Rise From the Ashes: Lena's Story

by Laura Franklin

  The first hour Kim relaxed and enjoyed the day. The sun was shining, it was warm on her face, a little cold on the side of body away from the sun. Basically a perfect fall day.

  The second hour she started to hear things, and the cold started to sink in as the sun was almost set. Fear was rising in her, she felt the panic taking over. When she heard a whine coming out of her own throat, she bolted as fast as she could in the direction her group had gone in. But panic blinded her mind. Less than 100 steps into her desperate run she snagged her foot in a branch and whomped down face-first in the forest. She had just knocked herself out cold.

  She had also made a lot of noise. She didn’t have to think about that, it was explained to her quite well as she was coming out of her blackout tied to a tree and hearing a greasy voice.

  “Can you believe this chick?”

  A sniveling laugh was the only answer.

  “We’re going to have some fun with this one, she’s pretty. She’s a little thing too.”

  “Yeah. So little and she made as much noise as a fucking moose!”

  Now two voices were laughing.

  Kim knew what she was facing now. Terror flooded through her body. She felt a flush start in her stomach and radiate out until her whole body felt like it was on fire. She had no idea what she could do. But her time was running out.

  “Who’s first?”

  “You go ahead, Billy. I’m finishing my dinner. I like ta watch anyway. Gets me ready.”

  Kim could feel the movement as one of them came closer. She had no plan! She forced her body to relax and pretended to still be unconscious.

  “Hey babe, wakie wakie. Time to have some fun.”

  Why do they think this is fun? She held still as the ropes were cut; using every bit of self-control to stay loose. She had never in her life had to focus on something as single-mindedly as this.

  “Yo, Moe, she’s still out.”

  “That matter to you?”

  “Guess not. Time to party with my pretty blonde.”

  Billy’s hands were on the back of her neck as he put her on the ground. He was kneeling over her, but stood up to unzip. He turned over his shoulder to say something clever to Moe.

  The blood rushing in Kim’s ears kept her from hearing what was being said, but she pulled her body just clear of her attacker’s legs using every ounce of strength in her arms. Then she flipped over into a sprinter’s starting position. And she used it. She was gone into the darkness in a flash. This time, she was keeping her focus. She could just see outlines of trees and rocks in the cloudy moonlight. She leapt, dodged and sprinted like a deer. She heard them calling to her, but none of it was sinking in until finally she realized that the voices were very far behind her.

  Kim slowed to a walk. She checked the moon and tried to figure out where north was and head that way. Inside she was saddened and still. She had not had the imagination to realize this could really happen. She now understood she was the only one in her group who had been fooling themselves. They had known, they were trying to get to a zone of safety, a zone that Father Polus said he was being guided to. They were all walking on blistered and sore feet.

  Blisters! She allowed her mind to reach down to her foot. Oh, yes, it was there and throbbing. She closed the pain off from her mind and kept walking. Now there was no pain. This is what the Father was trying to get her to do for days. She couldn’t keep a sob from breaking out of her.

  Wandering alone in the night. She would never have believed it. Now she had to decide if she wanted to sleep and go on in the morning; or walk all night. This is crazy; my life could depend on how I decide this.

  In the end, as the moon was setting and she was shaky and exhausted; she crawled into the corner of an old barn and covered up with hay. She had learned the hard way not to bull her way through the forest.

  ~ ~ ~

  As the moon rose that night, Steve said a prayer for Kim. He was disgusted with her. He did not like her; but she was not an evil person. She was just self-centered and had been taught to value things that were ultimately meaningless. He did not hate her and felt he had failed because he had been unable to get through to her. He had not been able to show her this was no joke, that lives were cheap right now and they had to look out for each other.

  The rest of the group seemed to feel the same. They were not celebrating that Kim was gone, but no one said a thing; certainly not about going back for her. There was not much talking as they settled against a cliff overhang far back from the road they had been traveling. No one mentioned Kim as they mumbled quietly through their dinner and the mood was somber. It was a very long night.

  Chapter Nine

  Ferrisburg was a town clustered along Rt 7. A tall man in a Smokey Bear hat stood behind a barricade of a big truck turned on its side. Mick was riding up. He brought Lady to a stop, leaning forward patting her neck. Meanwhile, using these few seconds, Mick took in those broad shoulders, the ragged beard. The man was standing with his legs apart and solid with a stone expression on his face. He was tall too. Oh, boy, this could be trouble.

  “Hi there.”

  “Who are you and what are you doing in my town?”

  “I’m Mick. We are just traveling north. We’re heading to Burlington. We don’t want any trouble, we just want to follow the road so we don’t get lost.”

  Humph. The sound was low and full of disbelief. Mick was searching his brain for more to say. He didn’t want to come out and say he was, or had been, in the army. He didn’t know if this guy would think it was good or bad. What a frigging tightrope.

  The man moved his rifle to his other hand. The movement brought Mick back to full attention.

  “Um…” he started and was interrupted.

  “You all come up through Middlebury?” The voice was a growl that matched how he looked.

  “Oh.” Mick paused. Again, what should he say?

  Doug did it for him, by hanging his head.

  “You seen them hanging then?”

  “Yes.”

  “How’d you sneak through there?”

  “We…we didn’t, we ran right into two college boys and had, well, it was nothing but a shootout.”

  Hat Man nodded. “Good. Maybe some of my people will head south now and look for family.

  “You look properly bad about killing, so I guess you are decent. I’ll get this thing dragged off the road. You can pass through, but I’ve got people in the buildings, they’ll shoot you if you do anything out of line.

  “Name’s Jay. I was the town cop, now I guess I’m called Sheriff Jay.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Mick held out his hand. Things just might turn out ok.

  “Listen Sheriff Jay, I’ve been in touch with some military people, can I sit down with you and tell you our plan?”

  “Love that. Bring everyone on in and head up about a mile, we have a town hall, can’t miss it – big, white, looks kinda like a church. It’ll be on your left. We’ll have a lunch together and I’ll bring some others from town. We can share what we know.”

  Mick grinned to himself. This guy was just about as talkative as Ed. No extra words, that’s for sure.

  More than ‘some others’ from town showed up. There was a long table filled with food and the rest of the open meeting hall was packed with people. Mick couldn’t believe that this town had this many people. He was feeling a little stage fright as the noise was dying down and people were looking at his group.

  Lena spoke up, “Hi everyone!” That chipper voice and big smile was backed up by her green eyes and deep blonde hair. She looked lovely and that did have an effect. Lena got mostly smiles in return.

  “I’m glad your town’s ok. As you know, many places are not doing so well. I don’t know if you know this, but after the first dirty bombs, there was a focused attack on all military bases. The Taliban was trying to really destroy us and cause pretty much what is happening now.”

  Lena had their rapt attention now.

  Lean
ing forward she continued, “You know we are just passing through Ferrisburg and we’ve shared some basic information already. We don’t want anything from you, exactly. But I think we all want a safe place to live. A safe world to live in. We are headed to Burlington to meet up with some military guys. We have to check them out, we have to make sure they are not just well-armed criminals.”

  She saw Mick look startled and then frown.

  “I think they are fine, but we have to make sure.” This was mostly for Mick. It worked, he settled back to listen to the rest.

  “What I think we all need is to be able to trust each other as we rebuild. I propose that we all follow the constitution for now. That we call our towns Republic Towns to show we are all in agreement. The agreement is to be lawful and safe. To allow other people from Republic Towns to pass through unharmed. Then, if the military guys are for real, we can take back one state at a time, well, really one town at a time. We have to be strong if we are going to fight crazies like the Taliban or people who are just losing it and acting wild.

  “Note I said the constitution … not all those laws that have been built up. Just freedom with some law and order. I think each town should decide on the other laws that they want for their own citizens, and if anyone does not agree, then they can seek out another Republic Town and move there. I’ve got more thoughts on it, but for now we have to have each other’s backs. We will have to be a solid front if the Taliban makes it to us. We have to set aside any differences and be strong.”

  Lena took a look at the packed room. She felt her whole body relax as she saw open faces and some nods of agreement. Lena hadn’t realized how tense she had been, how afraid she had been that there would be strong disagreement.

  “Thanks. I have some great ideas on how we can rebuild our country. Maybe we can have a meeting in the spring and work on it. We had a great country, but it was backsliding. I think we all know of things we can do better – so we should!”

  Lena turned toward Mick. He took his cue.

  “Right. So I’m the best person to get a good idea about these military men in Burlington. I was stationed in Mass. when the bombs hit. I’ve had all the training and I’ll be able to tell if the guys in charge are sincere or just making a grab for power. I promise we will get word to you one way or the other.”

  To his surprise he was being applauded as he sat back down. He turned with raised eyebrows toward Lena. She was smirking at him, leaning in and whispering, “Super PR powers.”

  They all decided to stay the rest of the day and spend the night in Ferrisburg. Under the influence of Sheriff Jay, it seemed these people had an Old West feel and attitude. They were not panicking, they were wary, but also helpful.

  “I just had a good feeling about this group. I don’t know why. That speech just kind of bubbled up in me. Thoughts I had been kicking around for days seemed to come together right there. It was awesome looking out that big back window and seeing the mountains in the distance. I just felt like it was our kingdom.” Lena shrugged with a little self-conscious squint.

  “No, I know exactly what you mean. I was off balance when I first saw Jay. He looked like a bear! But he knew right away how bad Doug was feeling, and he knew what that meant about our whole group. A guy like Doug would only make it in a group of decent people.”

  “Right. I think this is a good solid town, I think towns like this are going to be a key, like the core, to us being successful in rebuilding a good world. Sounds sappy?”

  “Sounds hopeful,” Mick hip bumped her to ease the tension.

  “You know what you said earlier, about not having to do it the way people did before?”

  Mick cocked his head, “About us not having to break up bad if we fell out of love?”

  He said it! Lena’s heart thundered. She must have had a look of surprise and happiness on her face since Mick was laughing at her. His deep brown eyes were absolutely sparking at her. She was trying to get ahold of herself, but all she could do was mumble, “um…”

  Mick pulled her into a hug.

  “We can say it. It may be soon, but you are like a perfect fit for me. You are strong and smart in the areas I’m not. I’m good in areas you are not. But the most important thing is that we value the same things. We think the same way, so that makes everything else fall into place. It is fast, but these times are fast. I love you Lena.”

  Lena sighed into his shoulders.

  “I suppose that I just gave away how I feel,” her muffled voice barely carried to his ears.

  “True. But I knew anyway. I don’t know what is going to happen, but we are a good fit, I love you and I will do my best to be the best I can for you.”

  “Me too.”

  “So what were you saying?”

  “What?”

  “Falling out of love?”

  “What?”

  Mick roared with laughter. Lena gave a sigh and pulled out of her hug. She kissed Mick, a nice slow kiss full of warmth.

  “Ok, let me think a minute. You distracted me and now I’m all jittery.”

  Lena’s face was pulled in a frown of concentration.

  “Oh yeah! We don’t have to do things like before. I didn’t think the group was completely ready to hear this, but this is our opportunity to do it right. Start over – we know what went wrong, let’s try to do it right again, like Washington and Jefferson, but we know how things went wrong, so we set things up so the same people or families don’t stay in power year after year. So that people can’t make a living off being in congress. So loopholes don’t exist. So if people have really different ways they want to live, they can move to towns with others like them, live that way but still be part of the whole. All without the nastiness and meanness we had.”

  “Ah, my little dreamer.”

  They laughed so hard Lena ended up snorting.

  “Geez, Mick. I’m serious.”

  “I know, and I think it just could work. We have to take it one step at a time though.”

  “Yeah. A lot is going to depend on what we find in Burlington.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Hey – let’s sleep on that! Let’s go to sleep concentrating on army guys in Burlington!” Lena’s voice had gone up an octave in her excitement.

  “That’s my little Super PR Girl. Get the inside scoop so we know what to do when we get there.”

  “You got that right.”

  “Lena, I wonder if everyone alive has this ability? You know how when we said something, Ed and Sue also told us they had some dreams or visions. I wonder if everyone does. Like how the enhanced ability seems to be everywhere once we started to look for it – I bet most survivors can have the dreams too.”

  “Yeah. I wonder if that’s good or bad.”

  Chapter Ten

  It was Glenn that slowed them down the next day. He stumbled and twisted his ankle. What a stark difference from Kim, thought Steve.

  “Go on guys, I do have to rest and keep the swelling down. I’ll be along on your trail as soon as I can.” He started hopping over toward a little stream. In just a minute he had his shoe and sock off and was dipping his ankle in the cold water. Then he had fashioned a big branch over the stream and propped his leg up. Next he had his soaked sock on his elevated ankle to keep it cool and keep down any swelling. All in a matter of minutes, no whining and no blabbering on like a fool.

  “We can rest here for tonight. It is late in the afternoon.” There seemed to be a general consensus about this decision.

  They all started gathering wood and checking around for good places to sleep, any food, any supplies or places to run to hide. That was the routine each night.

  Steve bent over and gagged. Nausea had rolled up his stomach. He felt like a hypocrite. He dropped to his knees and started to pray. Father Steve Polus had just had the realization that he and his whole group was willing to take a greater risk for Glenn than they had been for Kim. That now the worth of a human life seemed to be different for each human. All people w
ere not created equal. Or at least, not valued equally. What did this say about him? What could this mean for humanity?

  He wondered if he should turn back for Kim. If he should push on without Glenn. His hand felt numb for a moment. Then normal. He glanced down at his ring. He frowned in puzzlement. The ring had caught his attention for some reason when he was trying to convince Ellie to go with him. What had it done? He couldn’t remember.