by Geo Dell
“Kind of far fetched to make a leap that it would be connected and that, that connection is right there, secret base or not.” Steve said quietly.
“Not really. There were things in the papers. Whispers, we know that from people we've talked to who were in that vicinity. And Bear saw the planes overfly the City, Manhattan. Came from the northwest and that's Watertown in that direction.” Mike said. “I have spoken to Mike Collins, one of the founders of Alabama Island. They came from Watertown and they believe it to be true. They saw military planes over fly that whole area up there. While they were there: Just a day or so after the quakes began. Spraying the same blue stuff Bear saw in Manhattan.”
“Yes, it is inconclusive as it sits, but we have to start somewhere, Steve. A base that large would have had to know something about what was going on. We think not only did it know, it may have been headquartered there. That's what Mike believes. A straight forward guy, feel free to have a chat with him when you have time. These are people we'll be trading with soon too, I hope. So, a lot is riding on this relationship: For both of us. I don't think he would give me anything other than the absolute truth.... It's also the Biggest base between us and the Canadian border... What was Canada anyhow.”
“It was one of the largest military training bases in the states,” Lilly added.
Mike nodded. “So that is their first mission on our behalf. Supplies and check that base, and get back here before winter.”
“Along with everything they can bring back to help us,” Ronnie added. “And that reminds me. The campgrounds out there. We have a proposal to people that. A gateway to here. Barrier actually. Short of coming in through the mountains, and some have, that's the way in... Dead or alive that's the way in. It would make a good outpost.” He shrugged as if unsure of just how effective it would be.
“I can see that,” Candace agree. “Someone asked to do it?”
“Yeah... Two couples... In fact Bear said he might not mind it.” Ronnie said.
“Well, if we're going to do it we need to get it started... We have no idea when winter is coming,” Bob added.
“All in favor?” Mike asked.
All hands went up.
“What else?” Mike asked.
“Just about a million questions,” Steve said. That bought laughter from everyone.
“Shar and Josh were decided?” Lilly asked.
“I'm for it... I think we all were,” Mike said.
“I'm for it. Had Bison once, it ain't beef, but it's darn good.” Arlene said.
“I'm for it,” Amy agreed.
“Ditto,” Candace agreed.
“Yes,” Janna added as the others also chimed in.
“Okay,” Mike said. “I believe we were about to take a vote on the empty seat.” He turned to Steve, ”I think you accepted. The pay's lousy, no vacation time, and whatever goes wrong you'll get blamed for it.”
Steve laughed.
“Well we know Steve's answer... How about we take this back up to the main cave and have an actual meeting,” Lilly said.
“Right now?” Mike asked.
“Actually might not be a bad idea,” Candace said.
The others nodded their heads.
“Better to get it addressed head on then,” Mike said as he started for the door. He stopped and looked back.
“That's why he's the boss,” Bob joked with Steve. “Leads us where we'd rather not go.”
~
The word went out quickly and within just a few minutes the large room of the main cave was filled and Mike called the meeting to order. His voice carried easily, amplified by the large room.
“We decided on a meeting now because of the tremendous growth we've had over the last month. We expect much more before the snow flies, and that means most likely another community meeting, but this one is to address some things that we decided need to be addressed now.” Mike said.
The crowd murmured and then went silent as Mike spoke again.
“We were talking earlier and we need to fill the empty seat on the Council,” he cleared his throat in the silence. “Molly and Nellie took that seat together... Offered to one, chaired by both really... We have talked it over and offered the seat to Doc. Steve: If there are no objections to that action.” He sat up a little straighter.
“Doctor Steve is a good choice. I'm for it,” Chloe said.
Edward raised his hand and spoke. “What about Josh,” he asked. It was clear that Edward looked up to Josh.
Mike looked to Bob who shrugged, Ronnie who mouthed, “What about both?” and then stopped at Candace who said it aloud.
“How about both of you. We have more than enough people here to add a seat, and really it would be more fitting because it was sort of like two seats anyway. It's not much of an honor, though. It's more like dealing with the headaches as we grow, and still having to do all the stuff you would normally do.” She laughed and the crowd laughed along with her. “ It's a lot of work.”
Steve laughed and then spoke. “I accept.”
“I'll do it,” Josh agreed.
“Accepted,” Mike said. “Okay... Other business. We thought we needed to make something clear. Those of us that came here and,” he shrugged and looked at Ronnie.
“Founded?” Ronnie supplied.
“Founded,” Mike agreed. “So those of us that came her,e founded this place, and we named it The New Nation... We just went through this a few meetings back... It's understandable that some of you wouldn't know it because you weren’t yet here, but the name was voted on and the name stands... Shortened by... Well, you folks, to The Nation, it...” A roar of applause cut him off. He tried to speak for a second longer and then stopped. He looked to Candace and Amy who had their heads together. Ronnie looked grim but shrugged when his yes fell on him.
“Looks like they like the name,” Bob yelled above the din. He grinned as the crowd clapped and threw out wolf whistles.
Mike held his hands up and the noise quieted briefly. “So no changes,” Mike said slightly louder than he had meant to, to get above the noise that had dropped even lower at about the same second. The crowd roared again, the approvals echoing off the stone walls and Mike leaned back and let it go a few minutes: When it began to taper off on its own he spoke again.
“Anything else,” Mike asked, “Before we get into the rest of our business?”
Tim raised his hand.
“Tim?” Mike said.
“I'd like to work on some solar panels over the next few days. Get some power up and working. I'd like to use that big empty room across from the new upper room to store batteries. It's perfect... vented. It has that crack that leads up to the top of the mountain. The room's big enough to add a generator. The panels would be right on the top of the mountain. A lot of sunlight most of the time. Most of the time the clouds are lower than the peaks.”
“I can run the wiring easily and my first project could be lights for the clinic... The tunnel, the computers. I could even hook up a small gravity fed pump system and build a couple of showers in the pool room... Add some lights in there and the storage rooms too. I need a few guys... George... Edward, maybe one or two others if they can be spared.... About two weeks tops,” he finished.
His idea passed unanimously.
Beth Jeffries raised her hand. “I'd like to help work with the horses,” she said. “I know someone is going to work on riding, and I'd like to help do that.”
“That would be me and Cindy,” Bob said, “And you're hired.”
The crowd laughed.
“Cool,” Beth said and grinned widely.
Brad Jeffries raised his hand. “I'm wondering about housing... And supplies too, I guess... We'll need some permanent stuff by winter,” he said.
“I'll be getting that going tomorrow,” Tom said speaking up from the crowd, “And I can use the help.” He looked around the room. “A lot of help, as many of you that can show up down by the barns at sunrise. There's me, Ronnie, Bob and Mike. Bob is
occasional, his plate is pretty full, but if you have any kind of experience with building we need you, so please jump right in. In fact, if you have no experience, but want to learn, show up... Sunrise,” he finished as he sat back down.
“And,” Bob added. “If building isn't your thing we have tons of other stuff to do before winter is on us. I need volunteers for crops, gardens, fields, rabbits, chickens, cows. You get the idea. Just let me know and I'll find a place to put you,” Bob finished.
Mike looked around, but there were no more questions.
“Okay... Business from us. You have all met Bear?” Mike gestured toward Bear where he stood against one wall with Billy and a few others. Bear nodded and the crowd murmured. “Bear is going to be taking over our resupply missions from here on out. They have a full complement of people right now, but they may need help in the future. They will be leaving soon on a supply mission, so if you have stuff to add to the list... I mean important things, get them to one of us and they'll be included if Bear can fit them in.” He looked at the others.
“The state park... Most of you came in that way,” Ronnie said. “We came here by that route ourselves, in fact.” Several murmurs of agreement greeted his words.
“So you know the place,” Candace added and laughed. The crowd laughed with her.
“We're going to set up an outpost there. We have a few people willing to settle there, we need a few more to make it... Feasible,” he decided after rejecting safe. “So we need some people for that... I think we can easily keep a trail open through the winter for sleds... Horses. Tim assured us that we can extend the radio distance to there easily too. So it would be like an outpost of The Nation,” Ronnie finished. Several hands went up and he asked them to get with him over the next few days to get it organized and going.
Silence held and Mike looked around before he spoke. “One last thing,” he said. “Tomorrow we'll be holding a memorial service for Nellie and Molly in the little park. That's the park at the base of the falls where we had dinner... You are all welcome to be there... Afternoon... After lunch,” Mike finished. He rested his back against the cool wall of stone behind him and watched the people drift away, talking as they went.
“They're all smiling,” Ronnie said.
“That was something else,” Mike said.
Ronnie shrugged. “It's that easy, I guess.” He laughed and Mike joined in with him.
“Lets get back down to the barn and make all this legit,” Candace said as she walked up.
Mike raised his eyes.
“Legit as in nail it down... A written record,” Amy said to his surprised eyes. She showed him the pad in her hand, a pen clipped to the top of the pad.
“Man,” Mike said. “I thought we were done with all of that, Bob?” He turned to Bob.
Bob laughed, “Guess not.”
Tim had walked up and he grinned. “Once I get power up you can record it all to a hard drive.”
“Until then, although I have faith in my brother, the trusty pen is what we got,” Amy said.
Mike sighed, “Well here goes the third meeting of the night. I'm tired of driving already,” He grinned and the others laughed. A few moments later they were making their way down through the valley to the barn once again.
~
The moon rode low over the mountains. It was early evening, the air still warm as Brad and Jessie walked quietly beside the stream toward the other end of the valley and the El that lead off into yet another valley far in the distance.
They were both armed. Angel and one of the other many dogs that had come in from new people followed along with them, racing ahead or falling behind as this scent or that noise pulled them.
“Can you imagine all of this in a year?” Brad asked her.
“Can you?” She countered.
“I can.,” he said.
“I guess I'm having a hard time imagining my life a year from now,” Jessie said.
“Because of Mike,” Brad asked.
They had been walking slowly, but Jessie stopped and turned around to look at him. They had reached the far bridge. She turned without speaking and stepped out onto the bridge. She walked out to the middle and looked down at the rushing water a few feet below.
“You know?” She asked.
“It's obvious,” he replied.
“Then why this, Brad. Why this walk in the moonlight if you knew what I would say?”
“Because... Because I don't know what you'll say, not really. You can't have what... Who you want, and it looks like I won't be able to have who I want... I know what it feels like believe me, “ he said.
“Don't be so sure, Brad. I love someone who doesn't love me. You may not even know if the person you love truly doesn't return that feeling... They may change their mind,” Jessie said.
“The woman I love, loves someone else, Jess. She does. And that's probably not going to change... Or at the very least I'm not the man that can change it...” He fell off.
“You don't know that, Brad. Time changes everything. You...”
“I love you, Jess. It's you I want... It's you I want the same way you want Mike. You're the one that holds my heart, Jess,” Brad told her quietly.
“Oh, Jesus, Brad. I'm so obtuse sometimes... It thought it was... I thought it was attraction, something like that, I didn't know you were serious... You must think I'm an insensitive bitch... I wouldn't blame you.” She fell silent, turned away, watching the water rush under the bridge.
They both watched the water in silence for a few moments.
“I've been thinking of leaving,” Jessie said after a few moments.
“I figured,” Brad said. “I've thought about it too, but I have my little sister to think about, and leaving isn't going to change how I feel.”
“Therefore it also wouldn't change how I feel, but I can't stay. I think it would drive me crazy to see him every day. At least if I were gone I wouldn't have to see him day after day and know that he could never be mine... It really would drive me crazy, Brad,” Jessie told him. She faced him and her dark eyes locked on his own.
Brad cleared his throat. “Have you thought that, well, maybe it's just the circumstances? He shows up, saves you, literally does save your life... From a horrible death too,” Brad said.
“Relationships form very fast under adverse conditions when everybody has to pull together. Did you know that sometimes hostages fall into love with their captors? Their eventual killers? Rapists? They do. It's in the medical histories I've read. I know it, and it doesn't change a thing about how I feel about him,” she said. “And, the same could be said of your attraction to me too. These are rough times. Stress filled. Emotions are raw, right there on the surface. You don't really know what your tomorrow will bring any more than I do, so you grasp at what is there. What is real, and you hold on. But is it real? Is it real for either of us? And does it matter at all?” She asked.
Brad shook his head. “I only know how I feel. I saw you for the first time and I knew it right then, before Mike... I just didn't think I had any kind of chance. You're a doctor, I'm a... I was in college majoring in screwing off, I guess. Then I realized, none of that counts at all anymore. What I was, what you were, it's only what we are now... What we can be.”
“This place is alive, Jess. Out there? Dead... And more death coming too. I think a lot more before it's over. A lot more... We saw how dead. How sick, maybe that's a better way to put it... Sick. The world is sick and dying, and the dead... I don't know what the dead are doing. Taking over, I guess. We saw it. We lived it to get this far, Jess. None of that is here. I can live here. I can die here too... I can die here and know that is the end of it. Someone will make sure.” He fell silent, once again watching the water flow.
“I hope that's a long way off, Jess, but it is a comfort to know I won't close my eyes only to open them a few moments later as … I don't even know, as something else. So... I knew... I know I want to try this life right here. To try anyway, because this is
real. This is life. There isn't anything else.” He turned to look at her but her eyes were shiny and a tear slid down one cheek. He turned his eyes back down to the water.
“I'm tempted to say yes just because you made me believe in you. You made me see it. But how could you be with me knowing that I was in love with another man? Knowing Mike was on my mind?” Jessie asked.
How do you know he would be?” Brad asked. “Do you think this is like the movies, or a book where we both walk away, heartbroken, and we stay that way forever. Never love again? … Never feel? … No, Jess. Somebody, the right somebody, will come along and make you forget... Make me forget... That's why divorce lawyers have so much work..., Did have... were so goddamned rich... We forget, Jess. It happens to everyone. I could be that right one. I know you'll still be thinking of him, but I think it will die... Fade... Like a tree without water, Jess,” he said softly.
“What if I don't forget him, Brad? What if it doesn't fade? Then what?”
“He doesn't love you, Jessie. I do,” Brad said.
“He doesn't love me and you do,” Jessie repeated softly.
“And I do,” he whispered to the water flowing past under his feet.
“And how do you see our lives... Here... How do you see them?” She asked.
“Don't tease, Jess. Don't.”
“I'm not,” she spoke slowly, sincerely, making his eyes rise to her own. “I'm asking: If I said yes... How does it work... How?”
He looked at her, his eyes silver orbs in the moonlight. “Okay... We talk to Josh. Get part of that second cave with all the room, or build a home in that valley over there. It's not away from here, but it's not here every day. That's Josh's deal over there. If we go, others will go. It becomes a satellite... Like they talked about the campgrounds. A satellite, outpost.” He waved one hand at the mountains. “Not out there in the world where it can kill us. Here. Protected, but not right here where your heart breaks every day... A home... Maybe more than that.” He finished and looked into her eyes, holding them with his own.
“You thought of all of this?” Her voice caught and broke.
“Jess, I wish I could hold you,” he told her.