“Are you sure about this, Colby?” Jessie said in a low voice.
“Trust me.”
He knew if they delayed any further or showed any sign of resistance, they would die right there in a hail of bullets. In the world they lived in now, threats had substance.
Strangers had nothing to lose as the event had torn away at the strands of civility, leaving society to fend for themselves. It was the Wild West again.
He could see it in the eyes. A lack of empathy. Fingers hovering over triggers just waiting for the word. Their clothes were dirty, covered in grit, and he could smell them from where he stood. These were men that had let themselves go. Given up on the need to follow a crowd. They were paving their own way.
They weren’t from a group like theirs — people who stayed clean, took care of the little they had. Eureka was thriving in a world that had gone over the edge. Homes in the city were powered by solar panels and battery power, and fuel they had siphoned from vehicles and stations. It had made him think that perhaps living in Eureka could make a man soft. These men weren’t soft. They were hardened by months of desperate living.
Still, he noted they hadn’t opened fire yet.
Perhaps there was hope.
Jessie lowered his rifle, took two handguns and set them down. Nina and Alicia did the same. Their mother was the last one. She held off until the last second.
It was then that Nina spoke up. “You can take our weapons, and what little we have, and it will get you through the next few days but do you want to live that way?”
The leader of the pack smiled. “What other way is there to live?”
“Working together. We have a community south of here in Humboldt. We’re rebuilding. Starting over. Join us.”
“Rebuilding?” He laughed. “Let me guess. You think rebuilding is getting together and voicing your views on how things should be done.”
“Something like that.”
“You ever thought that some don’t want to rebuild?”
“What do you want then? To control?” she asked.
“Control?” He laughed. “No. That’s a fool’s game. Maybe we just want to tear it all down.”
They exchanged an icy glare.
“Sure, you can do that but for how long?” she said. “We’ve known men that…”
“Lady, shut the fuck up. I don’t care about your dumb-ass community. Rah-rah, let’s work together bullshit. No one cares. Got it? That shit is for morons. Assholes who think that community matters. Dickheads who think they’re safe. If you were, you wouldn’t be in this situation now. No, take a good hard look at us. This is the true nature of humanity. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. Now it’s only a matter of aligning yourselves with the right group. This is ours.”
“So you do believe in community,” she snapped back.
He laughed. “I’ll tell you what I believe in. This,” he said holding his gun high. “This is the guiding light now. Guns, bullets. It’s what separates the wolves from the sheep. And let me tell you something, honey, just in case we haven’t made it clear, you are the sheep.” He nudged for his guys to check the vehicle. As they approached, Colby turned ever so slightly. Without being seen he turned down the volume on his radio and pressed the button so that Dylan could hear everything that was happening. There was no way of knowing if these men would execute them, as demands for weapons and bullets were the norm. They’d done it themselves and not killed people. It wasn’t personal. It was survival.
As his men checked the truck, the one who had been speaking glanced at Martha. He was older. Similar in age to his mother while the others were young, late twenties to mid-thirties. Were they family?
Martha noticed.
“You from here?” Martha asked.
He didn’t reply.
His guys returned, keeping their guns trained on them. “There’s some canisters of gas, boxes of ammo and a few supplies. Not much.”
“Look, I understand why you are doing this,” Alicia said. “But we have a lot more where we’re from. You look like you all could use a good meal. We’re stronger together. Nina is right, there is room for you back in our community.”
On the surface it may have appeared strange to appeal to them, but it wouldn’t have been the first time they encountered hostiles only to have them turn out to be good people that were just scared and desperate. Folks whose actions were no different than theirs. If anyone waltzed into Humboldt they would be stopped just like this and likely whatever they had would be removed. That was the way forward. It was as much about collecting as it was removing a threat.
After Eureka saw a large drop in numbers, they’d discussed bringing others into the city and points had been argued about who was allowed and who would be deemed a threat. Not everyone on the council agreed, and rightly so. It was hard to know for sure who had an agenda. Everyone was a potential friend or foe. That’s why they had the two weeks’ observation. If anyone showed disturbing signs, they’d see it.
It was vital to ensure everyones safety. They couldn’t rely upon the native community. That had been a situation that involved one of their own. They weren’t the type of people who wanted to mingle. They kept to themselves. Stayed on the reservation.
