“You don't seem the type... I met a few,” Cindy said.
He nodded. “Yeah, so did I. I'm not that kind of guy. Never have been that kind of guy,” he said.
“You carried that girl even though she was in such bad shape. Even though it might have taken you down too,” Cindy said. Everyone else had stopped talking, listening to the conversation between the two. Cindy didn't talk a great deal. James, Jake sometimes, but she was shy and preferred to remain in the background, but here she was at the lead of a conversation. A conversation she had initiated.
“I couldn't do that. I couldn't leave her. You don't do that to people, otherwise you're like those others you and I have dealt with,” Craig said quietly.
Cindy blushed. No one would have told him about what she had gone through. He had guessed it from what little she had said. “I hope you stay, Craig. I'd like that,” she said every bit as quietly.
The conversation picked back up around them after a few seconds of silence. Katie had stood in the doorway listening to the two of them talk. It had surprised her. Cindy had asked her no more than an hour ago how she and Conner had met, how it had happened.
“I saw him and I knew he was it,” she had told her. “I didn't wait, I just walked right over to him and asked him. I let him know I wanted him, Cindy. I knew if I waited someone else might do the same thing.”
Cindy had only nodded and looked pensive. Then she had nodded again and walked out onto the ledge like her mind was made up. Katie had followed her out and listened to the conversation. She had realized then what the question had been about. She smiled now, and as she did, Cindy looked up and caught her eyes. They both smiled again and Cindy turned back to the conversations going on around her. Craig's eye's were on her, Katie saw. Cindy had made the first move and made her point. The rest was up to Craig.
Fresh roasted Venison. Crayfish, boiled this time along with the crabs, and roasted corn on the cob along with mollusks and chunks of Venison, cut up and fried together with leeks, wild radish and hot peppers as well as green peppers from the gardens the community had planted. Everyone ate hugely, celebrating the new arrivals, Annie's safe return and the fishing trip.
Katie, Lilly, Amy, James and Janna, as well as Arlene, made the invitation for them to stay and join, formal, being the members of the council present.
All of them accepted. Craig's party and the ones who had come back with Annie. Cammy, Adam's woman told them that Beth wanted nothing more than to stay. The kids were already fast friends, Billy had pointed out. Winston, the old man that had come in with Cammy, Billy and Beth seemed relieved to have a place to call home. They had been traveling with Adam and Cammy all the way from New York, before that they had made their own way from Los Angeles. It was time to settle down, Billy said. Although he added that he didn't believe for a second that Adam would ever be ready to settle down. Cammy, a sad look in her eyes, had agreed.
The people from Craig's party ate carefully, their stomachs filling quickly, but Sandy thought it would do them good to eat solid food, as long as they were careful and didn't over do it.
The evening passed and people began to say their goodbyes and drift off down the valley, or off to their posts for the night. Soon it was only Susan and Sandy, Sharon and Cindy who lived in the cave, and the six new comers.
Roberta, Bonnie and Cammy left with Janna to take a look at the barns before night fall, and get an idea of how the valley and the small community was laid out. There were several other newcomers that had set up living quarters in other small caves scattered through the valley, and small encampments where people that had come in together had settled and begun building. Cammy wanted to look for a more permanent solution to sleeping in the main cave area.
Sandy and Sharon had piled Sleeping bags and blankets in the main area, along with collapsible cots for the newcomers to use. Candles for light, and pots for inside use. Shortly after that Sandy and Susan said goodnight. Sharon left to take care of Beth, and suddenly Cindy and Craig were alone on the wide ledge, watching the daylight bleed out of the valley.
Now that they were alone, Cindy did not know what to say.
Craig seemed tongue tied too.
“You could hold me if you wanted to,” Cindy said.
“I do want to,” Craig said.
The light was bleeding from the valley. Shadows gathering the evening together.
“Am I really what you want?” Craig asked.
“Yeah. You are,” Cindy said. “All I had to do was see you and I knew it... My friend said something to me... She said, let him know it. The world's not the way it used to be... I think she's right,” she looked into his eyes.
“I haven't been good at relationships,” Craig told her.
“That's the old world, isn't it,” Cindy asked.
“We don't know each other, not really,” Craig said.
“Yet we want each other... And why does that matter? It isn't the old world. There's no piece of paper here, but I'll bet these relationships do better... Last longer.”
“I'm a little older...”
Cindy laughed. “And that really makes a difference to you? … Or me?”
“I just want to make sure you...”
“Are you going to kiss me,” Cindy interrupted.
He kissed her.
Katie's Journal
My man is on my mind. I miss him so much and I want to be able to share the news about the babies with him, and I'm scared. I am. Annie told us what it is really like out there. I can't let my thoughts get away from me. I can't start imagining things, making more out of it than there is. But the things that are right out there are bad enough. It's one thing to hear on the radio that the streets of New York City, or Los Angeles are over run with the dead. And an entirely different thing to hear that someone you love has been attacked. To see the results in a young woman that has lost an arm. To go past hearing to knowing.
It's only been a week, how am I going to last a month or a month and a half? I just hope they find what they need and come home early. I also hope they don't meet any crazies. I don't know what I would do if something happened to Conner.
The ones that Craig and the others met with has put that into my head. Another worry on top of the dead and a plain old accident of some sort. Those things are out there, I just don't want them to touch my world.
I had crayfish and Mollusks tonight. Arlene calls them Craw Dads. I had never had them before, man are they ever good. And I think the babies liked them too, so I ate some extra. After all I'm eating for the three of us. Or maybe the three of us are just pigs!
Good luck to you, Cindy. Baby come home. God, are you listening?
NINE
The Nation
September 24th
Cammy sat drinking coffee with Annie and staring down the length of the valley. It was an hour past sunrise. The sun had finally lifted past the mountain tops in the distance, and golden light had spilled into the length of the valley.
“I know you said it was this nice, but no way did you do it justice. Or I'm so damn jaded that I just couldn't believe it.”
“If you live here, you take it in stride sometimes, I guess. But coming back this time? Being away after being here, living here... I will never leave again. I don't care,” Annie said.
The door to the main area of the cave opened, and Katie came out with Lilly and Amy. A second later Jana, Sandy and James stepped out. Jake followed shortly after, sipping at a cup of coffee as he and James talked. They both said their hellos, Jake bent and kissed Lilly, she had sat on the wall next to Annie, and then he and James started down the wide ledge into the valley below. Jana settled down next to Cammy.
Cammy lifted her eyes to Sandy. “How's our girl?” she asked.
Sandy smiled cautiously. “I want to say okay... I took the rest of her forearm yesterday, pumped her full of penicillin. She seemed to tolerate that well. Got some broth in her yesterday, hopefully some food this morning. I think she'll be okay.”
Annie shook her head, as did Cammy. “I think though,” Annie said, “That things were going well. It seemed like things turned up fast... maybe...”
Katie nodded.
“What was it like?” Lilly asked. “I mean, with so many dead around. How did you manage? We didn't have that to deal with, and we still barely made it here.”
Cammy shook her head. “I had no direct dealings with it. Adam and Beth... Billy, Mac, David to a lesser extent.” Her voice seemed to choke up for a moment. “Adam and Beth. Those two have no fear. I guess we owe them a lot. They lead us together. That was something I thought would be bad, but they seemed to click.”
Katie nodded.
“The city... we came from the city. It's bad there. I mean, the dead are everywhere. They're different too. When we were in Pennsylvania, Adam and Beth told us that. The dead there were not smart like the dead in New York.”
The door opened, and Arlene stepped out onto the wide stone ledge and sat on the wall.
“The radio here tells us a lot. But it's tough to believe some of it. They're stronger than us? Some people are turning without being bitten?” Lilly said. “I know I should let you be... ask another time. I don't mean to push you.”
“It's okay,” Cammy said. She sipped at her coffee and then began to talk.
On The Road
“That's a dog,” Aaron said.
“You're sure,” Conner asked.
“Yeah... It's a mix with a Malamute and maybe some big sheep dog. I can see the Spitz in it and something else as well... Both of them... The one watching and the one guarding... They're both dogs.”
“Spitz?” Conner asked.
“Like in Chows... Malamutes, other sled dogs, Akita. They have a common ancestor in the Spitz.”
The dogs knew they were there. They had looked over at them several times. They seemed to be guarding the mixed flock of sheep and goats.
“Here goes,” Aaron said. He stood and walked towards the larger one that was guarding the herd and whistled. The dog's head came up and he barked a greeting, his tail wagging. “Yeah... It's a dog,” Aaron said with a laugh.
“You mean you weren’t sure!” Conner said. “That dog weighs more than you do!”
“Yeah... But it's a dog.” He bent and patted his hands on his knees and the huge dog loped to him and jumped up on him. The one that had been laying down got up and trotted over as well. Between the two of them they knocked Aaron down and stood over him licking his face.
Aaron sat up grinning, one arm around the neck of each dog. To Conner they looked exactly like huge shaggy wolves. They were marked the same; gray-black mixed with white. Josh walked up beside Conner, James with him. Debbie, Adam and Chloe on the other side of Aaron.
Chloe raised her hands into the air with a what now gesture. Conner shrugged his shoulders. Chloe turned to Debbie, said something, and they both laughed. She walked over to the two dogs and Aaron, offered her hand, and pulled him to his feet.
The bigger dog was the dog that had been laying down. A female. That was obvious because she was pregnant, her belly sagging low. Debbie walked over and the two women began fussing over the dogs who seemed overjoyed with all the attention.
“I don't recall seeing the dogs,” Josh said. “Nor the goats, but this looks like the same herds I saw... Both of them... They were only twenty or so each and this herd is close to forty, and ten goats too. But if those dogs are sheep dogs, as in bred to be herding dogs, they would have taken anything that came their way and herded it. That's what they do.”
They had yet another huge truck. A flat bed with stake rack sides. A livestock truck that Josh had picked out. A detachable ramp that could be slotted into the back to run animals up into the rear area, and stored under the rear deck when not in use. Josh himself was driving it.
“That's their herd. I would bet all that I have to do is back this truck up, drop the ramp, and those two will put that herd right in there for us,” he said.
Everybody else was standing around. They had all been in the trucks, unsure if the dogs were dogs, and if they did turn out to be dogs, whether they were friendly or turned wild. Now that the suspense was over and it seemed as though the whole plan they had in mind might turn out to be easier than they had thought it would be, they were all waiting to see what would happen next.
“I say go for it,” Conner said. “You know more about this than I do. I'm just glad the dogs didn't eat Aaron... Or me,” he added with a laugh.
Chloe came over with Debbie. “You're just being strung along,” she joked. “They'll probably eat you later on, take over the rest of us and call in their dog pack to ride shotgun over us... Make us work in the mines or something,” she laughed too, but she pulled the female to her and ruffled her fur. “Big babies,” she said. “And she's about to pop... Puppies!”
Conner smiled at her. This was not the same Chloe of yesterday. This was a whole new woman. She talked differently, walked differently. She seemed confidant. “You look great this morning, Chloe,” he told her.
“I feel pretty great,” she smiled. She looked over at Debbie and they both smiled.
Josh ran the big truck down off the road and into the field. As soon as the truck dropped off the roadway and into the field the dogs became excited: Running back to the herd, nipping at their heels, chasing the ones that had wandered off. Before Josh and James had the ramp completely set up, the two dogs had all the goats and sheep on their feet and milling around in the field not far from the truck.
When the ramp dropped Josh turned to the big female that seemed to be watching and waiting on him. He motioned his hand in an up the ramp gesture. The dog cocked its head and looked at him. “Hi!,” he yelled.
She spun on her heels and the two dogs working together drove the herd to him. James and Josh on one side of the ramp, Conner and Aaron on the other, and the others spread out to make sure none veered off or dropped off the edge of the ramp, and it was over in just a few moments. The sheep especially were no trouble, the goats only a little trouble as they tried to back up and get away, but the dogs took care of that, herding them right back at the truck and onto the ramp. The ramp came down and slid under the deck, and they set the stake rack into the holes in the deck to close off the back.
“High?” Conner asked.
“Hi,” Josh told him. “Like, Hi, how are you. I used to use it with the cows. But I think anything I yelled would have done it. Those dogs know their job. There probably are some specific commands I just don't know what they would be. I have seen this done in competition. The dogs, a good sheep herder, can run the herd through a course. Put them in a field. Take them out. Almost anything at all, on their own.”
Conner nodded. “That was nice,” he agreed. “I think they've done this before.”
The dogs sat quietly at the back of the truck looking from Josh to Conner to Aaron.
“Where are we going to put the dogs?” Conner asked.
“Gonna bring them with us?” Josh asked.
“Yeah... But will they come,” Conner wondered.
Josh walked to the front of the truck, opened the door, whistled, and both dogs jumped up into the big cab. The female curled up onto the seat, the male with his huge paws on the dashboard looking out the window.
“I...” Conner just laughed. “That's that, I guess.” He turned and looked to everyone standing around. “That's it,” he said loudly. “Follow us... We're going home.”
The Nation
Katie, Amy and Lilly sat on a thick quilt under a huge plastic awning and watched the corn picking proceed. Two large plastic coolers sat just off the quilt, filled with cold water from the stream. A second tarp covered an area where most of the children were playing. A few of the smaller ones had fallen asleep. Brian and Ben were both in the field, helping to pick ears of corn.
It was not a huge area, but still
a little over two acres that they had planted with corn. Another field, farther down the valley, held almost four acres of mixed Wheat and Rye. That harvest would be the harder one.
They snapped the ears of corn from the stalk, leaving the blighted ears behind, and leaving the stalk itself standing. They would be back in a few weeks to harvest the field corn that was planted a few fields down from this field. That field would come down stalks and all for feed; when it did the stalks in this field would come down and be mixed right in. A second and third field would be processed into feed corn.
Two of the barns had silos. They were not the huge multistory types that were seen on most farms, but short and squat, two story ones. They would serve the purpose well enough though.
There were two mixed grain hay fields that were already drying out. They would also be feed. Yesterday most of the people in the Nation had gone through those fields, gathered the standing hay into large bundles, tied it, and then using a sickle, cut it at the base and left it to dry.
Their own Wheat and Rye fields would be much harder to process as the seed heads had to be pulled from the stalks. The best way to do it was to let the stalk run through your closed fist, pulling off the heads and dropping them into a basket you carried with you. It was time consuming and best done with a large group.
They had harvested a smaller crop earlier in the year, and had planted the second crop in hopes that there would be time for it to mature. It had, and that had told them there would be two growing seasons here. A third was not likely as the mornings and late evenings were already turning cooler. Fall could not be far away.
Craig came in with Ben on his shoulders looking sleepy. He laid him down onto the second quilt where some other children were sleeping.
“Wore him out, I think.” He smiled and then walked back out into the field.
At noon the three women were joined by Janna. Jake, James, Craig and David set up two heavy rough-cut-lumber tables, and the four women served a lunch of cold sliced buffalo roast on thick slices of sourdough bread.
Earth's Survivors: box set Page 96