The Event Series (Book 2): The Gospel According to Matthew, Margo & Lance

by Thomas Larson

  The rest of the day was quiet for me, Del and I got the Coyote ready for the trip. We loaded a couple of 55 gallon drums on the back in case we saw a place to pick up some diesel fuel.

  (Matt) Chris was gone. He must have left early, before we woke up. It was weird, but he said he would only walk with us for a couple of days.

  I think that Tanya and I were both looking forward to giving our answers on the question he posed to us. I guess we were meant to share them with each other.

  In the area by the stove he had left us a couple cans of brown bread with a note, “Remember me”. We will, we very much will.

  The day was sunny and looked like it would be kind of nice. We had some cold cereal rather than the gift left us. Those cans were something special, the little voice in my head said they should be saved and shared with the whole group when we got back, if we could manage it.

  “Should we check the cars and trucks and see if any of them will start?” said Tanya looking at me hopefully.

  “May as well, I have had enough walking, if I can avoid it, that would be a good thing.”

  We found a little Nissan pick-up truck that actually started. It was not pretty, but it had a full tank, and the tires were not flat.

  As we drove along on Route 29, we made our way into Johnstown. The town had been burned pretty badly; it seemed common in a number of the bigger small cities that we passed through. We never were able to figure out if the burn was from a natural disaster or if it was intentional, to end the plague.

  “So what is your answer?” I asked as we drove along.

  “You first,” She said.

  “Okay, I think that there is a God, I believe that He does have a level of control on our lives and what happens to us, and that he has a set of rules that if we follow them, our life can be meaningful and worth living.”

  “But…..” She said, “I sense a ‘but’ here.”

  “Oh really, well, yeah, I think that the God is actually more a thought, an inner harmony than it is a being. The idea of the God Being is important to keeping the thread going, but I am not certain that he actually is a living, breathing one.”

  It was silent for a couple of minutes as this all sank in. Then Tanya said, “Okay, I can sort of buy that line of thought, but I have some questions. The biggie for me is who was Chris? He just didn’t fit. Here is this guy, shows up on Easter morning, hangs out with us for a couple of days, feeds us loaves of brown bread and fishes, talks to us about good and evil, then two days later is just gone. Hello, does something ring a bell here?”

  “Yeah, that is a tough one, I, ah, don’t know. It was strange that he seemed to be waiting for us, like he knew we were coming. And when you think about it, I wonder if he might not have been more than just a guy on the road. Maybe, there are a lot of coincidences.” I said thoughtfully.

  “Seriously?”

  “So you think we just had a manifestation for God?” I asked.

  “Or Christ, or Buddha, or Allah or one of the faces of the Divine.” She picked up my sentence than added, “You said he looked like what you believed Jesus would look like. It is funny, I thought of the Buddha when I looked at him.”

  A few moments of silence, “Really?”

  “Yep” She said, “We saw the same person, being, in different ways, is that weird?”

  More silence, then I shifted thoughts, “I, I, don’t know, I mean, why us, why now, that makes no sense.” I was struggling here, this was almost too much to fathom.

  “Why not? Why aren’t we worthy? And let me put this very simply to you, before we left on this pilgrimage we both felt, believed that He had chosen us for this task and that there would be a great learning in it. Right?”

  “Yes, well yes.” I answered.

  “Then what do you believe, in your heart now?”

  Silence, utter silence as my head spun, could it be, I just wandered around for a couple of days with God, eating sardines, and brown bread with God, talking to Him, just hanging out with Him. And the more I listened to the inner me, the more I knew. He had been there; he had led us to this point. We each saw He a little differently in form, but not essence.

  The answer, it is not about religion, it is not about the tapestries or images, it is about goodness and a thread of survival and yes, there was a manifestation of that goodness, and thread, but he is not the same as the one that has been shown us in the creations of man, the religions. He is just a guy, one of us. I thought back to that Joan Osborne song from years ago and the quote, “what if God was one of us.”

  I started humming the song.

  Tanya smiled and said, “You got it.”

  (Lance) “Major, you have a couple of minutes?” I asked as we were walking back from lunch.

  “Sure, what is up?” he said

  “Well, I wonder how much you know about the effects of radiation on the body.”

  “Not that much, other than too much is not good, why do you ask?”

  “Well, you know I have been tracking the radiation, and have been giving you reports. And I know that the levels have been a little higher over the last little bit, but we don’t really know what impact that can have on us.”

  He stopped and looked at me, “True, but what can we do? Lead lined long underwear is not an option.”

  I laughed, “No, but we have an idea of the origin of the radiation, what we don’t know is how bad it is for us at the levels we’re absorbing. I have tried to make contact with the Pittsburgh, to see what they can tell me, but no luck.”

  “And?”

  “Well, I am thinking that if we are in a hot zone, or potential hot zone, we may have to think about moving. But before we do that we need to know the real risks. It is coming up on the planting season and if we are going to move we should do so soon to give us the chance to plant at the new location.” I told him.

  “So what are you thinking here?”

  “I need permission to take a trip into Pittsfield to get some research materials, there is a community college on the far side of town and I want to take Code and the Huntresses to scope it out and collect materials.”

  “And you need me to sell it to The Three.”

  “Yup”, I answered.

  “Okay, but one condition.” He said.

  “What?”

  “Two vehicles, and Charlene and I go also; we could use the chance to collect some medical and holistic herbal type books at the same time.”

  “Works for me. If they will let us go.”

  The plan was approved, but it did take a little salesmanship on the part of Major Barkley.

  April 24th

  (Margo) We were on the road early enough and as I drove I thought to myself how the roads had changed, there were many potholes, and places were the grass or weeds have pushed their way through the pavement. In some cases, trees had fallen into the roadway and it was a challenge to get around them.

  We made the College by about 9:30. It’s funny, time is, well basically divided differently. I mean some of us still have watches, and we can tell what time it is, although each of us has a little different time on their watch. But we are all sort of within a half hour of each other. We also tend to be very flexible about that. If I tell Del I will see her for the run at 10 in the morning, it may be 9:45, or 10:10, I mean it is not like we are on a tight schedule.

  But beyond that there are a few big divisions of time. It is broken down into getting light, sunrise, morning, mid-day, afternoon, getting dark, and night. All of those periods are subjective, and we might use like early or late tagged on to them So right now, as we sat in the campus, it is morning, more mid-morning if you want to get technical.

  Lance and Del headed to the library with Dr. Barkley and Charlene. Code and I just stayed with the trucks, watching, guarding. Lucy was with us and she was on alert also. There was not much going on, we saw no-one moving around, no Zoms. Only a couple of squirrels chasing each other round, a group of birds digging worms. It was a nice warm, quiet day.
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  About an hour went by and we heard them coming back from the library. They had a couple of cloth bags of books, and some odds and ends.

  “I think we have what we came for”, said Barkley as he tossed his bag into the back of the Humvee. Lance was smiling and also looked pleased with his bag.

  “Okay, let’s head back, but we need to look for some semi-trucks along the way to try to drain some diesel fuel.” Code relied.

  We were able to find a couple and filled the drums. But on the second truck we had a scare. As we were working on the passenger side tank, Lucy started barking, or yipping, or whatever it is coyotes do. She was barking at the truck.

  Somehow the Zom who had been inside managed to hit the door handle just right and splat, he landed right next to me. I jumped. Code mashed its head, but wow, scared me, and did he, I think it was he, stink.

  We got back to camp just after noontime. The smell from the Zom killed my appetite, so I skipped lunch.

  (Lance) I was not stupid today, I did not put anyone at risk, we didn’t overstay our welcome and I got some books that I think will help me figure out how bad this radiation thing might be. Our best case is to be able to stay where we are, but that, well we will see.

  While we were at the college I talked to the Major, he told me that although we had asked permission from The Three it was not so much that we needed it; it was more a safety issue. It let them know where to start looking if we didn’t come back, or if we radioed in we were in trouble.

  I have some reading to do. But before that I visited Nick, that sword thing piqued my curiosity. I talked with him a little bit and discovered that like many of us he had some things that they had done before the meteor that had proven to be very helpful in dealing with the new world. One of those things was his ‘ninja’ training. It was kind of informal; I mean he was never really a “ninja”, but he did the sword arts and some of the training. I asked if he would be my master, to teach me some of it. All I got for an answer was “We shall see”.

  (Matt) We will spend the night at Fulton Montgomery Community College. We found that it, like so many other places, had been abandoned. I thought it kind of odd at first.

  Then Tanya say, “Think about it. It was not like this was a sudden surprise; the kids would have headed for home when the news of what was going on got out.”

  “Good point, be with their families. I wonder how many of them are still alive.” But I really didn’t want to think about that.

  “Hey, let’s check the dining hall, maybe there is something good”, Suggested Tanya.

  As we walked in, there was a little old woman with glasses and a bowl of hot spaghetti in front of her. She seemed shocked to see us, and as she jumped up she shouted, “Say something!”

  “Ah Hello?” I responded.

  “You too honey, say something.” The woman said looking at Tanya.

  “That smells good?”

  “Oh thank God, you are alive, human, it has been so long, ah, let me see, how long…..ah…what month is it? March, that would be 9, is it March still?”

  ”No, it is April, the 24th I believe.” I said.

  “Oh, oh my, it has been, well then, it has been 10 months, 10 months of just me, Sylvester, and my books. I am really lucky, I have been able to read, and read, it has been my passion since I was a kid.”

  The woman was a little messy, but then who wasn’t. She was short, maybe 5’2” and thin, very thin. She had thick glasses, and a tattered white sweater, a grandma sweater which fit her 60 or so years.

  “We’re sorry to barge in on you like this, we are, were, travelling and needed a place to stay for the night, and we didn’t think we would find anyone at home.” I told her.

  “No, no, not a problem, you’re welcome to stay the night, a few days if you like, it might be nice to have guests. SYLVESTER! We have guests, come meet them!”

  “Are you sure ma’am, we don’t want to cause any inconvenience” Tanya told the lady.

  “Ma’am, Ma’am…that is so formal, call me Helen, I was, am the librarian here at college. When the dying started, pretty much everyone had left, the place was mostly empty. I stayed because, I had nowhere to go, or no one I needed to be with, so I stayed, with my books, and Sylvester. SYLVESTER get your mangy backside out here this moment. We have guests!”

  “Helen, thank you, we would love to stay”, Smiled Tanya.

  “Oh good, young man, you are very lucky, you have a pretty wife.”

  “SYLVESTER, I am going to tell you one more time, get out here or no kipper snacks for you tonight!”

  Tanya and I looked at each other, then back at Helen. As we did, a mangy old black and white tomcat walked out of the doorway behind her.

  “Ah there you are you rascal, say hello to our guests.”

  Cats are strange creatures; they are truly in the present, and on their own schedule. They come when they want; leave when they want and have no fear of licking parts of their body at the most inconvenient time, which often causes their owners embarrassment. In this case, however, he merely walked over to us and brushed against us.

  “Okay Sylvester, that is better, now let me get you a kipper snack. Oh, OH, are you hungry? I just made some spaghetti for myself, and I have some left over, I was going to keep it for tomorrow, would you like some while it is still warm?”

  We followed her into the kitchen where we found a pot of spaghetti and some sauce, even some grated cheese. We put together a couple of plates and then we all sat out in the dining hall.

  Over the meal we told her of how we had started out from the camp, and our travels, some of those we met, and some of what we learned. She listened and seemed to appreciate our company.

  “Religious pilgrims you say, that is interesting. We have a good selection of religious doctrines and writing up on the third level, are you looking at Christian, Eastern, Aboriginal or pagan kind of stuff.”

  “Well, we are not sure, we have some ideas, and have recently been blessed with a visit by a fellow traveler named Chris. He has opened our eyes to a lot of questions.”

  “So it sounds like an all of the above. Hmmm, well, I can show you the stack in the morning, it is too dark now, and perhaps you can find something to help your studies.”

  We helped Helen clean up and then she showed us to a little office area with a sofa. We slept soundly.

  April 25th

  (Lance) I spent a lot of time yesterday reading about radiation, the effects, and what we had to fear. I found, for example, that we mostly suffered the most serious dose of gamma rays back on the day that the government bombed the cities. Everything else has been of a low enough dose that it was really pretty much what we were getting before the world fell to shit. So although we were reading numbers that were scary, or seemed to be, there was not the danger that we figured. I was reading about varying numbers between 2.5 and 5.0 mrems (Millirem) we could safely take a daily hit of 6.5 mrems over the long term with no major issues. Another book set a 5000 millirem per year guideline. And although we all probably took over that 5000 when the bombs went off we probably all have been under that yearly number ever since. (5.0 millirems x 365) so we should be okay.

  We actually are getting less radiation today with the disappearance of cell phones and microwave devices. So what we are mostly seeing is normal earthly radon and some residue from the power plants and medical machines when we are close enough to them. This is good news, and I shared it with Major Barkley this morning.

  I did the run this morning with the gang. I am getting better at keeping up. Del and I did a little sword work. She is getting harder and harder on me. Her attacks are getting more intense but I am getting better at fending them off.

  I quietly visited with Nick, sorry, Master Nick in the afternoon. I begin training tomorrow.

  It looks like we can stay in camp, no move north or west.

  (Matt) Helen showed us where the third stack was and we dug into the religious history and spirituality section. We started
by thinking about what or who to study. Our best thought on that was to limit the ideas to a general overview of aboriginal gods (Native American),Buddhism, and Judaism. But while we were discussing it, Helen wandered in with some warm tea and suggested that instead of Judaism that we might be better to look at Zoroastrianism. She explained that it predated the big three (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) as well as had influence on Gnostic Philosophies.

  We had already started with the Four Noble Truths, and the Eight Fold Path, so we had a jump start on that. We had touched upon the basics, suffering, the cause of suffering, impermanence and the path to ending suffering, the last being the Eight Fold Path. So we figured that that would be the best place to continue, then move on to the Native American spirituality and finally the Zoroastrian.

  “Helen, how long do you think we can stay with you?” asked Tanya.

  “Oh, sweetie, as long as you like, I am alone here, well except for Sylvester, and it is nice to have company.”

  “Can we stay for a week?”

  “That’s all? Well yes, and if you need longer, that would be fine too.”

  “We thank you, we have much to study, and although it would be wonderful to read all of The Three stack, we do have to complete our pilgrimage, and get back to our people”, explained Tanya. “But if you are terribly lonely you could come with us, join us, our group, you would be welcome.”

  “No, thank you, but I have my loves here, these tomes, and the ghosts of the great and not so great writers.” She laughed, “I even have Stephanie Meyer here with me. Sparkly vampires, who knew…”

  Both Tanya and I smiled at that, she was a sharp old bird, and really to have survived thus far, a tough one too.

  We spend most of the day with the Buddha, the Sutras (lessons) and some comments by some of the contemporary Buddhist teachers and leaders. It is a fascinating thing, the idea that they laid out.

  I remember a little snippet that laid out the various religions, like in Hindu, ‘Shit happens, and it happened before” or Christianity, ‘Shit happens, and you deserved it.’ Islam, ‘Shit happens, it is the will of Allah’ and with Buddhism, it is “Shit Happens, but it isn’t shit.’