Beyond the New Horizon

by Christine Conaway

  He apparently concluded that there would be no more running and raised both of his hands over his head. “Please, don’t shoot us. We’re just passing through.”

  “Are you armed?”

  He started to put his arms down when Gina called to him. “Don’t move and keep those arms in the air.”

  “Look, I’m armed and so is the boy. We just want to pass by. I had no idea this is where you guys were, or I would have picked a different route.”

  “Come closer to the fire and let me see you.”

  The man turned out to be much older than Gina had thought when they had seen him hiding in the grass. At least she thought it was the same guy. His voice sounded the same, but he was now minus the camouflage paint and grass.

  She couldn’t guess his age, but she wondered where he had found the boy.

  “Look, I could have taken you prisoner when you showed up at the house, but I didn’t. I forced you to leave. You have no idea how much grief that has caused me. Some of the other guys saw you as you were leaving, and I’ve been paying for it.”

  “Why are you two up here? Better still, where do you think you’re going?”

  The smaller person started to say something, but the man must have squeezed the hand he held. The smaller person grunted and tried to pull their hand free.

  The man’s face closed. His lips tightened, and he glared at the boy. “We’re just going. Trying to get as far away from those guys as we can.”

  “Is there a chance they will follow you up here?”

  “Not much of one. I disabled their quads and drained the gas out of the above ground tanks. So, unless they can find more gas they won’t be going anywhere and they won’t know what direction we went.”

  “You may as well sit down for a minute then,” Gina indicated one of the chairs. She looked up, and he was still standing with his arms in the air. “And put your arms down.”

  Just then, a god-awful bawling came from the creek area, startling them all. The sounds of limbs breaking and brush being driven into the ground were almost deafening in the silence. Something was coming fast through the brush. The boy, ran to hide behind the pickup truck followed closely by the man. They crouched, and the man pulled a gun out from his pocket.

  “No!” screamed Journey and Gina together. “It’s only Gus. He watches out for us.”

  The man sank to his knees when Gus, plundered through the last of the brush. He trotted right to the man and boy with his teeth barred and his long ears flat on his skull. He didn’t get close, but made sure he was between his people and the intruders.

  The man began to laugh, “What the hell is that thing?”

  Journey walked over and began to massage Gus’s ears. “This is Gus…the saver of lives and detector of intruders. He will protect us with his life if need be and he has proven himself more than once.”

  “Is he a donkey?” the boy asked as he got to his feet. The man helped him off with his backpack because the kid couldn’t stand straight without it seeming to pull him over backward.

  “He’s a mule!” Journey and Gina echoed.

  “Put your guns in the trailer, and I’ll put mine there too. You can have them back before you leave.”

  She watched as he set his rifle inside the door, “All of them please.”

  He looked embarrassed and added one from inside his shirt. He nodded at the boy, “Yours too.”

  When they were sitting at the fire, the man seemed to remember something, “Where’s the other gal? The soldier?”

  “Oh, my…Lucy come on down.”

  With minimal noise, Lucy joined them at the fire ring. She slid her 357 back into her holster. “I thought that was you when I saw you running up the road.”

  “How could you see well enough to tell who it was?”

  “You run very much like I used to. Once military, always military.”

  The man chuckled, “Guess you’re right. Now, what are you guys planning on doing? You know you can’t stay here? You can’t count on those guys down below not to come this way. You might say the kid and me, probably pissed them off some.”

  The boy giggled, and it sounded so strange, that Gina reached over and pulled his hat off. A yard of blonde curls tumbled out and settled all over the girl’s face.

  Her mouth dropped open, she cringed and began gathering her hair up to stuff it back under the hat.

  “Sorry Daddy.”

  “Daddy?” All three women asked in unison.

  “She’s your daughter? Journey asked.

  “The man sank back into the chair, “She is. Do you know how hard it was to keep the guys from finding out? I thought about cutting all of her hair off, but she wouldn’t allow it, and honestly I couldn’t bring myself to either. They all thought she was a boy or they would have…” He let his words trail off as if he were afraid to express them.

  “You aren’t going to hurt my Dad like those guys did, are you?”

  “No honey, we’re not. In fact, why don’t you let me help get your hair under control? Are you hungry?”

  The little girl looked at her dad as if asking his permission. “Can I?”

  He nodded, “We’re not here to eat all of your food.”

  Journey laughed, “I wasn’t offering all of it, only a bowl of soup and a couple of crackers.”

  Lucy returned from the trailer with her hairbrush and some rubber bands they used for braiding manes. She sat on her chair, “Come on over here and I’ll give you a braid. Not only will it be easier to hide, but it’ll keep it out of your face.”

  “So, do we get to call you by name or are you going to remain the man and the kid?” Gina smiled to take the sting out of her words, following up with, “I’m Gina and the lady doing the braiding is Lucy and the cook extraordinaire is Journey.”

  “I’m Ben, and that’s my daughter Abby.”

  Full darkness had landed by the time Journey had heated some more soup, and both newcomer’s packs were stored in the trailer.

  Ben carried his sleeping daughter to the pickup where Lucy had made a bed in the front seat for their youngest guest.

  At first, both sides were hesitant to reveal their plans to the other. After much talk and the fire had died down to coals, Gina felt comfortable enough to tell him what they were doing and how they were going to do it.

  “When I left down below, it was because they were moving on into Coeur d’Alene. I have no desire to expose Abby to what was going to happen there. Doing what I did with their quads and the gas, will only delay them a short while. With any luck, they won’t try to pursue me. They thought Abby was a young boy and it’s probably what saved her.”

  “Why didn’t you say any of this when we were there? Why the subterfuge?”

  “It wasn’t that. I was trying to decide what to do and when to do it. You guys showing up like you did caught me off guard. I decided right then that if three women could strike out on their own and hope to survive, so could we.”

  “Is that where the two of you lived? In that house, down there?” Lucy had come back from making sure the horses were all within calling distance. Gus had followed her back down, having resigned himself to the fact his people were going to be okay. She sat in the chair beside Ben.

  “We didn’t. Our car is a couple of miles west of there just this side of Mullan. When we heard the president’s public address on the television, Abby and I were all packed to go away for the weekend. I threw our bags into the car, and we left. I thought we had more time than we did.”

  “So, you knew before it happened that we were going to get hit by a solar storm?”

  He nodded and then took a few minutes to gather his thoughts. “We did. They said it could be as big of an event as the one to hit earth back in 1859.”

  “We were just talking about that. Why did you leave? Wait, where did you leave from?”

  “Journey!” Gina chastised, “Don’t be so darn nosey.”

  Ben held his hand up, “It’s okay. I thought that if you g
uys want, I’d like to throw our lot in with you. There is nothing you can’t ask me, but I expect the same in return.”

  Gina looked at her friends, “You’ll excuse me if we don’t answer right this minute. I think we need to talk it over.”

  “Sure. I do understand. I’m asking more for Abby than myself. Hell, I can’t even do a decent braid in her hair.”

  “I think doing or not doing a braid will be the least of your problems. How old is she anyhow?”

  “Eleven going on thirty.” He yawned and covered it with his hand, “Sorry it’s been a long day. I was on guard duty all day yesterday and most of the night last night. I overheard them saying we were going to begin collecting slaves in Coeur d’Alene and decided to part ways. First, I had to steal our belongings back.”

  “Steal them back? Why? Couldn’t you just take them and leave?” Journey asked and poked at the few remaining coals. “We should bank this fire to save on matches.”

  Ben continued, “They believed that whatever is in their camp belongs to them. We had to ask for everything. The one guy who called himself the boss was the owner of the property. Yesterday when you guys came down, they were out raiding the neighbors.”

  “I don’t understand why there are people who think they can just take whatever they want. You would think in times of crisis; people would hang together for all their benefits. Journey and I had considered going west, but after what you told us…”

  “Today they went out to bring the neighbor girls home with them, but I think they found their house stripped and empty.” Ben smiled as if he found the memory very pleasing.

  “What did you do?” Lucy asked him. She seemed to understand the way he thought without hearing it. “You did something to put a crimp in their plans didn’t you?

  “I went over and told them what these guys had planned and helped them load their stuff. I wish I could have talked them into going east and not toward Spokane, but to get them out of there before the guys showed up was my only plan. Anything they did after that is on them. They knew the dangers of going west, but they were determined to find other family members.”

  Ben yawned wide enough to make his jaw crack. He shook his head, “I guess I should try to sleep. It sounds like tomorrow will be a long day.”

  Gina stretched and stood up, “We might have to continue this in the morning, but first, we need to talk between us women.”

  “Of course. I’ll just lay my sleeping bag out under the truck if that’s all right with you?”

  “If this meeting is to decide, I vote yes,” Journey said.

  Gina looked at Lucy, who was nodding her head. She agreed with Journey.

  “Well then, for what it’s worth, welcome to the family. You can either sleep in the driver’s seat or stretch out in the back seat. We ladies are going to sleep on the hay.”

  “I don’t want to put you guys out. The ground is fine.”

  Gina pointed at the truck. He nodded, “Yes, ma’am.”

  They laughed, all feeling the tension ease. A decision had been made to further ensure their safety. It was two more mouths to feed, but two additional armed people for their security as well and two more to help in the quest for survival.

  There was no doubt in Gina’s mind that Abby wasn’t as proficient with a weapon as either she or Journey. She saw Ben as the type of person to have his daughter as self-sufficient as he could make her and for her to be packing her own weapon spoke volumes about the both of them.

  For comfort and warmth, they zipped two bags together and put the third under them. They didn’t bother undressing, just removed their boots and jackets. Each of them slipped their handguns under their pillows. Journey helped Lucy remove her prosthetic and shove it down to the foot of the bags.

  It wasn’t long before Gina heard soft snores from both Journey and Lucy. She hadn’t discussed it with them, but she thought that maybe one of them had better stay awake just in case somebody else came prowling. Gus was reliable, as he had proven earlier, but Gina, having slept so late wasn’t sleepy right then.

  She lay there for better than half an hour and then slipped from the bag. Sitting on the tailgate, she put her sweatshirt and boots back on, then gathered some short sticks. It hadn’t taken much for the fire to grab hold of them. She took her chair and placed it far enough away so she wasn’t highlighted by the flames, but close enough she would benefit from the heat.

  Gina sat with her 30/30 laying across her lap, lay her head back to take in the night sky and thought about their future.

  She had no idea how long this could last, or when things would or could ever get back to any kind of normal. The amount of electronics they all used in their everyday lives would have astounded her grandparents. It was amazing for Gina to think how many changes her grandparents had seen during their lives. Her Grandmother had come across the country in a covered wagon, Gina remembered her saying it had taken seven years to come from Missouri to the Pacific Northwest. She wondered if her Grandma had ever thought about the wonders, she had experienced during her lifetime. “She sure would be surprised to see us back at the beginning,” Gina murmured.

  “It’s actually worse,” Ben whispered, “Sorry, but I couldn’t help overhearing what you said.”

  “How do you figure its worse,” Gina asked as he walked around and placed a chair beside hers.

  “Well,” he said as he sat, “We don’t know if the other countries were hit as bad as we were. If they weren’t, do you think there is not at least one of those other countries that would love to come in and conquer?”

  “Well, I never thought I would say this then, but I hope they got hit as hard as we did. How will we know? Those men where you were, did they have a working radio?”

  Ben nodded, “Yeah. The one guy was some kind of a prepper type guy, and he had all of his electronics shielded. The trouble is, they never got to talk to anyone. We picked up on someone a couple nights ago, but couldn’t understand what was said.”

  “They spoke in a different language?”

  “I’m not sure, it was too broken up to hear plainly, but they could have for all I know.”

  “This is even more of a reason to disappear. I hope we can survive the winter.”

  “Can I ask what are your plans, come spring?”

  Journey and I met a militia group last year up near Libby, and Journey has kept in touch with one of them. They asked us to come up if we ever needed to, and I think this qualifies for us to go up there. What about you guys? Do you have anywhere to go?”

  “Not really. I need to do what’s best for Abby. I guess, find somewhere we can feel safe. Start some kind of life. Maybe we’ll stay somewhere around here.”

  “Do you think that’s wise? Those guys could come back at any time. If they’re as bad as you say they are…”

  Ben, elbows resting on his knees, dropped his face into his hands. Everything about his posture told Gina how worried he was. He sat up straight and leaned back in his chair, resting his head on the backrest.

  Gina studied Ben’s profile. Without all of the camouflage paint and grass, he was a good looking man. Not her type of good looking, but she had seen the way that Lucy had looked at him and the way Lucy had taken to Abby.

  “You could always go with us. I don’t think anyone would mind two more able-bodied people.”

  “How well do you know these people? I’d hate to be moving into the same situation we just left.”

  “Actually, not well. We met them on one of our trips, and we all hit it off. They knew we were nurses and invited us up. It was almost like they knew beforehand that something was going to happen.”

  Clouds had moved in and covered the night sky. Gina shivered and pulled her hood up. “It’s going to be cold before morning.”

  Ben looked up, “I’m not sure what you mean before morning because I think it’s almost that already.”

  Gina pulled her sleeve up and out of habit wound her watch. She held her wrist toward the glow from the
fire. The watch was an old one that her mother had given her when she started high school, and the luminescence had long since worn away.

  “Well crap, it’s almost five. I can’t believe another nights sleep is lost.”

  “How about tonight, you sleep, and I’ll stand watch?”

  Chapter eight…………Horses and little girls

  Gina stood up and stretched. She wasn’t sure if she felt better sitting in the chair all night or cramped up in the front seat of the pickup.

  “I’m going to go down and bring the horses up. If you want to grab those two buckets, we can bring back water also.”

  At the creek, Gina let loose a soft, low whistle and heard Sailors nicker in return. It wasn’t long before he came splashing across the creek. He stuck his wet muzzle right in her face and blew. Apparently happy to see her.

  “What a good boy,” she said as she rubbed his forehead. “Where are the others?”

  “That’s pretty handy to have him come to you like that. Can you call the others too?”

  “They will eventually come too, but they have hobbles on so they can’t move fast. I’ll cross over and get a line on Bess, and take their hobbles off.”

  She swung up onto Sailor and with a nudge, crossed back over the running water. With nothing more than a hand hold of mane and her knees, she sent Sailor back to where the other horses and Gus were grazing.

  They didn’t need to hobble Joe, but if Bess was the only one in hobbles, she panicked when she couldn’t follow the others as fast as she’d like. They didn’t want Bess to get tangled and hurt herself.

  Gina clipped a line on Bess, bent down and removed her hobbles and then did the same for Joe. She led Bess back toward the truck, followed by Joe, Sailor and trailing behind came Gus.

  Gina was surprised when they made it back to the vehicles, someone had hung three buckets from the D-rings on the trailer. A rubber tub sat a short distance away. Gus didn’t have to be asked twice and hurried to bury his nose in his feed tub.