Day After Disaster, The Changing Earth Series, Uncut Edition

by Sara F. Hathaway

  “Don’t move, honey. You’re in no shape for it,” a sweet woman’s voice commanded.

  “Where am I?” Erika’s mouth hurt to talk, but it had been so long since she had someone to talk to that she couldn’t refrain from doing it.

  “Well, we’re in what used to be Newcastle, and we’re in the barn because the house was completely destroyed in that horrible earthquake.”

  “How did I get here?”

  “Well, you see, honey, my husband has been out looking for survivors since the dam broke and flooded the valley. Being that we never found anyone alive, he wasn’t going to go out the day that he found you. You know with the volcano eruption and everything, but he went anyway. It’s a good thing he did because he brought you back in the wagon. He went back and got your supplies the next day. That suit you made was a very smart idea. It kept the water from burning your skin. Unfortunately, when I cut it off, I noticed the hot water had melted the plastic wrap to your clothes and skin. So you still got burned pretty badly where the plastic touched your skin. But you’re alive, and you will be back on your feet in a few weeks. I am just so glad someone made it out of that disaster alive. I didn’t think we would ever find anyone after the weeks that we searched in vain.”

  “Where is everyone? Why were no rescue attempts made by the fire department? I never even saw one helicopter.”

  “Well, everyone took a beating in the quake, honey. We thought that it only affected our area at first, but now… well, I am not so sure. There have been no relief efforts. No National Guard, nothing. After months of waiting for rescue, we’re fearful of people altogether. People have been killing each other for food since no food has been delivered in months.”

  “Months? No food? What the hell is going on? What about transportation? How will I ever get home now?” Erika’s mind was scrambling to understand the implications of everything this woman was saying so flatly.

  “That’s right, honey. The main quake happened two months ago now. All the roads are pretty damaged. The cars that are okay can’t clear the gaps and chunks that were opened or strewn about. We have our garden and animals, and we have been doing fine besides having to move into the barn. The fighting has been around the city centers mostly. My husband rode one of the horses into Auburn to get help. It took him a half a week to get there and back. Once he got there, he just turned around and came home. He didn’t want to tell me what he had seen and simply said it was horrible.”

  “Two months? That means it’s…” Erika was trying to calculate with a head so full of fog she was finding it hard to think at all.

  “It’s July 2, actually, honey. Just two days until Independence Day. Not that there will be any celebration this year.” The lady mumbled that last part under her breath.

  “Oh no, what am I going to do now? I figured I would be home free once I got to shore. This is the worst nightmare ever. I have to get home to my family,” Erika sputtered with tears in her eyes.

  “Don’t worry about all that now, honey. There’s plenty of time to worry about how to get home. Right now, you just need to rest and get healthy. Here, eat this.”

  The woman handed Erika a bowl of soup that had meat chunks finely cut so Erika’s famished stomach would not become upset. It also had carrots, peas, and onions. It was like heaven to Erika—real meat and vegetables that weren’t dried out, hot broth, oh yeah. After Erika ate it, she slugged down a glass of water and fell back asleep.

  Chapter 5

  She fell back into a deep sleep. She dreamt of her tiny home that was white and trimmed with green. She dreamt of her son running through the backyard. The green grass was blowing in the wind. Her son was climbing his play-set. He would zoom down the slide right into the dog and then the two of them rolled through the lawn. She was lazily working in the flower bed, just enjoying the sunshine and the peace and quiet. Erika heard the wooden gate to the yard close behind her, and her husband walked up. She gazed into his warm eyes and reached out to feel the ripples of his muscular body. She wrapped her arms around him and drank up all the love he could possibly offer. His embrace enveloped her, and she knew she was in heaven.

  Erika awoke. She almost wished she could sleep forever, so she could just stay wrapped in Vince’s love. Realizing that the dream was too real to just be a dream, she knew she had to get home. He was still there. He was trying to reach out to her just as she was trying to reach out to him. They were soul mates, and they would find one another no matter what.

  Erika looked around the barn. She was in the hayloft, which was furnished with items that had obviously been salvaged from a home. It was hard to believe it was a barn at all, but the smell of hay and animal reminded her. She sat up slowly. Her body was still sore and scabbed all over from the burns she had sustained. She drew back the blanket but quickly brought it back up when she realized that she was completely naked. Then she heard the creak of the wooden stairs that led up to the loft. She heard the footsteps come across the barn floor, and then the blanket that was hung as a door to her room was pulled back and in popped the head of the sweet lady Erika had talked to before.

  “Oh dear, you’re up. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke. You look much better.” She entered the room and sat down on a chair next to Erika’s bed. “My name is Carol Duncan, and what is your name… or should I just keep calling you honey?” Carol asked.

  Carol was an older lady with gray curls encompassing a round face. She was small in stature and walked stiffly. She had brought a pitcher of water with her. She filled a glass that was next to Erika’s bed and put the pitcher down next to it.

  “My name is Erika. How long have I been asleep?”

  “Two days since you woke up last; it’s the Fourth of July,” Carol said cheerfully. “I doubt we’ll see any real fireworks today, but seeing you sitting up is fireworks enough for me. You must be feeling much better.”

  “Besides feeling like I have been hit by a truck, I am not feeling too bad.” Erika said, stiffly moving her arms around.

  “That will pass, honey. I just wish I could do more for you. I’m no doctor and even if I was, I don’t have any medicines left. I don’t even have any of my arthritis medicine left.”

  “I studied a little about medicine. I was on Ski Patrol up in Tahoe for a while, and I studied some books on herbs for healing, but when it really comes down to it, I’m no doctor either. I remember some of those herbal remedies, though. Maybe I could get up and find something for you and me.” Erika was really anxious to be up and about after sleeping so long. She figured she was a lot closer to home now, and she wanted to know just how close she really was. Looking for healing herbs seemed like a good excuse.

  Carol was not as convinced as Erika that she was ready to be up and about yet and quickly countered, “I don’t know, honey, you’re in no shape to be going out yet. Maybe if you could tell me what you need, I could get it for you, and you could show me how to prepare it.”

  Erika was disappointed but decided that it was probably best to listen to this woman. After all, Erika did owe the couple her life at this point. She replied, “That sounds like it will work. I need a plant called plantain. It is really common in this area and grows in the grass. It looks like really thick blades of grass growing from a singular plant. This time of year, it might have sprouts like flowers coming out of the middle. Also, if you could get me my clothes, I could try to get these legs moving again.” Erika tried to slide the last part in real nonchalantly, hoping that Carol would at least let her get out of bed and move around some.

  “Oh, I almost forgot all about your clothes. Hold on one second.” Carol enthusiastically stood up and left the room. Erika heard her steps across the floor again. They faded away and then returned. “Look here, honey. We had to cut your clothes off your skin and the cellophane you wrapped yourself in melted all over them. You have some more of those cooking clothes with your gear, but I made this outfit out of an extra pair of sheets. They shouldn’t irritate your burns as much
as those thick cotton cook’s clothes.” Carol held up a simple outfit and placed it on Erika’s bed.

  “Thank you. That’s absolutely perfect. Carol, I really have to thank you for all you’ve done for me. I owe you my life,” Erika said sincerely.

  “Oh, nonsense.” Carol shrugged the comment off. “I am just glad we could help. Like I told you before, we have been looking for survivors since the quake, but you are the only one we found.” “I’m the only one… Are you serious? What happened to everyone?” Erika was shocked.

  “I don’t know. We think that when the water hit the valley, it simply washed everything out toward the coastal mountains and the ocean. The volcano that erupted over that way probably covered all of the aftermath,” Carol stated with a sad, wondering look in her eyes.

  “I’ve wanted to ask you, Erika, how did you survive that mess?” Carol was looking very inquisitively at Erika. Then she shook her head and said, “Actually, don’t answer that now. You can tell my husband and me at the same time after dinner tonight. That way you don’t have to tell your story twice. Now, I need to go and find that plant you need before it gets dark.”

  “Thanks, Carol.”

  Without the enthusiasm for the outfit that Carol had made for Erika, Erika noticed that Carol rose very stiffly from the rickety wooden chair that had been placed by Erika’s bed. Erika was guessing that Carol had watched over her the whole time she had been sleeping. All this talk of medicine and watching Carol’s stiff body made Erika remember something from her herb books.

  “Carol, do you have any evening primroses planted in any flower gardens?” Erika questioned inquisitively.

  “Why, yes, I do. I have a whole bed. At least, I had a whole bed but some survived. I just love those flowers.”

  “Great! If you can find some seeds from them, the oils that they contain can bring you some relief from that arthritis. Also, you can eat the young roots as a vegetable.”

  “I’ll be darned. Who would have guessed that I have a flower bed full of the medicine I need. Here I’ve barely been able to walk and bend, and the whole time the medicine was right there,” Carol exclaimed as if completely dumbfounded by this information.

  “I wouldn’t say it’s an instant cure, or even that it will work as well as the medicine you used before, but it will help,” Erika countered.

  “Honey, you have made my day. What a joy having you around is going to be,” Carol said cheerfully.

  “I can’t stay long, Carol. I have to get home to my family, and I have already been gone for two whole months,” Erika said, grimacing with pain as she tried to sit up straighter.

  “I know, honey, but you will have to heal first. Just relax and concentrate on that.”

  With that, Carol headed down the stairs with two empty baskets. Erika picked up the garments Carol had left for her. The shirt was light blue and made of very soft cotton. The collar had a V slit cut into it with strings so it could be tied shut. The pants were also the same light blue color, and the only feature was an elastic band around the waist to hold them in place. Erika pulled the covers back again and threw her legs over the side. Something was poking her in her very sore legs. She looked down and saw that her bed was made of hay bales with a thick foam pad laid over the top. Then the sheets were put over the top so that it was soft and looked almost like a real bed, until you felt the side. She stood up and slipped her pants on over the sore, scabbed, and blistered skin. Erika thought the pain from the elastic band would be excruciating, but it actually wasn’t that bad. That was a good sign, indicating that the wounds were healing quickly, and, although she would be pretty scarred, nothing was seriously damaged.

  She looked down at her bare feet. They were cold but they were not painful. Erika figured that the shoes she had on had protected them. She strolled across the floor and looked out the window that was located in the kitchen over the sink. The window looked out to the Northwest. At one time, it looked over a wooded area that gradually molded into a valley that contained a city named Sacramento. On a clear day when the smog was not too thick, you could have seen skyscrapers looming in the distance, and the endless shops, people, and cars. Human life and their creations as far as the eye could see.

  It was all gone. The forest area now ended abruptly at the edge of a toxic lake occupying what had been the Sacramento Valley. The new toxic beach was about five miles west of the barn. The barn that used to be home to just animals stood soundly and had provided Carol and her husband a sanctuary from a world that was turning itself upside down. A tear fell from Erika’s eye when she began to think of the hundreds of thousands of people that had died there. Why had she been spared? She was there, in the middle of the toxic sludge, and made it out. She was alive and in decent condition: Why her and no one else?

  “What am I doing just standing around? I need to get ready to go.”

  Chapter 6

  She knew that Carol had told her to stay put, but she headed toward the stairs anyway and started to descend the steep stairway. When she reached the bottom, she was shocked. The barn below was split into quadrants by beautiful wooden planks. There was an aisle down the middle and each quadrant was reserved for a different type of animal. Feed bins for each type of animal were located along the inside of the individual quadrants. That way, whoever was feeding the animals just had to walk down the middle and fill the bins. Each kind of animal also had doors leading to spacious pastures outside. As she walked down the aisle, she saw cows, sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, and horses. The end of the barn opened into a covered patio. One side had been made into a work area for butchering meat and tanning hides, and the other side was a general work area containing tack for the animals, woodworking tools, and mechanical tools. In the middle of the two areas was a table and chairs.

  Erika jumped when she heard a large man standing in the tanning area say, “Howdy, missy, how are we feelin’?”

  “Good, well… better,” Erika answered in a startled voice.

  The well-statured man stood six foot seven inches from the ground and towered above her. Erika knew by the wrinkles on his face that he was as old as Carol, but that was the only way to tell. His body gleamed in the sun; it was as muscular and strong as he was tall.

  “My name’s Henry Duncan. I’m glad to see you up and about.” His voice was deep and boomed when he spoke.

  “Nice to meet you, Henry. My name is Erika Moore. Sorry to bother you while you’re busy, but Carol told me you brought my supplies back here too.”

  “Why, yes, I did. They’re right over there by the workbench. That was quite an ingenious contraption you rigged up there and that outfit you had on. I didn’t even know if you were human when I found you,” Henry rumbled with a great chuckle. “It worked, though, by God it worked, and here you are. I can’t wait to hear about your adventure.”

  “And I can’t wait to hear about yours,” Erika countered slyly.

  “What’s that?” Harold said in a very confused voice.

  “Carol told me you went to Auburn. I have to know what you saw because I will have to go that way to get home.” Erika was focused on her family and eager to know what she would be up against.

  “Aw… home.” Henry was trying to quickly change the subject. “I knew you would want to leave right away. Anyone who could make it out of that mess down there safely must be very determined to get somewhere. That’s why I’m out here trying to finish this bull hide. Your shoes were totally destroyed, and your feet are much smaller than my wife’s. I am finishing this so I can make you some moccasins. It’s not much and I hope you’re okay with wearing moccasins, but there’s nothing else we can do for you and you are going to need some shoes.” Henry was not sure how she would react to the idea of wearing moccasins. It was not really a typical shoe anymore.

  “You’re making me moccasins! That’s a great idea. I had a pair at home, but at work I had to wear those cruddy non-slip shoes. I would love that, and I really do appreciate all that you have done for me
already. I have no idea how I could possibly thank you two enough.” Erika was overwhelmed by their kindness.

  Henry was encouraged by her reaction and replied with pleasure, “It’s no trouble, little miss. I heard you in your dreams crying for your loved ones. I knew that if I was in your position, the first thing I would want to do is find Carol.”

  Henry had a fierce determination in his eyes. Their brown gleamed into almost a golden color as he thought of her. It made Erika realize how distraught her husband must be. He would think she was dead. She wanted to tell him somehow that she was all right. She longed to hold him, to kiss him, and caress his body.

  “And you have a son, I believe,” Henry continued, interrupting her thoughts.

  “Yes, he’s five now. His name is Dexter. He’s so funny and full of life. He has pure blond hair with steely gray eyes.” As Erika described her son to Henry, tears started flowing down her face. “I miss him so much. I just hope he and his daddy are okay. I have to get home to them. Vince will know I’m alive,” Erika said to reassure herself. She was almost talking to herself now. “I always told him that if some great catastrophe ever happened, I would be a survivor. I learned how to survive in nature and studied basic herbal medicine just because I knew that one day it would come in handy. Other women teased me and looked at me funny because I hunted and wore moccasins so I could feel the earth. Well, now all that is going to pay off. I just have to get myself together and get home.” Erika talked with a steady voice as clear as crystal while the tears still streamed down her face.

  Henry knew he shouldn’t have touched on such a fragile subject, but he wanted to test Erika’s strength and determination. He was completely satisfied. The woman that stood before him, although short in stature, had a very strong heart and an unrelenting mind that once set to a goal would not stray. Her body structure was solid, and he was sure she had been an athlete before the world had changed. The fact that she hunted made her journey home not only possible but likely to succeed. Henry knew what the world beyond this snug barn had become. Erika’s chance of making it to her family depended on her being self-sufficient. For that, she would have to be physically and spiritually strong.