The Changing Earth Series (Book 1): Day After Disaster

by Hathaway, Sara F.

  Chapter 10

  Star awoke Erika with a shove. “Erika, I heard someone. Wake up!” she whispered frantically.

  “Okay, okay, I’m up,” Erika whispered groggily. “What’s going on?”

  “I heard a vehicle pull up and turn off, over that way,” Star explained, pointing toward the old road. “The guys that were in the truck went that way.” She pointed down the canyon.

  “Stay here and be quiet,” Erika commanded.

  Quickly, she grabbed a couple of broken wooden dowels that used to hold clothes in a closet. In a pinch, if Erika did have to defend herself, she figured she would at least have something. She was proficient at wielding the three-foot-long fighting sticks known as escrima sticks. However, live combat would be a new experience with the weapons. Erika was well dressed for stalking the men. She wore a green hoodie that Carol gave her. With the hoodie she could keep warm without wearing a huge, bright white cook’s shirt. On her legs she still wore the cook’s pants, but the motif of the restaurant was a jungle theme so at least the pants were mostly green and brown, which provided excellent camouflage. Her clothes were splattered with blood from Star’s mom and her attacker. On her feet, she wore the moccasins that Henry made her. They were finally breaking in from the constant use and fit snugly on her feet. Her moccasins helped keep her silent and disguise the shape of her footsteps. Her brown hair blended in naturally and the dirt covering it camouflaged it further. Erika thought her hair was gross and could not wait to give it a good shampoo and conditioning. She bent down outside of the tented area and rubbed her face with some mud. She didn’t want her face to be a beacon of white signaling her quarry. She was not about to get caught by these weirdoes, but she needed to know what they were up to.

  Erika knew that they went down the old road, but she was curious how far they made it since Star roused her? There was no way to know. Cautiously moving forward, it was easy to make out their tracks in the mud. She was very careful not to leave any of her own tracks to be noticed by the men when they returned. She followed their tracks but stayed well to the left of them on a higher ravine. This way her tracks were hidden on the top of the little ridge and she was always uphill from her quarry.

  This was a treacherous route to choose. At one time the canyon road was a beautiful drive. Along the way oaks, pines, and manzanitas reached for the heights of the canyon. Waterfalls cascaded down the sides and eventually joined the meandering river. Huge rock outcroppings made wonderful sitting areas for all the travelers to enjoy the view or simply have a rest. Mountain bikers and hikers with dogs dotted the whole area, and during the summer the activity was immense as people flocked to the river to avoid the heat. The brilliant forest that the canyon supported teemed with animal life as well, and the day that the dam was finally finished many people cried for the wildlife that would have to find new homes.

  In need of water, the river was turned into a lake. The men built their dam and flooded the land with water. The dam itself was a bridge from the town of Auburn to the town of Cool. There was also another bridge that stood long before the dam was built. This bridge was one of the tallest in North America before the land below it was flooded, but it was originally built to stand in the water anyway. Years of waiting for the water, while debate over the dam construction raged, was deteriorating it. Erika remembered some of her crazy friends who base-jumped off it and it had been used a few times in Hollywood productions. Once the water inundated the area it was just another bridge on a road. This bridge connected the town of Auburn to another mountain town, Foresthill.

  Before they flooded the land, the trees were all cut down. It would have wasted the wood to leave them under the water. Plus, they were too tall and would affect the boats riding on the water above. Logging companies cut down vast swathes of forest and the nearby residents, all eager to get their beachfront properties, could hear the screams of birds and animals crying for their homes that they would never return to. Now only a ghost forest of stumps remained; the ground was a sloppy mush of dirt was saturated with water for years. But the months since the dam broke left the high areas of the former mountain range exposed. A crust formed on the top of the exposed dirt. Luckily, Erika was a little woman and very light. With her moccasins on she could walk very flat-footed and float over this crust without disturbing it too much. If she left any tracks it could be disastrous. Erika continued cautiously on, delicately stepping from one stump to the next.

  Straining her ears, she heard them in the distance. They were on the other side of the hill around the next bend. Erika could see the stumps they hid behind. It looked as if their attention was focused down the river. They engaged in conversation. Erika seized the moment. She slowly crept through the mud to a stump on a cliff almost directly above them. Gazing down, Erika surveyed the area they occupied. It was a small cove with stumps to keep them hidden from whatever they were looking at below them.

  Erika squinted, trying to see what was down there. There was a walled area on the edge of the wide river. Erika assumed the wall was erected to keep out intruders like the ones lurking around below her. She paused from her thoughts to listen to their chatter.

  “Do you see any obvious weak spots, Steve?” Erika thought she recognized that voice. It was the darker-skinned man she saw before. What was his name? Erika tried to remember, Oh yeah, Doug. It was that same man that she overheard in the Jeep. She’d eluded him then and now here she was overhearing once more.

  “See where the fence is just made of that sheet metal?” Steve replied.

  “Yeah,” Doug urged him to continue.

  “Well, if we could throw something sharp through it with a barb on it like a fishing hook we could tie it to a rope and use them to rip those walls wide open,” Steve explained.

  “Alright, Steve, I’m buying what you’re selling. With a big barb we might be able to rip those walls right down. Too bad we couldn’t find those horses that left those tracks the other day. We’d have more mobility. We only have the one truck that can make it through that mud and back up again. Plus, you know what our gas supply looks like. I almost hate to waste any on another raid. Animals like that could make a big difference. We could tie the ropes to them and use them to rip those weak-ass walls down.”

  “We have what we have, boss, and that’s it. Unless we can get more from those tree huggers down there and I think the grapplers will do the trick. I have all the materials we need at the compound to make them. Remember, those iron fenceposts? All we need to do is sharpen them and weld on barbs and we’re all set. If we put all the men on it, we could be ready by nightfall,” Steve speculated, formulating an attack strategy.

  Erika was starting to develop a much bigger picture of what was going on here. She ascertained that this guy, Doug, was the leader of the group in Auburn. He’d brought his guy, Steve, here to devise a plan to attack these people! What am I going to do? she asked herself. She couldn’t attack two fully grown men. They were hardened from all this fighting. She was one little woman with two sticks. Who am I kidding? she thought. She had her family to get home to. Not to mention Star and the horses, who were still waiting for her. This was not her fight but her ethical compass compelled her to want to help. She couldn’t deny this overwhelming urge to protect these people on the river. Different options for handling the situation flooded her mind. Her thoughts were brought to a screeching halt when the men below started to move.

  Shrinking back into the shadows, Erika watched Doug and Steve cautiously make their way back up the canyon. They were so concerned about not being seen themselves that they never bothered to look for footprints of anyone who may have followed them. Erika quietly moved from stump to stump, following them back up. Her body shook with nervousness, but she wanted to learn more of their plan.

  “Steve, do you really think we could have the grapplers ready by tonight?” Doug questioned.

  “Yeah, I do, boss,” Steve replied confidently.

  “Good, because there’s a rumor
that they’re preparing to leave,” Doug said in a concerned voice.

  “Leaving? Where would they go? Where would anyone go?” Steve questioned curiously.

  “I don’t know, and I don’t really care. However, they are blocking a good spot to access the river. They have food. They also have some smart fellows down there that made that generator they run. I even heard that they have at least half a dozen women in that camp. We have to overtake them before they leave,” Doug insisted.

  “What are you talking about, Doug? If they leave, we can have their camp without a fight. I understand that we need supplies. We’ve done whatever’s necessary to keep us alive and safe, but we can’t take people. What would we do with them? How would we feed any more people than we already have in camp?” Steve replied, shocked by Doug’s suggestion.

  “Think about it, Steve. Those men are smart enough to get us connected to someone who might still be out there. They already have power down there and they can make more at our camp. They can figure out how to fuel our vehicles. Plus, if we capture them by force what say will they have in what they do or eat? If they don’t do what we say, then they won’t eat, or we’ll get some boxing practice in.

  “As for the women, I don’t know about you, but I could use some action. We have thirty guys and five women at camp. It’s a regular sausage fest. Four of those women are married and the last is already taken by Bill. Those women down there could be the solution. If they want to eat, they can cook and clean and if we need some action, well, they can take care of that too, if you know what I mean,” he laughed, grabbing his groin and thrusting it forward as he finished his statement.

  “I gotta admit, I could really use the company of a woman. There are some people at the compound who will protest,” Steve worried, concerned despite his partial agreement to Doug’s plan.

  “Probably just those mouthy wenches anyway. If they don’t like it, let them leave and try to survive on their own. They’ll come crawling back in no time,” Doug said cockily.

  Erika couldn’t believe what she was hearing. What century was she in? What country? How could our super-civilized world decay so quickly? What Doug was talking about is slavery! she told herself. He was going to take those people as slaves. Now she had no choice. She would have to warn these people. They needed to leave, or life for this once-sleepy little town was going to rapidly be transferred back to the 17th century.

  Erika watched the men struggle to reach the top. As full-grown men in their twenties and thirties, their bodies were much heavier than Erika’s. As they walked, they crushed through the top layer of crust on the mud and slipped and slid everywhere. The slimy dirt got stuck on their boots and with each step they became heavier and heavier. It looked very arduous and Erika was glad for her soft steps and lightweight body. Finally, they were scrambling up the last hill. They kicked the mud off their boots and pants for one last time. Cresting the hill, they disappeared into the ruined city. Erika waited to hear their vehicle start up in the distance and in a flash, she was climbing back into the hole that contained Star.

  Chapter 11

  “Come on, Star, we gotta go now!” she commanded Star.

  Star didn’t even question Erika. She scrambled across the shelter, quickly packing the blankets and food she brought from the packs. Erika left to tend to the horses. By the time Star was done, Erika was cinching down the last strap on the saddle. They finished packing Star’s handful of supplies into the horses’ packs and mounted Artaz. No longer caring about tracks, she rode directly into the road and started down the canyon.

  Erika’s heart pounded frantically in her chest as the horses descended into the mountainside. She thought that the heavy men slid a lot on this mud. That was nothing compared to the horses’ pounding footsteps. Slipping and sliding as they went, Erika clung to Artaz and Star clamped onto Erika like a tick. Erika never liked riding downhill. She grew up riding horses on the flat Midwestern land. She remembered learning the appropriate amount of leaning it took to hang on gracefully, but it always felt awkward. Now, not only was it going to be a long downhill ride, but the slippery mud made it a horrific experience. There was no grace here. Erika thought of getting down and leading the horses to reduce the weight they carried, but it would take twice as long to reach the bottom. Time was not something they had very much of right now.

  Following the old road at the start, Erika feared leaving it to go directly down the steep mountainside, but that is exactly what she would have to do. She tried to wind down the side of the mountain in the classic “S” formation. Although it took a little more time, it would be much safer for the horses. Erika found it kind of ironic that the area where these people were camped was a nude beach back when the river flowed unabated through the canyon. These people that Doug referred to as “hippies.” She wondered if the energy in the area called them back and chuckled to herself about the idea.

  There was a sense of security when they were traveling the old road. When they were on it, she knew that somewhere beneath them a road did exist. Some remains of solid, paved ground remained in some form and provided support for the horses’ footing. Traveling off the road was like stepping off into the abyss. Before the lake this ground was pockmarked with cliffs and mini canyons. Since it was made into a lake, the silt at the bottom filled in those nooks and crannies, making all the ground look smooth. Erika knew better. She knew that under that smooth layer she might be stepping off a cliff.

  There was no option. She didn’t know if she would be able to cross the river. There was no telling what was down there, but she learned a lot from Doug and Steve. Now she knew there were people down there, and they were not anything like Doug’s group. These people were surviving off the river. Doug also gave her something else, a bargaining chip. She knew when and where the attack would come. She didn’t know if this knowledge alone would provide her with safe passage, but it was worth the risk.

  So far so good, Erika thought. Artaz and Kit were sure-footed and chose their steps carefully. They continued through the slippery mud. Erika and Star didn’t bother to eat all morning. There was no time. They rounded a bend in the canyon and saw the camp in the distance. Erika marveled at its ingenuity. They’d used huge pieces of iron and concrete to build a fence around their compound. It was secure. They had access to the river. It looked like their compound protected a potential crossing spot. Most of the river was still very wide from the flooding, but this area seemed to pinch off at the width of the original river, which was fairly easy to cross.

  Erika knew that if she could see the compound, they could see her. No warning came, and she continued forward. Soon she was up alongside one of the iron walls. She continued until she found a section of fencing that looked like a gate. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw the marks in the mud from the gate being opened.

  “Hello there!” she called, eagerly anticipating a response. Star jumped a little as Erika broke the silence with her yell.

  “What do you want?” A voice came from a hole at the top of the wall.

  “I only want to use your crossing. In return, I can give you information regarding the gang in Auburn,” Erika responded, laying her cards out on the table.

  “What do you know about them? Maybe you are one of them. How else would one small woman with a child make it past them on two horses? Maybe you were sent here to take our guard down.” The voice seemed leery.

  “No one sent me here. I’m just trying to get home to my family in Georgetown. I only want to cross the river safely with this girl and my horses.”

  “How do we know that you are what you say you are?” This time it was a female voice from the window.

  “I only have my word,” Erika screamed back. “I’ve already been through hell and back and thought maybe, just maybe, I could find one decent person left in this world. I overheard an attack plan on this compound this morning and thought I could help, but if you don’t want my help, that’s fine with me. I’ll cross somewhere else, and h
ey, at least I know those assholes won’t be looking for me for a while,” Erika yelled, trying to entice their curiosity about what she knew.

  Erika turned Artaz in a direction that followed the wide girth of the river upstream in hopes of finding an alternate crossing. She spun back around to the noise of metal clanking beyond the gate. Star squeezed Erika in fear and excitement. The gate slowly creaked open toward Erika. She backed the horses up a little, so it could open far enough to let them in.

  Grim faces met her eyes inside the gate. They looked clean, but they were thin, almost emaciated, and everyone bore the pain of this situation. Three of the men carried rifles and the rest of the people were armed with sharpened makeshift spears of one type or another. Erika urged the horses inside the gate. The ground inside was covered with pieces of iron and concrete that the survivors sunk into the muck to make a flat, clean area. There were walls inside built of this same material. The group inside the compound formed a circle around her, and one of the men with a rifle stepped forward.

  “You better start talking, sweetheart.” The voice was the same one that she heard from the window. It belonged to a dark-haired man with a mid-size build. Erika thought he seemed highly protective. Who wouldn’t be, Erika mused.

  “If I tell you what I know, how do I know you’ll help me to safely cross the river?” Erika questioned. She didn’t want to be stuck inside their camp with her can of beans opened, depending on the honesty of these people.

  “You shouldn’t ask so many questions when you have a gun pointed at you and nowhere to go,” the man replied angrily.

  “Oh, Sam, don’t act like one of those jerks out there. Show her the crossing and let her go if that’s what she needs. She’s not asking for food or water. She’s offering help, so shut up.” It was the woman’s voice from the window. Sitting on the horse, Erika was almost even with Jane’s head. She was a tall and muscular woman with long brown hair and brown eyes. In a past life she could have been a lumberjack or an Amazon woman.