James patted his flat stomach. “I can't recall the last time I was in this kind of shape. It's good for us.”
“I'll say,” Shar said. “We're busy all the time. I tried Sandy's scales the other day, just curious. I've dropped thirty pounds. Then I looked at myself and realized it could be true. That made me look in the mirror and I realized it was true. I don't look anything like I did in the old world at all,” she finished with a laugh.
Craig and Cindy sat next to each other. Seeing the two of them together caused Katie to think about Conner.
Amy took Katie's hand. “Don't do it to yourself, Kate. They'll be back before you know it.” She patted her hand, squeezed it, and then placed it on her stomach.
“Holy God. That kid is kicking the crap out of you. And, thank you, Little-miss-mind-reader.” She left her hand on Amy's stomach. The kid really was kicking up a storm.
“Any time,” Amy said. “Any time.”
“Can I feel?” Craig asked.
Amy nodded and he placed one of his larger hands next to Katie's. “Wow...” His face twisted in shocked surprise, causing both Amy and Katie to laugh. “Doesn't that hurt?” he asked.
Amy giggled. “Not really. Just feels funny. Now when the kid gives me a shot to the kidneys? Yow!”
All three of them laughed. Craig sat back, looked at Cindy, then put his arm around her and drew her near. “This is pretty good,” he said quietly.
“It is,” Cindy agreed.
“Okay, corny, but don't you think this is the way we were supposed to live,” Katie asked.
Several heads nodded.
“And,” she continued, “look how different we are.”
“It's the circumstances, though. We're bound to change,” Bonnie said. She had pale skin and freckles and looked sixteen instead of twenty-two. Her auburn hair framed her face. Her eyelashes were nearly blonde, Katie noticed.
“It is,” Katie agreed. “But other stuff, like: Who here used to smoke? Drink? A little recreational pot or cocaine? Little vices. I'm not talking about the heavy use, I'm talking about the things that were in the world, in our lives. Maybe doughnuts, too much coffee... Everybody had something I think.”
Several heads nodded.
“Who still does those things? That one thing, whatever it was?” No one spoke. Katie laughed. “By the time I had time to think about smoking again I didn't want it.”
“We were in this store, gathering stuff we needed, and there was this huge metal cabinet, you know some sort or steel mesh on the front so you could see into it, full of cigarettes, and I thought, 'I should get some now before I forget.' and then I thought, 'What the hell for?' I just walked away,” she laughed.
“I used to go out drinking on the weekends... Something to kill the loneliness,” Amy said. “I didn't even think of it after everything happened... At all. I didn't need it anymore. I haven't had any since... I mean, it's not here. If we wanted it we could have brought some in with us, yet none of us did.”
Katie nodded. James spoke.
“I liked my beer. Cigars. A good football game. They're just not on my list of priorities any longer.” He looked around.
Heads nodded around the room. Some he knew, some so new he didn't yet know their names. They would have to do something about that soon. They should know how many they were. What skills they had. He smiled.
Somebody, one of the newcomers, mentioned a television show they used to watch, and that got everyone talking about television shows and movies from the old world. That conversation lead to music and bands they had liked. The conversation went back and forth as they ate, taking on a life of its own, and when dinner was finished people broke up into groups to pass the evening.
Lilly, Jake, Cindy and Craig were talking back and forth about the stone houses. How hard they were to build, and whether Jake thought there would be enough time to build a few more before winter set in.
Sandy, Susan and Roberta were talking about medicine and nursing. Shar joined in and asked as many questions about medicine as she was asked about Veterinary sciences.
Katie, Amy, Janna, Arlene and a few others were working on crocheting. Practicing different stitches that Janna had shown them.
David, Bonny and James were talking about farming. How the valley was laid out. The two fields up top. The idea Cindy had about flooding a low lying area in the second valley and making what amounted to a large pond so they could have their own fish supply, as well as cow pond.
Bonny told them the valley reminded her of Ireland and told them how it had looked to her when she had gone to visit her grandparents with her mother a few years before.
The children were being supervised by everyone as the adults talked; some joining in this conversation, some in another.
As the sun finally left the sky, Jake begged his leave, and left to take up the first watch.
Conner
On The Road
Aaron swore for more than ten minutes after Jess had straightened and then taped up his nose. “I can't breathe through it,” he said. Sounding as though he had the worst kind of cold. He kept spitting blood onto the cracked pavement.
“You will,” Jess told him. She handed him two aspirins. “Call me in the morning,” she joked.
Steve Choi, who had been in his second year of medical residency, disinfected Jess's cut and then sunk two stitches in to close the gash. She grimaced, but that was all.
Conner whispered in Aaron’s ear. “And you cried like a little girl,” he teased.
“She's a doctor,” Aaron complained.
“And that makes a difference?” Jess asked as she walked up.
“Well... You know what's coming, right?” Aaron asked.
“Yeah, a needle in my head with no Novocain,” Jess said straight faced.
“Girl,” Conner repeated quietly. “Little girl.”
Aaron laughed. “Just wait until Amy sees what you did to my nose.”
“It will give you some character,” Jess joked.
“A nice little bend,” Conner said, pretending to look Aaron's nose over.
“Now you are impugning my work,” Jess laughed. She stretched to her tiptoes and pretended to examine Aaron's nose. “I could put a bend or two in there though,” She joked.
One by one the others introduced each other.
The older couple was Peter and Melanie Kant. They were in their late fifties. They had been show dog breeders.
Jess was Jessie Stone. She was Native American and African American. Just shy of forty, she said.
The other man was John Steele. A slightly built, pale man who looked as though he had never spent much time in the sun. He had been into stocks and bonds, he said. His English accent said he had not been in the states for long. “Five years,” he told Chloe with a laugh, when she told him how much she liked the sound of his voice. “Came from Hunstanton to holiday and stayed.”
Violet Hodecki was Japanese and had worked as a website designer. She was in her late twenties.
Pamela Glasse was twenty-two and had the rosy cheeked good looks of a mid-western farm girl. She had been in college working towards a degree in accounting.
The group was heading towards the middle of the country, somewhere around Kansas or Nebraska, they said, and they invited them to come along with them.
“Everything we hear on the radios says there are no dead there. They tend to stay in the bigger cities anyhow,” Steve Choi said.
Adam shook his head. “Maybe, but don't believe that only-in-the-big-cities talk.”
Conner talked about The Nation and how it had been working. The houses. The crops. The animals: Katie and the baby.
“I can see in your eyes how much it means to you and your Katie,” Jess told him. “I hope for the same thing in Kansas, or Nebraska. It's encouraging hearing how well your Nation is working.” She looked over at Adam. “I want you to tell me about what you have seen... Know... More than we have, I would guess. What do you know that we don't. That is what I ne
ed to know if you will share it,” she told him.
“Glad to,” Adam said. His bass voice rumbled out. Jess went over and sat next to him as they talked. The contrast was stark, Conner thought. Like a picture he had once seen of a tiny kitten sitting and looking up at a huge Great Dane that towered over it. But from what he had seen of Jess she was no timid kitten.
By the time everyone was patched up it was late afternoon.
“I'm going to need a new vehicle,” Jess said, looking at her own vehicle where it sat leaking fluids at the side of the road.
“About a mile up the road... Take a left. There are two places there. A heavy duty truck dealership, it's at a farm machinery place... Seed... Machinery, you name it... On the other side of the town is a Jeep dealership. We've been to both places. The keys to the Jeeps are inside the building. You'll see where we dug in to get them,” Conner said.
Jess nodded.
“The dead are there also, though. So you'll have to keep a sharp eye out,” Conner finished. He held up his hand.
“They got you?” Jess asked.
“Cost me a finger... Maybe that confrontation with us will keep them gone... Maybe not. I just haven't had much experience with them.”
Jess nodded. “Sobering... I'll be careful... Let me look at that?”
“Sure,” Conner agreed. A few moments later his hand was re-wrapped. Jess was concerned about infection so she made him take penicillin she carried with her.
“Next nine days, Conner. Like a religion. It's so easy to get an infection. Antibiotic ointment is good, but it is no guarantee.” Conner nodded as he listened, and when she finished he went back to telling her how to get to the Jeep dealership.
Brad, Beth, Darren and John, the other four that had fallen in with Debbie’s group were in deep conversation with the rest of Jessie’s group. As Jess was getting directions to find another truck, Brad walked over to Debbie and began talking to her. She shrugged her shoulders, nodded a few times, and then walked over to Conner.
“Sorry to interrupt,” she looked at Jess and smiled. “Conner, Brad wants to know if he and Beth can ride with one of you.”
Conner looked confused. “Sure. No problem,” he said.
“Well. It's just that Darren and George want to go to Nebraska or Kansas,” she elaborated.
Conner nodded. He had seen the looks between the two girls and Darren and George as they talked. “Well, why don't we do this. Jess needs another truck. We'll just show her where it is. Get ourselves another truck, and then head to the campground. Call it a day. Start out tomorrow,” Conner suggested.
“Would you mind if we joined you for the night,” Jess asked. “That will allow us a break and we'll start out fresh in the morning.”
“Sounds good,” Conner agreed. He looked around and caught Chloe's eye as well as Dustin's. They both walked over.
“Can you two get everyone else to the campground? Get it set up? Make sure none of the dead came back... We'll be there for the night; leave in the morning.”
They both nodded.
“I'm going to take Jess with me... Adam... Beth and Brad will follow me. We'll get a truck for them. Aaron is pretty messed up. He'll go back with you.” He realized they didn't know what the plans were, that Darren and George were going with Jess, so he filled them in. “A truck for Jess too. To replace the one she wrecked. We shouldn't have too much trouble back there... Then we'll catch up with you,” Conner finished.
They both nodded. A few minutes later everyone began to pull out. A few minutes after that and the road was empty: The smashed truck sitting just off the road; the dead horse laying in the field.
~
They were back at the campground shortly before dusk. They had not run into any problems at all at the Jeep dealership. They hadn't bothered with the farm machinery place. Conner had found a heavy duty truck sitting at the back of the lot that he had noticed before. A new battery and a little work had got it going. Jess had found an SUV that suited her purposes.
The sheep and the goats were grazing down by the stream, the dogs keeping watch over them.
Chloe had pulled into the campground earlier and surprised a small herd of deer. They had stood staring back at her, unafraid, until she had taken one down with a shot from her machine pistol. She had, had help to gut and dress it out, and by the time Conner, Jess and the others were back the deer was roasting over a fire, and a large pot of rice was cooking from supplies they had on one of the big trucks.
Conner checked on Aaron who was feeling better, but looked much worse, his eyes blackened and puffy. The dogs bedded down with the sheep, and Conner set the posts for the night.
Jess came to him later on as he sat his post. She made small talk for a few moments and then got to her point.
“I don't know if everything will be the way we want it to be,” Jess said. “I guess I'm saying, if we can't make it work we might come back this way.”
“I have a feeling the snow will be tough up there in those mountains, but if you can get there you will be more than welcome,” Conner told her.
“Tell me how to get there,” Jess asked.
Conner took a small pad from his pocket and wrote the directions out along with a crude map. She took it, folded it, and tucked it into her breast pocket. She looked up at him. Rose to her tip toes and kissed him on one cheek. She turned and walked away.
Jessie's Diary
We are on our way. Today was something else. I hit a horse, Ididn't kill it, but I had to finish it. It was a tough thing to do, but because of the accident it afforded me the opportunity to meet a most remarkable man.
His name is Conner Davis, and he and a group he leads have already done what I hope to do. They chose a huge tract of forever wild lands to do it. They call themselves The Nation, as we have planned to call ourselves The Fold.
From what he said it is working out very well; much the way we hope ours will work out. Three of his people decided to come with us. So we are nine now. I am looking forward to hearing from our scouts. They have been looking for a place. This delay will keep me from getting back to them as soon as I would like to, but I know they will be there along with the others from our old settlement: Somewhere in Nebraska or Kansas, maybe even as far west as Texas. It's been a few weeks since we've talked to them on CB, but once we're under way again we will find them.
Conner has a woman. He says he loves her. That she is everything to him, and I believe him. Too bad. I will admit I was instantly drawn to him, but he's going back and I am going on to whatever there is in Kansas or Nebraska, but I know how to get to his mountains. Who can tell what the future may hold?
TEN
September 25th
The air was crisp. Not exactly cold, Conner thought. But there was cold in it. Maybe a promise of what was coming.
Conner had taken Aaron, Chloe and Adam and looked over every one of the trucks. They had managed to pick up heavy winter clothing: Jackets both heavy and light. Trees, seed. All the things on the wish list and then some. Extra bedding. Clothing. Even some furniture items.
There were four of the big trucks. Three loaded with goods, one for the livestock. There were also the four small pickup trucks, and each of them was towing one of the electric four wheel drive vehicles. There were also two larger four wheel drive pickups, one they had picked up the day before, the other Debbie had been driving.
There were ten fifty five gallon drums of diesel fuel, five more of gasoline. Almost six hundred pounds of bagged rice, and several hundred pounds of flour, sugar, salt, oats and so many other things that they had lost count.
The truck with the computers and electrical gear held nearly twice what Dustin had wanted. Aaron had joked that there was enough wire to wire the entire valley twice over. Conner had agreed. Dustin had said, in a serious tone, that he wasn't so sure about the second time. Then he had realized that Aaron had been kidding and they had all three laughed bout it.
They had lost one more person late last night. L
isa Stevens had come and talked to Debbie; she was also going with Jessie Stone. She had been holding John Steele's hand.
They were about as opposite as they could be. Lisa, tall, with her dancers body and movie star good looks. John, pale, thin and studious, but it was obvious to Conner that something had clicked there.
He had thought that Lisa's brother Joe would probably go as well, but they had said their goodbyes this morning when Jessie's group had pulled out.
They would be fourteen people going back: They had come with only six. Conner and Aaron, Dustin, Adam, Josh, James, Richard and Alicia. Chloe and Debbie; Joe Stevens, and Steven Choi. Brad Jeffries and his sister Bethany. And they were leaving Nellie and Molly behind, and it didn't feel right, but Conner knew there was nothing he could do.
Conner took one more look around the campground. Everything on the trucks had checked out fine. It was packed and ready. He reminded himself that he would never come back, and besides having to leave Nellie and Molly somewhere that he didn't want to leave them, he felt no sadness that he would never see any of it again. He looked at Aaron: His nose was taped; both eyes swollen nearly shut. He shook his head.
“What,” Aaron asked. He still sounded nasally.
“Amy is going to kill me,” he said. “She warned me after the ear thing if I bought you back messed up again I was done.”
Aaron grinned and then grimaced. “Hurts to smile,” he said. “A little anyway... Don't worry. She'll feel bad, after all you lost a finger.”
“Yep, but I bet she's gonna kick my ass as soon as she sees you.”
“Yeah, and you'll be getting your ass kicked by a pregnant woman too,” Aaron joked.
“You're not going to help me out? Tell her how it's not really my fault,” Conner asked.
“Nope. Take it like a man, Bro, take it like a man. Besides, she hits like a girl... Unless she's mad and then she has one hell of a straight right. Smacked me in the arm once when I wouldn't quit screwing with her. Arm hurt for a week.” Aaron smiled and then grimaced again.
Earth's Survivors Box Set [Books 1-7] Page 98