Pythagoras Falls

by S A Ison

  “You okay?” He asked her in a low voice. Monica and Yuma were sitting side by side talking in low tones. Lydia shrugged, and set Demi down to play with some stone, and both watched to make sure the child didn’t pop one in her mouth.

  “Sure, I guess. What are we going to do if that jeep dies? We’re so close, I can almost taste it.”

  “We walk. We’ve got no choice and we’ll cover as much ground and walk as fast as we can in as short a period of time. Look, if we can walk two miles in an hour, and we walk ten hours a day, that’s twenty miles a day. At a moderate walk, and I’m counting on your short legs.” He grinned and she punched him playfully causing them both to laugh.

  “Counting on your short legs, I think you could walk a mile easily in twenty minutes. So, two miles in an hour, that shouldn’t beat us too far down. We will conserve our food and water, making sure that Demi gets the most of it. Miles has taught us to use snares, so we can catch a rabbit. It isn’t winter, so we won’t freeze. We’ve a lot of guns between us and four sets of eyes and ears. I won’t tell you it will be easy. But, if we’re cautious and alert, I think we can do it.”

  “Laying it out like that, it does sound doable. I’ve not asked you, how are you doing, you know, about your family and all?” She asked, placing her hand over his. Demi had crawled into his lap and was playing with a rag doll he’d made for her, she babbled with only one or two words understood. She had become more animated and active.

  “I’m okay, it’s just kind of reliving the hurt all over again, never seeing them, you know. How about you?” He asked.

  “Same, I didn’t think she could survive. Especially when we heard the Chinese and Russians invaded. Then all the horrible news that was coming out of there. But going there, I had hope, even if it was just a tiny bit. Now, there is no hope.” She said, wiping at a tear.

  “There is always hope. We don’t know if they all got far away from Seattle when all this first went down. For all we know, they could well be alive. That’s what I’m going to believe. There will never be any proof one way or the other.”

  “You’re right. Fine. I believe that my sis is roaming out there with a band of survivors. They went into the deep woods, kind of like us.” She smiled and Phoenix reached out a hand and cupped her cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned her cheek into his hand.

  “You know, when we get back home, we need to talk about this.” Phoenix smiled, and her eyes opened and she smiled back, placing her hand over his and squeezed.

  “Yes, we do. Guess, we can’t dance around it any more, can we?”

  “We can dance, just a different one.” He laughed.

  “What, the horizontal mambo?” She giggled, causing him to laugh out loud. Her cheeks pinkened so much, that she fairly glowed in the dark.

  Early the next morning, the group packed up the jeep. There was an air of anxiety. Yuma helped Phoenix pour water into the radiator. He looked up at Phoenix and knew hope was reflected in his own eyes. They all hoped this would work. They were so close to home. Phoenix would ride shotgun and the women in the back. Looking around, all eyes were on him.

  “Let’s hope this jeep starts.” Yuma said and he could hear no breathing, as they waited for him to start the jeep. He turned the key and the jeep protested and complained, but it started and the occupants of the jeep let out heavy sighs. He put the jeep into gear and pulled out. The jeep bucked and jerked, but began to eat up the miles. Yuma didn’t push too hard, the road was fairly even, but there were deep ruts here and there and he was afraid to hit one. The landscape of forest didn’t change much, thinning out here and there, becoming denser in other areas. The topography was heading in an upward slope. No one talked, and Yuma knew they were all afraid the jeep would die.

  Each grunt, each whine of the engine made his muscles tense. They were within two hours or less of home. Two small hours. Maybe even an hour and a half. That was nothing in the big scheme of things. There was a loud clang and everyone jerked. It took a moment, but they realized someone was shooting at them.

  “Go faster, someone’s taking potshots.” Phoenix roared and Yuma looked back at the woman. Monica had been holding Demi and she now curved her body over the baby. Lydia curved her body protectively over Monica. There was another metallic ding. Yuma shifted gears and pushed the jeep hard. It bumped violently, putting distance between them and their attackers. He had seen no one in the heavy woods. His eyes shot to the temperature gage and he saw that it was climbing.

  “The temperature is going up.” He yelled.

  “We’ve got to push it; we have to put distance between us and that asshole.” Phoenix bellowed; his hand braced on the dash. The jeep rocked violently and the engine was screaming, but Yuma didn’t let up on the gas. He tried to swerve around potholes, but at the speed he was going, it was nearly impossible. They could no longer hear the shots and he was glad that the jeep wasn’t getting hit. He didn’t dare slow down, they needed miles between them.

  He could now smell something burning, something hot. He looked at Phoenix, fear filling his body with ice. It washed through his veins because he knew that they were killing the jeep. Their only rapid way home. The visions of a sweet homecoming were beginning to pull back, beginning to fade. His eyes went to the temperature gage once more. It was firmly in the red. From the hood, he could see smoke, but Yuma didn’t stop. A mile in a dying jeep was a mile less they had to walk.

  The jeep began to scream in protest and the smoke got heavier. Yuma wouldn’t stop, if he could still see, he would keep driving. They had only driven roughly thirty miles since the morning, his brain calculated, the odometer was broken, but he was good at calculating distance. Only, maybe sixty miles to go? Could he push the jeep five more miles? One more? Then the jeep died and only the momentum pushed the body forward. It was quiet, but for Demi’s crying. He then heard Lydia and Monica talking to her in hushed voices. Yuma looked over to Phoenix, whose normally dusky complexion was now pasty.

  “How far back do you think they are?” Phoenix asked, his voice sounding hallow.

  “I think, maybe six miles. I think we got away.” Yuma breathed, his heart still racing and his body trembling. He was really getting tired of being shot at. If he could face his attackers, he’d put them in the ground. There was heavy breathing from all of them, and Yuma figured all of them felt the same way he did. He opened the door and got out, scanning the trees for any trouble.

  “How far do you think we are from home?” Phoenix asked.

  “Maybe sixty miles, maybe less, we were able to make good distance before we got shot at.”

  “Guess that’s better than one hundred. Good damned driving there.” Phoenix grunted and pulled the seat forward, helping Monica out. Yuma turned and pulled his seat forward, taking Demi from Lydia and helped her out.

  “Guess we unload the jeep, see what we need, what we can carry and what we’ll have to leave.” Lydia said, looking back into the jeep. Yuma reached into the jeep and began pulling blankets and backpacks out. Lydia set Demi down and pulled water jugs from the back. It was an unspoken agreement, that when Demi was on the ground, all eyes kept a constant vigil. Their possessions were laid on the blankets and Yuma went through the dented glovebox, pulling out boxes of ammunition.

  “Food, water and ammo are the most important. We have four gallons of water left, so we can each carry a gallon. We divide the ammo between us as well. I can carry extra, since the weight of it won’t bother me.” Phoenix said, he was squatting in front of the pile. Yuma picked Demi up and began sorting through his backpack. He pulled a jam biscuit out and broke off part of it and gave it to Demi. She babbled to him while he sorted the rest of the contents of his backpack.

  They hung the shovel off Phoenix’s backpack, they would need that for digging the fire pits. They could not afford to be in the woods with the predators at night and not have a fire. They would have to be careful and plan their nightly campsite.

  “How far are we from your home?” Monica
asked.

  “Our home, it’s your home too, is about a three day walk. I think we’re lucky, because it could have been worse.” Phoenix said, though he couldn’t quite smile. The gravity of their walk was a heavy load, especially with Demi and Lydia’s lives at stake.

  “Lydia and I talked about it last night. If walk about two miles in an hour, and we can push ourselves, I think it is doable, to get home in about three days.”

  “That sounds about right. When I was walking, I was making about the same distance, give or take.” Monica agreed.

  “I don’t think we’ll need all the blankets, that’s a lot of bulk. If we take two, that should be enough.” Lydia suggested and all nodded agreement.

  “How are we on food?” Monica asked.

  “I think I’ll set up a snare this evening, when we make camp. We have some of the rice balls left, the jerky, but there isn’t much of that left. There is the powdered milk for Demi. We have quite a few of the jam biscuits left and we have the bag of rice. If I can catch a rabbit, we can maybe do a bit of rice and rabbit.” Phoenix said, swinging his backpack over his shoulders.

  “If we’re careful, maybe eat well in the morning and skip lunch, I’d say we can do it. I just want to make sure Demi has plenty to eat.” Lydia pointed out. There were grunts of agreement and Phoenix looked around.

  “I guess we’re as ready as we’ll ever be. Let’s start walking.” He said and they all turned and headed down the road. No one talked and no one looked back at the abandoned jeep and belongings. Yuma checked the map and though they knew the road would lead them close to home, they were all nervous about getting lost. A miscalculation could kill them.

  Demi babbled away and fussed when she wanted down to walk. Lydia put her down, but encouraged the child to run. After ten minutes of running, Demi wanted to be carried again and Phoenix smiled. Their pace was constant and they were eating up distance. His heart began to slow, the suffocating fear began to recede. He heard branches snap in the woods and all pulled their weapons up or out. They kept walking, but their eyes and ears were acutely attuned to their surroundings.

  There was another snap and then Phoenix saw it, a large deer. He hissed and pointed in the direction. The deer was about fifty feet away, hidden by brush and large trunks of the conifers. The deer snuffled and grunted. No one stopped, as mesmerizing as the deer was, no one was willing to stop their progress.

  The hours ticked by and for the millionth time, Phoenix wished he had a watch. He been tied to time in the before. Schedules and meetings. Now, he lived his life by daylight and dark. The rhythm of the sun was his master. He walked up and took Demi from Lydia, the child’s body was limp in slumber. He wished he could sleep that deeply, but none of them could afford to do that here, exposed.

  Though he didn’t have a watch, he didn’t need one as the shadows of the forest began to lengthen. It was late afternoon and he thought that perhaps they had covered fifteen miles. He wanted a bit of time to set up a snare and set up camp.

  “Keep an eye out for a good place to camp. I’ll need to set up a snare.” Phoenix announced softly. He heard grunts of acknowledgement and smiled. No one was talkative, their attention outward. It was another twenty minutes before they found a spot, thirty feet from the road. There was a clump of low bushes, and it would make a good buffer between them and the road.

  He handed Demi to Lydia. He dug around in his pack for the cord that he would use as the snare.

  “I’ll go in about three hundred feet or better. Set the snare or two and I’ll be right back.”

  “You think you’ll be okay? Alone I mean?” Lydia asked, chewing on her lower lip. Phoenix smiled and nodded.

  “I’ll make a bit of noise, so any bears out there will hear me and I’ll also keep looking up for big cats.”

  Lydia watched him go, his movements through the forest smooth and sure. She didn’t like him going alone, but she knew he was capable and she knew he’d be careful. Monica had laid out one of the quilts and she laid Demi on it. She pushed and raked debris from the site as Yuma dug the fire pit. They all worked in concert, getting the area ready quickly. She sat out one jug of water. She would make milk when Demi woke. She had been working with Demi, trying to encourage her to use the bathroom outside of the diapers. It made it easier. So far, she wasn’t doing too badly.

  She wished there was a stream nearby, the bag of soiled diapers stunk. They were also heavy, but they needed them, for the girl, until she was potty trained. Lydia could see that the child had put on weight, and her skin was looking better as well and Demi had lost that sickly smell. Yuma got the fire going and she felt better for the safety of it. Fire usually kept predators away, at least the four-legged kind. She and Monica didn’t go far, finding a tree to go to the bathroom. No one wanted out of sight of the fire and Yuma.

  She let out a sigh of relief when Phoenix made his way back to the camp.

  “I didn’t find any water sources, so we’ll have to be conservative with the water.” He shrugged. Though the forest was cool, the temperature during the day was warm. It would cool down at night, and the warmth of the fire and blankets would be welcomed.

  “I wish we could look for some, but that would just add time to our trip.” Lydia said.

  “Yep, but, if we do come across something, we’ll take advantage of it.”

  The four of them sat down by the fire, and Lydia watched Yuma feed the fire, all of them looked around, watching.

  “How did you do it Monica, all alone?” Lydia asked.

  “I hid as much as I could and kept as quiet as I could. I found old buildings that had been abandoned, and had found small places to hide. I tried to become invisible.” She said, helping Yuma feed the fire.

  “Christ, all alone too. You’re brave as hell.” Lydia said.

  “Mostly lucky. I don’t think it’s so much brave as you have to do it, you have to keep going. There isn’t any kind of choice. Also, I was lucky, like here, there aren’t many people around. We aren’t near a big city, like Chicago. I’m sure if we were near there, we’d be screwed. These woods would be full of people.”

  Lydia bit her lip when she noticed that Yuma had moved just a little closer to Monica. She bent her head and glanced sideways at Phoenix, nudging him. He looked down at her and she moved her eyes to Yuma and gave her head a slight nod. She saw the humor spark in his gray eyes and they crinkled with silent laughter.

  “People wandering in these woods have a lot more to worry about than other people.” Lydia said, looking back up and at Monica. Monica grunted and nodded, smiling ruefully.

  “Yes, and I’m really hoping the smell of smoke will keep the bears and mountain lions away.” Monica said, looking around as though one might pop out.

  “I’m thinking we should be fine. People hike around these forests all the time. I think if we’re mindful and carefully, we should be fine. I think once it’s dark, we don’t leave the immediate camp.” Phoenix said, and looked around. There was an owl in the distance hooting and another replied, still farther away. It was peaceful and Lydia hoped they would have the ability to hear anyone coming. When she and Monica had walked over to find a private place, the twigs snapped under their feet. Anyone approaching would be hard pressed to stay quiet.

  As the light faded, Phoenix got up. He held a hand down to Lydia.

  “Want to come and watch my back, while I check the snares?” He grinned down at her. She felt her face pinken and nodded. Demi was playing with Monica’s braid. When they walked away from camp, she felt Phoenix’s warm hand take hers. Her heart began to speed up and flipped in her chest. She felt foolish, like a schoolgirl, instead of a grown woman. Both had been feeling the attraction for some time now.

  “I thought it would be nice to have a little bit of alone time and also, to maybe give Yuma a bit of alone time with Monica.” Phoenix said.

  “Yes, I noticed that he’s been mooning over her.” She giggled softly and heard his low chuckle.

  “I thi
nk our lonesome dove has got it bad for the doctor.”

  “Don’t let him hear you say that. I don’t think he’ll get the reference anyway. I’ve never seen anyone take to being a cowboy, or something like a cowboy.” Phoenix laughed softly. Lydia smiled.

  “I think he needs that; I think it helps him cope. Besides, he rides better and shoots better than any of us.” She laughed and looked up at him. He stopped and pulled her around and pulled her close. She smiled up at him as he dropped his head and kissed her. He felt good, strong and warm. She felt protected. He lifted his head and smiled down at her.

  “Ya’ll wanna go fetch some varmints for dinner?” He grinned, and Lydia laughed and punched him.

  “You suck at southern accents.” She sniggered and they continued walking. She saw the small form and Phoenix squatted, retrieving the rabbit. He held it up for her, and she thought it was a pretty good size.

  “I set one more, let’s go see if we have two for dinner.” He said and they walked twenty feet to find another rabbit.

  “Good, at least we won’t have to use much of the supplies.” Lydia sighed happily.

  “We can roast one and use the other one in some rice. That should make for a good dinner. I’m going to skin and clean this right here. I don’t want to do it near the camp.”

  “Can I help?” She offered.

  “No, just keep a look out, we both don’t need to get messy.”

  Lydia looked around the forest, the light was fading fast. She was profoundly grateful to Miles for teaching them how to set snares, how to hunt deer and how to skin and process them. She had thrown up the first few times, but Miles had been patient. Her stomach growled and Phoenix looked up at her and she grinned and shrugged. Then, his stomach made a loud protest and she laughed.

  “Yeah, well, at least I’m not the only one.” Lydia laughed. They walked back to camp quickly.

  “I’m glad we can’t see the fire. I can make out Yuma and Monica, but I can’t really see the fire. Only when it shoots up high.” Lydia said.