Northern Lights: A Scorched Earth Novel

by Boyd Craven III

  They left with conspiratorial looks towards the trail leading back to the old cabins and I stood there a moment before sitting down at the picnic table.

  “You look like somebody just shot your dog,” Brian said sitting down.

  “Naw, it’s not that, just thinking.”

  “About what?” Tracy said, joining him in the seat across from me.

  Jordan picked that moment to show up and he walked over and sat down too.

  “They going back to the old cabin?” he asked.

  “They didn’t say, said they had something to talk about,” I told everyone.

  “They’re going to go visit their parents,” Tracy said.

  I hadn’t expected that, but it made sense.

  “They were talking about it last night. With the cold coming, the ice might freeze up and if it’s their last chance to do it before winter…”

  “They taking the power boat?” I asked.

  “Probably. Denise knows how to use it,” Brian told me.

  “Not much gas left,” I said.

  There had been two five gallon cans of gas when we’d started the trip. We’d used most of that over summer and fall. We had maybe a gallon and a half after what was left in the tank.

  “We have enough. The way it’s been getting, I expect it to snow soon,” Brian told me.

  “And snow and ice will lock us all in,” Jordan said.

  “We could make snow shoes,” I said grinning.

  “Considering our shoes are falling apart, I’m not against that. How’s the leather coming?”

  The bear hide hadn’t been salted or smoked right away, so instead of having a nice coat out of it, it had turned into a nice big piece of leather, after all, the fur fell out. The rest of the tanning had gone well and we were stretching and softening the hides.

  “I’d say it’s just about done. We should be able to make stuff from it at any time.” I told them.

  “What are you thinking about to sew this stuff up for?” Tracy asked.

  “Using a leather punch and then thin strips of leather?” I said not sure.

  “Why not use the suture needle to make a hole and pull fishing line through it? Wouldn’t that be tighter?” Jordan asked.

  “Dude, that’s brilliant, I could kiss you,” I said pulling him to me in a mock hug and making a kissy face.

  “Easy there, man, our girls have only been gone for a minute,” he said, pushing me back, “no need to resort to that.”

  “No really, that’s a great idea,” Tracy said.

  “I don’t know how to sew,” I told them. “But it sounds like the doc here just found his new calling.”

  “Hey, don’t you be volunteering me for everything,” Jordan complained, but he was smiling.

  “We need to get our clothes washed out before the lake freezes up too,” I told everyone. “I think we can measure it in days now and not weeks.”

  “Yeah, I thought you were getting a bit ripe,” Tracy said.

  “That’s just your breath,” I snapped back.

  “Ok, come on,” Brian said holding a hand up, “We went almost a month without this…”

  I smiled and we talked. There wasn’t much on the smoker. The fish had moved into the deeper water of the lake and getting to them had turned into a chore, especially with the wind kicking up and pushing the boat around. Without using the motor, it would be hard and it was bone chilling. We’d relied on the trapping for our daily meat and the ladies had started getting greens, wild leeks and little things they could find to go with the dwindling staples of rice and beans. We probably had a month left of those until we had to start living off wild foods completely...

  We’d washed our clothing off the dock. There was a large rock near it that you could lean over and reach the shore. We’d get our clothing wet, push it up on the rock and use soap and work it in through the clothing. We figured that working it in by hand was probably better than the agitation anyways and we’d rinse it out with lake water and hang it up to dry on a tree branch somewhere. There never was a shortage of wind, but if we had to worry about the clothes freezing before drying…

  “We’re almost there,” Brian told me.

  “Almost where?” I asked him.

  “The point where we’re as prepared as we’re going to be and the snow is going to shut us all down.”

  “We can still do the trapping,” I told him.

  “True, but they haven’t been producing much,” Tracy said.

  “That damned bear is scaring everything off,” I said.

  That was a sore spot for me. The bear never went back to where that large snare was. I’d found evidence of him walking down that game trail where the trap line was set. Once in a while, I’d find a track or a scratch on the tree but no visible sign. I didn’t know when they were supposed to go into hibernation, but if he was the one scaring off game, then he should go to sleep already.

  “Maybe we should set more traps for it?” Tracy asked.

  “We don’t even know if there is another bear. Have you seen it?” Brian asked me.

  “I saw tracks, scratches high up on the trees. Once a pile of scat.”

  “Scat?” Tracy asked.

  “Bear shit,” I told her.

  “So it’s true then?” she said, half statement, half question.

  “What’s true?” I asked.

  “That a bear DOES shit in the woods.”

  I put my head down as everyone laughed. With what we’d found in the way of wild nuts, the dried meat, fish, blueberries and everything else, I thought probably we had enough to make it until March. Maybe. Four months until starvation. What would happen the next winter? If we got lucky with trapping over the winter it would stretch, and we had food that we’d all brought, food the girls’ family had brought, and food from the trapper cabin. It still wasn’t enough for the six of us. Next year we wouldn’t have that extra.

  I started to mentally go over what we would need to do and made a note to myself to see if there were forage items in the spring we could get close by as we waited for the ice to melt enough to take a boat in.

  “So, has Denise been throwing up in the morning lately?” Tracy asked.

  The question threw me. She had, just a couple of times.

  “Yeah, why?” I asked her.

  Tracy gave me a big grin and then turned to look at Jordan, “Have you noticed it too?” she asked.

  “Denise has, but nobody else. Why…? Oh shit,” Jordan said a look of amused horror on his face.

  He looked like the kids do when they go on a scary roller coaster. Both terrified and having the time of their lives.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” Tracy said, “probably something she ate.”

  “We all eat the same stuff,” I told her.

  It was true, a very boring and repetitive diet if you want to be honest here.

  “Probably didn’t agree with her. That’s all.”

  “What…”

  It hit me.

  “You think?” I asked her.

  “A girl knows these things,” she said smiling.

  “But you’ve never— “

  “I can’t have kids,” Brian said. “We’ve tried.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry man, I didn’t mean— “

  “No, it’s ok.” Tracy said, “Still, a girl knows these things. I think she’s wondering herself.”

  “So are they really going to visit their parents’?” I asked her.

  “Yeah, and probably get some sister time in. If we ever get out of here, I’m going to see if I can ever find my half-sister.”

  “You have a half-sister?” I asked her.

  I thought I knew a lot about her, but this was news to me.

  “Yeah, I guess my dad was married before, back when we lived in Washington State. Had a daughter he didn’t know about. They got divorced and then his ex-wife found out she was pregnant.”

  “Wow, I bet that was a surprise for you,” I told her.

/>   “Yeah, I found her through Facebook and we started talking. I was going to see about visiting her in the spring time…”

  Her words trailed off. She was thinking what we all were. Nothing was the same and spring was a while away still.

  “Let’s just hope somebody flies over again,” Brian said.

  “That didn’t work out so well last time,” I told him.

  “Maybe they couldn’t stop, or they didn’t have anybody else in the area who could stop?”

  “Maybe. How long do we give the girls before we go check on them?” I asked Jordan.

  “Five hours or so,” he said. “Then I’ll go wait on the beach and see.”

  I thought it over and nodded.

  18

  Did I even mention how much I hate the cold? We’d somewhat lost track of what day it was, but it was getting close to Christmas, or thereabouts. My problem was we didn’t spend enough time and effort topping off the cistern. The filtration system separated the lake gunk out from the water so everything that was in the cabin would be clean. That was why I was outside with the axe, dulling it against what I’d found to be at least eight inches of ice – and counting.

  I would work for a time until I was just about sweating, swinging and chopping a spot to the side of the dock and then I’d go inside and trade out with somebody else. They would do the same. After the three of us guys all took a turn, Tracy broke through and brought the first bucket of slushy water and poured it into the filtrations intake. When that was done she went out for one more bucket, wearing the fur-lined leather jacket that was made from a hodgepodge. We’d put the fur on the inside, and the bear leather on the outside. It turned out warm, but it was ugly as all get out.

  I’d considered making a raccoon hat to go with it, but I’d not run into any of the critters. The good news, though, the trap line was starting to produce again. I’d even snared a lynx a week before.

  “Your turn,” Tracy said stopping and Denise stood.

  Her tummy didn’t have a noticeable bump, but I noticed it when we were in our sleeping bags stomach to stomach.

  “I can probably do one or two,” she said and donned the gear and headed out.

  “How cold is it out there?” Jordan asked, standing in front of the wood stove.

  “-10 Fahrenheit,” Tracy said, her teeth chattering.

  “Wow, that’s…” I started to say.

  Tonya pulled a sleeping bag around her shoulders and mock shivered.

  “I checked the thermometer when I bought the last bucket in,” she said.

  The door to the cabin burst open and Denise dropped the empty bucket just inside the door.

  “There’s a plane! Hurry!”

  We all looked at each other and then everyone was running out into the freezing temperatures. It was snowing again, the large flakes coming down silently, coating everything in a thick blanket. I had missed out on grabbing the flare gun on my way out because Tracy had snatched it first. We had two shells.

  “Where is it?” I screamed, running out onto the dock and onto the ice.

  “I can hear it!” Brian yelled and then pointed to the north-west.

  Tracy ran out onto the ice near me. We’d all avoided the hole by the dock and the rest of the group followed after her. She took aim and send a red flare almost straight up into the sky. Through the swirling snowstorm, the flare shot up like a rocket into the sky. It lit up everything around us and I could see halfway across the lake. The other thing I noticed? A red blinking light of some sort of airplane marker lights.

  “Shoot another one!” Brian shouted.

  “I’m going to wait a second. Let this one fall before I do,” she screamed, the wind almost taking her words away from her.

  “The plane is banking,” Jordan screamed.

  Tonya was looking around at us, the snow starting to stick in her hair. She was laughing and crying. Tracy shot off another flare a minute later. It seemed even brighter and we could make out the shape of the nose; not just from the light, but because it was turning our direction.

  “When that flare goes out they’re not going to have any point of reference!” I screamed.

  I started running and was soon joined by Denise.

  “What are you doing?” she screamed.

  “We need fire or something else to get their attention,” I screamed into the wind, “everything is white down here right now.”

  “I’ll get some wood!” Denise yelled.

  I ran inside. We had enough gasoline left to splash around in the bottom of the fuel can. I grabbed sleeping bags, and the can of fuel and tore off out the door. Denise was already ahead of me, half a dozen split logs in her arms. She stumbled and righted herself before I could catch up with her. It was a wild crazy run that had me almost crying with anticipation.

  Denise dropped the wood near where we all had been standing on the ice and collapsed. I threw a sleeping bag at her and the rest to the others and dumped the gasoline over the pile of wood. I felt around in my pocket for a lighter, or a book of matches.

  “What is it?” Brian asked, probably asking me what I needed.

  “Fire, I need to light this up!”

  It was almost comical. Everyone patted their pockets looking for a lighter when Denise sat up and took off her necklace and handed it to me. It was one of those push button sparkers. She’d showed us how to start a fire with it. I took it and knelt down in the snow and ice, soaking my pants through completely.

  “It’s got propellers,” Jordan screamed.

  It was getting close if he could make it out in this storm; I couldn’t hear anything myself. I pressed the ignitor against the log and pushed. Sparks shot out all over, but no fire. I wasn’t worrying about the big whoosh as the gas went up, as long as I had flames. I pressed again and again. When it lit, I pulled my arm back. Luckily I was wearing a sweater or I may have gotten my arm hairs singed off.

  “Is the ice thick enough?” Jordan screamed to me.

  “I don’t know. It should be,” I yelled back, my voice going hoarse.

  I took the end of the sleeping bag that Denise offered me and pulled her close. Even though she was wet and cold, her warmth was amazing. We all huddled close to the fire, watching. The plane banked again, turning, and started flying to the southwest again.

  “Oh God, do you think they saw us?” I asked them.

  “They did. I don’t know what they are doing, though.”

  The plane was low enough that we could almost make out the tail numbers, but the snow kept hitting me in the face and eyes.

  “It’s turning again,” Tracy screamed.

  I saw the landing gear come out. I couldn’t tell if it was skids or tires and suddenly having a fire on the ice as who knows how much weight and force was going to be bearing down on us and the surface of the ice didn’t seem like such a great idea. I started backing up, and soon we all were running back to the dock. I almost went into the hole we chopped earlier because I wasn’t paying attention and had slowed to look backward but was pulled sideways by Tracy who just gave me a mischievous grin.

  “Is this ice thick enough?” Tonya asked.

  “I don’t know,” her sister yelled.

  Standing on the dock, I felt the wood tremble as the plane touched down at the far end of the lake, a thousand yards away from us. Suddenly I wondered: how do you stop a plane that’s just landed on ice? How far would it slide?

  * * *

  The pilot was sitting at the kitchen table as we packed, looking around the place in shock. We’d met him at the plane and he’d quickly advised us to head inside where we could hear and be heard better.

  “So you’re telling me you’ve been up here alone since July?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” Tracy said, “we’d just gotten here when the EMP happened.”

  “You know about the EMP?” the pilot asked.

  He was British by the sound of it, but I didn’t want to ask where he was from considering we were all packing our gear and he
ading south and west.

  “Educated guess,” I told him, “our pilot’s pacemaker blew out, and all the electronic stuff we had got fried. The pilot saw a big flash before he died. Must have been bad.”

  “You don’t know the half of it,” the pilot said, “I’m bloody glad you put up the flare, there wouldn’t have been another supply drop for six months or more.”

  “You were up at the reservation?” Tracy asked.

  “Right you are,” Patrick, the pilot said, “They’re set pretty good up there… now, now, you don’t have to double and triple layer up, I’ve got heat in most of the cockpit area,” he said to Brian.

  “We’ve only got one coat between us,” Tracy said.

  “Bloody hell. Three couples up here for almost eight months and no coat? It’s the Arctic for Christ’s sake!”

  “We didn’t come here in the winter time… Wait, you said eight months?!”

  We all looked at each other in shock. It was almost January. Christmas was sometime this week, wasn’t it?

  “Today’s February the thirteenth. Tomorrow is Valentine’s day.”

  My eyes crossed trying to figure out how I could have lost that much time.

  “Right then, got everything you want?”

  “Do we need to bring any food?” I asked him.

  “Not unless you need to eat in the next few hours. Winds are with us and as long as there aren’t any issues with icing, our first stop is in Winnipeg.”

  “First stop?” I ask.

  “Yeah, I’m picking up a load, refueling and heading for Anchorage,” he said.

  We were putting on every article of clothing we had and shoving last minute essentials into our sleeping bags. We were leaving behind a lot, though. It hurt to do it, but we were safe.

  “How bad is it in America?” I asked him.

  His eyes found mine, and I could see the truth in them.

  “I’m from the Flint area in Michigan,” I told him.