Back To Our Beginning

by C. L. Scholey

  The puppy was bounding back and forth on huge dirty feet, begging to be noticed until he saw Cord approach. Seeing the large man’s purpose-filled stride, the puppy stuck his tail between his legs and slunk away. Clint picked up Michaela and tucked her into the crook of his arm and nestled her against his chest. Frowning, Cord hesitated for a brief moment then scowled at both Clint and Michaela, who was looking up at him with wide curious eyes.

  “Why does Shanie call you General Cord?” Michaela asked innocently.

  Clint bit back a chuckle, set the girl on her feet and gave her behind a gentle pat, ordering her to find her mother. Smiling, he looked into Cord’s angry expression.

  “Them kids have no discipline.”

  “Them kids don’t have no home, no food, no safety.”

  Cord shook his head as if it was useless to argue then changed the subject. He looked around the area scanning it, it was wet and mucky. Something about it bothered him. Something didn’t seem right.

  “Hey,” Randy called, coming over to join them. “You notice it’s kinda strange around here?”

  “Why?” Clint asked.

  “Dead like. No debris,” Cord mused. “Just muck and water in spots, dry in others, but open.” Not many places were barren of debris; it seemed to be in abundance everywhere else they traveled. The emptiness seemed disturbing; one complete area untouched. It stretched for some distance in either direction.

  The men stood gazing around them and didn’t notice Tansy’s approach, she held Michaela on her hip in the cloth carrier Clint made, expecting them to be moving off soon.

  “General,” Michaela called.

  “I’m not a General, my name is Cord.”

  Michaela ducked her head against her mother and mumbled, “Cranky Cord.”

  Before Cord could respond, Tansy intervened. “Now children, no fighting.”

  “He started it,” Michaela mumbled.

  “Did not.”

  “Cord, did it occur to you you’re arguing with a three-year-old?” Randy said.

  “Piss off,” Cord snapped, realizing what a spectacle he was making and seeing no way to save face.

  “Ooohhh, naughty words,” Michaela said looking wide-eyed at Cord.

  “All right, enough,” Tansy interjected patiently. “Call a truce please, you two, or I’ll put you both over my knee.”

  “Me first,” Cord said.

  Laughing, Tansy had known that would change his mood. Anything to do with her being able to get the upper hand was met immediately with a challenge of acceptance. Michaela was not amused. She waggled a finger at her mother and in her best daddy’s voice said sternly,

  “No hands on.”

  Emmy had been watching the confrontation. She marched over, shot the whole lot of them a condescending look and disengaged Michaela from her mother then stalked off.

  Smiling, Cord looked around, gazing into the distance that was darkening to what he referred to as death of night; uncertainty. There was absolutely no shelter in this small valley and they needed to get to higher ground. The large hill wasn’t too far in the distance. They were all tired and Cord decided it would be best to camp at the base of the primarily horizontal hill until morning. He explained, reasoning he felt they might fare better with the steep hill if they were rested.

  Although all agreed, they were feeling agitated and uncertain; with the light fading and the moon’s illumination covered by clouds, they had no way of lighting a trail. Cord was afraid they might lose someone, or someone could slip and fall and if hurt, be unable to cry out and not be found until morning. Being out in the open posed a significant risk, but he felt attempting the tricky hill in the darkness could prove much worse. Even if he were to tie everyone together with the length of rope they had, they’d still be in need of shelter after reaching the top and would all be too exhausted to travel further. They’d never make it to the top before darkness fell. Cord never did like the idea of walking into the unknown of complete darkness, especially now that he no longer had his gun, and Tansy’s speculation about dangerous zoo animals had made perfect sense to him.

  They were able to improvise a crude shelter out of backpacks covered over with the small canvas they’d recovered and kept, finding it useful on more than one occasion, secured against the blowing wind with strategically placed rocks. The ground was damp even with a plastic shower curtain and blankets spread underneath, and they were cold. Unable to find any dry tinder to start a fire, they ate the last of the dried bear meat before huddling together for warmth.

  Clint picked up Michaela and laid her on his chest off the moist ground, tucking her inside his coats, his body keeping hers warm and dry. It wasn’t long before the others, too cold to care about intimacies, lay pressed closely together, arms wrapped around one another.

  “Finally have a woman clinging to me and I’m too damn tired and cold to get it up.” Tansy heard Randy mutter through clattering teeth.

  Sandwiched between Cord and Clint a cold shaking Tansy felt some semblance of relief. It would be a long night though.

  * * * *

  Tansy was spluttering, she gasped for breath and floundered aimlessly. She was vaguely aware she’d fallen asleep for a short time and her mind felt muddled. Her body was soaked, she felt disoriented, she was freezing. She heard Emmy cry out in the darkness and reached for her groggily but grabbed at Cord’s arm instead. Tansy, in turn, was grasped firmly and shoved forward out of the small shelter that was washing away around them. Tansy tried to stand but water was rushing around her ankles, a rumbling sound made her shake. She could make out nothing in the foreboding darkness.

  Unsteady from being awakened so rudely, she fell face first into the dark murky water and came up gasping. A hard hit to her shoulder from a small log sent her reeling and tumbling. She came up for air choking, a small cry upon her lips, and was yanked up to her feet, spun around and thrown forward.

  “Climb,” Clint hissed in her ear, over a booming thundering noise.

  “My girls,” she choked out, her hands sank into grassy muck and she tried to get a handhold to keep herself from falling back into the churning water that was rising higher at an alarming rate, clawing at her calves. Tansy strained to see through the black chasm void. She jumped as a bolt of lightning sizzled through the sky with its brilliance, foretelling doom. Ice chunks floated by. A hand grabbed her wrist and dragged her higher.

  “Take her,” Clint shouted, Michaela was thrust into her embrace. Another larger chunk of ice knocked her off her feet. The ice rose higher with her and Mike screaming as Clint raced after them and yanked them to his chest, plucking them from higher up the hill.

  “My girls,” Tansy cried.

  “I’ll get ’em,” Clint shouted and he was gone, lost to her straining vision.

  The water was making a horrible roaring noise, reverberating throughout her ragged thoughts; she ached with tremors. Tansy knew the menacing roar was coming faster. The valley was flooding, no doubt like it had flooded before. That’s why it was mucky and there was no debris. That’s why Cord and the others couldn’t find animals to hunt.

  With one arm wrapped securely around Michaela, the other digging frantically into the muddy hillside, Tansy climbed. Her feet slipped backwards until she felt like she was running while crawling up the steep incline, desperate for a secure handhold. Her breath came in labored gasps as she felt her lungs on the verge of exploding along with her heart.

  Tansy climbed, inching her way upwards, sobbing in terror at the fate of her other children. When she could climb no more, Tansy collapsed unable to move. The rain beat hard on her back and she pulled Mike closer, settling the child under her to protect her from the pounding rain. Completely exhausted, the urge to give in was compelling. Tansy forced herself to rise to her feet and found she unbelievably made it to the top of the hill.

  “Emmy! Shanie!” Tansy screamed. She yelled until her voice cracked. Michaela added her little voice to Tansy’s. They called until Tansy though
t she heard a return call in the distance over the sound of the roaring water. Running now, sliding, falling then up again, Tansy could feel her heart pound within her chest, she collapsed with relief as she gathered a sobbing Emmy to her breast.

  “He pushed me up with him,” Emmy cried hysterically, her fingers clawed while grasping her mother tighter. “He pushed my feet with his hands higher and higher then he yelled to climb faster, and then he was gone, the water pulled him down and he was still yelling ‘climb faster.’”

  Emmy sobbed brokenly, clutching at her mother and sister, still seeing his frantic eyes as the water enveloped him, stilling his strangled cries. Tansy rocked her back and forth until she grasped her daughter’s hands.

  “Hold your sister; I need to find Shanie.”

  “No, don’t leave us.”

  “I need to find Shanie.”

  Tansy looked around and noticed some hint of light was permeating the darkness. At the top part of the hill was a huge pine tree and she half-carried, half-dragged her girls to it then shoved them beneath the tree. Its large branches offered some protection from the rain and cold.

  “I’ll be back soon,” she promised. Her face softened as she gazed back into her two daughters’ fearful expressions. “I love you. I promise I’ll be back.”

  Tansy set out, cold and shaking. She peered into the rushing water as light grew; she was dumbfounded any of them survived. Her terror at finding her daughter grew to such an intensity Tansy was screaming Shanie’s name over and over. She stumbled over roots and climbed over fallen trees until she saw a blond head face down in the mud. Tansy cried out and raced for her child. Gently turning her over, she wiped the mud and hair from her eyes.

  “Shanie?”

  “I hate camping.”

  Tansy laughed. She laughed with relief until she cried, soon they were both crying, clinging to one another.

  Later that morning, Tansy wandered the receding shoreline looking for signs of life. She saw dead floating animals massive ice chunks and other debris but there was no sign of Clint, Cord or Randy. There was no sign of their backpacks; all of their belongings were gone. They were cold, sodden, and once again alone. They were lost, was what Tansy was thinking, no food or water, no shelter or supplies. She looked up as Emmy approached her.

  “They’re gone, Mom. We need to move on.”

  “I know.”

  “Cord saved me,” Emmy said. “Like Clint saved you and Mike. If we stay here and die, their deaths will have been in vain.”

  Tansy reached a hand out to touch her daughter’s cheek, her bedraggled appearance was in contrast to her strength of character. Emmy was right, she only hoped Clint was with his wife and child now, and she gave a silent thank you up to Heaven to both he and Cord for saving her and her daughter’s lives.

  They walked with heavy hearts, their clothes dried cold and felt stiff to the touch. Tansy knew they’d die soon from exposure if they couldn’t find shelter. She dragged Michaela along, urging the child to move her limbs. Tansy was afraid if she picked her up, ceasing her motion, she would freeze to death; Tansy’s cold wet body couldn’t offer the child warmth. Michaela stumbled along whimpering, nagging to be held. Tansy knew as long as the child whined to be held she’d live.

  A small broken home lay in the distance, and Tansy urged them on. Once inside they found a pile of dirty boards covering a makeshift hole that dropped a good six feet into the ground. Tansy lowered everyone in and grabbed sticks and other wooden kindling to toss down to the girls for a fire. She had demanded each of them, including Michaela, have a small pocket knife and flint with them. While looking for more tinder, Tansy grabbed frayed and tattered curtains, dried from blowing in the wind still hanging from rods over windows with jagged dirty glass.

  She found couch cushions to lay in the bottom of the hole to keep them off the frozen ground. After finding the remains of a rodent’s nest Tansy grabbed at the dry fur, straw and hay used to line it. She lowered herself into the hole after lowering a block down, they would need to be able to reach the top to climb out. Adding a small measure of the cushions’ stuffing to her pile of tinder, Tansy’s frozen hands soon had a fire going. Tansy replaced the floor boards overhead, leaving only small cracks to allow the tendrils of smoke to escape. After everyone was settled, she wrapped the ratty curtain around them; they let the warmth encompass them from the small fire and they slept wrapped in one another’s arms.

  For three days, Tansy and her girls stayed in the small hole too afraid to come out except to scrounge for food. To Tansy’s delight she came across a ragtag book with no cover and many pages missing. The contents left were invaluable. It spoke of plants, edible and medicinal. They found a bit of rope and scoured the area for a few hand-sized rocks to create a new bola. They could only find small birds that offered little meat once roasted. They found a beat-up old pot, and Tansy banged the dents out of with a rock. It wasn’t cast iron like her last pot but proved to be handy for boiling the birds’ bones for the marrow, which they could drink.

  There was the occasional squirrel they could fell; these they strung over the fire whole, minus the tail, waiting until the fur was charred until they ventured to taste the meager meat and organs within. Michaela stopped asking incessantly for her puppy and beloved rag doll. Though she did inquire occasionally about Clint.

  * * * *

  While roaming outside Tansy noted the slight change in temperature. It wasn’t warmer; it wasn’t that it seemed darker than the previous days. It was an unsettling feeling. It gave her a sense of foreboding. The wind began to pick up and as it whipped her hair around her face, Tansy felt a pellet hit her in the back with stinging force. Then another. Looking on the ground she saw the pellets were hail. Soon the sky opened up and hail the size of golf balls had her and the girls racing for their meager shelter. The world turned orange then a rolling black. Tansy knew a tornado was on its way.

  They landed in a heap inside the hole in the floor replacing the floorboards just as part of the house was ripped away on an ominous crunch.

  “We’re gonna die...”

  Chapter 9

  Following the aftermath of the storm, Tansy and the girls took the scraggly squirrel Shanie had come across and left the vicinity. They walked through the snowy ground as it gradually turned into denser forest, becoming rocky. They stopped to stare at the openness before them. They had a good view from their vantage point of the town that was tucked within a deep valley. They gazed down at the solemn sight before them. Devastation was apparent. Buildings previously rising no more than two stories were in ruins, but there was an abundance of coniferous trees still standing.

  The town had always been small, but because of the devastation Tansy was hard-pressed to recognize it until her gaze settled onto a familiar landmark. There was no mistaking the massive overhanging rock from a well-worn mountain hovering protectively over the tiny town. Their family had picnicked on it too often.

  “Oh, we made it,” Tansy said awestruck, close to tears from relief.

  “How much farther are the mines?” Shanie asked.

  “We need to go through the town first,” Tansy said, still staring into the distance. “Come on, maybe we can find...something.”

  They trudged on weary feet down the hill into town, at least what had been a town. With it being so far north when the storms struck, they brought extreme cold, worse than at any other time in the area’s history. Within a matter of hours, the temperature dropped at a steady rate. The town and surrounding area was unprepared. Those who sought refuge in their basements, thinking only violent storms were heading in their direction, froze. They hadn’t the chance to store the wood they’d need to keep them alive.

  Salvageable fuel in their homes vanished quickly, as did any in close proximity to their property. Venturing too far outside from fires was a deathtrap.

  As the storms lessened a few months later, so did the unbearable freezing temperatures and a regular winter set in. It made the area r
ich in predators, as their food, frozen so conveniently, thawed slightly leaving it fresh and easily accessible. The extreme cold kept the area free of flooding, keeping the otherwise encroaching waters at bay until the threat receded then passed, encouraging other animals to venture into the vicinity.

  “Mom?” Emmy said, nudging her mother. Wide-eyed they noticed a man, homeless, half buried over with snow, a bottle of liquor still grasped in his grubby hand, a few empty bottles, necks visible poking through the snow, alongside him. His body hadn’t begun thawing or decomposing. They were outside a battered liquor store.

  “Oh God, what I wouldn’t give for some fireball,” Tansy said whimsically, stepping past the man and continuing on. They prowled through the darkened musty store until Tansy reached out and touched the bottle she desired. She fingered it within her grasp before removing the lid. Lifting the bottle to her lips Tansy tilted her head back and sucked the contents lazily, her eyes closed. She held the bottle cradled to her chest as she savored the taste, enjoying the warmth closing around her insides heating her skin. Opening her eyes, Tansy noticed her daughters were watching her wide-eyed.

  “What? It’s been at least five months since I’ve had a drink,” Tansy said in her defense, remembering her last chocolate martini nostalgically.

  “I have some?” Michaela asked.

  Tansy let her suck a bit off her finger. Michaela made a grimacing comical face while sticking out her tongue and all three laughed.

  “Well now aren’t you all sweet,” came a rough voice.

  The bottle dropped to the ground and shattered as Tansy spun around. In the doorway stood a man covered in dirt. His stringy hair hung past his shoulders in mats, his clothes were grimy and filth stuck his crusty beard to his neck. When he smiled his lecherous smile half of his teeth were missing. His beady eyes grew smaller as he leered. The girls backed away behind their mother who stood shaky yet firmly.

  “We don’t want any trouble, we’re just passing through.”