Beyond the New Horizon (Book 4): Dark Times

by Conaway, Christine

  John gave Bear’s tummy a final rub, patted his head and stood to dust his pants off as if the dirt he wiped away would somehow make his clothing look cleaner. The contact between his palms and his jeans reminded him that he and Charlie needed to clean their hands before an infection had the chance to set in.

  “Whatever works,” John told her.

  “Is this all that was left of our things?” Mary asked. She had gone over to inspect the three barrels.

  “It’s all that’s left from our trailers, but most of the stuff in Charlie's wagon is still there. We hid most of it with the idea of returning sometime in the near future.”

  Mary exchanged looks with Evelyn. Frowning, she asked, “You hid it? Was there a reason you couldn’t have brought some of it on the other two horses?”

  John frowned and searched his mind for an answer. He looked at Charlie and Mark. They wore the same expression that he was sure was on his own face. He rubbed his whisker covered chin, “Well…I guess it never occurred to us to go back to the wagon once we’d found Mark’s trailer.”

  Mary rolled her eyes at Evelyn, “At least you can go back, right? You didn’t leave the stuff sitting there for someone else to take?”

  “I just said that we hid what we could. So yes, we can go back and get it.” Charlie felt as embarrassed as John looked. They hadn’t considered going back for some of the things they’d hidden in the bushes after loading the barrels on. He was sure they could have rigged something up on the other two horses if the thought had crossed their minds, but it hadn’t.

  *****

  The next week was a busy time for the group. After making another trip back to Charlie’s wagon and retrieving everything they could carry, John had butchered one of the barren cows and smoked what they couldn’t fit into the empty canning jars. Everyone spent every waking moment gathering anything they thought was edible. With the retrieval of the few books that Carlos and Journey had on edible plant life, they were able to widen their gathering to include weeds and plants that none of them had thought valuable to their survival.

  The daily drop in temperature foretold the arrival of winter. The leaves on the trees barely had time to process the summer sun before the first frost turned them brown and lifeless. John had the young people cutting, drying and gathering all of the taller grass and piling it against the side wall of the cave. He thought that if Mark was right and they were to face the same type of winter as Mark’s friend in Australia had told of, they would need as much animal feed as they could gather.

  They had caught his old brindle cow along with her calf and penned them close to the cave entrance on the valley side. As she was half Jersey and half Holstein she would produce enough milk for them and her calf as long as they began milking her on a regular basis. Their only problem was that her previous year's calves refused to go with the herd and spent their time bawling outside of the pen.

  John worried the bawling could be heard from outside their valley and had threatened to butcher them as well to keep the silence. Matt and Lucas herded them back to the other end of the valley and put them with the rest of the herd. Every time the two tried to go back to camp, the boys chased them back into the herd using sticks or rocks to hit them with. They finally got the hint after the second day of abuse.

  They sat side by side and watched the cattle from a small rise. As John had asked, they had tallied the cattle with a count of sixteen cows and the bull. They had scoured the valley and hadn’t found the rest of the cows and several of this year's calves had gone missing as well.

  Lucas counted them one last time, “I guess sixteen is all that’s left. Dad’s not going to be real happy.”

  “I think he should be happy that any of them are still alive. He could have lost them all.”

  “I know, but he gets mad over stupid things.”

  Matt sat staring toward the end of the valley. While gathering grass, the boys had explored the valley from rock wall to rock wall, and they had found no way for the missing cattle to have escaped. They had discovered a small opening at the southern end where the rock almost overlapped, that with some excavation could very well lead to a southern route out if they needed it, but it would require hard labor to clear the way.

  “I want you to know that come next spring, I plan on leaving here.”

  “What? Why? Where will you go?”

  “I want to see what’s out there.”

  Lucas frowned and rested his chin in his hand. His knees were pulled up close to his butt, and he noticed the pants he wore could be rolled down another turn. They were from the bag of Charlie’s old military clothes. It had only been a couple of weeks since he’d put them on and wondered if they’d shrunk in length. The sole of his boot had separated when the stitching let go, and he’d wrapped the boot in duct tape. It wasn’t a permanent fix, but it would do until he could come up with something else. His finger picked at the edge of the tape, while he thought about what Matt had just said. There was really nothing to stop him from going with Matt, and he thought about his family. He thought about Abby. They were both too young in years to consider marrying, but she had told him when they were out gathering grass that she would be with him forever. They had both laughed when Lucas had asked her how long forever was.

  Her, “Until one or both of us is dead,” had robbed the humor from their conversation. He did like Abby and felt that she was someone he would have been interested in getting to know before the apocalypse had started. Now, he didn’t see many other options, but he had seen the way that Matt looked at her and wondered if he had ideas about Abby himself.

  “Can I ask you something and will you tell me the truth?”

  “Well, this sounds serious. Go ahead and ask. Doesn’t do me any good to lie, because you’d eventually find out the truth, so ask!”

  Lucas chewed on the thick skin along the side of his thumbnail, and then spit the sliver of dead skin away. He looked to see the damage, “Do you like Abby?” he mumbled.

  “Of course I do. What would ever make you think that I didn’t?”

  Lucas began shaking his head no before Matt could finish answering. “I mean do you like her for a girlfriend?”

  Matt laughed, “Yuck no. Kissing her would be like kissing my sister. You’re safe buddy. I’m always going to be a bachelor.”

  “Lucas looked at Matt to see if he could see any deceit on his face. How could he look at Abby and see a sister? For once, Matt wasn’t laughing, and Lucas felt sure he was telling the truth. He let his breath out slowly. “What about Sherry or Maggie? They’re going to grow up someday.”

  “Sisters, both of them. Somewhere out in the great beyond is someone perfect for me…or maybe not. It doesn’t matter because I intend on exploring and seeing what’s left. There have to be other people like us. They can’t be all bad.”

  “How do you tell the difference?”

  Matt shrugged, “I honestly don’t know. Observing whoever I meet I guess. Mouth shut and eyes open.”

  “If this thing with Abby doesn’t work, maybe I’ll go with you.”

  “Are you kidding me? Abby already asked if she could go with me whether you go or not. That girl doesn’t want to be tied down. I’d say she has a little of the explorer in her too. She actually wanted me to feel you out about going, but I just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.”

  Lucas jumped up, “Why didn’t you tell me? Jeez, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do. If she had said anything…dang! I can’t believe you guys would talk about leaving and not include me.” He paced in front of Matt waving his arms around as he spoke.

  Matt held a hand up and pointed at Lucas, “Stop! We only talked this morning. I hadn’t thought about it again until you brought it up.”

  Lucas let his hands drop to his sides, “Oh…I thought. Never mind. Sorry, guess I sort of over-reacted. I’ve been trying to figure out how to approach her, but whenever I get close, I get a brain fart and can’t think straight.”

  “Man, you’v
e got it bad. We’ve got to get through winter and Charlie thinks it’s going to be a long one, so you have plenty of time to figure it out. Now we better get back to camp before the girls come looking for us.”

  Lucas shrugged and turned to walk away. He was trying to process that Abby might want to include him in their travel plans. It hurt his feelings that she would talk to Matt about going and not him, but maybe she didn’t know what to say either. He had caught her looking at him once or twice and had looked away when caught.

  “Hey, hold up a minute.”

  Lucas stopped and turned to Matt and was surprised when Matt’s hand was reaching toward his face. He ducked unsure of what he was seeing.

  “Hold on a minute. You’ve got something on your face.”

  Lucas immediately put his hands up and began brushing at his cheeks, “Where? Is it something alive?”

  “Hold on a minute, and I’ll get it off.” Matt reached for Lucas’s face.

  As soon as Lucas realized what Matt was referring to he jerked his head away and slapped his hand over his chin. “Leave it alone. That’s my new beard.”

  Matt pulled his hand away when Lucas slapped at it, “That’s one hair! Are you kidding me?” He laughed, and Lucas finally saw the humor in it and joined in. Matt threw his arm around Lucas’s neck and pulled him to his side and rubbed the knuckles of one hand across his head. “You are so juvenile…grow some cajones and tell her how you feel.’

  “Ow! Stop that.” Lucas wiggled away from Matts grip and fell onto his butt. He lay laughing until the sound of a whistle pierced the air.

  Matt took off at a limping run back to camp with Lucas running hard behind him. They arrived back at the head of the valley to find everyone sitting but John and Abby. He was waiting for them and waved them to the ground with the rest of the family.

  Lucas looked up, trying to see Abby high in their lookout. It had been Charlie’s idea to carve steps to the top of the rock wall, and taken the better part of a week to get the job done. Where the rock was impervious to the blows from the sledgehammer, dealt by John and Charlie, they’d hung a rope and wood ladder.

  For safety, whoever climbed it, had to shackle at every rung. It was a pain getting up there, but the view allowed them to keep track of the comings and goings of the groups of men who used the pathway to move east and west. Some of the people passed by so frequently they had become recognizable to them. John thought he knew who the head man was or at least the second in command. He was tall, well fed and the only one who appeared cleanly shaven more times than not. His clothing was less tattered than the rest of the group but never appeared any cleaner than the rest. He was usually accompanied by a dozen or so men who changed with each trip. Seldom did they see the same men twice, and the ‘big guy’ as they dubbed him, always kept his army surrounding him as if he expected one of them to take a bullet to protect him.

  Once they had charted their schedule, they really didn’t have to stand watch at all because they always heard them long before the men showed up. They were never quiet, always announcing their passing with hoots, hollers and usually drunken antics. Sometimes they were transporting prisoners to the east and John had made the decision not to interfere. Their primary objective was to survive the first winter, and as low as their supplies were, they had nothing to share.

  The girls spent their days gathering and had covered the whole valley once and started on a second pass. The edible weeds seemed to grow slower and were less numerous than the first pass, but before the first frost, they would dig the last of the tubers. They had agreed it would be wise to leave the new shoots of the cattails for the next year, just in case they couldn’t plant.

  John pointed at Matt and Lucas as they sat puffing on the ground. “You two are going with me to bring the rest of the stuff down from Charlie’s wagon. Mark says there’s a roll of poly-stealth wire somewhere in the stuff we hid away, and we need it. Without it, he’s reduced to building an antenna from Mary’s extension cord.”

  Frowning Lucas asked, “Why do we even have an extension cord with us? Isn’t that like one of the least useful things without the power?” He shoved Matt with his elbow when Matt laughed.

  John glared at Lucas and Matt. “You guys find this funny? Sit there and be quiet unless you have something useful to add to the conversation. The point is, there’s wire we can use for an antenna up there, and we intend to bring it home.”

  “Do you want me to catch the horses?” Lucas asked. He’d seen them down at the end of the valley grazing with the cows but knew Jinx would come if he whistled, which would bring all of the horses if he was lucky.

  “Nope! We’re going on foot. It’d be quieter and quicker. Your mother has a couple of duffel bags and a backpack we’re going to use.”

  “Yes sir,” Lucas acknowledged. He didn’t have a problem going on foot, but he wondered about carrying a duffel on his back. He looked at Matt for his reaction and saw he wasn’t happy because, like Lucas, Matt was sure they would be carrying the duffels.

  “Okay then, let’s move it,” he looked at Mary, “you have a bag of food for us? I figure we could be gone a couple of days at the most.”

  Mary nodded, and she and Evelyn went to put together a bag of food. Before Lucas could get up off the ground, Abby touched him on his shoulder and jerked her head to indicate she wanted him to come with her.

  He followed her into the cave. And was surprised when she went to her pile of belongings and began opening her backpack. With the buckles and zippers undone, she began pulling the contents out. She was mumbling something, but Lucas couldn’t understand her.

  As soon as she was confident it was empty, she turned it upside down and shook it. When nothing fell out, she turned and held it out toward Lucas.

  “You can use this. It’ll be easier and hold more than one of those duffels that Mary has.” She looked at the ground as she spoke, not meeting Lucas’s eyes. Her hair fell across her face, and Lucas had to resist tucking the long strands away from her face. When he didn’t take it right away, Abby looked up at him, “Well, do you want to use it or not? If not, I’m sure that Matt would prefer it over carrying a duffel on his back.”

  Lucas took it from her and remembered how easy it had been to carry even loaded down. “No. I do want to use it. Thank you.”

  She nodded and turned to walk away, “Abby?”

  Abby tucked a hank of loose hair behind her ear like Lucas had wanted to do, “Huh?”

  Lucas walked to stand in front of her and set the pack beside him. He awkwardly reached out and hugged her, “Thanks,” he said. At first, Lucas thought she was just going to stand there unresponsive and he thought he had misread her signals. Then he felt her arms slip around his waist and she hugged him back.

  “Please be careful,” she said, her voice muffled from being pressed against his shirt.

  Reluctantly, Lucas let her go and picked up the pack. “You too and don’t try to be a hero while I’m gone.”

  “Pffft…Someone has to,” she laughed.

  Lucas shook his head and waved backward with one hand. It was the only gesture he could do. He was walking on air, buoyed up from their first show of affection.

  As he walked, Lucas strapped on Abby’s pack and found his Dad watching him as he left the shadows of the cave. He nodded at Lucas approvingly. Had he known that Abby was offering the use of her bag? Feeling his face grow warm, Lucas busied himself doing up the straps, unable to hold his fathers gaze.

  To his surprise, his Dad was carrying the duffel slung over one shoulder and his 308 over the other. Matt wore the cheap backpack of Charlies on his back and Sherry’s school pack on his chest, leaving both hands free to manage Mary’s shotgun that he must have borrowed. Matt pulled his 45 from the small pocket designed for pencils on Sherry’s pack to show Lucas he had it and slipped it back inside.

  Right then Abby ran up with her Keltec and forced it into his hands, “Take this, it’s better and fits in the pack.” She pressed the key
into his hand and stuffed the folded rifle into the pack. “You better bring it back just the way you got it too,” she said and left him standing when Mary came over to him. She handed him a smaller Sponge Bob pack that was full of something.

  “There are a couple MRE’s and some jerky, a couple bottles of water. You’re going to have to share the forks; we only have a couple,” she said and hugged him. “Please stay safe and keep an eye on your father.”

  “Um…sure. Thanks Mom,” he said, unsure why he was asked to keep an eye on his father. He looked up and saw Abby scurrying up the rock wall to their observation post and followed Matt into the cave. His Dad stood motionless, illuminated in the entrance. He had his hand up as if he wanted them to either stop walking or talking. Matt had turned and speaking loudly to Sherry and Lucas grabbed his arm to quieten him. He saw his father drop to his knees and then his stomach.

  “Matt, shut up for a minute. I think something is up.” He pointed to his Dad who was laying on his belly peering out under the bushes with the scope of his 308 up to his eye. He was panning the area, apparently trying to see something.

  Lucas unlatched his backpack, shrugged his shoulders out of the straps, let it fall where he stood and pulled the Keltec from inside it. Locking it open, Lucas dropped and crawled to his father.

  Once he had settled on his stomach, Matt stretched out beside him.

  “What is it?”

  “Shhh! Just listen.”

  Lucas closed his eyes and listened.He didn’t hear the now familiar sound of motors they had grown used to hearing when the men came through, but he did hear the sounds of whispering voices, branches being moved aside and twigs being stepped on. Whoever it was, didn’t seem concerned by the amount of noise they were making and as they came closer, their conversation could be heard by John and Lucas.

  “I know someone else is out here and I’ll be damned if we’re going back empty-handed. We either find those cows or the people who made the tracks. I don’t care which, but we’re going back with something.”