Nathan Jones - Fuel

“I have a feeling we’ve been gone too long,” Trev said grimly.

Matt tried to smile in spite of the adrenaline pumping through his system. “At least this time it’s not the cops taking our stuff.”

His friend surreptitiously patted his underarm holster, where he had the empty .357. “And at least they didn’t frisk us. For once I get to walk away from a shakedown without losing my gun.”

“What do you think they meant about Ferris and no one having guns?” Terry asked in a phlegmy voice.

Trev shook his head. “We’ll find out soon.”

Matt was slightly alarmed when they hiked the entire rest of the way to Aspen Hill without seeing anyone. Where were the patrols? It was bad enough that Razor was robbing people just outside of town, but if there was nobody defending the place he could just waltz right in and start looting houses or who knew what else.

At the edge of town were the houses on larger plots of land, widely separated and usually connected to the gravel road by dirt or gravel driveways. They walked several blocks before they reached their first paved street, and to Matt’s shock he saw a dark-haired woman walking along it towards them. That shock turned to elation when he recognized her, then a little bit of worry as he thought about how close she was to the edge of town with no one between her and Razor’s thugs.

Sam had been looking down at her feet, but when she finally looked up and saw them she slowed to a halt in the middle of the street, staring at Matt with wide eyes. He gently extricated himself from Terry and started forward, calling her name, and at that she gave a happy cry and rushed forward to throw her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder.

He returned the embrace awkwardly, looking down at her with surprise. Not to mention a surprising amount of his own happiness at seeing her. As they hugged the others reached them and gathered around, and April gave him a strained but genuine smile. When the hug still continued his sister mouthed “see you at home” and hurriedly ushered the others on down the street to give them some space. Or maybe to get Terry to their parents’ house where she could make him more comfortable.

They were almost out of sight before Sam finally pulled back, cheeks a bit pink at her show of affection but still smiling broadly. “I’m so glad you’re back! We’ve all been worried sick about you since you left, waiting each day for you to make it home with no way of contacting you to find out if you were okay.”

It surprised him how good it felt to hear that she’d been worried. It was also surprising that in spite of the hardship she must’ve suffered she somehow looked even more lovely and alive than he remembered. “It was a long and hungry walk and we saw some terrible things, but we didn’t run into any real trouble.” He kept the encounter just outside of town to himself.

Her beaming smile abruptly slipped. “Oh, you probably want to get home and see your parents and then finally get some rest. I was going to go help the Widow Harris since she told your mom she’s got a whole garden of root vegetables, carrots and potatoes and beets and radishes, that need harvesting. She said if I help her dig them up she’ll give me a quarter of them.” Her smile slipped even more, coming perilously close to a frown. “I want to come back with you, but I already said I’d help and we could really use that food.”

“I’m not that tired,” Matt said, which was nearly true since it was still early in the day. But even if he was exhausted he would’ve agreed to endure being pummeled by 2x4s for a chance to spend more time with her. “How about I come and help you?”

Sam gave him a hopeful look, but immediately shook her head. “I can’t ask that of you. Not after traveling for so long.”

On impulse he took her hand and started back down the road. Mrs. Harris’s house was only a few blocks away, and even the work of digging would seem like a vacation compared to the endless walking. Or at least a change.

She didn’t protest anymore, seeming happy to walk along beside him holding his hand. Her own hand was small and soft in his, aside from some calluses on her palms from the hard work she must’ve been doing while he was gone. After a short, contented silence between them she abruptly spoke. “I can’t believe how much in my life has changed because of asking you to let me come south with you. Everything would be different now if I’d lost my nerve and stayed in my dorm.”

Matt smiled at her. “Regretting not finding somewhere else to hitch a ride to?”

“Are you kidding?” she asked incredulously. “I’d probably be a refugee like one of those poor people out in the camp, if not worse. You have no idea how fortunate I feel that I found you, that you and your parents were willing to welcome in a complete stranger as practically family.”

Her eyes darted away from his face timidly, then back to meet his gaze. “Actually I was sort of wondering if you regretted it. I pretty much tossed my stuff in your car and said I was coming along, and since then I’ve been nothing but a burden when your family already has enough to deal with.”

“Now you’re the one who’s kidding,” Matt chided gently, squeezing her hand. “You provided the gas, remember? And ever since we got here you’ve been doing everything you could to help around the house and out in town. I mean you were on your way to do some serious shoveling to earn food to feed the family when I saw you. If you’re a burden I’d be happy to carry you anywhere.”

Sam’s cheeks flushed again, and Matt abruptly felt embarrassed at the sappy comment. But then her wide smile returned and she squeezed his hand back, turning to look forward again. The contented silence settled between them once more, and in spite of all his weariness and worry Matt couldn’t think of many times when he’d been this happy.

He was home. April and her family were home. And in spite of the hardships ahead they weren’t refugees. They had a home, a family, and a community willing to support each other. “So any news about the town?” he finally asked. “Have you all been doing all right?”

She hesitated, looking over at him. “We have. The, um, City Council finished crunching some numbers recently and discovered that if the winter was mild, we butchered livestock and were able to forage like we have been, and we severely reduced our rations during the coldest days, about 80% of the town has enough food to last until spring.”

Matt wondered how she felt about that. For him, especially after seeing and even being part of the sea of humanity moving through the cities up north, that number seemed phenomenal. As long as his family was on the right side of it. “That’s better than I’d hoped.”

She nodded, then hesitated again. “That was before a FETF relief convoy came with a truck full of food, though.”

“Here?” Matt demanded, surprised. He would’ve expected them to send all their aid to Price, since he’d heard that’s where refugees were being taken in.

“Here,” Sam solemnly confirmed. “Yesterday at around noon. They forced us to take down the roadblock and Ferris, that’s the administrator, took over the town and claimed the storehouse as his base of operations. There’s a lot of people worrying that he’s going to give all the food in there plus everything in the truck to the refugees out in the camp. He’s starting a ration line tomorrow and everyone’s allowed through. From what I hear a lot of the newly arriving refugees who’d otherwise have kept going down to Price are now sticking around because of the ration line, hoping to get fed.”

From his own experience with FETF and what his sister had told him Matt could almost guarantee that was what they were going to do. “Up north they were confiscating all the food from anyone with more than two weeks’ storage,” he grimly told her. “April and her family lost everything and had to go to the refugee camps even though they would’ve been pretty well off.”