When Big John finished, he told the crowd that he was leaving as soon as possible to beat the winter that would inevitably come to the mountains. He was through. He laid it all out for the whole group, and now it was up to every individual to choose their path. Neither choice would be easy but then life never was easy, not now and not before, Erika thought. The crowd was abuzz with talking and arguing. Everyone broke into their own private groups and each took a hard look at reality.
Andrew took the stage next. He explained a whole new set of issues for everyone to consider. He explained that their supplies were rapidly dwindling, and hunting was very scarce. They’d retrieved some cattle that became scattered after the quake, but to ensure a viable food source for the future, they couldn’t slaughter that many this year. The water was becoming more and more polluted, not only from their large camp, but from other camps utilizing it upstream. This would affect the health of the gardens and their water for bathing. If they kept supplying this many people, they would have to start raiding other camps in the area so they could take their supplies and resources. He was very opposed to that idea. It was clear something must be done. He acknowledged everyone’s hard work in building this camp into a place that could self-sustain and was not happy about the prospect of losing guards and hands, but the truth was they were coming to the end of a rope that might hang them all if something wasn’t done, and quick. They took in too many people and everyone needed to eat.
The crowd was now alight with talking. Vince and Erika left with their family group to start packing.
“Mommy, are we leaving?” Dexter questioned.
“Yes, baby, we are. Big John says it doesn’t look good for this area, and we should go someplace safer,” Erika told him honestly. She never liked shielding her kids from reality.
“Where are we going? What about my friends?” Dexter asked. He was so innocent, and his questions reflected it.
“Each family will have to decide what’s right for them, Dex. But I’m sure some of your friends will be coming too. Hey Star, you ready for some more hiking?” Erika asked. She wanted to include her in the discussion.
“I guess,” she answered quietly.
“What’s up?” Erika questioned.
“I was just getting used to this place, and I loved going to school again and going out to the gardens and visiting with the horses. Now we are leaving?” Star explained sadly.
“I’m sure we’ll find someplace where we can do all those things again, and I know we’ll be taking some of the horses,” Vince interjected to cheer the conversation up. “And we’ll all be together. It won’t be so bad.”
“Okay,” Star answered more cheerfully. She was a resilient girl and would flexibly glide through any problem.
They returned to their camp and started repacking. Everyone would carry their own pack. Plus, the horse carts were being redesigned to handle the treacherous road ahead. The carts would be more lightweight, with better suspension systems. This would increase their agility while ensuring they could support the weight of the supplies. Plus, these alterations would put less tension on the horses.
Within two days everything was packed and ready. About fifty people decided to leave. Greg convinced Penni and her family to come along. Harold also chose to leave California with his family. Kim was still recovering from her run-in with the mountain lion, so she would have to ride in a horse cart. Stan the doctor decided he would be coming as well. He was convinced Ryan could handle the camp and he would be needed more in the traveling group. Andrew saw the logic of departing, but his position as the leader of the camp held him there. He did all he could to supply them with traveling resources and he gave them ten of the horses. One horse for every five people; that way they could all carry an ample supply of materials. Rob decided to stay as well. He was now in charge of multiple military activities at the camp and was not about to walk away from it.
A lot of other people that Erika met on her travels chose to remain in Lotus. Jim Harlow was too involved in projects here to leave it. Jimmy D decided to remain. He didn’t want to leave California and had become very involved with Diana, who was determined to stay and help Ryan with the medical facility. Clay and Laurie Roberts chose to stay as well. They were in the groove of running the kitchen operations here in Lotus. Margie Cassavoy also decided to remain. She loved her new liquor setup, and with her knowledge of distilling water, she was too valuable to the camp to leave. Andrew made that very clear. Her partner Bob was not as convinced, and he decided to leave with the traveling party. Gloria, from the Auburn compound, was at odds with her son. He wanted to go, but she’d started a relationship with Ricardo the gardener, who was not going anywhere. In the end, Jose decided to leave his mother. Glen was just as attached to the gardens as Ricardo and was staying put. Finally Drew, the horse man, was not about to leave his post. With all the horses to take care of, and a lot of his helping hands leaving, including Dan and Val, he felt responsible to care for the horses that remained. Now, he had the cattle to care for as well. Dan and Val had lost so much already. They decided they were ready to try something new and felt very confident that Drew could handle the horses here without them.
Many other people decided the best choice for them was leaving. Taylor and Tom traveled with Erika since the River camp and decided if she was going, they were too. Randy and Michelle also felt the same way. Michelle was now pregnant with Randy’s child and although traveling would be risky, they still wanted to go. Steve Dunch, from the River camp, also decided to go; he didn’t have anything to lose. Even though Richard had his school for the kids there was no shortage of capable people to take his place. Since he had gone through so much with Erika, he decided to take his kids and come as well. Bob and Cathy Meyer saw the writing on the wall as far as supplies and decided if Nancy and Brett were up to the adventure, they were too. There were about eighteen other folks that were strangers to Erika but decided that leaving was the best decision for them as well. Big John was a little taken aback by the size of the group he would be escorting, but he was a good man and was dedicated to making sure everyone made it across the mountains safely.
Chapter 33
It was a chilly October morning when the party set out. There were many tears shed. People staying behind watched their friends leave and the people going said farewell to their friends. Spirits in the traveling party were high, despite the pain of leaving. They were stepping out into the unknown. Erika was ecstatic. She had been waiting for this day since she arrived at the Lotus Camp.
They covered ground quickly that first day. Most of the people that composed Erika’s friends walked in the front of the pack with her. The others that came along made up a second pack following behind. Erika saw the division, but she knew it would dwindle as everyone got to know one another and time ticked by. Anyone who couldn’t keep pace rode in the carts as they made their way through the broken terrain.
They were headed back toward the little town Erika and Vince once called home. She was shocked at how unrecognizable Georgetown was. This town was torn to pieces. At one time she knew this place like the back of her hand. She walked her dog and her baby through the town and down all the back roads almost daily. She took her son to the library for story time and played at the park. Now, all that was left was a sunken mass of ruins.
As they passed the town her heart sank, and her jaw dropped. She held Vince’s hand and squeezed it tight, marveling at the fact that her family was here when the town was destroyed, and they survived. She silently thanked God for his leniency. No one talked much as they passed by. They all just stared in wonder at the level of destruction that occurred here. From the edge of the hole, dirty people clinging to the edge of life watched them pass. The skinny stragglers didn’t wave or ask questions; they simply gazed on as the people went by. Erika thought they looked desperately emaciated. It seemed they were just thankful to not be attacked for the meager supplies they were sustaining life on.
The group contin
ued into the broken landscape that was now strewn with fallen trees from the surrounding woodlands. Progress slowed to a crawl. They reached an area where a restaurant once stood and decided to stop for the night. It was a tough decision. This place would have been looted and re-looted by any survivors for the precious food that might still be inside. The hope was that any survivors in the area would have already picked it clean and now avoided the site. Everyone was on super-high alert as the group made dinner preparations. They knew more survivors were out there and the smell of food cooking was an invitation to attack for the reward of a meal. Without the safety of their high walls at the Lotus Camp they were vulnerable.
Once the camp was set up for a long night, people’s moods began to improve. Every scrap of food that was prepared was eaten, and afterward, musical instruments were brought out. In the group of newcomers there were a couple of people that played the guitar. Penni’s son, Mitchell, was learning to play as well. Jen was learning to play an old clothes washboard and it was a nice accompaniment to the guitars. Steve Dunch broke out a couple of spoons and the beat began to flow. Erika delighted in the soothing melody. Greg was in his element and entertained the crowd with his great voice and dancing skills. Dexter watched him closely, mimicking his moves. A little girl from the group that Erika was not familiar with came and danced with him. Her name was Willow. Her hair was curly brown, and she was a wispy thing. She matched his skills perfectly and it was so cute to see the children dancing together.
It was nice to have the two distinct groups merge finally. The children were like tiny ambassadors. Erika and Vince introduced themselves to her parents. Their names were Susan and Edward Cooper. Edward worked with computers before the quakes started, and Susan cleaned homes. Besides Willow, they had three other children: three girls and one boy. They said they kept trying until they got the boy. Zoey was the oldest at ten; Willow was five; Summer was three; and then there was Jensen. He was only two, but cute as a button. His hair was blond like Dexter’s, but his head was as round as Charlie Brown’s. He usually clung tightly to his mother, who was still breastfeeding him, but took an interest in Ripper. He was climbing on his back and tugging at his ears. Ripper, with his vast patience, just sat there and let the baby play.
They chatted quietly in the firelight long into the night, but it was the last time they would smile for a while. That night, toward dawn, they were attacked by a group of stragglers. Michelle and Randy were on watch duty and their rifles had met their mark. When the attackers saw the first two members of their party fall and realized how well armed this group was, they backed off immediately. The noise woke everyone up and since they were already awake they decided to start off the day early. They left the bodies of the, attackers where they lay, figuring the scavengers would be back to claim them. Some people did feel bad for the folks that were barely surviving around here, but everyone decided that if they left anything for the people, they might just be inviting future problems.
They made really good time that day. They stopped by Stumpy Meadows, the former mountain lake, in the mid-morning to have a rest and some food. Big John was right. There were a lot of bears in the area. They were scavenging the fish that once lived in the lake. Big John took one down with his rifle and the team of hunters had it gutted, skinned, and butchered in no time. This meat was rich with fat and would be a welcome addition to their food supplies. By noon they were on the move again. They made it all the way to the little cabin known as Uncle Tom’s Cabin before the evening set in once again.
Big John went to liaison with the people there. Big groups could be rather intimidating, and Big John had already met up with the people here just a few days before. It was not long before Big John returned to the group.
“So, what’s up?” Vince asked John.
“We’re not going over there, Vince,” John answered with a weird look in his eyes.
“Why not?” Vince wondered. “We have plenty of meat to share.”
“They’re dead, Vince,” John choked the words out. “Someone killed them all. They must have been desperate too because it was all done with clubs and axes. They must have come in the night, just like those guys who attacked us. The people here must have gotten drunk and lazy and let their guard down. It’s a horrific scene, though. We don’t want the women and children to see that. Let’s just keep going and put some distance in between us and that.”
Without any argument the group pushed on. It was a very long evening trek, and they made it all the way to where the only two roads in this area merged. While the camp was pitched the older folks, who rode in the carts for most of the trip, prepared dinner. Big John sent Taylor and Tom back to make sure that no one was following them. He was scared that the group of stragglers would tail them all the way over the mountains. There was really nothing they could do about it, except keep their eyes open and stay ready. The exhausted travelers ate and relaxed, watching the fire and listening to Mitchell fiddle with his new-found skills on the guitar. Taylor and Tom returned to camp and told Big John that they hadn’t seen anyone, but more people were put on watch that night anyway.
The threat of the stragglers was the least of their worries because during the night the quakes returned. In the darkness the Earth awoke and shook the very gates of hell. Whole chunks of the mountain slid down the hillsides and huge, gaping cracks opened. The camp awoke in a frenzied panic. The horses danced nervously, and people scurried about trying to ready themselves as fast as possible. The camp was packed in the blink of an eye. Big John was a true leader, driving his herd of people on toward the mountain peaks. The line weaved through the black morning like a snake.
The horses snuffed, shuddered, and blew their smoke-filled breath into the air. Every horse trainer was worth their weight in gold that day and they stepped up into their roles with ease. Erika had Kit in the lead. He was always calm and helped to quiet the rest of the animals. The other trainers, Jen, Dan, and Val, were dancing from horse to horse instructing its leader in how to proceed and keep the animal calm. Taylor and Tom had been training to use the horses in a military fashion. They weren’t much help with handling the carts, but they knew the horses and provided a calm shoulder for the horses to nuzzle up to. It was quite a sight to see, the trainers calming the spirits of the animals while their own hearts beat wildly in their chests. They hid it well from the animals.
Quake after quake struck and shook, trees fell, and the very rocks under their feet melted away to quicksand. There was nothing to do but continue on as best they could. The sun slowly rose over the mountains they were trying so desperately to conquer. Amazingly, they made fairly good time in the early morning. It would have eased all their worries to stop for breakfast, but the quakes were relentless, and no one knew what to do. Ripper was freaked and stuck to Erika’s side like a tick. Big John, driven by an unending sense of responsibility, drove them fearlessly forward. Until his worst fear was realized.
They had just passed a little lake called Loon Lake. It was a beautiful mountain lake, clear blue straight to the bottom. Erika loved swimming in it when it was hot, even though the water was freezing. The party halted during a fierce shaking, simply to stay on their feet, when swoosh! A huge crevasse opened like a can of tuna and half of their party was swallowed like plankton into a whale’s mouth. The screams of people and horses were deafening. Children and babies were instantly lost into the deep abyss. The people on the edge clung to the dirt and roots. Erika and Vince were at the front of the line, chatting with Big John, Greg, Nancy, and Brett about the route they were going to take when the chaos struck.
“Keep going, Vince, don’t stop, don’t look back, just keep going,” Big John screamed as he saw the disaster behind them unfolding.
“But we can help,” Vince argued. He was not a man to turn tail and not assist where he could.
“Look Vince, you need to think about your family. Get them to safety. Just go!” John directed. There would be no argument. He was afraid it would be like b
reaking ice. Once someone fell in any attempt to save them would just break the ice more, and more people would end up in the water.
“Vince, what are we going to do?” Erika asked, wild eyed.
Looking into his wife’s eyes, full of fear for her children in the cart, he knew there was only one choice. “We are going on, Erika. We must get over the mountain. Let’s go!” he yelled back to the people behind him.
They were totally distressed and took his direction eagerly. They were happy to follow any order in this chaos. There would always be time later to count the remaining folks and mourn the losses, but if they never made it over the mountain, that time would never come. The horses screamed and scrambled up the edge of the mountain. The carts were pulling them backwards into the ground that turned into a substance more like sand than rock.
“We have to leave the carts.” The voice came from down the line. It was Jen. She had been caring for these animals long enough to know their needs.
“We can’t leave the supplies.” It was her father, Harold, speaking out against her. His concern for his family’s future outweighed his concern for the safety of the horses.
Father and daughter were now in a heated argument that no one had time for.
“Quickly, unpack the carts and load as much as you can onto the horses and our backs,” Vince said, ending the disagreement. “Jen is right, the horses will die if we ask them to continue on under this strain. Plus, we’ll move faster without the carts. Just let them go.”
The Changing Earth Series (Book 1): Day After Disaster Page 31