It had been no secret to anyone, except maybe the two of them, that there was an attraction between them. They were the two renegades of the group, each in their own way, but both now felt part of the village community and were keenly aware that the survival of the community rested heavily on each person’s shoulders; even though they might not have thought about it in those terms. And both of them were of the age that their hormones were flowing, hers only increased by her pregnancy, and his because, well because he was a 15 year old boy.
He offered her his jacket seat and he cleared out the rocks and made a seat on the ground for himself. He no longer worried about the discomfort of the hard ground.
They lost all track of time as they talked. Their conversation moved from one topic to another as they talked about acquaintances, parties, school, parents, and finally the CME. She asked him if he thought they’d survive and be able to build a life in Duwa, how long he thought they’d have to be here, and when the world might get back to normal?
Jason assured her that everything was going to be all right. He said that he had faith in Bishop and the other men to make sure they stayed safe and built a village that might be fun to live in. He was certain that the food they had and could grow would give them plenty to eat and Jack’s idea for the water system would make sure they always had water. “As for how long we’ll have to be here and when things will get back to normal,” he said, “I don’t really know. But I think it’s going to be a long time. From the shortwave radio reports we heard, people all around the world are suffering but, in fact, I think we’re in better shape than most. We’re organized and we have people we can depend on. I think this is our new normal and, quite frankly, I like it,” he said with a smile that lit up his face. “If it wasn’t for our new normal, I wouldn’t have met you,” he concluded, before he had even known he’d said it.
Kathleen touched his arm and was about to respond when they heard the growl of motorcycle engines.
Jason was immediately alert. He grabbed his binoculars and scanned the highway by the bridge. Sure enough, there were six motorcyclists followed by a pickup truck pulling up to the bridge. The lead cyclist was pointing up the creek bed toward the mesa and then he swept his arm up the highway toward the Village of Oak Creek. The cyclists revved their engines and began moving slowly toward the Village, two abreast; the pickup trailing.
“Mr. Westin, Bishop, come in, come in; this is Jason” he yelled into his radio.
“Okay, Jason. Calm down. What’s up? And tell me slowly,” Bishop responded.
Jason told him what he had seen and Bishop told him to stay put and alert. He and Bud were on their way.
Bishop immediately told Matt to turn off the backhoe, figuring if Jason could hear the motorcycles maybe the Scorpions could hear the back hoe; and there was no sense taking a chance.
Within just a few minutes Bishop and Bud arrived at Jason’s lookout point, riding double on the other ATV. They were surprised to see Kathleen but had other things on their minds.
“You said there were six cyclists and one pickup,” Bishop reiterated. “Has there been any more activity on the road?” he asked.
“No,” responded Jason. “That was all I saw.”
Both men carried rifles and Jason knew that both men were experienced riflemen.
“What do we do now?” Jason asked.
“We wait,” responded Bishop. “We don’t know where they’re headed. We can assume they’re looking for the children, but whether or not they’ll come in this way from the Ranger Station remains to be seen.
“Bud, why don’t you take one of the ATVs and go out on the neck of the mesa that looks right down on the trail coming to our little bridge down there,” he said pointing down the hill toward the little bridge that Matt and Tanner had built over the creek. “If they should decide to come up here we’ll have them in a cross fire. Take Jason’s radio so we can stay in touch.”
Bud immediately took Jason’s radio and the ATV he and Bishop had come on and headed overland, out onto the neck of the mesa.
“Jason, you take Kathleen back to the village on your ATV and get Tanner and Colby to come back here with you. Make sure they’re armed. Kathleen, you can tell the others what’s happened and tell everyone else to stay in the village and not to worry. There’s no way anyone’s coming up this trail. And if they try, we won’t allow any of them to leave to tell the other Scorpions where we are.”
“Yes sir,” responded Jason, and he and Kathleen left immediately.
Bishop got on the radio and told Tanner and Colby what was happening and to come back with Jason. He knew that Jack and Philip were operating on another frequency and decided not to call them. He knew they’d be filled-in by the others in the village when they returned and he felt he didn’t need any more help to fend off anyone that might try coming up the trail.
I don’t want to kill anyone else, he thought, but this might just be the real test of our ability to survive up here. We can’t take a chance on the Scorpions finding out where we are and if that means killing them, we will. Later, when the village is completed and we’re secure in the pueblo with its defensive walls we’ll be better prepared to defend the village. But right now we’re too vulnerable. And then Bud radioed.
“Bish, I’m in position. I don’t see or hear anything and I’m sure we’ll hear those damned motorcycles on the trail long before we’ll see them. So we won’t be surprised.”
“10-4, Bud,” Bishop responded. “I agree. Let’s just sit tight and see what happens.”
◘ ◘ ◘ ◘ ◘
Tanner and Colby arrived riding Jason’s ATV and Jason arrived shortly thereafter, having jogged the short line through the junipers.
Bishop told them where Bud was and, should anyone start up the trail Bud would let them know. In that case Tanner and Colby were to take up positions on either side at the top of the trail. “No one gets to the top,” Bishop said, to which they all nodded.
“What about me, Mr. Westin?” Jason asked. “What can I do?”
“You stay with me, Jason. Let’s see how things develop.”
The unmistakable “pop, pop, pop” of gunfire pierced the serenity of the mesas. Everyone was on alert. Bud immediately keyed his radio to let Travis and the others in the village know that the gunfire they were hearing was not from them and that he would let them know if they were firing their weapons.
“Bishop, this is Bud,” he said into his radio. “As far as I can tell the gunshots are coming from the direction of the Ranger Station or more likely from the Tequa Plaza.”
“Thanks, Bud, I agree,” Bishop responded.
The gunfire was intense for a couple of minutes and Bud could tell from his military experience that several small and large caliber weapons were involved. It definitely sounded like a firefight—and then it ended. Silence returned to the mesa as they waited with bated breath to see or hear what would happen next.
Fifteen minutes passed before they heard the muffled sound of motorcycle engines being kick-started and another five minutes later two motorcycles came into view on the highway headed back toward the bridge. Then the truck came into view with three more bikes behind it.
Jason noted out loud, as he watched with his binoculars, that one of the motorcycles was missing and that the back of the pickup seemed to be loaded with people.
Bishop kept his fears to himself.
“I can see them on the highway from here,” Bud radioed. “It looks like the excitement is over.”
“Yeah, we see them, too,” responded Bishop, “but there’s one cyclist missing and it appears they have people in the back of the pickup that were not there when they came into town. Come on back over here, Bud, and let’s talk.”
Bud was back within minutes and he, Tanner, Colby, and Jason gathered around Bishop.
“I don’t know what happened out there,” Bishop started, “but I have my suspicions and I think we need to check it out. I suggest that Bud and I take the two ATVs
down on the trail to the Ranger Station and then go on foot to see if we can find any sign of what transpired. We shouldn’t be gone more than an hour or so and Jason can keep an eye out here to warn us if he sees them returning. Tanner, you and Colby can walk back to the village and let everyone know the immediate danger has passed. But keep your radios handy, just in case we need you.
“Are you okay with that, Bud?”
“Yep, sounds good to me. I won’t rest easy until I have some idea what happened.”
“I don’t know if I like you going down there, Dad,” Tanner said.
“Don’t worry about us,” Bishop responded. “We’ve both done this kind of reconnaissance before, in a lot more hostile territory than this, and we both know how to use these,” he said, hoisting his rifle. “With the ATVs the trip will not be so hard physically, and besides, Bud and I are in pretty good shape for old men,” he laughed. “We’ll radio you if there’s any sign of threat.”
Tanner knew there was no sense trying to talk his father out of anything he had already made his mind up to and he knew that of all the men in the village, Bud and his dad were the most capable in tough situations. So he quietly acquiesced.
“Go on back to the village now and keep working on the projects. Every day that goes by is another day closer to the monsoons and I don’t much like working in the rain and mud,” Bishop chortled to lighten the mood.
He admonished Jason to keep a good look out and “no snoozing.” Jason knew he was too keyed up to snooze even if he wanted to, and he didn’t want to.
◘ ◘ ◘ ◘ ◘
Bud and Bishop saw nothing amiss when they reached the Ranger Station. Both gates were still locked, just as they had left them, so they knew no one had entered; because they wouldn’t have taken the time to relock them, or at least make them look that way.
The two men climbed the ridge that separated the Ranger Station from the highway and then worked their way along the ridge toward Tequa.
At first they couldn’t see anything unusual, but the smell of cordite from the firing of the guns still hung heavy in the air. They carefully picked their way into the Plaza, making sure to stay behind objects that would give them some cover. They were only in the open the 30-seconds it took them to cross the highway into the Plaza. And then they saw the scene of the confrontation.
In the parking lot of the Full Moon Saloon lay the one unaccounted for motorcycle and sprawled beside it was a Scorpion. He had been shot at least three times. The front of the Saloon was riddled with bullet holes and when they entered they found the bodies of three men, two women, and two children. They all had been shot. There were backpacks, blankets, clothes, and other items strewn about, indicating that whoever had been here was probably living here, at least temporarily. The toilets were rank and had seen more than an occasional use. Of course part of that, or most, could have resulted from the night the Scorpions had had their drinking fest there.
Bud and Bishop checked the various rooms of the Saloon and the surrounding grounds but saw no one else. There were spent shell casings littering the parking lot and the floor of the saloon, and some splotches and pools of blood in both places, evidence of the gunfight they had heard.
“I can only speculate what happened here,” Bishop conjectured, “but I’m guessing those Scorpions had been sent back to try and locate the missing children. They probably thought the children would have headed here in search of food and shelter rather than staying out in wild.
“When the Scorpions pulled into the parking lot in front of the saloon, the people inside immediately recognized the threat and shot the lead cyclist. And then, all hell broke loose.
“I’m guessing the Scorpions quickly forced the people to surrender, after having killed these seven, and forced them to get in the back of the pickup to take back to their farm in Rimrock. I think they probably felt they got a good deal by replacing the three lost kids with however many adults and children they got from here. I couldn’t tell how many were in the pickup, but I’ll bet there were at least six to nine.”
“And some of the other Scorpions were probably injured, too,” Bud interjected, “based on the blood in the parking lot. I’m guessing the blood out here was from the Scorpions and the blood in the saloon from the folks in there.”
“I think you’re right,” Bud. “With their new workers and having lost three of their members now, counting the one on the bridge, the one that drove into the hole at the service station that first night, and another Scorpion up here, I think they’ll stay put for a while and lick their wounds. They have to be in survival mode, too, and the more people they get the more mouths to feed. And children aren’t as productive as adults. So, at least for now, I think they’ll forget about the Amado kids and stay home to tend to their farm. They have to know that the monsoons are coming, too, and have plenty to keep them busy. If what Tess told us about their proclivity for women is even somewhat true, they’ll have other things on their minds, as well.”
“I wonder where these folks came from?” inquired Bud.
“Let’s check the stuff they left behind in the Saloon and see if we can find out,” Bishop responded.
A quick search of the backpacks and other detritus left behind yielded nothing.
“Well, that was a big zero,” lamented Bishop. “I guess we’ll never know where these folks were from. I can only speculate that they weren’t from nearby or they wouldn’t have been camping here. But where is their transportation and how did they get guns? I guess we’ll never know, but suffice it to say that we know that any encounter with the Scorpions will be violent and, from our standpoint at least, terminal—for them.
“I can only guess, Bud, but wherever they came from, and were going, it appears they stopped here to find something to eat and drink and rest for the night; and then they ran into the Scorpions this morning. I feel sorry for them. Someday I’d like to make sure the Scorpions get what’s coming to them, but it won’t be today. We have a village to worry about.”
“Hey, Bish, you ever ridden a Harley?” Bud asked.
“No, can’t say that I have. Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?”
“Yep, let’s ride this hog back to our ATVs. We can put it in one of the storage sheds. May come in handy some time.”
“That sounds like fun, Bud,” Bishop said, “but I think we need to leave things just like we found them. The Scorpions might come back for their dead comrade and the bike, just like they did on the bridge, and we can’t afford to alert them to our presence. We really don’t need the bike anyway,” he added.
Bud reluctantly concurred.
◘ ◘ ◘ ◘ ◘
Bishop radioed Tanner from the Ranger Station and told them they were headed back up the hill. He knew Jason would be listening too, and said, “And Jason don’t you go shooting us when we come up the trail.”
“Okay, Mr. Westin, I’ll just watch your back,” he responded.
At the top of the trail, Jason climbed on the ATV behind his grandfather and they all rode to the village. With the sound of the ATVs everyone came out to greet them and the questions came in jumbled rapidity.
Michael and Maria had prepared lunch so Bishop suggested they all go to the Meeting Hall and he’d bring them up-to-date on what happened.
Jack and Philip were the most interested to hear what had transpired because they had not been tuned to the same channel as the rest as they worked on the water project. They had just come back to the village and were told the bare essentials by Colby and Tanner; but all were enthralled by Bishop and Bud’s story. They were careful not to stress the blood and dead bodies for fear of frightening the children but made it clear what had happened nonetheless. Bud told them of Bishop’s speculation as to what happened and then about wanting to take the motorcycle. He made the part about Bishop rejecting his idea sound like he was a little boy that had had his ice cream bar taken away from him, and it helped lighten the overall mood.
“Okay,” said Bi
shop, “now you’re all up-to-date. I think we should get back to our projects and we’ll plan on taking a well-deserved break in the creek after we wrap things up for the day.
◘ ◘ ◘ ◘ ◘
Bishop sent Jason back up to the lookout post and suggested that Kathleen might like to join him, just to keep him company. That suggestion elicited a knowing smile from Maria and Ellen, both of whom had suspected there was an attraction growing between their respective children. Under ordinary circumstances they might have had some reservations, due to Kathleen’s condition and the fact she was two years older than Jason but, under the current circumstances, they felt whatever happiness the two got from whatever their relationship became, they just couldn’t object. Jason and Kathleen rode off together on one of the ATVs.
Matt had finished tilling the valley so he took the backhoe and followed Jack and Philip out to the pools where he then began digging the waterline ditch across the mesa toward the pueblos, following the stakes they had placed to guide him. Jack and Philip began planning and marking the area where a windmill would be installed to pump water from the pools into one of the 2500-gallon storage tanks and figuring out how they would build a platform for the windmill that was cantilevered from the mesa over the pools, some 20 feet below the ground level.
Colby and Tanner, who had not previously had time to erect the last of the three white First Aid tents to give Travis a place to store his equipment, tools, chemicals, seeds, and anything else he needed for the greenhouse, erected it, with Travis’ help next to the temporary greenhouse. Travis’ temporary domain was now finished.
Turning their attention to the kiva, which by now was pretty well cleared of debris, they smoothed the floor down to its original level and patched the walls were it was needed.
The ladies working on the curtains for the dividers within the tents had made fast progress and now, while the seamstresses continued sewing, the other ladies began hanging the new curtains and folding up the sheets and blankets that had served as temporary curtains.
Sinagua Rising: A story of survival after a worldwide catastrophe Page 28