During the reunion Jane and Tom held back by the wagons, waiting for the Mayor to arrive. They stayed there as Trev and Lewis were pulled into the shelter so they could inspect it and rest assured that it was just like they’d left it. Actually Trev thought it might’ve been a bit cleaner and better organized now: Lewis was tidy enough, but he rarely subjected the shelter to any kind of deep cleaning. It looked as if they’d swept and even scrubbed the carpets. And the walls and ceiling! Even the stove looked as if it had been scoured.
In a way he almost felt bad, looking at the malnourished, sickly family who barely had energy for surviving. They’d worked hard to make up for their use of the shelter, and it had probably cost them strength they couldn’t afford to spare. The grand tour of the place took them past what little remained from his cache, probably not enough to last them another week even at the severely reduced rations they were keeping to.
Matt had also been looking at the food, and his friend actually had tears in his eyes as Trev met his gaze. Trev felt his own eyes stinging as he thought of what his friends might have suffered without that gift. What they had even with it. Matt seemed to be working himself to offer some thanks, but his eyes had already said everything that needed saying, and words couldn’t add anything.
Trev wanted to let his friend know that he never had to thank him for that gift, that it wasn’t a debt he’d ever need to repay. That the sight of all the Larsons alive when so many had died was all the reward Trev had ever wanted. But words were as useless for him as for his friend, so he simply gripped Matt’s shoulder firmly.
At that Matt turned away, wiping at his eyes, and Sam came over to hug him. When she looked at Trev her eyes expressed the same gratitude before she buried her face in her husband’s chest. Trev looked away to find all the Larsons, even the boys, looking at him and Lewis the same way, and he suddenly felt very awkward.
Luckily a rap on the door’s sheet metal exterior broke the mood, and they turned to find the Tillmans, the Watsons, and a few others grouped outside the door. Trev made his way over with Lewis and Matt, the others coming behind, and endured yet another round of hugs and handshakes before the Mayor got down to business.
Everyone was glad to have them back, but they were also very, very hungry.
Lewis led the way to the woodpile, much reduced after being used by the Larsons over the winter although not as much as it could’ve been, and got everyone’s help in shifting it to the side so they could get at what was beneath. When his cousin drew away the covering tarp to reveal the thirteen 50lb buckets remaining in the cache, along with Lewis’s .22 rifle, his shotgun, and the extra ammo they’d left behind along with a few other possessions too heavy or bulky to bring along, Trev saw disappointment flash across quite a few faces in the crowd, including Catherine’s.
Thirteen buckets was quite a bit for one or two people, but for an entire town it seemed a lot less. They’d been hoping for more.
Catherine was the first to find her voice. “You have food in your wag—”
“No,” Lewis said, politely but firmly. “Just this.”
Much as it pained him, Trev had to agree. They had about two-thirds this much food in the wagons, but it wouldn’t help the town much compared to the fact that it felt like the bare minimum of what he and his cousin needed.
The Mayor sighed. “It’s something at least.” She rested a hand on Lewis’s elbow. “Come on then, let’s talk business.” She led him and Matt off to the side for a quiet discussion.
While they were gone Trev hopped down to begin handing buckets up, putting aside his and his cousin’s other stuff to be brought back into the shelter. Some of his and Lewis’s ammo was compatible with the weapons Matt’s family was using, like Terry’s shotgun and Matt’s AR-15, and they could trade for ammo for the weapons they’d got from the bandits. Between all of it they were pretty well armed.
As he worked Tam Raymond leaned down to put a hand on his shoulder. “I bet you wish there was more here too,” she said quietly, by way of apology for the lack of enthusiasm. “But one or one hundred, we’re grateful.”
Trev did his best to smile up at her. “Let’s hope for good hunting and a good harvest.”
The Mayor shook Lewis’s hand, then hurried over and whispered in Chauncey’s ear. The retired teacher’s shoulders sagged. “You want your solar panels back,” he said to Lewis.
Rather than answering his cousin held up a hand and hurried around the hill, coming back a short while later with the bulky tarp-wrapped bundle from his wagon. He opened it up to pull out a panel from a road sign, revealing a dozen more inside and the hint of batteries at the bottom. “I’ve been busy during whatever warm days winter gave us,” he said with a smile.
“I’ll say,” Chauncey replied, smiling back. “Road signs. I didn’t even think of that.”
Lewis nodded. “I think between these and the ones Ferris took from me we can rig something up so I can power the shelter without needing to gut your base of operations. And if you guys haven’t tossed all the TVs, monitors, and projectors into the garbage, along with any portable hard drives, maybe you can think about other ways to use that power. I’ve got terabytes worth of books, music, TV shows, and movies on portable drives in the shelter that I’d be happy to copy over to anyone who’s got working technology. Assuming the data hasn’t been corrupted.”
Trev was surprised when that news drew a heartfelt cheer from several people in the group, including Tam, who practically jumped up and down. He supposed that the winter hadn’t been all that entertaining for people in Aspen Hill, either.
For her part Catherine smiled warmly. “I think a movie night would lift the town’s spirits. The town hall has a few projectors we used for meetings and presentations. Chauncey, why don’t you take the cousins into town to sort out their solar panels, and while you’re at it you can see about converting the clinic into a theater until we can work out a better solution.”
That drew another cheer.
Trev and his cousin hurriedly stowed the stuff from their wagons inside the trunks at the feet of the cots they were offered, aside from the meat which they packed in snow in a tarp until they could figure out what to do with it.
Then Lewis packed up his hard drives and a laptop and carried them outside to where Chauncey waited, while Trev carried the bundle of scavenged solar panels and batteries. Even though they’d been useless up in the mountains and would probably have ended up as junk before too long, he still felt better about the fact that the town would be benefitting from them rather than just him and his cousin.
The rest of the delegation from the town had already left hauling the buckets, but they’d probably catch up before too long with their lighter load. Either way Trev was actually more than happy to be walking with Chauncey, since the man was one of those in Aspen Hill he’d most looked forward to getting back in touch with.
After all, the retired teacher had manned the town’s radio all through the winter, and after being incommunicado up in the mountains for months Trev was eager to pump the older man for information. Lewis seemed to have the same idea, and while Chauncey did look amused at their eager questions he was more than happy to fill them in.
Most of the news was bad, which was hardly a surprise. Among other things, Chauncey told him that the main event that had people talking over the last few weeks was that the Gold Bloc had sent troops into Canada, Russia from the east and China from the west. There were rumors they’d done so at the invitation of the Canadian government, and the US’s neighbor to the north certainly wasn’t resisting the invasion.
Invitation or no, one of the first places the Gold Bloc took over was Alaska, taking control of oil production there. That certainly constituted an invasion and a threat to US national security no matter what agreements Canada had made. Reports on what had happened to Alaskan citizens were conflicting, anything from going about their lives in troop occupied cities, to welcoming the foreign presence with open arms thanks to being provided aid they desperately needed, to being herded into refugee or forced labor camps, to being expelled from the state entirely.