Since Zack was the oldest and largest of the group, and since it was his idea in the first place, he became the leader by default. Cat and Simon were curious to see how long it would take for his lack of experience in the wilderness to kick in and dampen his leadership enthusiasm. His second-in-command, so to speak, was Morgan, a tall, lanky 18-year-old. Cat didn't like Morgan. He had hit on her a year earlier—knowing full well of her committed relationship with Simon. In fact, of all the teens in Yellowstone, he was the only one who looked at Simon with disdain. Needless to say, he had now switched his attention and effort (not that it took much) toward Darcy, who returned the attention enthusiastically.
And then there were the 17-year-old twins, William and Harry. They were named after some English princes from before the event—Cat had never heard of them.
The two that Cat and Simon were closest to in the group were also loners. Wade, at sixteen, was the only black teen in Yellowstone. There were a few other black young people, but none of them had yet reached their teens. Although racism had long since died in what was left of the country, Wade occasionally confided to Cat and Simon that he felt different at times. It made sense then that his best friend—and most likely future mate—was Yuki, the daughter of Japanese parents. Her parents had been part of a school trip of Japanese students from Tokyo visiting the States. The event occurred when they were in Chicago, and Yuki's parents were the only two teenagers from the tour to survive the event. Naturally, they stuck together, eventually becoming lovers and giving birth to Yuki. Her parents spoke very little English at first, and even seventeen years later were still uncomfortable speaking it, but they had picked up enough to communicate with others well enough. The family spoke only Japanese at home, but Yuki spoke only English—without any trace of a Japanese accent—outside of the home.
The final three teens in the group were Emma, Diana, and John, all seventeen. Cat knew them as well as she knew any of the others, but had never formed any kind of relationship with them. They were all nice and—more importantly to Cat—capable of taking care of themselves.
Their proposed route was the source of numerous arguments, though not among the teens. The source of the conflict originated with the parents. The original plan called for the group to head directly west, eventually reaching the Pacific. None of them—not even Cat—had ever been told the full story of Clete and Sophie. All they knew was that the couple had been found dead. Ben and Lila had sat them all down and had tried to explain the situation delicately, holding back as many of the facts as they could. The parents were assured by the teens that they'd be careful and that the parents had nothing to worry about. The conversation got heated. In the end it was no use. They had to come clean with the teens.
By that time, Ben and Lila had decided that if the kids were old enough to take such a journey, they were old enough to hear the truth. Ben, having been at the scene of both deaths, told the story. He left nothing out. When he finished, there was complete silence in the room. Some of the kids wore stunned expressions. At that point in the process, there had been fourteen participants. After Ben's story, two of the young men bowed out.
Once it was agreed that changing course was the prudent thing to do, the conversation turned productive. Morgan suggested heading east, but was shot down immediately. Even though most of the teens were too young to remember a lot of the details of their trip to Yellowstone, they had all come from the east. Somehow, going back in that direction didn't feel new.
They finally settled on a southerly route. Judging by the note written on Clete's body stating the land as belonging to the group that killed him, Ben felt the group was settled well west of Yellowstone. Even though there had been evidence of them reaching the western border of the park, he doubted their territory extended much further south than that.
If the teens headed due south from Yellowstone, they would probably be safe from the group that killed Clete. Their route would eventually take them through Salt Lake City to Las Vegas, where they would turn west toward the ocean. The subject of how long the trip would take was avoided. No one knew. They could turn back in a month or return in a couple of years. Since no one had a clue, it was better not discussed.
*****
A large segment of the Yellowstone population gathered in Rock Creek to see the teens off. There were tears and lots of hugging. Cat and Simon tried hard not to cry, but lost the battle when they saw the tears flowing from their parents. Looking around, Cat noticed most of the others having the same problem. The only two who appeared to be unaffected by the emotions of the moment were Morgan and Darcy.
The goodbyes lasted longer than any of them had expected. As a result, their planned early morning departure was delayed almost three hours. At the urging of Zack and Morgan, the explorers finally detached themselves from their families and got on their way. The planned route south took them along the remains of a seasonal highway that wound its way through the mountains. Zack led the way, followed closely by Morgan and Darcy. William, Harry, Emma, John, and Diana were bunched together in the middle, talking excitedly about the trip ahead. Following almost a hundred yards behind were Yuki and Wade, with Cat and Simon bringing up the rear. The four in the back of the group said very little for the first couple of hours, instead just observing the surroundings. Cat and Simon had never traveled the southern route, so they wanted to take the time to appreciate the country.
Occasionally, the road was broken by a crevasse. The group was forced to go around each one—sometimes traveling many miles before they found a crossover point. As a result, the first day they made it less than twenty miles.
They camped for the night beside a small stream. Knowing they'd have to hunt and fish for most of their food on the journey, the group had packed food in advance for the first couple of days. William and Yuki built a fire while the others set up tents. Despite their relationship not yet reaching the pinnacle of intimacy, Cat and Simon had decided to share a tent. Being brothers, William and Harry also shared one. There was no doubt that Wade and Yuki would share a tent as well. All of the others had single tents, although no one expected Darcy to ever be alone in hers.
Other than Morgan, the group turned out to be quite harmonious. By the end of the second day, Cat felt she knew most of the others fairly well. John, Diana, and Emma all surprised her, each showing a great enthusiasm for the trip and a good knowledge of woodsmanship. William and Harry both showed signs of homesickness, but persevered nonetheless. Wade and Yuki—true to form—were quiet, but both were skilled in the ways of the land and proved themselves indispensable to the group. Zack was taking his job as leader seriously, but he was always pleasant and wasn't afraid to solicit suggestions from the others. Even Darcy turned out to be fun. The least mature of the group—despite her advanced sexual prowess—she had a good sense of humor that Cat had never seen in her before.
The only potential problem in the group was Morgan. Cat, who had lived among the animals all of her life and had picked up an animal's ability to sense danger, definitely felt it emanating from Morgan. The second oldest of the group, he spent a lot of his time with Zack, trying to assert his presence and opinions. By the end of the third day, even Zack was tiring of Morgan and spent less time talking to him. That would cause Morgan to ride off alone for an hour or two, meeting up with the group a few miles down the road.
The only one not tired of Morgan was Darcy. To her, Morgan possessed a manly quality that Zack, despite being older, lacked. Although smaller than Zack, Morgan was more experienced in the woods and—more importantly—talked himself up more effectively. As a result, by the end of the first week, it was clear that Darcy and Morgan had an exclusive sexual arrangement. Zack then turned his interest to Emma and Diana, both of whom were flattered at Zack's attention, but having seen Zack with Darcy, were cautious about getting involved with him.
They occasionally ran across the remains of a small mountain town—most not much larger than a gas station, a general store, and a few hou
ses. The towns provided little interest to them, however, due to their advanced states of dilapidation. Most of the buildings had collapsed from a combination of the earthquake and the years of severe weather.
That changed when they emerged from the hills into a large valley and a town called Jackson. The sign at the entrance to the town said it was Jackson, Wyoming, but other than having learned about states in school, the "Wyoming" part meant very little to them. For that matter, so did the "Jackson" part. For every member of the group, a town was nothing more than a curiosity. Having heard all the stories about the earthquakes that hit each part of the country, and having experienced the severe weather their whole lives, none of them really expected to find a town that was intact enough to be worth exploring.
Jackson turned out to be a complete surprise. Although many of the buildings had fallen in on themselves, there were still a few that were intact. Some of the buildings were made of stone—at least partially—which had given added support to the wooden upper structures and roofs. Those buildings that were still intact weren't clean by any means. Plant growth was rampant, having grown up through the floors of the buildings. In some cases, trees had pushed themselves out of window openings. Rusted vehicles littered the streets. Any remains of human bodies were long since gone.
It was strange. As excited as they were to find a town they could explore, there was something almost creepy about it. They had read about ghost towns in school, and Jackson fit the bill. It was quiet and it was dead. It was obvious that at one time it had been a pretty town, but they really had to use their imaginations to picture it that way. The teens spoke quietly to each other as they rode through the empty streets. Talking loudly seemed somehow wrong. A wind had come up, only adding to the spookiness.
"Look at the roads," said Cat in a low voice to the others. "No cracks. The earthquake somehow missed this town. That's why more buildings weren't destroyed."
They dismounted in front of a large store whose faded sign advertised gifts. Getting into the building proved impossible though, as the growth was just too dense. They walked their horses down the street, looking into each building they passed. Finally, they ran across one that seemed to have escaped the plant growth. That one, as well, advertised gifts.
"It seems like they all sold gifts," said Wade. "I've got to see what all the excitement was about."
They broke down the front door and slowly filed in, being mindful of weak and broken boards under them. Cat picked up a ceramic statue of a person on skis. A sign next to the person said, Jackson Hole, WY.
"What possible use could this have had?" she asked.
"I think people brought them home as reminders of where they'd been," said Zack.
"Why?"
"My dad said they called things like that souvenirs."
"I don't get it," said Cat.
"People liked to travel. It helped people remember."
Cat shook her head. "They couldn't remember in their own brain? It doesn't make sense."
"Sense or not," said Simon, "There are thousands of these things in here. And if the other stores had as many as this store has, a lot of people wanted to remember this place."
"I wonder why," said Cat. "It's just a town."
They all lost interest quickly and left the building. They wandered through the town for another hour or so, only breaking into one other building. The sign advertised camping and skiing equipment and was not too heavily overgrown. Disappointment set in when they discovered how rusted all the metal items were and how rotted much of the cloth was. However, Morgan found a cabinet filled with boxes containing knives of all sizes. The knives on display had rusted, but those in the boxes were still in fairly good shape. They each grabbed a variety of knives for their saddlebags.
Finally it was time to leave. It was late afternoon and they would need to find a place to camp for the night—and none of them wanted to camp in town. Directly south of the town it was still part of the valley. Having grown up in Yellowstone, they were all more comfortable—and felt less vulnerable—in the hills, so the group moved into the hills off to the left of the valley and found a flat spot among the rocks to set up camp.
Later, around the fire, they discussed what they had seen in Jackson.
"It was a strange place," said Cat.
"The town?" asked Emma.
"The world."
No one said anything, so she continued.
"The things they gave importance to. I'm still amazed at all of those pieces of junk. I don't understand it."
"The world was a lot different," said Simon.
"No shit," said Morgan.
"What I mean is, people had everything they needed in life. They didn't have to fend for themselves. I've read quite a bit about it. There was a lot of stress and a lot of anxiety, and so they spent as much time as possible going to different places to get away from home."
He got a lot of puzzled looks.
"I know. It doesn't make sense. They had everything they needed. But I think that was part of the problem. Everything was too complicated. We've all heard our parents talk about the past and the things they miss from that life. But I think they've all admitted that life is less stressful now. And most of them were about our age when the event happened. If they were stressed, imagine what it was like for their parents."
"Old man Murphy, who must be like, seventy or something, told me that life was pretty good back then," said Zack. "I think he still misses it. So I guess not everyone was stressed."
It was too much to think about, so they all headed to bed, not sure whether they were more excited or more disturbed to have found a fairly intact town. Part of this trip was to discover their roots—the world their parents once knew and had thrived in. After their experience in Jackson, they weren't totally sure anymore that they still wanted to find that world.
Chapter 15
It didn't take long for dissension in the ranks to set in.
As much as possible, they tried to follow the traces of the old highway, but they eventually had to give up. The further south they went, the more broken up the landscape became. Crevasses were a problem, but it was more than that. The ground was rough in so many places, it was often difficult footing for the horses.
They would stop mid-afternoon to set up camp for the night. It had always been their intention to stop early to give themselves time to hunt or fish for dinner, but mid-afternoon was much earlier than planned. However, the horses needed a break—as did their riders—due to the grueling journey.
The sun was setting on their most recent camp, this one at the edge of a small lake. Cat and Simon had volunteered to do the fishing that night and had returned with a dozen large fish. Her father had once told her that when he was young, many of the lakes and ponds—and even the ocean—had become so polluted, it was difficult to catch fish, and many of those they caught couldn't be eaten due to the poisons in the water. But over the years, he said, the earth seemed to be cleansing itself. The fish were now plentiful and easy to catch. Cat had to take his word for the first part of the story, because she had only ever known abundant fishing.
Diana and John were the cooks for the night and had prepared a tasty meal with the fish and a variety of wild vegetables the group had collected along the way. Despite the good food, they all ate with little enthusiasm, and unlike most nights, there was little talking.
Morgan finally broke the silence.
"This sucks."
They all looked at him, waiting for the follow-up.
"Not the food. The trip. We weren't expecting this. We're going nowhere. It takes us hours to go a couple of miles. Forget making it to the ocean, I just want to make it to flat land."
"What do you suggest?" asked Zack.
"Look, we've been following this valley ever since we left the mountains. It made sense when we looked at the map. We've got mountains to the east of us and mountains to the west. This looked to be the quickest route south, but it's not. I think it would be easier and
quicker to travel through the mountains. They didn't seem to get hit by the earthquake as badly as the flat areas did."
"Makes sense," said Emma. "And there are some old roads that wind their way through the mountains. I think we should take the chance."
"Are you still talking about heading west?" asked Simon.
"Of course," said Morgan.
"We weren't going to go west until we reached Salt Lake City," said Cat. "My dad said it would be too dangerous if we went before that."
"Ah yes. Ben, of the great and famous Ben and Lila. You know how sick of their story I am?"
Cat felt Simon stir beside her. She put her hand on his wrist to stop him from getting up. She looked at Morgan and didn't say a word. It wasn't hatred she was feeling toward him, but he had crossed a line and it was her intention to give him a warning before she pounced.
Morgan picked up on it immediately. He had never seen a look like that from a human before. It was threatening, but without emotion. He had run across that look once a few years earlier when he encountered a bear with her cub in the woods. No sound had come from the bear, but Morgan knew that if he had taken one step closer, the bear would have charged him and probably taken his head off.
The others observed the interaction between Cat and Morgan and no one said a word.
Eden's Legacy (Eden Rising Trilogy Book 3) Page 10
