by C. A. Henry
Jeff slapped him on the back. “I knew there was a reason we let you tag along.”
~~~~
Five hours later, they were pushing the raft down to the water. The men had used rope to lash the inner tubes to the underside of the raft, and Jeff chuckled at the way he’d attached the unicorn floatie. It was under one corner, with the head and neck sticking out from under the wood. It was a comical sight, and he couldn’t wait for Stevie to see it.
Helen and Stevie were at the edge of the trees, Helen to the north and Stevie to the south of the raft-building operation. They stood near the curves of the river, watching for approaching strangers.
Finally, they heard Massey’s loud whistle, and looked back to see him waving at them.
As soon as she was close enough to see the unicorn, Stevie began to giggle. Helen laughed so hard, she had tears running down her cheeks.
“That’s freakin’ awesome!” Stevie threw her head back and did a happy dance on the muddy bank. “Whose idea was that?”
“Mine,” Jeff laughed, poking her in the ribs with his finger. “Just like it was yours for me to ride that thing across the river, back when we thought we’d float across on the tubes and that toy thing. I knew as soon as I saw it that your idea was to have me be the one to ride it.”
“I confess, I did get a kick out of picturing you on it. I mean, pink is definitely your color! But really, it has a bottom, and I was just thinking of your safety,” Stevie teased.
The laughter eventually died down, and Massey suggested that maybe they should get the crossing over with. He and Ross held the raft at the edge of the water while the others got on and sat down, piling the packs in the center. Then the brothers got on, grabbed up their poles and began pushing them across the river. Jeff held the rudder, which worked better than they’d thought it would.
At one point, they had to use the oars they’d made, then the water got shallower again. They’d chosen a place to cross just upstream from the island, so that if they got in trouble, they could have the island to steer toward instead of the open river. This proved to be unnecessary, though, as the crossing went off without any trouble at all.
They reached the other bank and Helen jumped off. Stevie handed her the packs one at a time, and Helen piled them on dry ground, while Ross and Massey held the raft in place with the poles by pushing them into the river bottom on the downstream side. Jeff helped with the last of the packs, then held onto the raft while Massey and Ross threw the poles like javelins onto the bank, and jumped off.
They all grabbed the edge of the raft and dragged it up onto the bank, then lifted it to higher ground, placing the poles and paddles on it.
“Maybe someone will come along and need a way across the river, or even downstream. I hope this helps someone who really needs it, and not someone who has bad intentions,” Helen mused.
“Me, too,” Jeff commented. “But that’s beyond our control, and not our concern anymore.”
“True,” Stevie added, “but we should all pray our thanks to God for bringing us safely across. I prayed a lot before we got on the raft, and He kept us safe, so I’m grateful. Isn’t it ironic that the thing we all worried about the most has been the thing that went the smoothest?”
“I prayed, too, and I know Ross did. You’re right, Stevie. If we’d tried to cross last fall like we talked about, it would have been a terrible mistake. I think He sent the rain to keep us from trying. He guides us, even when we don’t realize it.”
The five friends joined hands and Ross led them in thanking God for His protection and asking for safe travels.
“Now, I think we’d better get off this open spot and into the woods.” Massey rubbed his jaw. “I wonder why we haven’t seen any other people.”
Jeff shrugged. “I think maybe some of the people who were out last fall didn’t make it through the winter. The ones who did find shelter and food are probably staying put until the food runs out. I’d bet the death toll is pretty high.”
“I’m afraid Jeff is right,” Helen agreed. “All those people wandering around, searching for supplies and shelter…well, I bet most of them died. If they got desperate enough, they may have killed others to take what they had. I’m so thankful we had a relatively uneventful winter.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
April 16-18, Arkansas
After about thirty minutes of walking, they found a place where they could stop and have a light lunch of jerky and dried fruit. They were quieter now, knowing that their safety depended on stealth. None of them was familiar with the areas they’d be traveling through. Massey and Ross had been on family trips through the state, but had always stayed on major highways until they got to the mountains. They had to rely on the Arkansas map from the atlas to avoid population centers.
“Do you think it’s safe to be hiking in the daylight?” Stevie asked quietly.
“Well, we haven’t seen anyone since we left the farm,” Jeff answered, his voice also low. “I’m sure that won’t last, though. Maybe we need to be careful coming over hills, so we don’t walk up on anyone, and everyone needs to stay aware at all times.”
“Let’s try daytime and see how it goes. We all need to practice speaking softly and not making any noise if we can help it. Sound seems to carry a long way now that there’s no noise from cars and air conditioners and such.” Massey held up a finger. “Listen.”
They all became completely still and used their ears and eyes. Birds, rustling in the leaves, a breeze, a squirrel in a tree several yards away…and an airplane.
Five pairs of eyes turned upward in disbelief. They hadn’t seen a plane in almost a year.
“What the….” Jeff muttered. “That’s a military plane, I think. It’s too far away to tell exactly what kind, but wow. That’s kinda freaky.”
“The government evidently still has fuel. I’m glad they were so high and going so fast. I’d hate to have a low and slow flyover. Somebody might spot us,” Ross grumbled. “Uncle Gene heard on his radio that there are government camps set up and they made people go there and work, growing food.”
Helen, Jeff, and Stevie stared at Ross, anger and amazement fighting for control of their expressions.
Jeff leaned toward Ross, eyes flashing. “Your uncle had a radio, and you didn’t think to mention it to us?”
Ross looked from one to the other, shocked at their response. “Well, yeah, but the Pitts gang destroyed it. There’s no way we could have used it.”
“So, what did he hear? Who did he talk to? We haven’t had any news at all in months, so what’s going on in the world?” Helen demanded.
“Well, he didn’t talk. He just listened. Not long after the Collapse, the government started something called NERC, the National Emergency Recovery Corps. They forced young people to work for them. First, they trained them, then they took them to other states as ‘agents’ at the camps. The president and most of the people in Congress are supposedly dead, but one of the representatives was chosen to be in charge. Of course, we weren’t sure whether to believe that or not.
“Other than that, just local stuff from wherever the guys on the radios were: violence in all the big cities, lots of homeless people migrating to wherever, and NERC agents in big trucks, trying to round them up. Some cities have been taken over by gangs. We heard that in Detroit and Chicago, and a few other of the biggest cities, burning and looting was rampant. Reportedly, New York looks like a bomb hit it, and there’re no hospitals open anymore, anywhere. That pretty well sums up what we heard,” Ross explained. “I’m sorry, but the radio was out of commission before we met you.”
Helen sighed. “No, we’re sorry. We jumped to a conclusion without giving you a chance to explain. I’m sorry.”
“Well, it’s time to move on, isn’t it? How about we go another two or three hours and start looking for a place to make camp? It’s been a couple of long days for all of us, and an early night sounds good to me,” Massey suggested.
“I think that�
��s a good idea, Massey,” Jeff agreed, then turned to Ross, “Sorry, buddy. We were out of line.”
“No problem. I understand.”
Stevie patted Ross’s arm and nodded her apology, and they began shrugging into the straps on their packs.
~~~~
“I thought Arkansas was hilly all over, so where are the mountains? Aren’t the Ozarks in this state? There’s a lot more flat land than I pictured,” Stevie murmured.
“And a lot more open fields. At least it’s dry right now. Can you imagine slogging across all this farmland if it was muddy?” Jeff replied.
Massey smirked. “I don’t even want to think about that. We won’t really be getting into the Ozarks, Stevie. From what Helen showed us on the map, we’ll be in the Ouachitas, which are the southern end of the Ozarks. The part of the state we’re in now is called the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. It’s a fertile region of lowland farms.”
“How do you know all that?” Stevie demanded.
“Remember that where I spent most of my life isn’t that far from here, and that my family liked to take camping trips. We drove across this state several times on the way to places we wanted to see. I usually researched the places we planned to visit, so I’d know what to expect.”
“Oh. What else did you learn about it?” Stevie asked.
“That we need to watch out for pigmy rattlesnakes,” Massey answered.
“Not funny. Are you serious?”
“Completely. Watch where you step, my friends. A bite from a rattler is no laughing matter.”
~~~~
They’d walked across barren field after barren field, sighting an occasional homestead, crossing a few roads, streams, and one bayou. They made decent time considering the heavy packs they carried, but they still felt exposed. Finding secluded places to camp at night had proved to be a challenge.
The small community of Montrose had looked deserted from a distance, but they decided not to take any chances, and bypassed it on the south side, handrailing Highway 82. When that highway took a turn to the southwest, they left it, and entered a wooded area bordered by Highway 151, which they eventually crossed, angling northwest.
“Has anyone besides me noticed that the trees along here are planted in straight rows? I don’t think this is a natural forest. The Lord doesn’t plant trees in rows,” Massey noted.
“I think it might be a tree farm, or an area where the trees have been cut for lumber and new trees planted. Did you notice that most of the trees are about the same size? God doesn’t start all His trees at the same time, either,” Jeff added.
Helen was concerned about how slow their progress was, but she didn’t mention it. She and Jeff were in more of a hurry than the others, simply because they had family waiting at the end of the journey. Helen knew that an average adult could walk about two miles an hour, but that wasn’t happening. Frequent breaks and a slower pace meant it was going to take a long time to walk across Arkansas.
Days blurred together, and only Helen’s calendar gave them any idea of time passing. They saw plenty of roads, but unless there was a crossroads, it didn’t help them pinpoint their location. So far, they hadn’t seen an intersection with road signs. They skirted some unnamed clusters of houses occasionally, but no major towns they could use as landmarks.
~~~~
Massey, Stevie, and Helen waited at the bottom of a small rise, watching Jeff and Ross lower themselves to a prone position and crawl forward to peer over the top. They’d heard voices and were leery of running into other humans.
Ross raised a small pair of binoculars to his eyes, and Jeff stared in surprise. “Where’d those come from?” he whispered.
“Oh, I’ve had them for years. They stay in one of the pockets of my pack. When I was gathering what I needed, I decided these were definitely making the cut,” Ross answered without taking his attention from the view.
“Well, what do you see?”
Scanning from left to right, Ross began a commentary. “There’s a small barn and a couple of other outbuildings, and the house. I see two women hanging clothes on a line, a man tilling a garden with an old-timey tiller, you know, the kind you push. I haven’t seen one of those since my grandpa died. Two other guys are working on a tractor. There’s a fuel tank on a stand beside the barn, and two kids sitting at a picnic table. It looks like they might be doing schoolwork. An older pickup and an SUV. That’s it.”
“May I use the binoculars?”
“Sure,” Ross answered, and handed them over.
Jeff scanned the area from right to left and back. “Well, when you look over a place, you need to look outside the immediate area. You overlooked the guy with a rifle in the trees beyond the barn, the gal with a rifle on the rise to the north, and the other guy, also with a rifle, to our left, and looking this way. Don’t even think about moving.”
Jeff watched as the man stared toward their position, took a few steps closer, then stared some more. Neither Ross nor Jeff even took a deep breath. Finally, the man shrugged and turned away. Jeff patted Ross’s arm, and they slithered back, then rose and ran down the hill.
“We gotta go north, way out and around that place,” Jeff told his companions. “It’s a farm, and it’s too crowded already. I saw three armed guards patrolling the perimeter, and one thought he saw us, but we froze, and he decided he was mistaken. C’mon, let’s get gone, before he decides maybe he was right the first time.”
Moving swiftly and as quietly as they could, the group ducked back into the trees before turning north and giving the farm a wide berth. They continued through the little valley for over a mile, then started up the next small hill.
Massey accompanied Jeff this time, and Ross stayed with the women. Jeff crawled over the top of the rise with Massey. He scowled when he saw Massey pull a pair of binoculars out of his pack.
“You Barnett boys are full of surprises, aren’t you? Ross has a pair very similar to those. I wish I had a pair,” Jeff mumbled.
“If we’d had another pair, we’d have brought them. These were all we had, but I’m sure glad I remembered mine. Ross keeps his in his pack, but I kept mine with my hunting gear, in the garage. Now, let’s see what we have here.”
After a few minutes of scouring the terrain ahead, Massey handed the binoculars to Jeff and Jeff checked it out, too.
“You see anything?” Massey asked.
“Nope. I think we’re clear. But let’s spread out and not expose the whole group at one time. How about I go first, and once I get across the clearing to the trees on the other side, someone else can move out?”
Massey turned to wave the others forward. “Go. I’ll cover you.”
Jeff stood, then darted from tree to tree until he ran out of trees and had to make a mad dash across a small clearing. He reached the trees on the other side without a problem and waved at Massey to send the next person.
When all five had made it across, Massey pointed to the northwest. “That looks like the most level way to go. We need to start watching for a place to camp for the night.”
“We need the men in this group to accept the women as equal partners, and that we’re perfectly capable of scouting ahead, protecting the team, and carrying our share of the load,” Helen stated flatly. “Ever since we left the farm, you three have been acting like you have two helpless, dainty ladies to escort and defend. I’ve got news for you. We crossed part of Alabama and all of Mississippi without male assistance, and you need to show a little respect for that.”
“Yeah,” Stevie chimed in. “We agreed on my idea of bringing extra food in another bag, and that we’d take turns carrying it, but you guys aren’t letting us do our share of the carrying. In fact, I haven’t had anything extra to carry, and neither has Helen, while the three of you have had an extra bag or a tent to carry every day.”
“We need to be a team, and you need to let us be full- fledged members, not just a couple of cheerleaders.” Helen added. “Stevie has killed men to save my life on two
separate occasions, once with a rock. I’ve killed, too, in self- defense and to protect others. We’re not weaklings, and we’re not going all the way to Oklahoma being treated like we are.”
The three men seemed to blink several times in unison, and a stunned silence took hold of them. At last, Jeff broke the spell.
“You’re absolutely right. I have the most reason to know how capable you are. If it wasn’t for you two, I’d be dead. I saw you in action at the Pitts farm, and I apologize for forgetting you are both armed and very dangerous.”
Ross and Massey nodded.
“It’s a habit,” Massey admitted. “We were raised to be gentlemen, and with a mom, a grandma, and a little sister, we kinda got into a routine of looking after the ladies, even when they were able to look after themselves. I guess we forgot for a while that things have changed. We’ll still probably slip up occasionally, but I promise we’ll do our best to include both of you from now on.”
“Now that we’ve settled that,” Helen grinned and repeated Massey’s recent words, “we need to start watching for a place to camp for the night.”
Less than an hour later, they found it. Massey showed Stevie how to set up the tent, while Ross gathered small sticks for a fire. Jeff stood watch, and Helen helped Jeff select food items for their meal.
Chapter Twenty-eight
April 18, Arkansas
“This tent is pretty nice,” Stevie commented as she unrolled her blanket. It’ll keep us dry and out of the wind. How should we divide up the guard duties?”
“We need to talk about that,” Massey suggested. “With five of us, if we count on eight hours a night, each of us would only stand guard an hour and forty minutes. If we set a guard as soon as we stop for the night, which we should, and keep it up until we leave the next morning, say eleven hours, we’d each stand guard for two hours and eleven minutes.”