Kiamichi Reunion: Book Five of the Kiamichi Survival Series

by C. A. Henry

  “I don’t know what to say, Massey. I honestly thought you were dead. I’m having a hard time getting my head around it.”

  Massey chuckled. “I know that feeling. I didn’t know you’d gone hunting, and I thought you were dead, until…well, we better back up and start at the beginning, if this is going to make any sense at all.”

  He began by finally remembering to introduce his new friends to Ross. Then he explained about how he’d seen Sid Pitts and his group of miscreants, looting and burning, after killing their family.

  Ross interrupted at that point. “We gotta go after them! I’ll kill every one of them for what they did!”

  Massey shook his head. “You’re a little late for that, Ross. Let me tell you the rest. I made my way here and discovered that three intruders had made themselves at home in our house. That’s how I met Helen, Jeff, and Stevie. I’ll let them tell you their stories later, but trust me, I was blessed that day. They helped me plan the attack, and we took care of Pitts and his gang. They’re all dead. Every last one of them, and mostly, they didn’t die quick. Pitts, in particular, felt some pain before he went to hell.

  “These three backed me up, helped me, and risked their lives to get vengeance on those thugs. I would have gone alone, but they insisted on going with me, to stop anyone else from being killed by that bunch.”

  “Massey, none of us would have been safe staying here if we hadn’t taken them out. Don’t make us out to be heroes. We just did what needed to be done,” Jeff insisted.

  “Matter of opinion, buddy,” Massey retorted. “I’m grateful, whatever you say. Anyway, Ross, Donnie Dunn wasn’t with Pitts when we hit them. Stevie and I went to the bunker to see if we could find some clothes, and he was there. I killed him, but before he died, he told us you were alive. I’ve had some time to wrap my head around it, but believe me, I understand what you’re going through. Thinking someone is dead, then finding out they aren’t, is mind-boggling.”

  “Ross,” Helen interrupted, “we’re planning to go to my family in Oklahoma. That’s why we’ve got all this stuff out, going through it. Massey got your pack loaded for you and planned to leave it somewhere safe. Did you find the messages he and Stevie left for you in the bunker and the studio?”

  “I found the one in the bunker, but I figured it was a trap. I didn’t even go look in the cookie jar. I came straight here, thinking they’d made Massey write that message to set me up, then killed him, but I’m sure glad I was wrong.”

  “Do you want to go with us?” Stevie asked. “Or now that you’re here, maybe Massey will want to stay, since he’s no longer alone.”

  Massey gave her a long, searching look, then turned to his brother. “I think we should go. Even with two of us, we’ll never be safe. We can’t stand guard day and night with just us.”

  Ross thought for a moment and made his decision. “I made the mistake of looking in the debris that used to be the barn. I can’t go back there.”

  He turned to Helen. “What will we find when we get to this Kanichi place? Where is it, and who is there? I’d like to know more, if you don’t mind.”

  Helen nodded, knowing she would feel the same way. “Kanichi Springs was a very small town before the Collapse, and I imagine it’s smaller now. My son lives there, and my two daughters and their families always planned to come there if things went sour. My first husband’s parents also live near there, and they are Choctaw, too. They know the old ways, and were great friends with the survivalist writer, Ernie Miller.

  “They’re all preppers, so I’m hoping we’ll find all of them alive and thriving. The town is in the Kiamichi Mountains, off the beaten path and pretty secluded. It’s not far from McAlester, Oklahoma. I can show you on a map if you’d like.”

  “Yes, I’d like to see where it is. So, are all of you going there? Won’t that be too many new mouths to feed? How do you know they’ll take us in?”

  “Stevie, would you get the maps out of my pack? Side zipper pocket, sweetie. Ross, Jeff is going to a town not far from there called McCurtain. He has people there. If I know my family, they grew a garden and preserved food all summer. My son and father-in-law are hunters, and everyone likes to fish. There’s a river just at the edge of town.

  “Tanner, my son, raises and trains police dogs, and I’m sure we’ll find everyone at his kennel, which is in the country near Kanichi Springs. He has room there for all of us. If you are willing to work, to help grow food and protect the place, I’m sure they’ll welcome you. I know my family; they’re good people who know it’s important to help others.”

  Stevie came back and spread the atlas pages on the coffee table. “It’s right there,” she said, pointing to a spot on the map.

  “That’s right. The town had fewer than five hundred people before the Collapse. It’s about twenty-five miles from the nearest major highway, here,” Helen explained as she ran her finger down the line that represented the Indian Nation Turnpike. “There’s a lot of wilderness around there.”

  “Well, I’d like to talk to Massey privately, if you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all. It’s a big decision. You’ll be leaving this place, probably for good. I have my doubts that things will ever be the same. Property rights will be less who has the deed, and more who has possession. If you leave, squatters will probably move in, and you’ll lose your home. You two need to work it out for yourselves,” Helen agreed.

  Massey gestured for Ross to follow him outside. They ran to the barn and sat on a couple of bales of hay. Ross took a deep breath, then another, and Massey realized that his brother was about to cry.

  “Hey, I know all this is a lot to take in at once. Talk to me, Ross. Let’s get it out.”

  Tears ran down Ross’s handsome face. After a few minutes, he began to speak. “It’s just the shock of it. I left to go hunting, thinking I’d come back with a deer, and we’d all have a feast. But when I got back, nothing was the same. Our whole lives changed in just that short time. From being part of a big, loving family, I went to thinking I was completely alone in the world, that everyone I loved was dead, and I felt so hopeless. Even when I found your note, I didn’t believe you’d survived, but now, we aren’t alone anymore, unless we choose to be.

  “It’s too much, in too short a time. I can’t process it yet. I know I need to get a handle on things and make some decisions, but I haven’t had time for it to soak in that you are the only family I have left.”

  “I understand exactly how you feel. My reaction when Dunn told me you were alive…well, shock doesn’t begin to cover it. I just think of it this way: our family is gone, and there is nothing we can do to change that. All we can do is to keep living, and try our best to have good, happy lives, because that’s the best way to honor them.

  “Grandma always said to count our blessings. That’s hard to do when you’re grieving, but we only have two choices: we can wallow in it, or we can decide to take our strength from the love they gave us, and keep going.”

  “You’re right, but keep going how? Do we try to stay here and survive, or do we leave all this behind, and go with some people we barely know to a place we’ve never even seen?”

  “I guess that’s one of the first decisions we have to make. Let me tell you something, Ross. Those three people were going through our supplies, picking out things to take with them, but when I showed up, they put everything back, without my saying a word about it. They thought whoever had lived here was gone for good, but as soon as they realized that wasn’t true, they weren’t willing to take a thing.

  “And they helped me put down those animals. They didn’t have a stake in it. They don’t have to live here, and they didn’t lose any family members. They just knew that men like that need killing, for the safety of others, and they risked their lives to do it. In fact, Helen is going to have a big scar to show for her part in it.

  “That told me all I needed to know. There’s so much evil in this world, but here are three people who are willing to
help others. I think a lot of people would have just killed me and taken what they wanted.”

  Ross frowned. “But Massey, our parents worked all their lives to have this place. This is where we grew up. Can you just walk away from it?”

  “Yes. Don’t forget, I saw those men throwing the bodies of our family members into Uncle Gene’s barn, then I saw them set it on fire. You saw the aftermath. Can you stand the thought of living here, knowing that the place all that happened is nearby? I don’t ever want to go back there. I went back with Stevie to get supplies for us, but it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I pretended I was okay with it, but I felt sick the whole time we were there. I can’t think of anything right now that I’d like better than getting away from this place.”

  “Okay, but on one condition. If things don’t work out with the people where we’re going, or if they don’t want us around, we’ll leave. I don’t really want to come back here, but I don’t want to stay where we aren’t welcome.”

  “Agreed, but I bet Helen is right. Ross, she’s the bravest, most generous person I’ve ever met. Don’t forget: the people in Kanichi Springs are her family. She raised three of them. If they’re anything like her, we’ll be blessed to know them. I have a good feeling about this.”

  “Alright. We’ll go, and we’ll make the best of whatever happens. I’m just so thankful that you’re alive, Massey. We may never have our own furniture business, but we’ll be together. Let’s make a pact right now, that no matter what, we’ll stay close.”

  “Brother, I will do everything in my power to make sure we do.”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  January 19-30, the Barnett farm

  Their decision made, Ross and Massey went back to the house to tell the others. Helen hugged both of the young men, assuring them that they wouldn’t regret it. Jeff smiled and nodded, and Stevie looked relieved, but had little to say.

  “We still need to figure out a plan for getting across the river,” Jeff reminded them. “We’ve bounced a lot of ideas around, but to tell the truth, I’m not happy with any of them.”

  “What kinds of ideas?” Ross asked.

  “Oh, we thought about trying to find canoes or a small boat, but figured that any boats that were around are probably long gone. Then we talked about why swimming won’t work and decided maybe we could paddle across with inner tubes, but we haven’t found any paddles, and now, we don’t have enough inner tubes, unless we figure out a way to get a couple back across the river for the last two of us,” Jeff explained.

  “If we had enough rope, we could let the first person across rig a line for the others, but I’m not sure there’s enough rope in Mississippi for that. It’s a wide river,” Helen added.

  Ross looked back and forth, taking in the continuing conversation, then held up a hand. “Whoa, now. I have a suggestion that might make things easier. Massey, you remember that old dude who had the shack about a mile south of Refuge?”

  “Yeah. Wasn’t his name Connors?”

  “Right. Ol’ Man Connors. I think he was more than a little crazy, but he had a boat he kept hidden, and I do mean hidden. It’s not very big, but if it’s still there, it’d sure beat trying to cross the river on a tube.”

  “Key word: hidden. Remember, we looked, and we never did find where he kept it,” Massey retorted.

  “Oh, but I did. That time when I was so mad at you because you took the girl I liked to the prom? Well, that evening, while you were getting all dressed up, I went for a hike. I practiced moving quietly through the woods, and I wound up over by that shack. I watched him while he hid his boat. I didn’t tell you about it because I was mad, then when I got over being mad, I forgot, until just now.”

  “Ross, that was over four years ago. What makes you think it’s still there?” Massey demanded.

  “I don’t know that it is, but here’s my thought: we prepare for whatever is the best alternative plan we can think of and go to the river ready for that. We look for the boat, and if we find it, we shift gears, but if we don’t, we use the other plan.”

  “The problem is,” Jeff explained, “that we don’t really have another viable plan. There’s not a safe way for us to cross the river without using some sort of boat.”

  “Wait. Yes, I think there is another way,” Massey exclaimed. “I don’t know why I haven’t thought of it before, except that I was so caught up in everything that’s happened. Why not just build a raft?”

  Jeff sighed. “We thought of that. In fact, it was the first idea we had, but building a raft makes a lot of noise. We’d have to cut down trees to do it, and an axe is noisy. So is a chainsaw, if we had one, and so are hammers. It just won’t work.”

  “Yes, it will. Didn’t I tell you that Ross and I did a lot of wood projects with our uncle? We have a stack of lumber in the barn. I think we can do it! We have the solar panel for the well, which has an outlet where we plug in the pump. I can use the outlet for the charger for our screw gun, which has two batteries. I’ll charge them both, just in case. The screw gun’s not nearly as loud as hammering. We have plenty of screws, and we have wood. We can shape some oars, or better yet, use poles to push it across. It’ll be safer, faster, and we might even be able to get across in one trip!”

  “We can’t carry a raft to the river from here. It’s too far, so how can we do it? Carry the lumber to the river, and put it together there?” Stevie asked.

  “Exactly!” Jeff was starting to get excited. “We find a spot where we’re close to the river, but still concealed, and we assemble the raft, drag it to the water, and shove off.”

  “How many trips will it take? Carrying the lumber, taking our packs there…it’s going to be a lot of work,” Helen warned.

  “Of course. We never thought it would be easy, did we?” Jeff insisted. “We’ll have to take the lumber first and conceal it where nobody will stumble across it. It might take several trips. We can carry the screws, screw gun, and our packs in one trip.”

  Ross chimed in, “If we get all the lumber there in a day, and hide it really well, the next morning, we can take our other stuff, then spend the rest of the day getting it put together. Maybe, if we finish in time, we can cross that afternoon.”

  “There may be a problem,” Massey warned. “A simple, basic raft won’t hold a lot of weight. There are five of us, plus our supplies.”

  That seemed to put a damper on the enthusiasm that was building. Helen’s shoulders slumped, Ross and Massey stared at the floor, frowning, and Jeff gave a huge sigh.

  “I have an idea,” Stevie offered. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea. I’m not sure I’m thinking straight.”

  There was a long quiet moment, then Helen urged, “Stevie, what’s your idea?”

  ‘Oh, uh…What if we took the inner tubes and the floatie, and tied them to the bottom of the raft somehow? It would add to the buoyancy, wouldn’t it?”

  The others gaped at her in stunned silence. Several moments passed before anyone spoke.

  “Girl, you are a flippin’ genius! Why didn’t we think of that earlier?” Jeff exclaimed.

  “Let’s not get in a big rush, okay?” Stevie pleaded. “I think we should make sure we have everything sorted out and loaded in our packs, get the duffle ready, and do any laundry we have before we go. I volunteer to wash clothes in the bathtub. How about we plan to start moving the wood day after tomorrow?”

  ~~~~

  By the morning of the planned departure, the plan had to be changed yet again. Storms had rolled in with heavy rain and lots of lightning. Any hope of getting to Kanichi Springs in the near future faded, as the temperature dropped into the high thirties, according to the thermometer on the porch.

  “It’s just one thing after another, delay after delay, isn’t it?” Helen asked Jeff as they checked the clothing on a line that Jeff and Massey had strung inside the house. “These clothes will take forever to dry, with so much moisture in the air.”

  “If we have to, we’ll pack them wet
, and dry them later,” he suggested.

  “No, if we do that, they’ll smell sour and maybe even mildew. They have to be dry.”

  “I wonder what the weather is doing in Arkansas. We’re going to be at a higher elevation in the western part of the state. And it looks like we’re going to be delayed even longer before we can cross the river. This seems to be a big storm, and that river will be moving way too fast to risk crossing on a raft.”

  ~~~~

  Jeff’s prediction turned out to be correct. It rained for eight days without a break. On the first clear day, Massey and Ross went to check on how high and fast the water was. They came back shaking their heads.

  “There’s no way we can go until the water goes down. It’s spilling over in low areas, out of its banks a little. We better be praying that it doesn’t rise any more than it already has.”

  “How long do you think it will take?” Stevie asked.

  “There’s no way to know. We don’t know how much rain they got upstream, or whether we’ll get more here before it goes down. That water was moving fast. I threw a big stick into the river, and it was swept downstream and out of sight in less than a minute. I’m afraid we’re stuck here indefinitely,” Massey complained. “And for every day we’re held up, it seems to get colder. What day is it, anyway?”

  Helen got out her little calendar. “It’s January twenty-eighth, I think. Guys, I think we may be in trouble. Mississippi doesn’t get a lot of snow, but Arkansas and Oklahoma get some, and Oklahoma gets ice storms fairly often. We’re deep into winter now, and by the time the river goes down…well, we may be stuck here until spring.”

  “So, we need to decide what to do, again. It seems like every time we make a plan, something happens to mess it up,” Jeff complained.

  “I can tell you one thing for certain, because I learned it the hard way: the water in that river will be cold, because it’s cold up north, and there’s been a lot of rain,” Massey replied. “Even if the air warms up for a week or more, the water will still be cold. It takes a lot longer for water temperature to rise than it does for air to warm up. If we fell into the river, we’d be chilled to the bone, even if we didn’t drown.”