Terri shook her head. “What are you, a sixteen-year-old boy? But, yes you do, if Floyd leaves you any room on the bed. But you don’t get dessert anytime soon as the doctor ordered rest for you, nothing strenuous.”
Aeryn looked shocked at the banter, but then smiled, happy to have me back, even though I wasn’t quite upright. Not yet anyway.
“The nation?” I asked. Terri closed the first set of curtains, reducing most of the daylight.
“Everything is going just fine and none of it is anything you need to worry about. We’ll be back later. I’m sure Madison would love to drool on you. I know Floyd will.” She gave me a quick peck on the cheek, then left with a sense of purpose. Colleen watched her go, then pointed to Terri, nodded, and closed the door on her way out.
Terri asked me to scoot over and then climbed into the narrow bed with me. Once her head was on my shoulder, she started to cry.
“Damn it, Chuck! I spend my whole life looking for you and when we’re finally together, you try to die on me. That’s three times now, Chuck. You scared the hell out of me, out of all of us,” she whispered.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’ve been luckier than anyone deserves to be. I apologize for scaring you or for the burden that I’ll be later. A month! I never worked the garden, hunted, picked berries, fished, none of that, but there’s still time. Berries aren’t ripe yet, are they?”
“You aren’t doing any of that. You’re going to be the old guy sitting on the porch watching the world go by. I will make sure that everyone stops to tell you what’s going on. So you’ll know it all, you just won’t do it all. And I think going forward, our lives are going to be much better. Aeryn is a dynamo and your friend, Frank? He’s bringing in the commerce. It seems like we have someone new wanting to trade with us every day. Shipments are arriving all the way up here in New Fairbanks.
“We need people, Chuck, a lot more people and that is a good problem to have. So there’s nothing for you to worry about. There are so many good people here and they are all stepping up. We even had a visit from the Russian miners. They came to see you once they heard. I think we’re tighter now than we’ve ever been. If you want to think about anything, think about that.”
Terri’s head was nestled into my neck. Maybe that’s all I wanted to think about.
FIVE YEARS LATER
Little Madison wasn’t pleased at all with how classes were going. She’d gone from being a free spirit to sitting in school for six hours a day. I could only laugh at her as she played in the yard. Floyd showed her no mercy and bowled her over with great regularity, but she was up in an instant and racing after him.
Aeryn knew the value of education and wouldn’t let her daughter skip out on any of that. In order to make informed decisions, one needed to be able to find information and then evaluate a problem from all angles. A good education helped one to get there. Plus, her grandmother would have been proud.
The younger four kids running around the yard were staying out of the way as the half-wolf frolicked. Aeryn’s son, the three-year old Euripides whom we called O, was out of diapers and too active for me. But not too much for Diane. Her three-year-old daughter seemed to have the same amount of energy; and then there were the two-year-olds. They could have been twins. One was Aeryn and Toby’s third child, and the other was Charles and Diane’s second.
Terri sat in a rocking chair next to mine. Charles was in the power plant. A new load of coal was arriving from Denali by train today and he always liked to oversee the offload. Shane was the chief engineer for the Community, which had blossomed into a thriving city of ten thousand. Valdez and New Anchorage were growing, too. The Kenai Peninsula had seen the most growth and required the most oversight, but that wasn’t my problem, and those who were there were taking care of it.
As it should have been. I had my children and grandchildren to enjoy. I had only to watch the birth of a nation with Terri by my side and Floyd at our feet. It was the best show of my life.
Jo and Emma drove up in their truck, Tony wedged into the back with food and supplies. I looked to Terri.
“A little surprise, Chuck. For your seventieth birthday, and I know it’s not your birthday, but sometimes the weather in October is so uncongenial.” She smiled as we held hands and rocked.
“Closing the restaurant for today?” I said, knowing that it had to be closed if they were here.
“We put a big sign on the door directing people to the Borsch House for today. Sometimes it’s nice to get outside!” Jo’s hair was wadded under a cap as was Emma’s. Tony was big, towering over most normal humans. His biological father was a big man, too, but Tony was taller. Most importantly, he was an intelligent and happy young man who could cook. His parents wouldn’t have it any other way.
Chris and Colleen were next to arrive. Hermione wasn’t with them. She’d gone to some other party, but I wasn’t put out in any way as it was good to see a social scene return for the people of New Fairbanks. Chris and Colleen rode their bikes, even though they had a vehicle. Most people did nowadays, but gasoline was still at a premium. We had yet to develop our own currency as we continued to use the U.S. dollar. They hit us with an export fee for the cash, which made me angry, but we dealt with it as it was cheaper than contracting to have our own currency printed. Most nations on the planet had their currency printed in the United States. We were shortcutting the design and trade process. Who understands how currency trade works anyway? I reasoned.
Darren and Becca showed up with their five kids. They’d purchased one of the first Chevy Suburbans to arrive in Valdez.
“How do you do it?” I asked, looking at the mob tumble from the SUV and start running in every direction. Floyd chased after the fastest one. Bill was almost eighteen but stayed at home to help his mom with the other children, although he and Hermione were soon to be married. Madison followed her father everywhere and was the next hunter and trapper of the family.
They’d made good money over the years with the hides they sold once the markets reopened. They paid cash for their vehicle as did most of us.
Our cost of living was almost nothing as we still used a great deal of barter and subsistence. We traded with the outside enough to maintain our cash flow. We did a straight ten-percent tariff on goods imported and exported. No one batted an eye, and it kept our government running.
That’s how my daughter the President was paid. Terri resigned as the Vice President before our first election in order to allow Aeryn to groom a possible successor. Terri had no aspirations for higher office. She was happy to stay at home and enjoy the grandchildren, too. I think her ulterior motive was to keep me from doing anything stupid.
One was never too old to make mistakes, although they were less risky with age. The immortality of youth usually led a long parade of stupid decisions.
Nevertheless, my wife trusted me only so far. I wasn’t moving as quickly as I used to, although I still enjoyed driving the truck. I hadn’t hunted in forever, although I found fishing to be oddly appealing probably because Ben made me feel young.
At eighty, he was still going strong, but Clarisse had slowed down immensely. They arrived in his cherished quad, now an antique. He’d put a new engine in a year ago, hoping to keep it going for the rest of his life. Nobody knew what that meant. Clarisse brought homemade jam and fresh baked bread. Things with limited shelf lives like bread and fruit usually never made it as far as New Fairbanks. We had a grocery store, but it was more like a general store. Anyone driving up from Valdez or New Anchorage would be coopted into carrying something so deliveries would arrive every day, and one never knew what they were going to be.
The modern world. At least we had consistent electricity. I’d heard the train whistle as it headed out of town, which meant Charles would be along shortly.
Amber and Lucas rolled in, fresh faced and happy as they drove their new Subaru. We called them yup
pies to their faces, which made Lucas bristle, and he always brought up the fact that his old truck was still running. They joined the ruckus in the yard, playing with their grandchildren.
Abigail and Phillip had moved back to Chena Hot Springs where they rebuilt the kennel and were working with both finance and construction groups to reestablish the resort. I didn’t know if they were coming, but knew the first place they’d go would be our kennel where a couple teams of dogs lived. Aeryn, Charles, and their families loved dog mushing in the winter. The oldest of the bunch, Madison, was already grooming her own team and I couldn’t wait to see her turned loose this winter.
We taught all of them survival skills. They went to school, even the youngest, to learn how to learn, and at home, they learned how to live.
Abigail talked about an intern program, where the kids could spend a week or two at the resort, understand how to take care of the dogs and then practice mushing. If they were going to have a proper resort, they’d need mushers, and for that, they wanted Alaskans. Best to train them themselves.
Shane and Tanya arrived with Mark and their daughter Felicity. Mark joined his friend Tony and they disappeared behind the house. One never asked what young men did. Felicity joined the others running around the yard. She wasn’t that much younger than Diane. They all looked like little kids to me.
The last to make it was Charles and we could hear him from a mile away as he rode a dirt bike he’d resurrected from somewhere. I didn’t mind because he wasn’t reckless. He had a family to care for and took that seriously. On Diane’s sixteenth birthday they’d gotten married, just like he’d said, and the two acted like a prince and a princess. The irony wasn’t lost on me.
He parked his bike by the garage and jogged into the yard where he picked Diane up and swung her around. Terri caressed my hand as she loved seeing them that way..
And Charles wasn’t the last to arrive. Frank drove up in his truck that was covered in mud and filth. His wife, Mariska, was in the passenger seat. She’d finally relocated to Valdez and we joked about her being a green card holder.
I had many friends from the Council, both old and new, but the only ones here were the original ones from the Community of Chena Hot Springs and then from our return when we realized that the real world was a harsh place where we didn’t like the people. Frank was instrumental in helping us return to Alaska. This small group had sworn that they wouldn’t fall into the trap of drama and self-service, and they hadn’t. We were as close as any blood relatives could be, probably closer in many cases.
Aeryn called everyone to the tables to feast. When she spoke, people listened because she was the President. She didn’t let it go to her head, but she always carried one burden or another. She had smile wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, just like her mother.
I sat next to her, because I wanted to hear the latest from the regional governors. Some of us had slow satellite internet in our homes, but we didn’t have a radio station. I wanted news! Terri rubbed my back while we ate and I listened to my daughter talk about the regions, their growth and challenges. She had options and a preference for everything. She never sounded like she was complaining; her words were always hopeful.
She said she griped to Toby all the time, but he was sworn to secrecy. He shook his head and smiled. He’d turned out to be a good father, too.
One should never judge too quickly, even though he did shoot me and I brought that up, less often now, but always during storytelling time with the kids. I even showed them my old scar, which led to the inevitable eye rolling.
After compliments on a great meal, Lucas disappeared, returning shortly driving a passenger bus. Aeryn waved everyone to it. After a little yelling, even the young men were corralled and thrown aboard. Floyd climbed in along with a myriad of other dogs. It was Alaska; who didn’t have a dog?
Lucas drove us casually around town as Aeryn and Charles narrated the history of Chuck Nagy. It was fun as they elaborated and outright fabricated certain details, then we headed out of town, past our old home and on to Chena Hot Springs where they showed us the new construction. The lodge was coming along nicely and would be both bigger and better than the one we’d stayed in all those years ago.
Behind it were a couple of log cabins, but that was only on the outside. Inside, they were modern and nice, powered by the geothermal system that had been replaced. A placard hung on one that simply said “Nagy.” Abigail and Phillip were leading the tour and beamed when we arrived at the cabin.
“What’s this?” I asked, thinking that it may have been named in our honor.
“Your new home. To celebrate your birthday and your retirement, it is yours and Terri’s to enjoy for as long as you need it. It’s a gift from all of us,” Chris said.
I didn’t know what to say. I liked being close to my kids and grandkids, but we were mostly out of space. Charles and Diane had moved into their own place on their wedding day, while Aeryn and Toby stayed in our home, even after having three kids.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt for you two to have your own room,” I told my daughter and her husband.
When I looked in the closets, I found my clothes and our stuff. I hadn’t even seen anything disappear and Terri admitted that she’d been packing our home out for weeks. We didn’t have that much, because we didn’t need much and that’s why we were the richest people in all of Alaska.
We waved as the bus pulled away, taking all our friends and family away. I wasn’t sure how to feel. Floyd wanted to run to the kennel so we turned him loose, much to Abigail’s chagrin. She raced after him to limit the chaos he would cause.
“Almost twenty years ago we came here and found good people. The first thing we did?” I asked. Terri looked at me, patiently waiting for the answer. “We went swimming.”
“Shall we?” she asked as she pulled out a pair of shorts for me and shorts and a t-shirt for herself.
“Why not? It looks like we’re retired now.”
The End
This concludes the End Times Alaska Series. I hope you enjoyed it. From survival to nation building, we dipped to the lowest point of humanity and rose only as high as we were willing to imagine.
DEDICATION
Never give up on your dream
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I planned to write this as a trilogy, but an overwhelming number of readers wanted to see an ultimate resolution to the story. I committed to a fourth book, this book. I also wanted to resolve things for myself. What are the issues of today that would overlay Chuck’s world, a destroyed Alaska trying to rebuild itself?
And that’s where we’re going in this story.
So many people have helped me on this journey. As a post-apocalyptic survival writer, I join an eclectic group of individuals, many of whom practice what they write about. I’ve spent much time reading up on the other authors of the genre, communicating with some of them. We all approach things a little bit differently, but all of us agree that the fall of civilization is far too close. Buy a little more shelf-stable food, more ammunition, other things that aren’t available locally.
Did you know that to adjust the sights on an AK-47, you need a special tool that doesn’t come with the rifle? Me neither until I struggled with sighting one in.
Is your go-bag ready? It’s nice to have something in case you need to take off running and disappear into the woods for a while. And if you come back to a destroyed home, will you have enough of the right things to get you over that next hurdle (warmth, water, food)? You have to be ready to survive three days at all times, no matter what, no matter where you are. Then you have to be able to make ten days, then a month.
Through it all, never forget who you are, never forget what makes life worth living. We exist because of love and I hope that comes through in the End Times Alaska series. Hate is soul-sucking. Find someone to love, starting with yourself. Give yourself a ch
ance to see what better looks like, then strive for that.
And as always, I have to thank Diane Velasquez and Dorene Johnson for their support. They read much of my in-process material as I try to do sanity checks on the story. As I always say, I write love stories and this one is no exception; before the backdrop of nation building, we go forth, our hearts in our hands for all to see. Diane and Dorene get subjected to all of that in little bits and pieces. My apologies to any negative impact that may have on their sanity.
I want to thank Norman Meredith for his ideas and Boyd Craven for living the dream as a full-time author and professional prepper. He sets the standard for understanding the right skills to live after the fall. I like my coffee too much to survive the apocalypse.
Thanks to Winlock Press and Monique Lewis Happy for her continual belief and support of me and my stories. Without that, we wouldn’t have a bestselling End Times Alaska series.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I’m a lifelong daydreamer and student of human interaction. I have some degrees, but those don’t matter when it comes to telling the story. Engaging characters within a believable narrative – that’s what it’s all about. I live in the interior of Alaska, far away from an awful lot, but I love it here. It is natural beauty at its finest. If you liked the End Times Alaska series, I’d appreciate it if you checked out some of my other stories – for grit, try Terry Henry Walton; for a Young Adult, old-school-master approach, look to the Free Trader Series. And thank you so much for buying and reading my books – that’s what gives an author the greatest satisfaction.
Website: http://www.craigmartelle.com/
Fury (End Times Alaska Book 4) Page 20
