Free America the Dead by Joseph Talluto Page A

we might get some eggs this trip.
    One group of people caught my eye. There was a well-armed gaggle of what I assumed were teenagers sitting outside a building. They were watching us with undisguised interest and one of them, the leader, I guessed, looked over with as much insolence as he could muster. I didn’t return the favor, figuring to leave well enough alone.
    “Trouble, you think?” Charlie’s barely audible voice reached me from behind.
    “Maybe,” I said. “We’ll see what happens.”
    We reached about midpoint of the hill and Nate took us into a three-story building that looked like it once had been a business of some sort. It had been worked over and now looked like a decent place. Nate showed us our rooms and we stored our stuff. We talked for a minute and Charlie, Duncan, Tommy, and I decided to go with Nate on his tour, while the rest went to find old friends. Sarah took Jake with her and Rececca took Julia, so the kids were happy.
    We walked over to Nate’s place where he backed a large pick-up out of the garage. We climbed aboard and began our tour of the town.
    Nate took us all the way down to what used to be Archer Avenue. We passed a thriving community, with several hundred occupied homes and places that looked like actual businesses. Charlie looked askance at Nate and he laughed.
    “We trade, mostly. There’s stuff to be had if you’re willing to risk your neck getting closer to the city. But everyone gets what they need,” he said.
    I looked around and smiled to myself. This is a nice place, but I think I’ll take my lonesome lodge over fences and neighbors . I looked back at Charlie and I could tell by the look on his face he was thinking the same thing.
    We waved to a bunch of people and took in the rest of the town. The old ditch had been abandoned as a barrier and the new boundary was a highway divider fence that marked the new territories. It had the advantage of weight and portability. Six strong men could put up a fence relatively quickly.
    I saw hopeful signs of life all around and everyone seemed to get along really well. I asked Nate about any internal troubles and he told me that he was surprised at how few problems there actually were. It was like people shrugged off the old complaints and got busy trying to live.
    “We do have a new set of problems and I’m getting ready to deal with them,” Nate said as he turned the corner to another part of town.
    “What’s that?” I asked as I watched a small boy helping his mother plant seeds in a backyard garden. It reminded me of Jake helping Sarah. He tended to try and eat the seeds.
    “Well, there’s a small group of young men who are eager to test themselves and have been causing trouble here and there. Picking fights and such.”
    “That wouldn’t be a small group of well-armed kids I saw earlier?” I asked.
    “The same,” Nate said. “They’ve gotten bolder and there was a report of a possible assault, but nobody saw anything and they are sufficient in numbers and arms to intimidate any single person going after them.”
    I said nothing, but nodded.
    Nate continued. “It’s just a matter of time before someone gets killed and I was hoping to avoid those kinds of problems right now. We don’t have a legal system here, everyone has been pretty much following the laws as we remember them, but we’re thankfully short on lawyers.”
    “Want some advice?” I asked.
    “Sure.”
    “Set up an official security team, made up of all able bodied persons in the community. Make a rotating schedule so everyone participates and above all, with a community this size, you need formal rules and regulations.”
    “Seems like a lot of work.”
    “Considering we’ve been shoved back a thousand years developmentally, I’d say you have little choice.” I was hardly sympathetic.
    “Thanks.” Nate barely contained his sarcasm.
    “My pleasure. Now you see why I’m on the frontier.”
    “Speaking of which, you never told me why