Humbug Harmony

315 days until extinction.

“I have no idea what that means.”

Jackson had told Harper what Gabby had said as soon as they had left the theatre, and as she had said the young woman Keila now followed a few feet behind.

“Well in the movie Salieri is basically Mozart’s enemy, and a contributing factor in his death.”

Harper let out an almost mocking laugh at the explanation.

“Of course that’s how she views things.”

“Is she wrong?”

The woman shrugged as they walked, “only in viewing herself as Mozart.” Looking over at Jackson she could tell from the sparkle in his eye he wanted to know more. “I’ll tell you more after we search the store.”

While they walked Jackson took in the surroundings with a wide-eyed wonder. Many of the houses and storefronts echoed the sounds of radio, television or other devices indicating some type of electrical current. And the other citizens did not seem overly bothered or worried by the presence of two new people, some even offered a polite wave which Jackson awkwardly returned.

“This is just wild,” Jackson glanced back at Keila. “How is this even possible?”

She looked at him, clearly weighing whether to answer truthfully or not. “Lots of hard work is the real answer. And solid leadership.”

Harper scoffed which drew a glare from Keila but nothing more.

“Gabby had already been organizing community events and whatnot before The Declaration, so when it happened she more or less took it upon herself to make sure we had a place where we could live the rest of that time in peace.”

“That’s a laudable goal,” Jackson said while looking around at so many people living carefree. “But what makes this place so special? I mean, not to be insulting or anything but there’s got to be a reason this Captain person keeps sending people.”

“My guess is there’s some kind of large scale generator.” Harper broke her silence without glancing back, her eyes had been scanning much of the surroundings and had noticed electrical wiring strung along the tops of buildings.

Keila smirked, “not just that though.” Her tone was goading as if trying to convince Harper to find other hidden details.

Unwilling to cede to a challenge Harper began looking around for something else that would be worth fighting over. Her eyes took in each of the different storefronts; hardware, grocery, electronics, comics. None stood out to her. She also could not find anything distinctive about the citizens that wandered the streets, but still she refused to give up.

“Can’t figure it out?”

While they walked Jackson glanced between the alleys, spotting what looked like a large communal garden. He could see the spray of water from some kind of sprinkler system and as the light shone through it a small rainbow appeared. As he walked a question rose to Jackson’s mind.

“How is your water working?”

Keila chuckled and punched him playfully in the arm.

“Give the lad a gold star!”

Harper turned and gave a small smile of appreciation at Jackson, it gave him a warm and pleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“One of the first things Gabby did when she put this all together was secure the nearest filtration plant. It serves our entire neighborhood. So after we did that we built the wall, mainly because we wanted to be able to know who was coming and going just for our own security.”

“Sounds kind of like a prison.” Harper said under her breath.

“There are women and children here, old and infirm people who need a lot of assistance. In the first month the Captain ravaged most of the city, those who were able to escape came here.” Keila’s eyes were narrowed as she spoke, and her voice was laced with venom.

“So he’s after the water? But aren’t there like, other treatment plants in the city?”

Keila shook her head, “several accidents within those first two weeks destroyed one of them entirely. And I think he waited too long to act and the others backed up or developed some hardware issues. I don’t know the full specifics, but this is actually the last working filtration plant in all of Philadelphia.”

“Makes sense then why he’d want in this place so badly,” Harper said as they rounded the corner onto a less populated street. “Only so much water you can get from rain. They may have reused some filters but it won’t be as effective as the station. Add in the fact there’s a communal garden here with enough food for a ton of people this place is like a damn goldmine.”

“Exactly. Now you understand the wall.”

“And the sewer patrols.”

Keila chuckled, “yeah. That one actually got pointed out to us when some random dude got the jump on us. Lucky for us he wasn’t hostile.”

“Oh yeah?” Jackson looked at her with brow raised in curiosity.

“Yeah, you met him actually. Pat, he was one of the guys that had a gun on you.”

Jackson nodded while mentally digesting the statement, he couldn’t help but chuckle at how ridiculous it all was.

“What’s funny?” She asked, turning her eyes from him to Harper who had started to walk a few feet ahead.

“Just the whole situation,” he said with a chuckle. “Little over a month ago my biggest worry was school. Now I’m walking through sewers, being held at gunpoint, and learning how to properly butcher an animal to get all it’s meat.”

“Hey that’s important stuff, you never know when you’re gonna need to whip up some squirrel stew.”

The pair shared a look before bursting into laughter, and for the first time Jackson forgot everything else and could simply laugh.

“Seriously though, I get it. I was working part-time at a hardware store in between doing food delivery. Now I’m learning how to properly dismantle and put together a rifle in less than a minute.”

“Keila anyone ever tell you that you’re a badass?”

She laughed, brushing some hair behind her ear before punching Jackson playfully in the arm.

“You’re too kind.”

“Is this the place?” Harper’s voice broke through the moment and let reality leak back in.

“Huh?”

Jackson looked up at the quaint little shop with the words ‘Humbug Harmony’ painted above the storefront. Looking inside the window he was shocked to see nothing out of place, the shelves still upright and even decent stocked. It looked almost like it had never been abandoned.

“Oh, yeah. Yes! This is the place.” He looked back at Keila and smiled, trying to ignore the way his hands felt sweaty when she smiled back at him.

“I’ll wait out here, give you two some time to yourselves.”

Jackson nodded and headed inside the shop. A small bell chimed in announcement of their entrance but no shopkeeper came out to meet them, the store was quiet yet pristine which only added to the slight chill that was working its way up Jackson’s spine.

“Okay, I’ll take one aisle, you take the other.”

“Actually…” He gestured to the labels on each shelf that the previous owner had added to make navigation easier. “It doesn’t look like we’ll have to even really search.”

Turning down the aisle Jackson could already see several boxes of the reeds he needed neatly stacked on the shelves. Stopping in front of them he picked one up and chewed his bottom lip.

“What? Are these not the right ones?” Harper’s voice was full of agitation, it was clear she wanted to leave yet Jackson was not sure how ready he was to leave. The sight of Keila’s smile flashed in his mind as he set the box down slowly.

“No, they’re too big,” he lied. He pretended to look around for others but knew he would find nothing.

“Are you serious? All of this for absolutely nothing.” Harper sighed and pressed the palms of her hands into her forehead. “Okay, it’s fine. We’ll head out and see if we can hit another shop before dark.”

“Actually,” Jackson interjected as Harper turned to walk from the store. “It’s already looking close to sun down. Why don’t we just stay with these people tonight?”

She stared at him like he had just suggested they coat themselves in honey and lay down on a nest of fire ants. His ears felt hot under her interrogative stare, the back of his neck growing warmer with each passing second.

“I don’t advise it Jackson.”

“What?”

“Getting attached.” She jerked her head slightly back toward the front.

“What!? You’re crazy!” He said while pretending to laugh. “She’s just nice, okay?”

Harper said nothing, but her stare said everything.

“Look, I’m really tired and…and I’m making the call that we stay the night. Okay?” Jackson stormed passed her, trying to pretend to be upset but really just unable to look at her and the almost disappointed look she was giving him. He opened the door, the bell chiming in an almost mockery of his own anger.

“Okay Jackson,” Harper said. He did not see as she picked up two boxes of the reeds had looked at and tucked them into her pack. “It’s your call.”