Emily jumped down onto the road and ran over to it. She reached up and ran her hand over the name of her hometown. So close, she thought to herself and spun around to smile at her friends.
It didn’t take the men long to unstrap and unload the quads and after much thanks and hugs and handshakes, the small group of teens stood and watched the trucks drive away. When they couldn’t see the trucks anymore, they climbed on to the machines and made the turn east. As they drove down the road that would take them home, they were all smiling.
They had to stop and fill the gas tanks a few hours later and even though they wanted to hurry, they took the time to siphon more gas so they would have full spare gas cans. No one wanted to stop to make food so they ate as they drove and kept it to deer jerky and granola bars. Emily’s cheeks hurt from smiling at every landmark she recognised.
They were coming up to the access road to the lake and all the RV resorts when two old pickup trucks pulled onto the highway and blocked the road ahead. It was only twenty minutes to town from there so they all assumed that they were townspeople on security. The teens stopped the quads and got off. They were all grinning and trying to see if they recognized anyone when four loud motorcycles drove around the trucks and stopped.
Emily felt a shiver run down her back. Something was wrong here. None of the men looked like they were from her town and when they got off their bikes, they pointed rifles and shotguns at them as they advanced. The looks the men were giving her and Lisa confirmed that they were in big trouble.
A man with long greasy hair and dirty yellow teeth stepped ahead of the others and gave them a huge smile. He zeroed in on Emily and she shrank back from his cold, reptilian eyes.
“Hello, pretty girl! So nice of you to come to our party and you brought a friend!” His rough voice oozed fake charm.
Emily lifted her chin and swallowed the lump in her throat. “Who are you?” she asked cautiously.
He kept walking towards her and stopped when he was a few feet away. Still smiling, he gave her an exaggerated bow but when he came up he was no longer smiling and he had a handgun pointed at her head.
“Let’s just say I’m the Prairie Springs Welcoming Committee. You and your girlfriend are welcome. The boys…not so much! Get into the truck!” He roared the last command.
Emily was frozen. What was going on here? What was happening in her town? Who were these animals? The man made an ugly face at her and cocked his gun. He opened his mouth to yell at her again but before he could a voice called out from the ditch on the side of the road.
“I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want to go anywhere with someone as ugly as you!” the voice taunted.
Emily’s eyes flew wide. That voice, she had known that voice all her life. Her head turned as if in slow motion and there she was. Her red-gold curls gleamed in the sun and she stood tall and fierce with the biggest gun Emily had ever seen pointed right at the nasty man.
He swivelled around and moved his gun so it was pointing at Alex. “Well, what do you know? Look, guys, we got another pretty little girl to join the party!” and he laughed.
A voice from the other side of the road called out. “Hey! It’s really stupid to tease a redhead with a big gun, mister. If I was you, I’d duck and cover ‘cause she looks pissed!”
Emily knew that was Josh yelling out and she wondered who else was hidden around the road. The long-haired man kept his eyes on Alex the whole time, but his expression changed to a smirk.
“Don’t worry, buddy, she’ll be playing with my big gun soon enough!”
Emily was looking at Alex and her heart was pounding. Every childhood memory flashed before her eyes. Every adventure they had shared, every secret they had giggled over was right there. That’s my sister! she thought as she pulled the gun from her pocket and with her last bullet shot the man who was threatening her.
Gunshots filled the air around her, and she felt herself being thrown to the ground as David tackled her and covered her body with his. As her head slammed into the hard pavement, her last thoughts before darkness took her was, This is wrong. We don’t have to fight anymore. We are HOME.
Home
Book Three
Prologue
Harry Dennison helped his wife, Anna, up into the wagon seat and handed her up the food basket when she was settled. She gave him a warm smile but he could see the quiet sorrow in her faded blue eyes. As he walked around the horses his own sorrow surfaced. He had come to terms with the deaths of his son and daughter-in-law but now that his only grandson, Quinn, was lost and possibly dead, his will to live had faded. He heaved his grief-exhausted, seventy-year-old body up into the trailer and patted his wife’s knee before taking the reins and getting the horses moving.
It had been five days since the event that had turned all modern electronics into useless hunks of metal. The first day had been confusing but everyone had stayed calm and the town’s small RCMP detachment kept everyone in order. By the end of the first day, when people started realizing that the event was much bigger than their small town, it was fear and uncertainty that kept things quiet. A late-night meeting of the town’s administration and police had a plan worked out. The residents had woken up the second day to find all of the businesses on Main Street locked and guarded until they could bring everyone to a town meeting. Runners on bikes and the few old vehicles that worked had been sent out to the surrounding properties and farms and everyone was urged to make their way to the community centre for a meeting.
There were many scared people yelling in the centre before they finally settled down and the limited answers people had, were given out. It was decided that the grocery store, two gas stations, and other businesses would open at reduced hours with strict rationing policies until they could get more news from the government. They sent three of the working cars out to the north, east and south to try and find some answers. Quite a few people in town guessed correctly that there would be no help coming and they explained their thoughts to the others. There were quite a few generators that still worked and they organized water pumping stations around town and powered up the community centre. People were advised to make lists of supplies on hand in their homes and anyone who would be short on food could ask for help from the town.
Once most of the townspeople had left the building, a second meeting was held with the main farm owners that had been asked to stay behind. The people in charge knew that they had to plan long term in case help wasn’t coming. Harry and his neighbours were the biggest farm holders and those people were already dealing with the uncertainty of whether or not their children would be coming home from the class trip to California. Supplies and stock were listed and plans for putting in crops were discussed. Without modern farm machinery, it would be a challenge but they all had at least one piece of old machinery that was still running. If they all came together and planted each farm before moving on to the next, it could be done. They would need labour to be successful but if people wanted to eat in the future, they would have to contribute. There was plenty of animal stock and they made a schedule to rotate butchering to supply the townspeople with what they had available. It was agreed that these plans would be put on hold for three days until the scouts that were sent out came back and reported what was happening in the rest of the province. They made plans to meet again in three days for a full town meeting where everyone would be told the news and the plans to go forward.
Once the meeting broke up, the farmers gathered in the parking lot. The Andrews, the Greens, the Mathers and Susan Perry joined the Dennisons. They all had children who had gone on the class trip. With no way of knowing what was happening in the world, they were all very concerned but not yet panicked over the fate of their kids.
Mary Green put her arm around Alice Andrews and gave her a squeeze.
“Sofia got home last night. She said that Red Deer is completely at a standstill just like here. She brought a few friends from the college with her and they said that there are fires bur
ning out of control in parts of the city. The only reason they made it out was because of that old VW Bug that Josh helped her fix up. What if this is everywhere? How are our kids going to survive in California?” she said, the last word with a sob.
Eyes filled with tears as they all contemplated the fate of their children so far away and in a place filled with millions of people all fighting for survival. It was Quinn’s grandfather who broke the silence.
He cleared his throat and said in his gruff, gravelly voice, “Let’s not lose sight of who we’re talking about here. Our kids are strong and smart. They are resourceful and they also have help. I’ve known Norma Moore for decades and that woman is prepared for anything. She will have a plan and ensure those kids find refuge. Besides, Alice, have you ever known Alex to give up? She will be barking at their heels to keep them moving to safety.” He made eye contact with all the other parents before proclaiming, “I’ll bet money that our kids are already out of the city and headed our way. That is if this event has even happened down in the south. We don’t even know if the US has been affected by whatever has happened. Let’s just give it a few days and wait for the scouts to come back with information before we start thinking the worst. We need to deal with the here and now. I like the idea of planning for the next couple months in case this is a long-term problem. Let’s get together over the next few days and compare what we have that is still working on the farms and map out how we’ll do the planting. We all have horses so we should use them to travel and save the gas we have for field work or emergencies. I’ll hitch up my team to the old buckboard wagon and come around to collect everyone in three days for the next town meeting. We should head home now and get to work.”
Josh’s father nodded, “I’ve got to pick up a friend of Josh’s here in town and he’s going to be staying with us until this gets sorted out. I’ll ride over to your place later today, Harry, and we’ll talk stock.”
The families all went their separate ways with the hope that they would have good news when they came to town in three days. Ron Green and his wife, Mary, climbed into their daughter’s restored VW bug and drove to the address that Josh had given him before he had left on his school trip. He explained to his wife what was going on in Dara and Jake’s house and what his son had asked of him. She immediately agreed that the boy and his mother should come and stay with them.
When they got to the house they were looking for, they went up the walk and knocked on the door. There was no answer at first but Mr. Green kept knocking until the door was cracked open and he could see Jake’s small face peeking through the crack.
“Jake, are you okay?” When the boy didn’t answer and just stared at him with his big grey eyes he went on, “I’m Mr. Green, Josh’s dad. He asked me to come and check on you and your mom for him. Can I come in?”
The door inched open a bit further. “Is Josh with you? The TV and water don't work. Josh can fix it. He can fix lots of stuff!” the boy told him.
“I’m sorry, Jake, but Josh and your sister are still on their school trip so he sent me over to take care of you. Is your Mom here?”
The door opened all the way and Jake stepped back to let Josh’s parents in.
“She’s sleeping. She probably won’t wake up until it gets dark,” he told them while looking at his feet.
The Greens stepped into the house and Mrs. Green couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose at the stale smell of cigarettes and wine. She took a quick glance around and bit her tongue at the dirty dishes and overflowing ashtray on the coffee table. The four empty wine bottles on the floor had her shaking her head. Next to the table was a long couch and sprawled out on it was Laura, Jake’s mother, and her former friend. She looked horrible with dirty hair and pale skin. She couldn’t match this person up with the friend she used to know. Laura had always had a warm inviting house and she took pride in her appearance. When she and her husband had gotten a divorce and moved into town, Mary had tried to stay in touch and help out but Laura had just seemed to drift away. Seeing her former friend in this sorry state hurt her heart. She wished now that she’d tried harder to keep Laura in her life. Turning her attention to Jake, she saw him clearly for the first time. He was wearing dirty pajamas that had food stains on the front and it was obvious that he hadn’t bathed in a few days. Her heart hardened at the sight of him staring longingly at the passed-out figure on the couch. No matter what had happened in her life, Laura had two children who were supposed to come first.
Ron Green explained to Jake that he was going to stay with them for a while until things started working again and then sent him to get dressed and pack a bag full of clothes and a few toys he wanted to bring. When Jake had left the room, he looked at the passed-out woman on the couch and then turned to his wife with a look of disgust.
“We need to try and wake her up. I’m not carrying her out of here in that state.”
Mary nodded and went to the couch and tried to rouse her former friend. After shaking her and yelling at her, she gave up.
“We could throw water on her but right now I’m afraid I might say some ugly things to her. How she could do this and leave her child alone to fend for himself infuriates me. From the way Jake responded, this isn’t the first time she has done this. Let’s just leave her to sleep it off. We’ll write a note and leave it on her cigarette pack. She can find her way out to our place or we can check back with her in a few days when we come back to town. I don’t even know if she would realize that he’s gone.” She huffed out a frustrated breath and went in search of pen and paper.
Mr. Green went down the hall to help Jake pack and couldn’t believe that Dara had been dealing with this. The weight on that girl’s shoulders must have been huge. Now that he had seen firsthand what the situation was in this house, he was even more proud of his son for trying to take on some of that weight. He was so frustrated with the whole situation and he kept thinking that if he ever saw Jake and Dara’s father again, he would be hard-pressed to not punch his lights out for leaving his kids to deal with this on their own.
After leaving the note where it would be impossible to miss, they took Jake out and got him into the car. They left the town without seeing another working vehicle.
The next two days were tense and stressful for all the families. They rode horses over their properties to plan with each other and make schedules for planting and butchering. They all hoped that things would clear up before they had to implement them, but after the second day they all saw that it would have to happen if they wanted to feed the town and their own families. By the time Harry Dennison drove his wagon over to pick them up for the town meeting, the tension was overwhelming. Once everyone had been picked up, they rode in silence, each consumed with the thoughts of their children so far away and the fact that their farms were going to become communal property to feed the town.
Everyone was surprised to find a roadblock set up on the outskirts of town. Three men, one police officer and two men from the town were manning it with shotguns and rifles. They waved the wagon through and explained that there had been a lot of people from the highway and city walking into town and they were trying to keep a handle on who was coming in. They had sent everyone to the community centre and it was starting to look like a refugee camp.
The town had changed in just the few days since the last meeting. All the dead cars had been removed from the streets and there were more people out. They were all walking towards the community centre and there were more children this time. As the days had passed without official outside help, parents became more and more concerned and they kept their families close.
Harry noticed a man standing against a lamppost. He was rough-looking and stood out as he was one of the few people not walking towards the meeting. It took him a minute to place the man. The sneer on his face made it click. Hank Morris. Harry didn’t know him personally, but he knew the man had a reputation as a troublemaker. He had heard that Hank ran with a rough crowd and that he was a frequent visi
tor to the town’s drunk tank. As the wagon passed him by, Hank took a last drag on his smoke and tossed it down onto the street before turning and walking in the opposite direction as everyone else. Harry shook his head and was thankful the man wouldn’t be at the meeting to cause problems.
The parking lot of the centre was filled with people and there were tables set up with food and water as well as a table that held huge coffee urns with electrical extension cords running back into the building. People were lined up at these tables, and Harry saw that there were many that looked exhausted and filthy. Refugees from the highway or cities had walked into the town and were just looking for a safe place with food and water. He frowned at the numbers and sighed. They would have to find a way to feed them.
There were more than a few horses already grazing in the enclosed playing field beside the centre, so they got their horse unhitched and led them over to the others. As the group approached the main doors, they got into line and saw that there were administrators with clipboards taking down names and addresses to form a census of who was still in the area and who would need to be fed in the coming weeks. After giving all of their names and household numbers, the entire group declined to be put on rations. They all had plenty of food on the farms, and many had cellars with food that had been canned on top of the livestock.
Each of the families in the group had brought food with them to contribute to the town and they were directed to take the eggs and milk jugs to the kitchen before entering the main hall for the meeting.
There was a loud murmur coming from the crowd as they found seats and it got louder as more and more people came into the room. There was a small stage erected at the front of the hall and the Mayor, a police officer and another man that Harry recognized as Jim Johnson were standing beside it. “Big Jim” owned the only car dealership and quite a chunk of real estate in town. His normally booming voice was hushed, but by the way he punctuated his words with sharp motions of his hands, Harry knew he was unhappy.
STRANDED: Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 41