The Salvation

Chapter 10

|Malcolm|

The group returned to Glade on the forty-ninth day of the wasteland, according to Craig at least. Malcolm blocked his voice out whenever Craig stated the day and it's number. Felicia was the only one who cared, even his girlfriend totally ignored him. Glade hadn't changed since they left, but Malcolm noted a few corpses with more meat torn from their bones and a few houses looted. Malcolm hurried back to his house, only to find it also looted. But Malcolm didn't care that his old wallet and safe were taken with their money inside. He pulled the cabinet with his TV on it away from the wall and breathed a breath of relief to see his ammo safe still in the wall, untouched.

They carried back four AK-47's with them, the two given by Craig and Jane and two more just for safety. Andrew untied Craig and Jane, letting them go into Candice Houda's old house to do whatever they would. Night slowly crept up on them as Malcolm and Andrew worked, Felicia tried to cook something worth eating on a fire Craig built and Jane didn't leave Candice's old house. Malcolm hoped to god she hadn't found Candice's wine stash. It wasn't his drink, but when all his whiskey ran out he wanted something to drink.

"The radio should work... I can get it to broadcast to any available frequency..." Andrew eventually piped up from outside the recon vehicle. Andrew was repairing its radio, Malcolm tried to fix the vehicle itself.

Malcolm grunted and climbed out from under the vehicle. "I'd say we do that. Anyone who comes to us, we either let them stay or kill them."

"Relax Malcolm, we're not killing anyone who isn't dangerous." Andrew replied.

Malcolm nodded, but remained quiet. The vehicle wasn't going anywhere, but Malcolm didn't like leaving it at the edge of the town. Malcolm, Andrew, Craig and Shale (he wasn't much help) pushed the vehicle up out front of Malcolm's house to leave there for safety. It took them half an hour to push the vehicle there. Felicia had cooked what looked like a bird, Malcolm didn't dare ask what it truly was if it wasn't a crow. Jane finally joined them for food, but she was silent and sat alone. Even Craig couldn't sit next to her without her getting up and sitting somewhere else. There's something odd about that one.

The next day, Andrew finally fixed the radio. "Hello? Is anyone out there?" Andrew asked through the radio. The only reply was static. Andrew shrugged and continued. "If anyone is alive, come to Glade. There's people here and we can take you in." Andrew said into the radio before returning inside.

Three hours passed before the radio came to life again. "H... H... Hel..." The static battled with the voice. "Hello? Is an..."

"Hello?! Who's there?!" Andrew asked excitedly as everyone gathered around.

"How many..."

"How many what?" Andrew replied.

"How many hou..."

"Houses?" Andrew asked.

"Yes."

Felicia did a quick count of the neighbourhood. "We've got around twenty or so all with at least three bedrooms each."

"We have over twenty houses in good condition... The rest aren't too great and there's even surrounding towns." Andrew informed through the radio.

"We've g... Forty survivo..."

"Forty survivors?" Andrew asked.

"Yes."

Andrew turned to Felicia. She nodded. "And what condition are these forty people in?"

"We've got eld... Babies and oth..."

"Bring them to Glade, we can accommodate." Andrew said.

Malcolm rolled his eyes and turned the radio off. "We can't take them. Not unless we find a sustainable food and water source!" Malcolm argued.

"We can't just turn them away either Malcolm, these people need help." Andrew explained.

"Candice used to garden, maybe we could see if she's got any vegetable seeds?" Felicia suggested.

"If there is any, they won't grow in this ground. Especially without water." Malcolm replied.

Andrew nodded his head. "There's a lake about half a kilometre south of here, Felicia and I used to swim there in the summer."

"If it's still there, the water mightn-"

"Malcolm, shut up and let us do this." Felicia snapped back.

Malcolm didn't argue back, just threw up his hands and walked back to the recon vehicle and began tinkering with it again. Andrew and Felicia took Kersti, Joshua and Shale with them on their walk. A good hour later, they brought back buckets of grey coloured water. Malcolm didn't speak, that would give Felicia the chance to brag about how right she was, but he did taste the water. Malcolm thought about earwax, then dirt and finally shit. It was awful. But Felicia didn't bring it to drink, she gathered cucumber, potato and lettuce seeds from Candice Houda's shed and planted them all in the hard earth, giving them plenty to drink.

Andrew took another trip and back four buckets of water, pouring them into his old empty rain water tank and repeated the trip. Andrew ended up spending three hours walking back and forth from the lake bring buckets full of water, stocking up on at least half a water tanks worth of water. For dinner that night Felicia used one of her old pans and a can from Malcolm's cellar full of preserved and uncooked chicken, using the water as a sort of oil to cook it over their fire. It tasted excellent when Malcolm put it in his mouth, real food. The aftertaste wasn't quite so amazing. Craig came to the conclusion that heating the water before drinking was better than drinking it straight, killed the germs and made it taste less like wet mud mixed with anthrax.

One week later of the same routine, they arrived. The group of people were desperate, but brought some food with them and more seeds. Felicia planted tomatoes and an orange tree. The plants were like her babies, she was almost always out there making sure the ground was wet. The settlers were nice people, but Malcolm didn't bother letting them in his house or even talk to them, that right had to be earned.