The walk was short.
“When you’re away from the pod, you have to look everywhere all the time,” Murdock explained. “You can’t defend against what you can’t see.” He tried to give him his first lessons in reading game sign and basic trailing. “You are not to cross the stream for any reason,” Murdock said sternly at the creek. “For that matter, you are not to cross the river, either.”
On the way back to the pod, Murdock tested and corrected Thomas on the information he had given him.
While Rebecca helped Krysia out of the pod, Murdock showed Thomas the proper way to build a cook fire and how to cook the venison.
“You have enough venison to last three or four days, you have plenty of water skins, and you know how to get water,” Murdock said as he slung two of the filled water skins over his shoulder. No one asked why he took two. “Don’t go outside alone, and don’t go outside unarmed. If you see any animals other than deer, run. I’ll be back in three days to check on things.” Then he turned and headed for the river.
Murdock told Rose and Mei Lee telepathically that he was on his way home. After those at the pod could not see him, he broke into an easy trot. Soon he reached the river, levitating himself over it without breaking stride. He was soon home, where Rose had prepared venison for him to eat.
“You need to get into the bath!” Rose said in a voice that meant she would tolerate no arguments.
He didn’t argue. As he stripped down, he noticed Mei Lee in the tub.
“I’m not intruding, am I?” he asked before proceeding.
“Not at all,” Mei Lee answered.
Once he was in the tub and relaxing, Rose came out and got in as well.
“This feels heavenly!” Mei Lee said as she lounged with eyes closed; enjoying the healing heat on her tortured muscles. Everyone else grunted appreciatively.
“What is the plan with the trio at the pod?” Rose asked after a very long, silent soak.
“I’ll check on them in three days,” Murdock said without opening his eyes or changing his position.
“Do you think they can survive that long on their own?” Mei Lee asked lazily.
“I’m not going to babysit them,” Murdock said in a firm voice. “They need to learn, and experience is the best teacher. They have enough food, and I found the extra weapons and water skins, so they are pretty well set for three days, anyway.”
“I want to go with you, so I can check on Krysia and assess her progress,” Mei Lee said. “Maybe Rose and I can trade off on your training trips.”
“Maybe,” Rose answered in guarded tones. “I think you may be going more often than I will.”
After bathing and eating, Rose and Mei Lee moved the babies closer to the bed. Murdock secured the doors and windows. While he lay cuddled with Rose and Mei Lee, he tried to mentally count the survivors, but his mind and body were worn out from the stress. Soon, all in the cabin were asleep.
#
By the time fall arrived again, Thomas’ hunting and tracking skills had vastly improved. He had become a very good at stalking deer and could harvest fish with little to no effort. Krysia had survived and was expected to deliver her baby in a month, at the earliest. Her ribs still bothered her, but only when she over-worked. Rebecca had learned a lot about cooking and fire-building. Both women had learned how to tan and work hides. Thomas and Murdock built a large smokehouse, and the survivors had learned how to cut and smoke venison and fish. Rose had also taught them how to braid rope from the high grass that surrounded the pod.
Murdock and Thomas had enclosed the compound with a stockade of logs. The logs were all thirty feet long, and the walls were twenty-five feet high after they were set in the ground. At the closest point, fifty feet stretched from the outer edge of the pod to the stockade. The stockade featured a big, wide gate that swung out, with a large, counterbalanced log to hold the gate closed from the inside. It had taken them the rest of the summer and most of the fall to build the structure. Thomas, Rebecca, and Krysia spent the last weeks before winter filling the smokehouse with fish and venison.
After Krysia could take care of herself somewhat, Thomas and Rebecca went for plenty of walks together to get water and to fish. They had plenty of talks around the campfire as they cooked venison or fish. Before Krysia was able to walk down from the pod on her own, the two of them talked more, and Thomas found that he missed talking to Rebecca. He had made sure that the watches were arranged so that Rebecca was awake while Thomas was.
“Are you trying to avoid me?” Rebecca had asked during one of their walks for water.
“No,” Thomas said clumsily. “I didn’t want to seem to take advantage of the situation. That would be Whittier’s way, not mine.”
“Well, it sure seems like it to me,” Rebecca said. “There’s you, me, and Krysia. Whittier is off somewhere abusing someone or searching for something he thinks is out there. The other men are either dead or acolytes of Whittier. The only other acceptable male is Murdock, and I think Mei Lee and Rose would have more than a little to say about that. So, if I don’t interest you, then I have to wait until the next pod, and that’s a long time to wait.”
Thomas’ mouth hung open. He hadn’t known anyone so forward. “I didn’t say I wasn’t interested in you,” he said when he spoke again. “I just didn’t want you to think I had any expectations. I had already resigned myself to waiting for the next pod. I’d prefer not to wait that long, but I will if I have to.”
“What about Krysia?” Rebecca asked. “Do you know the particulars of Rose, Mei Lee, and Murdock’s relationship?” She slipped her arm around Thomas’ waist as they walked.
“I don’t know what their relationship is, and I think it would be rude to ask. To ask Murdock, anyway,” Thomas said, a little light-headed from Rebecca’s touch. “You may get further asking Mei Lee. She does come around to check on Krysia quite a bit.”
“I’ll try to remember,” Rebecca said, half-smiling at him. “When they come around, the information comes very fast, and it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Usually an hour or so after they leave I’ll remember something I meant to ask.”
“We do need to be discreet and not rub Krysia’s nose in our relationship,” he sheepishly suggested. “She needs our support right now.”
Rebecca quickly removed her hand. “I’m sorry. I thought you might need my support or some comfort.”
Thomas saw a tear trickling down Rebecca’s cheek. “I do need your support,” he said in a soft voice. “I do like having you close. I just don’t want to upset Krysia right now.”
“I don’t care what Krysia wants,” Rebecca said loudly. “This is about me and us. If she wants to cuddle, then I am okay with it. I’m just tired of sleeping alone!”
Thomas decided he had better table the discussion until Rebecca could calm down a little. Krysia should be included in that discussion, he thought.
#
During the last few weeks before winter, Murdock, Rose, and Mei Lee hunted deer and caught fish to set aside for winter. Together they prepared the hides and gathered enough wood together to last the winter comfortably. Having learned from the previous winter, Murdock had decided to hang two extra deer in the main room of the cabin. They might be needed. and they didn’t reduce the usable area in the cabin for very long, as he and the women would eat those deer first.
Murdock, Rose, and Mei Lee did not work all the time, however. They still took time to go for walks and usually brought back arrow material or grass to make rope. They spent their nights in their spa or playing with the babies. All three were quite happy and content, even though life was hard.
One night when the babies were asleep and the adults were lounging in their spa, Mei Lee broached a matter that had bothered her for some time.
“Do you two mind if we have a little discussion?” she asked sheepishly.
“You should know by now that all you have to do is bring up whatever is bothering you,” Rose scolded Mei Lee good-naturedly.
“I have to say something that is . . . difficult,” Mei Lee said and then took a deep breath. “I love you both,” she blurted out.
“We love you, too, sweetness,” Rose said, her eyes closed as well.
“Same for me,” Murdock said nonchalantly.
“You don’t understand,” Mei Lee exclaimed. Both Murdock and Rose sat upright and looked at her with concern. Mei Lee started crying.
“It’s okay, hon,” Rose said, sliding over next to her and putting her arm around Mei Lee’s shoulders. “You can tell us what’s wrong. Whatever it is, just say it.”
“Come on, Mei,” Murdock prompted her, his hands on her thighs to comfort her. “It’s okay.”
“Do you love Rose?” Mei Lee asked Murdock.
“Yes, I do, very much,” Murdock said with sincerity. “You know that.”
“Do you love me?” Mei Lee asked him pointedly.
“Yes, very much,” Murdock said. His expression showed his confusion.
“Is what you feel for me different than what you feel for Rose?” Mei Lee asked.
Murdock didn’t answer right away. He had to re-evaluate his feelings, which was something that he didn’t do very often. “Yes, it’s different only because you are not Rose,” Murdock explained. “You are a unique individual and I do love you, for you.” The words were the best he could do, but he felt they were sadly lacking, somehow.
“Do you love Kevin?” Mei Lee asked Rose after turning slightly to look at her, which caused Murdock to draw his hands away from Mei Lee’s thighs without being mean or rough.
“You know I do,” Rose answered in a soft voice.
“What would you say if I wanted to have another baby with Kevin as the father?” Mei Lee blurted out.
Both Murdock and Rose gaped.
I don’t know what to say, but if I’m smart, I better not say anything, Murdock thought. As far as I’m concerned, this is something for Rose and Mei Lee to work out between themselves. He made his way to the edge of the pool and was starting to get out when Rose’s voice stopped him.
“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked roughly.
“I-I was just going to check on the kids,” Murdock stammered.
“You stay put,” Rose warned. Then she asked Mei Lee in a soft voice, “Is that what you want?”
“I don’t know,” Mei Lee said through tears. “I just want a man to hold me and nuzzle my neck once in a while.”
#
“Does it have to be Kevin?” Rose asked through closed eyes. She was afraid of Mei Lee’s answer.
“No, I wish it were my Thomas, but he is no longer with us,” Mei Lee said. “I do miss him, but it’s more than that. I miss the closeness. I don’t trust anyone else to get that close to me except you and Kevin.”
“Okay,” Rose heard herself say. “It sounds to me that you don’t feel like an equal partner here. I mean equal to me.” Rose’s heart pounded in her head, and her eyes were still closed. “As far as I am concerned, you are an equal wife to me.” She was surprised that the words came out so easily. She had thought this for some time, but not knowing how Murdock would react, she had been reticent to discuss it with him. Now, she was afraid to look at him. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw Mei Lee’s mouth agape. Rose finally turned enough to see Murdock, who also stared at her in shock.
“I need to get out before I totally dissolve,” Murdock insisted as he got out of the spa and took his clothes into the cabin.
“Were you serious?” Mei Lee asked after Murdock had left.
“If you want another baby, then our husband had better be the father,” Rose said in all seriousness. “That’s how I’ve felt for some time, I just hadn’t told Kevin. I didn’t know how to broach it with him.”
Rose moved to get out of the spa, but Mei Lee stopped her and gave her a big hug before they got out, gathered their clothes, and went into the cabin.
No one spoke until bedtime. Then, Rose finally spoke.
“Kevin, you’re in the middle with me and Mei Lee on either side,” she said. “Unless you would prefer a different arrangement?” she asked Mei Lee.
“No, that would be fine for tonight. We may want to change it a little for tomorrow night,” Mei Lee said.
“Do I have anything to say about this?” Murdock asked.
“Not really,” Rose said.
#
Murdock lay in bed. He had a beautiful woman on either side, and their hands were clasped over his belly. Life is good, he thought, and surprising! He drifted off to sleep.
25
For the next month, the snow fell, the wind howled, and the weather turned bitter cold. Murdock was glad Rose and Mei Lee had made cold weather clothing during the previous winter. He continued his periodic checks of the pod area, but traveling to the encampment was very difficult and getting more so with each passing day. With Mei Lee’s help, Krysia delivered her baby, a boy with no name that Murdock knew of, just before the snow fell.
One evening, Murdock was outside filling the water skins with the hot water from their spa. The snow had stopped, and the sun had already gone down. As he walked toward the door of the cabin, it occurred to him to take in some wood. Just as he reached for some, something grabbed him from behind and dragged him backward through the air by the collar of his coat.
Murdock couldn’t see where he was going, but he did see the river pass below him, and he guessed he was twenty feet in the air.
The only entity on this planet that can do this is the Oomah, he thought. Judging by the roughness and the time of year, it has to be the white one.
“Rose, don’t panic, but the Oomah needs to have words with me,” he flashed. He didn’t tell Rose what he’d surmised, as he didn’t want her to worry. As he watched the ground below him pass by, he could tell nothing of his possible destination.
After a few hours, he stopped moving, but he was still suspended twenty feet off the ground. As he hung there, he did not see the face coming at him until it was right in front of him. The hot breath hit Murdock as the huge, white bear stared at him with menace.
“Young one taken! Not find! You find now,” the bear flashed.
Though being suspended above the ground was not the best place to try to compose himself, Murdock, lacking an alternative, did his best. “Where was he when you lost him?” Murdock asked his huge captor telepathically with as much authority as he could muster.
“No lost! Take,” the bear flashed emphatically.
“We don’t know that. I still need to see where the cub was.” Murdock knew that the white bear was upset, as he would be if it were Andy or Chun Hua. Protesting his treatment would accomplish nothing.
The bear started moving while still suspending Murdock beside him. As Murdock looked down, he saw the creek that ran close to the caves, which was the same creek that ran all the way to the pod area and the one Thomas, Krysia, and Rebecca used as a water source. Then, after a short time, the huge bear dropped Murdock, who was glad for the snow. He saw the tracks of a bear cub in the waning light. By the spread of the tracks, Murdock knew the cub was small, but even then he could tell it was about the size of a small man. The wind and blowing snow were starting to deteriorate the tracks.
“Rose, I need you to go to the pod,” Murdock flashed as he studied every detail of the tracks.
“What’s wrong?” she flashed back.
“I think we have a major problem,” he told her telepathically. “We have a missing cub, and I’m dealing with an irate parent. Description of cub is white in color with a black nose and eyes.” Rose acknowledged him. “I told everyone at the pod to leave the bears alone, and I’m hoping they did, but I need verification. I’m trying to determine if the youngster just wandered off or was taken, so the fastest would be best!”
#
As Rose donned her cold weather clothing, she told Mei Lee what had happened. Between all the curs
ing and proclaiming the improbable parentage of the occupants of the pod, Mei Lee got the general idea.
“I can go,” Mei Lee offered.
“You just got back from there yesterday and haven’t recovered yet,” Rose said with anger. “Kevin wants me to go to put the fear of God into them, because he knows I will. Take care of the kids until I get back.” After a quick hug she was out the door.
Rose didn’t get very far before the snow blocked her progress. With each step, she sank three feet into the snow. With no snowshoes, it would take her weeks, if at all, to get to the pod. Her only alternative was to levitate herself the entire way. That seemed impossible to her, so she concentrated on going as far as she could, resting, and then going again. As she moved two inches above the snow, she felt as if she were dreaming. She found moving this way was easy at first, but the longer she moved, the harder it became, until she finally had to rest. She drank some water and tried to restore her mind so she could continue.
Rose was an hour out and had no idea where she was. She had opted for traveling cross-country rather than following the river. The occupants of the pod were blissfully unaware of Rose’s or Murdock’s special abilities, so her levitation would be hard to explain to them, but all that was secondary to the speed she needed. My failure means instant death for those I love, she thought. The next victims of the white one’s anger would be every human on this planet. I refuse to fail! After a little while longer, Rose was finally strong enough to levitate farther. All the while, she hoped that her navigation was correct. She didn’t want to miss the pod.
#
The longer Murdock studied the quickly degrading tracks, the more concerned he became. So far, he saw no sign of anyone or anything on the snow except the cub. I know this irate parent won’t accept what I have to say so far, he though, so I’ll continue to study and track and hope that Rose gets to the pod soon and tells me that the cub is not there.
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