Wilson Harp - EMP

“That isn’t going to happen, Les.”

“No, it won’t.”

“So we have a deal?”

“Almost. One thing we failed to consider when we set up our little survival plan was making sure we had enough female types to keep us happy.”

“I’m not sending girls out here, Les. Forget it.”

“No, you misunderstand. I just want you to spread the word that any woman who wants to come out here and enjoy our protection, our food, our weed, and our booze will be more than welcome.”

Ted didn’t say anything for a few minutes.

“Just let them know of our invitation, Riggins.”

“Okay, but I want the seed now. I’ll let the town know what you said.”

“Good. Now where is Kenny? I want him to come in and get the seed.”

“I’ll get him,” said Ted.

Ted walked over to Kenny and spoke quietly to him. Kenny nodded and went to the gate. The gate swung open just enough for Kenny to slip through.

“How many men do you figure he has?” Anne asked.

“Maybe ten or twelve.”

“Are you going to tell the town of Lester’s offer?” I asked.

“Of course he is,” Anne said.

“What? Why?”

“Because it will be less mouths to feed, less people to take care of if some take him up on the offer.”

“She’s right,” Ted said. “We are going to be dealing with drugs and booze, anyway. That is wasted energy trying to get work out of those who will want to step out of reality for a bit. Some of those girls and women will see his invitation as a way to survive with as little work as possible.”

I couldn’t believe what Ted said, but when I looked at Anne, she had the same calm resolve in her eyes that Ted had in his voice. An invitation would be made to any who would be interested.

“Ted,” Kenny called from the gate. “I got the squash and zucchini seed. Lester is having some of his men bring the wheat bags.

“He try to get you to stay?” Ted asked.

“Yeah. Just like me and you talked about. They were smoking weed and had all of their booze lined up when I went in the barn. He means to party his way through the next couple of months.”

“How many?”

“Twenty, maybe twenty-five men. About five women. All of them with one of the men.”

Ted nodded. “That’s twice as many as I was expecting. That’s also why he wants more women. He didn’t recruit enough of them.”

“That’s what I figure,” Kenny said as he placed the seed bags on the ground. “They are armed to the teeth as well. I’m guessing they have enough to live on for a while, then they will start scavenging.”

“Scavenging?” Anne asked.

“Yeah, what Les is counting on is some of the towns around here will collapse. Then he and his boys can go and gather up resources they need. And recruit some of the healthy survivors if they can,” Ted said.

“He really believes this is the end of the world.” Anne said. Her voice was a mix of disbelief and revulsion.

“Yep,” Kenny said. “And he wants to go out at the very top. Now, any of ya’ll want to help me get this seed loaded up on the horses?”

I walked over to where the seed bags were and tried to lift them both. It didn’t happen. I never thought of myself as a weakling, but after struggling with the bucket of water the day before and now not being able to lift the bags Kenny had carried a hundred yards by himself, I realized I probably should have been hitting the weights more these last few years.

Kenny stretched and then took hold of the one of the bags. Together we secured them to the back of Ted’s horse.

While we did, four men came down the drive from the house and delivered two huge sacks of wheat.

“Les says that will feed five thousand,” one of the men said. “There is enough for two plantings. Hope you have the means to flour it.”

One of the other men chuckled and spit on the ground. The other three turned and walked back to the house. The spitter closed the gate and locked it with a heavy lock.

Ted and Anne removed the saddles from Bonnie and Clyde and set them on the ground. Then they loaded one of the bags of grain onto Bonnie while Kenny and I loaded the other bag on Clyde. The horses didn’t seem to mind the weight, and I figured as much as they were capable of carrying, it probably wasn’t any different than having a rider on their back.

“Get the saddle and let’s get going,” Ted said. “I want to make town before noon if possible.”

I looked at Anne. She already had her saddle up on her shoulder. She smiled and pointed at the saddle that had been on Clyde.

I sighed and picked up the saddle. It wasn’t as heavy as the seed, but I knew I would be worn out by the time we got to town. I put it on my shoulder and tried not to think about how far it would be.

Kenny led both Bonnie and Clyde, which was a great relief to me.

“We need to get these crops in the ground as quickly as possible,” Ted said. “We should have a few hundred pounds of radishes coming up in a couple of weeks. We can add some small game meat and make a stew, but we will need more substantial food.”

“He said he hoped we could turn the wheat into flour. Can we?” Anne asked.

Kenny looked over to her. “We can, if folks will listen to what I tell them. I know how to grind out grains into flour, but we will have to do it by hand unless we can find a couple of millstones.”

“Won’t that take a lot of effort?” I asked. “I mean, more than it may be worth?”

Ted laughed. “You will never taste a better bite of bread than the first bite you take from a loaf you brought from seedling to oven.”

“You’ve done it before, then?”

“Yep, that’s why the town called us crazy. We prepared for a time like this.”

“You’re still crazy,” said Anne. She smiled at Ted as she said it, though.

“That I am. And Lester. And Kenny. Maybe not Kenny. He actually went through an end of the world experience. Me and Lester, we just read about them and realized how horrible it would be should it happen.”

“And based on what could happen, you built your life around it?” I asked.

“Well,” Ted said, “if I could survive in a moneyless society based on barter and my skills, I knew I could survive in a society where money was easy to get and even easier to trade for what I wanted.”

Kenny nodded. “It’s easy to buy a pound of hamburger from a man when the piece of paper you give him will let him replace what he sold and leave him some profit. Try buying it when he can’t replace it and his family will starve without it.”

“I see what you mean,” I said.

“So you decided since you could survive when there was a collapse, then you should be able to survive before there was one,” Anne added.

“Correct,” Ted confirmed.

“But didn’t you want more than survival?” Anne asked.

“I did once,” Kenny said. “I thought I could somehow have a big life. Fancy cars, big house, money would be no concern. Then Katrina done washed away all of those dreams. Good thing too, cause I wasn’t heading to those things. I was barely surviving, but I didn’t realize it.”

“So what about after Katrina? What did you do?” I asked.

“My sister had her husband take off on her after she had her third, so I figured maybe she could use some help. Honestly, I needed help to, and I figured she might be able to get me enough cash to get back to New Orleans or maybe Atlanta and I could start over.

“But when I got here, she was just dirt poor. I asked why she wasn’t on food stamps or assistance, and she slapped me. She asked me if I had no brains at all. I was mad, but she was my little sister, so I asked her what she meant.

“She told me it was because I relied on other people that I almost died in New Orleans. I was waiting on someone else to get me out of the pit I was in. She said I had been living that way since I left home.