They rode down the hill, passing many unoccupied vehicles as well as several that had been wrecked, but none as severely as the cars at the top. They found no more bodies, nor did they see anyone else walking. The unoccupied vehicles were troubling because of their emptiness. Even if whatever had happened had been the night before, they thought they would have seen someone at least trying to rescue their stalled cars.
“We need to find a trail off to the side and give these horses a drink. It sounds like there’s running water not too far inside the brush.”
“I’ve been listening to it, and Bess keeps looking into the trees, so I think she wants water too.”
They followed Gina off the road, across a wide gravel pullout, and through some tall brush to find there was a creek paralleling the highway.
They climbed down and gave the horses a drink as well as a break from being ridden.
“What time is it?”
“You seem awfully fixated on what time it is today,” Gina said and looked at her watch. “It’s just after eleven.”
“Not fixated, just worried we won’t get back to the truck before dark,” Lucy told her.
“I think we still have a mile or so to go, so we definitely won’t get back there before dark. I hope Gus will be alright.”
“Gus will be okay. He has water close by and he won’t leave the trailer for very long. There’s still plenty of grass for him to eat.”
While Gina tried to reassure Journey that the mule would be okay, she had been worried herself. The last little distance to a working phone wouldn’t make much of a difference in when they got back up there. Gus was capable of fending for himself even if it was the next morning when they got back.
What was still worrying her was the lack of people. She couldn’t understand where they had all gone. Had they all walked down the hill to find help? She thought most people carried cell phones, even the older folks and she couldn’t understand why help hadn’t been called. It would be impossible for all of them to quit working at the same time. Then there was the question of why so many cars were stopped. Some right in the middle of the travel lanes.
“I didn’t want to say anything, but I think I know what’s going on.”
Chapter four…………Devastating events
Journey and Gina looked to where Lucy sat on a boulder facing them. Lucy almost never offered her opinion unless it was asked, so this was certainly putting her out of her comfort zone to offer.
“Are you going to tell us or do you want us to guess?”
Gina put her hand on Journey’s arm to still her.
“Let her say what’s on her mind.”
“Sorry,” Journey mumbled.
“I think someone nuked us,” Lucy spoke softly as if she was afraid they would hear her.
“You’re kidding? Right?”
Lucy shook her head no. “This is something we had training on, in the Army. It’s why the military hardened so much of their equipment.”
“But, we’re in Idaho for pete’s sake. Why would anyone nuke Idaho?”
“It makes sense,” Gina said. “All of the cell phones stopping at once. Your watches, the vehicles. It would explain a lot of what’s happened.”
“It wouldn’t have to be a direct hit on Idaho, or anywhere close by for that matter. It could have been at the airfield in Spokane or even a high altitude burst would take out all unprotected electronics.”
Journey began to laugh as if she found Lucy’s explanation ludicrous. “We’d have to be at war with someone, wouldn’t we? Why would anyone send nukes our way for no reason?”
“Journey, stop. Let’s figure this out. What Lucy is saying kind of makes sense. We’ve been out of touch for over three weeks, so we don’t know what has been going on. There are so many possible reasons for someone to attack us. Our country right now is in a state of upheaval with the elections and all. There’s an unlimited supply of other countries that would like to see us fall.”
On her fingers, Lucy began to count them off, “Iran, North Korea, Russia, China and all of the Middle Eastern countries. Hell, you could even add Mexico to the list. The next question would be how far reaching is this event?”
“Other than what I have read, or seen on television, I don’t know anything about nuclear bombs. Do we have to worry about fallout? Radiation poisoning? I admit I am stupid when it comes to this.” Gina looked down at her hands and wondered if it was already too late for them if they were already exposed to radiation. Now they also had to worry about the water they just drank from the creek, and the grass and leaves the horses were browsing on. She had the urge to drag Sailor up so he couldn’t eat, but she guessed it would already be too late.
“So…what do we do now?” Gina was looking at Lucy as if she had all the answers.
Lucy held her hands up, palm forward, “Wait…that isn’t necessarily what happened. Everything I just said is pure speculation at this point. Something has shorted out all the electronics, and as far as I know, there are only two things capable of doing that. Right now, I’m hoping I wake up soon in my own bed and find this is nothing more than a nightmare.”
“Unless we’re all dreaming the same thing, that’s not going to happen,” Gina stood up and massaged her lower back. “I hope we do wake up, and my back doesn’t hurt so much from trying to sleep it that damn truck.”
“Wait!” Journey cried, “you said one of two things. A nuclear bomb and what else?”
Gina turned back to face Lucy. She had overlooked Lucy’s words as well.
Lucy rubbed her hands together, as if being in the spotlight made her nervous, “If we weren’t in such chaotic times right now, I would have guessed it was a solar flare event of some kind.”
“Would that affect the whole U.S.? Is it only this area then, maybe?” Journey sounded excited and was practically bubbly with enthusiasm. Her whole demeanor changed when she looked back at Lucy.
“I honestly don’t know. The last one to hit was back in the 1800’s called the Carrington Event, and because there were only telegraph lines for communication, that was pretty much all that was affected. If it was a solar storm today, who knows what the damage would or could be?”
“I guess I would rather have a solar storm than think that someone bombed us. Now, it’s time we got back on the road, or we’ll never find out what’s going on.” Gina led Sailor back through the brush to the gravel of the pullout and climbed on. She turned his head back down the road and nudged him.
They were almost to the bottom of the grade when Gina saw the next exit ramp. In the distance, in the same direction of the exit ramp, she could also see a plume of smoke rising behind some trees.
Gina reined in to allow Lucy and Journey to catch up with her. She could hear them arguing, but this was common for the two of them. Their disagreements never amounted to anything more than verbal debates.
Gina held her hand up to stop them, “This is what I think we should do.”
She saw the look Lucy and Journey exchanged and was puzzled by it. She wondered what scheme they had cooked up between them. It was rare for the two of them to stand together without discussion, but she reminded herself she hadn’t heard their conversation.
They stopped their horses right in front of Gina, “What is it you think we should do?” Journey asked, “or should I tell you what I think you have in mind?”
Gina shook her head in disgust, it was obvious now, what the two had been talking about.
“Before you tell us, we want you to know that the answer is no. We stay together.” Lucy looked at Journey to confirm the stand they were taking. Journey nodded, and they both turned to stare at Gina.
“Well, okay then, but please stay behind me just in case this doesn’t go well. At least I have the rifle for our defense. Not that I expect we’ll need protecting, but you never know.”
Lucy grinned and turned in her saddle. From her saddle bag, Gina watched her pull out her 357. The same one that was supposed to be locked up in
the trailer. Lucy slipped it into her empty holster and patted it.
“Now I feel safer. Don’t you Journey?”
Journey slid her Glock into the bag hanging off her pommel that she had made just for holding her gun.
“Yes, I actually do feel safer. Now!”
Gina sighed, “You two are incorrigible. Can you at least not advertise you have them?”
“I can promise not to pull mine out unless I need to.” Lucy agreed.
They rode off the ramp and saw what at one time may have been a store/gas station, but from the smoke rising from the chimney, looked abandoned.
“Keep your eyes open, girls,” Gina straightened her shoulders and rode toward the building.
There were junked cars and several wrecked semi-trailers sitting off to one side. Gina wondered if this was where they brought vehicles that had accidents on the pass. The way the grass had already grown up hiding some of the junk told her it had been laying around for a long time.
When they had reached shouting distance, Gina pulled Sailor to a stop. “Hello, the building!”
Nothing. No return call, or movement of any kind that they could see.
“Maybe there’s no one here right now,” Journey offered, pointing at the chimney, “they never put their fire out, is all.
“So the fire started itself,” Lucy added with a laugh. “There is at least one someone here, and for some reason, they’re in hiding.”
“Not hiding, but not wanting to show themselves either. Two different things.”
“We don’t want any trouble, only information,” Gina called, turning Sailor in a slow circle, while her eyes searched for movement.
“We want to know what happened. There’s stalled and wrecked cars all down the freeway,” Journey added, as if to show their concern for the people from the cars. “We need to call the police or highway patrol.”
They sat for a few moments in silence, waiting for whoever was living there to decide whether they would talk to them or not.
“Look up in the tree behind the building,” Gina said and nodded in the direction she wanted her friends to look. “Doesn’t that look like a radio antenna?”
“I don’t think it matters. If everything electrical is fried, I think a radio would be too. Radios and antennas need electricity to work.”
“Why do you always have to be so logical Lucy? Did you have to burst my bubble so soon?”
“But, she’s right Journey. Unless these guys were prepared, their radio can’t work. Somehow, this place doesn’t look like someone who was prepared for the apocalypse lives here.”
“So what now? Do we ride on down the road?”
Gina looked at her watch, “We can, but there is no way we can get back to the truck before dark if we go any further.”
“I for one could use something to eat. Let’s just go a little further and see what we find. I think Mullan was the last town before the bottom of the hill, and it’s got to be fifty miles to Coeur d’Alene. We aren’t going to be riding there. Right now, we need to find out what happened so we can plan what we’re going to do next.”
Lucy sat and rubbed at her knee. Her prosthetic had been bothering her, and she wanted to get off her horse and sit where she wasn’t always moving. The constant motion of riding wore on her stump, and she hadn’t brought so much as an aspirin with her for the pain.
“Are you all right Lucy? Do we need to stop and rest somewhere?”
“I’m fine. I am beginning to think I should have stayed with the truck, though.”
“Journey, do you want to go back with Lucy?”
Chapter five…………No help coming
“No!” Lucy exclaimed, “we stay together just like we said earlier. I’ll be fine.”
“Well, let’s get on down the road then. We aren’t going to find out anything here.”
Before they could turn to leave a voice called out, “Wait.”
The women stared around trying to see where the voice had come from, and Journey let out a squeal and pulled Bess back as a creature seemed to rise from the long grass. It was only as it stood, they could see it was a man. His camouflage was so well put together, even under scrutiny from all three women he had gone undetected. The horses hadn’t even sensed he was so close, and Bess had been picking the long blades very close to him. She may have even pulled some from his disguise.
“Sorry, but I had to listen to determine your true intentions. You don’t know how many people have come through here the past week, trying to take what doesn’t belong to them.”
“Week? This has been going on for a week? Where are the police or the National Guard? There must be someone coming to help. There are dead people still sitting in cars up there.”
“Lady, there are bodies from here to Spokane and beyond. Where have you guys been?”
Gina felt as if someone had clubbed her. She momentarily couldn’t catch her breath, and vertigo almost forced her out of the saddle. She could see that Journey and Lucy were not taking his news any different than she had. She imagined her eyes were as wide and her face as pale as theirs were.
Lucy started to climb down off Joe when the man waved what Gina had thought was a club in her direction, but on inspection, she could see it was an assault rifle.
“Don’t,” was all he said, halting Lucy’s departure from her horse.
Lucy settled back on Joe and looked at Gina with a frown as if asking what she should do.
Journey, not one to be told what she could or couldn’t do without an argument bailed off Bess and stood defiantly in front of the man.
“What? You’re going to shoot a couple defenseless women?”
He pointed the rifle directly at her, his finger hovering outside the trigger guard.
“I don’t want to, but if I have to, I will. You need to climb back on your horse and make your way back to wherever you came from. There’s nothing for you here.”
“So the shit really hit the fan? Will you at least tell us what happened?”
The man glanced nervously over his shoulder, “Look, there are some people here who are not as nice as I’ve been trying to be. You guys need to get out of here before they get back.”
“Then just tell us and we’ll be on our way.”
“Journey, just get on Bess and let’s go. Someone down the road will be more hospitable than this guy. If this is a strange man being nice, I don’t want to see the rest of them.”
Gina was still trying to process that whatever had transpired had taken place more than a week ago, and they had been out in the woods enjoying themselves not knowing what had happened. While they had been exploring and sitting around their campfire planning the rest of their lives, something so catastrophic had taken place that would change their plans forever.
Journey finally understood what Lucy had been trying to tell her, and she looked around as if expecting men to come jumping out from all over.
She gathered up Bess’s reins and stuck her toe in her stirrup, “Tell us what happened,” she grunted out as she pulled herself up. Settled in her saddle, she tried to stare the guy down. “Please.”
He glanced around, and finally answered, “Something to do with the sun. There are no working vehicles, radios, cell phones or anything like that. Spokane was burned during the first few days of chaos. People are rioting and looting. The food ran out in the stores a couple of days ago, and people are killing for any available food. It’s crazy out there. You’d be wise to go back wherever you came from and stay there.”
The three women sat with similar expressions, mouths hanging open and eyes wide in disbelief.
Gina seemed to get it together quicker than the other two, “How do you know this? You must have some form of communication to know this. Please, can’t you help us? If things are that bad, we need to get home to Spokane. Journey and I are both nurses, we can help.”
“Lady there is no one left to help, and if you were smart, you wouldn’t tell anyone you know anything about medicine.
That is, unless you want to be held as a prisoner tending the people doing the looting and killing.”
“Okay, we’re out of here. Come on,” Gina told her friends. She looked back at him as he was slipping back into his hiding spot, “Why are you helping us then?”
He pointed at Lucy, “I recognize the look when I see it. Now go!” He threw a half-assed salute to Lucy and sank back on the ground completely blending in with his surroundings.
Gina urged Sailor into a canter, and they headed back to the highway. They didn’t stop or slow down until they were completely out of sight of the buildings. Only then did Gina slow Sailor to a walk. His neck was lathered with white foamy sweat, and he was blowing hard, as were the other two horses.
Lucy looked practically ready to fall off Joe. Her fingers had a death grip on the saddle horn. Her face was as white as a sheet. She leaned over in her saddle and rested her face on her arms.
“Lucy? Are you okay?”
She nodded, but didn’t raise her head. Journey rode up to Lucy and began to talk to her softly, while Gina watched their back trail.
After ten minutes of listening to the horses blowing, Gina finally spoke. “We need to go back to the truck. It’s going to be a long haul and all uphill, but I don’t think there is anything worth going west for.”
Neither Journey nor Lucy questioned Gina’s decision. They turned and followed her up the hill at a slow trot. They didn’t ask the horses for any more than that because they too had been going all day with the burden of carrying people on their backs.
Gina knew the horses were fit and could hold the pace for several miles before they needed to let them slow for a rest. She didn’t want to push them beyond their endurance, but riding up the side of a deserted highway left her feeling too exposed. Common sense told her that everyone who had found themselves stranded should have made their way down the mountain by now.
As she rode, her thoughts kept time with Sailor’s hoof beats, “A week, it’s been a whole week…a week,” repeatedly.
How could they have missed something as catastrophic as the world ending? Shouldn’t they have noticed something? Sensed a change in the atmosphere or at least have seen something in the sky?
Beyond the New Horizon Page 3