7/21/2019: Updated to the published version.
April 2037 – Southeast Texas
Leah took careful aim, the compound bow in her arms strung tight. All her father and brothers had taught her hung in the air so thick they were almost there in person. She released her breath and with it the arrow, which shot past her cheek and struck the cow she had been aiming for through the neck. The hide of these cows was very tough, so she had no chance of piercing the heart or skull. A slice through the neck took a little more time, which she didn't like, but was the fastest way with the bow. The blood would flow out quickly.
Leah didn't use guns. They made too much noise. She loved animals and was as humane as possible in their dispatch. In this world, there wasn't much choice about killing them. There were no more supermarkets filled with fresh food. Plenty of canned, dried, and vacuum-packed food stuffs were available, but a person got sick of that fast. Fresh food meant work, but if she got lazy, she would just deteriorate like everything else man-made.
At least there was no population shortage of cows. They covered the open Texas landscapes like lakes. Leah had seen paintings of the buffalo herds before Europeans came to the west and thought it looked very similar. Packs of now-wild dogs often hunted them.
It took her a few hours to carve the cow into portable chunks. She left the remainder for the dogs, cats, and other wildlife. She placed each piece into a two-gallon Ziploc bag and then into the large basket cart she towed behind her bike. When she finally got all the meat home, she cut it into small portions, packed it in smaller freezer bags, labelled it, and stowed it in the freezer.
The house she lived in had a bomb shelter built beneath it, complete with water and air filtration and recycling. Generators produced electricity from diesel and waste, but most electrical needs were satisfied by solar panels on the roof of the modest two-story house above and two stationary bikes that also provided exercise for anyone locked inside. There was a walk-in freezer. The cow she killed today would feed her for three months or more. She also had an impressive collection of frozen vegetables taken from the gardens. She mostly ate them fresh but kept a supply in the freezer for the winter months. It was spring, and the gardens were in bloom again.
She had started in the early morning, but it was mid-afternoon when she finished processing the cow. Her next task was harvesting some vegetables to go with her dinner. There were many gardens behind the homes along the street she lived on, which she tended regularly. She chose romaine lettuce, a red onion, a cucumber, a tomato, and a potato. She placed the produce in a basket she had brought along and began to walk back around to the street. A very foreign sound stopped her in her tracks.
It was a man's voice, amplified. She couldn't make out the words as it was coming from very far away. Quickly, she double-checked the street to make sure there were no signs of her living there. The grass in front of the houses was high since it was never cut, and she had always been careful not to make paths through it. The bushes and trees grew out of control and provided plenty of cover. Leah only kept the vegetation back from her garden plots, but those were hidden behind the houses.
She tucked herself behind some overgrown bushes at the side of the house she was at. The voice was growing in volume, and she realized it was coming over a loudspeaker. The sound of an engine arose and then tires. The man was moving in some sort of vehicle and drawing closer. Leah made sure she was completely covered by the bushes but had a view of the street.
The words became clear. "...food, medicine, and doctors. If anyone can hear me, please show yourself. We mean you no harm. We want to help you and bring you to our community. You'll be safe there."
A shiver traveled up Leah's spine as she listened to the deep, male voice. That was weird. She wondered if she was afraid, but a quick check with her emotions told her no, just in a heightened state of awareness. Not much scared her these days. It wasn't as if she hadn't heard voices in a while. She had electricity and watched movies all the time, but it had been almost four years since she had heard a live person talking.
The man had paused, and now another man's voice came on. This one had a more pronounced southern accent. "Hello, hello, anyone out there? We're from a colony of people, over three thousand men, women, and children. It's about three hours north of here. We have safety, security, supplies of everything, fresh food, medicine, and doctors. We're looking for survivors to join our community. If anyone is out there, show yourself. We mean you no harm. We wanna help you and bring you to our community. You'll be perfectly safe there, loads of people, happy people. Come out, come out."
As the man spoke, the vehicle they were in came into view and passed slowly down the street. It was a truck with an enormous gun mounted on top of the cab. There were two men in the front and three more in the back. Those in the back were standing up and looking around with keen eyes. They wore camouflage pants and tight-fitting brown T-shirts. They were all large, muscled men with closely cropped hair, military-looking types.
Leah shook her head, baffled. Why would friendly people go around looking for survivors wearing camouflage and toting a huge gun? That made no sense. Her instincts screamed danger, and she kept hidden. She wondered if anyone ever came out for them.
The truck disappeared from view, but Leah stayed in her spot until the sounds got very far away. She was taking no chances that a second truck could be coming behind, but none passed. Carefully, she stepped out and checked up and down the street before running back across with her basket. She went into the shelter and locked the door behind her, just in case.
Taking a deep breath, Leah went back to work on her meal. As she washed the vegetables, she couldn't help but think about the men. She had known there were other people out there, but this was the first time she had seen them.
Before the plague, the cows had been confined to fenced off areas. Leah had cut many fences herself to allow them to roam free. The evidence of other survivors was in fences cut but not by her, animals released from zoos, nuclear power plants permanently shut down, trains moved on their tracks, cars removed from the middle of roads, and shops broken into. Leah did not seek these people out. In fact, she avoided them deliberately. They were why she did nothing noisy, why she didn't use guns or cars.
Their presence in the world did give her hope that her brothers had lived. If immunity to the plague was genetic, then they might have. She'd lost her parents, friends, and everyone else she knew in her hometown outside New Orleans. She had thought about following them, but her goal in life had always been to see things, experience things, and travel.
This was a whole new world. She felt like a witness, perhaps put here for a reason. She wanted to be an independent observer. That was why she never sought people out. People could hurt you.
Leah's brother, Benji, had moved to Texas a couple of years before the plague hit. After the plague killed most of the people on earth, she traveled to the small east Texas town. Communications were down, and she couldn't reach him, but she had survived, so she had to check.
He wasn't there, but there was no body either. He may have gone looking for her. She had left a note at home, so decided to stay. She searched many houses in the small town, found several survivalist homes with shelters, and set herself up in the best of them. The previous occupants weren't there to mind.
As Leah finished cooking her steak, she reassured herself that she had done the right thing. It was too dangerous to interact with strangers. Their true motives could never be determined before she revealed herself. Afterwards, there would be little she could do if they turned out to be bad people. They could rape or beat her. She could fight, but she was realistic about her chances of taking on five large men. They were about zero. They were probably near zero for just one of those men if she didn't have a gun on her at the time.
Her father and brothers had taught her self-defense, to hunt, and to fish. Her mother had taught her how to cook. She was intelligent and street smart. These skills allowed her to take care of herself very well. As she plated her meal of salad, steak, and potatoes with onions, she decided her life was very good. She didn't need or want other people, besides her brothers. Them, she missed and wanted back, but no one else.
She could have any material possession she wanted. They were just lying around for anyone to take. The movies she watched and the books she read were company enough. They kept her from going crazy by herself. They were all she needed.
Yes, she had all she needed and would continue to wait for her brothers in this quiet little town.
June 2037 – Southeast Texas
Leah was inside a shop on the main street. There was no electricity there, so the lights were out. She used a flashlight to find her way around in the dim light. Without electricity humming and the other white noise created by people in a town, she could hear the arrival of the truck while inside the store.
She turned off her flashlight and peeked out at the road. The same men who had come through before were back. They were in a different truck, without the gun mounted on top. There was a woman tied up in the back of this one. She was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and looked dirty, disheveled. Her hands were bound together by white cloth at the wrists.
Leah watched as they stopped at the gas station across the street. All but one of the men went inside the store. The woman spoke to the remaining man, and he too went inside. Suddenly the woman stood up, jumped over the tailgate, and took off running, straight for the store Leah was hiding in. The last man was right behind her in a flash and caught the woman five steps from the door.
Leah put her hand on the doorknob as she made eye contact with the woman, now over the man's shoulder, but the woman shook her head no. Leah quickly ducked back behind the wall and tried to keep her breathing under control. She didn't move until well after they had left. She was very glad she had not revealed herself all those months ago. Her decision had clearly been the correct one.
* * * *
June 2038 – Southeast Texas
The men seemed to come through every three months exactly, so Leah kept well-hidden during two more visits. Then, they didn't return for five months straight. She began to believe they had given up on the area.
She rode her bike down the main street and parked it in front of the pharmacy with two plastic bags with a few items in each on the handlebars. She was inside the store, looking for some more bandages and Neosporin, which you couldn't have enough of, when she heard a car coming down the street.
There was no time to move the bike. If they noticed it, it would be obvious that someone was there. It was parked on its kickstand and would have been knocked over ages ago otherwise. She had explored this store before and knew there were stairs in the back and access to the roof. She headed up there as quietly as possible, sat down below the solid short wall on the front edge of the roof, and listened.
She had just heard the truck pass, but then there was a yell. The truck backed up and parked in front of the store. Doors opened and closed. The truck turned off. She heard footsteps and the rustling of her plastic bags.
One of the men yelled out, "Hello? Is someone there?" His voice gave her chills, and she concentrated on keeping her breathing quiet. It was the same man who had first spoken on the loudspeaker. Even though more than a year had passed, she knew that voice instantly.
The man yelled out again, "We mean you no harm. We just want to talk to you. It must be pretty lonely out here by yourself." He waited. "No? Well, just tell us you want to be left alone then, and we'll go."
Leah suspected they just wanted her location and didn't say a word. Several minutes later, she heard boots running up the stairs. She bolted for the side of the roof as the door exploded open.
A different man's voice called behind her, "Found her! On the roof!"
Leah reached the side half-wall and sat on it, her legs dangling off high above the street. She looked behind her at this man. "Stop! One step closer and I jump!"
The man put his hands up. "Now, now, darling, no need to go to such extremes. We don't want to hurt you." He stayed where he was as the other four men joined him on the roof.
Leah had known they were military-looking types, but they were even more imposing closer up. Their tight T-shirts molded over bulging muscles. They looked like they could rip her apart if they wanted to. Alarm and concern for her personal safety tensed all of Leah's muscles. It wasn't fear but a survival instinct. It kept her extremely alert.
Another man stepped towards her. "Hello, love. What's your name?"
Leah identified him as the man who spoke before. That voice was unmistakable. He appeared to be the leader and wore a black T-shirt instead of brown. "Stop! I'll jump! I swear I will! I just want to be left alone, so go, like you said you would."
"Sure, sure. No need to hurt yourself. We just want to talk to you a bit before we go, okay?" The man had blue eyes with a friendly expression to them. She didn't feel any dangerous intent in his manner, but she wouldn't risk her safety on that instinct.
Leah said, "Then don't come closer and say what you have to say."
"I'm staying. What's your name?"
"Leah."
"Hi, Leah. I'm James."
She kept looking at each of the men, making sure they weren't coming closer.
"Are all these men making you uncomfortable?" Before she even responded, James turned around and made some motions with his hands she couldn't see. She only knew by the way his arms moved. Three of the men turned around and headed downstairs.
Leah said, "No! I want you all where I can see you!"
James turned back around and smiled. She noticed he had moved a step closer in her direction, but he didn't try for another, and there was plenty of room left, so she let it go. "Nah, that's better. This is my friend Dale. So, Leah, how long have you been living in this town?"
"A while."
"Must get lonely here all by yourself. We're from a large colony, lots of people. Did you hear us talking about it before? We drove around looking for people."
"Yeah, I heard you. And saw you. Why do you go around looking for survivors with a 50-caliber gun on top of your truck if you mean them no harm?"
"That's purely for defense. We've run into nasty people before. It'll be much safer for you in the colony."
"I've always been the solitary sort, antisocial, that's me. I also don't like taking orders or being forced to do things, so no, thanks. Goodbye."
James laughed. "What do you think we are? A forced labor camp? No, no, it's just like this small town but with people actually living in it. People are expected to work in some way, just like it's always been, but no one is forced to do anything."
He had a rich laugh that made him seem friendlier, less intimidating, as it was meant to, she thought. "What about that girl you had bound up last year? She tried to run away from you, but you forced her to go with you."
His expression turned pained. "Saw that, did you?" He nodded. "Well, that's Lacy. She's not quite all there, you see? What did the Doc say, Dale?"
Dale said, "Paranoid schizophrenic."
James nodded again. "So you see, we couldn't let her run around on her own, off her meds. She'd hurt herself and maybe someone else. Couldn't have that."
Dale said, "For her own good. She's doing much better now, getting the care she needs in the colony."
Leah said, "I'm not sick in the head, and I want you to leave me alone." Just then, she heard sounds below and looked down. The other men were directly below her, looking up at her, there to catch her, she was sure. She panicked, deciding to jump anyway and take her chances. They would break her fall. She hoped to kick them on the way down. She pushed off with her hands, and her butt lifted up, but she was grabbed around her waist by two steely arms. She was yanked back against a hard chest and tried to fight, to elbow him, slap at his arms, and scratch him.
It was James. "Easy girl, easy. I'm not going to hurt you." He pulled her body off the wall and let her feet fall back to the roof.
She stamped her sneaker clad foot on the top of his boot, but it only made him laugh. "Let go of me, you oaf!"
James did not release her. "I'm sorry, Leah. You're coming with us whether you like it or not. There are just too few people left in the world. I can't let you waste your life out here alone."
"I'm not wasting my life! I have a very good life here!"
"All by yourself? Nah, that's no way to live."
"It's what I prefer, what I want. Let go of me!"
"No, I can't do that, Leah. The people left in the world need to be together, to rebuild society."
"I never liked society!"
"You'll like our society. It's all really nice people. We're building things back better than they were."
She slapped and scratched at his arms again. "I don't like you! You monstrous Neanderthal!"
James laughed. "Hey, I'm not so bad." He wouldn't let her go, just kept holding her tight with his arms around her waist.
She was tiring herself out, and she knew that wasn't smart. There was another trick up her sleeve, and this was the time to use it. She quit fighting him. "All right, but at least let me get some of my stuff."
"We have everything you could need at the colony."
"Oh, wow! You have photo albums of my family? That's amazing!" Her voice was full of sarcasm. "I'm talking about irreplaceable stuff."
He was quiet for a moment and said reasonably, "Okay, I'll make a deal with you. You show us where you live, we take you there, and you get anything you like that will fit in the truck, but no more fighting. You come peacefully. Deal?"
Leah nodded. "Deal."
James released her but took her hand in his. He led her to the door and down the stairs. It felt very strange to be touched. Leah thought about it now that she wasn't fighting him. She had not been touched in five years. His hand felt warm and firm, strong. It wasn't unpleasant. It was actually comforting, and that shocked her, making it uncomfortable.
She tried to pull away, but his hand just squeezed tighter. He didn't let go until he put her in the cab of the truck. Dale had followed behind them and got in the other side. There was enough room that she didn't have to touch either one of them, but she felt trapped and hated it.
The other men jumped into the back of the truck, and James asked, "Where to, Leah?" She guided him through several turns, but it only took a few minutes to reach her house. James looked around at the street with raised eyebrows. "Are you sure you live here? It doesn't look anyone has been around here for ages."
She said, "That's the point."
His eyes narrowed as he looked at her. "You really didn't want to be found, eh?"
"How do I know you're telling the truth? You could be very bad men who keep women captive for all I know."
He smiled. "We aren't going to hurt you, Leah. The colony is very nice. You'll like it there, and no one will hurt you or force you to do anything. You'll see."
"Uh huh." She waited for him to get out.
James exited the truck and offered her his hand to get out, but she ignored it. After getting out on her own, she strode purposefully to the door and was trailed closely by all the men. They looked around her house curiously, moving forward to look in the other rooms ahead of her.
She didn't pay them any attention as she went to the front closet and pulled out a duffle bag. There were several framed pictures around the house. They were of the previous occupants, and she wasn't in any of them, but they didn't seem to notice as she pulled them down and put them in the bag. Her packing seemed to put them at ease.
She went into a walk-in closet off the master bedroom and removed some boxes from a shelf in the back. Dale followed her in. She handed him one of the boxes. "Would you take this to the truck please?"
He looked around, seeing no way out but the door they had come through, nodded, and left with the box. As soon as he was gone, Leah pulled the bookcase away from the wall, ran through a short hallway, punched in a code that opened a steel door, and disappeared inside. The door quickly sealed behind her, and she ran down the stairs. She turned on the camera immediately, but it took the men several minutes to figure it out.
James came through the previously hidden door and surveyed the scene. His eyes quickly found the camera. "Leah, I thought we had a deal."
She switched on her microphone. "I would have said anything to get away from you brutes. Now go back to your colony."
James just smiled at the camera and crossed his arms over his chest like he was going to stand there forever.
"What? You think this is a panic room? It's a bomb shelter. It has its own generators, air scrubbers, water, and food. I can live down here for thirty years."
That made him frown. Anger was evident in his tone. "You come out of there right now, or when I get inside or get you out, and I will, I will beat your bottom so hard you won't sit for a week!"
"This shelter's made to withstand a nuclear bomb, James! Good luck with that!" She turned the camera off.
They tried various ways of getting in: blowtorch, cutting off her air, disconnecting the solar panels on the roof, but nothing worked. Whoever built this bomb shelter was brilliantly paranoid. She kept turning the cameras on to keep tabs on them but said nothing.
The bookcase had been pulled away from the wall already when Leah first searched the house. One body had sat, slumped over, on the back porch, an adult male. Three graves had been dug in the back yard. Leah imagined the family had gone into the shelter, trying to avoid the plague, but came out when it was clear they had already been infected. She had buried the man next to his family and thanked him.
Four days later, James was standing in the entrance hall when the little red light came on. "All right, Leah, you win. We're leaving. I hope you change your mind. If you do, just follow the highway north. One of the patrols will spot you. You are always welcome."
She didn't respond, but she did check the outside cameras and did see them leave, at least the street. Still cautious, she stayed inside the shelter for a month with only a few quick forays out to fix the damage the men had done. She worked out, got her strength and endurance up, and formulated her plan.
She didn't want to stay in the shelter forever and knew they would be back. She decided to take a bike down to the interstate and ride a few towns down, closer to the coast. Some fresh seafood would be a nice addition to her diet. She knew there was a chance she would get caught. They might still be out there or come looking for her at exactly the wrong time.
She thought about why they wanted her so bad. The obvious answer was sex and breeding. She was twenty-four-years-old and healthy. She prepared herself for this possibility by taking a Depo Prevera shot and secreting sixteen more, four each in the four hollow ribs of her backpack. They were prefilled syringes she had found at the local hospital and had been using for many years.
She packed her family photos, mementos, a single change of clothing, water, energy bars, and vitamins. She slung a gun belt around her waist and slid a knife in a sheath through it as well. She checked all the cameras one last time, perched the backpack on the back of the bike she had brought into the shelter long ago, put extra water bottles in the front basket along with another gun, and headed out, as prepared as she was ever going to be.