A New Home (Chasing Destiny)

by Abigail Denver

  “I hate you!”

  “Okay. I’m still not going to tell you, though.” She took her sister’s hand, pulling her toward the center of what would be their town. “The community center will go here.” She jumped up and down. “I’m standing in the middle of the library.”

  “Like I care!” Emily protested. She pulled her hand away.

  Their golden retriever, Daisy, ran around at their feet barking happily. She’d lived in the city her whole life, and was excited to be out in the country this way. “Why can’t you be happy like Daisy?”

  Emily folded her arms across her chest. “Maybe because I’m not a stupid dog?”

  Hannah threw her hands up in disgust and walked back to where her parents were setting up camp. “It’s just like I envisioned.”

  Leah smiled. “Well, that’s good at least. Maybe.” They’d been pushing so hard all summer to get to this point. Now they were here, Leah wanted to collapse in a heap on the ground and cry her eyes out. She’d seen her little girl grow up so much with this experience. She wanted to hug her and tell her everything would be fine and she could stop worrying about the future. She couldn’t do that, though. Her baby had to be strong for an entire community of people.

  They were starting with two hundred people, including the adults. Hannah had personally convinced every family to come, and they would all look to her for guidance. She wasn’t even a teenager yet, and already she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Soon she wouldn’t even have a mother there to guide her.

  Quickly Leah brushed a tear from her eye, hoping no one saw it. “Let’s get the fire built up and we’ll have ‘smores tonight. What’s the point of camping out if we can’t have a campfire every night?”

  No one mentioned the fact they weren’t camping for fun. They simply went along with it. In the days and years to follow, there’d be so much work there may not be time for family evenings around a campfire. They’d all take the time together while it was still available.

  *****

  The following morning, the others started to arrive. By noon, there were ten trailers starting to form a circle. To begin with, they’d park in a huge circle with the common areas between them. As each family arrived, Hannah greeted each person with a smile. “Thank you for coming,” she said over and over.

  It was three in the afternoon before the Ryders arrived. Hannah smiled when Justin climbed out of his family’s truck. “Hi there.”

  Justin grinned, reaching out a hand for hers. “Show me everything.” He looked around him in awe. He couldn’t believe they were going to live in such a beautiful place.

  Hannah led him around the campsite, and off into the woods. “We have more than enough room for growth. The greenhouses and livestock alone are enough to sustain us, and we have the ability to hunt and fish as well.” They walked as they talked.

  “It’s beautiful here. Thank you for finding us, Hannah.”

  Hannah flushed. “I had to.” She paused for a moment. “No one but my mother and I and your family know you’ll be our leader. There will be official elections down the road, but you’ll win. I haven’t told anyone else their place in the community, but I felt you would only be able to prepare to fill your place if you knew upfront.” And she wanted to keep as few secrets from her future husband as possible.

  He nodded. “We figured as much. We talked about it on the way down, and none of us will say anything.” He smiled into her eyes. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “Me too.” She kicked at a rock. “We need to get back to the others. Today is kind of a ‘get to know you’ day, but tomorrow is going to start the work.”

  “You mentioned in email there was a general who was planning on training an army of us?”

  She nodded. “He’s going to train an army, but he expects every one of us to train. Not for the army but for health. He’ll pick those he thinks are best suited to be part of the army. We’ll start with an army of six, but he expects everyone to be able to shoot and stuff.”

  “I have no problem with that. I think it will be best for the whole community.”

  She smiled. “You’ll like him then. He’s bossy.” She could already feel how achy their muscles were going to be.

  Justin laughed. “I can handle bossy.”

  They walked back toward the others. “I’ll introduce you to everyone as we go.”

  “I can’t wait to get started.”

  He walked with her as she talked to everyone there. She explained to the civil engineer what she had seen, and he made notes about what they would need to do to make it happen. “I’ve never started a city from scratch before,” he commented. “This is going to be quite a challenge.”

  Hannah was surprised by the optimism in the group. Campfires sprang up everywhere with large groups of people crowding around them. There were children ranging in age from newborn to seventeen. The older teens wouldn’t make it through, but they could help now. Hannah hadn’t given the age cut-off for who would live, afraid she would upset too many people. The atmosphere that night was festive, and she didn’t want to do anything to mess it up.

  The make-shift party lasted well into the night. They all knew the work was about to start, and no one was willing to give up this one last fun night before they got serious.

  Hannah set the groundwork for the following day by making sure the people who needed to meet hooked up. She introduced the civil engineer to the construction workers. The general met the soldier. The three teachers met, and were introduced to the general who would be training the children physically. For the first few weeks everyone would have to wear nametags that announced both name and occupation until everyone got to know everyone else.

  The sheer enormity of the task ahead of them frightened Hannah a bit, but she said nothing. She couldn’t fail. If she did, the human race would die off. She smiled and laughed with everyone else, while inside she felt dread. This had to work.

  Chapter Four

  After their late night, Hannah found it was all she could do to drag herself out of bed at six the following morning. They were all meeting at seven for their first hour of training with the general. He was going to have them for one hour each morning, and they would attend “school” for three hours after that. Then each kid would get a chance to shadow an adult of their choice as an apprenticeship program.

  They all had only a month to decide what they would do for a living. After that, it would take a petition to change career paths. There was no time to waste. Those were the only rules Hannah had made each family agree to before joining the community. All other rules would be decided by a vote.

  While they were all training with the general and Sergeant McCoy, the adults would be meeting with Jim Ryder to discuss the laws of their community. The same meeting would be held with all children above ten years of age, along with the general and Sergeant McCoy after their first training session. School would begin after that.

  Hannah fell into line with the other children. Everyone ten and over had to meet with the general. Sergeant McCoy took the six to nine year olds. Emily was ten and stood beside Hannah not looking at her. Emily hated exercise and made it clear she was not happy about being forced to participate.

  “I have one goal in mind for our training sessions,” the general began. “That goal is to make you all into the best soldiers you can possibly be. Not every one of you will be part of the army that will keep this community alive. But every one of you will need to be able to shoot a gun and run to get away from the enemy should the situation present itself. If you don’t care to be part of our training exercises, that’s too bad. You’ll do it and you’ll smile about it.” He paused for emphasis. “This morning we’re going to run.”

  He started off in a jog, and they all fell in line behind him. Some of the kids were overweight, and some looked like they ran every day. Hannah was thankful for the hours she put in swimming. It would make the training easier for her.

  The grass in the encampment was f
reshly mowed. A man had been hired to bring his tractor in and take care of the overgrown weeds. The run across the grass wasn’t easy, but it was pretty. Hannah concentrated on her breathing as she raced across the grass.

  It was a perfect late summer morning. The sky was littered with small fluffy white clouds. The trees were a beautiful backdrop. Many still needed to be cleared, both for space to build and for firewood for the long winter ahead. This winter would be spent in the travel trailers, and the nightly fires would be necessary for warmth. Hopefully by next winter, they’d have built permanent housing.

  Finally they ran back to their starting point. Hannah wanted to collapse on the grass with exhaustion as many of the others were doing, but she felt she needed to set an example. Instead, she carefully stretched out her muscles and went to her trailer for a drink of water, before meeting back in the middle of what would be the community center for the meeting with Jim Ryder.

  Justin dropped onto the grass beside her. “The general is going to kill us all,” he groaned into her ear.

  Hannah grinned. Justin had shown the same stoic face she had through the run and after. Both understood their roles as leaders of the other kids, and knew any complaints by them about the situation could undermine both them and what they were trying to accomplish. Even though no one knew of Justin’s future with the group, he couldn’t afford to be seen as a slacker in any way leading up to the election that would bring him into power. “I know,” she whispered back. “I’m glad I’m already in shape. My sister Emily was throwing up in the bushes.”

  “A lot of kids were.”

  Jim stood in front of them all to get their attention then. As soon as he raised his hands for quiet, the talking stopped and all eyes went to him. He spoke loudly so they could all hear him over the sounds of the birds chirping. “For those of you who haven’t met me yet, my name is Jim Ryder. I’m a lawyer, and have been asked to set up the rules for our community. I met with most of your parents this morning and we’re going to establish some hard and fast rules that each and every one of you will sign.”

  He looked out over the sea of faces. The children were young, but they had a huge responsibility and he couldn’t pull any punches. “You all know why we’re here. The world as we know it is coming to an end, and we need to prepare for the future. I know all of you have talked to Hannah, the girl who brought us all here, and believe in her cause. Together, we need to stand behind her, and build a government that will stand the test of time.

  “I have a list of ten basic laws that we all need to agree to keep. Each of you will be asked to sign your name on this paper, almost as if you were Thomas Jefferson signing the Declaration of Independence. I’m going to read these laws to you now. If there are any laws that you cannot agree with, you can tell your parents now, and leave the community.”

  There were a few shocked gasps from the kids, but most of them nodded in agreement with the harsh words. “Rule number one: You are here to serve the community, not the other way around. If you deliberately do something to hurt the community as a whole, you will be asked to leave immediately.

  “Number two: Community leaders will be elected every four years. We will have adult leaders for the first four years, and after that, one of you will emerge as the leader of this community.” He gave his son a hard look as he said those words. “If you are not willing to follow your elected leader, you have one option. You can leave. We are a unit, and for us to survive, we must operate as a unit.

  “Number three: Every morning you will report for one hour to the general for ‘basic training’. He will get your bodies in good shape. He will teach you to shoot and defend yourselves and our community. You will not use a gun outside of your training unless you are told by him, or one of his successors, to do so.

  “Number four: You will report for school every morning after basic training. School will last for three hours. After school, you will, for the next month, choose an adult to shadow. This means you are considering whatever career path the adult is on. You can shadow as many people as you would like for that month. At the end of one month, you will choose your career. You will stick with the career you choose. So choose wisely.

  “If too many of you want one career type, a decision will be made by the professional. For instance, if six of you want to be doctors, there will be five of you turned away, and you must have a second career choice ready. The doctor will choose one of you, whom he feels is best suited for the job. Do not expect your parent to choose you. They will choose the best person for the job.

  “Rule five: Everyone will receive a certain amount of food. These will be your rations for the day. You can have as much water as you like. Food, including milk, juice and other non-water drinks will be part of your daily rations. If you don’t like some of your food choices for a particular day, find someone to trade with. You will not be given a second choice.

  “Rule six: Each of you is expected to work. If anyone in our community doesn’t work, they also will not eat. If you are sick, see the doctor. The doctor will determine who is too sick to work, and who is capable. As you start your training you will be sore. Sore is not sick. You will work through being sore.

  “Rule seven: You will have everything you need. You will not steal anything from anyone else. Not working during your assigned time is a way of stealing from the community. Thieves will be exiled immediately.

  “Rule eight: You will not ask others to join our community. If you know of someone who would be a good choice for our community, speak to the ruling council on their behalf. They are the only ones who can extend an invitation.

  “Rule nine: We are a team and will work as such. If you have a problem with someone within our team, or with a rule, you will report to the council. You will not fight amongst yourselves or gossip about others in a way that will bring down morale. We are all cogs in a wheel that will fall apart if any piece fails. You will not be the cog to fail.

  “Rule ten: You are not a prisoner here. If you choose to leave, you are welcome to do that. If you leave, you will not be welcomed back. We need everyone here to work from now until the pandemic to make our community function.”

  Mr. Ryder paused looking out over the stunned faces in his audience. “I know many of those rules may seem harsh. I promise you, we will be adding more rules as we go and see what more needs to be added. If you have any questions, I’m happy to entertain them. Raise your hand, and you will be heard.”

  A hand was raised from the front of the group. “When do we get our video game time?” Hannah recognized the boy as a ten year old named Steve. He was from California, and had a typical me-generation attitude.

  Many of the kids laughed at the question. Mr. Ryder took it seriously. “You will have two hours per day to have fun. You can have fun any way you want, as long as it doesn’t harm anyone else.” He paused for a moment. “Don’t get too attached to those video games, though, son. Once the electricity fails, you won’t be playing them anymore.”

  A girl a few kids down from Hannah raised her hand. Hannah thought hard to remember her name. Ashley. She was from New York, Hannah remembered. “Why can’t our parents do all the work? As kids, isn’t it our job to learn?”

  Mr. Ryder smiled. “It is your job to learn. You have to learn to be a productive member of our community, and you have a short time to do it in. You will learn by doing. The work you do will be related to your future job. For instance, if you decide you want to spend your life fishing, you will be an apprentice to our community fisherman. You will go out every afternoon and fish. You will learn everything there is to know about fishing from someone who does it well, and then when he dies, you will be able to do it. If you just sit in a classroom and read books about fishing, you will never learn it in the way you will by actually doing it.” He looked around. “Any other questions?”

  When he was met by blank stares he nodded. “You’re dismissed then. You need to report to school for the next two hours. You’ll be given a list of j
obs available during school today and where to go to report for those jobs.” He pointed in the direction of three women who had the younger kids corralled under some trees. “Your school day is short today, because you all had to meet with me. The rules will be presented at dinner this evening and you will each sign the paper stating you agree to the rules.”

  Hannah stood, trying not to groan. “I’m already sore,” she whispered to Justin.

  He grinned. “Me too. It’s going to be an interesting few weeks until we get used to the physical activity.”

  She nodded, walking slowly in the direction of their “school.” “Do you know what you’re going to apprentice for?”

  He shrugged. “There are several things that interest me, but I have a feeling I’m going to end up with my dad. I’ll probably check out some of the other things before the month is up, though. I’ll go work with the farmers today. I want to see how everything works together to make up the whole.”

  “That’s why you’re going to make a great leader,” she whispered.

  They arrived at the school and sat down. Their schooling wasn’t going to be anything like what they’d had before, and they all knew it. The teacher for the older group took them to a separate spot and had them all sit on the ground.

  “I’m Katherine Simmons, and I’ll be your teacher. After talking with your parents, we’ve decided that school will be limited to just four subjects. We’ll be doing English, which will include both reading and writing, math, social studies and science. And of course, you all know you’ll be getting physical education from the general.” She smiled as she watched several of them wince.

  “I only have you for three hours every day, so each class will be forty-five minutes long. There will be no homework.” At everyone’s cheers she laughed. “That’s only because your on-the-job training will be so intense, you’ll have no time for it.” She looked around. “The youngest students here should be fifth grade. Is anyone below fifth grade level?”