Holly Fever (Mondamin Court #1)

Chapter 39

Several weeks passed. Holly came back several times to visit but had not betrayed their trust. They heard vehicles on the streets, several blocks away. Holly explained that 29th Street was one of the routes between the downtown community and Camp Dodge, both of which were working hard on rebuilding.

One day, they had come out to lead the goats to a new pasture down the block and found a couple inspecting their front garden. The woman had a pistol and the man had a shotgun strapped to his back. They made no aggressive moves when they hailed Zoey. They were both emaciated, and the woman looked sick.

They begged. They had been on foot, scrounging for months, and were starving. Zoey sent Ruth for a couple of military rations out of their stock and to refill their canteens. Then she directed them toward downtown. "They've even got a doctor," she said. The couple thanked them profusely and left in peace.

Holly had said that she didn't think they'd have any real trouble with looters and bandits anymore. The downtown community wasn't patrolling out this far yet, but they were close enough that gunfire was likely to attract the attention of police or the National Guard. The real bandits had taken the hint and moved farther out.

"Meat?" Holly exclaimed one night as Zoey set the Dutch oven on the table and opened it up to let the steam out.

"Just don't ask what kind," Ruth said, laughing.

"Hey, those raccoons need to know how it is," Zoey joked. "You try to kill our chickens, you're going in the pot. Mom was a vegetarian," she said to Holly.

"But this is the little house on the prairie now," Esther put in. "Little House in Des Moines."

"Coon stew," Zoey said, "along with our first spring peas. Yeah, it's Little House in Des Moines all right."

"My friends think I am crazy for leaving the safety of the community for the badlands of Drake neighborhood," Holly laughed. "Especially after yesterday. If they only knew. Fresh peas and real meat. God."

They said grace and began eating. "What happened yesterday?" Zoey asked.

"Some bandits tried to take over a warehouse with some community food rations. They had a big shoot-out with the police. We lost an officer, a veteran too, like a real before-the-collapse officer. But the bandits lost six men. The mayor sent patrols into the Southside today, to root them out. Wants the whole lot gone from our borders."

"Any chance they'll come this way?" Zoey asked.

Holly shook her head. "A military helicopter saw a bunch of groups heading south, away from Des Moines entirely. Good riddance."

After they had eaten, Zoey pulled out her radio. "Umm, it's almost time. Do you mind?"

"No. In fact, I usually listen too."

Radio Free Des Moines started by reporting the same battle that Holly had just told them about. Then it went to international news.

"It will go down in history as one of the biggest military miscalculations ever, and hopefully, the final stages of Holly Fever," Dennis said.

"The Ukraine war," John said. "God, what a waste."

"Russia, the last remaining superpower, shut its borders and instituted strict quarantine procedures to prevent the spread of the infection. They alone in the entire world managed to avoid a catastrophic pandemic."

"And then they blew it. They failed to remember the lesson of the American Midwest."

"Persistence," Dennis said. The two traded off seamlessly. "The Russian army began to advance through the Ukraine and entered a deeply weakened Europe, a Europe seemingly ripe for conquest."