“Fucker,” she screamed into the fire lighted night, “Fucker! That will teach you!”
The shed blew up with a soft whump! And Duffy stopped screaming.
She walked back to the Jeep. Her head was pounding. Maybe, she told herself, she could leave off all of this. It really wasn't her fault. It really wasn't her fight. Maybe she could just get into that Jeep and keep heading south, let those crazy bastards settle in the woods. To hell with them.
She picked up the radio from the seat beside her. She flipped it to the on position and sat listening to the smooth static. She pressed the mic. button down.
“Hey,” she said. “Hey, are you guys there?”
Silence. And then...
“Lilly? Is that you Lilly?”
She didn't know the voice, or who Lilly was.
“Nooooo,” she said. Her head was killing her.
“Chloe,” she told the voice. “I don't know if you know me.”
The voice came back. “I know who you are, Chloe. What do you want?”
“You guys worried about me?” She asked.
Silence.
“Are you?” she asked again. “'Cause if you are, you ain't got to be. I'm going. I'm done with this, you know? I just wanted to say that,” she said.
“Chloe, we could talk about this. You could come with us,” the man's voice said.
“Nope,” Chloe said. She turned the radio off and then tossed it out onto the asphalt.
She shifted the Jeep into drive and idled her way out to the highway. Behind her, the wooden shack continued to burn.
ELEVEN
May 3
Amy's journal
It's fairly early morning here. I have had bad dreams all night long that Aaron got shot. No matter what I did, I couldn't shake it. I don't even have Katie 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 and birds all over the walls
This is a huge cave. The main area is bigger than any church or cathedral I have ever seen. 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.
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 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 have heard from others on the C.B. Groups of people that have been listening in, following us. I think the first thing we'll have to do is talk about the people that want to come here too. We hope our own people catch up to us. It seems unfair we can hear others but not them. Not a word from 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.
Conner and Aaron: On The Trail
They spent the morning locating a herd of cows and luring them back to the camp with a second pickup truck and something James had found called Cow Chow. There were several breeds of cows, milkers and beef cows and three bulls that seemed able to reasonably tolerate each other, and about a dozen calves in the lot as well.
“Two or three more looked ready to drop,” James said. “And we have about a dozen horses that are ready to drop somewhere on the way or after we get there.”
“The cows,” he continued, “are a good thing. We'd get no milkers otherwise. And these are young, if we keep them milking after they calve, they'll do fine for us. And we'll be there long before those calves are done milking, so we'll have fresh milk, butter, cheese,” James smiled.
“Are they really going to follow us?” Conner asked.
“I think so. The calves will have to go into a trailer. No way could they keep up. But I saw one back at that equipment place, and once the calves go into the trailers the mothers will stay with us. We will have to stop a few times a day to let them nurse. But, well, I hope we're not traveling more than a few days, so we'll make the best of it.” He thought a moment, “We will lose a few though. They'll wander off, but we'll keep the feed truck ahead, and the others behind it, cows and horses right in between. There's only the road, they'll go right down it. Same with the forest, straight lines, like a road. The trouble will come when we get to open land. They'll naturally want to graze, cows and horses both, but I thought a couple of those Jeeps, the small ones, we can pretty much herd them like that,” He paused for a second or two and then continued once more.
“We have seven drivers. We have three big trucks, and we need one of the pickups for feed. So we'll find us three Jeeps, or something small, four wheel drive, that will be us,” James finished.
They found a Jeep dealership on the opposite side of the little town. The smell of smoke and charred meat hung in the air. They all wondered if they were about to meet up with other travelers, but they came across no one as they drew closer to the smoke that hung in the air.
A shed behind the dealership was a smoking ruins, but one skeletal arm protruding from under a piece of rusted tin roof told its own story. Aaron found the radio where Chloe had thrown it to the pavement. Everyone was uneasy.
They had spoken about the radio call most of the early morning into sunrise and had decided to take it at face value. For whatever reason, she didn't want a fight, and that was something they could accept.
“This is mine,” Aaron said. He pointed to the side of the radio case where a bullet had grazed the plastic, cracking it. “That happened during the shootout, the one that probably got Jeff,” he finished thoughtfully.
“This is where she called from then,” Conner said, stating what was obvious to all of them. He looked at the radio. Smears of maroon and a small bloody hand print decorated the back of the plastic case.
“Not mine,” Aaron said, although it was obvious.
Conner looked over to the smoking shed. “I guess we will never know exactly what happened here, but I'd say she got tired of being pushed,” he said.
Aaron nodded.
They spent the better part of two hours searching through the wrecked show room until they found the keyboard. The keyboard, Aaron explained was where the salesmen picked up and returned the keys. It had to be close to the front of the show room yet not right in direct sight of customers. The mechanics and body shop guys would need access to it to.
Aaron had spent two summers working as a body-man at a small dealership in Mobile when he had still been in high school back in Pritchard.
They found the board in a small hallway that lead back to the garage area. They took the keys to several smaller Jeeps and out of those found three that fit their needs. Cloth tops, bigger tires, heavy duty off road versions.
No one spoke much, the smell on the air, the puzzle of what might have happened, the silence over what seemed like the entire world. They picked up the
chickens on the way back.
The farm store had a large poultry barn in the back. They backed up the big trailer they had selected for the calves, partially filled the inside with caged chickens and headed back to the camp ground where the others were waiting.
Katie had collected thirty eggs and found six piglets out behind the barn. It was a mystery to her what they had been feeding on, but they we're healthy and fat. She brought them to James.
“Those are not just little pigs,” James told her as she loaded them in their own cages into the back of one of the Jeeps. “Those babies will be full blown hogs come fall.”
“Good,” Katie smiled. “But how did they manage to stay alive?”
James laughed. “You probably don't want to know,” he told her.
“Well I wouldn't have asked...”
James held up one hand. “You're right. The chickens, most likely. Maybe some grain if they were able to get into the feed store.”
“Pigs eat chickens?”
“Pigs will eat just about anything that doesn't eat them,” James said solemnly. Katie didn't look like she was quite so thrilled about eating pork in the fall.
“Huh,” was all she said as she turned away and went back to packing things into one truck or another.
~
By the time they made it back to the camp it was early afternoon. Katie made a lunch with some help from David. Eggs, spam and pancakes.
“Eat it like a sandwich,” Aaron told Conner as he came to get his own.
“They're good,” Katie said around a mouthful.
Everybody dug in. The clearing fell silent for a while as they ate. Their thoughts were on the next bit of time. After they finished lunch, they shifted things around. The chickens and the piglets went on the back of one of the flatbeds. They loaded the calves and two foals onto the open stake sided trailer and started out down the logging trail.
~On the Trail~
There were three big trucks with one Jeep in front of them. The pickup with the trailer in back of them, followed by some concerned cows and a small herd of horses. The remaining two Jeeps brought up the rear.
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.
James laughed, “More than a few horses too,” he said.
David raised his eyebrows.
“Mating season,” Katie said.
David flashed red, “Are they dangerous?” he asked.
“I wouldn't get near them,” James said.
“You're probably okay,” Aaron 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, Katie, Conner and Aaron looked over the chickens and the piglets, watered them and gave the chickens some grain. The piglets kept nuzzling Katie's hands. “What should I feed them?” she asked.
“Well, like I said a pig will eat anything,” James said, “Including each other. Feed them the scraps from dinner and some Cow Chow, make sure they have lots of water. They'll be fine.”
She nodded. “How far?” She asked James, “I had about 30 miles.”
“Same as me,” James 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.
Conner's journal
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, everything we could think of, or thought that we would need. We also packed in trees to plant, sapling fruit trees, vine cuttings and so much more. I just lost count.
There were many things that we could not get, but I think that we have more than we need. I think we can always come back, like Bob says, when we need to.
Katie 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're stopped for the night, but we'll be back out in the morning. We're still on the logging road, well, one of several logging roads. They weave all over the place 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.
Happy Trails
May 4th
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.
Katie 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 a while.
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...” James said.
They all nodded in agreement. Katie 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 Janna is cooking for us again,” Conner said.
“Me as well,” James agreed, “No slight to this meal, but she has a way with food.” James said.
“I'll second that,” Katie said.
A few grunts of agreement were added.
~
Katie tried the radio a short time later. She climbed up the back of one of the stake rack trucks hoping for better reception.
Janna's voice came back almost immediately, garbled, but intelligible.
“Oh, Katie dear, let me ge
t Amy. She's been beside herself,” Janna said.
Amy had come running, grabbed the radio and bounded up to the flat area above the cave.
“Katie? Are you there, Katie?” Amy called. Her voice was strong and clear.
“Aim, it's me. I'm here; I can't believe it!” Katie yelled into the radio. She looked down, “Get your ass up here, Aaron,” she said.
“I love you, Aim. It's so good to hear your voice, but here's another one for you.”
Aaron took the radio, swallowed and pressed the mic button, “Hey, babe. I love you, and I've missed you,” he told her.
“Aaron,” she screamed. Aaron 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.
Conner yelled out. “Tell them to fire up a couple more radios and choose different channels.” He handed one to James 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 Conner and Katie looked at each other at the same time. Katie mouthed Jeff. And it was only a few minutes later that David said Sharon was waiting to talk to Jeff.
Katie got on the phone to Sandy and talked to both her and Janna to let them know what had happened to Jeff.
“I'll talk to her,” Katie said, “if it will help.”
“If she needs to, I'll take you up on that,” Sandy said. “I'll give this back to Amy. 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. Dustin was disappointed at first about the solar panels, but after Conner told him about the windmills, he couldn't wait to see them.
Earth's Survivors: box set Page 67