The Event Series (Book 3): The Archive and Beyond

by Thomas Larson

  Funny, at times we think our issues were great, Stanwix, the raid on the camp, but after seeing her, and what we have driven through yesterday, we have had it very good. Thank you Sky Father and Earth Mother, we are blessed.

  Tanya and I did a little prayer for the woman, whoever she was. I doubt we could have saved her, and in the end, her end was probably a relief, quick, unseen, rather than being ripped to shreds and turned.

  The drive to Toledo was a depressing one. Much of the same burned out, barren, desolation that we had seen running into Cleveland. We are all just overwhelmed by what we have been seeing.

  We found a little truck stop just east of Toledo. It allowed us to fill up the tanks. My group will break away and start toward Alaska. We move north on I-90, the rest, they will go southwest.

  We stood around for a while, it was strange, I think that we all knew what we had to do, but this saying goodbye thing is not easy. None of us want to be the first to say it. But finally, I did, it was hard.

  We drove off; I promised Tom that we would get through and see them back at camp in a few weeks. I want to do that, I really do. It may take some luck, but I felt, feel that it will happen; we’ll make it.

  We reached South Bend, and on to Gary, Indiana. The scenery didn’t change much and the day clouded over in the afternoon, it began to rain and storm about 2 PM. It slowed us down, but we had left a cushion, we should still be able to easily make Rockford before dark.

  We broke away from I-90 for a little bit, the Chicago area was just a little too risky and depressing in my mind. Tanya and the others agreed so we headed out on I-80 to I-39 then it was a straight shot north to Rockford. We rolled in just south of the city about 7PM. We made our way to the Chicago-Rockford Airport and were able to get some fuel, but after last night, staying at an airport just seemed a bad idea. We headed out of town a little further and found a little farm on the other side of the Rock River.

  I have the first watch tonight, and although I would like to take some more time to write about what I am feeling, about what I have seen, it just is not happening.

  (Margo) Dammit, I should have shot the Hunter first, I should have taken it out, but now that woman is dead, because of me. This is getting old; this game is no fun anymore. I hate it.

  Code has been good; he is trying to make me see that it was not my fault. Tom is trying too, they all are, but right now, it isn’t helping.

  I drove today, we headed west on I-90 until we hit the outskirts of Toledo a little before noon. It was time to start to break up and for Matt, Tanya, Fred and Jan to leave us and move toward Anchorage. We stopped at a little gas station and just kind of hung around together for a while. No one wanted to be the one to say it was time, goodbyes are never easy, and especially after all we have been through.

  Matt finally just came out with it, “Time to go!”

  There were a few last hugs, promises were made to be safe and comments like we would all laugh about it when we got back to Romanica.

  We waved as they drove off and we just stood for a few minutes. It was hard. “Good luck Raven, Turtle, be safe, and may the Earth and Sky protect you,” I said to myself. I think we were all thinking it.

  The rest of the day was quiet as we drove on, down through the Fort Wayne area, and then ended the day near Indianapolis. We found a small airport, and fueled up, but we didn’t stay there. I think it had to do with last night and this morning.

  I took the early guard duty and when I’ve finished writing for the day, now I’m going to draw, I haven’t done it in a while, I have no inspiration, but need the pencil in my hand.

  (Lance) It was warm today, we did the veggie run, and we are eating lots of salads. We all take a little turn at the cooking. Nick had left a kind of cookbook, but so far no one is into trying to experiment with his recipes.

  Storm this afternoon, we could use the rain.

  August 13th

  (Tom) I drew the second watch again last night so I didn’t get much of a chance to write anymore last night. But I figured that it would probably be boring while it was my turn at the watch, and it is keeping me awake.

  The group had its first division and it was hard on us all. I am not sure how it will all end up. I think that we can do this, it won’t be easy, and seeing the world as it is now convinced me further of that. We have been mostly lucky, the fuel, the Hunter, finding food along the way.

  Today we will see the Major and his crew heading south while we head southwest. I think in retrospect the one big loop idea would have been better, if we had taken 4 or 5 trucks headed to Fort Knox, then Cheyenne Mountain and if time allowed on to Alaska, but it is academic, it is too late now.

  It was goodbyes all over again, with promises, and fake smiles.

  We hit the road about 8:30, I am exhausted from staying up much of the night, Tanya drove, and I napped.

  We reached Columbia, Missouri about 4 PM, the road gods had smiled on us. Or maybe Missouri really does love company. (Sorry) The weather was okay most of the day, but we did get some Midwest thunderstorms rolling in after we reached the city.

  My sleep cycle is messed up so I volunteered for the first watch. Nothing happened except the lightening.

  (Margo) I had Code drive today, I was just in a mood, I think it is a combination of things, the Hunter, the woman, the desolation, and maybe a touch of Auntie Flo, she seems to have showed up at just the wrong time. Funny, I am usually pretty good with that now, but with everything else, like I said, a mood.

  The drive was actually pretty calm and boring, I snoozed a little as the truck moved along the interstate. The original plan was to take I-70 west and end up heading through St. Louis, but as we were finished packing up Tom suggested that we look at some alternative routes. He felt that we would find that the bridges into the city might be gone. St. Louis was likely a target for a big nuke. The suggestion was an easy sell. He used that pad thing of his, Wilson, or whatever, to figure out the best route.

  We ended up heading a little further north taking a local, I guess state highway (#36) out of Indy and on to where Interstate 72 met up with it. We took that through Springfield, Missouri. Springfield was messed up, lot of burning but it had probably only damaged by one of the little nukes, like they used on Albany, it was not blown to bits.

  Once we cleared Springfield, we stayed on 72 for about a half hour or so and then took another state road southwest. It was Route 54. We made Columbia by 7 PM. Thunderstorms rolled in again. Tonight we had several, and some of them were wicked.

  Code and Tanya are going to split the guard duties tonight, I need some sleep.

  (Matt) According to the maps that Lance gave us and the route plan, we are supposed to get to Austin, Minnesota today. The route he gave us ran along I-90 and we would have to drive through Madison, Wisconsin. We are thinking that the less we deal with the big cities the better.

  It is the first time that we have tried looking at the GPS. I mean, they have still been working, but we haven’t used them for directions because it had been pretty much a straight shot.

  The GPS suggested a route that didn’t go near any big cities so we started up toward Madison, but turned off on to a state route and followed them for hours until will did hook back up with the Interstate just south of a city called Rochester.

  We had a few tense moments like when we were trying to cross the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien, the bridge was partially blocked and while we were trying to clear a path, we had a group of about ten Changed start toward us. It is the first contact we have had since Cleveland. They are still out here.

  As we prepared to take care of them, a Hunter, an air Hunter swooped in, it cleared them from the Bridge. I am kind of torn on this Hunter thing. I need to think about it.

  The only other thing we ran into, almost literally was when we came through a little town, or what was left of it. It had been hit by a tornado, looked like a big one and there were bits and pieces of houses and barns scattered across the road. We ha
d to be careful to not put a nail or two into our tires.

  We reached Austin area about 7 PM and settled in. It was warm. We stayed at a little house just south of town. Jan took the first guard tonight, I will get the second.

  We found some food in the house, canned stuff; some was actually still within the expiration date.

  We are careful about fires, and lights. It may be safe but it makes no sense to light ourselves up or send smoke signals to anyone, or anything in the area.

  (Lance) Again with the bored. We did the veggie thing, and a little riding. I tried to hit up Fort Knox to see if the Major had gotten there yet. He should be rolling in soon. But they have not seen him yet.

  Just on a fluke I asked the Sat-Comm guy if he knew of any military locations other than Waterviet or Westover Air Base that were close to us. He told me that he didn’t, but he would check around to see what he could find out.

  We spend time with Steven, Heather and Augustus, or heading out to the horse farm each day. Del spends more and more time playing with the baby. It is a woman thing I guess.

  Del and I spent some time in the water tonight; it has become wicked hot up here.

  August 14th

  The birds were out early this morning, and as I was heading out to the backyard to, well, heading out to the backyard. There was a raven sitting on the fence, it eyed me, and then flew off.

  Breakfast this morning, we had real eggs, I found some chickens that had taken up residence near where the raven had been. It was a pleasant change from cold, dry cereal, thank you Raven.

  The drive today was uneventful, it was open highway most of the way, the weather was hot, but dry, and really, we made pretty good time. We did a fuel stop at Sioux City airport and then headed on.

  We reached a place called Wall, South Dakota late in the afternoon. There were people there, a dozen, living in what was once Wall Drug. It is a sort of cross between a drugstore and a tourist trap mini-mall. I think that we were all a little nervous about the contact, the meeting strangers. Yet as we talked with the people we had found, it seemed that they were good God fearing folks and were just trying to stay alive.

  The leader, Zac, was an older guy, like in his early 60s I am guessing. He had an accent that I think was from the area, kind of a western Canadian, I think. It reminded me of the movie ‘Fargo’. He was there with his wife Annie, and their two sons, Jake and Abe. The sons had their wives, Meg and Jane and their kids, Billy, Ben, Aaron, Bess, Liz and the baby Sarah. They all seemed well fed and clean.

  We talked for a while, about what we saw on the route, the devastation, and the sorrow. They had known it was bad, but like our original group, they did not know how bad it had been in the cities. Zac told me that over time they had seen some folks wander through, and that some of them had been bad. But as he said, the badness was more desperation, just trying to survive. Most of them kept moving along their route, and just left them alone. But he said that there were a few that had not. But he did not go into much more detail.

  I got the feeling that this group, this family, although peaceful on the surface was capable of the harsh realities that have taken over the world. This little island of theirs was to be defended at all costs, and most of that cost was at the expense of the invaders.

  Tanya hit it off quickly with Annie; Annie was a full blooded Lakota. She was of the Turtle clan, and as a result, there seemed to be an almost link between the two. They talked about their gardens, healing, and just for lack of a better way to describe it, women stuff, not ‘women stuff’ in that sense, but the female role in the tribe stuff.

  Fred and Jan hung out with the youngers. It was a nice visit and they had invited us to stay and eat with them. After dinner, there was a little time to thank God, it was a lot like our vespers except they smoked something that at first I thought was tobacco. But after a whiff of the pipe, I knew it was a mix of tobacco and something else.

  In many ways the spirits to which they referred were the same as our Sky Father and Earth Mother. The names were different, but that was more because they used the Lakota names, Wi and the White Buffalo Woman.

  While we sat we told them a little about the cure to the virus that we were carrying. We didn’t go into the QUalz, or the whole alien thing. But we offered them pills if they wanted them. We talked about it a little, and in the end they declined. I am not sure I agreed with their thinking, but I respected it. They were fearful of what the pills might do to them.

  We were given a room to stay in for the night, and although I trusted these people, I will keep the 44 magnum and my ax close by.

  (Lance) I had an interesting day. Del and I did the veggie / ride / splash in the lake routine; that was pretty much all you have to do each day. The tending the sheep thing is now really turned over to the horse farm and with the fences and small pasture over there the Bo-Peep thing is done.

  I spoke with the Pittsburgh today, the XO, Commander Gaines in particular. He asked how we were all doing and I filled him in on the current status as I knew it of the three groups that were traveling. I told him that we expected to hear from Fort Knox very soon that the Major and his group had reached that location, and might even be on their way back already. I added that I still figure that it would be another day or so before Margo and Tom’s group would get to Cheyenne, and 4 or 5 days for Matt and Tanya to get to Anchorage. He seemed to be pleased about that. It was funny though, he kept referring to Tom as the ‘Commander’, idk.

  We changed gears. He told me that he had sent out some requests for information about military facilities that existed within about 100 miles of our camp. He came back with three in addition to the Sub Base at Groton.

  The first was Waterviet; we knew about and had visited that one. That was where Tom had met Asuna, and we had obtained the Sat-Comm device we were using.

  The second was Westover Air Base. We had never really headed over to explore or exploit that one. It was close to Springfield and we were nervous about the Zom population that might have been in the area. The Commander said that it would probably not be worth the visit because it had been cleaned out and abandoned a couple days before the bombs went off.

  But the third was interesting, very interesting. It was a Cold War facility built back from the 50’s and 60’s. It was been a hardened underground command and control center that the Air Force had built. It did connect with Westover by means of a long underground tunnel. The entire facility was established as the East Coast Center in the event of a nuclear attack. It was only about 30 miles from us in Hadley, Massachusetts.

  The Commander couldn’t give us much more as far as information on the place, other than it had been used up until the 90s, and that it had been sealed off and hidden from map sources such as Google and the likes. He was not sure if we could get into it, but it might be worth our checking out.

  Del and I will head out tomorrow to take a peek and see what we can find out.

  (Margo) Even though I did not have a watch tonight sleep was difficult. The storms kept up much of the night and when I did sleep, it was a fitful.

  We fueled up at the Salina Airport planning to be on the road by 9, but before we could get back on to I-70, a storm we could see there was rolling in across the plains. It looked like a bad one and just by the feel of it the word ‘tornado’ came to everyone’s mind. We decided that it would be best to find a place to hide, as much as you can hide from a tornado. We ended up under the bridge where I-135 meets up with I-70.

  We watched to the Southwest from the top of the bridge, The sky was weird, it was funny, almost yellowish-orange color and the clouds had a strange shape to them, like a gray wall that curved and bent. It kind of reminded me of places where there had been deep erosion caused by water on sandstone.

  Off in the distance we could see lightening, lots of it. But there was no wind. It was silence, even the sprinkling rain made no noise. We headed back under the bridge as the storm got closer, the hail started, small at first, then bigger and big
ger.

  Soon it was the size of golf balls and the wind picked up. We really couldn’t see much from where we were under the bridge. The wind got really strong and we tucked up under where the support beams of the bridge were connected to the concrete. It was a few minutes and then it came, the tornado, it was loud, not sure how close it came. My ears popped, like on a jet after take-off. The trucks shook, we could see them. The noise was intense, and then it started to move away. The hail had stopped and it was just raining. The wind was still there, but not like before and then finally died out.

  We poked our heads out and then climbed back down and back to the top of the overpass to see what was going on. The rain was now just drizzle, and we could see the tornado off in the distance to the Northeast. I think it was a big one, but how would I know, the only one I had ever been through came at night and we never saw the size of it.

  We stood by for a few minutes, the sun broke through, and then rainbow, we saw a triple rainbow. It seemed to be safe and we were back on the road. It was a kind of a late start, but it was better than having been caught on the road. By the end of the day we would be out of tornado country.

  I drove today, still tired, still cranky, but as we moved away from the cities, and out into the rolling plains…is that right?, it was just miles and miles of flat with fields on either side of the highway. We could see an occasional farm complex with their silos or a big group of grain silos but that was about it. Occasionally, we would see tornado tracks, where the fields were torn up like a giant mower a hundred feet wide had cut through the area.

  We had to stop a couple of times to get around broken homes or smashed cars in the highway. We made Hays, Kansas at about noon and it was a mess. It looked like it had been hit by a tornado, and had burned, or maybe it had burned first, and then gotten blown apart.