The Last Tribe

by Brad Manuel

  Melanie stood. “I’m going to move on to the next topic. As some of you know, I am or I was a surgeon. I am a doctor, and I will continue to practice. I hope I can convince one of the younger people to work with me, learn some of the things we’ll all need going forward. If Kelly thinks she paid a lot to care for chickens and goats, well, think how I feel right now.” She paused, “I’m also an amateur botanist, and I’d like to talk about crops. If we stay here, even if it’s just for the summer, we need to build a greenhouse and start our seedlings. We need to find some land that allows us to plant.” She looked around the room. “If we aren’t going to stay here, well, we can address the farming question when we get to our next home.”

  “Wait, you’re a surgeon? Did we know this?” Ahmed turned to Bernie and Kelly.

  “I didn’t, Ahmed, but I don’t know what most of these people did in their previous lives.” Bernie replied.

  “I asked everyone to keep it quiet, not to lie, but keep it quiet until we knew you better. Physicians are in short supply. I’m sorry if you feel deceived.” Melanie told the three New York adults.

  “No, I understand. I’m excited. You’re right, we need a doctor. I think Kelly will be a fantastic resource for both human and animal well being, but to have a surgeon? Wow, it’s like we lucked into an even better situation than we realized.”

  “I planned on attending medical school. I would love to learn from you if I can.” Rebecca said from the back of the room. “I have little interest in farming. It’s not a package deal, is it?”

  Matt jumped in before Melanie could respond. “I am excited about the farming. I know I’m signed up to help Greg with the trapping and hunting, but I’ve been studying farming for the last few months.”

  “I’d be lucky to work with both of you.” Melanie told them. “Did I raise the question none of us wanted to ask? How long are we going to stay here?” She looked around the room. “I’m tired. I’ve been fighting to survive and keep my kids alive for half a year. We lived through the stress of the rapture, through months of confusion and struggle. I want to settle down for a few weeks, get our bearings. I don’t know how we decide where to go and when to go there, but I’d like to vote on staying here for at least two more weeks, maybe a month. We probably have enough moose meat to last us that long.”

  “Do we even have to vote?” John asked. “We all feel the same way. Two weeks is an easy decision. I think the bigger question is if we stay the summer.”

  “I don’t know if gas will work at the end of the summer. You’re talking another five or six maybe seven months? If we don’t have gas, we have to walk out of New Hampshire. That will be a problem.” Todd brought realism to the vacation plans.

  “I don’t want to discuss our next destination, I just want to talk about how long we stay here. We all okay with two weeks?” John asked. No one replied. “Anyone not want to stay here for two weeks?” The room was silent again.

  “Okay.” John said. “We stay, relax, get our energy, put some pounds on you New Yorkers, re-assess the situation in two weeks.”

  Everyone was quiet. The group had established daily tasks, assigned them to qualified people, decided on a short-term timeline. It was a good meeting. Todd, who sat down after the conversation began to flow, stood. “Does anyone have any additional business? Anything they want to talk about?”

  “I want to lead a party down to Boston, look for survivors.” John announced. “I was against approaching people, going to major cities. I was against finding all of you, and I was wrong. I want to give any survivors in Boston a chance to join us. I assume it will be a day trip, maybe overnight. I can take the Suburban.”

  “I would like to go with you.” Solange said, standing up to join him. “Any long trip, or any task we do that is away from our home, we should do in pairs.”

  “Does anyone have a problem with us going down to Boston?” John asked again.

  “If you can help people, it’s the right thing to do. If you can save people like you saved us, I’ll pack your food for you.” Bernie gave John the support he was looking for.

  “Okay, Solange and I will leave in two days. The snow might be off the highways by then.”

  Todd continued. “Well, that was productive and expedient. It’s only been about an hour. Do we want to talk about long term plans? I know we just said we would hang out for two weeks, which is great, but do we want to discuss our long term goals?”

  Rebecca raised her hand.

  “You can just speak, Rebecca.” Todd told her.

  “Everyone knows I’ve run analysis of where we should go. Some of you know my findings, that the coast of Virginia is probably our best spot, except if we can get to Hawaii or some other tropical island. There are two ways we can get to the islands. We drive to California and figure out how to work a large boat, which I conclude is improbable.” She paused and looked at Peter. “or we fly.”

  “Fly? How are we going to fly?” Ahmed asked.

  “I’m a pilot, retired navy, retired commercial.” Peter spoke loudly, clearly, and with the confidence expected from a pilot. “If there is a plane that works, I can get it in the air. Our issues are fuel and capacity; capacity for people and supplies as well as capacity for fuel and distance.”

  “You have a doctor and a pilot?” Ahmed asked.

  “We have a doctor and a pilot.” John emphasized the ‘we.’

  “I love that we are talking about this, and I want nothing more than to live in Hawaii, but let’s also discuss a third capacity that Peter is not discussing, the capacity to land. What if we fly to Honolulu and the airport is in ruins or there are planes blocking the runways?”

  “Honestly? I don’t see that as an issue.” Peter told him. “I doubt the airports on every island will be destroyed or unavailable for landing. If they are, which again, is not realistic, there will be a stretch of highway somewhere we can use. Could we end up landing on the highway in the lava fields on Kona? Possibly, but there are three air strips on Oahu alone. The military would never leave the airstrip blocked. We can land at Pearl if we needed to. Is it a risk? Yes. Is it a big risk? No.”

  Paul nodded as Peter explained the options. “Okay, I’m appeased. You’re good.”

  “Son, you have no idea.” Peter winked at him.

  “Seriously?” Rebecca said with exasperation. “I did all this work and the answer is Hawaii? Everyone in the room would have said Hawaii without turning on a computer. Unbelievable.”

  “We were bored, it kept us busy.” Paul told her. He knew her venom was directed at him.

  Kelly stood. “I like the idea, and I understand why Hawaii presents so many benefits to us; climate, water, food, safety, the list continues. Are we concerned about being stuck there? If we fly to Honolulu, I doubt there is a way to return. We are done. If supplies are not as abundant as we think they are, we’re looking at New York City all over again.”

  Rebecca answered. “The ocean will not run out of fish. The tropical fruit alone can sustain us, but I assume we are going to bring seeds to plant, corn, wheat, rice, etc… I agree, flying to Hawaii means we are going there forever, for the rest of our lives, but you have to understand, if we settle in Virginia? We are making the same choice. Once our gas goes bad, we have to walk, bike, or ride a horse to get where we want to go.” Rebecca looked around the room and could tell some of her audience was not convinced.

  “I know it was two years ago, but think about the hurricane that plowed up the east coast and took out all of those bridges and homes. Remember when the Mississippi River flooded ten years ago? The water rushed over bridges and washed out roads. Just the freezing and thawing that occurs every year will ruin any bridge that was close to being replaced before all of this. In a few years I doubt the highway system will be available. Trees will have fallen across most if not all of the roads. Vegetation in the warmer climates will consume everything. In five years it will not be a simple feat to move. How do we get across the Connecticut River without
a bridge? How do we get across the Mississippi? How do we traverse a highway littered with pine tree refuse?” She noticed nodding and mumbles of acceptance.

  “Where ever we go? That is where we will stay.” Rebecca did not mean to sound dour or foreboding, but the facts were the facts. “Is there a chance we could migrate from Virginia to some other place? Sure. But the odds would be small. Greater than if we move to Hawaii, but small none the less.”

  Todd waited before he spoke. “Look, this isn’t a decision we need to make right now. Maybe we explore the options, see if there are any planes in Lebanon, have John and Solange check the planes at Logan and Manchester. I brought up our long term plans because I know we’re all thinking about it. Kelly brings up a great point, Hawaii has finality to it. I’d like to drink cow’s milk again at some point in my life. If we go to Hawaii, I’m not sure that is going to happen. Let’s look into some of this stuff, maybe continue the conversations informally.”

  “I am a good resource for a lot of these questions. For one, there are cows on almost all of the islands. At least, there were cows eight months ago.” Rebecca offered. “I’ve been studying Hawaii for a while. I can discuss Virginia and Northern California too. Thanks to Paul, I can discuss just about anywhere we would consider settling. I’m really not as mean as Ahmed makes me out to be.”

  Avery laughed to support her new friend.

  “Okay, okay, that’s enough laughing.” Ahmed said. “And she is as mean as I think she is, smarty pants.”

  John walked over to Peter. “Should you come with us to Boston, or are there things you can tell us to look for with regards to the type of plane we need?”

  People began to engage in side conversations. The meeting appeared to be over.

  Rebecca spoke to Greg and Matt in the back of the room. Avery walked over to join them. “You go girl, look who’s leading the group to paradise.”

  Rebecca blushed. “Thanks, and thanks for laughing at my lame joke.”

  “It wasn’t lame. You were taking a beating from Ahmed and people who felt you should have humored him more. It’s your time, Rebecca. It’s our time. Teenagers rule.”

  Greg stared at Avery, “I’m Greg. I met you last night for like two seconds.”

  “Nice to meet to you again, Greg. I’m Avery. I met you with my friend Meredith, who is over talking to Kelly, the vet.” Avery turned towards Matt. “Hi, Matt, nice to see you again.”

  Avery, pretty, and confident made shy Matt tongue tied.

  Greg teased him. “Seriously bro? We’re not at a dance. Yes, Avery, this is my shy brother Matt.”

  Matt managed a “hi” before elbowing Greg. “Dude, uncool.”

  Avery was used to boys being flustered around her. Matt was tall, thin, muscular, and handsome. She made sure to give him a smile to let him know it was okay he blushed. “So you are the other half of the team that lived up here?” She focused on Greg. “You have to tell me some stories. Did anything crazy happen? Did a bear chase you into a house? Did you see mountain lions or anything?”

  “I take it you are one of the New York City people.” Greg said with a smile. “Didn’t get out of the city much, huh?”

  “You’re making fun of me.”

  “Yes, yes I am. No, we didn’t have any wild animal encounters. We probably could have if we had been careless with food, but bears typically go to sleep in the winter.”

  “Greg tried to catch a turkey.” Rebecca started.

  “Seriously? Again with the turkey story? Come on, at some point I have to live that story down.”

  “Well it’s not today.” Rebecca recounted Greg’s early adventures with hunting.

  “Looks like two of us didn’t get out of the city much.” Avery said to him after they stopped laughing.

  Greg did not mind the ribbing. He was now a capable hunter and trapper. His early attempts were amusing, even he laughed when Rebecca talked about running at a turkey with a hoe. “It’s nice to be around other young people.” Greg told them after a few minutes. “Rebecca and I were alone for a long time, and we couldn’t be young, couldn’t be kids, and then my uncles, man, they are old men. It’s great to have my brothers and some other teenagers here.”

  “Do you guys play tennis?” Avery asked them.

  “I do, but I was way more into baseball. Matt was the tennis player.” Greg used his shoulder to push Matt forward.

  “I played in my parent’s club league, but that’s about it.”

  “If we can find some rackets and get a court cleared off I’d love to play a few sets. You can show me your stuff.” Avery winked at Rebecca to let her know not to tell the boys about her tennis past.

  Matt, over his initial awkwardness, was excited to spend time with Avery. “Sure, hopefully in the next two weeks.”

  “What should we do with the rest of the daylight?” Avery asked them. “Is there anything that needs to get done?”

  “Firewood.” Greg and Matt said together.

  “Greg had an idea of filling a pickup truck with firewood and parking it down here, making it easier for people to come out and collect wood when they need it.”

  “We have to find a pickup truck?” Avery asked.

  “There are a bunch of pickup trucks parked behind one of the college buildings, a row of green utility vehicles just about a half mile from here. They will work, assuming they start. The keys are hanging in the office where they are parked. “

  Antonio walked up to the group of young people and listened. “You should take one of the cars we have working, use it to jump the truck. No way it will start without a jump.”

  Matt did not know Antonio very well, and was happy for the advice. “Any chance you want to come along and help?”

  “Yeah.” Antonio stuck out his hand. “Tony.” He said, introducing himself to Matt.

  “Matt.” taking Antonio’s hand. “This is my brother Greg and our friend Rebecca.”

  “Hey.” Antonio flipped his head to Greg and shook his hand. “I know Rebecca from fishing. Her old man taught her how to fish just like mine. Hey.” He said to her.

  “Well, now that we know each other, let’s get to it. I’ll ask Meredith to come. She needs to get to know all of you.” Avery waved to Meredith.

  “Let’s do it.” Matt walked over to the coat pile before making his way to the adults on the other side of the room. “Dad? We’re going to get some firewood for the houses. Anything else we should be thinking about?”

  “Can you grab your brother? He should help.”

  “There are six of us already. Our plan is to fill a pickup bed with wood, park it down here. Craig and the other kids can distribute the wood to the fireplaces when we get back.”

  “I like the way you think. See you when you get back.”

  The young adults walked out of the house and towards the cottage. They needed gloves to avoid splinters.

  Matt and Greg, reunited for three days, used much of their time together to catch up.

  Rebecca was glad to have friends. She was never close to people her own age. It was amusing to her that Avery, a senior in high school, would be so friendly. The senior girls Rebecca met before would not acknowledge her. Rebecca was the curve buster, a freak blowing through their grade, a nerd. Today her intelligence was an asset, not a character flaw.

  Rebecca knew the circle of kids she walked with today was her peer group for the rest of her life. Unless they started rounding up survivors, or found more teens in Boston, she was walking with the same people she would see in fifty years. It was an odd realization.

  “Thankfully, everyone is normal.” She thought to herself.

  43

  The adults remained in the house after the kids left, enjoying the roaring fire.

  Emily spoke to Bernie and Melanie about developing a routine for the children. Emily enjoyed the ‘every other day’ school system she used in Raleigh. Bernie and Melanie agreed to anything, as long as they did not have to teach.

  “We should turn
off the movie and video games. Take the kids over to the library, let them check out the building. Heck, it might not work for us. Better to find out this afternoon than to show up tomorrow expecting to have school. It’s a beautiful day outside. Let’s take a walk.”

  “I’m in.” Melanie said, moving towards the shrinking pile of coats. “I could use a nice walk.”

  Bernie followed her over to the coats. “You are a doctor?“

  “I’m a doctor from a hospital that had all the latest gadgets. I’m not sure I would know how to make a cast if we needed to. I am used to having ‘people’ do that for me, but I can diagnose the heck out of all of you.” Melanie joked.

  “How did this happen?” Bernie asked. “How did everyone die? Why couldn’t you help?”

  Melanie dropped her joke. “It was too fast. It was just too damn fast.” She walked ahead of Bernie and out the front door before stopping. “As a person of God, I ask you the same question. Why was the world forsaken?”

  Bernie shook her head, not offering an explanation.

  They waited silently for Emily to guide them towards the library.

  “We’re taking the kids over to the library to scout out the school situation.” Emily said to Todd, interrupting his conversation. “We’ll be back at some point.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you. Have fun.” He gave her a kiss, and turned back to his circle.

  “Our best case scenario is finding a loaded fuel truck. We will use it to fill the plane, but if the fuel is in a holding tank, we have to figure out a way to get power into that pump, get the fuel into the truck, and drive the truck to the plane.” Peter explained airport fueling logistics to them. “If we don’t find fuel, obviously, we’re done.”

  Peter continued. “The issue is figuring out whether we land on the west coast to refuel. It will depend on the type of plane we find, and if we want to take the risk of not finding fuel out there. What if we land in San Francisco and cannot find a fuel truck or fuel?”

  “We have dozens of airports to explore. I am positive we can find a plane and fuel. We might have to drive back to Raleigh to do it, but we can find something that will work.” John assured everyone. “Seriously, Raleigh’s airport is probably pristine, and definitely has fuel.”