The Desolate

I woke up early morning sunlight blazing through the window bringing my hand up to protect my eyes instantly. The brightness suddenly pulled my awareness into the present moment. The sun was still on the horizon to the east just peeking above the mountains, bathing us in the warm morning light. And anxiety suddenly instantly hit me, dawn was much later than I would have preferred to be awake, and two days in a row I had let it slide. But the last weeks of travel had taken their toll on my body, along with the copious amounts of alcohol. The rest was very much needed, but it left me uneasy.

Ashe barely seemed to stir when I unwrapped myself from her embrace, she was no doubt exhausted after our long journey as well. And as I sat up, looking down over her almost naked body I smiled remembering the night before. Noting with a smile that she seemed to have put on a little more weight in the last few days, her nakedness and comfort offered me a completely uncovered view. The dress she had found the day before was from this room’s former occupant and fit her well allowing her pants to dry properly before they would be needed again.

The short period of rest over the previous couple of days had afforded us time to recover and a chance to truly spend time together in a way that had been much harder on the road. Her body and indeed her mind had been through months of neglect and abuse, and she was still very much dealing with those demons, I figured it was to be expected that the result of it would start to show a lot more over time. I sat on the end of the bed thinking about how to help her, figuring after a long time that the best thing was just to make her feel safe, at least with me, even if I couldn’t promise any such thing about the rest of the world. I smiled at the thought and covered her over with the sheet before standing up and pulling on my clothes. After I’d attached the pistol to my hip, I kissed her head and got up to check on our guests. I moved quietly out of the room, noting that the door for each of the rooms they had occupied had been left open. Likely a polite gesture to let us know they were awake, but I couldn’t help the moment of anxiety as my hand hovered over my pistol while making my way downstairs. I left Ashe to rest and headed down intending to check the condensation traps and prepare breakfast, though, in the back of my mind, I feared what I would find.

I found Henry out front, having built up the fire a little with a pot of tea hanging over it from a metal frame constructed from the wire in the yard. He sat on the grass, sipping the tea while chewing on a piece of kangaroo meat. “Good morning,” he said warmly, as he skewered another lump of meat with a stick and hung it just over the fire pit to cook.

“Good morning, Henry! Did your family sleep okay?” I asked as I checked the condensation traps, looking around for any sign of Charlotte and the boys.

Henry noticed my uneasiness as I gathered the filtered water into a few of the empty bottles, and said, “Yeah, it was a good night. We were all up before dawn. But there’s nothing new there,” he explained before responding to my unasked question. “Charlotte and the boys headed back home about an hour ago with the rest of the meat. She’s gonna smoke and dry it so you can take it on your travels. It’s her way of saying thank you for the kind hospitality you and Ashe have shown us.”

I shook my head at their kindness, something I simply never expected from anyone, let alone a stranger. It was a gesture that would help us tremendously, assuming they were true to their word. Still, I had taken a real liking to Henry throughout the evening, and this only helped cement that view. He was old-world in his sentimentality, and he didn’t view relationships in the same way so many people did now, as essentially transactional. He maintained a strong, stoic outward appearance while also being a man of seemly good character and morals, something that I admired in anyone, and hoped for in myself as much as possible. When I finished gathering fresh water, I sat down on the porch step, sipping from one of the freshly gathered bottles of water. “Thank you!” I responded calmly, adding, “If you guys want, hold onto half of it. I doubt we will be able to carry all of it anyway.”

Henry made a dismissive gesture, brushing off my suggestion. “Once it’s properly dehydrated, that meat will be light as anything and a fraction of the size, and it’ll last as long as you don’t get it wet. If you can’t carry any of it all after that, then we will talk about a trade.”

I once again nodded my thanks as Ashe walked out to join us, and I smiled as she approached, I had to admit that bed hair suited her. She had let it fall over her shoulders in an almost tangled mess before opening one of the backpacks and pulling out a hairbrush she’d found the day before. “Fucking knots!” She grumbled, getting her hair into a somewhat presentable state over the next few minutes, before sitting on my lap and embracing me in her arms.

“Good morning,” I said, barely above a whisper.

She just yawned and put her head on my shoulder, kissing my neck as her way of saying good morning. It was apparently her turn for the hangover, her eyes squinting at the bright morning sunlight as she rubbed her eyes. She managed to speak in a slightly husky voice after one more stretch and yawn, “Good morning, Henry,” She looked up from my shoulder as Henry prepared another piece of meat for the fire, her stomach growling.

“Good morning sweetheart, I trust you both slept well?”

She replied with a nod and a shy smile, resting her head once more against my shoulder. Henry poured us both some tea into two cups before sitting them next to us. “I’ll filter more water soon,” Ashe said gratefully as she accepted the first cup of tea, unmoving from her embrace.

“Already done!” I said as I held her close. “Just enjoy your breakfast and your tea, then we’ll figure out what we’re going to do for the day.”

Henry handed me the first piece of meat moments later, and another cup of tea. It was still on the stick he had fashioned into a skewer and slightly charred on the outside. But when I bit into it, the meat was tender and moist—perfectly cooked all the way through. Henry turned to Ashe and asked, “I’m guessing you never cooked kangaroo before?”

She smiled shyly. “No, why?”

He laughed. “It’s okay. A lot of people make the mistake of treating it like any other meat, but the truth is you either need to cut it small and cook it fast or seal the outside quick and cook it slow.” He explained, “If you cook it too slow when it’s small, the meat tenses up and squeezes out of the juices, and when you cook a larger piece too quick without sealing it, the same thing happens, and it dries out really quick.” He pulled out the piece of meat from the flames a moment later and handed it to her, explaining, “Sear the outside to seal all the moisture in then slow cook it right the way through!”

I had to admit, the meat was much less chewy this way, and Ashe readily agreed when she bit into the piece of meat Henry handed her. “Oh, that is really good!” she sighed in appreciation after she crewed, swallowing her first mouthful.

Breakfast was mostly silent, helped by the fact that both Henry and I were quiet by nature, even if Ashe, given half a chance, seemed capable of talking someone’s ear off as I had seen the night before. But it wasn’t long before the tea and breakfast began to help her hangover which seemed to have subdued her somewhat.

Once breakfast was finished and the food was settled in our stomachs, Henry gave me a nod as if he’d answered an unasked question, and said, “Why don’t you both come up to the settlement for the day? You can see how Charlotte smokes the meat and I’ll introduce you to some good folks in town.”

I was still a little reluctant to meet other people. I had been alone for a long time for good reason, and a part of that was my lack of trust in others. Still smoking meat would be a useful skill to learn, especially for desert travel where food is a lot scarcer. But the idea of heading into the settlement made me very uneasy, so I decided we should come clean with Henry that there was almost certainly a large bounty on my head, especially knowing that the settlement likely traded with the north from time to time. At least with Lake Eyre. I thought about it for a moment longer and said calmly, “I don’t mind dropping by to visit, but you should know that there is a bounty out on my head from the north. Is there any reason for concern there?”

Henry thought about it for a moment, then asked, “What’s the bounty for?”

I shrugged and explained the story of our recent exit from New Alice, including my encounter with the group of slavers in the small, ruined town just outside New Alice, recounting as honestly as I could remember the details. “Anyway, we got tailed out of the main settlement and they had me cornered while I was out scavenging. Two unlucky kids got in my way as I was running, and they lost. So, this damn slaver has been on our trail ever since, claiming I killed one of Bishop’s sons.”

He took in all the details patiently, then gave me a small nod in response. “Sound’s reasonable, you did what you had to.” He thought for a moment longer, then added, “I doubt it will be a problem. We don’t get many travelers from the north, but if people are on your trail they might try there! But I think if you stick to our farm, you should be fine, we don’t get many visitors anyway. My family and I are based a few kilometers from the main settlement at the bottom of the foothills. Most folks around here are anything but friendly towards slavers, anyway. Especially having sons and daughters of their own.”

Ashe laughed a little, adding with a dark expression in her eyes, “If anyone touches either of us, they’ll have to answer to Miss Thirty-Odd!” And there was that spark that I found so exciting in her. The fire that had first caught my attention back in New Alice. The fire that had drawn me so strongly to her to begin with.

“Fair enough!” Henry answered with a slight smirk, and I could tell he agreed with my sentiment there. He then laughed a little and added, “Sweetheart, you remind me of my daughter, she was one hell of a tough young woman.” His smile faded as a procession of memories flashed across his eyes.

Ashe noticed his change of expression and asked, “What happened to her?”

It was almost a shock to see him blink back a few stray tears before they could fall, he then spoke calmly, “She was our oldest, born a few years before all this. She was a beautiful young woman, just like yourself, and she had a real spark to her. You remind me a lot of her!” He explained, taking in a deep breath before continuing, “We were closer to the city back then in a small town on the coast, the camp we were held up in after the first few months of the collapse got raided first by some sick fucks searching for women. The zombies heard all their damn noise and swarmed the camp. Those assholes took my daughter, and the zombies got my brother and his family.”

Ashe moved over to hug the man who forced a smile and nodded his thanks. It was a story that put things in perspective for me in many ways, a lot of people had painful memories to share in this world. And while Ashe sat talking with the man, I refilled the condensation traps to filter more water while we were away. I then checked our food stocks putting aside a couple of old tins of beans to have for dinner figuring we could add some of the dried meat when we got back. After I was satisfied that the house was secure, I went back outside to join Ashe and Henry, still engaged in deep conversation. Or rather, Ashe was doing most of the talking, with Henry hanging off her every word.

A short time later, the three of us were heading north on foot towards an old dirt road not more than a kilometer from the house and turned right in the direction of the mountains. Followed the decaying path on foot while Henry walked his horse alongside us. The conversation was sparse as the three of us were on high alert.

“We don’t get too many zombies in these parts,” Henry explained. “But storms will sometimes drive them away from the ruins. I still can’t believe those things are terrified of a little thunder and lightning!” He laughed to himself, “It’d be funny if they weren’t so terrifying.”

“Has anyone ever tried to understand why?” Ashe asked, her tone curious more than fearful as it might have been just a few days earlier.

“You know what, I don’t think there has ever been a serious attempt to study those things. At least not that I’m aware of.” Henry said, before redirecting the question to me.

I thought for a moment, trying to remember anything I had come across over the years that even mentioned zombies in a non-fictional context. There simply wasn’t much out there. “I’ve never read anything beyond a few old-world articles and essays from around the time of the collapse. People were so concerned with finding a ‘cure’ they didn’t even take the time to try and understand exactly what they were dealing with. The Old World looked at them like diseased humans which is easy to understand why, fresh zombies look very human except for the eyes. But the Old-world science labs simply did not last long enough to see the zombies completely turn. Now we just see the leathery skin and clouded eyes over the top of bones, muscles, and flesh that barely resembles anything human except for the shape. They seem to have learned to eat and drink and stay alive like any other animal in their own way, I even once saw two of them having sex, so who the hell knows what that could mean? I have no idea if they’ll be able to reproduce and evolve like us, but it’s at least possible. But the reality is no one truly knows, most of what is known about them is based on observation and experience. Because in the end, that’s all we really have now.”

“Interesting,” Henry said, staring ahead of us as we walked, “I heard rumors years ago that they’d die out eventually, and it’s still a common thought in our community. People think they’ll die of starvation or dehydration eventually, or they’ll simply run out of living humans to replenish their numbers. But if they can eat and drink and somehow find a way to reproduce, that’s a scary thought.”

I just shrugged, adding, “In any case, we’ll unlikely encounter too many zombies this far from the city unless a herd stumbles upon us or on the house. This is possible given the constant flow of storms moving north from the ocean, but extremely unlikely they would stumble exactly on us if they’re not looking. So even if they get close, we should just lay low we could just let them flow past us like water. Given how flat the terrain was between the coast and the mountains, we were likely to see any danger coming from a long way off.”

“I like the way you think, Jack!” Henry said, “But remember the front for a herd of zombies could be several kilometers wide, they could stumble on us out here easy enough. And they have done for us a few times in the past.”

It took less than two hours to reach the farmhouse on foot, and it was little wonder that Henry had heard the gunshot the day before. Their front gate was directly north of the creek where I had shot the kangaroo no more than a few kilometers. Ashe was still on alert as we approached their farm, holding her rifle up to her shoulder as we approached.

The house had been heavily restored from its old-world glory and was well-maintained. Likely it resembled it’s the house it had once been before the collapse; it was a beautiful two-story mudbrick home that resembled the one Ashe and I had found. Well protected from the elements by the materials used to build it. Its large, raised porch surrounding the entire house offered an excellent defensive position, and the guard rails of the house had been reinforced with two layers of wood. The property was not massive, providing them with enough room to farm and work the land for themselves while being a relatively defensible location for Henry and Charlotte, and the two boys. Apparently, if a herd did stumble on them, they’d report it via radio to the town and hunker down for a few hours until the zombies moved on.

It was surrounded by a thick wire fence that would have been easy enough for most people to climb despite the razor wire that lined the top, but it gave them a layer of security against the zombies and reminded me of my childhood home from so many years ago. My parents had used wire fences in a similar way for dealing with zombies, but when it came to people, it was much more difficult.

One of the boys appeared to be on guard duty in a makeshift tower near the front gate. Elevated above the plains to offer a good view of their surroundings. I still hadn’t learned their names separately and simply waved to greet the boy—unsure if it was Tommy or Dan. He returned the wave as he held a rifle up to his shoulder as if demonstrating to Henry that he was alert and not just slacking off. Or perhaps trying to show Ashe and I that he was ready for trouble, especially having caught the boy staring at her multiple times the night before, both were possible although Henry struck me as a man driven by a strong work ethic rather than just the appearance of it.

Once we were inside the gate, Ashe went to find Charlotte inside the house while I helped Henry in the yard, assisting him with a few chores, picking some fresh ripe tomatoes and carrots, before digging up some large potatoes from a raised garden bed. “I’ll bag a few up for you both to take, but you might as well eat properly while you’re here,” he offered as thanks for me helping him.

“I appreciate it!” I said warmly enjoying the fact that I did not need to be overly social or talkative around Henry. He relished the quiet and appreciated the company more than anything, and so did I. We worked well into the afternoon, farming crops and filtering water. The conversation was light, with both of us focused on our work, but he told me a few stories throughout the day about the old world and how this whole region was dying before the outbreak. Apparently, Henry had only been able to grow crops consistently here in the last few years, which was only further confirmed by suspicion that the zombies would soon be able to access the interior of the country if the changing climate continued its current trajectory. The afternoon passed smoothly, and I very much enjoyed the mundane work that Hank’s farm offered; it kept my mind quiet for a change allowing me to just be in the moment.

“‘Idol hands’, Jack!” Henry explained as we stopped for water late in the afternoon having noticed my state of contentment. I just looked at him, confused and waiting for an explanation. He smiled and waved his hand, “There is an old saying from the bible, and I think it’s as true now as it has ever been: ‘The devil makes work for idle hands to do’. I don’t mean it literally of course, but there is a certain truth to it. Hard work calms the mind and brings focus, it’s something to always remember.”

It made sense, especially after the day’s work we had enjoyed. I didn’t reply, I just let the words move through my mind, turning them over again and again. There was a certain logic to it, and it gave me pause as I considered my own situation and the changes to my life since Ashe had come into it. We continued work for a little longer, but it wasn’t long before Charlotte called everyone inside for dinner.

Henry and I had been working a pair of garden hoes, turning the soil where they had recently harvested crops. As we walked into the house, he was explaining soil chemistry, crop rotation, and farming techniques, all of which was information that could be useful in the future should Ashe and I decide to settle somewhere. However, I had to admit that it was all the information I had read in science books over the years. Still, I think it was good to hear it again and to see it put into practice, so I didn’t stop him. I think he enjoyed passing on his knowledge, and that I think meant more to him than the actual work.

Ashe smiled warmly when I walked inside. She wrapped me in a warm embrace as if we were an old couple before sitting next to each other around an old dining table that Henry had apparently made a few years earlier. Once again, it was a pleasant evening, though I was still a little uneasy. It wasn’t helped by the ogling of the older of the two boys who seemed to have taken a liking to Ashe, I didn’t care so too much, hell the boy had probably only seen a handful of women in his life, but I didn’t want it to make her uncomfortable, not after such a peaceful day or two. Yesterday he seemed to hide it better keeping to staring out the corner of his eye, but today not so much. Ashe said nothing, but it certainly made her a little uneasy, and I could see her slight discomfort. So, I made a point of being close to her at every opportunity in hopes the message would soon sink in for the boy. Thankfully he made no attempt to try anything, which meant there was no need to worry about any tension it might have caused.

As the evening settled in, Henry, Charlotte, Ashe, and I migrated out onto the front porch. Henry brought with him a bottle of what looked like whisky, pouring us both a glass. “It’s harsh, but it’ll put hair on your chest!”

I received the glass and pressed it against his. “Hey, where’s mine!” Ashe protested.

“I’m not sure you’ll like this one, sweetheart,” Henry said honestly. “But sure.” He poured her a tiny glass so as not to waste it if she did not want it.

She cheers us both before gulping down the contents of the glass. It wasn’t long before the coughing and spluttering started. “Oh my god, Henry! Thanks, but no thanks on the next one,” before climbing to her feet and spitting over the side of the porch to get the taste out of her mouth.

Henry chuckled before Charlotte got up and went inside, returning moments later, handing Ashe a bottle filled with a light brown fizzy liquid. “Try this one instead, honey. It’s a cider, I made a big batch of it a couple of months back.”

Henry and I gently tapped our glasses together before throwing the contents of the glass into the back of our throats. “Holy shit!” I said as the burn started in my mouth and quickly spread throughout my chest and body.

But Henry’s face barely changed when he swallowed the liquid. He just poured another for both of us and slowly sipped the next one. “The trick is not to smell it before you drink it!” He explained before downing another glass.

It was another pleasant evening of good company. Ashe and I ended up staying for the night, both of us falling asleep on the front porch of the farmhouse. I was drunk once again, and when Ashe found me leaning up against the wall on the porch, she simply wrapped me in a blanket and cuddled close for the evening. I just sat gazing out over the plains, enjoying the contact and the warmth of her body until my mind finally fell silent. And the dim moonlight contrasted against a distant storm to the south. It was beautiful in its own way, although the storm did have me on edge for much of the night.