by Ralph Gibbs
“Starve,” Gerald said. “There’s plenty of food for the taking.”
“Exactly,” Franklin said.
“Oh,” Gerald said. “You’re saying he’s not too bright. I got it.”
“No, he’s not,” Franklin said. “If he’s with people, no way he’s calling the shots. Dammit to hell, I should have tracked him down and killed him.”
“And if you had, where would Paris and Gunilla be right now?” Danica said forcefully. “They’d be sex slaves.”
“Sex slaves,” Tim said. “Jeez, I thought Gerald and Rikki had a rough trip.”
“Would that be that West Virginia group?” Jordan asked. Franklin nodded. “Yeah, I heard about them.”
“And you didn’t tell us,” Rikki said.
“From what I know, they weren’t operating in our area and, given your condition, I didn’t see any reason to needlessly worry you,” Jordan said.
“Anything else you haven’t told us?” Rikki asked.
“Let’s see,” Jordan said. “There’s a sex slave ring operating out of West Virginia, a white supremacist gang in Northern Virginia, another one in eastern Maryland, as well as the one operating in Atlanta, which is also claiming to be the leadership of the United States. I also hear pirates are operating off the coast, but I don’t have confirmation of that, and a warlord operating out of Washington D.C. That one I can confirm.”
“Pirates, a warlord?” Danica asked. Jordan shrugged.
“The pirates are probably an exaggeration,” she said. “Not many people operating on the high seas at the moment. My best guess is that it’s just people looting abandoned commercial ships. As for the warlord, he’s just some former drug dealer with a lot of guns. Sent his people out to loot every house, warehouse and grocery store in the area for food. Figured they could control people better that way. When they came to my neighborhood, I took exception to their wanting my food.”
“Is that why you left?” Danica asked.
“Some of his gang told me I had to hand over my food, and if I wanted to eat, I had to work for ‘The Boss’,” she said using air quotes. “I told them they could tell ‘The Boss’ to go fuck himself. After they left, I left, but not before dumping all my food on the living room floor. I knew they would be back. It was petty, but I can be petty sometimes. Just ask my ex.”
Danica glanced over to see Franklin looking solemn. “You’re too hard on yourself,” Danica said. “You’re not responsible for the ills of the world. People are people. Some are going to be open and kind like Maggie when she’s not wielding a skillet, and others are going to be insane like your Wendell and my Wade. That’s life. People make choices. You made your choice to find your son. It was the right choice.”
“I should go find him now before he kills anyone else,” Franklin said.
“You and I need to get to Colorado first.”
“Why? There’s nothing for me there.”
“Matthew?” Danica said.
“Matthew is better off without me. Paris, Toscana, and you, for that matter, will take better care of him than I ever could.”
“That may be, but he’s still your son,” Danica said starting to get angry. “Take a look around you. Everyone here has lost everyone they loved. You, on the other hand, are one of the luckiest people on the planet. Your son is still alive. Do you know how many people would love to be in your shoes? Everyone. Then there’s Paris.
“Now, I haven’t known Paris that long, but she seems to be the sort of person that the moment she finds out what you did, she’ll drop everything and take off looking for you, and she’ll do it alone if she has to. She feels she owes you that much.”
“Paris doesn’t owe me anything.”
“I dare you to tell Paris that. She’ll come after you. You know she will.” Franklin nodded.
Danica walked up and stood behind him and said, “Let’s finish this. Let’s get to Colorado, and I promise you I’ll come with you as well. The three of us will track that bastard down and bring him to justice.”
“He will not be getting a trial,” Franklin said, flatly.
“I didn’t say anything about a trial,” Danica said. “He’ll get the justice he deserves, pun intended.” Franklin laughed.
“Pun?” Gerald said.
“My last name is Justice,” Danica said.
CHAPTER 53
“If we’re going to Colorado, we need to get started,” Franklin said to Danica over breakfast several days later. “It’ll start snowing soon, and if we don’t leave within the next few days, we’ll probably be stuck here over the winter.” Danica knew this day was coming, but it still felt abrupt when Franklin finally broached the subject. “If you’re still going with me?”
“Pass me some of that oatmeal,” Danica said to Gerald. “It smells good, Andy. What did you put in this?”
Was she going with Franklin? She certainly didn’t want to. The entire idea was too much like going camping. The first time her father talked about her and Bailey going camping, she couldn’t wait. Her father used to talk about the trips he’d taken with his brother and always made it sound exciting. She had spent weeks mapping out the route they would take and discussed the equipment needed with her brother in detail. She went so far as to check out several books from the library on the subject. Bailey had a great time. Her . . . not so much. Once the tent was pitched, they just sat around staring at each other. They went for walks through the woods occasionally, but most of the weekend was made up of fishing, cooking the fish they caught, sitting around a campfire, and then getting up early the next morning and doing it all again. Danica guessed the reason her father enjoyed camping trips with his brother was probably because of all the alcohol they drank. At least she assumed that’s what they did because she couldn’t see how anyone enjoyed camping without alcohol.
Several years later, when her father broached the subject of camping again. As time had blurred memory, she convinced herself her first camping trip wasn’t all that terrible. She figured since she was older, she would enjoy it more. It turned out it was just as dull as the first time. What made it even more miserable was that it rained the entire weekend. Why would anyone go camping in the rain? The greatest memory of her second camping trip was when the rain stopped, and the clouds parted for a few hours late the first evening. The night sky, unobstructed by lights, was breathtaking and instilled in her a love of astronomy and the desire to become an astronaut.
Now Franklin was asking her to leave this nice, comfortable community and effectively go camping in the mountains. And it was a community or would be, given enough time. Randel and Maggie had already announced they were going to stay and Danica believed that Rikki wanted to stay as well. Rikki told everyone the day after they arrived, she wasn’t feeling well and wanted to rest, but Danica suspected the idea of getting on the road was as appealing to Rikki as camping was to her. What were the odds Rikki would find another house with electricity?
“I put in walnuts and raisins,” Andy said as he shoveled a spoonful of oatmeal in his mouth. “Do you have to go, Danica?”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Maggie said. “It’s disgusting. It looks like a cement mixer in there.”
“It’s like Franklin said, if we don’t leave soon, we’ll be stuck here for the winter,” Danica said as she spooned two handfuls of oatmeal onto her plate. And just like that, she committed herself to the trip. In the end, her desire to see Toscana outweighed her abhorrence of camping. Damn hormones. Toscana wasn’t even sexually attracted to her. Or gay!
“Can I stay with you?” Deborah asked suddenly, turning to Maggie and Randel.
“Of course,” Maggie said, putting her hand over Deborah’s. “But why would you want to? Colorado might be better. They would be better capable of dealing with your disability.”
“I don’t want to be a burden to Franklin—”
“Nope, nope,” Franklin said, shaking his head. “Don’t use me as an excuse. You would not be a burden. I’d
carry you over my shoulders to Colorado if you wanted to go and you’d likely only hear me complain twice, maybe three times if you ate a heavy meal.”
“You’re right,” she said after a few moments. “I just want to be someplace where I feel useful,” Deborah said. “I think I’d like to set up a school and teach Andy.”
“Nope, nope,” Andy said, shaking his head. “Don’t use—”
“Shut up, Andy,” Maggie said. He gave her a shocked look that made everyone laugh.
“I’ve been checking out the library upstairs, and there’s a lot of information that will be useful in the coming years I can teach,” Deborah said. “Besides English, science, and math, I’ll teach subjects like gardening, hunting, winter survival, cooking over an open fire, knitting, and sewing. I might even teach them how to churn butter.”
“Those sound like a few classes I might need to attend,” Maggie said. “And I’m not even going to ask how you got upstairs.”
“If we’re making confessions . . .” Rikki said. “If you don’t mind, I would like to stay as well. I haven’t been feeling well, and I think it may mean I’m about to pop. And I don’t want to be caught out on the road when I give birth.”
“What about the others?” Randel asked.
“I haven’t talked to them about it,” Rikki said. “I don’t speak for them.”
Gerald suddenly reached his hand out and covered Rikki’s. “If Rikki’s staying, so am I.” Rikki just as suddenly teared up and placed her other hand on top of his.
“Thank you,” she said. The rest of Rikki’s group also asked to stay, Jordan the lone exception. She said nothing either way.
“Maybe Cindy would like to work as a teacher’s aide?” Deborah asked, looking over at Cindy. In the short two days Rikki’s group had arrived, the two seemed to have become fast friends over their love of fantasy football of all things. Even though the sport was dead, along with the rest of the world, they spent several hours trying to figure out how to revive the concept. They decided they needed a football almanac to start with.
“It looks like we have the beginnings of a community,” Maggie said, smiling.
“If that’s the case we’ll need to do a few things before we leave,” Franklin said.
“Like what?” Randel asked.
“First thing is I want to find a lumber store and build a ramp to the house so Deborah and come and go as she pleases,” Franklin said. “We can also use the lumber to make it so she can wheel herself over the bridges if she ever decides to run away. We also need to conduct a burial.”
“A what?” Jordan said.
“Come on, let me show you what we found,” Franklin said. “Since you’re staying, no sense keeping it from you.”
It was the better part of a week later before Danica and Franklin were ready to leave. The dead were buried, the ramp built and Rikki had given birth to Lane. The night before the two left, the group threw them a going-away party. Franklin insisted the party was a waste of food, but ate as much as he could, not knowing how long it would be before he had another decent meal. He tried calling Paris to let her know they were leaving, but something was wrong with the satellite phone. About an hour into the party, Franklin cornered Jordan.
“You’ve never said if you’re coming or going,” Franklin said.
“They wouldn’t last a month without me,” she said and walked away. Nothing more was said on the matter.
The next morning, Franklin and Danica woke up to see that it had snowed during the night. It was only a light dusting and melted as soon as the sun was high, but both knew it was a harbinger of things to come.
“You promise to take care of Whisper?” Danica asked Andy.
“I will,” he said through tears. Watching Whisper and Andy play together the day before, she knew it was right that the dog stayed behind. Every boy needed a dog.
They walked through the town, and Franklin introduced Danica to Thomas and made their goodbyes. He promised to look in on the group throughout the winter. He would bring them fresh eggs and even a few chickens. He was also excited to hear that Deborah was starting a makeshift school as there were several children in the town that could benefit from some learning.
Taking one of the cars in town, they headed out but less than an hour later ran into their first issue—a rockslide. It wasn’t unexpected. Franklin and Danica made their way on foot the rest of the day. An hour before sunset, they came upon another washed-out bridge. They made camp on the other side.
Early the next morning, before the sun crested the mountains, Danica woke to the sound of something moving outside her tent. Because they were in a remote area and camped in the woods, neither thought it necessary to stand watch. At first, Danica figured it was Franklin heading off to use the bathroom, but when she heard the unmistakable sounds of sniffing, she realized it was an animal. She prayed it wasn’t a bear looking for a last-minute snack before bedding down for the winter.
“Go away,” she said, hoping the sound of her voice would scare the creature. She slapped the side of the tent. “Go on now. Get away!” The creature began pawing at the tent, and she pulled her gun. Then she suddenly realized this couldn’t be a bear. One swipe of a bear’s claw would have sliced open the tent like it had been made of toilet paper.
She unzipped the tent and then screamed as something stuck its head in.
“Whisper,” she said harshly. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Everything all right?” Franklin asked, sticking his head out of his tent.
“Everything’s fine,” she said, hugging Whisper to her. Whisper sprang inside. He jumped into her lap in excitement, mouthed her arm, licked her face and occasionally nibbled and licked her ear. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be with Andy. He’ll be heartbroken. You know that, right?” Whisper didn’t seem to care. He continued to relish his stomach being rubbed.
CHAPTER 54
Danica, Franklin, and Whisper trudged up the lonely mountain road for much of the day and into the night constantly on the lookout for vehicles they could use to warm up and cut their travel time through the mountains. They were optimistic about finding a vehicle when they broke camp that morning, but by mid-afternoon, they’d all but given up. To make matters worse, it started to snow. It began as a light dusting but steadily grew worse the higher they climbed until eventually it was a blizzard. While Franklin and Danica greeted the snow with disdain, Whisper was excited, jumping around and snapping at snowflakes as if they were bees.
“What’s that?” Danica said, pointing to something in the distance, teeth chattering. It was the first words spoken by either of them in hours.
“I think we might have gotten lucky. Though at this point, I’m not sure we should even bother. Driving in the mountains during a blizzard might end up being more trouble than it’s worth.”
“We can at least get inside and warm up. This fucking wind is digging into my skin and eating at my bones.”
Franklin climbed into the driver’s seat and found the keys to the brown Ford Focus on the floorboard, but when he tried to start the car it failed to turn over. “Battery’s dead,” he said.
“Damn, I was hoping to warm up.”
“It’s still warmer inside the car than outside. We might as well set up camp.”
“Here, in the open?”
“I doubt anyone is foolish enough to be out in this.”
“Except us, Danica said, almost laughing, but finding it too cold to put in the effort.
“Yeah, except us. Even if there is someone up here, they’d be beyond stupid to be out at night in this.”
“You want to set up the tents or sleep in the car?” Franklin walked behind the car and brushed the snow off the back window.
“I think I can fit in the back seat,” he said. “Think you’ll be okay in the front?”
“I’ll make myself fit.”
To stay comfortable, they put their packs in the trunk, taking out only two pouches of MREs and
their sleeping bag. They prepared their meal in the snow and then jumped inside to eat.
“What did you get?” Danica asked, opening her pouch and looking inside. “Looks like I got spaghetti with meat sauce, a slice of wheat bread, a raisin cookie, cracker and . . . hot damn a pop tart.”
“I’ll give you my peaches for the pop tart,” he said, and then suddenly laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“This reminds me of my days in the military. Every meal, guys would walk around trying to wheel and deal their food pouches. Good to know that even at the end of the world, some things don’t change. Pop tarts and peaches were everyone’s favorite. You could sometimes score an entire second meal for a pouch of peaches.”
Danica examined the pop tart. “It’s hard to believe in a few years, pop tarts might be extinct.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “MREs are good for God knows how long. As long as there are MREs, there’ll be pop tarts. Twinkies though. Those things are history—and good riddance.”
“What do you have against Twinkies?” she said as she gave her pop tart to Whisper. Franklin just shook his head in disbelief. A pop tart would have gone great with his coffee.
Whisper had thrown a wrench in their scheduling. Franklin read once that in early American history, it had taken explorers, and the settlers that followed, nearly a month to cross the Appalachian Mountains. Unlike the early American pioneers, neither he nor Danica could live off the land, especially in the winter. Carrying a month’s worth of food for two people would be too much to carry, even with proper backpacks. So, instead, the idea was to carry about a week’s supply and stock up in towns they passed. Now though, they would need to scavenge more often, which would slow them down. On the bright side, nearly everyone in the mountains owned a dog, so dog food would be plentiful. Franklin reached over the seat and scratched Whisper behind the ears.
The pair woke up early the next morning to find themselves stuck in the car. Danica tried to look out the window, but it was frozen over. Kicking at the car door, she pried it open a few inches at first and then finally enough to crawl out.
