“This is what us Silverbacks will give you,” Tom said. “First off, one year’s worth of canned goods and bulk grains, enough for fifty-three people to live on exclusively and without tight rationing. We’ll also help you with your vegetable garden in the spring, enlarging it to the golf course just west of here, for a total of twenty acres of farmland, including your own fruit orchard.
On top of this, we’ll give you enough fuel to run the generator in the gym for at least one year for heating and lighting. We’ll also give you a few electric stovetops and thousands of glass jars so that you folks can start canning your own harvest for the winters. Us Silverbacks will also gift you with a dozen or so cows for meat and dairy. Additionally, our group will ‘loan’ you ten of us wolf shifters for a period of five years, until the boys in your group grow into able-bodied young men capable of defending the community.
Some of these wolf shifters might leave and rejoin us Silverbacks after the five years is up, although some might stay here. That’ll be completely up to them. However, in the meantime, in addition to helping with crop planting and defense, they’ll help you folks dig a well so that you don’t have to rely on water from the little creek near here, and they’ll also turn this gymnasium into proper apartment-style housing, putting up drywall for partitions between units.
This will only be temporary housing, though, until real homes can be constructed on the property. Around these homes and the farmland, a security fence will be installed to help make things easier for guard patrols and to help keep the Creepers out. A few of us ten Silverbacks ‘on loan’ might bring wives, too, who can help with childcare duties and other tasks.” Looking from Norm to me, Tom paused to take a deep breath before continuing. “I’m sure I’m probably forgetting something in all this, but that’s the general offer. This is what us Silverbacks are offering as barter today.”
Sitting next to me at the little table, Norm frowned at Tom. “And just what on earth do you think that we can barter in exchange for all this? Ellie wasn’t bluffing when she told you that as far as food, we’re barely hanging on. We have twenty-three egg-laying chickens in our coops outside, a few barrels of apples, some tomatoes and zucchini, a few crates of canned goods, and about ninety pounds of rice to feed fifty-three people until the pumpkins and squashes are ready to harvest in a few weeks.
That’s it, and that’s not a lot, rationed among us all on a daily basis. We’re very low on medical supplies, too, and as far as vehicles, maybe you saw the only one we have on your way in. It’s currently out of gas, and even before it ran out, it was running poorly because of transmission trouble.”
With his expression perfectly neutral, Tom glanced down at the little table for a moment or two before meeting Norm’s gaze again. “We Silverbacks don’t want any of your food or medical supplies, and we don’t want your vehicle. What we do want is a little harder to come by these days than even those things.”
Norm frowned even harder. “And what might that be?”
Outside the door of my apartment, which I’d left open to allow a little light in, children laughed and played, their voices echoing off the gymnasium walls.
Tom looked at Norm with his expression remaining perfectly neutral. “We Silverbacks have an alpha. His name is Eric McCormick. Before the Chaos, he was a sheriff’s deputy in a small town called Hastings, right on the Michigan-Indiana border. He was single then…and he’s still single now, although he doesn’t want to be. See, he may be a shifter, but he’s also a red-blooded man just like any other, and he desires a mate. The only problem is that since the Chaos, there’s been a distinct lack of single women of childbearing age in the world, so….”
Suddenly, Norm made some half-strangled sort of noise that sounded something like, “Oh!” I myself remained silent, having finally understood the reason for Tom’s visit. In truth, the whole time, I’d had a little idea of why he’d come.
After Norm had made his startled sort of noise, Tom abruptly shifted his gaze to me. “A few of our patrolmen caught sight of you from afar recently, and reported what they’d seen to Eric…and this is what led me to come visit your community here today. See, young women of childbearing age, especially ones as attractive as you are….” Reddening just slightly, Tom suddenly cleared his throat.
“Obviously, you know that in the wake of the virus, women, particularly young women, are at a premium these days. Some people say that men now outnumber women two-to-one, while others say that the figure is actually closer to ten-to-one in some parts. The truth is, of course, that no one really knows for sure. We Silverbacks have several dozen women in our community, mostly women who were married to our men before the Chaos, although we have added some women to our group since then, mostly women who came to us alone, without the protection of any husband or partner.”
Tom paused briefly, as if waiting to see if I would issue any response; when I didn’t, he continued. “Now, since our guardsmen have only seen young boys and older men from afar in this community, Eric is under the impression that you’re probably single. However, on the chance that you’re not-”
“I am.” I’d spoken before even really thinking about it. “I’m single. No husband or boyfriend that I’ve been separated from or anything like that, and I’m not involved with any of the older men in this community. So, to answer the question that you haven’t come right out and said yet…yes. I’ll agree to ‘barter’ myself in exchange for all the things you said that you Silverbacks will offer my community. I’ll agree to be mated to your alpha, Eric, as long as you all truly keep your word about everything you said you’d give my community in exchange.”
Beside me, Norm made some sort of faint groaning noise. “Now, just wait up a second, here, Ellie. We don’t know these people. We don’t know if-”
“Well, what other choice do we have?” I’d turned to look at Norm and had found him frowning. “Our people are almost literally starving. We’ve been on strict rations for, what…two weeks now? Everyone’s losing weight. Everyone’s getting weak. And even when the fall harvest comes in, what’s that going to do? Buy us another couple of weeks, cooking mashed pumpkin and squash outside over a campfire? This is just….”
Giving my head a quick little shake, I paused for a moment. “This is no kind of a life for anyone, Norm…especially not the kids. We need food, medicine, heat, and lights for this coming winter. Not to mention that we need a stronger defense against the Creepers. We’re seriously low on ammo, you know, and during these past few hungry weeks, I’ve found it harder than usual to produce my orbs and keep them coming.”
Frowning so hard he was almost scowling, Norm glanced at Tom before returning his gaze to me and speaking in a low voice. “All I’m asking, Ellie, is that you and I talk in private. Without him.”
Tom stood up from the table. “That’s fine with me. I’ll just wait outside. While the two of you are talking, just know, Ellie, that Eric isn’t in the business of forcing anyone into anything. He definitely wants a mate, and he definitely wants to make a deal with your community, here, but if a deal can’t be reached, there’ll be no repercussions.
We won’t attack you folks or try to kidnap you or anything crazy like that. However, if you ultimately choose not to accept our bartering deal, just know that we won’t be able to gift your community with all the things that I mentioned, because we’ll need to save those things to possibly make a deal with another survivor community here in the state at some point.”
With that, Tom left my apartment, leaving Norm and I alone to have a heated discussion for about the next five minutes.
At the end of it, I told Norm that I’d made my choice, and that I wasn’t going to change my mind. “I’m going to sacrifice myself for the good of this community…and that’s all there is to it. How could I decide anything else, knowing that that might lead to fifty-some people starving to death?”
Frowning, Norm glanced at the partially-ajar door before responding to me. “I know that you’re headstrong and stubborn, Ellie, so I won’t even pretend that I think I can change your mind at this point. And I’m not even saying that the decision you’ve made is the wrong one. In fact, I think it’s very noble and heroic what you’ve decided, and I can’t say that I wouldn’t decide the same thing in your shoes. That being said, how can we be sure that these Silverbacks are going to keep up their end of the bargain? And also, how can we be sure that you won’t be harmed in any way by this Eric guy?”
I sighed quietly. “To answer both your questions, we don’t know. We can’t possibly. But just think about this. Do you think that people who gifted our group a generator, fuel, and food just out of the goodness of their hearts, just for charity, are the type of people to intentionally go back on a deal? And as far as the Silverbacks’ alpha…well, there’s no way to tell if he’ll ultimately prove to be a truly good guy. If he wasn’t, though…if he was some kind of an asshole who hurts women or something…don’t you think that he probably would have just kidnapped me by now? From what it sounds like, his group has probably had the opportunity to since they first caught sight of me. They probably could have even kidnapped me that very first day.”
Knitting his bushy white brows, Norm said nothing.
Tom poked his head inside my apartment. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but just so you know, Ellie, a few of my fellow Silverbacks are parked just down the road with two truckloads of canned goods, blankets, and medical supplies. They’ve even brought some lumber to make bunkbeds for all the kids here. Oh, and we also have a trailer with the first two cows of our barter inside, so that everyone can have fresh milk as soon as lunchtime and grilled steak as soon as dinnertime. We can bring all these things up here to the gym just as soon as you give us the word that you’d like to take us up on our bartering deal, if indeed you do.”
Silently, I looked at Norm’s uncertain, troubled face for a long moment before shifting my gaze to Tom. “Please bring all the stuff up to the gym. I just need to pack a few things and say a few goodbyes…and then, I’ll be ready for you to take me to your alpha.”