by Brian Quest
“Let’s hope it stays that way!” Andrew stayed in his position, watching carefully. The two riders took a sharp turn to the north and away from the barn. “Thank God! We need to camouflage this place better.”
“Well, let’s give it a few more minutes, and make sure they really are gone, and then we can get to work.”
When they felt it was safe, Andrew and Thomas got Stewart and Keith and together they gathered branches to attach to the outside of the barn. It already was made with logs, so with the addition of the foliage, it appeared more as a mess of bushes and small trees, which helped. They worked well past dinnertime, and when they came inside, there were plates ready for each of them at the table. Daniel was playing a game of Go Fish with Beth and Amy, trying to keep their minds off of having to rush back inside earlier in the day.
While they ate, Walter Johnson, aka Arizona, popped on the radio to check in. He said they weren’t doing well and they were considering moving north. Andrew told him about their close call earlier that day, and Walter told them that people seemed to be on the move in Arizona also. He said something about hearing that the Midwest was rebuilding. “I don’t know how they are going to start over, but I’ve seen a lot of people passing through here on their way out to Chicago.”
“Well, my friend, until I have proof that things are getting better somewhere, I am staying out West,” Andrew responded.
“Yeah, if anything we will just head north to higher country. It is just too darned hot here with no A/C!”
“I hear that! Take care of you and yours and we’ll talk again soon. Montana, out.”
“Dad? Do you think they really are rebuilding in Chicago?” Debbie asked.
“I don’t really know, but from now on we are going to keep track of how many people we see pass through here.” Andrew turned and looked to Stewart and Keith, “I think it’s time to let the cattle go. We don’t want someone coming and taking the whole herd with them. They can be led to this area and then wander. We can keep a milker in the barn, but the rest we will have to hunt when we need to do so.”
“Yes, sir. We will get right on that…first thing in the morning.”
“Great.”
Everyone had something to think about that night. Nobody really said it, but they all were slightly excited at the prospect of Chicago rebuilding life and hoped it was true. Thomas was the biggest skeptic. He spent most of the night internally laughing at the people who blindly would travel across the country in the hope of finding normalcy. He believed life would continue on in the way that it had for the past two years…like they were in the Dark Ages. He wondered why people would believe strangers and pick up and move their whole lives. Just before falling asleep, Thomas settled on the thought that maybe people were moving in the hope of a better life because it was better than sitting still and not doing a thing to improve what they had. He was happy where he was and didn’t want to go anywhere.
With the cattle free roaming, it was more difficult to get beef, but while on hunting trips, Andrew and Thomas found themselves seeing more and more people making the journey east. At one point they even came face to face with a family who had fled from Washington state. They had traveled a long time, and were exhausted. Not wanting them to know where the barn and shelter were, Andrew rode off and left Thomas with the family. He returned a short time later with a tent and some food. He couldn’t stand to see children hungry. They made camp, and then the next morning, when Andrew went back to see them, they were gone, the tent neatly rolled up and put back into the bag it came in.
“Wow, that was fast,” he said out loud, but to himself. He grabbed the bag and hurried back to the shelter, not wanting to be seen. He couldn’t believe how many people were following the same path through the woods. It was almost as if it had become an interstate. He became even more curious as to what the highway just south of the ranch looked like. He hadn’t seen it since cars had traveled the long miles freely.
Back at the shelter, Andrew announced he wanted to take a short trip to the interstate to see how many people were traveling down the once busy road. The look on Thomas’ face was priceless. “You want to do what?”
“I was thinking, the way people are following the trail in the woods, there has to be even more people following the expressway. I’m curious and actually would like to talk to more people to see why they are making a move now.”
“Well, I think you’re crazy, but if you insist on going, then I’m coming with you.”
“Me too,” Stewart said.
“Well, I want to go then,” Keith chimed in.
Andrew simply stated, “Thomas and Stewart, you’re with me. Keith and Daniel, I need you to stay here with the girls and Emma. We will head out tomorrow.”
With that, the conversation was over. They went on about their day in much the same way they did any other day. They just made it a point to pay more attention to their surroundings. The men who were going on their trip to the interstate got their things ready, and at first light they began their journey.
Chapter Nine
They couldn’t believe their eyes when they came to the clearing that exposed them to the major highway. Aside from the stalled out cars that littered the pavement, they saw what seemed to be at least 100 people scattered about, walking east, toward Chicago. They all looked dirty and tired and some looked as if they hadn’t eaten in days. Andrew could see families with children small enough to carry in backpacks, and some of the walkers were elderly and in wheelchairs. He couldn’t stop looking.
“This is crazy! They all have been sucked into the notion that if they just keep walking they will make it to Chicago! That is so far away that most of these people likely will die before they even get halfway there!” Thomas sounded more annoyed then amazed.
“I just can’t believe how many people are walking! I would have expected to see more horses!”
“Well, people from the city don’t always own horses, Andrew. Look, there’s a whole group on bicycles.” Thomas pointed up the road a bit and Andrew finally saw it; there had to be twenty bike riders headed in their direction.
As the bicyclists passed by, they waved and smiled, almost as if it were just any ordinary day. Andrew began wondering if he had missed something. Did the rest of the world know something he didn’t? Why were so many people going east? Could they all really be heading to Chicago? Those all were questions that only would be answered if he went down to the highway and asked.
“You wanna go check it out? Talk to some people?” Andrew asked Thomas and Stewart.
Stewart was willing, so Thomas pretty much was outvoted. He decided that while the other two talked to people, he would make sure nobody did anything stupid. He was armed, as were many of the people on the road, so things possibly could get really messy really fast. They went down the small embankment and soon were on the shoulder of the highway. Andrew went toward a family with small children banking on the fact that they would be a little more mild-mannered. He was right.
The family was all too happy to fill him in on what they knew. “Well,” the father said, “we were told by our neighbor that someone had come in from the Midwest riding some modified four-wheeler. He said he was sent to look for more people and that they had begun the process of bringing Chicago back to life. I didn’t believe him at first, but then a few days later, half the people from town were filing out of there like their butts were on fire.”
“And you all are heading to Chicago?”
“No, no. We actually are heading east and then dropping south. While we were traveling, we ran into another somebody who told us that if we could get to West Virginia we could get some mining done. With coal you can make power, and we all know what can be done with power, right?”
It was the first time Andrew even had considered that technology had come about starting with nothing but mining and water power and it was possible that it could happen again. Why had he not thought about it? Was he just too set in his ways to consider that wh
at changed once could change again?
“Can you folks wait right here while I talk to my buddies for a minute?”
“Sure thing, we won’t go anywhere.”
Andrew huddled with Thomas and Stewart and then walked back over to the family. “We’d like to invite you to stay with us for the night. Maybe get some warm food in your bellies and give you a comfortable place to sleep? We’d really like to hear more about what is going on.”
“Oh, that is too kind. We don’t expect any help.”
“Really, sir, we’d appreciate it. We have plenty and really would like to learn how things are happening to change the current situation. I have four daughters who would be more than happy to have some new kids around for a night. We actually have a TV and movies we watch on battery power.”
As soon as the mother heard that, she smiled and nodded her head at her husband. “Okay, then. Lead the way!” The man sounded excited and ushered his family up the embankment. They were used to walking by that point, so following the horses didn’t bother them much; especially knowing they would be getting food and shelter. It took them all a little while, but finally they reached the shelter. Andrew led them down under ground and introduced the family to his girls, Emma, Daniel and Keith.
“These are my daughters, Debbie, Connie, Beth and Amy. This here is Emma and her grandson Daniel. Over here you have Keith and the two you already met are Stewart and Thomas. My name is Andrew.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Mark, and this is my wife, Tara, and our three kids, Lisa, Jenny and Steven.”
After a nice warm meal, the girls took the young guests into the living room container to watch Disney movies while the adults stayed in the kitchen and talked at the table. “So, how long have you been on the move?” Andrew asked the couple.
Mark replied, “About two months now.”
“Wow, that’s a long time.”
The couple went on to tell them about the stories they had heard from people they used to live near and people they had run into since leaving their home. They talked about the people who were moving to Chicago and how they had heard it would be near impossible to get things going again there because they lacked certain resources that were abundant in the mountains of the Southeast.
Everything they talked about made so much sense to Andrew, and for the first time in his life, he actually was considering moving away from the Smith Ranch. He had grown up there, and then started his own family there, but with the house and outbuildings gone, and knowing that living in a shelter forever just wasn’t realistic, he decided to think about things overnight and have a family meeting in the morning over breakfast.
* * *
After a long discussion with the family, Emma and Daniel included, they decided they would set out with their new friends and hope to find themselves one day where all of the new life was being formed. The more people who passed by their ranch and their shelter, the more likely it was that something bad would happen. With as much packed onto the sleds as possible, allowing the horses to pull them without too much strain, they headed toward the interstate. They stayed off the actual road, but followed alongside it for as long as they could.
Each night they stopped and set up camp in as hidden a spot as possible, sometimes even sleeping in vehicles left abandoned on the road. Even though the journey was long and very hard, the group of fifteen kept on, never stopping for more than a couple of days. They were exhausted, but they knew that when they got to where they were going, a new life would be waiting for them.
They came in contact with many, many people, all of whom were of no threat but who were just trying to get east…no matter how long it took. They grew stronger as a group, and closer as fellow human beings. They struggled and experienced setbacks that in a modern, technologically advanced time, they shouldn’t have, but because of the EMP, some things were just impossible to avoid.
Emma grew ill as they traveled, and eventually, she no longer could hold on. The group stayed in that spot for three days, to give her a proper burial and to recover from the shock of losing another one of their own. Debbie stuck to Daniel’s side as he mourned the loss of his grandmother, and helped him through it the best that she knew how.
After months of traveling, they finally reached their destination. It didn’t seem possible to them at first, but once they got to where they were going, things seemed to be exactly as they had been told. People were mining for coal, and small towns that had been abandoned after the EMP soon were filled with people from all over the country. It was odd to Debbie and her sisters at first because they never had lived anywhere but the ranch. They had been to town, but never had lived in town, so to be surrounded by so many people all of the time was something they had to get used to. There were undesirables, just like back in Montana, but at least they didn’t burn down buildings and kill others, they were just rowdy and usually drunk.
Once they were completely settled in a large, old house in the mountains, Daniel asked Debbie to marry him, with Andrew’s blessing, and a neighbor found a pastor who was more than happy to perform the ceremony. They all noticed that with some sorrow there always came some happiness, just like with every rain, there came the sun.
Andrew set up his solar panels at the new place, and in a short time he was back on the radio, hoping to hear from Walter. Surprisingly, it only took a couple of days and they were back to talking as if they had known each other their whole lives.
“We’re in West Virginia. Where did you settle?” Andrew asked Walter.
“It’s funny you should ask. We made it to Chicago and found that most people there were struggling so badly that the violence was even worse than in Arizona. Within weeks of making a home there, we were back on the move.”
“So, where are you now?”
“West Virginia.”
“No! Where?”
“Lewisburg.”
“You won’t believe this, no matter how convincing I sound, but that is where we are. How have we not run into each other?”
The men talked for a short time longer and made plans to meet. Andrew explained exactly where they lived and Walter told him they would come to see them in two days. Andrew knew the girls would be curious and excited. They had mentioned many times while they traveled across the country about how they wondered what had happened to the Johnsons.
“Hey girls, guess what?” Andrew said excitedly when he went up to the living room.
“What?” Amy asked.
“Guess who I just talked to?”
“I don’t know, Dad, who?” Connie asked.
“Walter!”
“Yay! Are they okay?”
“They are…and they’re coming for a visit in two days! They live here…on the other side of town!”
Debbie looked up from her book and said, “I wonder how many times we passed them on the street and didn’t know it?”
They had begun living a slightly normal life, where they were allowed to walk to town and talk to people and make friends. It was nice, and it reminded all of them how much they had been missing being stuck down in the shelter on the outskirts of the ranch for so long. With the added friends in their lives, things were looking up, and the Johnsons became a huge part of the Smith family. Keith and Stewart even found girlfriends…twin sisters that were smart, beautiful and just as crazy as they were. Thomas found a great spot for a recliner that he had bartered for in town, and a new love affair between man and recliner started.
Even Andrew found someone with whom he could share his time. Melanie was a sweet woman who taught the young children in town. She was well liked and respected by the whole community and Andrew could see himself with her for the long term. He wasn’t ready to propose, but they spent more time together than apart. The family grew with the birth of Andrew’s first granddaughter, Heather. Daniel and Debbie were wonderful parents, and hoped someday to have even more children.
It took years for the southeast to recover, and in some wa
ys it never did, but what they lacked in technology, they made up for with their willingness to work hard to get what they needed. Debbie looked back in her mind and remembered when the Ingalls family left the country to go to the city in Little House on the Prairie, and in some ways, she thought of her family as doing the same thing.
Those who stuck together thrived, and those who ventured out on their own…well, they lived lonely. It wasn’t a time to be independent, and long gone were the days of keeping your nose buried in your computer or phone. Instead, the people of the Apocalypse learned to live together, work together, survive together and thrive together. For some it wasn’t worth the effort and they soon met their own demise. It was the strong-hearted and strong-willed who brought the world back, one city at a time.
* * *
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