Chapter 4

I woke up before anyone else in my, uh, tabor. It was early eight o'clock in the morning, and I could hear the noise coming from the nearest houses in the village, which, like a hundred years ago, now had to get up at dawn for lack of electricity and ninety percent of the benefits of civilization.

Every one of the girls was asleep. Most of them piled up not far from the "honeycomb", laying the ground with given out clothes, and some of them, apparently the coldest (I am one myself, by the way), also covered themselves with them.

Mentally summoning Chappy to me, I went into the village. I stopped and knocked on the gate near the first house, where low voices could be heard from behind a wooden fence. A minute later it opened, revealing a man's face with grown stubble.

- What do you want... ah, it's you," the man began, not immediately noticing the golem, and then changed his tone to a more peaceful one. - Sorry, I didn't recognize you. Is something wrong?

- You shouldn't call me that, and I'm much younger. I want to know if you will take in refugees?

- How many and who?

- Fifteen girls, models from the agency.

- Models? - he stretched out. - No, I'm sorry, we can't. And so we let one family in, a married couple with a little kid.

- Too bad," I sighed sadly. - And who can? I've got no place for them to live, the building's got holes in it.

The man came out into the street, closed the gate behind him, scratched his stubble, sighed, almost copied me, and poked his hand in the center of the village.

- Go straight ahead, turn left at the second crossroads, and there you will see the fifth or sixth house on the right, it has yellowish siding and green iron on the roof. Jack lives there, he's the head of our village now. You'll have to settle your questions with him.

- Thanks, - I thanked him.

I quickly found the house and didn't even knock as near to the fence there was already a crowd of about twenty people humming about something in front of one of the open gates.

At the sight of me people were silent and cautiously stepped aside, and a couple of people quickly jumped through the gate.

- Hello," I greeted the villagers. - I am Alex, I came to see you a few days ago, and I live near the ruined building at the end of the settlement.

- Yes, we are aware of that, - someone answered in a not very friendly manner. And again nobody answered to my politeness, the situation with the Chopovs was just repeated.

- Did you find out that Jack, the head of the settlement, lives here?

- That's right," answered a slightly overweight, short woman in her thirties, dressed in a tracksuit. - We're waiting for him too, the elders of the streets are gathered together, we'll create teams for the work. And you also will be with us? Help or guard?

- Me? To help? - I was confused for a few seconds. - Oh, no, it's personal. Although, in principle, it will be seen there.

- It's a pity, - said the woman sadly, - your robots could do so much.

- Golems," I corrected the woman.

- Is it something else?

- It's magic," said someone behind her back.

- Magic," I confirmed. - Maybe I'll tell you more about where they came from and why they're with me later, because I don't have time right now. There are a lot of things to do, and even more questions to ask.

- And what questions do you have for Jack? - The interlocutor was interested, and then she stepped to me and held out her hand, putting her fingers slightly down. - Marie.

- Alex," I shook her hand gently. - About the resettlement of the refugees. Yesterday I drove out in the direction of the city, which you heard about from the newcomers, you know, those who came to the settlement recently. Halfway there, I found a wrecked bus, and there were fifteen models.

- Who?! - Several men at once, in unison, asked back and forth.

- The models. Girls in their twenties. I brought them here, but I have no place to put them, I can't stay in a wreck, I still sleep in my car, and it won't be long before I move out.

- Cute models? - The guy about six years older than me winked at me.

- So models," I grinned. - They're never any different.

- You'll have to work it out with Jack," said Marie. - The house is too small for everyone, and who wants to let strangers in, you never know what they'll do.

She was greeted with approving cheers from the crowd, and only a few men said that they could take a couple of models as collateral.

- Oliver, why should you invite young girls, and two more, not enough your Lidka broke your head with a frying pan? - Someone asked from behind the gate, and after a few seconds the owner of the voice appeared. A tall man of about forty-five, with a slight gray hair and a bald forehead, a noticeable beer belly slightly hanging over the belt of jeans. His face was round, with bags under his eyes, which indicated that he had kidney problems, and, judging by his stomach, these problems were caused by his love for beer.

- Hello, Jack," the man who was called Oliver waved at him, "you have a special guest here.

- Good morning, - Jack's reached me and held out his palm first. - Jack Smith, since yesterday I am the head of the settlement of Cossack Zasad.

- Alexander.

- Just Alex?

- Yes, just by name. And I'm young for a patronymic, and I don't like addressing people by their surnames since school, - I answered him.

- Whatever you say. Let's go to my place and talk there," he suggested, and then turned to the crowd: - People, an urgent matter has come up, as you can see for yourself. So we'll postpone the meeting, but I'll try to finish it as soon as possible.

Sidorov did not offer me to go into the house, instead, we settled in a wooden arbor, draped on three sides of cultivated creeper with huge, as big as my palm, light pink flowers.

- So what's up with the models? - the head asked as we sat down on the benches in the gazebo.

- Fifteen middle-aged girls in their twenties had been models up to that point. Promoting clothes and participating in various promotions, trade shows, and so on.

- Twenty years old, well, maybe they haven't completely gone crazy yet, but they're still a long way from our life," he shook his head. - What can they do besides show off their figure?

- I have no idea, Jack. I had no time to talk to them, and they had suffered so much for two days that I almost found them alive. I just found out what happened, and then I loaded them into the car and brought them here.

- Alex, you see, the situation in the settlement is such that a lot of useless mouths...

- Not useless, - I interrupted him, - sorry, Jack, I couldn't help it. They are young, they should get used to their work quickly, especially they understood what awaits the most useless in this world. And they have their own mouths to feed for now, they have some groceries. Plus a small dowry for the group.

- What kind of dowry? - Smith immediately became interested.

- Petrol generator, seven kilowatt. No gasoline for it, only a couple of liters in the tank. I had to pour the rest in UAZ, or else would not go back. But there are about seventy liters of diesel.

The head of the village drummed his fingers on the table, looking up, thinking something over.

- The machine, of course, is a good thing, but how can we use it without gasoline? And then we'll get them ourselves. We'll take diesel, it will go in the tractor, and we'll dig a ditch with it.

- A ditch? - I interrogated.

- Yes, a ditch. From the forest side we must ditch the border, because yesterday morning the women saw two strange creatures, like wolves, but the size of a cow, and spotty in color.

- Two more? I killed one in the woods a few days ago. And exactly the same one, only bigger in size than a cow, attacked a bus of models, killing three of them before they died on impact, with half the bus in pieces.

- Why don't you keep them? - The head asked and squinted. - Fifteen beautiful young girls who owe their lives to you! In their eyes you are a savior and a hero. If you want a harem, they will do all the work for you, just do their duty as a husband.

- It's too much for me alone. And where would you put them now? I'll be tired of sleeping outside in a week. Work... I've got construction work coming up, and it's not a woman's job at all. In general, let them stay around, I wouldn't mind that and some help, but I'll put them in order, like in the army, and they won't like it, some of them will want to leave. And I don't want them hanging around the village ... you never know what will happen. After all, with all this mess, people have changed, attitudes have changed, the fear of punishment has disappeared.

- You're right about fear.

- They asked for it. Jack Smith, - I changed my tone to a harsher one, having understood what the interlocutor wanted to say. - Normal people don't come here with bats and guns, and don't keep pistols in their belts. I occupied practically a dump, and it's unlikely that even now, with the influx of refugees, anyone will agree to settle there. Most likely, they would just revolt, that you are stuck in some shit to live in!

- That's it," the man put his palms out in my direction, "I get it, don't go on. All right, I'll find a place to put the girls, and I'll make sure they don't get hurt, especially since I was elected by the people yesterday to do just that. And I want to ask you something, Alex.

- I'm listening.

- How do you feel about public life, problems and issues? - And he looked intently into my eyes.

- I'm okay with it. I won't be a stranger and a distant neighbor, and I will help you as much as I can.

- All right!

- But not sooner than in a week, Jack. I need a week to solve some business of mine.

- Hm, - he drummed his fingers on the table again. - A week will do somehow.

- And you'd better let me know in advance if you decide to stick me somewhere. I may have plans that I can't change, and sometimes I have problems with my health, and I may just spend a few days in bed.

- So young and so sick? What is the matter with you? - He got worried.

- Nothing contagious, just problems with my body. It won't affect the village. In a week I'll see if my golems can be controlled by anyone else, not just me. If the result is positive, then feeling well won't hurt anyone at all.

- That would be great," he said happily. - Anything else you want to know? Since the girls and your help are settled questions, I need to communicate further, to do my job the most important.

- Yes, - I nodded. - First, I'd like some cartridges for my hunting gun, at least some, preferably buckshot and bullets. And I'd also like to know at least a little bit about your life, not about yours specifically, but about the village as a whole.

- It's hard with the cartridges now, nobody will even give a couple of pieces, - the man sighed. - I'd give, but I haven't got any, I'm not a hunter. And I can say a few words about our life...

By the time I got back to my house, all the girls were on their feet. Clustered in a bunch, they were talking about something, looking at a pillar who froze at the entrance to the building Lumberjack.

- Alex! Where were you going? - Milana was the first to notice me and immediately ran over.

- On business, with the head of the village to negotiate your resettlement.

- And how?

- In an hour, maybe two, someone from the head will come for you.

- And where are we going? - With bated breath Milana asked. By this time I had reached the main group of girls, so that her question was silently repeated by fourteen pairs of eyes directed at me.

- I don't know," I shrugged. "Maybe they'll put you in one house; there are a few empty houses in the settlement, maybe a few people in different houses. Well, and you will work, but so far it is all uncertain. They still live in the old habits, the collective farm is not returned, but it is already coming.

- And how will you work? - One of the girls asked. - Or to work for food and roof?

Her voice shook like a guitar-strings from the tension.

- The head promised there would be no harassment. And if anything, come to me," I nodded at the golems. - They're here for judge, prosecutor, and executioner. So far, they're afraid. And don't worry about food, you'll have your own supplies for a few days.

- From where? - The light was astonished.

- From there," and I pointed to the loaf and smiled. - Come, but not in a crowd, I'll give you a dowry and a lift in one person.

They had made a crowd after all. The girls were useless, they couldn't march in formation.

I gave each of them nine cans of canned meat, one with caviar and one with tuna. Then I lit two fires for a large kettle and an eight-liter aluminum kettle. The kettle was boiling water for tea, and the cauldron had buckwheat porridge, which was the quickest to make with the food we had. Into the porridge I threw five cans of meat from my supply.

While the food was cooking I rummaged through my things and found the famous sack bag, which every Russian must have. I had these "T-shirts" from Magnit and Walmart supermarkets. Fifteen bags "out of the bag" went to the girls to put canned goods in there.

Then I had to keep an eye on them so they didn't trivialize their gorging. They had been fasting too long to eat a lot and fast at once. Even two days of fasting can be extremely detrimental after a fatty, dense meal. It's a pity that I didn't think to make some kind of broth or liquid soup out of the stew, it would have been very useful as a first approach to the table.

When everyone was stupefied lying in the shade of the trees growing around the two-story building, two messengers from Jack Smith showed up and took the models away. By the way, none of them even asked if they could stay at my place; apparently, the ruined building and the gypsy-style stuff tied in knots didn't impress them much. Well, if they expect to settle well in the village, I am only glad if their expectations are met. How they get there is up to them.

Although it was frustrating to look after them, because so many beauties and not one even wanted to, ahem, thank them.

- Maybe I should make myself a woman of steel? - I grinned wryly. - She would not refuse me, would not leave me, and would protect me from any danger.