Jessica nodded but her expression was uncertain. “Then why did she tell the other kids to leave? Do you think they’re all dead?” she said the last word in a whisper.
Jan thought about it before answering. “I don’t know and we won’t know until we get home but no, I don’t think they’re dead. Those kids had different personalities than you guys. They were used to being more independent and they had different skills that would’ve helped them survive. I think they got out of the city before it went totally mad and made it to the rural areas where they had a better chance. I honestly think that most of them will be waiting at home for us when we get there.” She stood up from the bed and took one of both girls’ hands. “Now, I don’t want either one of you to feel guilty about surviving. You both had horrible things happen to you and it was you who decided to keep going. You have nothing to feel guilty about. Feel grateful and hopeful and happy because we made it this far and we have a plan to go farther safely.”
April and Jessica stepped into her arms when Jan pulled them close and enjoyed the hug. It was the closest they were going to get to having a mom hold them. After a minute, Jan pulled back and looked them over.
“Okay, let’s go get cleaned up and see if we can lend a hand around here. We might’ve traded for passage on the train but that doesn’t mean we can’t show our gratitude.”
The girls nodded and grabbed clean clothes and toiletries before following Jan out of the room.
Chapter Eighteen
April, Liam and the other girls followed Mrs. Moore and Jan through the crowds as they walked to the camp’s marketplace. Kathleen had shooed them out of the house when they had asked for any work they could help with, telling them that she had more than enough hands around for chores. She’d suggested they go out for a walk and gave them directions to the market that had been set up.
The market was similar to a flea market with tables filled with clothes, toys and personal items. The busiest tables by far were the ones that were covered in books. With no TV or internet, reading was the main form of entertainment. They maneuvered around the lineups and came to an interesting sight.
A long table had been set up with cut-outs of every state taped in place and a clipboard and shoe box on each one. A homemade sign proclaimed it the post office. April and Liam walked up to the table to see how it worked and a young woman with tired eyes greeted them and gave them an explanation.
“If you’re from a different state then write your names on the clipboard for that state. If you’re looking for someone then check the names. If you want to write a letter then put it in the box. If you’re planning to travel out of state then let me know where and I’ll give you the letters that people want sent there. You carry them with you and hand them over to locals in that area with the hope that they will pass them on.” She had obviously said the same speech many times by her automated delivery and waited with raised eyebrows for them to tell her what they wanted.
The two teens looked at all the shoeboxes filled with letters and shook their heads in disbelief.
“Do letters ever make it here?” April asked sadly, thinking of all the people that were trapped so far from home.
The woman shrugged. “A few, but mainly just what the train brings back from up and down the route.”
Liam looked at the boxes from the western states and saw they had the least number of letters in them. He assumed that the train carried those states’ letters more often. He smiled at the woman.
“This is amazing! It’s like the olden days and the pony express. You’re doing a really great thing here!”
The woman’s eyes warmed up for the first time and a soft smile crossed her face.
“Thank you. It’s so hard sometimes to see people put their letters in the boxes for the eastern states. Hardly anyone goes that way and it just wears me down after a while. Do you guys want to put your names down anywhere?”
They shook their heads and April explained, “We’re taking the train all the way to the end and then travelling up into Canada.”
The woman’s eyes grew big and she held up a hand for them to wait before turning and rushing over to the stack of boxes set up behind the table. She hefted one up into her arms and brought it to the table. With a game show hostess smile and a wave of her hand, she proclaimed, “Canada!”
April’s mouth dropped open at the amount of letters in the box but Liam just grabbed the box and pulled it towards him.
“We’ll take it!” he said with excitement.
The woman laughed in delight and looked over Liam’s shoulder. April turned and saw that her group was all standing behind them. Mrs. Moore came up to the table and asked what was going on. After a quick explanation, she patted Liam on the shoulder.
“Of course, we’ll carry these precious letters home with us! Can you imagine the happiness and relief it’ll give people to know what happened to their loved ones? What a wonderful thing you’re doing here, miss!”
The woman’s eyes had misted over and she sniffed back her tears.
“This, this is why I do it. It makes it worth all the sadness when someone like you comes along.”
Liam pulled the box closer to his chest and met the woman's eyes.
“What you’re doing might seem hopeless but it’s not. It’s just the first step in connecting all of us again. I would be honored to help deliver these letters as best as I can. Thank you for doing this.”
The woman was beaming as she waved when they walked away with Liam carrying the box of letters. April was surprised at her friend’s reaction to the woman and asked him about it as they headed back to the house they were staying at. He tried to find the words to explain.
“You used to be able to talk to anyone anywhere in the world with a call or click of a mouse and now we’re basically all alone. Just living through another day is the main focus of every person left alive. That woman, she somehow survived but now she’s trying to put us all back in touch. It’s a small effort in a huge world but it’s the first step in getting back some of what we lost. That’s what it’s going to take, lots of small efforts that will one day join together to reclaim our world. Getting the trains working, setting up a mail service, I admire that. It gives me hope for the future and I’m proud to add my small effort to it.”
Mrs. Moore laid a hand on his shoulder.
“Well said, Liam. It’ll take all of us to move ahead. It’ll be people like you and the good people who we have met on our journey that’ll make it happen. I have no doubts at all on that score.”
When they got back to the house the girls helped Liam sort the letters by province. The largest pile by far was for the province of Ontario where Canada had the highest population. There were piles for almost all the provinces and the girls divided them up and put them in their packs so Liam wouldn’t have to carry them all. They all knew that most of the letters wouldn’t reach the people they were written to but they would pass them on once they made it home and hope for the best.
It wasn’t long after that when Len and Kathleen led the group to the main dining tent for the evening meal. It was the biggest of three dining tents set up in the huge camp and the setup was cafeteria-style. They were served a meal that consisted of vegetable soup with tiny slivers of meat in it as well as a full salad, a wedge of cheese, a dish of fruit and another dish of nuts. There was a closely guarded milk station where only children and pregnant women were given a glass. April’s entire group devoured the fresh produce and the cheese and nuts were a real treat for them.
Kathleen talked about the food as they ate. “Meat and bread are the most needed food staples here. We have plenty of produce and we get most of our protein from nuts. There was a large cheese factory not too far away so we do get some dairy but we’re very careful to ration it. Things have gotten so much better since the trains started to run again and we hope to build up our cattle stock with what we’re trading to Oregon. Potatoes from Idaho are due in when the train gets back so everyone’s
excited about that. All in all, we’re doing much better than a few months ago. We’ve been in talks with a few groups closer to the coast about trading for seafood but it’ll take a while to put in place. That area is still very dangerous with roaming bands of refugees that attack any supply convoys and right now we have the army focusing on protecting the trains.”
Jessica looked up sharply. “Army? As in the US Army?”
Len nodded grimly. “Well, what’s left of them anyway. California had eleven military bases and a huge amount of personnel but many of them were overseas or didn’t report to base when the crash happened. A large portion of personnel moved from the cities to the central valley. The higher ups knew that this would be the best place to feed their men and families. We have around three thousand soldiers spread through the valley and they were a big reason a lot of people lived through that first month. They helped secure and defend most of the major commercial farms and they hunted down a lot of gangs that were preying on refugees. Their administration helped us get organized and they had working trucks that had been safeguarded against the EMP that let us move people and supplies around easier. Each and every one of those soldiers are true America heroes.”
Kathleen smiled reassuringly at the group. “The soldiers guard the trains and the track so you’ll all be safe on it. They even have planes that fly ahead scouting for trouble!”
Liam’s mouth dropped open and he gushed in surprise, “You even have planes?”
Len laughed at his tone. “Yup, there were two military aircraft museums in the valley, and those boys got quite a few old planes working in no time.”
Liam started to laugh and looked at Mrs. Moore.
“In six months, these people have set up homes for thousands of people, got trains and airplanes working and started trading in three other states. Maybe we should just stay here!”
There was laughter around the table and the teacher gave him an indulgent smile.
“I believe your parents would object to that, Liam, and don’t forget that Canadians are also resourceful people. I’m sure there are plenty of people putting the pieces back together in our country as well.”
Liam shook his head. “Of course, Mrs. Moore, I was only joking. I’m just as anxious to get home to my family as the rest of you. I’m just so impressed by what they have accomplished here already!”
Shortly after that, the group went back to the house and settled in for the night. They’d had a long tiring day and most people retired for the night when the sun went down now that there wasn’t electric lighting or prime time TV to watch.
The next day was spent washing clothing and repacking supplies in their packs and the three bike trailers. Len had assured them that their bikes would be loaded on the train so that they would have them when they got off in Spokane. The train trip would take seven days to get to the end of the line. It had many stops to make to transfer supplies and it didn’t travel at night for safety. Before the crash, that trip would’ve taken forty hours to complete on a higher speed modern train but the steam train had to make stops to take on water and without a communication system to tell them if there was a blockage on the tracks, they had to rely on the scout planes which could only fly during the day. Even with the army guarding the train there were still attacks, so daytime travel was all it could do.
By the time the next morning dawned, the whole group was more than ready to get going. They were all excited to start the next leg of their journey especially since they would only have to ride their bikes as far as the closest station which was an hour away.
Kathleen made them a filling breakfast in the house so they wouldn’t have to go to the dining tent and then handed them all a food bag with sandwiches, fruit and vegetables in them. It was an unexpected kindness and they all hugged and thanked her as they left. She stood waving from the porch, calling out good luck and best wishes, as the group followed behind Len in an antique car.
It was an easy trip for them in the early morning sun and many people who were working in the fields would stop and wave as they rode by. The hour passed quickly and soon they could see the beginnings of another camp come into sight. The road became busier with everything from horse-drawn trailers to old rusted tractors pulling hay wagons piled with crates and boxes. They were all headed to the station and the group of Canadians stayed close together behind Len’s car until they got as close to the station as possible.
April’s eyes swiveled in every direction as they walked their bikes through the crowds and she noticed that the majority of people around them had some sort of firearm with them. She was glad that Mrs. Moore had insisted that all the trained students carry their guns on them and not packed away in their packs.
As they finally broke through the crowd, the train came into view and it was straight out of an old movie. The engine was an iron monster that had steam gently rising from its stack. The next three cars looked just as old as the engine and they were clearly passenger cars. After that came at least twenty flatbed and cargo cars that were either filled with tarped-over cargo or being filled. Len led them to an elderly man in an old-fashioned conductor’s uniform. They had a brief conversation and the conductor scanned the paperwork that Len handed him before he nodded, wrote something on the paper and handed it back. He blew a whistle that pierced the air and within minutes three men rushed over and started to stick masking tape on the bikes before writing a number on it with black markers. After all the bikes and trailers had been marked, they pushed them away from the passenger cars and handed them up to be loaded into a cargo car.
Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Hardsky, and Liam had removed the biggest backpacks from the three trailers and kept those. The conductor instructed the group on what would happen on their journey. His voice was rough with age but it was loud and firm.
“All right, listen up! My name’s Albert and I’ll be your go-to guy on this trip. Your group is cleared all the way to the end of the line so I would advise you to find a section of bench and keep it for the whole trip. There’s no food provided so I hope you’ve brought enough to see you the whole way. If not, you can send people off when we stop for the night and try to trade for some. Water we’ll provide. There are no sleeper cars on the train so most passengers who are travelling sleep on the floor. That’s why it’s a good idea to claim one area so you can all sleep together. Now, if you get off the train, be quick! It’s not going to wait for you if you don’t get back on time. Next up is weapons. The soldiers are here to protect us but in case of an attack be prepared to help them defend the train and watch your shots. We don’t want any accidents from friendly fire! Other than an attack, keep your weapons holstered or slung. Anyone waving a gun around or making trouble will be ejected from the train and it probably won’t stop while we do it! Any questions?”
Jessica raised her hand and at his nod asked, “Are there bathrooms we can use or do we hold it until we stop?”
The serious faced conductor gave a sharp nod. “Good question! There are portable bathrooms stationed at both ends of the cars. Front’s for ladies, back’s for men. They aren’t the nicest but when you gotta go, you gotta go! If that’s it, then load on up and keep your paperwork with you. You’ll need the number on it to claim your bikes when you get off at the end.”
When they all just stood staring at him, his face split in a wide grin before he bellowed, “All aboard!” then turned to Len and cackled a laugh. “I never get tired of yelling that.”
All the students gave their thanks and said goodbye to Len as he gave them a hand up onto the train. Mrs. Moore shook his hand and thanked him as well before following her students up the steps.
The interior of the car had two sections for seating. There was an area that had bus-style seating with benches that could sit two people side by side facing towards the front of the train and then a long bench on either side. Mrs. Moore had her students divide in half and they took up a section of the long bench at the very front of the train facing each other. This gave th
e group the first ten feet of the passenger car to claim as their own and they could sleep on the floor in the middle without having strangers on both sides. It was the best they could do to keep together but it also meant that any woman that needed to use the portable toilet would have to walk through their area.
The bench seat was deep and had old leather covering the hard padding. It wasn’t the most comfortable but April was glad it wasn’t a bicycle seat she’d be riding on. Liam and Jessica settled in on either side of her and they all pushed their packs under the bench between their legs. The group sat quietly as the rest of the passenger car slowly filled up with other passengers. Some of the people entering the car looked completely normal with clean clothes and bags while others clearly had a rough time with dirty ragged clothing, thin bodies and haunted eyes. Most of them carried tattered grocery bags with what little remained of their possessions.
April had to turn her head away to keep from staring at one family. The parents were gaunt - their clothing hanging off of their bodies. The father carried a small girl that looked around at the other people onboard with lifeless eyes as her head wobbled on a pencil-thin neck. The mother clutched the hand of a boy who looked around eight years old. His eyes never stopped darting around as if he was searching for a threat. Before looking away, April noticed that all they had between them was one ripped black garbage bag with a small bulge in the bottom of it. She couldn’t imagine that there was enough food in it for one meal and she hoped they didn’t have far to travel and that there was help waiting for them wherever they got off.
STRANDED: Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 74