The Second Intelligent Species: The Cyclical Earth by Dale Langlois

them.

Chapter 15
    Back to the Tower

    I found a pipe that was once the water line of a house. Beth and I pulled and twisted until it broke free. Galvanized pipe breaks easily at the elbows. It was about six feet long and worked well as a walking stick too. I guess if it were made of wood, it would have been called a staff.
    I had to choose between the small axe and the knife as a backup weapon. The axe would be useful to Beth and the others should I not come back; plus I could keep the knife on my belt loop freeing up my other hand. If I needed it, I could just tear it off, loop and all. With that and my trusty staff in hand, I feared nothing. My real plan was that nobody would be there.
    The women and the children were out of hearing distance, or at least they had all the children quiet. Either way, they weren’t attracting any attention.
    I had to put all my efforts into getting as much water as I could carry, then get away before anybody else got there. I had all the baby bottlesand empty soda bottles I could carry in my pack, and the canteens. I decided to toss the soup cans.
    I knew I was heading in the right direction. The grade of the land gradually increased. I didn’t see any light coming from the tower, no fires, torchlight, or flashlight. That helped me with my pace, since I didn’t think I had to sneak as much as I thought I was going to have to. If anybody was there they would have some kind of light.
    I had one, and I was practicing all the way up the street with my secret weapon, like some “Cowboy Quick draw.”
    In the darkness, I could make out the tower and the steel that was piled beneath. Nothing had changed as far as I could tell. Just in case, I started to drag my staff with my right arm behind me, with the broken kinked end of the pipe wedged into my shoulder blade. I started to limp up to the tower house, or what was left of it. I felt that anybody seeing a limping man would underestimate him and lay off of their attack.
    Nothing made me suspicious and I almost felt it was safe, when I heard some metal roofing move.
    “Do you want to get supper, or do you want to be supper?” A voice in the black yelled out.
    My heart went into high gear. “I just want some water and I’ll leave you alone. Can you spare some? My cats are still thirsty, and all I want to dois… is wash my hair. I’ll trade you two cats for the water.” Once I spotted a second man, I was sure it was a good idea to have them underestimate me and think I was a senile old man.
    I slowly walked closer to them, dragging my staff behind me.
    “Stop right there, motherfucker. You want some water, you are going to have to pay for it.”
    I couldn’t see who was talking to me in the dark. They were hiding behind some steel that had been thrown to the side.
    “My cats, I just want to get some water for my cats, I have some tuna fish cans here. Here pussy, pussy, pussy.” Little did they know that I was talking to them and not my imaginary cats. My former state of weakness was replaced with a cocky fearlessness; adrenaline was pushing me into a confrontation. Their shadows appeared behind sheets of distractingly noisy steel. Apparently my disguise had fooled them. They were leaving the security of the darkness to confront the poor crippled crazy person they had expected might taste good with creamed corn.
    When I felt there was enough room to confront both of them at the same time, I stopped. I kept quiet while waiting for them to creep out of the shadows like demons out of a nightmare. I couldn’t make out their faces, but I knew what they had in mind.
    I jiggled my left arm to adjust the location of the flashlight, like a magician would do with trick flowers. I felt as I had when bow hunting in upstate New York. There were times when I was the predator and deer were the prey. I felt like the predator once again. I was just biding my time for the strike. I knew what I had to do to save us all.
    These guys were scum and wouldn’t