Suzy nodded her head thoughtfully. “We’re running out of senile old men. They’re all dying. We can’t even get any more of the younger men to join the scouts anymore. Too many of them have died. Once you become a scout it seems you’ll be dead within ten years. They all fight it now. Even the promise of women by Doc can’t tempt them. As long as they still have access to the magic fruits and vegetables, no one cares.”
The older Liselle picked at her worn hands, her clothes appearing shabbier than usual. “We’d better spread the word to take care of our resources. If we can’t replenish from outside, I don’t know how long this place will last.” She swept her hand in the air.
“Don’t worry, Liselle. I’ll figure out something. We’ll be fine for another ten years or so. The big thing is getting rid of Avery.” They both relaxed again.
Relief from the brute that had terrorized Suzy and some of the other women for so many years bode an improvement in the quality of life for many. Suzy had lost count of the rapes and murders they knew Avery had been responsible for in the last twenty eight years. The only tears that would be shed would be Doc’s. His unaccountable affection for the tiring monster was actually responsible for most of Suzy’s safety. As Avery had fallen out of favor with the rest of the men, Doc was the only one left to champion the sick psycho. It wouldn’t do for Avery to piss off his only benefactor by raping or harming his woman.
“How’s Doc taking it?”
Suzy shut her eyes with relief. “Doc is so preoccupied with his own feeble health at the moment that he doesn’t even think to notice Avery is missing from the Council Center. The rest of the men are so impressed with their own flatulence from the disgusting brew they cook to get drunk on, that they don’t want to hear about anything else.”
Liselle rose to her feet, pacing in the small space heaped with bits of board, fabric and odd pieces of metal that had caught Suzy’s assessing eye for future use. “Do you realize most of Doc’s original men are dead and dying? And we’re down a few women from our inner circle, too.”
Suzy rested her hand on her stomach, the baby restless. “I know, Liselle. Doc says it depends on how long you were exposed to the air after the bomb.” She rubbed her hands on her eyes, sweeping back her dirty, ratty hair. “It’s a good thing Doc finally had the men build the door over the mouth of the mine. At least the wind doesn’t blow the soup in here any longer. I don’t even notice the stink anymore, do you?”
Shaking her head in agreement, Liselle asked the question that sat heavily on both their minds. “How’s Tom making out with Avery? And how responsive do you think he’ll be?”
At the mention of Tom’s name, Suzy gave a start and the baby jumped as if it knew the name of its real daddy. Speaking carefully, Suzy assured Liselle that Tom was ready to assume the critical duties that Avery attended. The waterwheel, the electric grid, and even the council’s homemade still. “Tom’s ready. Using him as an apprentice for Avery was a great idea. When I put the bug in Doc’s ear, I didn’t know who he would come up with. I wanted someone young and malleable, but with some maturity. He needed to be capable of learning quickly, but not quickly enough to let Avery catch on to the fact that we would supplant him. Tom’s worked out perfectly.” Suzy tried to conceal the blush that began a low creep up her cheeks.
“I know, Suzy.” Liselle fixed a pointed stare on Suzy’s hot cheeks.
“You know what?” Even to herself, Suzy’s voice sounded defensive and guilty.
Liselle knelt down in front of Suzy’s chair, taking her swollen hands and bringing them to her lips. “It’s all right. God knows you’ve given so much to improve our lives. And Lafe’s. If any of us are able to steal a little happiness in this hellhole, we deserve it. No one would begrudge you.”
Suzy remained silent, unable to find the words to explain. Her face sagged with the heavy weight of her secret. “It just happened,” she whispered. “He’d report to Doc every day and I’d be there. I wanted Doc to think this was his own idea so he would feel in control. He knew Avery was getting sick and old. Tom started to show up earlier and earlier. We . . . we got to talking . . .” Suzy bit down hard, her voice rising.
“I was so lonely. You have the other women, but I can’t be seen hanging around other caverns. It would get back to Doc and he’d get suspicious. And Lafe, he’s just out of control. He’s picked up the attitude of the other men. He treats me like garbage.”
She shook her head, discouragement in the downward slope of her strong chin. “I taught him better. I thought he’d be part of the first generation of men to treat women as equals. I thought we could help them change . . . be better human beings.” She sighed deeply, a catch in her throat at the thought of how she had loved the orphaned infant, finding direction and solace in her new purpose. The decision to escape to her grandfather’s refuge, buried deep and forgotten as she delighted in the raising of Liz’s baby.
“Maybe we were just too close in age. Maybe it was my inability to overcome Doc’s influence . . .”
“Suzy, is this baby Doc’s?”
She gazed silently into Liselle’s eyes, her negative shake barely discernible.
“Does Tom know?”
Another negative shake.
“You must never tell him. We need to let Doc think the baby is his. What do you think will happen when Doc dies? He’s what . . . late sixties?”
Suzy rallied, Liselle had her full attention. “No, he’s still in his fifties. He just looks like shit with that lard he’s lugging around like the rest of them.”
“I’m sure they all have compromised immune systems from the soup we all breathed in. The men got the worse of it.”
Suzy suddenly brightened, a canny gleam surfacing as she did quick calculations. “With Avery dead and the other men in the council circle in bad shape, who’ll be left when Doc dies? Hmm. I’m beginning to get the picture.” She slowly stroked her huge abdomen.
Liselle clasped her hands. “You can do this. We’ve already made strides with subtle influence on our sons and some of the younger men. Plenty are in awe of you. You’re the next direct link to Doc.” She placed both her hands on Suzy’s, caressing her abdomen.
Her face lit up in hope as Suzy contemplated the thought. “And if they don’t accept me as a replacement for Doc, we have the baby.”
Then Liselle groaned. “What about Lafe? He may try to claim the position. He’s been awfully close to Doc. He hangs out with him at the Council Center and knows the others well. Technically, he’s Doc’s son.”
“I don’t think we’ll have a problem. Most of the other men . . . the original ones with Doc . . . are at the end of their lives. Most of them have the sickness. They’ll be replaced with younger men from the ranks that don’t know Lafe except as the kid I raised. Besides, I don’t think the men will be interested in listening to a snot nose brat with the kind of . . . well . . . infirmities that Lafe has.”
Liselle stood. Suzy could see her head spinning with possibilities, just as hers was. “If we can garner the support needed to grant me the command temporarily . . . until the baby is of age . . .”
“I think we have a plan, Suzy.”
The very pregnant Suzy struggled to her feet. Clasping Liselle as best she could with her belly fighting for room, the women hugged. “Let’s put the word out to the Inner Circle. Get them to work harder on their sons and other men and women in their caverns. And keep your eye out for Lafe. He seems to be everywhere these days. We can’t afford to have him discover our plans.”
Liselle prepared to leave. “I saw Lafe near the tunnel to the crop field on my way over here. He was with some other boys.” Her voice faltered. “They were watching the Janice twins. Looked like they were heading into the tunnel with their baskets.”
“They were alone?”
“Suzy, they’re in their teens. I’m sure they carry spikes. They’ll be fine.”
Saying goodbye at the door, Suzy leaned against the stalwart piece of wood as she remembered th
e look in Lafe’s eye when he had departed a few hours ago, refusing to say where he was going. The usual nastiness had ensued.
“You’re not my mother, bitch. I don’t have to tell you shit.”
She had rushed to the door as fast as a pregnant woman could. “You don’t need to be so disrespectful, Lafe. I’m just worried about you.”
He had turned to her with such an expression of indifference and contempt that her heart had shriveled, leaving her close to tears. “Get out of my way,” he had said coldly, shoving her aside. She had cringed as his malevolent eyes and distorted lips dismissed her. He had slipped out the door without a backward glance.
Layering on a frayed jacket that failed to stretch across her abdomen, Suzy decided to visit the crop field for some of her favorite peaches. She could try to discover if the Janice twins had arrived safely. They were the children of one of the women in her inner circle. The twin girls had been brought up to be resourceful and brave, and Suzy had great hopes for them. But they knew better than to travel in the mines without an escort.
Grabbing a satchel and secreting her well-honed metal spike in the jacket pocket, she stepped outside the expanded hovel. Surveying the tiny and quiet pathways from hovel to hovel, she breathed a sigh of relief. Most of the women would either be inside or at the communal kitchen working on the prodigious tasks it took to produce the meals for the tribe. Even though their numbers were not as great as they had once been, the chores were relentless. And most of the men were undoubtedly already drunk on the disgusting brew they concocted.
She nodded to the occasional tribe member who crossed her path, the women getting one of her rare smiles as they shared a look of renewed confidence in their female role in the tribe.
Her mind idly wondered at the actual numbers of the tribe. Illness, flu and radiation poisoning had quickly killed off the weakest members. And in the early years before the crop fields, more than half of the infants had been taken away as they’d been born, deemed too defective. No one knew where they were taken, their fates unimaginable. Female infants were given a pass as long as the defect was tolerable in the eyes of the men. As a result, the tribe now numbered more women than men . . . a fact that warmed Suzy’s heart. Although they were still owned by the men, her inner circle’s plan to change the power structure in the mines would eventually succeed. She was sure of it. It was just a matter of time and patience.
Awkwardly ambling around the last dwelling in her cavern, she entered the tunnel filled with stray hovels that she needed to bypass to get to the tunnel which would take her to the crop fields. The walk would be a long one, but the deeper she went, the easier her navigation would be.
The tunnel was dimly lit by exposed wiring rigged so long ago by Avery. Their almost endless supply of light bulbs easily replaced the occasional broken bulb. Blowouts rarely occurred as the low wattage bulbs seemed to last forever.
She picked up her pace, the hard tunnel floor smooth and debris free from the decades of feet walking to the crop fields. Over time, the ceiling and walls had been reinforced with salvaged wood discovered by the scouts at a lumber supply company on Route 23 outside Franklin, a few miles from the mine. It had been this discovery which had enabled them to expand the hovels to something more fit for human beings to live in.
Suzy knew she was near the crop fields. Breathing deep, she sucked in the cleaner air. Soon the smell of fresh fruit and vegetables added their seductive fragrance to the air mixed with an undercurrent of foreign organicness.
Every once in a while, she passed an opening to another tunnel. Treading softly, she stopped to listen for voices at the mouth of a small cavern near the fields. The darkness inside taunted her. Was that a sound? Straining, she listened to the hushed, empty silence. If Lafe and his gang were in the tunnel, they were probably returning from the field and picking crops. The twins were probably long gone by now.
Moving on, she approached the opening to the field. Her heart began to hammer. She breathed deep, attempting to calm the cries from her body that begged not to go into the frightful place. Shutting her eyes, she forced herself to walk through the unexplained pocket of pressure she was forced to cross to gain entry. She shuddered as she cleared the pressure point, stopping to study the magnificence and horror of the magic field.
She scanned the massive cathedral, awed by the viscous skin that lined the ceiling and walls. The organic smell overwhelmed her with its rich loamy and musky textures. On the horizon, a dangerous cloud of lavender-blue creatures hovered, the alien protectors of the wondrous fruits and vegetables that they now lived on.
Many a careless tribe member had met an untimely death in the early days before they fully understood why the creatures were here. Some of the men rejoiced at the sight of so many trees and began to cut the groves down to use as firewood to generate warmth in their hovels. Warnings about preserving the trees for their fruits went unheeded in the face of so many. The reaction of the lavender-blue creatures was sudden and deadly. After the attack, six men were dead. No one had ever tried to cut down a tree again.
The large growths on the trees were carefully skirted as the tribe discovered the creatures’ homes and realized they were necessary for the pollination of the trees’ blossoms. No creatures—no food. It was an uneasy alliance as the tribe finally dismissed the idea of burning them out so they could gain access to the valuable wood. The stupid men would find out just how valuable the trees were after they cut them down and they started to starve again, thought a disgusted Suzy.
She made her way over to the men who were picking the crops, several women in line choosing specimens to take back to the communal kitchen. Their eyes lit up with suppressed determination as they spied Suzy.
“Ladies. How is your day going?”
The women answered her carefully, the men now listening. “Fine, as always, Suzy.”
“That baby looks due any time now.” Nice and innocuous.
Suzy turned her back to the men as she selected a peach for her satchel.
“Lafe and his gang of thugs were seen entering the tunnels behind the Janice twins. Have any of you seen any sight of them?”
They shook their heads and spoke low. “That sounds like trouble to me, Suzy. Those two young ladies are both too brazen if you ask me. They know better, but refuse to listen. They’re like a blood feast to a pack of wolves.”
Another jumped in, hissing, “If I was their mama, I’d a tan their hides to teach them some sense.”
“They’re ripe for pluckin’, that’s for sure. But if Lafe and his boys think they’re going to be the lucky ones, they can forget it. The girls are all spoken for.”
Suzy agreed. “I know. Doc said they’re to be handed over at the next council meeting. That’s in a few days. I’m sure the men are chomping at the bit to get their hands on those girls. They won’t be happy if they get messed with by one of the young gangs.”
“Can I give any of you ladies a hand?” One of the men had dropped his work to come over and check on them. Can’t resist spying on us, can you? Suzy backed away, the rest of the women shutting down. Without a word, Suzy turned and headed back to the tunnels with her peach.
Her quick walk became a slow waddle as she left the field. Unexpectedly, a glow appeared to emanate from the small cavern she had passed on her way in. Remembering the sound she thought she had heard, she realized Lafe and his gang were the likely source. She transferred her satchel with her peach to her left side, leaving her right hand free and feeling for her trusty spike hidden deep in her pocket, then crept into the cavern opening.
Rounding a jutting wall, she had no difficulty understanding the shocking scene, and emitted a small scream. She dashed to a mound of debris, flopping down hard to reduce her figure, praying they hadn’t heard amid the sounds of low, raucous laughter and muffled screams.
Lafe and one of his hoodlums had one of the twins backed up against the wall, blood trailing from her nose, the front of her ragged shirt ripped down the middle,
exposing her chest, while Lafe’s buddy groped with his eager hand. Lafe’s hand sat plastered over her mouth, preventing her screams from calling attention.
In the distance, four young men bent over the prostrate unmoving form of the other twin. Her nude body lay face down as one of the men rose off her to pull up his pants. The young girl didn’t move.
Suzy began to sweat in the chilly cavern, cramps from her uncomfortable position sending pain through her abdomen. She hunkered down as flat to the ground as she could get, her nose inhaling the scent of cinders. A large rock ground painfully into her chest to increase her discomfort.
Sliding her hand under her chest, she inched the large rock out. As she eased it from underneath her chest, her distracted mind noted the round smoothness. Absently, she pushed it to the side near her head, forcibly relaxing as she tried to calm her harsh breaths.
With her eyes shut tight, she prayed they wouldn’t discover her. Cautiously, she reached into her pocket to retrieve her well-honed iron spike. She berated herself for leaving the hovel in her condition. Another cramp made her wince and open her eyes. Just in time to identify the stone removed from under her chest; in time for her mind to register that the stone looked back at her with two empty eyes, a hole for a nose and a tiny toothless grimace.
Startled, she screamed and shot up, her head and shoulders emerging from behind the mound of what she now realized were more tiny skulls in the rubble of an old fire pit.
Lafe and his thugs whipped around at her scream, the foursome with the raped and motionless twin charging toward her.
She stood frozen in place as the dawning horror of the infant skulls overwhelmed her. The stench from the old fire pit made her woozy as she understood what it had been used for. The babies . . . so many lost babies. Her stomach turned as she remembered how Doc’s men had always lacked that ferocious starving effect that the rest of the tribe wore.
“What the fuck do ya think you’re doing, bitch?” She was grabbed roughly.