Beyond the New Horizon: The Last Sun,

by Christine Conaway

  The prospect of living in a closed environment with the animals had not sounded appealing to any of them, but they would do what they had to do to ensure they came through the winter alive.

  Every edible resource growing in the valley had been gathered, dried and stored away. With one of the men standing guard, the young people had ventured outside to collect, staying within sight of the guard.

  Mary and Evelyn with the help of the girls had finished the inventory of every edible morsel of food. They had enough meat to last for years, but no one could survive on meat alone. The weeds, cattails and other vegetation would have to be used sparingly in soups and stews that would be the mainstay of their diet and hopefully be enough to stave off scurvy. Mary and the girls had begun the slow process of making pemmican, and while it would not be as tasty as their previous attempts, it would give them energy and they could if they had to, survive indefinitely as long as they could supplement with some kind of vegetation.

  With Journey’s help, Evelyn and Mary calculated what each of them would need to survive, and figured they had enough food to survive five months. If they had to put out any kind of energy; fighting or working, their longevity would be reduced by drastic measures with long-term survival being lessened to three months depending on their energy output.

  As the nights grew colder, the fire they sat around in the evening to discuss the next day’s duties, had gotten bigger. Firewood seemed to be the only thing they did have in abundance. Huge stacks of it stood on either side of the entrance as well as lining the inside walls. Rows of it were used to partition off a space for each of the couples, giving them a modicum of privacy.

  The group found that having Willy as their leader had benefitted them all. Being the only one of the group who had had no alliances with any of them before the apocalypse, he made decisions based on who was best for the job at hand. Matt had become bored with the mundane task of deciding who would do what had asked to be removed from the committee and been replaced with Jesse.

  Willy sat elbows on his knees, as always, and looked across the fire at Sam. Sam nodded as if they’d staged the following conversation and he knew what was coming next.

  Willy cleared his throat, “It has been brought to my attention that someone has been using the track out front. So far, from all indications, the tracks have not ventured close to us, but have remained on the north side of the road. After talking with John and Sam, we feel it is best to leave well enough alone and if they continue to ignore us, we’ll do the same. However, we need to be hyper-vigilant with our surveillance. Those people haven’t forgotten we’re here and it would behoove us to keep this in mind. We can take comfort in the knowledge that they seem to be traveling individually and not as a group.”

  “Or are they just checking us out? Gathering what they hope is intel on our numbers and our resources? The one or two who got away have really no way of knowing how many of us there are, or how we’re armed. All they know is what we’ve shown them and stringing those guys up along the trail was an effective way of showing them we can be as bad ass as we have to be.”

  “At least we didn’t eat them,” John said. His face had grown pale as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

  “Which brings me to why I started our meeting off the way I have. I’ve given this more thought than it deserves, but I wanted to be sure, and so I ran it by Sam first, and we agree that we need to know where these people are, their numbers and how well they are equipped. Most importantly, we need to be assured that come winter, we won’t have these guys knocking on our door.”

  “By the sound of this, you already have a plan?” John asked.

  “It’s a tentative plan, that’s why I brought it up. I would have liked to send all adults, but it’s time the young people see what’s out there. I’d like Matt and Olivia to join Sam and Gina.”

  Lucas sat up straight, “Why them? I’d like to go too.”

  “So would I,” Abby said. She looked to see how her father had reacted to her words. He met her eyes and was disappointed with him shaking his head, no. “Why not?” It was evident to everyone she was talking to Ben and not Willy.

  “Because Willy has his reasons for picking the people he has and we are going to abide by his decision.”

  Willy nodded at the wisdom Ben used on his daughter. It was really the first time that he had trusted one of the others to back him up, and would set a precedent for future decisions. Willy thought it was important that he not be questioned every time he made a decision that would affect them all but decided to further expand on his thoughts. He saw where keeping everyone happy and occupied could be a challenge.

  “I have other plans for you and Lucas, and we’ll get to those before this meeting is over.”

  Abby seemed satisfied for the moment, and Willy went over the plan he had already discussed with Sam. He explained why he had chosen who he had and the goals they would be leaving with. Surveillance and cataloging what they found without exposing themselves to harm. Both Matt and Olivia had shown their ability to remain vigilant with their time in the eagle’s nest, and Olivia had already demonstrated an uncanny skill for hitting her target. She would help to keep the others safe, while Gina would provide her medical knowledge and assistance if they were needed. The goal was to remain invisible, but they had already found out that even the best-laid plans could go wrong.

  Abby, on the other hand, seemed to be their best asset as far as security went. Willy had planned on setting her and Lucas up on the plateau across from the entrance, but first, they would need to make a shelter and camouflage it. He hoped that Lucas would take direction from Abby and improve his skills as far as patience and observation. He had shown incredible perceptive skills with his advanced ability to make deductions simply from sound, but Willy thought he should improve what he was able to comprehend with the use of his sight. They would have Charlie overseeing the construction of the hooch and guidance as a cushion between Abby and Lucas. Lucas tended to be just a little headstrong when it came to taking direction from anyone, but Charlie would soften the reproach when Abby told Lucas where he was going wrong.

  In Willy’s eyes, Abby and Olivia were the two with the most maturity, among the young people. Both had skills that needed to be passed to the others, but neither could sugar-coat their words, and sometimes they both came off as know-it-alls. Charlie would be the muffler for Abby when she gave instruction to Lucas, or so Willy hoped.

  “And the rest of us? What are we going to be doing?”

  “We, my dear, are going to make use of that book your friend Carlos left us and learn to tan those cow hides we have stretched out.”

  “All of us? I think that would be a chore for the women and kids. Mark and I were going to…”

  “You did not just say that! John, you and Mark are going to help us with the tanning and fix the new smokehouse. The mud is falling off the sides of the one the two of you built.” Mary said with Evelyn nodding in agreement.

  Willy thought he heard Evelyn murmur, “Amen to that.”

  He almost laughed out loud because the two women had already told him of the overheard conversation between Mark and John and wanted Willy to veto their plans. He hadn’t planned on nixing the idea, just saving it for when their other work was finished.

  John frowned at Mary, silently questioning her, and Mary smiled back at him in self-satisfaction. She was letting him know that she had overheard him and Mark talking about further exploration of the south end of the valley. With the haste, he and Mark had used in building the second smokehouse, they hadn’t filled in the cracks correctly with the clay from the pond. Instead, they had mixed their own with water and dirt. With the heat from inside, the mud had dried and sloughed off leaving gaping holes. The smoke was escaping rather than drifting up to the hanging meats.

  Mark and John sat much like young children who had just been chastised. Other than exchanging sullen glances they didn’t contribute to the further conversation.

&
nbsp; Willy saw exactly where Lucas had gotten his ability to convey his feelings with a simple look, but Lucas was far easier to appease than John.

  Without further delay or conversation, Sherry and Maggie headed up to the Eagle’s nest, and the others wandered off to complete any unfinished tasks and then to sleep. The next day would start with the early morning departure.

  After listening to the interaction between what she considered the leaders of the group, Gina was eager to pick Sam’s brain. She knew that he and Willy had formed an instant friendship the day they’d met and that Willy would use Sam for his sounding board before announcing any conclusions he had come to regarding their security or work details.

  Gina understood his reasoning behind sending Olivia and Matt along with her and Sam and agreed that the young people needed to learn to look after themselves as well as have the knowledge to survive should something happen to the adults. Olivia and Abby had the skill and were both firearms savvy enough to teach the others to use their guns effectively for protection as well as hunting. Lucas brought his twin talents of using sound and stealth in the woods and his ability to track. Matt, she isn’t quite sure how he fits in yet, other than he was the biggest and strongest, but Gina feared that someday his wanderlust would set him off on a path of his own; leaving the others to their own devices. Matt needed to learn that he needed them as much as they needed him. He would make an excellent leader someday if he and Lucas could find a way to combine their talents. Gina hoped it was a testosterone phase that growing boys went through and that it would pass before it did harm to the younger people. It wasn’t about individuality, but an amalgamation of the different personalities to form a cohesive unit.

  Gina went to sleep cuddled up with Sam, content they had done what they could with what they had to work with. The book given to Journey from her friend up north had been a wealth of information, providing additional resources they hadn’t considered. All they needed to do was use the book of knowledge as if it was their Survival Bible. If their forefathers could survive with less than the basics, she didn’t see why they couldn’t as well. They had the tools and the advantage of individual skill sets that could benefit all of them.

  Gina hadn’t realized that she had fallen asleep when she was rudely awakened. She sat straight up, the sleeping bag falling from her shoulders. Goosebumps immediately formed on her exposed shoulders as she sat listening. Something had woken her, but other than the sounds of soft breathing and the occasional snore from someone, she heard nothing to alarm her or wake her up.

  The scrape of wood on stone drew her attention toward the opening. The men had built a wall across the front of the mouth of the cave, complete with a useable door that stood open to keep the air circulation going. She thought she saw a shadow fill the doorway. Whoever it was stood motionless as if trying to decide who to wake.

  She and Sam had the area just to the left of the doorway, “What’s the matter?” she whispered. Gina pulled the sleeping bag up over Sam’s shoulders. He snuggled down under it, but didn’t wake.

  “You need to come and see this,” Abby whispered, and Gina knew they were already on the second guard shift. It had to be after midnight.

  “Do I need to wake anyone else?” Gina asked as she climbed out. She shivered and realized if it had been light enough she probably could have seen her expelled breath; it was that cold. Dressing quickly in the chilly air, Gina felt and found the sweatshirt she had used the previous evening.

  “No. It’s not that kind of a something. I need to get coats for Lucas and me. We’re freezing up there.”

  “I thought you and Sherry had this shift?” Gina said as she went to the lighter doorway while pulling on her sweatshirt. She stopped with it half on, her head poking the neck opening and stared at the doorway. Why is it so much lighter outside? They had grown used to the pitch black when the stars and moon were covered by clouds as they had been for the past few days. She had even made a bet with Mary on when the rains would start. The lower the clouds settled the closer Mary was to winning their bet.

  Gina worked her arms into the sleeves as she walked toward the door, where she stopped and gaped outside. She stepped out and lifted her face up. Soft flakes settled on her cheeks and realized that neither she nor Mary would win the bet because the rain was coming down as snowflakes. One settled on her forehead, and the chill of it spread across one eye. “Damn that’s a big one,” she said and wiped it away.

  “I know. We can’t see the size of the flakes, but this only just started and it’s already covering the ground.” Abby had grabbed a jacket for herself and Lucas. “We thought someone should see this because as long as I’ve lived here, which is forever, I’ve never seen snow cover everything so quickly and neither has Luke.”

  Gina walked out and realized that Abby was right. The snow felt like rain coming down. Big fat flakes settled on her head and shoulders, and she knew she had never seen snow coming down in quite the same way. They’d used to laugh and joke about the cotton ball sized flakes that were falling, but this was more like flakes the size of pillows. Gina held her hand out to catch one and felt it cover her palm and fingers. “Dang, is this even possible?”

  Chapter Eight

  Gina didn’t wake anyone else but stood to hold the bottom of the ladder steady and watched Abby climb up until the girl was out of her sight. She listened to the same scraping sounds of wood against rock, that had woken her.

  “I’m up here and safe,” Abby called down to her.

  “Don’t try climbing down unless someone down here is watching. The rope will get icy.”

  In her mind, Gina could hear Abby, “Ya think?” She almost laughed and realized how inappropriate her laughter would be. When Mark’s friend in Australia had said that winter had set in overnight, it had seemed an exaggeration, but now she understood how dangerous it could be. The temperature had dropped just in the short time since Abby woke her. The snowflakes felt like they had some substance to them, but the size hadn’t decreased as she had thought they should. Usually, flakes turned into pellets with a drop in the temperature, but these defied all logic. They remained big, and if anything, they had gotten bigger. Gina had left the front of the cave as she collected data on the flakes, and wondered what time it was. She didn’t think she had been outside all that long, but she had collected a coating of snow on her head and shoulders that hadn’t melted, and the snow was already up to ankle depth. She needed to wake Sam or Willy because this was beyond her thought process. Snow didn’t fall like, this nor did it pile up as it was doing, at least not in the short amount of time she’d been outside.

  Gina stomped her feet and went to pull the door shut when she saw the build up inside the doorway. She had to use her feet to clear away a path so the door could close and finally got it shut. While Gina couldn’t see around herself, she could still see the coals from the banked fire and went to the woodpile to the right of it. With a stick in each hand, she propped them over the coals after she had stirred them and was happy to see the grasping tendrils of the flames lick at the dry wood. Gina waited a few minutes until the pieces were burning well and added several more. Gina rubbed her hands above the fire and realized she needed to put on a dry shirt. The snow had melted in front of the fire, and her outer clothing was soaked. She understood the logic of dogs. They always shook themselves as soon as they came in from outside. With the thought of the dog meme, she felt sadness settle where the snow had melted, Lucky had not made it, just as Mary had feared. The dog was too depleted by the time they’d found her. The tiny puppy, as of that moment un-named and Bear were safe in their alcove. Bear had taken over the duties of parenting and had to approve those who came close to the pup. He was still standoffish with everyone but Mary.

  Gina crept back to where Sam was asleep and shook him. As soon as she had moved his shoulder, shaking him, she leaned back. Gina had learned the hard way to move aside after the first shake. His hand hadn’t made contact then, but she had felt the air m
ove as it went past her face. “Sam…wake up. I think we have a situation here.”

  Instantly Sam was sitting at hearing his name. “What?”

  “It’s snowing.”

  “Oh…is that all. I thought it would be soon,” he said followed by a yawn. He laid back down and snuggled deeper under the sleeping bag.

  “No. I mean it’s really snowing. Hard!”

  “Jesus, Gina. Of course, it is. This is Montana, it always snows here.”

  “Not like this, but if you’re not interested, I’ll wake someone who might be.” Gina stood and walked back to the fire. She wondered if she was making too much of the snowfall. Sam was right in one respect. Other than the past winter, as short as it was, she hadn’t experienced a real winter in Montana. Maybe they always had snowflakes that fell the size of pillows. She was more used to the Spokane snows, which more often than not, turned into pellets of ice and blew sideways most of the winter making getting to work next to impossible.

  Gina squatted beside the fire and realized how well the infusion of cold air robbed the fire of its warmth. The heat from a foot away was minimal, and she understood how big the task of keeping the inside of the cave warm, would be.

  “Okay. So, this is bullshit,” she mumbled. Gina was going to wake someone else up. Maybe Sam didn’t feel it was necessary for her to be concerned with the snow, but he had failed to comprehend the significance of the giant flakes, and maybe she hadn’t been specific enough. Gina went to the door and opening it just a crack looked out. While it had lightened some with the reflection off the ground, she still couldn’t see outside. When she stepped forward, she felt the snow up to her knee.

  “Impossible! Sam! You need to get out here now. Everyone wake up.”