Part 5 (2/2)
”I don't buy it.” A young councilman stood in the back of the room. After speaking with Logan, the mayor had requested a gathering of the town's administrators. Most of the council members supported his plan. Timothy Simmons, however, had been swayed by Roy's arguments. The young council remained skeptical that there was a threat at all.
Simmons pushed a pair of ill-fitting gla.s.ses further up the bridge of his nose before he spoke. ”It's been seven years. Seven years since everything stopped and we've never seen anything like this. Why, all of a sudden, is the post-apocalypse turning into Mad Max?”
Logan straightened, ”I don't mean to argue, but you've been fortunate. Gangs have formed and towns have burned. I've seen it. And, I've stopped it from happening.”
”Bulls.h.i.+t. Bulls.h.i.+t, Mr. Logan.” The gla.s.ses slid back down his nose.
”Why would I make this up?”
”A good question, Mr. Logan. Let's examine that, shall we?” The young councilman approached the front of the room, adjusted his gla.s.ses and spoke to the crowd. ”Have you ever heard of the gra.s.shopper and the ants?”
Logan shook his head in disbelief. ”That's hardly ...”
”The ants, ladies and gentlemen, worked diligently all year harvesting food for winter.”
Someone in the crowd muttered, ”We know the story, Timothy.”
The young man continued, fidgeting with his new gla.s.ses as he spoke. ”They worked hard, storing food so that they might live. But, the gra.s.shopper ...” He turned to face Logan. ”The Gra.s.shopper, Mr. Logan, played and played. And he didn't do s.h.i.+t for work.”
”Yes, sir. I know the parable and ...”
”And, when winter came, the gra.s.shopper began to starve. That lazy, lazy gra.s.shopper. And, the ants took pity and fed him. No, wait. That's not right.”
”I think the ants let him starve,” said the Director of Internal Communications.
”No, they fed him and he learned to work hard,” said the Secretary of the Treasury.
The crowd began to offer their own recollections of the story: ”I thought that the gra.s.shoppers were bullies.”
”No, that was A Bug's Life.”
”Was that the one with Stallone?”
”No, that was Ant Bully.”
”Antz.”
”What?”
”You mean Antz. With a z. Antz.”
”What's with a z?”
”The ant movie with Stallone and Woody Allen.”
”Look at the movie nerd.”
”Shut it, Miller.”
”The point is, ladies and gentlemen,” Timothy shouted, ”that the story is no less true today than when Dr. Seuss first penned it. And here,” he pointed to Logan, ”is our gra.s.shopper. Knocking on our ant hill with a story about a truck full of killers.”
The room was quiet. All men and women looked to Logan. The only sound was Miller and the movie nerd trading insults back and forth. Logan waited for the arguing to stop before he responded.
”Wow. Just, wow. I don't know what to say to that.”
”That's what I thought,” Timothy began to walk back to his seat.
”Aesop, not Seuss, Mr. Timothy, was a wise man. And,” he gestured to a gray-haired man in the front row, ”you were right, the ants let the gra.s.shopper starve. And deservedly so. The gra.s.shopper sang and played while the ants toiled. He offered nothing.
”I'm no gra.s.shopper. I offer something. If it is just a warning that a big truck full of killers is headed your way ... fine. You can choose to ignore it, or prepare for it on your own. It doesn't matter to me. But I am offering to stay and help. And not for your winter stores. I don't want anything.”
”Then why would you help?”
”Because, I used to be an ant.” He s.h.i.+fted his feet and choked back a hard memory. ”And gra.s.shoppers took everything from me. Good people of New Hope, I see potential in this new world. The blight of mankind's evil was not wiped from this Earth with everything else. But, from what's left there is the hope that a town such as yours can be the model for the new world. It is a good town. A town ruled by the people. Good people.
”And now you are in the path of a force ruled by fear. The two will collide. Whichever is left standing will shape the world to come.
”There is a gra.s.shopper out there and I can't let this be a world created by gra.s.shoppers. I want to live in a world of ants. I want to side with you and protect your way of life. Our way of life.”
The crowd was silent, but he could see that his words had moved them. Timothy Simmons saw it as well and sank into his seat. Logan was confident that he could speak without protest.
”I don't want anything from you. I just want to help. Now, I'm going to need some things. We don't have much time.”
”How much time do we have?” the sheriff pointed back at the truck.
”We can't be certain. I made the drive from Vita Nova in under a day. They'll take a little longer.”
”Why is that?”
”The roads aren't clear enough for a rig of this size. They don't have the luxury of crossing medians. They'll have to make their own path.”
EIGHT.
Ash that had been Vita Nova s.h.i.+fted beneath his boots as he moved slowly through the town. Patches of the ground were warm beneath his feet as they stirred the coals of a devastating blaze. An odor hung in the air; it smelled like a campfire that had melted a pair of sneakers.
Frames of the buildings still stood, but they were charred and brittle like burnt matchsticks. Bodies lay everywhere. Some burned beyond recognition, others untouched by the flames. There was nothing left in the town but death and a tricycle.
The little red tricycle lay on its side; one wheel spun from the rising heat of the town. He didn't see the child that once rode it. He didn't want to.
Wasteland travels had exposed him to horrific creatures. Mutant animals hunted for prey with a ferocity and viciousness that no creature had been capable of prior to the bombs.
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