After The Past - 3. Chapter 3

After The Past

Chapter 3

Jim slept in the now-spare room while Jae and I held each other through what was, for me, a very long night. He slept and I dozed, but each creak and groan of the house kept me on alert. I fell asleep just as it started to get light. Jae moved beside me and I felt him get up. I started to, but he kissed me and pushed me back.

“You didn’t sleep, Dave. I’ll start things; get the chores going. You rest, baby.”

I didn’t argue. He covered me up and I just stayed where I was.

Next time I woke it was to the wonderful aroma of coffee and something else—something sweet and my body reacted to both. I got up, dressed and traipsed downstairs. Jim and Jae were sitting at the kitchen table with coffee and a plate of what smelled like blueberry muffins. My saliva glands were telling me how lucky I was to have Jae around. Soon my taste buds agreed—the muffins were bursting with wild blueberries. They were heaven.

We sat chatting—ignoring the reason Jim was with us, until I asked about his past.

“I just worked on my parents ranch until they died and then on my own. It was a lonely life. All I had was work and the animals. Never got lucky enough to meet anyone.”

“So what happened? Why did you leave there?” Jae asked.

“Well, I’d been away at the river fishing for the morning. When I came back, my animals were gone or slaughtered. Crops pulled out or burned, house and barn too.”

I saw the tears in the man’s eyes as he told us his story.

“Pedro had been with me or he’d be dead too. I followed them, they don’t move too quick. I decided to move on past when I saw how many there were. Decided to move on to Canada and maybe tell a few folks along the way.” Jim swallowed the last of his coffee.

Jae picked blueberries out of his muffin. “So what’s in Canada? I mean why go so far?”

“I guess I’m just hoping those assholes won’t go that far.” Then he said. “It’s been nice meetin’ you both. I’m going up the highway, straight up to the border. I’ll stop sometimes and leave a message on a sign for you both every once in a while.”

Jim got to his feet, as did we, and shook our hands.

“Good luck.”

Jae and I walked him out. Jae gave Jim a bag with bread, hard-cooked eggs and some muffins for the road.

I held my hand over my eyes to block the sun as Jim mounted Pedro. I felt sadness at his going, even though we’d only known each other for a short time.

Jim nodded to us again, turned Pedro and kicked him to a trot. We watched them until they disappeared.

I reached for Jae’s hand and leaned in to kiss him.

“Dave, you think we’ll see him again?”

We began to walk back to the house. “Don’t know. I hope so. He’s a decent man and they are in short supply.”

It was early still and our morning chores were done. The hay needed harvesting but I had to borrow one or two of Barry’s scythes to cut it. It needs to be done by hand because gasoline for the tractor is scarce, and well, there just isn’t the right equipment in the neighborhood.

We needed to go and talk to Barry anyway, so I rounded up Jae and we walked over to see him.

It was a beautiful day. The sun warmed us as we walked to Barry’s place. Jae held my hand but he was very quiet and we walked in silence. It was Jae who broke the silence first.

“Dave, should we fight or leave?”

I squeezed his hand and sighed. “If there are as many as Jim said, I think we’d be stupid to stay.”

“There’s always gonna be gangs like this, aren’t there, Dave?”

“Yeah, probably. It’s how men are. It’s how we nearly fucked everything up before the virus did it for us.”

I could feel Jae’s eyes on me. I turned and met his.

“Dave, we aren’t like that.”

“No … no, we’re not. I’d be happy to live here with you always. But there’re always men who don’t want to work, who hate to see others succeed. And they’ll burn it all down to make themselves right.”

“We can’t run forever. We need to make a stand—fight them off.”

“Yeah, well, I agree babe, but Jim said there are seventy-five to a hundred of them. There’s what, twenty people maybe around here? If they have guns or other stuff, we’re finished.”

We turned onto the Petersen’s driveway and found Barry and his boys saddling horses in the barnyard. Barry lifted a hand and waved, but I’m not so sure he was happy about the interruption.

We returned the salute. “Morning Barry; boys.”

“Dave, how are you? Sorry we are just about to ride out ….”

“Barry, I’m sorry to interrupt. Something’s happening that you need to hear. It’s important.”

Barry considered me carefully, but he must have realized I wasn’t bullshitting him because he turned to Joe and Terry and said, “You two get on your way. You know what to do. I’ll ride up later to check on you.”

“Okay, Dad.” Terry mounted his horse as did Joe, and they trotted out of the farmyard with a wave.

Turning back to us, Barry motioned for us to follow him into the house.

With Jae in the kitchen making coffee, Barry asked me what was going on. I rehashed the events, the visit from Jim, and told him what had happened to the man and what was coming.

Jae brought in coffee just as I finished. He handed us each a cup and sat down on the sofa close to me. His shoulder settled against mine—it was a comfort.

Barry on the other hand didn’t seem comforted—he had a look of anguish on his face. “You trust this Jim, Dave?”

“No reason not to.”

“It’s just that you know we get travelers here and no one has said a thing to me. Not a mention of even a rumor of some huge marauding gang out there.”

I felt at a loss. “Well, maybe we need to scout it out some. What do you think? Take a ride south and see what we find?”

Jae straightened up and said, “I’ll go.”

“What?” Yes, I was surprised; he’d not said a single word to me about going to find these men. I didn’t want him to go.

“Dave, I’m quiet and fast over land. I can scout them without being seen, I’m sure of it.” Jae took my hand. “You saved me, accepted me, sheltered me and Barry has done the same. This is his home, and ours is ours. We can’t just run each time trouble comes.”

Barry was nodding his agreement and I knew Jae was right. But how could we stop these men, there were so few of us? Maybe we did need to see with our own eyes what we were up against.

“Can you ride a horse, Jae?” Barry was asking.

“I’ve never tried, but it’s not too hard, is it?”

“I can teach you. You can ride close and then leave the horse and go on foot.”

I listened to them talking but said nothing. This didn’t feel right to me, but I knew saying anything was unlikely to stop them. Deep down I knew it had to be done.

“Babe, while I’m gone maybe you two should try to round up people who are willing to help. Once I get back, we’ll need to plan.”

Barry sat thinking and said, “I don’t understand why they want to destroy everything. How do they expect to survive?”

He was right, but men have never been all that bright. Someone needs to grow food, so burning farmers out is helping no one, but my guess was these fools never thought beyond the adrenaline rush of destroying someone’s life and work.

“Do you think I could appeal to them? Tell them what they do doesn’t make a lot of sense?” Jae sat forward, hands on his knees.

“You are not getting any closer than watching them.” I raised my voice slightly. I did not want him getting hurt or involved with these men.

“Dave, I—”

“No! That means nothing but trouble. What do you think they’ll do? Welcome you? And if they do welcome you, it’s because one of them wants you—that’s not going to happen, Jae.” I continued my rant, “I don’t like it, and I understand the need to get eyes on these guys, but you don’t need to join up or have them catch you.”

“Dave’s right, Jae.” Barry spoke up. “No way do we want you to talk to these guys. This is strictly observation.”

Jae’s gaze passed over both of us. “Okay.”

“Did Jim mention how long ago he saw these guys, Dave?” Barry asked.

“Not exactly, but he sounded like he was a few days ahead of them, and he was on horseback.”

“Not a lot of time then. I think we better get a move on. Jae, you spend the night here and take a ride with me up to where the boys are.”

I guess Barry saw the fear on my face because he said, “Don’t worry, Dave. I’ll take care of him. Jae can leave from here in the morning. I’ll give you two a few minutes, and then we have to go.” Barry got to his feet, put his hat on his head and walked toward the door. “Meet me outside in ten minutes, Jae.”

“Okay, Barry.”

Jae was on his feet and pulled me up. “It’s gonna be okay, I promise.”

I felt as if my heart was breaking. “Don’t do anything heroic, okay?”

“I won’t, I promise.”

We embraced. I breathed in as much of him as I could. We kissed and just held each other.

After he stepped back, Jae gazed at me steadily. “I’ll see you in a couple of days, okay?”

‘No, it’s not okay. It’s just not!’ I thought, but I answered, “Yes. Go on now. I love you, remember, and I’ll see you soon. Go; Barry will be waiting for you.”

“Yeah, I love you too, Dave.” After a brief moment, he turned and walked out, the screen door slamming behind him.

I followed him out and stood on the porch. Barry showed Jae how to mount his horse, and after a few basics, they rode out together. I closed the front door of the house and, with a last glance around, I picked up the scythe Barry had lent me and walked back to our home, alone.

Back home I did the chores alone—fed the chickens, Jessy and my young bull. I made a small meal and as I sat eating, something I’d done alone for several years, I realized just how important Jae had become in only a short period of time. I missed him.

I made my way to bed and after feeling sorry for myself for an hour, fell into a half-decent sleep. I woke a couple of times, and missed his presence; his arms around me, his body pressed to my own. I awoke at dawn and sat up on the side of the bed.

Jae would be preparing to leave for his mission. Barry would help him, get him on his horse and maybe ride part of the way, but then he’d be on his own out there. I couldn’t help but worry.

I worried for the first three days to the point of finding myself nursing a cup of coffee for hours at the table. Time slipped by, but it was filled with imagining the horrors that could befall my handsome lover. By the night of the third day I’d decided all I could do was wait and hope Jae would be all right.

I really had no idea how long this so-called mission would take, so I went about my business. I got the hay in—the long days of mowing were my penance for allowing Jae to go on this mission alone. In addition, I kept watching the driveway, hoping I’d see him walking in. Days passed slowly and I felt lonely. I prayed Jae would return to me soon.

On the fifth morning I was washing the dishes when I heard the horse. Leaving the dishes in the sink, I dried my hands and ran out through the mudroom. It wasn’t Jae. It was Terry, and he was leading a second horse.

I ran up to him and startled both animals; he settled them and dismounted. After securing the horses to some fence under a tree he finally walked over to me.

“Dave, I’ve come to give you some help if you need it. You need to come to our place; Jae is there. He arrived last night.”

“Is he okay?” I was desperate for news, but afraid.

Terry seemed to consider his words. “He’s alive. He’s hurt, but he’ll live. He was all but out when the horse came home.”

Fear wrapped itself around me like a boa constrictor—I couldn’t breathe.

Terry put a hand on my shoulder. “Do any chores need doing, Dave? I’ll be happy to help. Then we can get to over to our place.”

“No, Terry, thanks. I’ve just finished, oh … there’s the dishes.”

“Okay, come on. I’ll finish the dishes, while you change. Get some clean stuff for Jae and we’ll go, okay?”

He pulled me to the mudroom door and pushed me toward the stairs, he then turned to the kitchen.

I ran to our room and found a pair of jeans, underwear, socks, and a t-shirt for Jae. In the dresser there was so little. For some reason, the lack of clothing for him just made me sad. It brought home the fact that this was our life, and yes, we had little but, we were still very lucky. I found a canvas bag to put Jae’s clothes in and then ran back downstairs.

Terry was waiting for me at the mudroom door. “Got everything?”

I nodded and we left together.

Terry helped me mount the horse he’d brought me to ride. I’ve never really ridden horses much—Terry must have noticed as he gave me a few pointers as we started down the driveway. I was full of questions along the way, which Terry said his dad would answer once we arrived.

Finally, we turned off the highway onto the long driveway of Petersen’s farm. Now Terry kicked his horse to a trot; mine followed, and I bounced all the way into their yard. The walk was a lot more comfortable. I decided that if we would have horses in our future, then I’d better learn to ride them properly.

We dismounted, Terry took my horse, as I rubbed my sore ass. “Go on in, Dave. I’ll deal with the horses.”

“Thanks, Terry, and thanks for coming over to get me.”

“No problem. I’ll see you in a bit.”

I walked up the three steps to the porch with trepidation. The screen door gave its usual squeak and the inner door was open. I stepped inside and called hello. I took a couple of steps in and peered up the staircase when Barry appeared on the upstairs landing.

“Dave, good. Come on up. Jae’s asking for you.”

I ran up the stairs, and as I got to the landing, realized I’d never been up here before. No reason I should have been either, I guess. Barry smiled and shook my hand.

“Come on, he’s just here.”

We walked into a nice bright room. Jae was sitting up in bed. He smiled when he saw me but winced a little at the same time. I could see bruises on his face and body. I sat down and held myself back from kissing him in front of Barry. I did take his hand though.

“Are you okay?”

Nodding slightly, he squeezed my hand. “Yeah, I’m okay but I need to talk to you both—tell you what happened.

That surprised me. “Oh, I thought that you’d have … it doesn’t matter.”

Barry was leaning on the footboard of the bed. “No, Jae was in no shape to talk to us last night. We just cleaned him up, gave him some food, and he fell asleep.”

So Jae told us his story; there were about fifty to seventy-five men, but several of them seemed to be slaves. They were on foot; he hadn’t seen a lot of weapons but there were some.

“Where did you get the bruises?” I asked him.

He smiled. “Dave, they caught me checking them out.”

I’d been seated on the side of the bed but nearly jumped off of it. “What!”

Barry put a hand on my shoulder, but said nothing.

“Yeah, they caught me, and smacked me around a little; kept me tied up for two nights.” Jae continued his story. “They wanted to know where I’d come from. I lied of course. Told them I was travelling north and I was hiding because I wanted to see how I could get accepted into their gang.”

I could only stare at him while thoughts of what could have happened went reeling through my mind.

“They seemed to buy the idea, so they let me up without the ropes, but I had a guard. These guys are just guys and my guard liked to talk. He said they had enough weapons—I didn’t want to push for more in case they started to doubt me. Those ranged from pistols to rifles. I noticed too that they don’t all agree on things. There are lots of fights and arguments.”

“How does that help us?” Barry asked.

Jae shuffled to get comfortable. “Only that we know better what we’re dealing with. A lot of them don’t want to be there, but they’re hungry, so they do what they need to do.”

“So how did you get away?” I wanted to know.

“Well, I wasn’t the only spy there. I was the only one caught.” Jae smiled at me.

I wanted to reach over and kiss him—hold him—I’d missed him so much.

“The other spy, Samuel Davis, he’s from north of here. When he found me he’d been there a few days and was leaving that morning. He filled me in on what he’d seen. They want to stop them, they want to fight—”

“Jae! What direction is the gang going?” Barry interrupted.

“Straight north. They’ll come through both places, if we don’t stop them.”

“And this Samuel Davis, what’s his plan?”

“Well, Barry, I expect that he and about seventy-five men with weapons will be here tomorrow morning.”

Barry’s eyes widened and he glanced at me, and then back at Jae. “Here?”

“Yeah, they want to stop these guys and they’re coming to help us.”

Barry pulled himself up and walked down the hall, “Joe … we have company coming. We are going to need meat, what’s hanging in the cold store … and dig up some potatoes and carrots.”

I turned to Jae and slipped my arms around him. “I’m glad you’re back. I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

We kissed and just held onto each other. As I held him, I wondered what this next chapter in our lives would hold.