Further:

by Travis Mohrman

  Tom began scratching his back and said, “Think he knows something we don’t?”

  Aria sighed heavily and stared at the dog. “Most certainly, but he seems to be having a hard time letting me know what that is. I’m starting to wonder if someone might be out there.”

  “I can go take a look. I’ll bring him with me and maybe he can get it out of his system.” With that, Tom stood up and strolled off the porch. Fry was nearly glued to the side of his leg, his eyes never leaving a certain point of the woods to the north.

  5

  From where the bodies had been found, it wasn’t a much farther hike to hit the city gates. The men had no idea how close they were until they burst out of the honeysuckle and came upon a wall built out of old train cars. Cooper identified these as the outer wall of his city.

  He had composed himself by then and the sight of the wall raised his spirits even further. One way or another, the redhead was about to make his entrance back into his city and he would get answers to some of his questions.

  “Ok, so this is the wall, but which way do we go to get to the gate?” Lakewood asked.

  Cooper honestly wasn’t sure. He stood there for a bit, thinking. In one direction all he saw was honeysuckle. In the other direction he saw the very same thing. He had no way of knowing at which point in the wall they had stumbled into.

  He was about to confess his ignorance when Tim saved him. “It’s just a metal box, let’s climb over it,” he said very plainly. “We can lift each other up and then the last man on the ground can be pulled up by those already up there.”

  Everyone agreed this was a solid plan and the work began. They all thought it was best to send Cooper up first, since he may be able to spot the gate a short distance away and they would not need to bother with this at all.

  Cooper stepped into the laced together hands of Tim and Doc and was easily pushed right up to the lip of the boxcar. Then, using his own arms and a little extra shove from below, he was on top of the boxcar. Looking out in all directions he could see his city. He couldn’t make out any people, and there seemed to be much more honeysuckle inside the city than he remembered, but it was still his home. He could even see the water off in the distance. He couldn’t identify the main gate anywhere so they all clambered up onto the top of the box to take in the view.

  They looked out onto the large expanse of mostly open areas. They could see a few of the fields that were used to grow the meager vegetables they could coax into existence in the poor soil. The large metal boxes were scattered around amidst the overgrown shrubs. Off to the north they could see a maze of the same metal tombs all clumped together that went off towards a series of crumbling structures. Cooper told them that was the main dwelling area.

  “Well, it certainly looks different from the village,” said FZ

  Nodding his head, Seabee replied, “It looks about like I remember it when I stopped through a lifetime ago, except for the lack of people.”

  “Well, we’re not gonna accomplish anything up here and the way I figure it, we can lighten our packs considerably now that we are here,” exclaimed Tim. Then he lowered himself off the edge of the box and dropped the few feet to the ground.

  Everyone else agreed and soon they were all on the ground within the city walls. Cooper was already coming up with a plan. “Let’s head towards the water, that way I can orient myself. It’s only been a year, but the plants inside here are much larger than when I left and I don’t know exactly where we are. Besides, if John is still here, I bet we’ll find him down by the water. We still have a little bit before sun down, but if we don’t see anyone, we’ll just set camp down by the water.” With that, the six of them headed off towards the water with Cooper leading the way.

  “Hey, what do you guys think Scoob is doing back on the barge right now?” FZ asked.

  “He’s drunk as all get out, fishing off the barge. Guarantee it!” said Doc.

  “That’s what you would be doing, you idiot. This is Scoob we’re talking about. He’s tinkering with the engines while wearing his silly flat hat,” said Lakewood, with an air of confidence to his voice.

  “But he’s still drunk, right?” questioned Seabee.

  Lakewood raised his eyebrows, looked over at Seabee. “I certainly hope so; he can’t fix a damn thing sober.”

  The whole group of men burst out into laughter at the expense of their one friend who wasn’t there. No one would admit it, but they missed him already.

  “Hey, who are you guys?” A child’s voice called out from behind them.

  Everyone stopped cold. Obviously, their laughter had drawn some attention. Cooper weaved through the other men as they all stood silent. The redhead emerged from among them and kneeled down. He watched the child’s eyes go wide as he brought himself to his level. Cooper put out his hand to shake and just as he began to speak the little boy ran off. He didn’t say another word, just turned around and started running.

  “Nice place, Coop,” Tim joked.

  “Hey, he’s just a kid, we probably scared him,” said Doc. “I know I would be scared to run into this band of hoodlums in some deserted city, especially when it looks like his head’s on fire!”

  Cooper wasn’t sure what a hoodlum was, but he brushed it aside. “No guys, that kid looked up at my hair and ran away. He knew who I was and I bet he ran off to tell the others. C’mon, let’s follow him.”

  Since no one had a better idea, they began walking through the loose groupings of box cars in the direction the boy had run. In some areas, the honeysuckle was nearly as thick as outside the wall now. As they continued walking, they began to hear more voices. It was mostly high-pitched laughing and giggling, like children. The men continued in that direction as Cooper yelled out, “We didn’t mean to startle you little guy, we’re looking for everyone else.”

  “I KNEW IT!!” A deep voice, obviously belonging to a grown man, bellowed from around another box. John trotted around it and lifted Cooper up into a giant hug. Then he held him there, sobbing exuberantly, while the other men from the village just stared.

  +++

  After introductions were made, and John stopped blubbering, the whole group moved down by the lake to build a fire. Cooper had hoped to explain the village to John, but he hadn’t been able to say much once John started explaining what had happened in his absence.

  John described how everyone was happy and full of hope for a while after he left, but then it faded quickly. He told him about how close he grew to Walter and the many wonderful talks they had. Sadly, Cooper learned of Walter’s death and the pair shared a good cry while the brewers entertained the children with all their various bawdy tales. The stories were much too mature for children, but no one said anything since the kids were mostly playing with the dogs.

  “So, now it’s just been me and Albert here, taking care of these kids.” John sighed as he said it. Not quite defeated, but Cooper could tell the past year had been very hard on his friend.

  Albert, who had not left John while he told of the ordeal, spoke up. “John always said you were coming back. Always! He knew you would return, and he was right. Nobody believed him, but here you are! So did you find what will save us?” His eyes betrayed his true age, even if his size was much larger. He thought Cooper had something in his pocket that would make everything better. It was almost true, but not the way the boy imagined it.

  “Well Albert, I do have a plan.” The two leaned closer to Cooper as he described the village and the people there. The way the houses were built to withstand the strong storms that blow in from the gulf. The great fires they light to keep the woods healthy and safe. He ended his wonderful tale with a single sentence, “And they want you all to come down and live there.”

  Cooper expected John to be excited to hear that they could come live at the village, but instead he became silent and stared pensively at the fire. Albert started to hum something that was high-pitched and slow. Cooper didn’t have a clue what that was about. “Did you
hear me John? I said you can come li…”

  “Yes, I heard you. I just don’t know what to think. Can all the children come? What about the people that left? Will we look for them? If they come back here, how will they know where we went?”

  Cooper realized that John was still thinking of everyone else, even after they all abandoned him and left him to take care of the entire flock of children.

  Lakewood had been listening to this exchange and stood up to begin speaking. “Listen John, most of us at the village are not from there, we just wandered in. Either way, we have no rush here. I am sure Cooper will answer every question that you have, but for now I think we should all try and get some sleep.”

  Doc said, “Yeah, I have more kids than I have ever seen currently asleep on my legs.” Cooper looked at the sight and found it so odd he started chuckling. Both dogs were asleep on other side of Doc, and it appeared that the children had been trying to snuggle up to them, but began spilling farther down his legs. Cooper counted six kids draped over poor Doc. Even with his complaint, it was obvious he loved it. This many young kids were very important in a land where youngsters were so rare.

  The men from the village gathered the children up and bundled them into the tents. John began to say they should sleep in the boxes, like normal, but Cooper explained that the boxes had gathered things in the metal that were making people sick. Not only should they avoid sleeping in the boxes, it was part of the reason everyone needed to leave the city.

  After everyone else had gone to sleep for the night, Cooper and John remained by the fire. Neither was able to even think about falling asleep, so Cooper decided to introduce John to hoppy beer. It did not go well.

  “Why does it taste so bitter”? He was crinkling up his face and sticking out his tongue to somehow make the bitterness fade.

  “It just does. You’ll grow to like it, trust me. Besides, it’ll help you sleep.”

  “That would be nice. I don’t sleep well Coop, not for a long time now.”

  “I know, buddy.” Cooper wasn’t sure if he should tell John about the dead they found outside the city walls. Thinking back to how it made him feel, he decided not to saddle John with the same thing. “I know you are hesitant to leave because of the others, but we can leave a big map with details about where we went. Actually, we can leave some supplies and a special soap that will keep people healthy in case they come back and then want to find us. We are not in a rush to leave, so we can make sure we do this right.” Cooper silently reminded himself to inform the rest of the men not to mention their gruesome discovery. He also knew that many more must have left and it was within the realm of possibility for someone to come back, although he doubted it would happen. Basically, he knew the men wouldn’t want to carry all that stuff back to the barge.

  “That sounds pretty good, Coop. I think that will work.”

  “You did a really good job here John, I’m very proud of how much work you put into keeping these kids healthy and happy. That Albert, he’s a riot.”

  “Yeah, Albert’s a good little man. He hums a lot, I like it.”

  “So do I,” Cooper said while patting John’s back and taking the final sip of his beer.

  6

  In all of Handro’s travels, he had never come across a village like the one he had stumbled upon. He was traveling south along the river, backtracking the path of the barge he had seen, when he saw a thick trail leading into the woods. He had skirted the trail so as not to be seen and came across a large area full of small houses built of logs.

  He had been watching things from a safe vantage point high up in the crown of a large tree for several days. He was trying to decide what to do. His parents had always traveled, never settling down anywhere. On the rare occasion they would come upon a settlement they would always give it a wide berth. They always warned him that the people could be mean, or even possibly sick, and that it was best to simply stay away. They didn’t need the help of others to stay alive and they certainly didn’t trust them.

  It was true, Handro knew he could easily survive on his own. As he watched these people though, he realized he had been lonely. It had been years since his parents had moved on to the next life and he no longer wanted to be alone.

  He had decided to watch these people closely and attempt to figure out if they were sick. He realized he had no way to tell if they were aggressive to outsiders. They certainly seemed pleasant amongst themselves, and he took that as a good sign. If they were aggressive, he had nothing important they could take from him. His tools were made on site whenever he needed them. If he needed a snare to catch an animal, he made it from some vine. If he needed a knife to clean the animal, he merely smashed a rock and used the sharpest piece.

  Everything his parents taught him in their nomadic lifestyle had led to him being extremely self-sufficient. His parents were gone, though; he had no one to talk to or to laugh with. No one to share a meal with or a story of a kill. No one to watch a sunrise or sunset with. Yes, Handro would meet these people. Perhaps they were in need of his specialized skills, although they seemed to be getting along just fine.

  He would meet them on his terms though, and he wanted to watch them a little longer still. He had not been able to determine who might be in charge of this group. His parents had told him every group had a leader, and this was usually the downfall of the group. Leaders would eventually grow to abuse their power more and more until people were mistreated.

  While he was thinking back to the many lectures he had received as a child about the benefits of wandering, he noticed a man and a dog heading toward him. They had previously been sitting in front of one of the houses with the beautiful, long-haired woman. Now they appeared to be making a direct line for the tree he was in. The dog was leading them right to him.

  He began to grow worried that he would be found while spying on them, which was not the way he wanted introductions to be made. He was high in the tree, covered in leaves and clutching one of the branches as if he were a part of it. His dark skin made him blend into the shadows of the canopy even more. He hoped it was enough.

  Handro caught himself holding his breath as they got closer to the tree and remembered to breathe slow and steady. As the man approached he could see he was tall, with light brown hair. His skin was also darker than most of the other people he had seen walking around. He had self-assurance in his step, probably derived from the large, black and gold dog he was walking next to. Handro could hear the dog growling now, very slow and deep.

  The beast was large for a dog and very thick. Many of the dogs he saw on his travels were thinner and longer haired, like the two he had seen on the boat going up river. This one was taking his time, sniffing the ground and the air. Soon he left the man’s side to circle the very tree he was hiding in.

  As Handro grew more and more nervous, the man finally yelled for the dog to return. At first, the pooch paid him no heed, intent to continue sniffing the air, but after another command he came trotting back.

  He could hear the tall man saying something about rodents and ‘not getting people worked up’ as they walked back towards the house. Seeing them leave, Handro let out a large breath he had not meant to hold and relaxed his body. He decided he would approach them the next day.

  7

  A very familiar smell greeted Cooper as his eyes fluttered open in the morning sun. It was the muddy, earthy aroma of cooked carp. Having given the tents to the children to sleep in, all the men had slept outside in the late spring air.

  Sitting up, Cooper could see Albert cooking the carp over the fire while Doc, FZ and Lakewood stood nearby arguing. Strolling over to them, he said “Hey guys, what’s going on?”

  Lakewood turned to him. “I think we have to eat the carp and these guys don’t want to. I mean, it’s a common courtesy for our young chef right?”

  “Of course!” Cooper smiled. “I ate this stuff almost every day of my life, and we came all this way, may as well have one meal of it.”

>   Turning towards the laughter behind him, he saw Seabee and Tim already eating the scaly fish. The grease was all over their hands and mouth while they laughed.

  “See, I told you it was terrible!” laughed Seabee.

  Tim looked at him and replied with a grin, “I don’t think it’s terrible, I’ve eaten worse. It’s interesting.”

  “You’re a bunch of wimps, give it a go.” Cooper replied before wandering over to John. “How’d you sleep last night, John?”

  “Ok, I guess. What’s the plan for today Coop? Can we still make a map and leave supplies and stuff for the others?” His eyes were pleading for Cooper not to rescind his offer.

  “Of course, buddy. Way I figure it, we’ll spend today working on all that, sleep here one more night, and then start kicking one foot in front of the other tomorrow morning.”

  “Thanks Coop, that’s good. I want the people to be able to find us if they come back. And…why are we kicking our feet?”

  Smirking, the redhead responded, “I’ll explain it while we hike tomorrow, don’t worry.” He headed back to the brewers to explain the plan to them. They had all sat together and he was glad to see Doc and FZ munching away on the carp.

  After detailing the plan and agreeing both to not mention the bodies they found and to take a path well away from them, they all stood up to get to work. Cooper wasn’t just humoring John by leaving a map and supplies. Those bodies could not have been the only people to leave the city. For all he knew, a few were still in here somewhere, but he doubted it. They had made enough commotion already that if anyone wanted to come out they could. By leaving supplies, including the soap, it greatly increased anyone’s chances of making it to the village if they chose to journey there and it avoided any conflicts of trying to force people to leave.

  The tricky part was where to leave everything. Cooper thought about it for a good while. FZ thought it would be a good idea to leave several small caches of supplies, increasing the odds that one would be found. The problem was that the others may never be found and many of the supplies would go to waste, so Cooper declined that idea. Finally, he realized he could leave markers, maybe arrows even, directing people to a central location where all the supplies were.