Scavengers

June 16, 2051

Montana Desert

The sweltering sun beat down from the cloudless Montana sky, baking everything that stood in its sight. The edge of the foothills was barren, mostly dirt and a few dried-up bushes. The only green was higher up in the mountains. The only movement in the early afternoon furnace was a group of four people surrounding a high voltage electric transmission tower.

“Well?” Jim yelled to Pete as he was perched high up on the tower.

“It’s live,” Pete yelled back.

Jim wiped the perspiration from his head. The temperature, already over ninety, continued to climb towards the projected peak of one hundred and twenty.

“Then come back down!”

“We’re not doing so well, Dad,” said Terry. At nineteen, he was Jim’s only son and part of the team scavenging for aluminum and copper.

“No, we aren’t,” Jim sighed.

Jim went and sat in the cab of the flatbed for relief. For the past three weeks they hadn’t found any decent lines for collecting copper and aluminum. Their scavenging sources were getting scarce and Jim wondered how much longer they could continue. There were seven other groups in their area, and all were suffering. What had been easy picking two years ago had become extremely difficult now. They had to travel further and further out to find any cabling. This trip had taken them a two day drive away from home and, with the lack of a steady source of gasoline, they couldn’t go much further.

“Well, boss?” said Pete as he approached the cab.

Jim looked at him for a long while before answering.

“We head back. Restock and plan the next trip.”

“O, come on, Jim! This is the third time we’ve been out and not gotten anything. We need to get something this trip!”

“And what do you suggest?” replied Jim angrily. “You have a map showing lines we don’t know about?”

“No! But we have a great haul of cable right here. What we can make from the lines between these three towers will cover all our costs and leave us sitting pretty for a good long while.”

Jim looked at him with a face of sad disbelief.

“So,” interjected Raphael, “you’re suggesting we disconnect those live wires? That’s suicide! You want us all to be killed?”

“I can do it quickly then we can hide in the canyon back aways until the drones leave. We can load up after they’re gone and be home before the line crews get out here.”

“Pete,” said Jim calmly, “you know the drones will be out here in less than an hour and they would find us, even in the canyon.”

“No, they won’t!” yelled Pete. “One of the guys back at the bar said they tried it on a small line and it was over three hours before the drones showed up. They got the lines and got away clean.”

“And how did they know when the drones showed up?” asked Raphael sarcastically. “If they got away, they wouldn’t have seen the drones.”

“They were hiding in a cave about two miles away from the lines and watched.”

“It’s only a story,” said Jim. “It never happened.”

“No it isn’t!” replied Pete forcefully.

“It was a story put out by the Stanley group,” Jim said, “and it was put out to get rid of competition. They want other groups to go out and try it so the drones can kill them and eliminate their competition. The story is a trap.”

“I don’t believe you,” said Pete flatly as he turned and headed to the pickup.

“What are you doing?” asked Terry.

“What do you think?” replied Pete forcefully as he returned from the truck carrying a disconnect pole and heavy gloves. “If none of you have the balls to cut they line, then I will!”

“Don’t do it, Pete,” said Jim slowly getting out of the cab.

“Screw you!” yelled Pete as he started climbing the tower.

Jim pulled a rifle from behind the cab seat and aimed it at Pete.

“Don’t shoot him!” Raphael yelled. “He’s one of us.”

“Not anymore he isn’t,” replied Jim coldly.

“Last chance to come down Pete,” Jim yelled.

Pete ignored the warning and continued climbing.

Jim took careful aim and shot, hitting Pete in the center of his back just as he reached the power line.

As the body hit the ground, Terry rushed over and checked.

“He’s dead.”

“Shit! Now what do we do?” asked Raphael.

“We leave him,” said Jim. “Pack up. We’re going home. And leave the pickup.”

“What?” said Rapheal, shocked. “We can’t just leave him here.”

“And what do we tell his girlfriend?” said Terry.

Jim looked at both of them before saying anything.

“We tell her there was an accident and we couldn’t recover the body.

Terry and Raphael looked at each other, shocked by what they had just heard.

Recognizing their concern, Jim continued.

“Look. If I had let Pete go through with his scheme, we’d all be dead within an hour. That power line is life support for thousands of people. Cutting it would have killed a lot of people. Even if we could get away, I don’t want that on my conscious.”

“But why leave Pete and the pickup here?” asked Terry.

Jim looked at the ground for a moment before answering.

“If we took the body back, there’d be a lot of explaining to do and we’d all end up in jail. The drones will spot the body on their nightly runs and, hopefully, the drone controller will think Pete was on his own and slipped and fell. It will be a day or two before they send someone out to collect the body and the truck. By that time all evidence of what we’ve done here will be covered.”

Terry and Raphael looked at him silently.

“Okay, you two,” said Jim as he put the rifle back in the cab, “hop in. We’ve got a long drive ahead.”