The Crash Box Set, page 24
part #1 of EMP Crash Series
“It was the most horrible thing I'd ever seen. And I hate how he uses these hoses as weapons. Ever since then nobody has tried.”
“Are his wife and child still here?”
Chris nodded, “But she never speaks, and I don't blame her. I'm not sure the kid understands either. It's a hell of a thing to be in this world in the first place, let alone a place like this. I barely understand it myself.”
“Haven't you ever tried working together to try fighting back against him? There are enough of you here that if you made a concerted effort I'm sure you could rebel.” Chris inhaled deeply and looked at Mack with a frank expression.
“Look, I know your type, and I appreciate that you don't want to be here, I really do, and I wish you all the best. But you have to understand we're just a bunch of ordinary, scared people. We weren't much in our old lives, and we're not much now. We're not used to fighting, and for a lot of us the fact we're alive, when so many other people we knew are dead, is enough.”
“I wonder if they would be proud that you're making so much of your life when they didn’t get a chance to breathe again.” Mack said, and moved away. It was perhaps a little harsh, but he didn't like what he had heard.
Grace was with a group who were sorting through the food and sending it to various storage areas. A number of people were working there and she was sitting next to a plump woman who seemed to maintain what passed for a cheery expression. Grace wasn't used to starting conversations, but she tried remembering what she had learned from Mack.
“So, have you been here long?” she asked.
“A little while, I suppose. Probably longer than I would have liked.”
“You don't seem like the others.”
“In what way?”
Grace made a passing glance around the room. “They're all unhappy. Their shoulders are hunched; they barely look up. That one over there doesn't ever talk.”
“Well, she's got her own story. Something terrible happened to her husband. I'm just trying to make the best of a bad situation. Figure if I keep my head down and do a good job I might get rewarded. They're not so bad, really. If you just keep out of their way they let you get on with things.”
“Try telling that to the people they bully,” Grace spat.
“Now, look here young lady. I don't need you coming in here with your high and mighty attitude, judging me. There ain't nobody in this world who is free of sin. That's as true now as it was before, and the way I see it you either can brood like them and be miserable or try making the best of it. I've seen enough misery in my life to know which way I want to go.”
“So you don't want to even try escaping?”
“Escape? Escape to what?” the woman said with a sneer, her full lip curling up, making the fine peach fuzz above her lip twitch.
“You think there's anything out there? No way. I'm not going to risk all this just so I can go and starve out there.”
“But what about all the people who are suffering?”
“That's their problem. If you want to feel bad for them so be it, but at the end of the day we've all gotta sleep at night and I'm not going to lose any dreams over it. You want a medal for feeling bad? Boo! Hoo! Keep your head down, work hard, and you'll do alright. The more things change, the more they stay the same,” she said, and Grace felt disheartened by what she was hearing.
When it had been just the three of them in the forest it had been easy to forget how selfish and uncaring people could be, even in the face of such injustice. Mack's optimism had rubbed off on her and she had started believing there was a way out for all of them. Now her well-worn cynicism was back with a vengeance and as she worked she looked around at all those who had been engulfed by misery, and wondered if the suffering was all worth it. Maybe this woman had it all figured out, and Grace was a little jealous of her for being able to ignore her conscience.
Luis was with a group of people who were fetching and chopping wood from the nearby forest. It was hard, sweaty work, and he found himself thirsty long before it was time for his first water break. He had taken off his shirt, like most of the others, and his body was glistening with sweat. He had been paired with another young man who looked a little like Steve, the one who had been guarding them. As they spoke, Luis found out that a man called Danny was Steve's eldest brother, and the fire in his eyes had been tempered.
“So your brother is a guard?” Luis asked as he set a piece of wood up on the base of the trunk.
Danny nodded as he swung the axe back and let it roll over his shoulder, through the air, ultimately crashing down and chopping the chunk of wood in half. Luis bent down to collect the fallen chunks and put them in the pile.
“Sure you don't want another go?” Danny asked as Luis picked up another piece of wood.
“My shoulder still is aching from the last one, I think I'll give it a pass for now,” he said.
“There's only one way you're going to get used to it,” Danny said, and cut another piece of wood in half.
“I was hoping I wasn't going to be here long enough to get used to it.”
“Well, good luck with that.”
“So how come Steve was chosen to be a guard and you weren't?” Luis asked.
“That's the way they do things around here. They take the youngest and make them one of theirs, which makes it unlikely they will fight back. It's not so easy to fight against the guards when you know a lot of them are made up of people like your kid brother.”
“You ever thought of fighting back?”
“All the time, but it's hopeless. That's why I like that they assigned me to this job. I get to work out my anger,” and on cue he let the axe fall once again. This time he handed it to Luis.
“If you don't practice you're never going to get good, and they'll reassign you. They don't like dead weight around here.”
Luis reluctantly took the heavy axe and tried ignoring the throbbing in his shoulder and the dull ache of his muscles. Danny set the wood on the trunk. Luis wound his arm back and let the axe fall. Unlike Danny's smooth strokes, the axe lodged itself in the wood at an angle, and created an ugly gash. Luis, with Danny's help, pulled the axe away and Danny gave him a few pointers about how to create a smoother motion.
“I saw your brother. He was the one who brought us our food. He seems like a good kid.”
“He is, and I hate what they've done to him.”
“If there was a way to fight back, would you do it?”
“As long as my brother didn't get hurt, yes.”
This time when Luis brought the axe down it cut straight through the middle, and he couldn't help but feel a certain amount of pride at having accomplished the task.
“You know, I spoke with my brother the other day. He told me about you, and the guy you're with.”
“Mack?” Danny nodded.
“Said he was different from the others, like he has a plan or something.”
“Mack always has a plan. He saved me, you know; I was being held captive by some crazy people. I'm sure he can do the same for you.”
“It won't be easy.”
“That's why we'll need people like you helping us,” Luis said. Danny paused a little before he put another block of wood on the trunk and told Luis to swing again.
Chapter 13
When the group of them were together again they all discussed what they had learned. Mack was encouraged to hear from Luis, who told him there were people willing to help if they had a plan, but shared Grace's heavy heart about how many were willing to ignore the suffering of others for the sake of their own comfort, although he couldn't necessarily blame them. Saul remained disconsolate and uncommunicative, so Mack let him be for a while. He told the others to keep uncovering as much information as they could, to make note of guard patterns, and anyone who could prove to be a weak link, as well as finding out who they could trust if it came to the point of starting a rebellion.
While he worked, Mack noticed Steve was guarding the armory, which was not far away from the horses' paddock. He often made contact with the boy, greeting him with a smile and a wave. Steve looked uneasy, but always returned the gesture. On this occasion, Mack wandered over to speak to him, much to the consternation of Chris. Most of the vicious guards were occupied elsewhere, so there wasn't anyone to object to Mack's movements. Since Mack had made no moves to disrupt the way of life at the camp, attention around him was starting to be relaxed.
“Hey Steve, how's it going?” Mack asked.
“It's okay,” the boy mumbled, looking around worriedly.
“Don't worry, I'm not going to get you in trouble, I just wanted to have a chat. It turns out Luis is working with your brother, Danny. Small world, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“So what's your story? How did you and yours come to be here?” Steve shrugged.
“We were just walking along and we came across a wagon filled with food. Danny wanted to take some but Mom said we shouldn't because even though the world has ended we're still humans. Then a man said, 'You should listen to your mom, boys.' and he was holding a gun. Mom apologized, so he said it was okay and he offered us some food. Then we got to talking and he told us how he was part of a settlement that was looking for more good people. It was just the three of us. Dad worked on an oil rig and he was out there when all this happened. I guess he's dead now...but Mom took care of us. When we heard about this place it seemed too good to be true, and it had been so long since we had seen other people. So, we came here with them and then it turned out to be this and, well, we couldn't leave again,” Steve said.
Mack felt sorry for the boy. It was a story similar to what he was hearing all over the place. People had been promised a friendly community filled with good people, and all they got was a base where a bully could use them to make him feel like a benevolent dictator.
“What are you doing here? Get back over with the horses!” the man with no name said, standing in between Mack and Steve.
“You go for a little stroll and people start thinking they can take liberties,” the man said, shaking his head.
Mack looked at Steve, then at the man, and realized it was better for him to walk away. However, as he did so he heard the man with no name scold Steve, and Mack stopped. He shook his head, knowing he should keep moving and keep his head down, but he could not. The man with no name was talking loudly, making an example and an exhibit of Steve and the abuse of this young man was something Mack could not condone. So he turned slowly.
“I don't think you want to be doing that,” Mack said with a resolved sigh.
“Excuse me?” the man with no name said, turning his attention from Steve. The young man was quaking in his boots and he looked at Mack, shaking his head, but Mack already had gone too far to back down now.
“He's just a kid. You don't need to treat him like that, and I'm not the kind of man that will stand by while you do.”
“Is that so? Well, while you're here you're the kind of man who will shovel horseshit. So I don't particularly care what you think of my behavior. I don't need your approval.”
“No, but you do need a doctor.”
The man with no name creased his brow as Mack drew back his fist and thumped him on the side of his face, making the man's mouth fill with blood. He crumpled to the ground and spat out a mixture of blood and enamel as he yelled with fury at Mack, pushing himself back up to his feet. He swung at Mack, who easily dodged his blows and countered with a few jabs to the mid-section, and then clubbed his two fists together, bringing them down on the back of the man with no name.
Everyone watched with a mixture of awe and fear as they had not seen acts like this end well for the aggressor. Indeed, before the man could return to his feet, Mack was strong-armed by two burly guards who looked at Steve with disappointment. They thought he should have done something to break up the fight. Mack was hauled off to solitary, which took the form of an uncomfortable box on the east side of the camp where the sun beat down on it, and where everyone could be reminded of his crime.
For Mack, it wasn't the first time he had been subjected to such torture techniques, but those had been at the hands of militant groups. This was a supposedly enlightened community and it only made him more convinced he had to do something about Mr. Smith quickly before the man caused any more harm. There had been far too much suffering at his hands in the world already. Mack would have to work quickly if he was to stem the flow of evil. He hoped his act of standing up to the man with no name would galvanize some of those who had lost hope, and much would depend on how he acted when he emerged from the box.
The box was thick and heavy, and he could hear muffled noises from outside, but nothing clear. At one point, he thought he heard Grace protesting but he wasn't sure if it was actually her, or just his imagination. He was in there for hours, and not once did anyone come to give him water or food. As such, his throat soon was dry, and it was made all the worse by his sweat dripping down the angles of his face and slipping in between his lips. The box was small, meaning he had to cram his body in awkwardly, and there was no easy way for him to adjust his position.
The holes that allowed air to move through also meant the sun streamed in, and on this particularly hot day he could feel the heat rising, as though he was caught in an oven. He felt fortunate he had training to help him endure his time in the box. Other people would not have been so fortunate, and he hated the idea of them being punished in this manner. For all of Mr. Smith's boasts about how he wanted to showcase the best of humanity, he was doing his best to illustrate the worst, most barbaric parts of himself.
When Mack finally emerged from the box, his friends were there to support him, but he waved them away. In the background, he heard Mr. Smith giving a speech, but he was too exhausted to care. However, he stood up straight and staggered back to his tent, hoping to show the people they did not have to bend their wills to survive.
Since they had been at the camp for a while now and, aside from that incident with Mack, had not caused any trouble, they were allowed to eat dinner outside their tent. This involved everyone sitting around the huge bonfire and tearing at the slabs of meat they were given. For the work they were putting in, the meal did not seem a fair compensation, especially when they had witnessed how well Mr. Smith was eating, but it did not surprise them. It was also a good opportunity to meet new people and spread the word.
Mack's actions had caught many people's attention, and the way they had been speaking with people meant he was growing famous. On this evening, they were sitting close to a group of people who were fairly similar to themselves. Once they got to talking they exchanged the usual questions of how they got there, and Mack told them they were on their way to the city. At hearing this, the group whispered among themselves. They soon revealed they actually had traveled in the opposite direction, away from the city. Mack's group looked at them with eager curiosity and bombarded them with questions.
“I'll be happy to tell you all I know,” said the leader, an older black woman with thick gray hair, “but I'm not sure you're going to like it. Everyone went crazy. Police were on the streets, calling for calm, but nobody was listening. People were stealing things from shops at first, but they soon realized it was useless.”
The group's faces fell. “Didn't anyone try working together?” Mack asked, crestfallen.
“Some did, but the bad people got their hands on the guns. The police were overwhelmed. I don't know what happened to the people in charge. They were nowhere to be seen. I remember the hospital was still busy. People still were going there and, thank God for the doctors, they stuck to their jobs, trying to help people. But it was, it was dark. I was standing in my apartment looking out on the world burning, and I couldn't quite believe it. It was so surreal, like something out of a movie.
“I knew I had to get out of there. So I called on some people from my apartment block and we all just decided to get out of town. There was gunfire in the distance, explosions...I felt bad for the people who were trying to do some good, but everyone seemed to see it as a free-for-all. I don't know what happened after that. Maybe everything calmed down, but I tell you, even though this place isn't exactly heaven, at least nobody is trying to blow up things every couple of minutes.”
Mack thanked her for giving him information about the city, and as he turned back to his own group he spared a thought for his wife. He hoped she had managed to make it through the riots, as there were surely some in her city as well. It was difficult to maintain hope in such a bleak world, and he could see the despair written on the faces of the others. He knew the longer they stayed here the harder it would be to keep them motivated.
“Maybe it's best we didn't make it to the city,” Luis said.
“Whatever happened in the city is probably over by now,” Mack said in a firm tone.
“It's not ideal, but I'm not giving up hope on humanity yet. If we're going to find anything to help us then it's going to be there. But right now, we need to focus on getting out of here. You've all done well at keeping your heads down, and I don't know if you've noticed, but they're letting us have more and more freedom around here. I think we can get a few more people to join us. Once we have enough we can start fighting back, and we can get on the road again.”
“Should we even try?” Luis said, much to Mack’s dismay.
“I mean, I don't want to sound defeatist or anything, but there are a lot of people who are content to leave things as they are. There's food here, shelter, and they only treat you badly if you resist them. Maybe it's just easier to go along with it, at least for the time being.”
“Easier, yes, but usually it turns out that the right thing to do isn't easy. Don't forget who these people are and what they've done. They've killed. They’ve forced people to help them after making false promises. They’ve threatened those who have resources they need. Think about Margaret and her family. Would they want you to make the easy choice, or would they want you to try helping them so they actually can work for themselves, and not for Mr. Smith and his followers? I'm not letting him get away with this,” Mack said, and Luis looked suitably chastised.
