America The Dead (Book 2): The Road To Somewhere

by Lindsey Rivers

  On the narrow logging trail there was nothing much to do. The cows and horses were more than willing to follow along behind the trucks.

  They made slow time, but just before nightfall they came to a wide, shallow stream that meandered through a small, grassy field. They scattered feed, put the colts and calves out with their mothers and began to set up camp.

  The cows and horses chose opposite ends of the field.

  “Those cows are fighting," David said, pointing at a couple of bulls that had separated themselves from the rest.

  Bob laughed, "More than a few horses as well," he said.

  David raised his eyebrows.

  "Mating season," Kate said.

  David flashed red, "Are they dangerous?" he asked.

  "I wouldn't get near them," Bob said.

  “You're probably okay," Ronnie said, "Now if you were a cow or a horse..." He lifted his eyes back to the field and let the comment trail off. Everybody laughed, David included.

  After dinner, Kate, Mike and Ronnie looked over the chickens and the piglets, watered them and gave the chickens some grain. The piglets kept nuzzling Kate's hands. "What should I feed them?" she asked.

  "Well, like I said a pig will eat anything," Bob said, "Including each other. Feed them the scraps from dinner and some of the Cow Chow, make sure they have lots of water. They'll be fine."

  She nodded. "How far?" She asked Bob, "I had about 30 miles."

  "Same as me," Bob agreed. "We might get twice that, but we'd lose too many animals. Most likely came too fast this afternoon. Tomorrow we'll slow down, be lucky to make thirty for the whole day. Probably less." He thought a moment. "Really doesn't matter now though. We're on our way," he smiled.

  ~

  He came awake in the darkness and lay looking up at the silvery moon far over head.

  His mind was clouded but seemed to be clearing. For a second there... For a second there he had forgotten who he was, or... or what was going on.

  He tried to move, but his body seemed excessively heavy. That was okay though. They would come for him. They would realize he had not made it to the top of the hill. They would come back and... He tried to pull a breath and the panic set in. He bolted upright, the weight of his body suddenly not an issue, still struggling to pull a breath, but his lungs would not comply. His hands came up to his neck and then fell away slowly. His neck was a ruined mass of flesh. He had taken a bullet there, he reasoned. Taken a bullet there, but it hadn't killed him... yet, his mind supplied. But you can't breath!

  That set the panic on fire within him. He lunged to his feet, prepared to run up the hill, but the hill was gone. The camp ground was gone. He was standing in a dense forest. Others stood around him, silent, seemingly waiting on him... or with him, his mind reasoned.

  He tried to speak. “Hey... I'm hurt bad. Help me!” And he did speak the words, but not a sound came out of his mouth. He had no air to drive the words, and that brought him back to the panic. No breath. No breath meant no life. No life was death. He didn't want that. He had been...

  He had been going up the hill? Going down the hill? He couldn't remember. The... the attack had come. The attack had come and he was... must have been wounded... gravely wounded. And if he didn't breath soon, it would turn into something even worse. He had to breath. He had to breath soon or...

  She stepped into his line of sight. The bones in her face were close to the surface, pushing at the taut skin there. Her skin was greenish-gray, or maybe it was a trick of the moonlight. Her silvered eyes held his own. Her long black hair was a tangled ruin.

  The skin of the rest of her body was pale white. Unbelievably white. So white, translucent, that he could see the spidery trails of purple-blue capillaries, veins rising and touching the surface of her skin and then plunging deep into her body, under the skin and muscle... pulsing... seeming to be alive, although she seemed as dead as anything dead that he had ever seen.

  As a kid, he had happened into a vacant lot one morning on the way to school. He had seen something over in the weeds that ran along the fence line of the lot next door. There he had looked down upon the body of a bum who had either died during one of the recent cold nights or had been murdered and dumped there. His face had looked like this one before him. Gray, too pale, the bone structure too close to the surface. The skin looking more like wax than skin. Just like this... this... whatever this was.

  Jeff sank back down to the ground on his knees. The cold moonlight shone down, the others still silent and standing around him.

  ~

  They listened to the radio, and even called a few times themselves, but they heard no reply. They split up the posts, built the fire up, banked it, and those not on post turned in.

  Kate lay alone in her sleeping bag, looking up at the deep black of the star filled night. She wondered about where they would end up, followed by how much she wanted a baby, how much she loved Mike. She thought maybe she should write in her journal. Somewhere in there she fell asleep and woke later to Mike's gentle touch, waking her to turn the post over to her.

  She rose, kissed him softly, took the cup of coffee he offered and walked off into the night.

  ~April 3rd - Mike's journal~

  This must look like the craziest caravan anyone has ever seen. Pigs, cows, chickens, horses and people all moving down this logging trail that hasn't been used since who knows when.

  We have seven trucks, so everyone is a driver. I thought the big trucks would be the worst, but I have to admit, once we loaded them down, they were much easier to drive. And they are loaded down with every farm implement we could find, and more than that, every thing we could think or thought that we would need. Several cast iron, wood fired cooking stoves in pieces, with instructions I hope. Several more wood burning stoves. Steel buildings, seed and grain, two electric generating windmill kits, and one that will work with stream or river power. We could not find any solar panels for Tim, so those will have to do, or he will have to wait until we come out again. Bob thinks next spring, but he says it could be as soon as this fall. We also packed in trees to plant, saplings of fruit trees, vine cuttings and so much more I just lost count.

  There were many things that we could not get. A weaving frame, a spinning wheel, both to make new cloth. We could find neither, but we did find books on constructing them. We found guitars, banjos and violins, but no acoustic basses, no flutes. We did find a piano but couldn't figure out how we could get it on the truck without breaking it all to hell. And where would we put it?

  I think that we have more than we need. I think we can always come back, like Bob says, when we need to.

  Kate is on watch post, we're both anxious to end the traveling and get there. She told me tonight that there's a good chance she might be pregnant. Just about three weeks overdue, give or take, so she didn't want to get my hopes up. Well, too late! They're up!

  We have had no surprises, except late in the day when a herd of moose began to follow us. We thought it would be a problem, but it turned out not to be. They followed along and ate the Cow Chow falling off the truck. The cows and horses don't seem to mind them. I don't know how far they'll follow or what we'll do with them, but they seem to like the Cow Chow.

  I feel bad about Chloe, but grateful that we got Cindy. The things they did to these girls really sickened us. I can't be angry at Chloe. We'll never know what happened her. We found where she called from, from the radio anyway. She's gone, but there's a body there. Maybe one of the crazies that we couldn't find? Hard to tell. But It almost has to be. It even makes sense. She couldn't have carried those bodies away on her own. He must have been with her, helped her, and then they had some sort of falling out. He went too far, did something, said something.

  There was blood on the phone, so whatever he did, she was hurt. And we know she was also shot. Maybe life will treat her better from here on out.

  We're back out in the morning. We're still on the logging road, well one of several. They weave all over the plac
e and turn into each other. But this was the one they used. We're following the tracks of the big tires. With all the mud from the rain, it's pretty easy to do.

  ~April 4 - Patty's journal~

  It's fairly early morning here. I have had bad dreams all night long that Ronnie got shot. No matter what I did, I couldn't shake it. I don't even have Kate here to tell me it's okay. I'm such a baby sometimes. I'm not a big believer in dreams, but it seemed so real. I finally decided to get up and not try to sleep anymore at all.

  We spent the entire day getting this overhang and the cave behind it livable. Whatever had lived in the cave last liked to eat deer, big deer. It took all the morning to bring out all the bones and dump them.

  There's a pretty big smoke hole that also allows light in. Yes I said smoke hole, because people have used this cave before. There are drawings of hands, outlines, drawings of deer and horses, birds, all over the walls.

  This is a huge cave as well. The main area is bigger than any church or cathedral I have ever seen, and then there are several dozen caves off this one, and we can't tell where they may end. The passages just keep going deeper. It's pretty cold the deeper in that you go also.

  The smoke hole got us wondering what's up top, so we climbed up to take a look. We thought that would be hard to do, but there are steps that lead up there, worn down. They used this place a long time, whoever they were.

  Janet says the drawings and paintings are not like Native American art work that she has seen. Makes us wonder who they were.

  The top is flat, and from there you can see for miles. I mean, it must be miles. We can see the other line of the Appalachians were we left them in Kentucky, and although we did not come in a straight line, we did come a long way. I tried the radio up there, but it was a no go even as high up as I was. Even so, I go up there every time now to try it.

  The other direction shows us our valley which is huge. There are more mountains in the distance, several rivers, lakes, herds of buffalo, horses, and other animals that are too far away to see what they are. It's a long valley, full of living things, but no other people. No sign of them.

  We don't know how much longer we have to wait. But what can we do? God help us get our people home to us, Amen.

  ~Lillie's journal~

  I am hanging in there. We worked hard all day, and I was still so keyed up that I couldn't sleep.

  We found the cave Janet was sure would be here. We unloaded the trucks. We thought they were so packed, but all of that in here just looks empty. That's how big this place is. Even so, the cave is cleaned out, bones, mice, rats even. I really don't know how we'll keep them out, but they're out for now.

  We also cleaned off the stone ledge where it goes down to the valley. We walked it down. It's walkable, maybe drivable, but who knows. We threw all the rocks and pebbles over the edge.

  At the bottom there is a large open area and a deep pool from where the stream falls from above. It doesn't really do a waterfall thing. It's more of an angle down the wall and into the pool at the bottom. It's nice though. Fresh water so close is a good thing, Janet says. You can see tracks from small animals where they come to drink.

  I think I'll go sit with Patty for awhile and talk. We are both missing everyone so much. God stay with us.

  ~Jessica~

  She sat up abruptly and the dirt and mud flew from her. She had only been covered with what had trickled back down into the hole, or slid down in the form of mud. They hadn't bothered to re-bury her. Her hands came up and batted at her face for a moment, catching the rat that had been gnawing there. One boney hand closed around it, and the rat squealed in pain, turning and trying to bite her. She brought it to her face, stared at its beady eyes for a moment.

  She squeezed harder, and the rat's eyes bulged from the sockets. She lunged forward, took the rat's head in her mouth. It bit at her tongue weakly. The taste of the rat and its fear flooded through her. She bit down hard, and blood spurted across her face as she crunched down on the small skull bones.

  ~Happy Trails~

  They were up early, but the sun was still well up by the time they fed themselves, loaded the calves and foals and began to move out once more.

  The hardest part was rounding up the two separate groups of animals and herding them with the Jeep's towards the logging trail. Once they got them going, it wasn't so bad. But they had not been interested in leaving the small clearing.

  Kate drove the front Jeep, keeping slightly ahead, scouting for the trucks. When she came to the beginning of the reforestation project, she stopped and waited for the other trucks to catch up. It was close to midday, time to feed themselves, water and feed the chickens and piglets and let the calves and foals out to nurse for awhile.

  Straight lines of trees marched away in long even rows off into the distance. The logging road naturally ended at one row, and it seemed to make sense that that was the way the others had gone. Scouting up that way a few hundred yards, they found dried mud cast off the tires as they had moved along the pine needle covered floor of the forest.

  "It's good. It tells us it's this one. But if they turn off..." Bob said.

  They all nodded in agreement. Kate tried the radio, waited fifteen minutes and tried again. Nothing, but they had to be getting closer.

  They had everything moving again a half hour later. The afternoon passed by slowly as they moved along through the tall trees. The cows, as well as the horses, didn't seem inclined to go wandering off into the trees.

  The sun was just beginning to set behind them when they broke through the end of the trees and rolled into a long valley. A large herd of buffalo grazed close by, but the racket of the trucks, and the unfamiliar scents of all the people and so many other animals, sent them running, herding the calves as they went, to the other end of the valley.

  A stream swung in from their left, dropping from some high cliffs on one side of the valley.

  Everyone was stretching their legs when David saw the red ribbons fluttering from a tree a little past where they had parked. Once he noticed them, everyone did. And they couldn't figure out how they had missed them in the first place.

  They fed the chickens and piglets, turned the calves and the foals loose to be with their mothers and cleaned the insides of the trucks out.

  Dinner was smoked beef added to several cans of stew that had been opened and dumped into a large cast iron pot.

  "I'll be glad when your Janet is cooking for us again," Mike said.

  "Me as well," Bob agreed, "No slight to this meal, but she has a way with food." Bob said.

  "I'll second that," Kate said.

  A few grunts of agreement were added.

  ~

  Kate tried the radio a short time later. She climbed up the back of one of the stake rack trucks hoping for better reception.

  Janet's voice came back almost immediately, garbled, but intelligible.

  "Oh, Katie, dear, let me get Pats. She's been beside herself," Janet said.

  Patty had come running, grabbed the radio and bounded up to the flat area above the cave.

  "Katie? Are you there, Katie?" Patty called. Her voice was strong and clear.

  "Pats, it's me. I'm here; I can't believe it!" Kate yelled into the radio. She looked down, "Get your ass up here, Ronnie," she said.

  "I love you, Pats. It's so good to hear your voice, but here's another one for you."

  Ronnie took the radio, swallowed and pressed the mic button "Hey, babe. I love you, and I've missed you," he told her.

  "Ronnie," she screamed. Ronnie held the radio away from his ear. "I love you... I love you too, Babe. I missed you so bad,” She sighed. “We should let some others talk, though" she said.

  Mike yelled out. "Tell them to fire up a couple more radios and choose different channels." He handed one to Bob and one to David as he began to climb up. Within a few minutes they were all standing around on top of the truck, talking on the radios.

  The radios passed back and forth and both Mike an
d Kate looked at each other at the same time. Kate mouthed Jeff. And it was only a few minutes later that David said Sharon was waiting to talk to Jeff.

  Kate got on the phone to Sandy and talked to both her and Janet to let them know what they thought had happened to Jeff.

  "I'll talk to her," Kate said, "if it will help."

  "If she needs to, I'll take you up on that," Sandy said. "I'll give this back to Patty. She's taken charge here. Maybe we can figure out how far away you are and how to get you here."

  The radio conversations went back and forth for another hour, each side telling the other about what they had found, what they were bringing with them, finding the red ribbons, what the cave was like, the livestock. Tim was disappointed at first about the solar panels, but after Mike told him about the windmills, he couldn't wait to see them.

  "So it's a matter of following the red ribbons, and somewhere around thirty to forty miles to go and we're there," Bob said. He was relaying the conversation back to the others.

  "Kate," David said. She looked over at him. He held the radio out to her, "Sharon," he said.

  She broke down as they talked, and that had gotten Kate crying as well. She told Kate stories about Jeff, what he had been like in the time she had known him. And Kate brought Cindy into it, letting her know what kind of people they had been up against.

  When she asked to talk to Cindy, Kate was unsure, but they were both eager to talk to each other. Cindy broke down also. And they talked for over an hour, long after everyone else came down from the truck. Finally Cindy came down as well.

  "She's a nice lady," she told Kate. Her eyes were bloodshot and shiny.

  "You okay?" Kate asked.

  "Yeah," Cindy said, "Better than I have been in a long time. It was like talking to my mother... Someone that loves you that much, you know?"

  Kate did know. She had that in Patty and Mike. She nodded

  They sat quietly and watched the stars come out in the sky. They were so sharp, so close, so beautiful. They both took the last posts and waited for dawn to come over the mountains and color the sky.

  ~April 5th~