He let his head drop back and drew in a long slow breath before blowing it to the sky. He didn’t want to scare the kid and Travis’s shoulders were already shaking. It was all he could do not to throw his arm around the boy, but he sensed that would be the worst move.
“Travis, just remember, we’re survivors too. You, me, Luke—all of us. While we expect everyone to pitch in and do their part, we don’t chase anyone and we certainly don’t eat people.”
Travis sniffed but slanted a look at Cole. “Better not. I’m too tough for any stewpot.” A trace of a smile flashed across his face.
“I’m sure you are. We’d have to fatten you up a bit first. Probably wouldn’t even be worth it.” Cole, fingertips angled in his front pockets, toed a stone, working it free from the dirt as he shot a quick smile at the boy.
There was no mistaking the glint of amusement in Travis’s eyes. “Nope. Not worth it at all.” Then he grew serious. “I’m a hard worker. I promise.”
Cole stuck out a hand. “We’d be honored to have you come with us. I already know you’re a hard worker. You must be to have survived this long all alone.”
Travis nodded as he shook Cole’s hand. “Yes, sir.”
20
Elly helped Travis gather up his possessions from the concessions stand he’d turned into his home. She was surprised at how much he’d managed to accumulate. They packed up several rifles, a couple of handguns with boxes of ammunition for all of it, as well as pans, knives, and surprisingly, a lot of medication.
“Where’d you get all this stuff?” she asked, not intending to come off as accusatory, but Travis’s spine stiffened.
“I only took it from houses where people were all dead. I never stole from nobody.”
She nodded. “I’m sure you didn’t. We’ve also had to find things in people’s homes. I just meant that I’m amazed at what you’ve got in here.” There were a few rabbit and squirrel skins, but Travis hadn’t dried them properly and they were rotting—there was no way to turn them into useable skins. She lifted one with a stick. “I’ll show you how to treat these so they’ll last. We didn’t know either. Joe had to teach us.” She pointed to Joe, who was helping herd the goats back into their trailer. “He’s the man to ask if you have any questions about hunting and fishing.”
Travis looked at Joe, then back to Elly. “He knows more than Cole?”
Elly threw back her head and laughed. “Oh, god, yes! And Cole will be the first to tell you that.”
Not looking convinced, Travis shoved sweatshirts and jeans into a backpack. “If you say so.”
Clearly, Cole had impressed the kid. “It’s okay that he doesn’t know everything—he’s smart enough to recognize everyone’s skills. You know what he told me about you after you agreed to come with us?”
Travis stilled, one hand on the zipper of the backpack. “What?”
“He said, ‘We’re lucky to have Travis coming along. He knows what it takes to survive. He’s got skills we can use.”
The boy bit his lip as though trying to hide a grin, then shrugged as if Cole’s words hadn’t meant much, but he carried himself straighter when he shouldered the pack and gathered his weapons. “I’m ready to go.”
Elly thought for a moment. “Do you want to ride with Luke? He’s in my car.”
Travis shook his head. “I’d like to ride with Cole, if that’s okay.”
“His car is kind of stinky from the chicken. She’s brooding some eggs. We’re hoping they’ll hatch.”
“I don’t mind. I can help. My grandma had chickens and she used to let me help with them sometimes.”
“Oh? Well, see, Cole was right about you.” Elly shrugged. “I’m sure Cole will be fine with you riding with him. I think he’s been getting a little lonely driving all by himself.”
“Who’s getting lonely?” Cole popped his head into the room.
“Not you, that’s for sure.” Elly handed Cole a garbage bag full of over the counter pain relievers, bottles of allergy pills, allergy nasal sprays, and eye drops.
Cole did a double take as he glanced in the bag, looking at Travis. “Do you have an allergy problem we should know about?”
Travis laughed. “No, sir. I found boxes of those in the backroom of a drug store. Everything else was gone, but those were under a box of old people diapers. I guess nobody noticed them. I thought I could trade them for food sometime.”
“Good thinking.” Cole caught Elly’s eye. “Hey, could I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure.” She took a couple of the least ratty looking blankets, shook them out, then folded them. “Here, Travis, put these in Cole’s car. He’ll be there in a minute.”
Once Travis was gone, Cole moved up, wrapping his arms around Elly’s waist. “How are you feeling?”
Elly cocked her head. “I’m fine. Why?”
“I’m just asking. I’m worried about you and the baby.” He put a hand on her abdomen before leaning in to nuzzle her neck. “I wish we were settled. For you and for Sophie. This traveling isn’t good for either of you. All the time in the car, setting up camps—just everything.”
“But we’ll be there soon, right?”
“We’ll skirt around Denver. I’m hoping to avoid what I think will be blocked highways, and also hoping we’ll find a gas station where we can pump some gasoline with the generator. That worked well the last time.”
“So, another couple of days?”
“Probably. Depends.”
Elly draped her arms over Cole’s shoulders, tilting her head and laughing as his mouth tickled along the spot between her neck and shoulder. “Depends on what?”
Cole drew back, his playful mood gone in an instant. “It depends on so many things. I’m worried about the nice folks Travis told us about. The people who threatened him. I want you to be ready with weapons loaded.”
“In the car? I don’t know, Cole. We have the handguns and the rifles are packed, but not loaded. What if one of the kids messes around with one?”
“Look, we’ve made sure they understand how to use these and when to use them. Even Zoë knows the basics.”
“I know…okay. But other than Travis, we haven’t seen a soul, so I don’t know who you’re afraid of.”
“Travis told me about a group of survivors living where we were going to camp. They aren’t very friendly. I just want to be ready in case we run into them.”
Travis’s story about the group of survivors who had threatened him worried her also but how would the group even know they were around? Helicopters? The thought made her shudder as she thought of Holland. If he’d had his way, Cole would be little more than a test rat in some secret lab. That’s who she was afraid of, but the country was huge and finding them would be like searching for a diamond in the Sahara. Granted, the people Travis had spoken of lived nearby, but they could take another route now that Travis had warned them.
Elly finally nodded. “Okay. We’ll be ready. And Cole, you made quite the impression on Travis. He wants to ride with you.”
“I did?” His face lit up. “Well, the admiration is mutual. Thanks to him, I’ve mapped out an alternate route that I hope will take us south of where he said those survivors were camped.” He dug in his pocket and pulled out a stack of folded sheets of notebook paper. “I tried to draw a map, but I wrote it out as well.”
She took the map and studied it. “Will we be able to connect back onto the main highway down the road?” From what she recalled from the map, this route would take them north before turning south again.
“I know it’s a bit of a detour, but I’d rather avoid coming into contact with anyone. Especially if we already know they’re hostile.”
The alternate route took them through several small towns instead of bypassing them on the highway. When they came across a herd of deer grazing in the center square of the town, they stopped, and Cole shot a large buck. They would have liked to have killed more, but they didn’t want to stick around long enough to process
the meat. As it was, they stopped for the day a few hours early to butcher the deer.
Unhappy about the lost opportunity, Jake looked at the meat they wouldn’t have room to pack, and scowled. “I bet I could smoke it by morning.”
“The roast is going to take an hour or so to cook, so if you think you could get something rigged up in that time, have at it.” Cole built the coals up around the cast iron pot they had sitting on a grate right in the fire. He turned the roast a smidgen and sprinkled a pinch of salt over it.
“I bet one of these houses has a smoker in the backyard.” Jake surveyed the homes bordering the south side of the town square. “I think I’m going to go check them out. Hunter, want to come with me?”
His son shrugged and set down the box that contained plates and eating utensils.
The graceful Victorian style homes had probably belonged to the town’s elite. Even with a years’ worth of weeds and debris, Cole could picture what they must have looked like exactly a year ago. The homes would have had thick, lush grass, an emerald hue rivaled only by the neighbors’ lawn on each side.
Piper brought over a bowl of quartered potatoes.
“Make sure there’s nobody around before you go into any backyards—and take your radios!”
Piper handed Cole the bowl. “Go where?”
“We’re going to look for something to smoke the meat so we don’t waste so much of it.”
“Oh! I’ll go! I need to stretch my legs after the long drive today.”
While Cole tended the roast, he kept an eye on Luke, Travis, and Zoë, who played a game of tag. Travis purposefully fell down a few times, flailing around as though he was trying his best to escape Zoë’s tag. Cole smiled. Luke laughed and teased Travis for getting caught, but then he followed the other boy’s lead and did the same thing. Zoë squealed in delight.
“I’m glad we saw the deer when we did. I think we all needed this.” Elly unfolded a lawn chair and sat beside him. “The kids haven’t had much opportunity for play, and fresh meat will definitely be welcome.”
Cole nodded and took her hand. “So, how did the check-up go?” Jenna had taken the opportunity offered by the early stop and had done a quick maternal check-up on both Elly and Sophie.
“Looking good. My blood pressure is fine but I gained a few pounds—which Jenna tells me is absolutely a good thing.” She chuckled and rubbed her rounded stomach. “I’m not so sure though. This little one even kicked a bit for Aunt Jenna’s exam. Thumped right up against the stethoscope, I guess.”
Grinning, Cole leaned over and gave her stomach a light rub, speaking directly to the bump. “Behave in there!”
A few minutes later, the young people returned sans smoker, but with grates from grills and a few wrought iron planter stands. It seemed they’d decided that they could put the stands over the fire and set the racks on them to smoke the meat. Cole had heard of that technique before but was impressed that they had thought of it on their own.
Piper had a basket in her hands and a secretive smile on her face.
Sean joined them, having gone to clean up in a stream that created the northern edge of the square. It’s where they had replenished their water bottles and large water jugs. The water had come down from the mountains to their west and was the best tasting they’d come across since leaving the island.
“Brr… that was cold, but man, do I feel better!”
“Maybe we should heat up a big pot and let everyone get good and cleaned up tonight?”
Cole nodded. “I can get started on hauling water, but I’m going to wash up first. If Sean can take the cold water, so can I.” He slanted his brother a teasing grin, feeling closer to him than he had in a long time. Since Steve’s death, Sean had driven with Cole a few times and each time, their conversations became easier. They reminisced about growing up, shared anecdotes about their parents and kids, and even told raunchy jokes they couldn’t share in mixed company, and since the virus, they were almost always in mixed company.
“I’ll go too.” Hunter grabbed a bucket and soon, all the guys, even Luke and Travis, had buckets and towels and raced to the stream. Jake won, with Hunter a close second. Cole hung back to watch out for Travis and Luke. They had seen no signs of human life, and plenty of death as they’d driven in, but Cole knew better than to let down his guard. He was glad Sean had stayed back at the camp. With him and Buddy standing guard, he was free to wash up and even make sure Luke actually used soap and didn’t horse around too much.
On the way back, their hair all stood up in wet spikes, except for Travis’s, whose hair sparkled with trapped drops of water.
Hunter spotted a stack of kiddie pools leaning up against the front wall of a hardware store on the far side of the square and trotted over to get one, returning with it upside down on his head. One hand steadied it while the other carried his pail of water to contribute to filling the pool. The boys laughed and darted around him, spilling half of their own water as they asked if they could swim.
“You guys just got done swimming, you goofs. This is so the women can take warm baths.” Cole reached out and tousled Luke’s wet hair.
“Why do they get warm baths?”
“Because they work hard doing all kinds of things for us, so I want to do something for them.”
“But you shot the deer and helped gut it.”
“Yes, I did, and while I did that, the women were setting up the tents and spreading out the bedding so everyone would have a nice warm place to sleep tonight.”
“Oh. Yeah. I guess.”
The atmosphere was almost festive an hour later. Cole designated the feast as a celebration of Travis having joined the family. Piper had surprised them all with fresh asparagus she’d found growing in the remains of a garden. This early, that’s all there was, but everyone—even the kids—devoured the fresh vegetable. It was the first they’d had in months.
After dinner, Jake lit another fire, and when the coals had died down in both of them, he set up the planter stands with the grates on top of them, and laid the deer over them to smoke. The planter stands kept the meat from actually cooking, but kept it close enough to be swallowed in the white plumes of smoke.
“I’ll stay up tonight and keep an eye on it. I think I can do about four batches. Maybe more. This wood is perfect for it.”
It was well seasoned from sitting for over a year. Good hardwood that would give the meat a rich, smoky flavor. And they would all be able to add it to their emergency Go-bags.
That reminded him that Travis didn’t have a Go-bag yet, so Cole spent the last hour creating one for the boy. He rummaged through supplies, finding one of their extra backpacks, a good water bottle that would keep a day’s worth cold, plus water purification tablets, and then pulled some fishing gear from his tackle box. He made a small kit with hooks, weights, bobbers and string. A good hunting knife, a small hatchet, two ground cloths—one could turn into a tent, added a first aid kit with tape, bandages and disinfectant. He found resealable bags and filled one with matches and added a lighter. He dumped a bottle of aspirin into another baggie, and took the bottle and stuffed it with cotton balls soaked in alcohol. He closed up the bottle and added the aspirin to the first aid kit. Next he found a lighter and a change of clothes with extra socks. He wasn’t sure of Travis’s size, but Piper said she had an extra pair of hiking boots that she thought would fit him and generously offered them. The last thing he packed was a handgun. It was one Travis himself had scavenged, along with ammunition for it.
By morning, the meat was dry, Jake was dead tired, and Travis was thrilled when Cole presented him with his official go-bag. “Remember, this is only for emergencies. I’ve stocked it with some non-perishable food, including the dried venison Jake was so kind to provide, and other basic supplies. It’s everyone’s job to make sure their water bottles are filled every morning. One for the bag and one for drinking throughout the day. I’ve done it for you today, but after this, you’ll be doing it on your own.”
>
“Yes, sir.” Travis took the bag, his eyes glowing with pride, and climbed into his vehicle as soon as everything was packed and breakfast of leftover roast and potatoes were eaten. A good portion of the deer meat that hadn’t been dried was packed into coolers powered by the cars. It would stay good in there for a few days.
21
Cole checked his fuel gauge. A quarter tank. According to the last road sign, they should make it in before he needed to get gas. As he wove around yet another pile-up, he added a few miles to the distance. It wouldn’t be a straight shot, not if he had to wind around the more and more frequent pile-ups and he fully expected that to be the case.
They had managed to avoid traveling close to any large cities, knowing they would have a greater likelihood of encountering blocked freeways, but even a dozen miles out, they were reduced to a speed of not more than thirty miles per hour and in some places, they had to go even more slowly.
He rubbed his eyes, wincing at the gritty feel behind his lids. The sun, low on the horizon, would soon be hidden by the hills and mountains. His plan to arrive no later than mid-afternoon so they could scope the area out for other survivors before camping, was out of the question now since he hadn’t factored in having to take detours when confronted with obstacles where there wasn’t even room to navigate around them. Still, he couldn’t resist the final push to reach the city. He had to know if the power was still on. What if they had come all this way and were no better off than they had been on the island? Possibly even worse since at least they knew the area around the island. Here, other than a few vacations, nobody was familiar with the city. They all had favorite casinos, shows, or hotels, but none of that knowledge would help them now.
In fact, Cole had no interest in exploring the tourist areas. None of that would be any use except to check out the kitchens for canned goods. If the virus had spread with the same speed here as it had in Wisconsin, he had an inkling that it would have had even a greater impact here. The tourists were already primed to be out and about and the virus would have spread faster than a juicy rumor in high school. Even the areas not around the touristy spots would probably have an increased rate of spread of the disease because so many people were employed in hotels, shows, casinos, or restaurants. The virus probably thought it hit the host motherlode.
Sympatico Syndrome Trilogy Box Set Page 71