There weren’t many leaves on the trees. She could see through their skeletonized forms.
She saw the truck mere seconds after she heard it.
She barely had time to scramble behind the tree, getting onto the opposite side of the trunk so that she wouldn’t be visible.
Mandy didn’t dare peek around the trunk. But she listened, as carefully as she could.
The engine shut off. One door opened, and slammed closed. Then another.
So there were two people.
But she didn’t yet know if they were friends or foes.
Based on past experience, Mandy was going to go with foes. She’d wondered, often, as she’d walked, how it was that so many of the people they’d encountered had harbored dark intentions. Why so many of them had wanted to hurt her and the others. And why so many of them had been merely looking out for themselves, able to do whatever it took, hurting whoever they had to.
The answer was simple. People were desperate. The instinct for survival was strong. Incredibly strong. And when that instinct was in full force, social concepts like morality went right out the window.
Mandy was holding her handgun tightly. She had her finger on the trigger. She held it pointed to the sky, ready to aim it. Ready to fire.
If she had to.
Hopefully they just wouldn’t see her. After all, she was completely hidden behind the tree trunk.
Hopefully, the thing she had to worry most about was that there were others in this area. Max and Mandy, when they’d talked about it, had hoped that the area wasn’t heavily populated. And here was direct evidence to the contrary.
“Hey, give me a hand, would you?”
It was a male voice. Gruff. Probably middle-aged. He sounded like he was a smoker.
“Get ‘em yourself.”
This voice was even gruffer. Sounded older, too.
Mandy couldn’t quite get a make on them. A voice could tell a lot about a person. But these voices were hard to pin down.
Maybe they were hunters. They sounded like they might be outdoor types.
But there was something off.
Mandy listened as they undid the back of their pickup. Presumably they were heading to the creek just like she was, looking for water.
Mandy tried to keep her breathing quiet, even though it was unlikely they’d be able to hear her.
She should be fine. She had to repeat it to herself. She was so close to them. She was essentially invisible. If they were just getting water, there’d be no reason to walk over to the other side of the creek, where Mandy was.
If she got up and tried to leave, they’d undoubtedly see her.
“No, don’t tip the bucket like that. You’ll never get enough water.”
“Damnit, I’m doing the best I can.”
“Well, it’s not good enough.”
There was a roughness to the way they spoke that made Mandy’s heart race harder. The more she listened to them talking, the more they didn’t sound like nice men. They cursed at each other, insulting each other, while doing what sounded like a very simple task.
The more Mandy heard them talk, the more she knew she didn’t want to be seen by them.
If it came down to it, Mandy would fight.
“All right, that about does it, I guess.”
“Are you kidding? What the hell are you talking about?”
“It’s fine. It’s enough for the plants.”
The plants? What kind of plants were they talking about? Maybe they were growing food.
“That’s not anywhere near enough. You’re just lazy. You’ve been smoking too much of the product.”
“You’re one to talk. And who cares anyway? It’s not like there’s anyone to sell to.”
“Haven’t you been listening to me?”
“Why should I?”
“Because I know what the hell I’m talking about. This isn’t anything big. So the power’s out? So what? It’ll come back on. And when it does, people will be stressed the hell out. And what’ll they want?”
“Weed.”
“Yeah, weed. So you have been listening to me then.”
“Maybe.”
“Well listen now. You’ve got to remember the plan. We’re going to be rich. All we have to do is keep growing. All the other growers will have been freaking the hell out. They won’t have any product. We’ll be the only ones.”
“But come on, dude, we’ve already got a ton stored in the RV.”
“Yeah, we’ve got a lot. But not enough. Don’t you understand? We’re talking about real money here. This is the real deal. The big haul. We’re going to be retired after this. And I’m not talking the Jersey shore. I’m talking Maui. Hawaii, Taiwan. Have you ever seen those Taiwanese girls?”
“I dunno, man. How the hell would I know?”
“You’d know ‘em if you saw ‘em. Hottest things on the damn planet, that’s what.”
So they were growing marijuana? And apparently in complete denial about the EMP.
Mandy had once read an article about people who operated clandestine marijuana farms on state land. Often they set up their farms deep in state parks, where they were unlikely to be found. Pretty much all state land worked though, supposed Mandy.
These weren’t the types of people she wanted to run into. They’d likely do whatever it took to protect their grow operation, especially given the fact that they were under the delusion they’d eventually get rich off their work.
Suddenly, it hit her.
Her huge mistake.
She’d left the water jugs out there, by the creek.
She looked frantically around her, thinking that maybe she’d taken them with her when the truck had first shown up.
But they were nowhere to be found.
Mandy could have screamed. She couldn’t believe she’d made such a basic error.
“Hey, man, what the hell are you doing bringing those little jugs out here? We need a ton of water for the plants. Don’t you know anything, you idiot?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Those little jugs there. Enough for drinking water maybe, but not all our plants.”
“What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t bring those.”
“You didn’t?”
“Swear on my mother, man.”
“Well, shit.”
“What’s it mean?”
“It means we’ve got company.”
“You mean for dinner?”
“No, idiot. I mean there’s someone else here. Or there was. Come on, get your gun out and help me look. The last thing we need is a witness. Or competition.”
Mandy was terrified.
But she kept it together. She knew what to do.
They sounded like idiots. They were probably terrible shots. One of them sounded completely incompetent, and Mandy doubted he’d be a threat.
The best thing to do would be to strike first.
Mandy moved swiftly, exposing herself for just long enough to get a look at where they were.
They were headed in her direction. They were both tall men. One looked like a stereotypical stoner. Tall and skinny, with long, dirty hair and a scraggly beard.
The other had a bit of a belly on him. He was more squarely built, and had short hair and rimless glasses. He looked more like a banker than a pot farmer.
Mandy aimed her gun at the big one. He seemed like he was the leader. His voice seemed to match his body, now that she saw him.
Mandy squeezed the trigger. She felt the recoil.
She’d missed. He didn’t fall, or scream out.
Mandy ducked back behind the tree just in time. She heard a bullet hitting the other side of the trunk.
The two men were shouting at each other.
“Get Danny on it, asshole. He can’t hear the shots.”
Danny? Who the hell was Danny? What were they talking about?
Mandy moved swiftly, exposing herself to fire briefly. But she did it on the other side of the tree. Such a simple trick. And yet so effective.