by Harp, Wilson
Campfires dotted the darkness for the entire distance in the night, an indication the caravan had stretched out as everyone found their pace.
That night I brought up an issue which had worried me for some time.
“When we get to DeKalb,” I said. “We will need to resupply. How will we do that? I doubt they’ll take scrip from home or the base.”
Ted smiled and motioned us near. He pulled out the black, wooden box Kenny gave him back at the power plant.
“Kenny gave me his, and I have another one deep in my pack,” he said. He slid the box open just enough to slip his fingers in and removed something.
He looked around and held his hand out for us to see. It was a small bar of silver. He then closed his hand and carefully placed the valuable bar back in the box.
“We have more than enough silver to buy what we need,” he said. “We’ll be okay.”
“Where did you get the silver?” Anne asked. “That’s a fortune.”
“We bought it up a few ounces at a time over the last several years.”
“How much do you have?”
“Eighty ounces. We brought forty each. It’ll be enough to buy everything we need and get us home with plenty to spare.”
I was in awe of the details Ted had considered when planning for this trip. I felt confident we would reach Chicago and find my family for the first time in weeks as I fell asleep.
The next morning the most forward group of walkers set a fast pace. We easily kept up, but it was curious why some were willing to outpace the wagons. What we discovered was some of the wagon owners had sent people ahead, mostly those we walked with, to make arrangements for their goods before the others arrived. Those who hadn’t would find the best deals and bargains would already be gone when they arrived.
Around forty of us made up the group which charged ahead. We easily covered twenty-five miles a day and speculated on what those behind us must have thought.
On the sixth morning since we left with the caravan, the weather turned rough. Wind and snow swept in from the north and we scrambled to find a place to stay. By noon, we had found the town of Kewanee and sought shelter as the blizzard unleashed on us.
Chapter 17
The line of clouds looked like any other in the early morning, but the wind which came with it suggested this system was different. Snow began to pelt us in the first few minutes and soon poured in sheets. We made it to Kewanee before the worst hit, but there wasn’t very much shelter available. The few abandoned houses were snatched up by those who didn’t care if they made themselves a nuisance, while the rest of us sought a place the town would freely give.
It turned out to be a train station. It was fairly new and spacious, but with over twenty of us who needed room, it was a little crowded. We settled in and watched the snow from the large windows.
“There’s not a lot of shelter out there,” said Anne. “And it’s coming down heavy.”
“Yeah, I’m afraid a lot of people won’t make it to town,” I said. “I hope they’ll be safe.”
“The wagons are probably twenty to thirty miles behind us,” Ted said. “There’re more places to find cover where they are. They should be good.”
“Some might have to leave their goods behind,” I said. “I don’t think many will do that.”
Ted shook his head as he stared out the window. “No material possession is worth losing your life over. But you’re right, there’ll be those who refuse to lose what they have. And it’ll cost them everything.”
“I hope those morons take care of the horses and oxen,” Anne said. She was already upset at the conditions the animals were in as the caravan started.
About an hour before sunset, we saw three men stagger into view. They had packs on, but didn’t look like they were carrying trade goods. I hurried to the door and opened it.
“Come on,” I yelled into the blizzard. “Just a little more.”
The cold and wind lashed at me and I had to close the door, but none of the men had heard nor seen me as they struggled toward the station. Anne helped me get them inside when they reached us. Some of the others in the station muttered about letting the cold in, but I couldn’t let someone stagger around in a blizzard just feet from safety.
“Thanks,” one of the men said as he leaned against the wall. “I thought there might be someone here but I didn’t know if we could get in.”
“Come, let’s get you warm,” I said.
Anne and I took the men over to where Ted sat with our gear.
“Looks like you made some new friends,” Ted said as the men sat down next to a wall near us. Snow still caked their clothes and had frozen in their beards even with their faces wrapped in scarves. All three were suffering from hypothermia, but it didn’t look like they had frostbite on their faces yet.
“We have plenty of room and their body heat will be of benefit,” I told Ted.
He smiled at me. “I was just poking at you. I would’ve done the same if I saw them first.”
When the men had recovered a few minutes, they shucked off their packs. We pointed them to the restrooms where they could brush off the snow and ice without making the station itself unnecessarily wet.
When they returned, they sat near us.
“Thank you, again,” one of the men said. “My name’s Alan. This is Terry and Chad. We’re in your debt.”
“Think nothing of it,” I said. “I’m David, and this is Anne and Ted. Glad you made it in safely.”
“David. Anne. Ted,” Alan said as he looked at each of us. “It’s good to meet you. Yeah, the blizzard came out of nowhere. About two hours ago we decided we had to push on rather than shelter in place. We passed several groups which had camped under a couple of trees. Some not far from here. I don’t know how many will make it through tonight.”
“You part of the trade caravan?” Ted asked. “Your packs don’t look like you’re traders, no offence.”
“Yeah, I have a couple of wagons about a day back. When I heard there was another group ahead trying to get to DeKalb before the wagons arrived, I decided that would be a good option for us, so we packed light hoping we could catch up.”
“That’s what most of the people here are doing,” I said.
“But you’re not?” he asked.
I hesitated. Speaking without consideration had been a flaw of mine since we started. I feared to tell too much to people we had just met.
“No, we’re just traveling,” said Ted.
“Seems to be bad weather to be out for a stroll,” Alan said with a laugh.
“Where are you from?” Anne asked.
“Up from Peoria. This was supposed to be a quick run up, get a few deals done, get back home. But with this,” he motioned to the windows, “looks like it’ll be a bit longer than we planned.”
We passed the rest of the evening in friendly conversation with Alan and the others. They were curious of the world away from Illinois, but they didn’t seem to pry too much. We told them of Kenton, but not where it was, and how Ted had got the place organized at the beginning. Alan was interested in little things. Minor stuff, I would have thought, like how we stored seed from our harvests and how we assigned older people to live with families with small children.
During the evening, several more groups came into the station having made their way through the blizzard. One group had a woman who was inconsolable. Her husband had become separated from their group in the snow and wind. He never made it to the station, and although the others in her group tried to assure her he must have found shelter in the storm, she wailed through the night.
Two rough men banged on the door around midnight. When brought in, they showed signs of frostbite on their face, hands and feet. They were the last to make it as the storm raged on through the night.
The next morning, the sky had lightened, and although the clouds still covered the sky, the snow had slowed to a gentle shower. Drifts as high as the station stood above the several feet of snow the
blizzard had dumped on us.
For two days we remained trapped. We stayed warm and had plenty of food; the only stress, for us, was the boredom. Others trapped had their wagons, supplies, and friends to worry about. But Ted, Anne, and I used the time to relax and plan ahead. We spent a lot of time with Alan, Terry, and Chad.
Terry had a small chess set in his pack and he and Ted played game after game. I was never a good chess player, but both of them were. They beat me handily anytime I tried to play. They, however, were a good match for each other.
Chad had helped his father on a ranch in Colorado when he was a kid. He and Anne spoke about horses and other animals.
Alan was a history teacher and had some notebooks and pens. He wanted to make a journal of his trips and notes about life. He thought maybe one day it would be useful to historians to have a first-hand view of events. He asked me for all sort of details of what we had seen and where we had been. I told him what I felt comfortable with, and he didn’t push me too far. He seemed very interested in Kenny and asked several times what happened to him, but I just told him there were some things too painful to talk about.
On the third morning, the sun peeked out and blue skies pushed in behind the clouds. Everyone was anxious to get out of the station and back on the road, but the snow was quite deep, it didn’t seem likely we could move well with our heavy packs.
A couple of men left the station to go scavenging in town. When they returned about two hours later, they had six small sheets of plywood and a length of rope. They crafted sleds to carry their packs and took off at a steady pace from the station. In a few minutes, all of the other groups headed out into town. Ted told me and Anne to wait with the gear and returned an hour later with two sheets of plywood and forty feet of rope.
“Hardware store with a line of us outside and an owner who knew he had what we needed. I had to cough up a silver bar for this,” he grumbled as we crafted two sleds.
We were back on the road by mid-afternoon and made pretty good time. We stopped about five miles down the road, exhausted but happy to have made some progress.
About half an hour later, Alan and the others found us and asked if they could join our camp. I was surprised since there was plenty of room around, but we let them join anyway. The evening was pleasant, and a south wind brought a welcome change from the damp, smelly station we had been stuck in.
The next morning had all of the travelers up early. The sleds were easier to pull over the snow as the sunlight was melting the top layer. By noon, we decided to abandon the sleds and carry the packs again. The snow wasn’t as deep the further north and east we went, or maybe it had melted with the south wind and sun.
When we made camp, Alan’s men joined us without question. Chad turned out to be a good cook and we were able to hunt several squirrels before dinner. The smell of roast meat made my mouth water and I thought it was one of the best meals I had ever eaten.
That night I fell asleep to the sound of water dripping. The weather had turned very nice after the blizzard and by morning, the road was almost clear. A few from the crowd decided to stay and camp a few days in hopes the wagons would catch up. I knew some were just worried the wagons would show at all after five days of no contact. The rest of us took to the road, eager to reach DeKalb as soon as possible.
It was on that leg we ran across something truly disturbing.
“What’s that?” Anne asked as we approached a large pile of snow off to the side of the road.
“It looks like a backpack,” I said.
Anne walked over to the pile and bent down.
“It is a backpack,” she said. She grabbed it and pulled.
Her shrieks caused almost everyone to ready their weapons. Ted jumped forward and grabbed her.
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Ted said.
He turned her from the pile and guided her back to the road. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the dead body she had revealed when she pulled on the backpack. I realized there were probably four or five bodies in the pile. People who had tried to build shelter from the blizzard but succumbed to the cold.
We pressed on afterward and put in a full day’s travel. When we stopped for the night, there was a set of abandoned buildings on the south of the road and a large warehouse on the north. There were only about twelve of us left, so we knew everybody pretty well. Alan, Terry, and Chad decided to go check out the warehouse as we set up in one of the small buildings.
We organized our bags to accommodate Alan and the others, but the evening wound on and they didn’t show. I stepped out and saw a light flicker from the warehouse.
“I guess they set up over there,” I said.
I was about to turn when something caught my eye. It looked like something moving on top of the warehouse. I dug out Kenny’s binoculars from my pack and looked through them.
“Hey Ted,” I said. “Check this out.”
“What?”
“Up there on the roof, look.” I handed him the binoculars.
“That’s Alan. And it looks like he has a radio.”
“Good,” I said. “I thought I was going crazy.”
“A radio?” Anne asked. “Do you think there was one in the warehouse?”
“Not a working one,” I said. “I wonder why he never mentioned it.”
“Not sure,” said Ted. He handed me the binoculars back. “Guess there was no reason to say and we didn’t ask.”
“Maybe his wagons have one and he’s calling back to them,” Anne said.
“I think he would have done so the day we left Kewanee,” I said. “Just odd is all. In any case, it looks like they are staying over there tonight, so we might as well turn in.”
That night I dreamed of being back at the air base. I was in a hot shower and felt warm. Even in the dream I could feel the cold leave my bones and energy and life creep back in. I dreamt of walking through fields of waist high wheat. Of peach orchards and homemade ice cream. It was a wonderful night for dreams.
There was a picnic. No, a carnival in town. And there were hundreds of people and laughing children. The sun shone down as I walked through the town square. The smell of barbeque permeated the air and I took a deep breath.
And I coughed.
The smell became more intense and people ran from it. And smoke billowed toward me.
My eyes opened. I sat up and saw Anne and Ted up as well.
I coughed as I tried to speak. There were sounds outside.
I scrambled to my feet and reached the door right before Ted. I flung it open and a wave of smoke poured in. I coughed and stepped out into ash and smoke filled air.
People poured out of the other buildings around us.
I looked across the highway and saw the warehouse engulfed in flames. I froze as I looked across the distance. The metal building glowed orange on one end, as the creaks and moans of the fire consuming the building, filled the air.
And then I heard the screams of the men inside.
Chapter 18
I ran toward the burning building. My legs covered the icy ground in a mad dash. I heard the screams and heard myself scream in response. Maybe I yelled their names, maybe just that help was coming, I don’t know.
It was about a quarter of a mile between our building and the warehouse, but the distance seemed to stretch out in front of me as I ran. The flames hid behind the wall of smoke, but the occasional flare-up caused the picture in front of me to flicker like a strobe-light. The more I ran, the more I felt like I wouldn’t get there.
And then, suddenly, I was right on the building. The heat from the fire made me stop as if I had run into a sudden wall. Within ten feet of the door the heat was brutal. I heard yells and bangs from the men just inside the door, but I knew I couldn’t approach, the heat was too intense.
Doubt suddenly jumped at me. What was I doing? I could die near this heat. I would never find Lexi and Emma, I would leave behind Ted and Anne. Luke, Sophia, and all of the others back home. Kenny’s death woul
d be in vain. And yet I had to do something. Men were dying inside.
I saw an old shovel near the building and grabbed it. I charged into the heat field and jammed the blade of the tool between the door and frame and pushed hard. My feet slipped on the ground. The heat had melted the snow completely and turned the surrounding ground into a slick pile of mud. I got up from my knee, and braced myself for another push. I felt the door give a few inches, but it wasn’t enough.
Then someone ran into my back and grabbed the handle as well. We both pushed and the door popped open like a cork.
I staggered backward and fell over the person behind me. I looked at the door and saw a man stagger out and drop flat, another man knelt behind him in the door.
Ted rushed forward and pulled the man from his knees and practically tossed him outside. Then he reached down for something hidden by the smoke.
I found my feet and pulled myself up. Anne was on the muddy ground beneath me and I helped her to her feet.
“Did we get them?” She asked.
Others had gathered around and I saw Ted carrying a man over his shoulder. One of the other travelers helped Ted lower him to the ground. It was Chad.
Alan and Terry sat on the ground as a bottle of water was offered. They coughed and hacked as they breathed the cold night air.
“Chad, Chad,” Ted said. He started mouth-to-mouth as the others watched.
Alan and Terry both leaned forward to see.
Chad’s body convulsed and he coughed. Ted turned the man on his side and leaned back.
“Let’s get them across the road,” someone said. “The building could collapse at any moment.”
The others had come to help along with Ted, Anne, and me. They half carried the men across the road. Ted slowed and looked back at me and Anne.
“You coming, or do we need to carry you as well?” he asked. “You’re crazy, David. You’re just nuts.”