Make that three surprises, Mike thought to himself.
“I want to go,” Tom said. “I… I want to go.”
Mike nodded.
“I want to go,” Lilly said.
Mike had been sure that if Tom had said he wanted to stay, Lilly would have wanted to stay too. Now he wasn’t sure. It seemed now it might be the other way around.
Annie was looking from face to face.
“I don’t want to stay here,” she said at last.
“You could come with us,” Tim said. He smiled. “You want to, right?” he asked. His smile faltered a little.
She answered him with her own smile. “I want to.”
“Good,” Tim said.
Mike looked around. Amazing, he thought. “I’m amazed,” he said. Echoing his own thoughts.
“When?” Bob asked.
“Today changes it. Doesn’t it?” Patty asked.
“Does it?” Mike asked.
“I think so,” Ronnie said.
“I do too,” Tom agreed.
“Yeah, it has to,” Sandy agreed.
“Well, then it does,” Mike said. “What do we… what do you want to do? Leave sooner?”
Yes, they all answered in unison. He blinked, surprised again. “My concern is winter,” he told them. “I don’t like this situation either. We could have two people out there with weapons waiting to come after us… Coming around, maybe taking shots at us,” He shrugged. “Or maybe they’re as scared as we are. Just as scared. And maybe we shouldn’t over react because of that fear. In any case, the days are colder. It’s still winter. It could snow at any time. We have shelter here. Yes, it’s a cave, but we’re not cave men because we’re living in a cave. It’s shelter. We know the area. We know where to get gas for the trucks, food, supplies.”
“It’s close to April,” Patty said. “Just a few days really.”
“So we could shoot for getting ourselves ready to go by April first,” Mike said. “Supplies.” He looked around at all of the supplies in the vast cave. “April first. If the weather’s good, we go,” He paused. “Everyone agreed?”
Another chorus of Yes answered him. Even the dog barked and wagged his tail. The looks on nearly everyone’s face showed relief. The dog’s enthusiastic and well timed bark caused most of them to break into laughter. Relief, Mike thought.
“Until we go,” Mike waited for the talking and the laughter to die down “We only go somewhere together, and we take one of these carbines when we do. “He held up one of the rifles they had taken away from the two young men just hours before. “The other stays here to protect the cave. Double the guards at night, starting tonight.” He paused again, but no one spoke out. “Guess that’s it,” he said quietly. “We’ve decided.”
Janet ~ March 19th
We are going. We have all decided to go. Bob announced our plans for a new Nation of people. They are not all for that… yet. But I know some will be.
We all agreed on April first. Thirteen days. I hope that is not unlucky.
We have three more with us from a horrible incident that happened today out at the mall on Arsenal Street. A woman was killed and Bob had to kill someone. That is the main reason we are going.
Tom even changed his mind about going. He has changed a lot in the last few days. He’s very different than he was when we first met him. We will leave these journals behind us for others to find, I guess. We didn’t really discuss that part of things. I'm not sure I want to.
We are all nervous about today. There are two more people out there still on the loose that may want to hurt us and they may know where we’re at. Tom and Mike have posted a double guard until we leave… APRIL FIRST!
Kate ~ March 19th
If there was any doubt in anyone’s mind who is leading us, there isn’t now. Mike does it so easily. I sometimes think he doesn't realize how much faith people put in him.
Tom surprised everyone tonight; he’s with us now. Bob, Janet and Sandy are not. They have an idea of reestablishing the Native Nation, going back to the land. It has its appeal. And, it’s clear to see they are not just talking about it. They, Bob and Janet at least, have thought it out. Janet told me later on that Bob has a place in mind. He has had that place in mind for years. Years… That is how well planned it is in his mind, how serious he is about it. Never say never, but I can’t see myself there.
Mike said he doesn’t want his T.V. back, me either, maybe, but was it all bad? No. When he said that I thought of an old song, Dire Straits, with a line “I want my M.T.V.” Don’t ask me why that popped into my head, but it did. Must be the musician in me. My point is, it wasn’t all bad. It wasn’t. Why throw it all away? Why not get rid of the bad shit and save the rest?
Mike said to me later, when we were alone, that he thinks that’s what Bob really wants to do, get rid of the bad shit and keep the good shit, and if he does really want to do that, then Mike is for it. And, really, so would I be.
So, we will leave April first, Bob with us, and we may split or stay together at some point after that.
Ronnie made a point which I thought was a good one: It could be a draw on us as a people as Bob takes some away from us. I mean, they make it sound so good, who wouldn’t want to go? Ronnie made that point later when it was just he and Patty and Mike and me. During the conversation we all had, he skated up to the same statement, but Bob didn’t like it right out there bald like it was.
Paradise? Living off the land? Living as one with Nature? Mother Nature? Doesn’t it sound good? Living in harmony with God. Almost as if it will not be work at all. No one shouting at you… Anyway, Mike made a good point too: If we go towards a way of life more like the old world, technology, we would not be attracting the same people anyway. So, what will we have lost traveling together? Maybe people we would eventually have lost anyway, and it will definitely be safer to travel together. When and if the split happens, we can worry about or deal with it then.
April first… If there is no snow… If it’s safe. We still have to decide where we are going, but there is time.
Tom ~ March 19th
I changed my mind today. It was a bad day for me today, but
a worse day for the man Bob had to kill. It’s all we do anymore, kill. That’s not completely true, but it’s close. It’s a harder world.
I’m going. Lilly is going with me. We’re going together, maybe that’s the best way to put it. We have fourteen of us now to be worried about. Mike is younger than I am, but more solid. I think I didn’t like him for that at first, but it is what it is. I work better... I mean, in my head it’s easier, the way things have been lately with him in charge.
We decided on April First to leave Watertown.
~In the Moonlight~
They came from the shadows, the smell of blood pulling them. The young man in the lead approached the body where it lay on the pavement. They had watched it far into the darkness, but unlike some, it did not come back. He walked up to the corpse and toed it with one heavy work boot.
“Done for,” he croaked. Two in the small crowd behind him whined. He stepped back from the body. “Go ahead,” he said in a rasping whisper, “Go ahead.”
The small crowd of seven fell on the body and began to feed.
CHAPTER SIX
Best Laid Plans
~ March 20th ~
“…it’s not the same every day,” Tom was saying as Kate came out of the cave entrance. She looked a question at Mike and Ronnie where they sat listening.
“Length of the day,” Mike explained.
“Yeah,” Tom agreed. He nodded at Kate. “Yesterday, twenty six hours and a couple of minutes. Day before, twenty five and forty two.”
“Pretty close though,” Ronnie said. “Starting to become uniform. Beats the days when it was closer to forty hours or more.”
Tom nodded.
“We don’t know what it means anyway,” Kate said. “Even a scientist would probably give us about ten hours of song and dance and then
hand us the same old bullshit theory based on some other theory, based on, well, you know.”
“It’s colder again,” Mike said. “But it doesn’t feel cold enough to snow.” He looked up to see if anyone held a different view.
Janet Dove and Sandy walked out of the cave with the young girl, Annie, and the two little ones trailing her. A few seconds later Tim came out of the cave too, looking around until his eyes fell on Annie. Kate smiled and glanced over at Janet Dove who was also smiling. “Good morning, Janet,” Kate said. “I see you’ve got lots of help this morning.” Everyone
carried boxes filled with odds and ends. They set them down, and Annie and Tim began going through them.
“I do at that, Katie,” Janet said. “We’re sorting through the stuff we brought back, to see what we’ll take with us, what else we need.” Kate smiled and nodded back.
“Katie?” Mike mouthed when she looked his way. She rolled her eyes.
Bob walked over. “I thought we should make specific lists. Janet’s going to make lists of what we’ll really need and what we have, so when we go out, that way we’re not out a long time. We’re going for exactly what we need,” Bob said.
Everyone nodded agreement. “I guess we should all be thinking like that,” Mike said.
”Yeah,” Ronnie agreed. “What we take, or have to have, we may end up carrying. There’s no guarantee that there will be roads in good shape, or roads at all.”
The conversation bounced back and forth for nearly an hour, everyone contributing ideas that they thought should be on the lists: food stuffs that were high in protein, clean, bottled water, back packs, the big ones hikers use, tents. Kate produced a pen and Patty, who had joined them, wrote it all down. “That way we’re all on the same page,” Kate said.
“I think we should dig in with Janet,” Mike said. “See what we need, what we got, what we need to get.”
Mike ~ March 20th
We spent the day getting organized, everything we have, everything we need, what we need to get. Janet got us moving, and it turns out we’ve been bringing back a lot of the wrong stuff. Candy bars, canned stuff, things that would be great if we were going to stay here - well, maybe not the candy bars, but they have their attraction - sneakers instead of boots, that sort of thing.
But we have a list of what we need now, stuff we can carry on our backs if we have to. If there are no roads, we can’t drive. If we can’t find gas, we can’t drive either.
We discussed whether we should even bring the trucks at all. It’s a temptation, but only so we can bring more stuff with us. And we might make a few more miles a day, but does that matter? Do we need to get anywhere in a hurry? So we’ve left that as it is for now. We’ll take them. We’ll pack them full of all that extra stuff we would like to have, but I suspect the first time we get stuck or the roads disappear, or after the seven hundredth flat tire, dead battery, hole that gets in our way or punches a hole in the oil pan, we’ll probably leave them. We may even decide, before we go, to go without them.
Twelve days to go. We’re only going out in heavily armed teams to get what we need. We also set up double watches through the night. Switch off every four hours. I was with Ronnie for my four and got to know him a little better. He’s pretty solid. Our four hours went by fast. We saw nothing at all, heard nothing at all. The dog came out and hung out with us. Lifted his head a few times and looked off into the night, but whatever he heard wasn’t enough to make him growl.
Everyone just calls him The Dog. No one seems to want to name The Dog. Maybe the dog doesn’t need a name after all. Maybe The Dog is name enough.
We also decided to take these with us; The journals and diaries I mean. I know Kate, Tom, Janet, and myself write almost everyday, but a few others want to write too, or already have. Kate felt it could be something for the future, for our children. That’s a sobering thought. Keep them for the children so they know what happened. That actually makes sense.
That made me think of kids. Children. I don’t know about that. I don’t know what to feel about that. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. But it keeps my head straight to write this out…
Lilly ~ March 20th
I decided to write this for the baby. Tom knows, and he’s okay with it. It must have happened with David just before all of this happened. I don’t even know how I feel about it completely yet, but it’s a baby. A baby needs a home, security. I talked to Tom about that. My baby will have a safe home, Tom said so.
I guess Tom was with Lydia before. I hear others make comments, mention her name. She looked like me. Tom says only a little. I say it doesn’t matter, not really. He’s with me now. He says he loves me. I believe that. He knows about the baby. He says he won’t leave me; what more is there to need, or ask for? I just don’t want my baby to be unneeded or unloved, abandoned like I was. I know how that feels.
I don’t know about Lydia. I’m sorry she was killed. So much has happened. I’ve seen people killed right in front of me. I guess I need therapy… That’s supposed to be a joke… Not a good joke, I guess. We’ve all seen a lot, but there are no shrinks left to talk to. Another poor joke, I have a million of them, all stupid. I guess the real stuff is Christ. Christ is what gets me by. Christ is what I believe in. Christ is who will help me to take care of my baby. I mean, if there ever was a time to lean on Christ wouldn't it be now?
I was not religious before this happened. I didn't go to church. And I'm not religious now, not really. I simply believe in Christ. That's a belief, not a religion. A belief can last, religion fails sometimes, and I can't afford to be part of a failure. I need absolute. I need something sure. I need belief, and that's what I have.
Don't get the idea that I'm fanatical, I'm not. I guess if we're keeping this for the children then this will be for you, my baby, my girl, my boy, someone who I have not yet met. That gets so deep. I don't want you to misunderstand who I am or what I believe in. Eventually there will be all this space between us and this night when I sat down, thought about you, how much I love you before I have even met you, and how I want things to be for you. I know things will not be as I see them. I know that time changes everything so easily. I just want you to see who I am right now. Not a crazy; not a fanatic. I am just a young woman who believes that all that is left is Christ to see us through.
I’m going to tell Sandy about the baby. Tom agreed. She’s a nurse. She knows things, and I’m a little afraid of how it will be.
We are going to leave April 1st. That’s not long. I can’t wait, really. Nothing, almost, nothing good has happened here except the baby and Tom. I don’t mind going…
Patty ~ March 20th
I’m not good at this sort of thing at all, but Ronnie and I thought it would be good for our children, you, who are reading this. I’ll have faith for that. I’m not pregnant; auntie came to call. And besides, we got some of those pregnancy tests the other day, just in case. But, we’re trying. We thought this winter, where ever we are, would be a good time to have a baby. I guess it would be the end of winter. At least not in the spring or summer when we’re traveling.
Who is your father? Who am I? Ronnie’s people came from down south, Alabama. A little town called Pritchard, outside of Mobile. That’s on the Gulf coast. I’ve never been there, but Ronnie says it’s nice. And who knows, we may end up back there before we are settled down for good.
Ronnie came up here a few years ago with a construction crew to build housing for Fort Drum which is an Army base just outside of Watertown, Black River really, and he stayed. So that’s how he happened to be here when all of this happened.
I’ve lived here all of my life. Married young. Divorced young. Married again, and still was when this happened. I haven’t seen Randy since two weeks before this happened. It was about to end though. I guess I didn’t have good luck like that.
I knew Ronnie. We lived in the same building. We got together after this happened. Nearly everyone here is like that except Janet and Bob
Dove. What I mean is relationships that
didn't exist a few weeks ago.
We’re going to leave here on the first of April, as long as there is no snow. Some - Bob, Janet, Sandy and I don’t know who else, maybe Lilly? Tom? - But some are pushing to leave vehicles behind. The rest of us aren’t sure. Ronnie says Mike and Kate are right, vehicles could be a big asset to us. But they also believe they could become more time consuming than they are worth. If so, we should leave them behind. I guess we will have to see how that turns out.
It has been tough here. There are people running around with guns shooting at anyone. We know. There was a young girl with Mike and Kate who was killed just before we came to be here ourselves, and two killed just the other day. It’s a different world.
I have Ronnie. I have Kate, she’s, like, my best friend. Even more than that. Like a girlfriend that I never had. She’s so smart… beautiful. I mean really beautiful. She makes me feel like I belong though, doesn’t make me feel stupid. I have a great deal.
Married twice, I’ve never caught pregnant. I wonder what you will be like?
~ March 21st ~
The morning had dawned gray and overcast. By the time breakfast was finished, fat flakes of snow were falling to the ground outside the cave. Within an hour the snow was nearly horizontal and starting to stick to the ground. Everyone had taken some time off from sifting through the pallets to inventory what they held to check the outside conditions. By the time the faint glow began to fade from the gray, announcing nightfall, they had been through everything in the cave and had new lists of what they needed. Even those lists changed several times through out the evening as they checked with one another and crossed off or added to the things they needed. They ended up with lists that concentrated on warm clothing, coats, gloves, boots and concentrated foods items, if they could find them.
The Rising of the Dead Page 15