Rise From the Ashes: Lena's Story

by Laura Franklin

  Mick was rested and felt excellent and alert the next morning. He figured it was because he slept outside. Strange that he could remember one of his dreams so well. In his dreams the electric was out, so he started walking northwest.

  He shook his head, dreams were strange, he knew he had to head out pretty much straight north. Still, it had seemed so real. He had passed a fence an hour into his walk with two horses, brown and grey, on the other side of this fence. He had put a rope around the neck of the brown one and stood on the fence to ease on its back. The he rode northwest and started to follow some railroad tracks.

  Dreams were strange, he had never been near a horse, he had no idea what to do with one. But the thought of riding instead of walking was nice. Must have been his brain doing some wishful thinking while he slept. Time to put the dreams and daydreams aside. He rolled up his sleeping bag and headed back inside. Flipping the light switch to … nothing. Great. No power. So he really would be walking now.

  Score one for the dreams, he laughed to himself as he packed up all his radios and equipment. It was a perfect late summer morning, cool with a light breeze, but not cold. Yet since he had about 60 pounds of equipment on him, he was breaking a sweat within minutes. He stopped early for lunch and a break. He laughed at himself again, knowing how tired he was and it wasn’t noon yet, he wished he had run into those horses an hour into his trek like his dream-self had done. With lunch over and his muscles rested, he slung his pack back on and started north again.

  Nearly an hour later he stumbled and slumped against a tree. He was dizzy and it had hit him so suddenly his vision was left spinning and blurry. The image of the fence and two horses blasted through his brain and then disappeared. Mick looked around. Nothing but light forest and the small side road he was humping along curving off to the right in the distance. He took a deep breath and started off again. Just as he made it half way through that right curve, Mick stopped cold. The exact fence. The exact two horses, in the exact same position as they had been when they flashed in his brain 30 seconds ago. The grey one had been drinking, the brown one was looking straight at him.

  “Son of a bitch.”

  Mick strolled toward the fence. The brown horse walked toward him, the grey just stared at him with water dripping from its mouth.

  “Where you headed, son?”

  Mick ripped his gaze from the horses to an old man standing in front of a little house.

  “Just heading north.”

  “Look like you’re military.”

  “Army.”

  “Any more of you left out there?”

  “Yes, I’m heading north to meet up with them. Then we are going to start south again and secure everything as we go.”

  “Yup. I suppose all the punks are running wild now, eh?”

  “Yup.” Mick mimicked how the old man said that and it brought a grin to the grey face.

  “Saw you eyeing Lady. I suppose you fancy a little help getting up north?”

  “Mister, I’ve never ridden a horse before. I’d give you all I have if you have a motorcycle in that barn.”

  That brought on a fit of laughing and coughing by the old man.

  “That I don’t have. But I can give you some pointers and Lady will do her best.”

  “I can’t really pay you.”

  “I figured that. Pretty much my duty to help soldiers out right now I reckon.”

  His face had been old and grey yet happy up until now. Now he looked like his heart was breaking. “Lady’s the best girl I’ve ever had. She’s a Morgan, not that you know what that is. She is good girl and deserved to live here in peace. But I guess that is not what fate has in store for her.” He was nearly sobbing now. He knew being a soldier’s horse was a very dangerous business.

  Mick was not sure what to do. He wanted to use the horse, but he could clearly see the old man loved his horse. “I’ll take the other horse, what’s its name?”

  “Naw, you won’t be staying on Lightning. That grey horse is crazy, good one minute and running wild the next.”

  “So, Lady is the brown horse?”

  “That’s right. Her coloring is called Bay, which just means brown with black mane and tail.”

  Mick decided that he was not going to be a pawn of whatever had caused his dreams and the strong déjà vu feeling he had just had. “I’ll be fine. I want to take the grey one anyway. Tell me what to do.”

  “You can give ‘er a try.”

  The old man shuffled into the barn and brought out a handful of tack. He set about showing Mick how to use it all and how to put it on the horse. It all went well until Mick tried to get on Lightning. With one foot in the stirrup and one flapping on the horse’s rump, he was spun in a tight circle and then tossed to the ground. After three tries Mick decided to take a break.

  “Don’t feel too bad, son. Even a good horseman would have some trouble with that one.”

  “I don’t really have the time to work on this Mister.”

  “Yeah, I knew that two hours ago.” While Mick rolled his eyes the old man coughed and laughed some more.

  “I guess I can put my supplies on the grey and get going.” Mick had in mind to still walk but even if a horse just carried his supplies, it would be a big help to him.

  “No. You’re taking the best horse ever. Hard times are coming, so I’m going keep that mean old grey and cook ‘em up when it gets to that. I have to keep something back for my old age.”

  Mick grinned at him, seemed a fitting ending for that mean old horse.

  Lady was a delight in comparison. While Mick was still struggling to keep his balance as they moved up the road, Lady would slow down on her own to let him settle back in the saddle. Mick waved as they moved out of sight. Patted a piece of paper tucked in his pocket. For what it was worth, he had promised to write the old man if he could to tell him how Lady was doing.

  As he started to make better time heading north, he thought if he should consider the dreams having gained another point on him. He was heading off on the brown horse, but he had a bridle and saddle – that hadn’t been in the dream. He had also not seen a house, barn or old man in his dreams. Also, he came across the horses much later than his dream showed him he would. Still, he was riding off on a brown horse after seeing the brown and the grey in the same positions as in his dreams. Mick decided to be generous and give the point to the dreams.

  Chapter Four

  So there I was, strolling along the railroad tracks, enjoying the summer sun on my face and thinking about the world update Sheriff Edwards just gave me.

  I was sure that I was losing it now, because in the distance I could see someone also walking on the rails – toward me. A guy. A guy with blonde hair, an army tee-shirt and tan pants. Déjà vu? Insanity? I stopped and stared. Thinking a few blinks may clear out my vision.

  Nope. He was still heading my way, but there was something different. He was walking in the afternoon sun with those awesome arms, but he was leading a horse. Now that was pretty cool. Still weird, he looked exactly like my dream soldier.

  I couldn’t help it, I just started running toward him. Like he was a long lost love. He spotted me right away and stood waiting for me.

  “Hi!”

  “Hi, yourself.” He was smiling when he said this. I almost got lost in his chocolate eyes.

  “I, um. Well, I suppose this is going to sound really weird, but I knew you were coming, knew you were coming up the tracks. You don’t have to believe me, I just had to say that.”

  He cocked his head to the side like a cute dog. Then he said, “Oh, I think I believe you. I’ll explain later. But start with your name.”

  “Lena.”

  “Lena, is there someplace safe we can stay for tonight?”

  “Sure. I’ve got a great place with lots of grass for the horse; the country club.” We both laughed. It was like we were long lost friends.

  We settled in that night and introduced ourselves and each told a little about our history.
Mick said we would have to go back to Sheriff Edwards tomorrow to make sure he knew the overall plan. Then we started to discuss if I was going north with him or not. He said he thought he went hours out of his way just to get here – to me. He thinks this since I dreamed of him walking on the tracks. He said he was pulled, like guided, this way. Just like I felt I was.

  I think I am supposed to travel with him, I don’t know why. It just feels right.

  Sheriff Edwards passed the word around town for anyone wanting to travel north for the winter to get ready and that they could travel with Private Mick Buckner. It seems like a good plan, get a group together behind some trained military men and then spread back south, making sure each place is secure and then moving south again. The sheriff is going to stay in Brattleboro, but left it open for anyone to go or stay. He figures he can keep Brattleboro safe & if not, he can help the ones who stay behind fight and retreat.

  “Sheriff, the days are nice now, but winter will be here in a few months. We need to be all set up for winter so I can’t really stay long. I’d like to leave tomorrow if I can. I know it’s short notice. But if anyone else wants to head north, they can come along at any time. I just need to get up there and take my place with the army. Start really helping out.”

  “You take good care of Lena, I’ll hold things together here until you make it back down this way.”

  I actually gave Sheriff Edwards a kiss on the cheek as I left. I never would have done that before the bombs, but now; well, we just have to show affection every chance we get, don’t we? The world AB is going to be different. I guess how different is going to depend on us, each of us can do something to build it up and create a new world or to make it worse.

  Then Mick and I went looking for some good horses. I was not too keen on the idea of riding north. Mick took his time, told me about the Humvee. Told me how hard fuel was going to be to get and about the roads already being littered with cars that had run out of gas. He said we could go in for bikes, but they were noisy, we would still have to worry about fuel and they couldn’t carry as many supplies as a horse could. That some time or another he figured we would end up on horseback anyway.

  Better to do it now, when we had time to choose some good horses and also had some time to learn to ride. Mick said he figured we were ahead of any Taliban, so we had days if not weeks to learn to ride before we might have to worry about them.

  “Ok, fine.” I was not really grumping, I was convinced. Still, it is not so easy to ride a horse as you may think if you have never been up on one. And it seems really high up there.

  I didn’t know too much about horses, just a little from riding them a couple of times a year as long back as I could remember. I took him to some places around town that I knew had horses, the first one had an owner that was still alive. We told her our plans, but she said she was not going to leave her home.

  The second place was deserted. So I picked out a horse that looked physically like Lady. Mine was so dark brown all over you could mistake it for black unless you were up close. I hoped it was a Morgan too, I heard they could travel well and used to be military horses in the civil war. I guess we are going to need that kind of horse in the days ahead. I had no idea what my horse’s old name was. So I thought I’d be funny and call him Clint. Yes, after Clint Eastwood; after all, I’m kind of a cowgirl now.

  We spent one more night in town and started out in the morning with two other people. A couple, Sue and Ed, older and not interested in talking too much. They wanted to be as far away from the chaos as possible and they said they knew how to hunt and trap. Good enough for me. Ed did growl out that the sheriff said there was radio chatter about gun fights and fires in Amherst, MA; the college punks gone crazy. That hell was making its way toward us.

  Sue was wearing really old-fashioned 80’s faded jeans, a plaid blouse and white sneakers. She kept that conservative 80’s look going. She topped it off with frizzy blonde hair that looked a little dry. I couldn’t decide if Sue had permed it or it was naturally frizzy. Guess I will find out in a few months.

  Ed was just a typical guy. Jeans, flannel dark green shirt. Normal hiking boots. He had a medium length beard and some wrinkles around his eyes. He was tall and pretty muscular, losing most of his dark hair with a decent amount of grey in what was left. Totally unconcerned with fashion. That was alright, he could be the brawn in the group. He certainly could be intimidating if he got angry.

  Mick said he didn’t want to risk going up I-91 so we set out west to hook up with Rt 7 – which went all the way north to Burlington. It was in Burlington where the state had its National Guard headquarters and they also had jets. That was going to be our target, where any other army guys like Mick were headed. Major Morna was there. It seemed that the base was so small it had not been a target, the Taliban nuts must have overlooked that there were F-35 fighters up there. Only a handful of them, and I guess that fuel and maintenance must be hard to come by – so the jets would only be used in a win or lose situation.

  It looked like things could get dangerous, at least on horseback we would be able to hear if someone was speeding up on us on a bike or a 4-wheeler. I was starting to get nervous now. Amherst was just an hour south of the state border; it looked like even if we stayed civilized the chaos was coming to us. Doug and some other people in town said they were going to pack and be following us north in a few days.

  Sure enough, before we stopped to camp the evening of the first day out, we heard the sound of motorcycles in the distance. Mick supposed since they went so far on gas he figured that was how most of the people would try to get around. If you scrounged just a few gallons you could get to the next place to hunt for some more. Ed nodded.

  “That’s probably some people trying to catch up with us,” Sue chirped too loudly. She was trying to convince herself.

  “Lena, lead Sue up into those trees and take all the horses up with you. Ed and I will stand here a little back from the road and see who these guys are.”

  There was no time at all. We weren’t even fully in the trees when the bikes came roaring into view. Three of them. Each doubled with a man driving and a girl riding behind. It was the girls who pulled out pistols and started firing!

  Sue’s horse jumped, almost threw her off and started running for the trees. Lady stayed solid and the other animals took comfort from her and stayed grouped together and trotted into the trees after Sue, who must have been hanging on for dear life. She did come out with branch slap marks all over her face and legs.

  The bullets hit wild. Gee, poor girls; must be hard to shoot from the back of a moving bike.

  Mick had his pistol out and dropped the first two bikes. The third spun around flinging gravel and dirt and took off. Loved the loyalty. One driver was dead and his girl started to scream and cradle his head. The other driver was shot somewhere and his girl was scrambling and patting the ground around her. It dawned on me she was trying to find her gun! What f-ing nerve. She was going to try to kill Mick. I was swinging Clint around to go help when another shot rang out.

  I saw Mick with his arms out to his side, his right hand still holding his gun.

  Then I saw the girl slump.

  Mick just stood there.

  It was like an eternity. Then he lifted his gun and shot the other girl and then the wounded driver. I watched his pale face. I knew he was wracked with remorse. I felt sick to my stomach. It was different finding my dad dead. Helping the neighbors bury the ones who died. Those people had died a sort of normal death, as if they all got really sick at once.

  I watched these guys get shot down. Like mad dogs. Suddenly I had no strength and I slipped off Clint and crumpled on the ground sobbing.

  Mick was there in a second.

  “Did you get shot?”

  I could only shake my head no.

  “Oh. I see.”

  Ed reached us then. He had been nicked by a bullet along his upper arm.

  “Cry if you need to. But when you think abou
t tonight, think about how they started firing on us the second they could. They didn’t even know we had guns to fight back. They were fixin’ to take us all down with no questions and no mercy. Your man did right. If we let ‘em live they would have killed other people along the road. That’s a fact.”

  Later I was to realize that was about a month’s work of talking out of Ed.

  I remember how quiet we all were that whole night around the campfire.

  I didn’t blame Mick. He knows that now. Back then I was in such shock I couldn’t talk to him. I was shocked because I had never seen a violent death before. I had thought my whole world had been turned upside down by the flash/bangs.

  No, this is when it really started to sink in.

  Chapter Five