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The man had a hint of pride in his voice when he replied. “Gold. I have gold. I bought it when the economy started going bad.”
Justin shook his head. “It’s worthless. The department store jewelry counters are full of it, and no one is even bothering to loot it. You would have been smarter to buy a few cases of whiskey and ammunition instead.”
The man looked startled and discomforted by Justin’s words. “But... I thought... The guy on the radio said...”
Justin lowered his gun and put it back in his holster. Sam took his cue from Justin and ceased his snarling, though he remained alert, his head dropped low with a piercing amber stare fixed on the stranger.
Justin’s voice was gentler as he spoke. “Do you have anything else? Medicines? Guns?”
The man shook his head. “I was hoping I could trade with you to get some food.”
“You’re not from around here, are you?”
“No. We’re from Jersey, visiting my wife’s sister in Skagway. We came out here when the Crisis hit so we wouldn’t be around the sick people...” He lowered his voice. “I’m begging you, mister. My wife and kid... we don’t have enough food. I’ve been trying to catch fish, but I’m not very good at it. Please. Take anything we’ve got. Anything.”
Justin sighed. Carly could see the sympathy in his eyes, but when he spoke, his words were firm. “You don’t have anything we want. There’s a place with power and running water a few miles back that way. You can get refitted there. I’d head south, if I were you. Come on, Carly.”
“But you’ve got plenty in that wagon!” The man sounded indignant.
Justin put his hand on his gun. “We’ve got enough for us. Not to feed everyone we meet along the way.”
Carly couldn’t take her eyes off of the child’s tiny face with its enormous, scared eyes. “Justin, maybe we could—”
“No.”
“What about the horse? That’s just another mouth for you to feed, right? I’ll give you all of my gold and...” He snapped his fingers. “Clothes. My wife has lots of clothes that would fit your girlfriend. And I think we may have a bottle of aspirin. I’ll give you that too.”
“The horse isn’t for sale.” Justin mounted his bike. “Come on, Carly.”
“Please!” The man surged toward Carly, whom he correctly perceived as being the more sympathetic of the two, but Sam snarled again. The man recoiled, and Carly could no longer look at his face and that desperate, pleading expression. She climbed back on her bike and followed Justin down the road. The man shouted after them, naming all of his valuables. Did he really think they would want a Blu-ray player or a dead iPhone? Carly pedaled faster, until she could no longer hear his voice.
“You’re angry at me,” Justin said, and he sounded resigned to it.
“No... more angry at the situation.” Carly kept her eyes fixed to the road. “I know you made the right decision. We can’t feed everyone we come upon while we’re on the road. It just hurt to look at that little kid and refuse to help.”
“Not everyone is suited for survival in this new world. It’s harsh and cold, but it’s the truth. That man’s sitting there, waiting for rescue instead of trying to adapt and figure out a way to survive.”
“Without you, I’d be in his same condition.”
Justin shook his head. “No, I don’t think you would.”
Carly didn’t argue, but she didn’t think he was right. Without Justin she’d still be in Juneau, trying to survive on scavenged food, and she probably would have frozen to death or burned down the building around herself when she tried to put in a heater come winter. She would still be wandering around in a dazed state of numb shock, expecting the world would go back to normal any day.
He was right that some people were more prepared to survive than others. He came into the situation equipped with more skills than most people. “Justin, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“I mean, I know you had to keep everything secret back in the old days, but I don’t think that’s still true now. I’m wondering how you learned all this stuff about survival. It’s not just the things you know, it’s a mind-set. What was The Unit? Did my dad know all of this stuff, too?”
Justin was silent for a long moment. “He did. We all received the same kind of training. Wilderness survival. Psychology. Physical conditioning and hand-to-hand combat. Tactics. Languages. We learned how to blend in, how to hide in plain sight. Medical training. Five years of training for five years of service.”
“What did you do?”
Justin hesitated for a moment before he answered, and she wondered if it was from force of habit or because he didn’t want her to know. “Many things. Reconnaissance. Spying. Assisting resistance groups. Targeted military strikes. Rescues.”
“So, you were like a SEAL team?”
“In a way. We did the jobs they didn’t want to give to a SEAL team. We were a shadow unit, not even officially acknowledged by the U.S. military.”
