Joshua Gayou - Commune - The Complete Series - A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Box Set (Books 1-4)

Edgar was quiet as he considered this. The statement was delivered in a friendly, offhand manner. I couldn’t help feeling as though there was a message buried underneath it, though I wasn’t sure who it might be intended for. Maybe all of us.

“The intent is that this property be our property,” Jake elaborated. “The Bowl, as Amanda calls it, will be the home of everyone. Our land, our responsibility, with each person holding an equal share. The only limitation I must set,” he looked down at the brim of his glass and rubbed it with a thumbnail, “is that this cabin remains a private residence. This isn’t a community center; this is the home Amanda and I fought for to protect. I don’t think we’re ready to turn it into a clubhouse. I feel as though it’s only fair to be clear on that point up front.”

A few of the men nodded, though Edgar remained thoughtfully silent.

Jake cleared his throat. “Everything else is open to carve up as seems best to you all, with the exception of a tree that I’ll show you all later.”

“A tree?” Gibs asked.

“Billy’s Tree,” I supplied.

“Oh… understood.”

“Can I refill your glass for you, Edgar?” Jake asked. He was smiling again.

Edgar looked down at his glass, then back up at Jake sidelong from the corner of his eyes. “Thank you, but no. I should go slowly.”

“What if we’re not interested?” Wang asked.

“That’s fine,” Jake shrugged. “You’ll all still be welcome to spend the night, although we’ll have to insist that you make plans to leave in due course. We can’t afford to feed such a large group for very long if you won’t be staying, you see.”

“How much food is on hand?” Gibs asked, looking up again.

“That would be one of the first problems we’ll have to address if you do stay,” Jake said. “For three people, we’re good to get through the winter. Should you all decide to join us; there isn’t enough food to get through two months.”

Gibs scoffed. “That’s a pretty big a—uh, a big problem, wouldn’t you say?”

“It is, and yet it’s still manageable. There was about six months’ worth of provisions when we first came here. Since then, we’ve managed to sock away an additional two. That’s with only one person scavenging on select days out of each week; we were also going out for other stuff like gas, tools, gear, and so on. On top of that, we’ve been eating from those stores while we’ve been adding to them. All that considered we’ve been here about four months with only one person ever gathering food for less than half that time, in a half-hearted fashion at that. With organized, motivated teams, I believe that those numbers could be drastically improved.”

“He’s making good points,” George said. “Not all of us could go out,” he held up his cane in illustration, “but many could. We could get a lot done together.”

“I’m not sure we want to just jump in with both feet here, guys,” Edgar interrupted.

Gibs held his hands out. “Stop. Just hang on a second. Before we go any further, we’d all better go over this with the rest of the group.”

“Of course,” Jake agreed. “An answer doesn’t have to happen immediately. We’ll make room for you all to sleep here tonight, obviously. If you decide to stay with us, we can see to more permanent solutions tomorrow.”

Jake leaned forward, placed his glass on the low coffee table, and stood, signaling that the meeting or interview or whatever the hell it was that we just had was over. The rest of them placed their glasses on the table as well and began to shuffle from the room. Among them, Gibs stopped to turn and look at both of us. “Thanks. For the food and the drinks. I, uh… Just thanks.”

Jake nodded, and I said, “You’re welcome,” feeling like an ass for making such a stink about them showing up earlier. Gibs shut the door behind them as they stepped out onto the porch.

“So what was all that business with the whiskey and the vodka?” I asked.

Jake, who had settled back down into his chair, grunted softly but did not look up to return my gaze. With all of the people having left the room, he had quit smiling like a goofball all the time, reverting instead to a Jake smile; a tightening around his eyes and a raised eyebrow. They say you can spot an evil man because he’ll smile only with his mouth but not his eyes. Whether that’s true or not, Jake smiles only with his eyes when he’s being genuine.

Instead of answering me, he instead asked, “What did you see, please?”

I sat down on the couch across from Jake so I could look straight at him. “None of the right guys want to be in charge in that group, that’s what.”

“Mmm,” Jake nodded. “That’s a good point. I was having a hard time pinpointing who to focus on, but that makes things much clearer. Gibs is probably as close as it gets but did you see him when he recounted Denver? I believe he’s taken the reins only because he refuses to trust anyone else.”

“Oh, trust issues? Do you think that will be a problem?”

“Potentially, but not because he’s malicious. He’ll have a hard time living with himself after Kyle and Jessica; he’s considering civilian deaths his own personal fault.”

“Civilian?” I said.

“Yes, he’s still very much a Marine in his mind.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I picked my glass up off the table to give my hands something to do. Finally, I held it up and asked, “So, are you going to explain your big performance to me, or what?”

He shrugged again. “Edgar gave me an opportunity, really. I took it.”

“An opportunity for what?”

Jake finally looked in my direction. He seemed tired. “To get a sense of who he is. He was a bit of a question mark before then.”

I couldn’t even begin to figure out what Jake had discovered through his little act and lacked the energy to spend on it. “Fill me in.”

“He’s a coward who has convinced himself that he’s brave. He’ll see to his own needs first. Unfortunately, the group is a package deal. He’ll need watching.”

After the meeting with Jake and Amanda, the four of us gathered everyone else together out by the food tables, which by then had been completely cleaned of any food. Not a scrap was left; everyone had made it a point to eat everything they could carry. I saw more than a few food blisters with guts pushing out past their belts.

The kids were perfectly happy to hang out on the porch, so we left them alone, which was probably best anyway given our discussion. The exception here were the Page brothers (Greg and Alan). You could legitimately argue either that they were kids or adults based on any number of factors. They had both insisted on being included in our conversation, which cemented them as adults for me.

George, Wang, Edgar, and I laid out the whole discussion for everyone else to consider in short order. I think we all did a pretty good job. Editorializing was kept to a minimum in favor of relaying solid facts. When we had finished, George, who was leaning against one of the tables, asked everyone what they thought.

“It sounds pretty good to me, honestly,” said Fred. “I mean, I don’t know what the rest of y’all think, but I’m sick and tired of not having a place. First, it was a damned grocery store, and now we’re living on a school bus? The hell of it is I don’t even know which of those is worse.”

“There isn’t actually a place for us to stay, here,” Monica said, looking around at everyone. “It’s a big valley, a single house, and a giant garage. You can bet they’re not putting all of us in the house. They gonna stick us in the garage or are we just on our own on the bus?”