Dark Road

by David C. Waldron

  “We will vote in two days.” Sheri said. “It will be a secret ballot and it will last all day so everyone will get a chance to vote. Campaigning is allowed, if you should choose to. Complaining is not.”

  That led to a few good natured hoots and then Karen got up for her turn.

  Sheri handed the microphone to Karen, who had a better understanding of the UCMJ than either Rachael or Sheri did, and could explain what else everyone would be voting on in two days.

  “In addition to voting for mayor,” Karen began, and everyone was instantly quiet as this was totally unexpected. “We will be voting on the laws of our community.”

  Having the Constitution and Amendments was all fine and dandy for a society in general, but the day to day running of a community needed concrete laws, with consequences when they were broken. What they were going to propose now were the specifics, and it had been a bit of a struggle to decide which direction they should go. The end result had been the following.

  “Every law that we propose today,” Karen said, “will either be a yes or no on the ballot, or you will have a choice of two or three versions of the consequence for breaking the law—in addition to a yes or no.”

  “For example,” Karen continued reading from one of the sample pages of the ballot, “in the case of pre-meditated murder, should the convicted be found guilty, will the community condone capital punishment? Yes or No?” Karen was interrupted by cries of yes and no as well as a number of other shouts.

  Karen looked up and barked into the microphone. “I Was Not Asking A Question!”

  Silence fell.

  “Thank you.” Karen said in a more controlled voice. “I was reading you one of the questions on the ballot that you will need to consider on your own, and vote for in private. It is understood that some of you will be for capital punishment and that some of you will be against it. Understand that those of you against, for example, if it doesn’t pass, will spend a part of your day for the rest of your lives working to feed those that sit in jail, most likely, unless we set up chain gangs, or press them into service. Those of you who are so gung-ho to kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out need to realize that you will most likely be on the firing squad or be called to be the headsman or operate the trapped door should it pass.”

  “So,” she continued, “as I was saying. If you vote No, you move on to the next ballot item. If you vote yes, there are, in fact, three methods to choose from, and you need to choose one.” Karen looked at the crowd and most people didn’t seem able to look her in the eye. She was willing to bet that those who were meeting her eye hadn’t been yelling one way or the other about the law she’d been reading, and had simply been listening and actually thinking about what she was talking about.

  “Not all of the laws are of quite such a life and death nature though. One has to do with civil unions as opposed to religious marriages. Several laws surround what days will be holidays. There is one problem, though,” Karen paused.

  That got everyone’s attention.

  “We don’t have nearly enough copies for everyone to have a ballot today and on voting day.” Karen said. “So, what we are going to do is give every family one copy today and ask you to bring it back with you in two days. Your ballot will be another slip of paper and we promise, no hanging chads because you will be circling yes or no and circling the appropriate number if there is more than one alternative.”

  “By a show of hands, is everyone ok with that method for this first election?” Karen asked. “All in favor?”

  It appeared to be unanimous.

  Karen turned to Sergeant Pine and got the thumbs up.

  “Any opposed?” Karen asked.

  There was one arm that came up and then it was pulled back down to some snickers. “Sorry,” came an apologetic yell. “He doesn’t know what opposed means,” which caused even more laughter.

  Karen checked with Pine again and got another thumbs up.

  “Then it’s unanimous and we will hand out the overview of the proposed community laws to be voted on as everyone leaves.” Karen said. “Please only take one per family as we’re trying to conserve the paper as much as possible. We’ll have the three Mayoral candidates listed at the polls. That’s everything we have, we’ll see you all in two days. The polls will open at 8:00 and close at 6:00 pm. That’s 18:00 for you military folks. See you all on Sunday at the polls!”

  Chapter Twenty

  Dan and Marissa had called a halt for the day, and Dan was eyeing a flat patch of ground to set up camp for the night.

  “All in all I feel pretty good about today.” Marissa said. “How are you doing, Bekah?”

  “Better than yesterday, I’m glad it cooled off a little. I can go a little further if we need to.” She said.

  “No, honey, I think we’ve done fine for today. Besides,” Dan said, “I think Jessie is tired of riding in the trailer for the day.”

  “Yes I am!” Jessie said, half kidding. This had become the daily family joke as Jessie was the only one who didn’t have to ride a bike since she’d never been off of training wheels. She was only half kidding, though, because it wasn’t nearly as comfortable as everyone thought it should be, and her bum still hurt by the end of the day just like everyone else’s.

  “Well, that’s fine, sweetie.” Dan said with a smile. “We made a little over fifteen miles today according to the mile markers, and almost nine yesterday.” He was tired and still a little sore from his battle with the fire bow but he finally felt like they were making some real progress towards what he desperately hoped was their final destination.

  “Fifteen miles,” Marissa repeated as she was unloading the minimal requirements for their camp and Dan was gathering wood for their small fire. “If we can keep that pace up for the rest of the week we’ll be there.”

  Dan sighed and had to shake himself. “I know, I’m trying not to get my hopes up. One day at a time though. If we can even do that much again tomorrow I’ll be happy.”

  …

  After they stopped, and before dark, they set aside time for practice with the 10/22. Just as Marissa had predicted, and Dan feared, Bekah was a natural. They used their cups from the restaurant and shot at them from varying distances. Marissa, Dan, and Bekah took turns trying to shoot out the middles of the letters that they could see through the scope.

  Eventually, Jessie had demanded her turn and surprisingly did almost as well as Dan did, which obviously grated just a little bit. Then, Dan and Bekah got into a bit of a competition and Dan started improving by leaps and bounds. Now Dan was only taking a half a dozen shots at distant targets he designated through the scope so he could leave the rest of the ammo to Bekah and Jessie.

  He was still in awe, and more than a bit uncomfortable, about having a six-year-old learn how to shoot, but she seemed to understand and take seriously the rules and the dangers. He was almost as conflicted about his own accomplishments in that regard.

  He had started taking the occasional shot with the .30-30 but couldn’t put more than a couple rounds through it at a time due to the fact that he hated being kicked by a horse in the shoulder. Marissa assured him he would get used to it but that just reminded him of a poster he’d seen in Health Class in high school; something about getting used to the taste of smoking being like getting used to the taste of mustard on ice cream. No thanks!

  “Rations are thin but not non-existent.” Marissa said. “Bekah wants to try to hunt for some dinner. I’m going to go with her and see if we can’t find some squirrels or a rabbit or something.” Marissa winked, knowing full well that there was little to no chance of finding either. While Bekah was becoming quite the marksman, her skill at woodcraft left much to be desired and she had the patience of a gnat on crack.

  “Sounds like a plan.” Dan said. “You have your 9 and I’ll keep the shotgun here.” Dan stopped. “Wait. This is the first time we’ve done something like this, where we aren’t all together. What’s the distress call?”

  �
��Three shots into the air; not rapid fire but not so far apart that you think we’re shooting at something.” Marissa said. “That’s standard protocol when you are hunting.”

  Dan nodded. “Ok, and when you’re coming back. How do I know it’s you and not someone else?”

  “Good point.” Marissa said. “I really wish we had a radio or something. We can use the same thing we did back on the first night.”

  “Fair enough, just don’t use any line from any Monty Python skit to reply and we should be good.” Dan said.

  “Love you, keep the fire going. If we don’t find anything we’ll look for some edible greens,” and Marissa and Bekah were off.

  …

  After about a half hour Dan thought he heard the .22. About a minute later he was sure he heard it again now that he was listening for it. Ok, that was definitely too far apart to be a call for help, even if a third one shows up. Dan thought. I wonder if that’s target practice or if they actually found something.

  Five minutes later Dan had his answer—after the challenge and response—when Marissa and a beaming, but slightly sick looking, Bekah walked into camp with two fat rabbits. Dan was stunned.

  “Wow!” Dan said. “I honestly don’t know what else to say. I heard the two shots but didn’t know for sure what you were shooting at. One of them is even a head shot!”

  “Well,” Marissa said as Bekah started to blush, “the body shot was on the move. Something spooked it and our little sniper here had to track it and fire while it was running away. She wasn’t going to let it get away a second time.”

  Dan’s eyes were huge at this point. “What? Come again.”

  “Um, well,” Bekah said softly. “These two were eating clover in a small patch of grass and I got the first one which spooked the second one, obviously.”

  “Obviously, I can kinda see why that would, you know, bother the other one a just a little.” Dan said.

  Bekah giggled and went on. “Mom saw which direction it had jumped and run off in so we got the first one and then stalked the second one until I could see it through the bushes. Mom told me not to try because of all the branches but I could see just fine through the scope, and the bullet is so small I figured it didn’t matter.”

  Marissa was rolling her eyes.

  “Something spooked it, though, and it started to run.” Bekah said.

  “Wouldn’t have been the smell of the blood from its dead friend would it?” Dan asked.

  Bekah gave her father an eight-year-old glare and continued. “I had to follow it with the scope and then I realized that the bullet was going to be where the rabbit used to be by the time I pulled the trigger and the bullet got there, since it was running,” Bekah explained. “So I aimed a little in front of the rabbit and fired and I hit it a little behind the head.”

  “Sweetheart,” Marissa said. “I told you, that’s called leading your target.”

  “I know, but I didn’t think Daddy knew what that meant,” Bekah said in all honesty.

  Dan couldn’t help but laugh. “You were right; I wouldn’t have had any idea. You did just fine honey. So, does anyone know how to skin one of these things?”

  …

  “This is the fullest I have felt in over a month.” Marissa said.

  “Me too,” Jessie chimed in around the remainder of her second drumstick.

  Neither of the girls had been able to be a part of dressing the rabbits, even though Bekah hadn’t had any qualms about shooting both of them. The thought of gutting and skinning them was just too much for her, and given the fact that a rabbit was nothing like a deer, this was new territory for Marissa; it had literally been a by the book operation.

  Dan and Marissa were sure it wasn’t the neatest of all rabbit dressings, but they were willing to bet there were worse ones out there too, for first timers. Nothing was lost and they got to eat everything worth eating.

  Bekah wasn’t wasting time talking; she was still working on…some piece of meat.

  “I’m really proud of you, Bekah.” Dan said.

  She looked up from her food at that.

  “We really needed some meat to supplement what we got in Kingston Springs.” Dan went on. “We needed the protein and you did a great job. Thank you, honey.”

  Bekah was blushing and went back to eating to hide her embarrassment, so Dan quit praising her.

  There was only so much nutrition they could get from vitamins and pills; calories, and protein, and certain amino acids were going to have to come from their diet, and this had gone a long way towards keeping them healthy.

  Dan noticed that Marissa was gently rolling her shoulders and realized that it had been over a week since her last injections. They had been pushing hard, and given how dispersed they had been, and how small each one had been as a result, they had most likely worn off by now. He’d bring it up after the girls were asleep.

  …

  Their fire was almost down to coals, and the girls were sound asleep. It wasn’t dark yet, but they had taken to letting the girls go to sleep early so they could get up early and get started while it was still cool in the mornings.

  “C’mere Rissa, we need to work on your neck and shoulders.” Dan said.

  “It’s not that bad, really. I can wait a little longer.” Marissa said.

  “Yes, you could, or you can come here and I can make it stop hurting so bad now.” Dan replied. He didn’t stop taking out the supplies to give her the shots so she came over to where he was, on the side of the fire opposite the girls.

  “Obvious it’s getting to me?” She asked.

  “Is the Pope Catholic?” He asked.

  He had his entire EMT kit over by ‘their’ bed, even though only one of them used it at a time since one of them was always on guard duty. He got out what he needed and closed everything else up to keep it from getting dirty, but didn’t take the time to put it back with all the other supplies.

  “Sit down in front of me, let’s see the damage.” He said.

  Marissa sat down with her back to him and unbuttoned the first couple of buttons of her shirt so she could bare her shoulders for the shots.

  Dan felt around on her neck and shoulders where the knots usually showed, massaging a little as he went, eliciting a slight moan from Marissa.

  “That feels really good.” She said. “Right…there…not too hard though.”

  “I didn’t get a chance to do this at the fire station, sorry.” Dan said. “The girls get all ‘ewww’.”

  Marissa giggled. Dan loved when she giggled, even though she said she hated the sound.

  “Ok, sorry, time for shots.” Dan said.

  “S’ok.” Marissa said with a sigh.

  The Betadine swabs and alcohol were cold again, and caused Marissa to shiver; and then there were the six shots in the neck and shoulders. When Dan was done and the needle was put away, he kissed her on the nape of the neck and said, “There, all better.”

  That caused another shiver, actually more of a shudder that went from her shoulders to her hips, and Dan could see the goose bumps on the exposed flesh of her neck and upper back. That was one of the things he’d always loved about her, that she was so responsive to his touch. He leaned forward and softly kissed her neck and shoulders as he reached around to hug her from behind.

  It had been a long time—since just before Danny had died. It hadn’t been on purpose, it had just…happened. The time hadn’t been right, or one or the other of them hadn’t been in the mood. Something had just always gotten in the way.

  Today, though, things were finally looking up. They were finally, somehow, seemingly against all odds able to relax.

  As he kissed the side of her neck, she turned her head to face him and they kissed; for the first time in months they really kissed. Like they had when they were dating in college and the hormones were raging and they were afraid they were going to get caught by his or her roommates and then, it was their bed again.

  …

  They were cuddled
together as it was getting dark, enjoying each other’s company like they hadn’t been able to do since they left the neighborhood—but if they were honest, like they hadn’t done in months.

  “I hate to ruin the moment,” Dan said, “but one of us is going to have to get up and stand watch for the first shift. We pass people on the road every day now, and we’re never more than a mile or so from anyone by the time we stop for the day.”

  Marissa snuggled into him and sighed. “I know, I just didn’t realize how much I missed this until just now. I’m sorry.”

  “You have nothing to apologize for. The last time I checked it was half my fault.” He kissed her neck.

  “Don’t start that again, Mr.” She giggled.

  Dan smiled into her hair. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll take the first shift; I want you to get some sleep.”

  “In a little bit, though.”

  “Ok, in a little bit.”

  …

  The fire was completely out and there were four still forms around the ashes. Two curled together on one side, and two separate from each other on the other side.

  Three shadows crept among the still forms and their belongings, as quietly as possible, looking for things they could take without making noise or raising any alarm. It would be too noisy to take the bike with the trailer, but if they could detach the trailer then they could take all three bikes. The rifle and shotgun were next to the bikes so those they could grab easily.

  Some of the backpacks would be easy to get, some would be difficult. One of the sleeping forms was holding a rifle, should they try to take it? Maybe, as the last thing they did.

  They had already been in the camp for almost ten minutes and that was pushing their luck. Detach the trailer from the first bike and get going.

  Who rolled the bike backwards and made the clicking noise?

  …

  Bekah was sleeping soundly, holding on to the empty and safe 10/22 when the sound of footsteps by her head woke her up and then she heard the sound of one of the bikes, the ‘tick-tick-tick’ sound it makes when they pedaled backwards. She opened her eyes and saw three large shadows in their campsite, and screamed.