Nathan Jones - Shortage

According to their friend the Mayor organized these kinds of town get-togethers often, searching for anything that didn’t take too much needless effort from the townspeople or resources from the town to lift spirits however she could. Since movies only took solar power and the radios and lights for the storehouse and town hall didn’t take quite as much as was produced, there was nothing preventing them from making use of Lewis’s massive collection of entertainment.

In fact, Catherine had suggested this become a tradition every evening after sundown, since means of producing light were difficult for the people of Aspen Hill to come by and it was a rare person who could sleep through all the dark hours of night. This would give them something to do before bedtime.

It was small surprise that the storehouse was packed that night, people crowding the floor on blankets in front and on chairs brought from the auditorium in back. And although the room had a heater it wasn’t needed, and in fact halfway through the movie the doors at the front of the store, the back of the impromptu theater, were thrown open to let in some fresh air.

Trev and Lewis sat with the Larsons, awkwardly reveling in their hero status as the bringer of movies both before the movie began and after it ended. “They probably could’ve done this without us,” Lewis whispered after another family from the town came by to welcome them back during the end credits. “The library has plenty of old movies and TV shows to lend.”

“Maybe they didn’t think of it until you suggested it as an option,” Trev whispered back. “People struggling to survive aren’t going to be wondering about the possibility of seeing a movie, especially when they don’t personally have the resources or knowhow to pull it off.”

There was a bit of socializing in the storehouse after the movie ended, as Chauncey turned on the lights and shut off the projector. After being alone aside from the company of his cousin Trev felt a bit overwhelmed at being the center of attention, and he knew Lewis had to be feeling it even worse. Luckily the Larsons rescued them from the crowd by suggesting they had a long walk back to the shelter and the boys were already asleep.

On the way up the street towards home Matt, carrying Aaron in his arms, sped up to catch up to Trev and Lewis walking at the front of the group. “So,” he whispered, mindful of his sleeping nephew, “you guys ready to get back to work?”

Trev gave his friend a confused look, while Lewis sighed. “You’re speaking as the leader of the town’s defenses, right?”

Matt shrugged a bit sheepishly with his free shoulder. “I’ve got to be honest, we’re short on manpower. Most people are too busy trying to stay alive to worry about external threats. And to be fair, since Razor’s attack we’ve only had a few incidents that really required the use of force. I wouldn’t say people have gotten complacent, but patrolling the town has definitely dropped pretty low on the list of priorities.”

“With the weather warming up everyone should start worrying about it more,” Lewis said. “People will be on the move again, searching for someplace where they won’t starve to death. Or at least searching for people who have enough for them to steal to survive another day. And any groups of marauders who holed up for the winter will be out and about now.”

“That’s a yes, then?” their friend asked. Trev nodded along with Lewis. “Good. Lewis, I’d like you to start on patrols again. We were patrolling in pairs for a while but unfortunately we don’t have enough people to do that anymore. Although while you’re learning the new routes Jane’s agreed to patrol with you.” He grinned. “Just be ready to take detours to hunt game. She likes to have a meal to bring home by the end of her shift.”

“I’m just fine taking patrols with Jane too,” Trev said quickly, slightly irked that Matt had paired her with Lewis. His cousin shot him an amused look.

Matt shook his head. “If you don’t mind I’d like you to rotate through the three roadblocks for a while.”

Trev slowed down. “You’re kidding. Even if you’re short-manned on patrols you’ve got to have people willing to sit behind some cars across the road for a few hours.”

His friend snorted. “I do. That’s the whole problem.” They both looked at him, and he made an annoyed sound. “What’s the most likely route people are going to take into town? And if enemies with vehicles did attack us, where would they be coming from? The roads. You obviously think the roadblocks are a vacation and that’s the problem… so does everyone else. The shifts there always have plenty of volunteers, the problem is people are treating it like a gossip circle. They just sit around chitchatting the entire time and barely even look past the roadblock.”

“So why me? I’d rather be patrolling with J—” Trev cut off, feeling his face flush, “with just my two feet and a lot of open ground to cover.”

Matt smirked at him. “You don’t have to dodge around it, I know you’ve got the hots for Jane.” Trev opened his mouth to protest and his friend kept going. “And I’d love to pair you two together, but I won’t for two reasons: one, I need someone serious at the roadblocks to try to get everyone back doing their jobs. No matter what I say they mostly ignore me and keep gossiping. You’re more easygoing than Lewis so you’d get along better, but you’d also take it seriously and have a better chance of convincing them to take it seriously too.”

His friend fell silent. “What’s the second reason?” Trev asked.

“Jane prefers to patrol alone.”

That didn’t make any sense. “You just said she’s going to show Lewis the routes.”

Matt coughed carefully. “That’s because Lewis didn’t spend the entire trip down the mountain following her around trying to talk to her.”

Trev gaped. “I barely talked to her a dozen times, and I always made sure I had a good reason!”

“Her words, not mine.”

It took a few seconds for him to pick up the pieces of his dashed hopes. “I guess that means she doesn’t like me,” he said ruefully.

His friend clapped him on the shoulder. “No, she just doesn’t want to talk to you. Don’t take it personally, she doesn’t want to talk to anyone, including me. She and Lewis will probably spend the entire time not saying a single word and both will be happy as clams.”

“You know I’m right here, right?” Lewis asked.

Trev sighed. “I’ll try to get the roadblocks in order. You’ll probably want me to start soon, right?”

“First thing tomorrow morning at Roadblock 3.” Matt clapped him on the shoulder. “Look on the bright side, at least you won’t have to walk around.”

“I like walking,” he grumbled, but he wasn’t really complaining.

The next morning Matt and Lewis left the shelter early, his friend to get things back in order as he resumed responsibility for the town’s defenses, and his cousin to find Jane and learn the new patrol routes.

Trev didn’t need to be at the roadblocks for another few hours, so after sleeping in as long as possible he got up and helped Sam, April, and Mrs. Larson cook breakfast. He did his best to hide the fact that he brought more food to the stove than he needed for himself, and mixed it in with what they were cooking so they’d have more than the palm-sized cakes they were getting by on. He wasn’t a very good actor, but luckily they didn’t bring it up.

After breakfast he did a tour around the shelter, checking the shipping container shed and its contents. Lewis had replaced the destroyed lock on the door with one of the set he’d also used to lock the hideout, the icehouse, and in case everyone was away from the shelter the front door as well, like they had last night. Although they didn’t plan to leave the shelter unattended that often: even last night Matt’s dad had insisted he wasn’t in the mood for movies halfway through and had returned to bundle up in the observation post keeping watch.