Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

upper arms and turned him around. “Perfect. We were just looking for body baggers. Thanks for volunteering.”
    “Oh. Boy. Aren’t I glad I decided to come visit?”
    “Yes, you are,” said Peter. “Follow me.” He walked off in a hurry to position himself at the end of the lobby near the door that led to the hallway we would follow to the kitchen. “Can I have everyone’s attention?” His girly voice bounced around the large space.
    The talking stopped almost instantly, heads swiveling first towards him, then at me, and then back to him again.
    “Thank you. We have a huge amount of work that needs to be done in the next few weeks or months, and we need your help. Everyone who is able-bodied will be expected to participate.” He gave the room a stern look. “The first order of business is getting rid of the bodies that we found in the refrigeration unit.”
    “What bodies are they?” asked a girl out in the crowd. She looked scared, glancing sideways at a couple of her friends.
    “Adults who were brought here to die. From before. It’s not pretty. In fact, it’s pretty disgusting, but it has to be done. So please raise your hand if you feel like you have the strength to do some lifting and pushing and possibly digging.”
    Everyone from our original group raised a hand except Jenny who was sleeping on a blanket on the floor. Her color was much better than it had been, but she was still too weak to do anything.
    The first settler who’d arrived, Derek, raised his hand and looked over at me, nodding once.
    I nodded back to let him know I appreciated his efforts. I could already tell he was going to take his oath of fealty to our community very seriously.
    Several other hands in his group went up, but even from where I was standing I could see it was just wishful thinking on their parts. Their arms were trembling and their faces going white with the effort of holding them up.
    I walked through the crowd and stood next to Peter. Everyone whispered as we discussed the situation privately.
    “You cool with me taking over and leaving you out here to do other stuff?” I asked.
    “Do poodles doodle in the woods?”
    I laughed. “You just said doodle.”
    “I know. Slap me, would you? I’ve lost my mind.”
    I grinned. Peter was definitely feeling chipper now that we’d found what felt like it could be a real home for all of us.
    I looked out at the kids and spoke louder. “We’ll do this in shifts. First shift is eight people.” I surveyed the room. “Ronald, Jamal, Bodo, Derek, you … sorry I don’t know your name, Gretchen, Winky, and me. We’ll start. The rest of you get some food, get some rest, and after a few hours we’ll come back to get a second shift going.”
    I turned my back to everyone and nudged Peter so he’d join me.
    “Yes, my queen?” he asked.
    “Say that one more time and I’ll eye gouge you.”
    “Stop flirting with me. What do you want?”
    “I just wanted to say that most of those people out there are going to volunteer, but they aren’t ready to do any manual labor yet.”
    “I noticed that.” Peter folded his arms.
    “So while I’m gone, why don’t you do a little evaluation of everyone and see what they’re good at. I’m putting you in charge of city management.”
    I looked up in time to see a little sparkle come to Peter’s eye.
    “City management?”
    “Yeah. Can you hack it?”
    “Pfft. You’ve obviously forgotten who you’re dealing with.”
    I reached over to hug him across the shoulders with one arm. “Not for a second.” I bent down to mess with the laces on my moccasin. “We need crews for medical care, gardening, cleaning, building and engineering, animal care …” I frowned, pulling my laces tight. “What am I forgetting?”
    “Uhhh, soldiers?”
    I jerked my gaze in his direction. “Say what now?”
    Peter sighed heavily. “Please don’t tell me you’re going to put your head in the sand and pretend like we don’t have a major problem with the canners still. Barbed wire isn’t going to do crap if they’re determined enough. I’m still worried they’re going to roll through here in tanks one day.”
    I stood again. “I know, I know. Jesus, tanks? I just … never mind. You’re right. But we don’t need just one group of people for that. We need everyone in on that part of it.”
    “Everyone?”
    “Yes. Everyone. Every single person in this place, no matter how weak or small, needs to be a part of our militia or