Chapter 4

“What do I think of Western civilization? I think it would be a very good idea.”-Mohandas Ghandi

 

Charles wakes us up at sunrise. Snipes comes over the hill with some dead rodents and some dry wood. He silently skins them, guts them and cooks them over a metal field stove. He then hands each of us a chunk of meat before biting into his own, the smallest of the pieces. I throw my piece back on the stove and wait until it is overcooked before I eat it. It tastes aweful none the less. I choke down the meat and we all begin to pack up. Snipes just stares into the distance, watching for something, anything that might be a threat. We get back on the road. Charles enters in another song, then another and another. I recognize not one. I don’t think anyone in our group does. They start to get on my nerves.

“Shut the f**k up Charles.”

He ignores me and keeps singing.

“Shut the f**k up!”

Again he persists in his incessant singing.

I shoot around in the air. It’s a waste of precious ammunition. Everyone is silent for a moment. They all stare at me. I glare at Charles and keep walking. Everyone follows in awkward silence. In hindsight, it’s worse than Charles’ singing. I walk a few meters ahead.

A few minutes later, Snipes walks up to me from over some hill. He pulls out his knife, smiles and then takes out a can of peaches. Stabbing into the can, he puts a plastic spoon in it and offers it to me. I try to ignore him, I just want to be left alone. Snipes persists, shaking the can right in front of me. A little bit of the peach syrup spills out. Reluctantly I grab the can and start eating. The peaches are sweet and delicious. I crack a small smile and snipes chuckles a little. When I finish the can, I toss it over my shoulder, “How did you know I loved peaches so much?” Snipes just grins. The clever b*****d.

We hear footsteps in the ditch up ahead along with some cursing. We look over to see a man in a green uniform with a blue beret and a man who looks like a pre-war construction worker. They clearly had fallen into the ditch somehow and were climbing out. When they got to the top, the man in the beret began to speak,

“Greetings, I’m Lieutenant George from the 1^st Scouts Division of the New United Republic Army. I bring a message from Washington.”

“What is it your pseudo government wants?” Apparently Natasha didn’t see he was holding an M16 that looked like it was in good repair.

“Right…we have started up again, securing all of Washington DC and a large area of Massachusetts and Virginia. The first scouts division is sending soldiers all over this nation to assist survivors in rebuilding and encouraging former citizens to reaffirm their oaths to the United Republic. This here is Greg. He’s a survivor that I picked up along the way. We’ll be taking him back to Washington so he can assist in rebuilding. You’re welcome to come along. The coast is only a few miles to the east of here and a ship will be arriving soon to take us back.”

Snipes expression looks cold and angered, like one who has suffered some ill in the past and is now being confronted with his worst enemy. Charles breaks the silence,

“I’m afraid we have business of our own and won’t be able to accompany you to Washington. Best of luck starting up again.”

“I don’t think you understand,” mutters the guard, “I’m under strict orders to destroy any rebellious forces in the nation. So, you’ll come with me or when the marines arrive, you’re going to be sor…agh!” A knife protrudes from his back. Snipes stands there silently. He pulls out the knife and begins to dig through the man’s pack. Greg looks at us in shock,

“You….you killed him. He was going to save us!”

Snipes shakes his head while Natasha answer’s the man, “Our comrade here and I used to work for the 1^st scouts. Washington is nothing more than a radical dictatorship that thinks it has a right to dominate this world and enslave us all. That’s why we left.”

“But…but…what am I going to do?” cries Greg.

“Walk with us a bit comrade. We’re going south, you come too.”

“But what will we do? Where are we going? How are we going to rebuild…”

“So many questions comrade, so many questions. We’re all going south and we have many miles to go so all your questions will be answered in due time. Or you can go somewhere else and take your chances. Either way, if what the uniform man says is true, the marines will be here soon and they will be hostile.”

“No, they’ll be hostile to you guys. You guys killed him, not me.”

“You think the marines will know that?”

We start walking.

“Don’t leave me alone! I’m scared!”

I shout back, “Then get walking.”

Reluctantly he starts walking with us, still shocked from watching his savior get murdered by Snipes. I don’t say anything but I still wonder why Washington was so bad and why Snipes had to kill him. Either way, we will have to be careful about more of those Scouts coming along now that we won’t be cooperating with them. Maybe I should have shot Snipes before the Scout got injured. Greg breaks the silence again,

“It’s getting dark. We need to find somewhere to rest. We find what looks like a convenience store and go inside. Snipes begins to prepare dinner while we check the area for anything we can loot or anything we need to be worried about. I find an office to the back room and look around. A bullet almost hits me and hits the wall right beside me.

“Who are you and who are you working for,” a voice shouts from the darkness,

“I’m who I say I am and I work for myself thank you very much,” I reply.

“I know who you are! You’re one of them travellers, heading South looking for safety, looting what you find on the way, looking for salvation. Well you can loot from the old and sick all you want but you aint finding nutin’. All yer type is gun’ find is death in a swamp somewhere! I hate yer type, yer plannin’ on killin’ an old man and takin’ all he has! Well that aint gun happen, no siree…akh…” thump. Snipes walks out of the darkness, cleaning his knife with a cloth, a born killer. He beckons me excitedly.

In the other room is a single can of Dr. Pepper, the very same I used to drink as a child. He picks up the can and offers it to me. I take it and look at it before handing it back and telling him, “You have it. You do all the work, you earned it.” Snipes just pushes it back to me. I put it in my pack, “Thanks Snipes.”