Chapter 7: Lancaster
The city gradually thinned out around them as they drove, opening up to reveal a lifeless red wasteland. Occasional houses dotted the area, each one a tragedy. Ghostly remains of family homes, reminders of the heavy price paid by regular people for their leader’s ineptitude, or ignorance, whichever caused the Reset. Small sand dunes, just deep enough to bury large rocks, ran in wavy rows parallel to the highway. Given enough time, the dunes would surely grow and consume all traces of the old world. The road through the Wastes was deteriorated and treacherous. Large slabs of pavement had been separated from the road and lay in differing heights and angles. Chunks of missing asphalt left potholes deep enough to break a car axle. Travel was excruciatingly slow.
“How far away is Lancaster?” Eli asked, turning his attention to Julie, away from the depressing scenery he’d been watching through the window.
“It’s about a hundred miles south-west of here. It’s only a three hour drive, so we should be home this afternoon.” She smiled sweetly at him in the rearview mirror.
“I thought you said it took you three days to find me, though.” Eli’s observation came out more accusatory than intended. He regretted his poor phrasing when he saw the sad, remorseful look clouding Julie’s beautiful face.
“It did take three days, but not because of the distance. The people who took you traveled in a four-vehicle caravan, pretending to be traders from another settlement. Their caravan split-up about forty miles north of Lancaster, and we didn’t know which trail would lead to you. The first two sets of tracks lead to decoys, the vehicles empty except their drivers. The second decoy told us where to find you, hoping it would save her life. We made it there as soon as we could, and, well, you know the rest. One vehicle is still on the loose, but I doubt they’ll ever visit Lancaster again, not after they find what’s left of their friends. I’m sorry we couldn’t find you sooner sweetheart. I’m really sorry. Mama did her best.”
Wow, that’s hardcore. I assumed she followed them straight to the church they found me in.
He leaned forward and put a hand on her upper arm, a gesture meant to comfort his emotional mother.
“Don’t be sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong. Actually, I’m proud of you. You’re a certified badass mother. And I should have said it sooner, but, thank you. Thanks for coming to get me.” He gave her arm a soft squeeze before returning to his seat.
*Sniff* Julie smiled as she wiped unshed tears from eyes, then cleared her throat to steady he shaky voice before replying.
“Of course, baby. Mama would do anything for you. Both of you.” She reached out to Vivi, who was in the passenger seat, and grasped her hand. No one spoke in the wake of the emotional exchange.
“So,” Eli was the first to breech the silence, “can you tell me about Lancaster?”
“It’s a boring place filled with assholes.” Vivi, in full pre-teen angst mode, made a cute little pouty frown.
“Vivi, boring is good. Boring means it’s safe.” Julie released Vivi’s hand and patted her on the knee, then kept both hands on the steering wheel and her attention on the road as she spoke to Eli. “Let’s see now. Well, Lancaster is the biggest settlement for hundreds of miles in any direction. Almost two thousand people currently live there. It’s almost completely walled-off from the Wastes, and a third of the settlement is underground, in a converted diamond mining facility. The mine connects to a massive aquifer, an underground lake, so we have crop farms down there too. Hmm, what else? Well, the place is governed by a council, so nothing ever changes, even when it should.”
“Mom, he needs to know about the men, not the senile crones who only argue with each other all day.” Vivi said, rolling her eyes at her mother’s snide remark about Lancaster’s leadership. Eli got the feeling Julie frequently criticized the people in power, but Vivi clearly had no respect for them whatsoever.
“The men? Is something wrong with the men in Lancaster?” Suddenly, Eli was very nervous about his new life.
Julie looked uncomfortable as she decided how to approach the subject. She nervously bit her lower lip and raised her inner eyebrows. She looked so sensual and cute that Eli felt a spark of desire, a sudden urge to hold her in his arms, to make her his.
“No sweetheart, nothing’s wrong with the men. It’s just, well, there aren’t a lot of them around anymore, not after the Reset. Every settlement we know of reports the same problem. Actually, there’s less than two hundred men in Lancaster. It’s the women who have a problem. The lack of men has made some of them….well, very desperate as the get older. Some older women have been known to act like predators, trying to ‘claim‘ young boys in a last-ditch effort to have children while they still can. They think it’s easier to pin down an innocent young boy than compete with other women for a grown man, and they’re right. So, stay close to me or your sister when we get there, and don’t wander around on your own.”
Excuse me, but what the fuck? Less than 200 men, almost 2000 people live there…doesn’t that mean ninety percent of the population is female? How the hell does something like that even happen?
“Um, yes ma’am.” Eli answered in disbelief. “But, what happened to all the men?”
Shrugging her shoulders, Julie said, “I don’t know sweetheart. I don’t think anyone knows for sure. All we know is that that the male birthrate dropped at some point a long time ago.”
“Well, is the birthrate still dropping?” This could be bad. If men are dying out, humanity could be done for. Even if they stockpile frozen sperm, it’s not a viable long-term solution.
“Not really, it basically stays the same. We typically see one boy for every ten girls born in Lancaster. Traders say it’s the same way in other settlements they visit. I got lucky when I had you. My precious little boy came from my second pregnancy, most women go through three or four before finally getting a boy, or giving up. Your aunt Reba was so jealous when I had you. She demanded to know how I did it, she thought I had a secret method or something. She has seven children already, all girls, and she’s still trying for a boy.” Julie giggled at her sister’s perpetual pregnancies. Eli was just impressed by Reba’s physical fortitude.
It sounds like men aren’t in danger of immediate extinction. Well, no more than you’d expect in a zombie-filled nuclear apocalypse anyway. Haaaaah.
Eli sighed and leaned back in his seat. He returned his gaze to the window, watching a single wispy cloud make its way across the sky. He let his thoughts wander for a long while, until he remembered something from last night. No, not the shape of Julie’s perky breasts, the sight of her naked body, or the softness of her thighs. He could never forget that. What he remembered was something Vivi said, something that confused him at the time.
“Hey Vivi, what did you mean last night when you said I hadn’t gotten my Sight yet?”
“Oh. ‘Sight‘ is what we call our post-human trait.” She twisted around in her seat to look back at Eli. “It’s how mom and I can see in the dark, and why our eyes are this color. Grandma said her mom was the first person in Lancaster to have a trait, and most people still don’t have one. Oh yeah, ‘post-human‘ is what grandma called us, she said we’re what happens when humans evolve. It’s not just us, either. I saw a trader from a western settlement who had long, pointy ears and dark green hair. Double traits! How crazy is that?”
“Hell yeah! I mean, yeah, that’s super crazy.” Eli couldn’t hold back his excitement. The opportunity to witness the next step in human evolution? Fucking epic. Humanity was adapting to the new world in ways he could only dream of. And that trader’s traits sounded especially interesting, and more than a little familiar. “But you said I didn’t have my sight yet. When will I get it?”
It was Julie who answered him this time.
“Well, sweetheart, it could happen tomorrow, or it could take a few years. You see, as you grow up, your body will start to go through some changes. You’ll get taller, and start growing hair-“
“Puberty? Are you saying I’ll get my Sight during puberty?” He cut her off, not wanting to hear her explain how his nuts would get hairy. He’d lived through it all before anyway, he didn’t need a reminder of what would happen. The idea of being forced to go through a second round of puberty made Eli’s previous excitement disappear.
“Uh, yeah, that’s right.” Her bewildered expression told Eli he probably shouldn’t have known about puberty yet. Thankfully, she didn’t question how he had knowledge of the subject.
The lull in conversation stretched out until it became a comfortable silence. Eli looked for more clouds as he pondered his future. His previous career goal of doing wildlife preservation work after graduation was beyond impossible now. The old man had always pushed him to join the army, to follow in his footsteps, to serve his country. Sure, Eli may have idolized his grandfather in most aspects, but he never had any desire to live the life of a military man. It was harsh irony that a career similar to the military now seemed like his best option. Hell, he would certainly be good at it. The old man used training as a form of parenting. He even built a bootcamp-style obstacle course on the land behind their home. It was tough, for sure, but their camping/survival training excursions were some of the best memories of his past life.
Eli closed his eye and reminisced about the trips with his grandfather. They would hop in his grandpa’s rusted-out 1995 Ford Bronco, covered in more rust than paint, and drive up to the Ozark Mountains for the weekend. The old man would spend the days passing down his wisdom, some of which was useless redneck ‘wisdom‘ with no practical value, like how to hold a fish so it looks bigger in the photos he showed his army buddies. Eli’s favorite part of every trip, however, was the ride home. They would stop at the nearest diner and eat all the greasy breakfast foods on the menu. Back in the Bronco, bellies full, his grandpa would always play the same song through the cassette player, a lame joke that Eli grew to love over the years.
Eli softly whistled the tune from his memories, an old John Denver song about a man longing for his home and a simpler life. He never really like country music, but this song was special.
“That’s sounds nice.” Vivi said, pulling him away from his memories. He opened his eyes and found her smiling at him from the front seat.
“Mhm, I think so too. Is that Lancaster?” Eli pointed forward to a huge, sprawling structure ahead ahead of them.
Thick steel panels formed a rectangular defensive wall around a small town. The wall looked to be a little over six feet tall, and was erected in place of an existing steel-wire cattle fence, as evidenced by the unfinished section to the east. The town was an assortment of small adobe brick houses and larger concrete buildings, all laid out in an organized grid pattern. A wide central street divided the town in half, making a straight path from the entry gate in the north wall, to a cement bunker entrance tunnel, wider than the main street, in the hillside south of town. The largest structure, positioned directly beside the bunker tunnel, was a metal construct that looked like a cross between a cattle barn and an airplane hangar. A three-walled shack stood outside the main defensive wall, next to the gate, serving as a guard station.
“Yup,” Julie said, turning around to flash him a quick smile. “this is Lancaster. We’re here. Welcome home, sweetheart.”
Home. My new home, with my new family. My new life. I think I’m going to like it here.
