by D A Carey
<< Liz >>
They’d gotten to the cabins around four in the afternoon the day before. It didn’t take them long to get settled in. It wasn’t cold enough to need a fire, but Vince was shivering so they built one. Vince was on the bottom bunk on one of the beds near a window and Junior on a bottom bunk in a corner. Liz pushed another bunk bed close to Vince’s so she could reach over and touch him. It reassured her to feel his rhythmic deep breathing. It couldn’t have been much after six in the evening when she fell asleep, her hand resting on his chest. Perhaps it was just that they were dog tired from the previous days, but she felt safe here, and the Tennessee mountain air soothed her.
Liz woke around five in the morning, having slept solid for about nine hours, and went searching for the outhouse. It was on the side of a hill, large, and well insulated. It was built when the place had served large groups of hikers and horse riders in the good times. She was happy to find that in addition to clean bathrooms, the water ran and there was solar-powered hot water. She used the warm water sparingly to wash her face and resolved to bring some back so they could wash up Vince and Junior.
When leaving the bathroom building, Liz spotted the girl who lived there in the garden gathering vegetables. It was too good an opportunity to pass up. Liz approached the girl and spoke.
“Hi. My name’s Liz Pendleton. I’m with the people who came in yesterday.”
“Yes, ma’am, I know who you are. I know your movies. I was a big fan.”
“Was?” Liz smiled playfully.
“Oh, no, ma’am. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s only that I don’t suspect we’ll be making any movies for a while now. Even if we did, where would we watch them?”
“It’s okay, Brook. That is your name, isn’t it? The man we met yesterday said you were like his wife.”
Brook choked back a sob at that and tried to hide her face.
Liz touched her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. “It’s okay, honey. I’m sorry if I said anything wrong. We’re good people. You can tell me anything.”
“No, I can’t tell you anything.” Brook shook her head adamantly. “He’ll shoot you and me both. He only let me out this early because he thought you all would be asleep and he needed me to tend the horses in the barn further up the valley and gather some vegetables on my way back. Normally he goes back to sleep when I go out to take care of the horses and such. It’s my favorite time of day because I get to be alone.”
“Brook, are you saying you’re not his wife?”
Brook stifled back another sob and shook her head. “Please, ma’am, let it go. I don’t want him to hurt you. We’ve heard what it’s like out there. It’s safe here, and we have food and water. I suppose if I have to pretend to be his wife, that’s not as bad as others have it out there.” By this time, tears were running down her face.
“You’re bruised, honey. Did he do that?” Brook merely nodded. Liz needed time to think and didn’t want Brook to leave, so she asked some more inane questions. “So yesterday he said you came here from Kansas. Did you and he come here together?”
Brook’s face took on a visage of disgust. “No. He’s from California. There were five or six of us working here from all over. When things got crazy, the others left. This place is well known to those of us into peace, love, and harmony with nature. At college, there were also the Antifa protestors and some of the kids went that direction because they wanted to make a difference. Doing violence in the name of good was an acceptable risk for them. A lot of people I know understood their anger and passion; we just don’t want violence for any reason. Charit Creek is a great place to work for a year or two and check out and commune with nature. Chase, the man you met, is different. He was a leader in one of the violent Antifa movements at Stanford. He said he got in trouble with the law and this was a good place to lay low for a while.”
“Why don’t you come to our cabin and stay with us? We can protect you.”
“No, you don’t understand. As much as I hate this, I’m protecting life by going along with what he wants. A day ago, it was only my life. Now it’s yours and your friends.’” Brook walked away.
Liz’s last words, “But at what cost?” were lost on Brook as she rushed back to the cabin and her rapist.
Liz stormed into the cabin, barely able to avoid slamming the screen door behind her, forgetting that many of them were sleeping. The smoldering anger emanating from Liz alerted Christy and Mary, who instantly asked what was going on.
When Liz realized she was scaring the women into thinking they were under attack in some way, she calmed herself then blurted, “That bastard is raping her!”
“What? Who?” Christy asked, confused.
Taking a deep breath, Liz forced herself to calm down. “The man. The hipster Mary met coming in here. He and Brook are merely modern hippies working here. There were more of them before. The others left and didn’t come back when the shit hit the fan. Brook is actually a sweet, if misguided, girl from Kansas. The man is one of the militant Antifa types from California. He was on the run from the law for something, and this was a good place to lay low. Then the shit hit the fan, and he’s been beating, raping, and keeping her here against her will. Not that she’d have anywhere to go if she left.”
“What will we do? Should we leave?” Mary asked.
“We’re done running. Vince and Junior can’t handle any more travel. It’s going to snow soon. It’s that hipster that has to leave. Besides, I couldn’t live with myself if I left Brook here with him.”
“You can’t just go shoot him,” Mary pointed out.
By this time, Aditi and her family were awake. Liz focused on them when she said, “Vince might be able to put that man down in cold blood, although he surprises me sometimes with his compassion. While I can’t shoot him in cold blood, I won’t leave Brook with him, either. I’ll make him leave. I’m going to need Mary to help get him out of the cabin. Then I’ll get between him and Brook. We’ll give him enough supplies to hike out and tell him if he comes back, we’ll shoot. He’s a scumbag and a roach of a survivor. He’ll leave.”
“I’ll help any way I can,” Mary said before Christy could protest.
<< Mary >>
“Hey in the cabin!” Mary yelled.
“What do you want? I told you people to leave me alone!” Chase yelled back.
“Can we borrow some food? Or borrow your .22 to rabbit or squirrel hunt? I know how to shoot.”
“What? I thought you women had food. Winter is coming and you all need to leave now if you can’t feed yourselves.” He stepped into the doorway.
“Can we make a trade? We’re good workers and can help in the garden. I can hunt. We can’t leave. We have injured people,” Mary begged.
Chase became enraged and stepped out of the cabin, grabbing Mary around the throat with one hand while holding the Ruger 10/22 with the other. “Don’t you hear me, bitch? I said get out and take your whole crew with you. I own everything here. There isn’t enough food for the winter. On second thought, you and the movie star can stay and I’ll let Brook go. I’m almost done with her,” Chase said, looking directly at Liz. “If you don’t drop your gun and do what I tell you, I’ll kill your friend here.” He eyed the Glock in Liz’s hand.
Liz began to lower her gun. Seeing the sadistic grin on Chase’s face made her aware of how utterly she’d failed in the leadership role. She’d failed to protect Vince, failed to protect them all. Just then, like a banshee, Christy leaped on Chase’s back, using a fist-sized rock, her teeth, and fingernails.
Chase was so overcome with shock, he dropped the rifle and rolled to the ground. He and Christy rolled over and over until he got on top of her. A savage hammer blow to her temple knocked her unconscious. Then Chase leaped for the rifle. Right as he came up with it, Liz let loose with three rounds from Vince’s Glock .45 center mass. Chase dropped like a bag of wet sand. Liz didn’t throw up or cry. She remembered a time in Chicago over a year ago when she’d frozen
and not fired while bad men did bad things. She wasn’t hard like Vince yet; however, this world was changing her.
<< Vince >>
Vince thought he heard shooting. He struggled to move and promptly passed out. The next he was aware, he was being carried on a stretcher. He opened his eyes and smiled. He would always remember this valley and know it with merely a glance. This had always been a place he came for peace and spiritual healing. Now it would be a place of physical healing. Somehow being here in the valley filled Vince with a calmness that things would work out. His stepfather Dan had loved this valley and passed it on to Vince the way some fathers passed on an old baseball mitt or fishing pole.
Liz smiled at Vince when he put his hand over hers on the pole of the stretcher. He looked confused as to why he was in the stretcher but happy despite everything. Then he drifted off to sleep.
They moved everyone into the main cabin at Charit Creek. It was a long central building and the oldest one of the group. It had rooms at one end, multiple wood stoves, and a long front porch that connected it all, as well as screened back porches. It would be easy to heat and keep everyone close for mutual defense. They could use fewer people to stand guard the way Vince had taught them, and with everyone in the same building, people could get more rest.
About the time they got settled into the main cabin and things were beginning to look up, Vince spiked a fever and began sweating and was virtually unresponsive. Liz was frantic. She’d already thought she lost Vince once and couldn’t do it again.
Aditi was calm. “Fevers and infection are always a concern with wounds like Vince has. While I won’t promise I can save him, I’ll promise to do everything in my power to do so. If the wound has gone septic, I don’t have the drugs here to save him. That’s a life and death concern even in a hospital.”
“Do anything you can. I’ll help. Don’t worry about us. You’re all one of us now, and anything you can do will be appreciated,” Liz responded sincerely.
* * *
Over the next few days, they worked on Vince feverishly. Aditi used the drugs she’d taken from the hospital in Oneida, and Brook suggested some roots and plants. They fed Vince broth and twice took him outside to the cold water of the creek nearby to lower his body temperature.
On the fourth day, he opened his eyes and asked for water. Even the usually stoic Aditi wept. It had been such a near thing.
Soon Vince was talking and making jokes, and it wasn’t long after that he was walking from the bed to the door. Brook found Vince an old walking cane, and he made it his mission to walk a little further each day. The first week he made it to the bridge fifty yards away. The second week he made it to the nearest cabin, and the third week he made it to the farthest cabin. It was a cause for celebration when he made it to the horse barn about a mile away. By this time, Junior was almost fully recovered.
By the time Vince’s recovery allowed him to make it to the barn, it was late enough in the year that snow had already fallen and melted away several times. Days of bitter cold were interspersed with days of sunshine and a hint of warmth. The shorter days took their toll on this valley nestled so deeply between the tall ridges since the sun could only warm the valley a few hours a day. The cold stayed for many hours more and seeped into their bones.
Liz and Christy had taken careful stock of the food and planned rationing. There wasn’t enough to make it through the winter. They didn’t have enough hay for the horses, either, and began discussing whether they may need to kill the horses for food. The women had gotten used to being in charge and forgot Vince was listening.
“Ladies, don’t kill those poor horses. We’ll need them when we leave, and they didn’t do anything wrong to deserve to die.”
“We didn’t do anything wrong either, Vince,” Liz said exasperatedly. “People are going to starve, and the horses don’t have enough hay to make it through the winter.”
“Pshaw,” Vince scoffed. “These woods are more full of food than a whole army could eat. I’m sure we can find enough forage for two horses.”
“You can’t walk far enough to forage, Vince,” Liz said as if speaking to a child.
“Maybe not, but I can walk far enough to teach and direct. I saw scythes in the barn hanging for decoration. We’ll sharpen them with creek stones, find some meadows for grass hay, and put the forage in the barn loft. There are nuts, fruits, and berries all around, small fish in the creek here, and larger fish in the river a few miles away. I’ll show you what we can eat and how to make hooks. Best of all, I’ll show you how to make snares. Knowing how to make a snare is the most important survival skill of all. I once knew a leather worker and his dad in Kentucky who were the best I ever heard of with snares. I asked the old man to teach me, and if I learned one tenth of what he knows, I’ll count myself lucky. With that knowledge and some string or wire, we can trap more rabbits, squirrels, and even deer than we can eat. All the other stuff merely gives variety. We could live here for life if we wanted.”
“Is that what you want, Vince?” Liz asked.
“No. I want to get back to my family as much as you do to yours. However, I’m not up to full speed yet, and it would be dangerous to travel in this weather. What’s the harm in waiting a month or two until the weather turns better and we’re all strong and healthy?”
“It might be three or four months.”
“I doubt four, but if it is we’ll all be snug and happy in cozy cabins.”
Reaching Out
“The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast.”
- Revelation 17:12
<< Louis >>
“Mr. Cavanaugh, we took in a man last night who came in on foot. I’m sure you’ll want to speak to him,” Louis said to Dave at the cabin.
“Really? Send him in.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll send someone to get him. We put him in guest quarters to rest.”
“Good. While we’re waiting, why you don’t brief me on what you know so far?”
Levi came into the room and poured himself two fingers of a top shelf Kentucky bourbon and refreshed Dave’s. Levi liked the taste and bite of Rare Breed, while Dave preferred the smooth taste of Angel’s Envy Rye. Louis, who didn’t drink, had a bottle of water.
“I’m glad you could join.” Louis nodded to Levi. “I was about to brief Dave on our newcomer.”
“I heard about him. I was going to go meet him when I got your message.”
“We’ve sent for him. He should be here in a few minutes. In the meantime, I’ll tell you what I know. It’s a miraculous story. He’s from the Utah location. Not long after things went dark in the west, it appears Robert made a decision to stay and fort up. They’d made good progress and were ahead of schedule in terms of work and supplies thanks to Levi pressing me.”
“Robert’s a good man,” Dave and Levi said practically in unison.
“They’ve protected the supplies and forted up the best they could, and some residents have joined. I heard that Andrew Ballard also came straggling in from Salt Lake City at the last moment before this guy left to come here.”
“Thank God he’s safe,” Dave said. “I was worried about him when the lights went out.”
“Yes, Andrew’s safety takes a load off my mind, too. The guy’s name is Jeremy Harper, and he says Robert and his team expect an influx of both good and bad people over the coming days. That why he dispatched Jeremy to make the bike ride here. Robert’s message is that Andrew wants to stay there and help since there won’t be much need for lawyers for a while. Robert also says he has enough working equipment to continue building if we can get him more supplies. He may need more security, and he’s asking for direction on who and how to accept refugees into the community.”
Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Louis opened it to the great room and introduced Jeremy to Levi and Dave.
Dave made a point to shake Jeremy’s hand and
asked, “Jeremy, would you like a drink?”
“Love one. No mixer, either neat or over ice is fine.”
Dave grinned. The man knew how to drink good bourbon.
“I understand you had a heck of a journey. How long did it take?” Dave asked.
Taking a sip of the bourbon and savoring it, Jeremy responded, “It took about a week and a half. The elevation put a strain on my lungs and made me lightheaded at times, so I stopped quite a bit. I’d been warned to be wary of people, so I hid when other people were around.”
“Did you see any cars?”
“I saw an old Harley motorcycle and a couple of older model farm trucks is all. I came across the mountains through the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservations, then through Vernal and Dinosaur National Park, and later through the Medicine Bow National Forest.”
“Like in the movie Last of the Dogmen,” Louis mused.
“Yeah, it’s rough country. After that, I came through the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest and Breckenridge before hitting the torn-up roads at the edge of the valley here. That’s more or less the entire story.”
“We know most travel in the west is restricted,” Louis said. “Martial law’s been enacted nationwide, and the rules in the west only allow for government vehicles, although we know some preppers, farmers, and criminals have older-model vehicles that work. The military doesn’t have time to chase them down.”
“Do we have enough working trucks and building supplies to get a convoy to Utah?” Dave asked.
“We have the trucks. They’re a precious commodity now, though. We’ll need to get them back. We also have enough building supplies staged here to send to them. We actually have warehouses of the stuff in Colorado Springs we could replenish with, but I wouldn’t advise sending a team in to get those yet. That area is still a chaotic mess. I don’t think hungry people will be looting building supplies from our warehouses, so it should be safe for a while.”
