by Sage du Toit
She was already getting a little sore and her neck hurt from the odd angle of cycling, the weight of the gas mask and helmet didn’t help, but she knew she could endure. She took a few ibuprofens to help and then they packed back up and took off with renewed energy. They both had hydration packs that connected to their gas masks, so it wasn’t too hard to drink while riding. Tom occasionally checked with her to make sure she was drinking. He said that even though it was cold she would need the extra hydration due to the workout they were getting riding the bikes. Each time they stopped for a bathroom break and when they stopped for lunch, they both stretched. During one of the stretching sessions she told Tom she would give him anything he wanted if he would give her a massage tonight.
Tom raised his eyebrows and grinned, “Anything?”
Sam laughed and flirtatiously answered, “Yes! Anything!!”
It was getting close to dark and they were in a thickly wooded area. They were riding next to each other so they could talk. It wasn’t easy to hear each other through the gas masks while moving but abbreviated hand signs helped. They could see a house up ahead that was set off in the trees. They decided to park the bikes in some trees and bushes just off the road and check the house out.
Sam was happy to remove her bike helmet. It did help to keep her head warm but it was giving her a bit of a headache. They crouched in the bushes and watched the house for a few minutes. There wasn’t a car in the drive and the house didn’t have a garage. They didn’t see any movement or lights and the curtains on the front looked open.
The quietly made their way around the side of the house and to the back door. Tom tried it and found it was locked. He was pulling out his pry bar to open it when Sam noticed the kitchen window didn’t have a screen on it. She pushed up on the window and it opened without a sound. She looked at Tom and shrugged and told him to give her a boost. The window was small but she didn’t have a problem getting through. The kitchen was clean and it didn’t look like anyone had been here. There was a rotten bowl of fruit on the counter. She went to the back door and unlocked it so Tom could come in.
They quickly cleared the house and didn’t find a single body. There wasn’t much in the house but from what she could tell a single woman had lived here. There were only women’s clothes in the bedroom closet and the second bedroom was set up like an office. They checked out the front door and couldn’t see any other houses nearby but assumed there were more since the road continued around the corner. The went out the front door and quickly brought their bike and trailers inside.
Sam opened the kitten trailer and set out their litter box and put out bowls of wet kitten food. She had found packets of food to bring with them, instead of can’s that would take up more room and weight more. The packets were also easier to divide between the kittens and Lucky. She was starting to train them to wait and made them all sit back and wait until all the bowls were placed down and then she let them all eat. She was going to start adding in other training, like sit and stay but right now she was just working on making them wait to eat. She didn’t want them eating something without her giving permission. Just in case they came across something bad, it would be easier to command them to wait if they were used to it.
Tom was searching through the kitchen cabinets and had pulled out a few things to choose from for dinner. They had food with them, but mostly dried food that would last them longer. They decided it would be more efficient to eat food they found along the way and save the packed food for when nothing was found. The house stove was electric so Sam pulled out the camp stove but decided to use the houses pots so she didn’t have to pull out and dirty her own. She looked through the items Tom sat out and decided on two cans of hearty chicken and vegetable soup. There were also some crackers and a can of processed cheese spread.
Luckily the house still had running water, found a large pot and filled it up with water so they could have hot water bottles to sleep with. They had no other form of heat. Tom came out of the back of the house and sat a few prescription bottles down on the counter. He told her they were pain pills and he wanted to add them to their medical supplies in case they needed them. He glanced in the pot of soup and told her good choice. He opened the box of crackers and pulled out a packet, he put cheese spread on a cracker and held it out for her to take a bite. He shoved the whole thing in her mouth and they both laughed as she tried to chew it up and swallow.
As they waited for the soup and water to heat up, they ate crackers with cheese and discussed the day. They had simply raced through all the areas they had passed that had businesses or houses and tried to avoid them on the back roads or side streets as much as possible. They hadn’t seen signs of anyone alive, but that didn’t mean anything. Today they had only gone thirty miles and Sam had hoped for more, but they also had to stop several times to make adjustments to their gear and to stretch since they weren’t used to it yet. She could feel an ache in her back and her neck and knew it was going to get worse before it got better.
The soup was ready and she poured it into two clean bowls. The hot soup was filling and they both polished off their bowls. They decided to set their tent up inside the living room, their body heat would warm the tent up and it would be good practice with the kittens and Lucky. Better to do practice now, when they had shelter than to try it for the first time in the woods while it was raining.
Once the tent was set up, they laid out their double sleeping bag and the child’s sleeping bag they had brought for the kittens. Sam slipped the hot water bottles under the foot of their bag and one under the kitten’s bag. Sam pulled out clean clothes for both of them and they went to the bathroom together to shower. The water was freezing but when she was done, she decided it was worth it after the long day of cycling. They used clean towels from the bathroom cabinet and left them on the floor after they were dried off. They had only brought one towel each and didn’t want to use them until they had to.
After they were dressed and warmed back up Sam decided to look through the home owners’ clothes to see if there was anything in there she needed. After looking through a few things she decided nothing would fit her anyway. She was about to close the dresser drawer she was looking through when she noticed a glint of metal. She moved the clothes aside and saw a handgun and bullets. Well of course a single woman living all the way out here, by herself, would have a handgun. She removed the gun and saw it was a 9 mm. There was also a box of bullets. She checked the gun and saw it was loaded. She made sure the safety was on and grabbed the bullets and took it out to show Tom.
They really had enough guns already but it looked like a nice 9 mm and she wanted to check with him to see if he wanted to take it. If anything, it would be good barter down the road. She crawled into the tent where he was reorganizing one of his panniers and showed him the gun. He took it from her and looked it over and told her it was a good find, they would add it to their others. He sat it off to the side for the night and finished putting everything back in his pannier.
The kittens had been running around and playing since she let them out. She got back out of the tent and spent a few minutes playing with them and then cleaned out the litter box and put it inside the door of the tent. She made a soft whispering sound and all the kittens and Lucky came running. She had a small bag of treats and once they were all inside and the door was zipped closed, she gave each of them a treat and tucked the bag inside her kit bag.
Lucky settled on top of the small sleeping bag and the three kittens pounced on top of her and eagerly started nursing. They were almost eight weeks old now and Sam expected that soon they wouldn’t be nursing at all. They were all eating dry kitten food and they didn’t need to nurse, it was really just a comfort thing and it seemed to calm them down for the night. Lucky didn’t seem to mind and Sam knew that if she did, she would get up and walk away.
Tom was already inside of their sleeping bag and when she crawled in, she found it was already warm. She snuggled up to him and he wrapped his
arms around her. He kissed her gently and then gasped as her cold feet touched him. Sam giggled and purposefully pushed her cold feet against his warm legs. They playfully wrestled around inside of the sleeping bag as he tried to get away from her and she kept putting her feet on him and laughing. Finally, they stopped and straightened up the bag.
Sam happened to glance down at the kittens and they were all looking toward them questioningly. Sam pointed to them and Tom laughed. He said, “I wonder what they are thinking. Probably wondering if you are being hurt and if they should be concerned.”
As he said that they all came up to the top of the bag and Mew especially seemed worried and got there first. Sam thought they were all still named appropriately, Mew made a small mewing noise as she climbed on Sam’s chest and tried to get inside the front of her shirt, which was her safe place. Sam let her climb in and then she comforted the other two and Lucky who seemed less worried but was still investigating. Grunt was rubbing up against her hand and making his grunt noise that he was named after and Chatty was standing off to the side making her little chattering noise.
After a few minutes they all seemed satisfied that nothing was wrong and Lucky went back to her bed with Grunt and Chatty following. Sam had to pull Mew out of her shirt and she mewed and tried to climb back in. She looked at Tom and he just shrugged and reached up to turn off the electric lantern. Sam thought it was endearing that Mew wanted to be so close to her and didn’t want to discourage her too much. She knew that eventually Mew would grow out of it and she wanted to enjoy it while she was still so small. She carefully laid down she wouldn’t squish Mew and cuddled up next to Tom’s side. Mew was purring now and the sound lulled her to sleep.
9 February 2021 - Kittens 8 weeks old
Temple, GA
After a breakfast of hot oatmeal and coffee, Sam refilled the hot water bottles for the kittens and made a thermos of hot coffee. They had found a great thermos that kept the coffee hot all day. It was nice to warm up with a cup at lunch and on the occasional break. She looked over the route for their day and outlined it with a highlighter. She noticed railroad tracks in a few areas that could help them avoid populated areas but she didn’t think riding the bikes over the tracks would be very easy or comfortable. She asked Tom and he said he didn’t think it would be worth it and it might actually take them longer since they would have to ride slower.
They packed up and made sure everything was secure, lesson learned from the day before. She packed the kittens up at the last minute. She wanted to give them as much time to run around and play as she could. They settled in over the warmth of the hot water bottles without a problem. They did one last check to make sure they didn’t leave anything behind and took off.
The day moved along quickly. Before she knew it, it was already noon and they were stopping for lunch in the woods on the side of the road. Sam and Tom both took ibuprofen at lunch time, they were sore from the day before. The day was warming up nicely and she checked the kittens when they stopped. Lucky wanted out of the trailer again and this time she let her out but didn’t bother with the harness and leash. She felt they had gone far enough now that she should be ok and would stick close to them. Lucky found a place to relieve herself and then wandered around the area but stayed within eyesight. When it was time to leave, she called her and patted the pet bed she had placed over the panniers on the back of her bike. Lucky seemed happy to sit there and look around, she didn’t seem too keen to get back in the trailer with the kittens.
The area they were currently going through was sparsely populated. There were long stretches of forest and fields. They made really good time and the miles passed by fast. There were few vehicles blocking the way and the few they encountered they were easy to go around. Most of the time they were able to ride side by side and that made traveling more pleasurable. But when they encountered populated areas they went in single file, usually with Tom in front.
Lucky sat on the bed over the panniers for most of the afternoon. When they stopped for stretch breaks she would get down and relieve herself or just stretch herself. Sam laughed to see her stretching as she herself twisted around stretching her arms and back out. The kittens were often in the top hammock looking out at Lucky and when they stopped the kittens meowed for her, but since she didn’t seem interested in getting back in the trailer, Sam left her out. She thought she must be getting serious about weening them.
Toward the end of the day they passed through an area that was heavily populated and they had to take more back roads. Once the businesses and thick rows of houses started thinning out, they started looking for a place to stop for the night. They saw several houses set back off the road and when they came to a driveway where they couldn’t even see the house, they decided to check it out.
They rode down the drive and there were thick trees on each side, creating almost a tunnel effect. They finally glimpsed the house ahead and stopped to move the bikes into the trees. Sam put Lucky in the kitten trailer and then they walked ahead to check the house out. It was dark in the trees and the sun would be down soon. They would need to hurry if they wanted to secure the place without using headlamps.
When they came out of the trees near the house, they saw there were two cars in the driveway in front of two open garage doors. The house was a large ranch style with lots of windows along the front. The curtains were all open and the grass was high and undisturbed. They followed their normal pattern and when they didn’t see any movement they went around to the back of the house. When Tom tried the back door, he discovered that it was unlocked. He slowly opened the door and peered inside of the room. The door opened to the kitchen and from what Sam could see, it looked like a normal kitchen.
They went through the house and when they entered the laundry room that lead to the garage, they discovered the doors were open and there were four bodies on the floor just inside of the garage. It looked like two adults and two children. Tom said it looked they must have been heading out to work, it was bad timing that they all left together and got caught in the nerve gas. Sam thought it might actually have been a good thing. If the kids were left here by themselves, they probably would have suffered before they died.
Since the doors had been left open the house was probably contaminated. Tom checked with his chemical reader and got a slight reading. The house would not be safe to stay in for the night. They walked out of the garage, disappointed. Sam glanced off to the side of the house and noticed there was a large inground pool and off to the side of the pool was a small building, probably a pool house. She pointed it out to Tom and they went to check it out.
There were two sets of double glass doors leading into the small building. They could see through the doors that the room was set up with couches and a small bar with liquor and wine glasses stacked up on the shelves. Tom opened the door and they went inside. There were two doors at the back and Sam carefully opened one and saw that it led into a storage closet that was full of pool supplies. Tom opened the second door and it revealed a small bathroom that has a beautiful glass and tile shower. It looked like they spared no expense on this area. They decided it would due of the night. They could cover the glass doors quickly enough and there was room to set up the tent if they moved the couches off to one side. There was even a sink in the small bar that had running water.
They hurriedly went to get their bikes and trailers. The sun was already sinking and they wanted to get set up before the light was gone. They blacked out the windows with black garbage bags and tape. Tom wanted to be sure no light was getting out so he had Sam wait for him to go outside and then turn on the lantern. She lightly knocked on the edge of the door to let him know the lantern was on and then he knocked back she shut it off and let him back in. He said there was no visible light coming through but he was going to go back into the house and see what food was available so they didn’t have to use their stock. Sam went through the bar area while he was gone and found some snacks, including some jerky and nuts she de
cided they could take with them. There was also a cooler full of wine and another full of juice boxes and water. Tom came back with a jar of pasta sauce with meat, a bag of spaghetti noodles and a jar of grated parmesan cheese. He said the jar of cheese was unopened and, in the pantry, so he was hoping it would still be good.
They decided to push the couches up against the doors and open more space toward the back of the small building. Once everything was arranged, Sam let the kittens out of the trailer. They were already getting into a routine but this time Tom started dinner while Sam got the kittens fed and settled for the night. They then put the tent up together and ate the hot spaghetti as soon as it was done. They talked quietly as they ate and Sam started listing the foods she missed, like fresh garlic bread to go with the spaghetti. They took turns naming things and she realized that they were both missing fresh fruit and vegetables the most. She remembered seeing some fruit cups in the snack cabinet and thought they would go good with breakfast.
They took another cold shower and Sam discovered some discreet clothes lines in the shower, most likely intended to hang up wet bathing suits. She took some time to wash their clothes from the last two days. They could always find more clothes along the way, but she knew that finding the right sizes could sometimes be hard. They currently had clothes that fit them well and were comfortable for cycling. If the clothes didn’t dry overnight, she could bag them up and hang them out the next night.
They settled in for the night and the kittens and Lucky all seemed to be settling in as well. Sam was happy with how they were adjusting to traveling. Lucky really impressed her with how well she rode on the back of the bike and how patient she was while traveling. She seemed to enjoy riding and looking around as they went. Sam worried a little about her riding on the back with no gas mask for protection. Tom told her it was probably safe enough for all of them to travel without masks but right now the masks served a secondary purpose of keeping their face warm. He said if she wanted to take hers off, she could, they could probably reply on Lucky to warn them if they were approaching an unsafe area with nerve gas.