Rise From the Ashes: Lena's Story

by Laura Franklin

  “Then,” she hiccupped again. Started over, “Then I even had a chance to drop a hint that the mayor might not win the election.” Gales of laughter filled the room from both of them. “Oh, too bad I can’t get some other women to stand up and vote with me. I know they will change things, and I won’t be able to vote next year. If enough of us women, and good men like you, voted this year; we could really get a decent mayor in office and be one the first towns in America to actually give out equal rights. They do it in Australia and that country has not crumbled. If we really believe the things Lincoln stood for, we have to act like it. We can’t just say something then act another way.”

  “Oh, I agree. But change comes slowly.”

  “Well it shouldn’t. Why, I have such great ideas for how to make our country great, I should be the President!”

  Hilarity hit them both and Matt lost all his dignity as they both slid to the floor in laughter at that grand idea.

  ~ ~ ~

  Sue was leading the way. Trying to remember the hand signals Mick had taught her. The plan was for her to creep forward two or three houses at a time & then freeze. She was to look all around. The roofs, the windows, the yards; all over. She was to strain every bit of her enhanced eyesight. If nothing moved or seemed out of place, she was to signal a forward sign and then go back to looking while the group snuck up to her. That was in case their movement caused someone in ambush to move to get ready to shoot them. Then she was to go forward again and do it all over again.

  This was going to take hours to get basically nowhere. But no one else had a better, or safer, plan. So Sue played advanced scout for the better part of a whole day. There had been a few scurrying forms she spotted. They had just held their place for a while, not moving until it seemed safe.

  They had stashed their motorcycles in a non-descript shed, made a note of it so they could come back if/when they headed south in the spring. They now had all their supplies on the horses and were leading them. Trying to give them lots of little treats to keep them silent and patient as they crept forward.

  They had passed the normal dirty bomb dead bodies and a few others that looked like they had been stabbed or shot. But nothing near the wild carnage that they had seen in Middlebury.

  At the next crouching stop Mick whispered to the whole group, “We are going to have to think about where we can spend the night. I was thinking of finding a basement in a warehouse or something, starting to look now while we have plenty of daylight. Any other thoughts?”

  Shaking heads.

  “Ok. Sue, there is an old furniture building up ahead on the left. Doug, didn’t you say they usually have a basement to store extra stuff in?”

  “Yeah,” came a quiet whisper.

  “I think we would all love to sleep on a cushy couch or something. Let’s see if we can get in there, then see if the basement is set up so we can barricade ourselves in there. We will have to eat just these trail bars and stuff, no way can we risk making a fire or doing anything like that. I think we are going to have to bring the horses inside with us.”

  “Agreed.”

  Sue scanned the area; this was going to be a bigger jump forward because they were going to have to cross 4 lanes of deserted road to get to the furniture store. Just as she was in the actual motion of giving the ‘go ahead’ sign, a noise and light flared up maybe 10 blocks ahead and to their right.

  They all froze.

  Mick leaned into to her ear, “You were giving the go ahead, have you seen anything in the last few seconds?”

  “No.”

  “Then we have to go. Maybe whatever it is will distract anyone who may be watching now.”

  They moved forward, crossing the street quickly. No one liked moving over that exposed ground. They all moved inside the store. Of course, the front was all glass; built so customers could see the newest furniture and newest styles and colors of fabrics. Now most of the glass was broken – much of the furniture had been looted. But the looting had not lasted long in any U.S. town. The deaths became serious, the need to loot was gone since there were few to impress with a big screen TV that didn’t get any signal. Since anyone left could get their own useless big screen TV or whatever luxury item, it really was useless to do any whole-scale looting of anything other than food and useful stuff.

  With no lights on inside they felt less exposed. Anyone looking over from the far side of the street was going to be looking into the setting sun and into a dark building. There was only a block and a half on their side of the street because after that the land was gone and a magnificent lake stretched out to the far mountains catching the setting sun.

  Lena had told them earlier this was Lake Champlain. And you didn’t say it like the bubbly drink! She hated the name, it was hard to say and too close to the drink. She would have picked a much more noble name for the big lake. It was almost as big as the other Great Lakes – but not quite. It had been named after the French explorer who ‘discovered’ it. Since I guess the natives didn’t count, even though they had been living and fishing on the lake for centuries before this Mr. de Champlain had come along. Lena made a vow to look up in some history books what the native name for the lake had been.

  They quickly found some wide stairs down to the basement. It was a good thing the stairs were so wide, they were built this way to make moving mattresses and couches up and down easier, today they served to make it easier for the horses to pick their way slowly down. The horses were not at all happy about this new ground. A few snorted and refused to even try one step.

  Mick knew the key. He smiled as he patted Lady. “I’m going to write about this and send this to your old man. He will be proud of you girl.” With that, and with full confidence of what was about to happen, Mick led Lady slowly down the stairs. Sure enough, as the other horses saw their spiritual leader-horse walking gingerly but surely down the stairs; they stopped fussing and followed their humans down also.

  The basement was huge, it had only small windows very high up on the walls. It didn’t take long for the group to make a little barrier of dressers and tables to keep the horses on one side. Mattresses and chairs and couches were lined up against the far wall. Mick and Ed headed outside alone to round up something the horses could eat while the others spent the last few hours of daylight checking over the packs and straps that held the only possessions they had left.

  Mick and Ed had not mentioned they had more in mind then just finding some hay or grain for the horses. They moved toward the noise and now what was obviously a fire. From the side of a building shrouded with the branches of a large shrub, they saw a small house was on fire. It was ringed by a group of people, both men and women. They weren’t acting wild, like insane. They were acting like little kings or punks. So that gave Mick the info he needed. Must be that though this place was not sinking into anarchy, it had settled into gang areas. The fire was controlled and must have been a sign to anyone who was not ‘in’ with the local gang that was controlling this area. They eased back into the shadows and took comfort that this gang seemed like it would be occupied with partying around the burning building for the rest of the night.

  So that night went along as well as could be while so close to horses that were pooping at random. Going up the stairs in the morning was much easier for the horses. They all waited deep inside the building as Sue scanned the area.

  Mick was getting edgy and excited about maybe making it to the National Guard base that day. It was going to be a relief to be part of a bigger camp. It would feel much safer. He hoped it would be. Lena had got him thinking about the many things that could go wrong with a career military man in charge of things.

  They had been moving up close to the lake most of the morning. Mick felt it was a balancing out of risks. There may be more people wanting to be near the lake, but this way made it so they only had to watch for attacks and ambushes from three sides instead of four.

  They were headed for a marina: lots of medium sized white boats were bo
bbing in the mid-morning sun. Mick figured they were near Echo Aquarium and the main tourist or activity spot along the lakefront in Burlington. That meant they would have to start to head inland, so a little east and north now, to find the National Guard. He was going to have to pause and check a local map he had picked up in Shelburne.

  “HALT!”

  They did. It was bellowed out with such authority that they all actually froze in place like statues.

  “State your name and what you are doing here.”

  Mick finally zeroed in on where the booming voice was coming from, a man in a U.S. Marine dress uniform was standing on one of the boats pointing a rifle at them.

  “Private Buckner. Here to meet up with Major Morna.”

  “Private Buckner, state your first name.”

  “Mick.”

  “Private, you are late. Move your group straight up the road. Stop in front of the aquarium. I’ll have men, civilians, sent to take care of your horses.”

  “Right, uh, thanks…” Mick drew out his words in a way that was clearly asking this marine his name.

  “Sergeant Mills. You can call me Sal tonight when I’m off duty.” It was nice to see a smile on his face. Also to know he was expected.

  They moved off in the direction Mills had pointed. Doug crowded into Mick to whisper, “What the hell was that all about? Are they going to rob us? That was harsh!”

  Mick laughed at him. “No. That was military. In fact, that was as close as that Sergeant could get to hugging me while on duty.”

  Doug was looking at Mick with eyebrows drawn and a ‘you’re crazy’ expression.

  Mick gouged him with a playful elbow. “Saying I’m late is a way of saying something like we’ve been waiting for you and were worried about you. Trust me.”

  “Whatever.”

  Lena and Ed were smiling. They were a little put off by the rough welcome too, but after listening to Mick, it made total sense to them.

  “Oh my god – look!” Lena pointed in excitement.

  They were clopping along some quaint cobblestones in front of the aquarium. The science and aquarium building was ringed around with the bumpy stones and the horse’s hooves were striking them and letting off a really old-fashioned sound. The cobbles circled the whole building. To the right ran a road parallel to the lake and the sidewalk they had been traveling up since passing the marina. Right at Echo Aquarium another road came down a huge hill, hitting the area in a 90° angle. Following this road with their eyes, they watched as it led straight away from the lake and up an incline lined with old, historic homes.

  This view was not what had grabbed Lena’s attention. North of them, further along the lake there was no sidewalk anymore, but a cobblestone walkway along the lake. It was wide, like a boardwalk along the sea, only it was just a block long. To the right of the boardwalk were adult sized swing sets. Behind them was park, and forward just after the boardwalk was more park. This is where Lena was looking. About 3 blocks ahead in the open park land, close to the lake’s shore, was a spot that was obviously set up for an open air fire.

  The bonfire of their visions; on the beach of a huge lake.

  Chapter Twelve

  Major Brent Morna turned out to be even better than Lena had hoped for. He was tall, slim and muscular. He had black hair. A strong face with hazel eyes. Even though it had been well over a month since the dirty bombs hit, he had kept his hair in a buzz cut. He was in a tight-fitting army uniform. He had those colored bars people called ribbons over one pocket. Lena had no idea why anyone would call a bar shaped decoration a ribbon, but whatever. She certainly didn’t have a doubt that Major Morna earned those ribbons by some kind of brave act. He had keen, sharp eyes and with a brisk motion commanded Mick to stand in front of him. They snapped a salute to each other almost at the same time.

  Lena was waiting for the Major to start right in badgering Mick about his hair, which was now well longer than any buzz cut.

  “I’m glad you made it son. I was expecting you about a week ago, so we were getting worried around here. Mills radioed in to tell me you were headed up here with a group.” He turned to Lena and the others who were all just standing there holding their horses. “Nice to see you all here. If you want to start walking your horses up the hill a way, there is a spot midway up there that we turned into our stables. Up and off to the left. I’d like to debrief Private Buckner in private if you don’t mind. We will be down for lunch and we can all get to know each other then.”

  He turned and marched away, disappearing inside Echo. Like a true leader, he had not waited for discussion or agreement. Mick gave a small nod to Lena and followed after his superior officer. Lena felt like she had just been dismissed. But along with that feeling she felt safe. It was as if Major Morna was a gruff father figure. She felt she could count on him if any danger threatened. So she didn’t hesitate for more than a second before she started up the hill and she already saw some guys heading down toward them. They had a few hours until lunch so they may as well learn all the ins and outs of the stable and where things were kept and get their horses all settled in. She didn’t know about the others, but she knew that she had grown to really like Clint and she also knew for sure that Mick adored Lady. So she would make sure they were tucked away safe with full bellies.

  Major Brent Morna was no slacker. Mick had been sitting across from him for two hours now, and was pretty sure every bit of information about the towns, people and criminals they had passed had been picked out of him. So far nothing had come up to give him a hint about the enhanced abilities that Mick and Lena had discovered, nor of the visions. Major Morna had not asked any questions about this. That was good, because until he knew this guy better, Mick was not going to share that and he instinctively really liked Major Morna. He did not want to have to lie to him.

  Lunch was set up in a little cafeteria on the lower floor of Echo, it had a deck and it really was fantastic to eat and watch the water and look out at the autumn trees while being sheltered from the cool wind. A few other soldiers joined them for lunch. Lena looked around but didn’t see Sergeant Mills. After lunch Mick filled his group in on the basics.

  For right now he was to be on watch duty for ½ a day and to train at drills and skills for the other ½ a day. The military group had complete control of most of Burlington and Williston. Major Morna was the highest ranking soldier there, and therefore was the commander. At least until someone who outranked him showed up.

  They really had a sweet set up in the city. Because Vermont had been on the cutting edge of solar and wind power, it seemed like at least 20% of the homes and businesses still had power! The rest of the world may be dark, but they still had energy. This was why they had working radios. They could easily recharge the batteries and keep other necessities of communication going. Lena was going to enjoy checking into all that was available. It was going to be awesome to have lights at night, but right now they were being told to keep to a blackout schedule, no lights once it really got dark out – for safety’s sake and to keep from being a big beacon if there were enemies flying overhead. One bonfire would look natural, a city all aglow with light like cities used to be was just a target for a bomb. Still, Lena was looking forward to finding a way to set up a Movie Night. That and a hot bubble bath.

  In the meantime, they could all go looking for homes that were vacant and set up a house for the winter. They were supposed to look for houses that had a woodstove; a fireplace would not work for a bigger house, just a small cottage type of place. Then they could report back to the base secretary the address they were going to settle in. They were to mark their front door with a red ribbon, or paint the whole thing red, so any others looking would know that house was taken.

  Every so often, if they had the man power, they would take back more of the city from the little gangs that were claiming areas to the south and east. It seemed that people were giving up their homes and sneaking into the military zone daily to get away from the gangs. The g
angs didn’t kill for fun, but they were mean and it was dangerous if a glorified gang leader started to think any person in ‘their’ area was not a part of them or connected to them in some way. So it certainly wasn’t a place for families or people who just wanted to live a normal or peaceful life.

  Any people that did manage to come to the military zone were kept separate and given an orientation by specialists, these were men trained to train soldiers and also psychiatrists. They were vetting the people to see if they were spies or something along that line before they let them free inside their safety zone. Mick had vouched for the people with him. Since he had been traveling with them for a long time and seen them under stress, he knew for sure they were reliable and his opinion seemed to be enough.

  Any athletic types that passed the orientation were encouraged, but not forced, to join the military in order to help rotate lookout positions and keep the zone safe. For the most part, the gangs knew the military zone was armed with good weapons and people who knew how to use them. They were not interested in busting in so long as they could be boss over their little piece of the world.