“Leo, we don’t know how to survive on our own, and I hate to ask it, but can we come with you? We’ll try to be as helpful as we can, but honestly, I have no idea what to do.” Marla said, her voice breaking and she looked around her, her eyes filling with tears. Her trembling hand went up to her mouth, trying to hold back the sobs. She was trying desperately not to panic, not to let the fear overtake her.
“Maybe we should stick together, just us, I think Aiden had it right, getting out of here quick. We are a big enough group, we can repel them if they try anything. Why not just stay here Leo? We can watch each other’s backs.” Diana suggested, her hand comfortingly resting on Marla’s shoulder, holding that fear at bay.
Everyone’s eyes were on Leo, and he looked around him. Marla held her breath, she prayed that he would stay. Then he nodded his head and she let out a heavy breath.
“Thank you, Leo, thank you so much.” She wanted to throw herself into his arms, but she didn’t. She looked at everyone, then she looked back at Leo.
“Leo, I’d say you are now our leader, tell us what you want us to do and we’ll do it. I hate to put the burden of our lives in your capable hands, but until some of us learn how to survive this, we’ll have to lean on you. Maybe when Aiden and Sarah come back, we can figure something out.” She said, looking up at the tall man.
If she’d not been sitting in the camp chair, she was sure she would have fallen at his feet and curled around them. Her mind was even now trying to understand the vast ramifications of what had happened. It was beyond her and that scared the hell out of her.
¤¤
“Well hell, this isn’t what I signed up for, but okay, let’s get the camp together, and also, look for anything that can be used as a weapon.”
“A weapon?” Christian asked, surprised.
“Christian, when they come back down, they’ll be like locusts. If we have any food what so ever, are you willing to give it over to them? If you are, then you can leave this group. I fight for what is mine, and now that our very lives are at stake, I will kill for what is ours.” Leo said, his voice low and deadly. He watched as the color drained from Christian’s face. He didn’t think Christian was used to dealing with many black people, he seemed intimidated by them and a small smile curved his lips, he found a perverse pleasure in it.
“Buddy, if the shit really has hit the fan, you can damn well be certain they will be coming to get what ever they can. Most of them hadn’t even eaten in three days. Me and Gabe found some of our gathered food stolen, just like Sarah. So that means we have to guard our shit.” Henry said, his eyes going from person to person in the group, his Massachusetts’s accent very heavy now. Everyone was nodding.
“I don’t know if I can kill someone.” Christian said, his eyes looking around.
“Then you’ll be dead soon enough Christian if you don’t man up.” Marla said cruelly.
“Fuck you Marla.” Christian started to say and then Leo laid a large hand on the man’s shoulder and squeezed gently, a small threat.
“We don’t need to fight amongst ourselves. We have enough to worry about. Let’s get this camp together. See what we have to work with. Maybe they left some food. It is getting dark, why don’t you guys get more firewood, let’s keep this fire going. Save everything, we can see if we can repurpose it. We don’t want anything to go to waste, this will be all we have, perhaps for the rest of our lives.” Leo ordered and watched as everyone got busy, straightening up the camp and the discarded containers and boxes.
Diana and William looked at Leo and his brow went up. “I think we are at least safe with the medical supplies. We’ll need to guard those. They were after the food, but if one of them gets hurt, they’ll be back for the medical supplies.” Diana thought aloud.
Leo nodded, “Good thinking. Okay, let’s get ourselves organized and let’s get some weapons. See what we can cannibalize out of what is left of the crates, I’m sure some of those nails are sharp as hell.” He grinned.
¤¤
“I left my family for this?” Gabe said brokenly, as he picked up the pieces of wreckage around the camp. He and Henry were working together to gather up anything they could find. His mind was frozen in grief, he would not see his young wife, Donna, nor their nine-year-old son, Jackson.
He tried to swallow down the grief, but it was choking him. He felt Henry’s hand on his back patting him. He’d come to this place for a chance to put their family in a better situation. They lived in Colorado and he’d wanted to move them out and into a cabin, to live a simpler life, away from the city and into the woods. Their small apartment had been closing in on him and he saw this as a chance to get them out of there. Now, they would live without him, never knowing what had happened to him. He didn’t know if the EMP had hit them, and if their lives were going to turn into this madness, only on a bigger scale.
He dropped to his knees and began to weep, and he could feel Diana, Marla, Henry and Hunter around him, he could hear their words but his brain couldn’t comprehend
