The Second Intelligent Species: The Cyclical Earth by Dale Langlois Page B

diagnosing me, she kept on to the business that I was unable to do.
    As I recuperated I was amazed at how quickly she left me to fill the containers.
    Beth twisted the pipe wrench and filled the canteens, baby bottles and soda bottles. “You still okay over there?” she asked as she worked, her voice uneasy.
    “Mm hmm,” was all I could muster at the time.
    She set the flashlight down on waist-level pipes. I could see her for the first time in a long time. Still crying, and shaking, she stripped, and washed the blood off with the lukewarm water from the leaking pipe. Then she turned the flashlight towards me. “Are you feeling better?”
    I slowly got to my feet and stripped down. I was covered in blood and shit. I didn’t answer her.After washing myself and my clothes, I put the same wet clothes back on. I had thought about taking the clothes off the two dead guys, but one was covered in as much blood as I was. We did take Tex’s clothes. We could use the material for torches, or toilet paper.
    Beth carried the backpack as we started back to the others, leaving the two bodies where we had laid them. When I panned the area to see where I was going, the flashlight caught something. I went back to it to see what it was. There on a pole was a human head. Upon closer inspection I could tell it was Mick’s. His nametag was pinned to his face. He had been too free with information. Too many people wanted the type of escape that he kept in his pocket. He’d said it was like money now.
    “I bet they have his retirement fund. I bet it’s still in the tower.”
    “We’ll look for it, but if we find it, then I’m in charge of it and you don’t tell anybody about it. Okay?” she said.
    “No way. Look what happens when you talk too much.” I pointed to Mick’s head.
    We walked back up to the tower and looked on the bodies and all around, but no drugs could be found. Mick must have taken their location to his grave—as if he was given one.
    I double-checked each man’s pockets. “I was hoping these guys might have a gun or some kindof a weapon. They didn’t even have so much as a knife or a pipe like I did. I don’t think they had been here long. They weren’t well organized or anything. I wonder if they were even the ones who killed Mick. It would have been hard to cut off his head without a knife.”
    “I think they were guarding this place for somebody else. These guys didn’t seem like they had the initiative to do this on their own. They were probably put here to frighten people away. Whoever put them here probably didn’t expect them to encounter anyone anyways.” Beth paused. “Let’s get to hell out of here. Whoever’s eating Mick’s body is going to need a drink soon. I don’t want to be here when they do.”

Chapter 16
    One More

    We walked in the dark, not wanting to waste the batteries in the flashlight.
    It was hard to walk because we drank as much water as our bellies could hold while we were at the tower. We were bloated and uncomfortable, but we needed as much water as possible.
    “Do you know where we’re going now?” she asked.
    I hadn’t made any long-term plans. “Down to the others, then…” I stopped because I didn’t have an answer.
    “I’ll tell you where we’re going, back the way we came. Then to Buffalo. The Eco-Meat plant is on the way. There must be something left. I can get water. You start me a fire when we stop to rest. All those cans of food are still at the building we spent the night in, and I bet that we can find more. There are fewer people in the country, less competition. We need to get away before the diseases start. We need to get the children out. We can’t keep them quiet. They’re going to attract attention.”
    “I couldn’t agree more.” The most important thing of all was she expected me to build a fire. I couldn’t let her down. How in the hell was I going to start a fire, short of rubbing two sticks together? I was starting to panic. We were