dwight was soft, and John worried about him. They needed him, so John reminded himself to watch Dwight and not allow him to deteriorate like Barry had on the way into Woodside.
Before they left Woodside, John made sure Dwight had enough quality socks and was wearing a good pair of shoes. Funny thing about these Bay Area Silicon Valley men was they oftentimes wore the same footwear John and his mates had worn overseas. Hiking was a huge pastime in sunny California, and the same companies who pushed their wares on the special operations community sold millions of shoes to Californians.
John and Jared had spoken early on about not pushing their pace so neither Barry nor Dwight would have issues such as blisters, heat exhaustion, or any other ailment a city dweller might experience when suddenly pushing his or her body far past what they had ever asked of it in the past. So far, both men seemed tired but were holding up better than John would have imagined. As John watched the men and evaluated their situation, he came to terms with the idea they might have to take a day off.
His mindset didn’t lend itself well to the thought since, when he’d been tasked with something in his previous life, he and whoever was part of his team would push forward until the mission was complete. It was either that or they all died trying; nothing less was acceptable. Now things were different. He wasn’t working with young Captain America–type people, he was working with older intellectuals who were having to find purchase in a brand-new environment.
Jared was different from the other two men in many ways though. Jared came from their world, but something had catapulted him far ahead of Dwight and Barry in his adaptation to the crumbling world. John assumed part of it had been the man’s exposure to Bart and his teachings, but that had only been about two months of the young man’s life. The training John received in Marine Corps Basic Training had been longer, and he was sure he had taken away less from it than Jared took from his time with Bart.
Jared withdrew his cup from the stove, signaling John’s turn for hot water, thus breaking the soldier’s train of thought. John heated his water, poured it over something from his MRE pouch that distantly resembled lasagna, and closed the top, waiting for the meal to cook itself in the hot water. The other men began eating, no one speaking as they wolfed down the meals designed for high-caloric deliveries.
When John could wait no longer, he opened his meal and began shoveling it into his mouth. The contents were much tastier than they appeared, and for that, he was thankful. Part of him wondered if the taste had anything to do with the starvation level he was currently experiencing, and then he wondered, if he were hungrier, would one of Devon’s rats actually taste good. Then his mind took him to a dark place and pondered how hungry he would have to be to eat an uncooked rat. This caused him to pause his shoveling frenzy as he shook the horrifying vision from his mind. Why did his mind automatically go to the worst-case scenario? He didn’t know. When he looked up, Jared was staring at him with a quizzical look on his face. It was strange how in their present predicament, each man paid attention to his friends and would inquire when they thought something was amiss. They were up in each other’s business, like women from those Real Housewives of wherever the fuck reality shows.
John knew the reason and it was quite simple. One man’s physical or mental state could adversely affect the entire group. The term affect meant something different than it had meant a few months ago. In the past, if a friend was in a mental funk and flaked on plans, it would not have been troubling. Now if someone didn’t follow through on plans, the consequences could spell disaster or death. If someone fell asleep on watch or if Dwight decided he didn’t want to play house back at the ranch house and help out with their power situation, this spelled a significant change in their quality of life.
After dinner, John assigned himself the middle watch, Jared the last watch, and the remaining men the beginning watch. He didn’t fully trust Dwight to remain awake, only because he hadn’t spent any measurable time with him. He also knew Barry and Dwight were the most fatigued by their day’s journey and didn’t want either man by himself struggling to stay alert.
“Okay, you two”—John pointed at Barry and Dwight—“you have the first watch, together. It’ll give you boys time to talk over what it is you all plan on doing about this power thing back at the house. Barry, you’ve seen the setup we have and can explain it to Dwight. Just keep the noise down. I don’t want someone hearing us and sneaking in here.”
Both men agreed while Jared immediately set about straightening out his sleeping bag.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” John said, looking at Jared. “You and I need to take a quick look around and make sure we’re the only lonely sons of bitches up here on this hill.”
Jared nodded and grabbed his
