Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Queen of the Cats 11. How to Plan a Market Day Party

As she walked the final distance down the forest path, Nix considered whistling a merry tune so she would look normal and perhaps even merry about the market day to come. No one whistled anymore though. She settled on quiet and calm humming of an old melody remembered from a childhood with Alice, knowing it was probably some hippy dirge about overcoming something or loving everyone.

It was important to look nice and normal, because there were likely spotters in the trees. Whoever had killed the Day men and their farm help and then rounded up a shamble of corpses would likely put down a single settler who looked like they were about to spoil the big surprise. These party planners wanted everyone in one place so that with one festive day of blood spatter and arterial spray, they would own this valley and whoever they left alive or kidnapped.

If you wanted to entirely depopulate a region while causing little damage to usable resources, this was the plan to use. Market day events were important to exchange goods, but also information, plans for spring planting so that crops would not be duplicated, requests for those going out on scavenging missions, ordering clothing to be made, seeing the doctor, visiting the dentist and sometimes finding the closest thing to true love left in this rural corner of mountains. Unless you were on your death bed, market day was to be attended. If you were on your death bed, it was still an option and the doctor would at least be there.

Market day was actually three days and would see nearly all the settlers of the region arriving and setting up their wagons, tents and stalls for trading goods. This first day and night would just be the arrival of the planners, most able and closest resident settlers. They would undertake extra work, helping older settlers and farmers set up their wares as they arrived the following day. Also, the early arrivals would dig a massive fire pit with high banked sides, drag in the dead logs that had been pulled from the woods weeks ago, then chop and stack the wood. Lastly, the posts and barbed wire hung with tiny bells would be set fully around the encampment and wagons in case the fire or the noise brought any stray corpse shuffling in their direction.

All humans and animals would be bedded down in the barn each night of the market, because it was still the safer option. A cot and pillow inside with three shifts of a watch set sure beat sleeping in your wagon and wondering if the bells on the fence would wake you if there was trouble. This site was a great location for Autumn Faire as the temperatures could drop a bit and the barn helped retain some heat. The great hay loft above would be filled with the night long giggles of the younger children, bedded down in straw and in about the safest place they could be. The giggles were nice to hear.

As she reached the wide open stretch of ground around the barn and began leading Cow across the two acres of cleared land, Nix paused to look at the vista of the property as if she was savoring the view. She let the darkest part of her mind unfurl, a black lotus on still water. If she was going to murder everyone she knew using the shambling dead, how and when would she best accomplish the deed. She considered the lessons of every hunter, trapper, builder, thief and the most horrific things she had seen in her life.

Tomorrow would be the larger setup, installation of more fence and then the opening social at dusk. A bonfire, roasting meat, dancing, attempts at music, over-sugared children, story-swapping, gazes meeting, plans made, alcohol consumed, drunken settlers and a rollicking good time had by all. But still, not quite yet. Everyone would be excited, happy, up late talking and have trouble getting to sleep after months apart.

The following day would be full with trade, games, food, races, day-drinking and then the harvest bonfire. A huge stack of wood (and event trash) that would burn to the heavens. No one, except the youngest children and dimmest teenagers would still be entirely sober. Everyone would be tired, at least buzzed, sore from sleeping in the barn, and forcing themselves to stay awake longer than they intended, trying to make this good time last.

That, Nix imagined, was precisely when the party would turn ugly as the bitey herds of corpses were maneuvered through the dark. She imagined from the group she had seen that they could be gathered up with the wire like a lasso and would follow along behind any living person, hoping for a taste. At the market day site, some bells would be silenced, fences cut, tied packs of dead brought inside the perimeter and then released into the crowd. In the half-light of the bonfire flicker, they wouldn't be seen, except as tripping drunks, until it was far too late. Chaos. Blood. Screaming. Death. Fire.

Nix figured on at least three to four groups of the dead, brought in from different directions for appropriate redundancy. Maybe a set left on the perimeter for anyone who ran. That kind of herd would need eight to ten people, minimum, to direct the dead. Nix figured that size gang would place at least two men or women on the inside as new settlers. They would probably come in to introduce themselves as new hands hired on at the Day farm. They would arrive on horseback and probably be charming, maybe even attractive. Everyone trusts a bright smile and firm handshake. Nix imagined they would explain that the family had the flu, and that they had brought the wagon of produce for trade.

During the opening evening social, they would probably pick a far and dark corner of the barn for a "good cuddle", produce some noises that no one would disturb, and work loose a few boards from the ancient barn. A final herd of the dead could be set loose inside the barn where everyone would run for shelter. All of the dead would follow from the broad carriage doors to the makeshift opening where the corpses would keep filing in.

Shut the doors. Light the barn.  Old wood and hay on fire. Now, the gang would own a region and all of the trade goods from the market day. They would probably kidnap some more young women. Nix shook off the terrible daydream and wished she couldn't imagine things so awful, but this was so close to her own past.

Well, that shit wasn't happening on Nix's watch. She'd seen hundreds of  humans go down that way once before and she was not going to watch it again. With a bright, feigned smile she waved at the boys chopping the wood and digging the fire pit and she, Cow, Garibaldi and the wagon headed for the "safety" of the market day enclosure. She kept her eye out for good sniper perches in the hillsides, strange flashes of light and how she was going to explain this to the council without them flailing in fear, grabbing up their families and running for the hills. It was far too late for that.


12. Party Planners


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