~April 5th~
The trucks were rolling just after sunrise. All three Jeeps were needed to herd the errant cows and horses into a loose herd as they continued across the valley, following the occasional flutters of red.
They stopped for lunch in the early afternoon, turned the calves and the foals loose and made a quick lunch of smoked meat, peanuts and chocolate bars. The gap between the range was in sight, so after a short rest, water and feed for the chickens and piglets, an extra ration of Cow Chow and oats for the other animals, they pushed on. The moose and several deer were still following along.
~
The foothills slowed them down. The larger trucks fell behind, moving slower and slower as they worked their way up the steeper grades. The heavy loads were probably all, Mike decided later, that got those trucks up to the top of the last rise. In low gear the tires kept them moving up, but without the load, they would have spun on the slick rock and loose gravel.
Cindy was the first to see them. They had all been looking, knowing they were near the top of the pass somewhere, when Cindy spotted a small crowd on top of a rocky outcrop at the top of what looked like a nearly sheer cliff face that rose up into the mountain itself.
"There they are! There they are," she yelled excitedly. “That's them, right?”
She waved, and the people silhouetted against the sky waved back.
~
Everybody stood on the wide ledge outside the cave, watching as the three big trucks battled their way upward in low gear, made the top and drove across the flat ledge to where the Suburbans were sitting.
The Jeeps and the pickup finished the short distance, the cows and horses following easily. When the trucks stopped, the animals kept going, smelling the water in the valley down below.
Bob and Ronnie set the calves and foals loose, and their mothers herded them over the rock and down into the valley below, moose, deer and all following along.
Then everything was cheers and yelling, hugs and kisses and tears. Cindy stood a little apart feeling overwhelmed, unsure of her place. A heavyset older woman approached her, her eyes puffy, but a smile on her face.
"I'm Sharon," she said.
"I'm Cindy," Cindy told her. She looked around at all the people. Two dogs were running around barking, wagging their tails crazily, sniffing the cow and horse dung.
Sharon laughed and swiped at her eyes. Cindy's own eyes were running freely. She came closer to the young woman, put her arms around her and hugged her to her bosom.
"Come on, Honey, let's go up and meet every one. They're gonna like you, I can tell."
~Arlene's journal~
I missed last week, so I tested. I tested again today. I can't believe it, but I'm pregnant!
~Patty's Diary~
It's night. It's finally quiet. The day was crazy, but they are here. We are all back together again. I realized today that there is nothing at all that I can do about Kate and how I feel about her.
It was good to have Ronnie back, and I did miss him, but the way my heart jumped when I saw her.
It seems funny to read it like that, written right there in my own handwriting. And it's real, but somehow that makes it even more real. I don't know how that can be, but it is. And I don't know what I can do about it. I certainly can't tell her. Seeing her with Mike, it's obvious she loves him.
It's a mess.
America The Dead Book Two: The Road To Somewhere Page 20