Jacob's Odyssey (The Berne Project Book 1)

by Melrose, Russ

I'd check every day to see if there were any stragglers headed our way. Park City was located eight miles north of us and Heber City about nine miles south. We were pinched in between. But I'd yet to see any infected.

  To the north we also had a view of Jordanelle Reservoir and Burt's Gas and Go not far from the entrance to the reservoir. Seeing Burt's place gave me an idea. Alex and I frequented Burt's for gas and snacks for many years and had formed a good relationship with Burt. From our perch, I could see Burt's Jeep Cherokee parked on the side. The jeep had been his pride and joy and he worked to keep the Cherokee in tip-top shape. My idea was to borrow Burt's jeep since he didn't seem to be using it. I knew there was always the possibility we might need transportation at some point.

  The next day after our morning climb, we hiked to Burt's place. I made Sarah and Becky stay on the other side of Victory Highway behind some trees while I crossed the road. And I was glad I did. I found Burt behind the cash register with two bullet holes in him, one in his chest, the other in his head. I figured he'd been dead quite some time since his body no longer reeked of death. I didn't know what to do with him. I felt bad leaving his body there, but I didn't see any real alternative, so I left him where he was.

  The store had been pretty well cleaned out. I found his keys in his trouser pocket. I grabbed everything I could find that I thought might be useful and packed it in the Cherokee, including some tools he had in the adjacent garage and a half-filled gas can.

  The Cherokee groaned and warbled a few seconds before starting. It had been around five weeks since the virus hit and the battery was weak. I crossed the highway and picked up Sarah and Becky, and then I let the car run for about ten minutes to build the battery up before we took off. And then we had transportation.

  We had pretty much everything we needed, but we knew we'd have to plan for the winter and find more food sources. Besides the stream, the reservoir was stocked with fish, but the reservoir would be the last option since it was out in the open. I knew I'd have to become a hunter too, something I'd always done my best to avoid. Despite my aversion, I knew how to hunt. Alex had been a dedicated hunter and I'd picked up a lot from him, even if I'd never used it. There was plenty of game in the nearby mountains and I had no doubt we would get by.

  The despair I'd felt had all but dissipated. The first few days after the parking lot drama, the despondency hit me like aftershocks. Sarah and Becky coddled me during my recovery and saw to my every need. The attention they lavished on me soothed my soul.

  Sarah reached over and touched my hand. Our fingers intertwined and we held hands lightly, arms and hands suspended between the two chairs. I glanced at Sarah and she gave me her quiet, contented smile, as if everything were right in the world. She had healed well and her face had returned to normal.

  Holding hands had become as natural as breathing for us, even if it had been awkward and fumbling at first. We sought out each other's hands whenever we were close. Becky would often smile and giggle at our new found intimacy.

  A solitary green leaf floated past us on its way down the stream, and I thought about the incessant movement of life and how you could never really capture a moment in your mind. There were no stills in a person's life like you get with a photograph. Life's moments were fleeting and gossamer-like, fragile, and as such, difficult to define in terms of truth or reality. We spend our lives giving life's moments meaning, defining them in our minds, creating personal truths based on them. Yet those truths were nothing more than perceptions and they were often tainted. And whether our self-imagined truths were real or not didn't matter, for we clung to them like vines to a trellis, refusing to let go. Lukas Melzer knew that. He counted on it.

  As for me, I had never exactly done a very good job of defining the moments of my life. Of course, the view was clearer now in retrospect. I had spent my entire life living in the shadows of the past I'd created. And I'd allowed those shadows to define me, limit me, and hold me in their prison. I had managed to construct a story about myself in which I could never be happy. I could never be happy because I didn't believe I deserved to be happy. I'd spent my life on a self-directed fool's errand, never giving myself the chance to see the beauty all around me—Eden, I suppose you could call it. The possibility of it had always been there if I'd only opened my eyes.

  I caught glimpses of it now.

  I felt the silky texture of Sarah's fingers gently brush against mine, and I could feel her essence and all that sprung forth from it, all the intricacies that when cobbled together made Sarah who she was. I had always known about her inner strength and intelligence, and of course, her stubbornness. And I'd known about her dedication to Becky. But in the past few weeks, Sarah had begun to reveal more of herself—as had I—and new pieces were added to the mosaic every day. We confided in each other about our painful pasts and our innermost secrets and held nothing back.

  And I learned that when it came to relationships, Sarah was every bit as artless as I was.

  Becky got a momentary tug on her line but lost it and stamped her foot in frustration. She cocked her head and gave me an exasperated look. I smiled and shrugged with a fisherman's empathy. Becky reeled the line in and cast it out again, as determined as ever.

  I smiled because I realized I loved Sarah and Becky every bit as much as I loved Alex.

  A flirty morning breeze rifled through the trees, rustling the leaves before disappearing. I listened to the stream gurgle softly as the water trickled over the rocks, and I let myself get lost in the ambient sounds. I thought about Alex, or maybe I sensed his presence. I'd had the same feeling several times since we'd arrived at the cabin. It was as if his presence were as real as the stream and the woods surrounding us. And there were even times I swore I could hear his laughter woven into the wind. I knew I'd lost my brother for a time, but he was with me again, even if it was just in my mind.

  From the Author

  Thank you for reading Jacob's Odyssey. I hope you had a great experience reading my first novel. I would love it if you could leave a review. Word-of-mouth is crucial for any author to succeed, especially indie authors. If you enjoyed the book, please leave an honest review on Amazon. I'd love to hear what you think, even if it’s just a sentence or two. It would make all the difference in the world to me as a writer. You can post a review here. Thanks again!

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