Someone asked me to write a short story around that picture. This is what I came up with.
The Compound
Pete Thorsen
Chapter 1
The man was neither young nor old when the collapse happened. If a collapse is the correct word. Collapse means falls down or falls apart and that did happen but it was much worse than that. There was all the violence and that was the worst.
It took quite some time but the man finally made it back to the small town where he grew up. He was not surprised to find the place deserted and it looked like while people had been still in residence there had been a whole lot of violence here too.
As long as the man was here he thoroughly searched all the still standing buildings for any and all survival supplies. He knew that it had almost for sure been searched before but that fact did not deter him at all. And by the time he finished he had quite a load with what he had brought and the stuff he had found. Actually like he expected there were way more useful items left here than he could possibly take with him.
While he was searching, the tiny town received the first snow of the season. He was prepared and snow meant little to him with the only real downside being that even he could not help but leave tracks in the new-fallen snow. When done in the little town he left to his next destination.
He was on his way to a very small homestead that might still have someone he knew living there. The place had a working windmill for water and that was both rare and vital in this new world of chaos where now everyone lived.
It was a good day’s travel now when such travel had to be done on foot. There was still some light when he saw the once little homestead in the distance. There had been a whole lot of building there recently it appeared. The man backed off and used the available light to find a decent campsite about a half-mile from the homestead. He had decided to check it out before just leaving the area.
After his camp was set up and he had his meager supper, he left now under the cover of darkness to check out what he had seen in the distance.
Approaching what could only be called a compound was no problem even though the half-moon made a lot of light reflecting off the fresh snow. There were dense trees up very close to the compound walls. There were two raised observation towers or maybe guard towers but they were located very close to each other instead of on opposite sides of compound. The man had no problem leaving the cover of the dense woods on the off-side of the compound from the towers and he just walked directly to the compound wall.
There were human tracks everywhere in the fresh snow so no one inside would notice his tracks among all the others. The man walked alongside the wall constantly stopping to look through the many holes in the wall to see what was inside the compound. It appeared to be a random collection of poorly made and hastily constructed shacks with many containing smoking stovepipes.
Advancing he stopped when he came in view of the watchtower near him. The wall gave him good concealment to get very close to the tower. Actually, he was sure he could have walked under the tower without being spotted. He just watched and listened and was close enough to hear the snores from the guard posted up in the tower.
The man then backtracked all the way back to where he started and then continued his inspection of the ramshackle wall. He just looked inside again and again as he made his way around the outside of the wall. The horses knew he was there but did not startle at his presence. Apparently they were used to people coming and going on the outside of the poor wall.
The man realized the reason for all the tracks when he saw a woman leave compound through a small make-shift door between the watchtowers. At first, he was confused about why a lone woman would leave the compound at night then realized he had seen no outhouses located inside. Apparently everyone just left the compound whenever the need struck and went out alone whether it was day or night.
The man moved to a spot next to the woods where the woman entered. He just stood and waited there for the woman’s return. When he heard the woman coming back it was no trouble at all to get behind her and grab her from behind with his hand clamped solidly over her mouth to stifle any noise she might make.
The woman hardly even put up a fight and the man felt how light-weight she was as he dragged her away. About a quarter-mile from the compound he released the woman then quickly grabbed her again when she started to fall. She made no noise and did not even squirm this time when he caught her. She was passed out.
He easily carried the skinny woman back to his camp. On the trip there the woman never came too and when he arrived he carried her into his tent only removing her shoes before he put her inside his sleeping bag. For himself, he used all three of his spare blankets and listened to her breathe as he went to sleep.
Chapter 2
Waking early he listened and could hear the woman’s steady even breathing. He got up and after taking care of some personal business he started making a hot breakfast, mainly for the woman’s benefit. When the food was almost ready he went inside the tent and woke the woman. She recoiled when she remembered what had transpired last night but the man just stepped back.
“I have no interest in hurting you. I would have never brought you here because I only wanted to ask you a few questions but you fainted so that is why you are here now. I have breakfast ready and your shoes are next to you. Please put your shoes on and come out for the meal.”
Not waiting for any answer the man left the tent and returned to check the breakfast. It was just minutes later when the woman exited the tent. The man stood from the log where he had been seated and stepped away from that spot. He then pointed to his seat and spoke.
“Please have a seat and I will give you some breakfast. It’s just oatmeal but I did cut up some dried apples to add to it.”
Still not speaking the woman sat down in the man’s just vacated spot. The man handed her the hot oatmeal complete with a spoon and then stepped well back again. He took the smaller portion of the oatmeal remaining in the small cooking pot for himself. Even though she had a much larger portion the woman finished way before the man. When they were both done they stared at each other for several moments. Then the man spoke.
“Sally Anderson?”
Startled the woman looked again at the man.
“How did you know my name?”
“We grew up together. I guess with a beard I likely look much different. I’m Ben Spencer.”
“Ben? Is it really you?”
“Yes. Sorry I did not recognize you last night. Can you tell me what is with that compound at the Jenkin’s place where you are staying?”
“After the collapse, things kept getting worse and worse. Many people left our little town and none returned. Then one did come back and it was with very bad news. There was apparently a fair-sized group of raiders approaching and he had seen what they did to the people in the next town. He said we stood no chance if we stayed and tried to fight them.
We had a town meeting with everyone still in the town at the community center. Widow Jenkins happened to be in town and she said we could all come to her place. We were all welcome to camp there and she said she had plenty of clean water because of the windmill. For food she said we would have to bring our own.
There was little fuel left in town and many used the school bus for transportation to Jenkins’ place. Some others drove their own vehicles. A trailer was pulled behind the school bus with all the building supplies that could be grabbed quickly. Over the next week or so shanties were built and then a wall was put up later to surround the area to keep us safer.
No one had hardly any food even before we made the move. A few people had horses and brought those with them. Widow Jenkins still had one horse at home and so she had a little hay on hand for it. With the additional horses that hay is about gone now along with what food was brought with everyone I think. We had all been on a starvation diet before even leaving town. That’s about it I guess.
What are you going to do now?”
“Well, first I will take you back to the compound. Then I’ll probably just leave.”
“Take me with you!”
“You would not like traveling now. Things are not very nice.”
“I think everyone in the compound is going to die anyway.”
“How come you are not eating the horses?”
“You can eat a horse?”
“Yes, you can eat a horse. You can eat most any animal. Do they only have the horses in the compound at night and let them graze outside during the day?”
“No, they just feed them hay and never let them outside the walls.”
“There are deer in the woods have people been hunting them?”
“Many do have guns but I have not heard of any going hunting. The guns are just to protect the people there.”
“I thought I saw some new temporary power lines in your camp. Do you run a generator?”
“There is one there that they did use it mainly for running power tools to build the shanties. I have not heard it run for quite a while now.”
“I did not see any outhouses. Why weren’t any built?”
“By the time the shanty building was done everyone was used to using the woods I guess.”
“There is a lake less than a mile away. How often do people go fishing there?”
“I have never heard of anyone fishing. We are not very good at taking care of ourselves are we?”
“Everyone has different abilities. It does appear that some of those abilities are not found within your group.”
“If you won’t take me with you, will you help us?”
“Maybe I could stay for a bit and give you all some pointers.”
I packed up camp then and we walked together back to the compound. We walked right up to the doorway and no one challenged us. We went inside and a couple said hi to Sally but no one said anything about her being gone overnight or who was the strange man with her.
At my request, we made a quick walk around the inside of the compound. It was so small that it only took a few minutes. I did ask Sally a few questions about things I saw inside. Then we went to the leader’s shanty. Sally went inside after she knocked and I stayed outside. A couple minutes later she came out and asked me to follow her back inside.
I understood a lot more when I recognized their leader. I remembered him from high school. He had been somewhat of a bully and a blowhard.
“Sally says you can maybe help us. I’m Jack Harrison, the mayor here.”
“I remember you. I’m Ben Spencer.”
“Ben Spencer. It’s been a long time. So what can you help us with? I’m not sure we could take in any more people at this time.”
“I have no interest in staying here. I can just give you a few pointers that might prove helpful to the group. Maybe if you had a get together I could address your group before I leave.”
“Sure. Everyone would be happy to see a new face anyway. How about a couple of hours from now? It will be as warm as it is going to get and we have to meet outside because the houses are all too small for everyone to be in at the same time.”
“That would be fine. I’ll just wander around a bit until then.”
While I was talking to him he had looked repeatedly at my rifle that was slung on my shoulder. I was happy to exit his house because I had left my supplies outside and I just was not a very trusting person. But when I went out my stuff had not been disturbed. I walked around a little more and Sally came with me. She did introduce me to several other people and she told them there would be a meeting later.
I could see there was no kind of organization to anything inside the compound. I asked Sally some more questions as we walked. She said no one had any kind of jobs or positions other than the Mayor. The sentries were all volunteers and she did not think they had any kind of set schedules. She did say they had never been attacked or even had anyone stop here since they came.
We were still just talking when we heard a chime. It sounded like an old dinner bell maybe. Sally said that was their call for a meeting so I followed her to their meeting spot that was next to one of the watchtowers and close to the horse corral.
The Mayor was standing on a heavy wood box so he could be above the crowd. I did a quick headcount and there were twenty-six people total besides me. Sally did a quick look around and said she thought everyone was there. I asked about Mrs. Jenkins but Sally said she never came to any meetings.
The Mayor started talking, mainly just to hear himself talk I thought. After several minutes he said my name and asked me to come up and say my piece. So that is exactly what I did.
Very short story
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