He rounded a curve, went under the overpass of I-40, and headed north towards the airport in Tusayan. The right front tire of his Hum-Vee hit a ground heave that he’d failed to notice with a loud bang and jarred the vehicle so badly he had to stop, get out, and check to see if there was any damage. Finding none, he reentered the vehicle and continued on his journey.
“Yeah, things are really starting to go to shit,” he said aloud, and continued his drive north. The trees thinned out as he drove northward, and through what looked like ancient lava fields of jagged basalt. Looking at them reminded him of photos he’d seen of the moon, and he remembered NASA had trained its Apollo astronauts at this very place. He remembered then, also, that all the mountains surrounding the south rim of the Grand Canyon, from here in Williams to north of Flagstaff were at one point all active volcanoes.
The morning was cool and pleasant, so he rolled down the window and enjoyed the cool breeze. Nearing the airport in Tusayan, the trees thickened again, and he took notice of the houses surrounding the area. They too were showing signs of neglect, and he added another thing onto his ever expanding list of things to do before the next winter, deciding it might be a very good idea to scour the area, all of the houses, for anything of value now, because whatever was lying around now wouldn’t be in very good use for much longer. That was one thing he’d make a priority.
He drove on into the airport grounds, through an open gate onto the apron, then parked in front of the terminal building. Shutting off the engine, he got out, grabbed his carbine, and sat on the sloping front hood of the Hum-Vee. He listened for the sounds of the returning Hercules, but the only thing he heard was a few birds and the rustle of the slight breeze through the overgrown grass surrounding the taxiway and runways. Ever since the Event, the silence had unnerved him, the utter and total nothingness of it all. The only sounds were that of the Earth itself, and that left him feeling terribly alone.
A red-tail hawk screeched off in the distance, and Tim quickly found it circling a grassy area on the other side of the runway. It completely ignored him, circling above a spot that only the hawk could see. Tim watched the raptor with great interest spiraling in the sky, and then, with amazing speed, it dived towards the ground, talons extended. It pounced on something and shot up into the air once again, and Tim could see that it had a fat field mouse in its grasp. Some things would continue on as normal, and there should be plenty of mice for the hawks and owls to eat.
He watched the bird fly off with its dinner, then faintly heard the aircraft’s engines. He scanned the skies for the man-made bird and smiled when he spied the dark speck approaching from the south. All looked in order to Tim. The landing lights came on, and the landing gear descended and locked into place. As it passed over the airport’s threshold, the nose lifted slightly, and the rear wheels kissed the concrete runway with puffs of white smoke. Soon after, the nose wheel touched down, and then the engines revved to full power, and the air screamed when Holly reversed the pitch of the props, bringing the cargo plane to a rapid stop. Again, the propellers changed pitch, the fuselage turned, and the aluminum beast taxied towards the terminal.
Tim let out a breath he’d not realized he’d been holding and a smile lit up his face. The plane taxied up to where he was sitting, and the right wingtip passed over his head as the props on the starboard side of the wing spun to a stop. The port side engines were shut down next, and the silence was pronounced again after the roar of the turboprop engines’ roar. Robyn’s face appeared in the copilot’s window, wearing aviator sunglasses. She looked down to Tim, a broad grin splitting her face. She gave a thumb up gesture, and doffed her headphones, disappearing from view.
The next sound Tim heard was the electric whine of the hydraulic rams that lowered the rear loading ramp. Tim slid off the hood and shouldered his carbine, walking over to the rear of the plane. When the ramp was all the way down, Tim grabbed the folding wheel ramps and lowered them into place while Holly and Robyn came into view out of the darkness of the hold.
“Another super landing, Flight Lieutenant,” Tim said.
“Why thank you, Sergeant Major, but it wasn’t me landing the plane!” Holly said playfully.
“What?” Tim gaped, “You don’t mean…”
“I landed the plane, Dad!” Robyn squealed, hopping down and hugging him in a tight grip. “Aren’t you proud of me?”
“She’s a natural, Tim,” Holly said.
“I can see that,” he said, a little uneasily, and looked at Robyn again. She was wearing a flight suit similar to Holly’s, along with a grin that was threatening to split her face in two. He wondered where they had found that for her to wear, deciding to leave that question for later.
“Are you guys ready to head home?” Tim asked, hugging Holly, and noticing her belly was becoming quite pronounced. Pretty soon she wouldn’t be able to fit into her own flight suit, and he hoped that this was the last of her flying for a while.
“Taco and I are going to secure the plane, Dad. You and Holly go ahead without us. We’ve got the other Hum-Vee here, we’ll drive home.”
He heard the clanging of tie-down chains from inside of the aircraft, and figured Taco was getting the Hum-Vee ready to back out. “Okay, just don’t take all day.”
“We won’t. We’ll be about an hour or so,” she said, heading back into the fuselage.
Tim turned to Holly and gave her a look.
“Tim, don’t start,” she chided. “Robyn’s a natural. She took off, flew all the way here, and made a beautiful landing. I was right there at the controls too, in case anything went wrong.”
“I know, I know. Doesn’t mean I can’t still be a little worried,” he said, taking her hand, and they walked towards Tim’s Hum-Vee. “Aren’t you supposed to start out flying Piper Cubs or some other tiny plane when you first learn? I mean, I’m pretty sure the RAF didn’t just hand you the keys to a C-130 on your first day.”
“There are no keys, Tim. And I was right there with her. I wouldn’t let her solo yet, not by a long shot, but she’s got more natural talent than I’ll ever have,” Holly said, getting into the Hum-Vee and shutting her door.
Tim thought about that for a moment, and let what she’d said sink in. Tim wasn’t stupid, and he trusted Holly’s judgment, so he let it slide for the time being as he started the vehicle and put it in gear. When he pulled away, he asked Holly how San Francisco was.
“It was awful. There must have been an earthquake at some point in the last few years. A lot of the city is destroyed. We had to drive all over the city just to get to the wharfs.”
“The airport was okay, I assume?”
“No, the main runway has a huge fissure down the middle. We landed on a taxiway,” Holly stated.
“What?”
“Tim, relax. It’s what the Hercules was designed for. I could have put her down in a field if I had to.”
“That doesn’t help me sleep at night,” Tim sighed. “So ‘Frisco was leveled. Was the boat okay?”
“It’s a ship,” she corrected, “and yes, it was still floating. The whole superstructure is covered in bird poop, but Johnson and Mr. Nakamura say they should have everything ship-shape in a few months.”
“That’s good, I guess. What’s their next move, or didn’t he have a plan yet?”
“He figures they’ll have to find a different port, maybe head a little further south, San Diego perhaps.”
“How come?”
“The port is in shambles. Not a lot left to salvage. It was a miracle that the ship was still afloat. They were going to start scrounging around to find enough oil for the bunkers, but there were a lot of fires, and a lot of the fuel burned up.”
“And he’s still optimistic?”
“That he is. I think he’ll be able to do it, especially with Suplee and Nakamura, though it might take them a while.”
“I’ll have to get word to our railroad guy and let him know. He left this morning. I’ll have him get in touch with
our young ensign and coordinate things. No sense running a train to ‘Frisco if there’s no boat there.”
“Aye, that might be a good idea. Do you think he’ll do it, the railway chap?”
“Anything is possible. I guess it all depends what the condition of the tracks are, and if he can find a way around any stopped trains or derailments,” Tim said, and went on to tell Holly of his thoughts about how everything was really starting to fall apart, and everyone would have to start scrounging for useful items and how they all would have to become more self-sufficient. He left out the part about his fears, and the conversation he’d had with Izzy earlier in the day, figuring he’d talk that over with her later. He’d always had his best brainstorming sessions with her, in bed, right before they went to sleep.
Tim’s mind went to the thoughts of San Francisco in ruins, which brought his mind back to his home town, Philadelphia, and his desperate scramble to get out before the firestorm engulfed him along with the rest of the city. It saddened him to the core how everything he remembered was being erased from the face of the Earth. Soon, nothing would look the same.
Holly reached over to Tim and took hold of his hand across the wide space that separated the two front seats. “Tim, I might not tell you often enough, but I do really love you. I don’t know where I’d be if Izzy and I hadn’t met you and Robyn.”
“I love you too, babe. I don’t say it enough myself,” he said, squeezing her hand tenderly. “I love you so much for everything you’ve brought to my life, and for the little soldier you’ve got growing inside you.”
“Aye, and he’s been quite the active little cheeky monkey the last few days!” she said, rubbing her pronounced belly.
“We’ll have to get you another flight suit soon,” Tim chuckled.
“I don’t think I’ll be doing much flying for a while,” Holly said, much to Tim’s relief. “I told both Robyn and Jimenez to secure the Herc for an extended grounding.”
“I can’t say I’m saddened by that news,” he said, as they drove under the overpass into town.
Holly nodded. “Aye, I can see what you mean. Everything looks like it’s ready to fall over.”
“It probably won’t for several more years, but the heavy snows we get in the winter will definitely take their toll on most of the wood framed buildings sooner or later.”
“Maybe we can start going through the houses, gathering up everything that will be useful,” she stated, then added with a wince, “and bury what bodies we may find.”
“Yeah, I thought of that too, but we might just leave them where they are.”
“Won’t they be a health hazard?”
“With the dry climate, they’d be mummified after all of these years, so I don’t think it’d be a major issue. It’s something we can bring up with Izzy.”
“Aye,” was all Holly said, then she sighed. “Sometimes when we come through town, I can’t help but think the ghosts of all of those who’ve died are staring out at us angrily, wondering why we were spared.”
“You think we were the ones spared?”
“I see your point.”
Tim slowed and turned onto the dirt road towards their house, driving up through the copse of trees, and up to the front of their house. He placed the Hum-Vee in park and shut the engine off, but didn’t make a move to get out. He stared out the windshield, deep in thought. Holly left him to his thoughts for a few moments. When she thought the time was right, she asked, “What’s on your mind?”
“I was thinking that if I had launched that missile a little sooner, we wouldn’t have to worry about any of this now.”
“Timothy, that’s a terrible thing to say!” she gasped. “Think of Robyn, and all the rest of us. I know you’re still having nightmares about it, but thinking like that isn’t going to solve a thing.”
“I never want to be put in that situation, ever again.”
“We’re here now, home. And we’re safe.”
“For now. Who the fuck knows what will happen next?” Tim spat.
“Tim, we’re all in this together. We’re safe here now, and we’ll just do our best, nothing more, nothing less.”
“I wonder what kind of world we’ll have for our son,” Tim said, laying his forehead on the steering wheel in exasperation.
“Or daughter,” Holly said. “We’ll raise him or her the same way you raised Robyn. And we’ll be safe here.”
“I wish you were right,” Tim said.
“I am right. I’m a woman, remember?” Holly said with a laugh. “What I need right now, Sergeant Major, is a long, hot shower, then some lunch. I’m famished!”
“Okay, okay. Go get your shower, I’ll be out here on the porch,” Tim said, getting out of the Hum-Vee. He pulled the carbine from its rack in the vehicle, and watched Holly bound up the short flight of steps onto the porch, pulling down the bun she’d tied her long hair into in the subtle, sexy way that always seemed to turn him on, and entered the house through the screen door.
Tim followed her inside, and looked at his watch; seeing it was well past noon, he went to the kitchen and retrieved a cold bottle of Miller High Life, deftly popped the bottle cap, and took a long pull off the bottle. He headed back out to the porch, picking up his pipe and tobacco from the table in the living room where he’d left it the night before.
He sat on one of the rough-hewn timber chairs on the porch, and once his pipe was filled and lit, he sat back and tried to let the rampant thoughts fall into a corner crevice for a few minutes. He sat and sipped on his beer, waiting for Holly to come back down from her shower.
Movement out of the corner of his eye got his attention, and he saw the figures of two men come around the side of his house. When they saw him sitting there, they both smiled. The taller of the two men, in his mid-twenties, Tim reckoned, had a swarthy, Mediterranean complexion with thick, dark hair.
“Sergeant Major?” the tall man said. “I’m Specialist Sam Didinato, and this is John Meadows, we spoke earlier?”
“I remember you Specialist,” Tim said. “It’s not like I have a whole brigade to look after anymore.”
“I just wanted to let you know that we’ll be heading out tomorrow,” Sam Didinato said.
“So you think you’ll find my old friend, Dawn Redeagle?”
“I’d like to think so. You did say he had horses, too, didn’t you?”
“That I did. He had a stud and a mare. I don’t know if he ever got them to breed. What is your plan?”
“We’d like to see if we can trade him for a few horses, and a few of the buffalo. If he’s agreeable to that, we’ll bring them back here and start up a herd.”
“Pretty high aspirations,” Tim remarked with a raised eyebrow, sipping his beer and peering at the pair over the lip of the bottle.
“You could say that. Hell, I’d like to try.”
“I like your spirit, Didinato. This isn’t the Army anymore, you’ve got free will, but if it’s my blessing you’re after, you have it, anything to help out,” Tim said. He didn’t know the other guy; he must be one of the few that came over on the Aussie ship. “Do you have a notepad and something to write with?” Tim asked, and the second man pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil. Tim gave them a list of things to look out for, things they’d need in the future, and the man dutifully wrote down every word Tim said.
“And the next thing, and this is very, very important,” Tim said gravely.
“You got it, Sar’ Major.”
“Toilet paper. Bring as much asswipe back as you can, okay?” Tim added and then all three laughed heartily. “One last thing, give me a minute,” Tim said, and went into the house. He was gone for a few minutes, and the two men looked at each other silently, wondering what Tim was doing. Tim exited the house then, carrying something that was very familiar two both of the soldiers.
It was the M16A1 that he’d liberated from his brigade’s arms room so many years ago, right after the Event. He handed it over to the Specialist, along with fo
ur bandoliers of 5.56mm ammunition and a few 30 round magazines.
“If you find Dawn Redeagle, you give these to him, and tell them they’re from me.”
“Sure thing, Sar’ Major,” Didinato said, taking the offered weapon. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, tell him I said ‘Gary Owen’. He’ll know what I mean.”
“Check,” Didinato said with a nod.
“Oh, and Didinato, you did real well back on Volivoli. I was happy to have you with us.”
“Thanks, Sar’ Major! That means a lot!” he beamed.
As they two men were preparing to, Holly came out onto the porch, dressed in Wrangler jeans, one of Tim’s t-shirts, her hair still wet from the shower. Tim made the introductions, telling them this lovely creature was the one who’d flown them there. They hadn’t seen her dressed as a civilian before, and she was definitely a pleasing sight for the eyes.
“You gentlemen be very careful,” she said.
“We will, Ma’am,” Sam said, holding up the rifle. When he turned to leave, a breathless Ian came running around the side of the house, his face red as a beet. He put one foot up on the step, and tried to catch his breath.
“What’s wrong, Ian?” Tim asked in alarm.
“It’s April. We can’t find her anywhere!” he replied, gasping for breath, almost in a panic. “She’s never, ever strays too far, ever!”
“When was the last time you saw her?” “Right after brekky. Soon after you left, Tim, and then I saw her playing in the meadow. It’s been hours!” Ian said balefully.
Robyn and Jimenez pulled up, and seeing the commotion, hopped out and ran towards the porch.
“What’s going on, Dad?” Robyn asked
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