“I didn’t want you waking up in the other shirt. Don’t worry, I was a gentleman.”
“No,” she answered. “You’re my hero. I don’t know how you did this. I don’t know how long it took you. You had to carry my pack too, didn’t you? You did all that? Not now, but someday, I want you to tell me the story of the coyotes and how we got here.” She knelt down behind him and gave him a hug, then looked around. “Can we stay here for the day?”
“We can stay for a couple of days, if you like. It’s okay for us to rest. I think we deserve it.”
Ben made her a cup of tea, and they just sat and admired the view. He was amazed at how upbeat she was. He knew that she really couldn’t remember much of the experience, but he was also seeing an inner strength that was allowing her to move on.
“I like the peace,” said Lila, observing some ducks idly swimming about. “My old life is starting to seem pretty meaningless now.”
“I know. I miss my family a lot, but really, that’s about it.”
“I don’t even miss my family that much,” said Lila. “I think I was a loser in their eyes. How long would it have been before I started to believe it myself?”
“Do you miss your sister?”
“I was only six when she died, and she didn’t seem to be around much. So no, I guess I don’t. My parents might have been different before she died, but I really don’t remember. All I know is that—and I know this is weird—I’m living more now than at any time in my life.”
She stood up. “I haven’t showered in a long time. Let’s go for a swim. Race you!”
Lila whipped off her clothes and went running into the water.
Ben was awestruck at the sight of her naked body. He immediately felt the familiar stirring.
She splashed into the water. “A little cold, but not bad. You coming in?”
“Um,” he began. “It’s a little embarrassing. I might have to sit here for a bit.”
Lila laughed. “Ben, we’re soulmates, remember? We’re two of the last people on earth, as far as we know. Nothing your body is doing right now is anything to be embarrassed about. The more we see, the more we know each other.”
Once again, Ben was amazed at Lila’s maturity far beyond her years. “Okay, then!” He tugged off his clothes, conscious of what Lila could see, and followed her into the water. It felt good after so many days on the road. He looked around. “I wonder if there are snapping turtles in here.”
“If there are,” answered Lila with a smile, “you have more to lose than I do.”
They played for an hour, putting aside everything that had happened to them since that day in the freezer. Lila eventually got out and dug a bar of soap from her pack and came back to the water, Ben watching her longingly the whole time. They then spent another half hour washing themselves from head to toe. Ben felt like he was washing off the smell of death. It was a glorious feeling. Then they washed their clothes and set them out to dry. Afterward, they lay on the beach naked, just soaking in the warmth of the sun.
That night, they made themselves a feast of canned chili, crackers, and canned peaches, with packaged cupcakes for dessert. The day had allowed Ben to relegate the scene from the day before to a far corner of his brain, so he was able to eat again. Lila, luckily, still only had hazy images of the incident.
“That was filling, but we’re going to have to start thinking about fresh food at some point,” suggested Lila. “We forgot to pick up any books on wild game.”
“We’ll get a couple of fishing rods too,” added Ben. “Hey, it’s apple season. When we reach Western Mass, we can look for apple orchards.”
“And anytime we pass a house, we can look for a garden and get some fresh vegetables,” said Lila. “It’s late in the season, but maybe there is still something left. Maybe there will be some farms. We’ll just keep raiding gardens until all that's left are rotten vegetables.”
As much as they loved their time by the lake, they decided not to stay an extra day. They both felt the need to get on the road, and went to bed that night feeling clean and refreshed.
As we lay next to each other, we knew we were deeply in love. It was scary though, because we also knew that we were it. If one of us died, the other would wilt and die too. There would be no reason to keep going. That can make life a very fragile existence. More fragile than it already is.
They were on the road early the next morning. The hours trudging along the highway on their journey were long, but with each passing day they found their endurance and strength increasing and they could walk a little faster. The frustration of making seemingly little progress eventually gave way to acceptance. Sometimes they would talk for hours on end about the past and the future—the future becoming the favored topic. Other times they would walk silently for long stretches at a time, often hand in hand without even remembering who reached out first.
As they walked, they took some time to study the manuals for their weapons and the how-to books on gun safety. They were determined to be more prepared in the future than they had been with the coyotes. They spent a lot of time dry-firing their guns, and occasionally took some actual target practice, being careful not to use up too much of their ammunition. They also practiced taking apart and cleaning their weapons.
That day they encountered a city again, going through the Chicopee area above Springfield. They were wary of animals and of live people, but saw few of the former and none of the latter. At one point they ran across a pair of dogs that seemed ready to attack. A couple of shots in the air scared them off, however. Lila was bothered by them, images of her battle still in the dark recesses of her mind.
“Did you notice their eyes?” she asked. “They were weird. Kind of a hollow look. Scary.”
“I did,” answered Ben. “Something’s happened to them. But just the bigger animals. The birds and smaller animals—like squirrels and things—seem okay.”
The smell was once again horrific. The bodies were everywhere and were often torn apart. They hurried, not taking breaks, determined to find a relief from the carnage. It seemed to take forever, but the landscape eventually became rural again. They walked as long as they could beyond the city and camped that night by another lake, after finding a garden that provided them with tomatoes, green beans, and carrots. Ben looked at the map and realized that they could reach Great Barrington in two days at their present rate.
They were walking along the next morning when Ben was suddenly aware that he no longer heard dogs barking, the sound that had accompanied them at the beginning of the trip. He mentioned it to Lila.
“That’s so sad,” she said. “The ones stuck in houses or tied outside have probably died of hunger and thirst. If it’s like this all over the world, just think how many that is. And that’s just dogs. Billions of cats, birds, bunnies, hamsters … all dead. Funny, I seem to be sadder about the animals than the people, except the children.”
“I think we’re looking at things differently these days. Could it be that we’re sort of liking the world without people?”
“I kind of feel guilty thinking that way,” said Lila.
“We didn’t cause it. We’re dealing with the fallout, so I guess we have the right to think however we do without guilt.”
"Funny that it's the biggest event of our life and we don't even know what to call it," said Lila.
She was right. The world around us was dead and we didn't even know how to describe the disaster. What caused it? Was someone behind it? What do you call something of this magnitude? CNN would have had an important looking banner running across the screen proclaiming some original name their creative heads had come up with. FOX would have followed with a bigger and more important looking banner. Then the local news stations would try to prove to their viewers that they could keep up with the big boys and would design their own cool graphics. The race would be on to find the most shocking story from the disaster, or the one that would produce the most tears. The ratings quest would finally obs
cure the event. No, no names would suffice for this obscenity.
At the end of the day, they were excited to finally get off the Mass Pike and start heading southwest toward Great Barrington. The change of direction was a welcome feeling.
They had been walking most of the following day when they came across the sign announcing the Great Barrington town limits.
“We’re here,” sighed Ben. “Let’s find a place to sleep tonight, then we can locate the trail tomorrow and start heading south.”
They walked for awhile longer, when Ben suddenly stopped and looked around. The smell of wood smoke filled the air.
“Do you smell that?”
“I do. I see it too.” Lila pointed up the road to a church with smoke rising from its chimney. “Do we investigate or pass it by and make ourselves scarce?”
Lila never got an answer to her question. They heard a shout.
“Hey! Welcome!” A man in jeans and flannel shirt with a priest collar emerged from a side street and jogged toward them with a big smile on his face. “So good to see some living, breathing people.”
He was a pleasant looking man. He seemed to be in his thirties, tall and well-built, with a sincere smile on his face. Ben and Lila couldn’t help liking him immediately.
“I’m Father Phil. You can just call me Phil. I’m the priest of the church up the way. Where do you hail from?”
“Newton,” answered Ben. “I’m Ben and this is Lila.”
“Brother and sister?”
“No, friends,” answered Ben.
“Soulmates,” added Lila, squeezing Ben’s hand with affection.
“Ahh,” said Phil with a smile. “Well, you must come up to the church. I have lots of food and some clean beds. You can stay as long as you want. You’re only the second people I’ve seen since it all happened. Sadly, the first group weren’t doing too well—a couple of women and a man—and they took off. They were panicking pretty badly and nothing I could say helped. I haven’t seen them again.”
Ben and Lila both flashed to their encounter with George and Bunny.
“You seem to be doing well though,” said Phil, eyeing their backpacks and weapons.
“I suppose as well as anyone could be doing at a time like this,” answered Lila.
They followed Phil up the tree-lined street to the church. He took them through the back entrance, which led into a large room.
The back room was lined with supplies of all kinds—blankets, cans of food, bottles of water, medical supplies, personal grooming products, and a host of other items.
Phil looked embarrassed. “I’ve raided every store I can think of. I figured the Lord would understand. I wanted to be able to provide for any survivors.”
“Come,” he continued. “Let me show you where you can put your things.”
He led them into a second, smaller room. There were a half dozen mattresses, each neatly made with clean sheets, blankets, and pillows. Phil had made the room as inviting as possible.
“I was expecting more people.” His face sagged a bit. “Each day that goes by I begin to think that I never will get very many people. It’s sad.”
“You might be right,” said Ben. “Like you, we ran across a couple of panicked people, but that was it for the whole trip … until now.”
Phil poured some water into a bathroom sink for them to wash up.
“The toilets, as I’m sure you’ve already found out in your travels, don’t work. I dug a trench out back. Nothing fancy, but it will do the job. Toilet paper’s by the door.”
“Thank you so much for your hospitality,” said Lila. “We really appreciate it.”
“The Lord has let me find a way to help,” he answered.
When they were finished stowing their gear—all except their Sigs, which they didn’t want to part with for even a minute—they joined Phil in a kitchen off the big room. He was preparing a canned ham with some fried canned potatoes and fresh vegetables, using a propane stove.
They sat down at a table and Phil asked them to join him in prayer before the meal. Out of courtesy, Ben and Lila bowed their heads.
“Thank you Lord, for the bounty we have before us. Thank you for bringing these weary travelers to the doorstep of your house. We are thankful for your love and guidance during these times of crisis. Please continue to watch over them. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.”
Phil’s prayer only succeeded in bringing up questions for me—and maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. I had never been religious, but I did believe in God in some form. I felt very strongly that Lila and I had been brought together for a reason, but was it some God figure that did it, or was it something else altogether? I knew in my heart that it wasn’t just some random happening, some chaos theory thing. But the God Phil was praying to seemed to have a personality. I imagined the old belief of some white-bearded guy sitting on a throne. So I was conflicted; I could see some kind of universal force behind everything—I couldn’t understand it, but I could believe in it because it had no personality—but I had a real hard time with Phil’s God. Why would he let this happen? Why would he let most of his children on this planet die? Why would he save us? Why would he save George and Bunny, only to let them slowly go mad with fear? If Lila and I hadn’t been brought together, it would have been very easy for me to not believe at all. I guess the jury was still out on all of that.
Ben and Lila told Phil their story. Well, not all of it, Ben thought. After all, he is a priest. Ben also sidestepped around the coyote incident, to protect Lila. Phil then told his story. He had been a star college football player hoping for a chance in the NFL, when a trip to Rwanda with his local church group changed him forever.
“I saw all of the violence and destroyed lives and realized that I was destined for something more than football. I had to help the world in some way. When I graduated college I went straight into the seminary and studied to become a priest. That was a long process, and at the end of it I volunteered to do missionary work in third-world nations—Haiti, Guatemala, even back in Rwanda. Finally I came back to the states to receive my first assignment. Here it is. I’ve been here two years.”
“So your background helped you in this crisis, knowing what to do,” stated Lila.
“I’m not sure anything could have prepared me for this,” he answered, “but I’m doing the best I can.”
“What if nobody else shows up here?” asked Ben. “What then?”
Phil shifted uncomfortably and Ben immediately regretted asking the question. “Honestly, I don’t know. I was put on this earth to do the Lord’s work. He will find a mission for me.”
Ben changed the subject. “Do you have any ideas on what happened?”
“Some,” Phil replied. “I was a political science major in college, so I can’t help keeping up on current events—not that any exist anymore.” He stared into space for a moment. “Anyway,” he was back, “about a year ago, there was a flap going on concerning the military and EMPs. That stands for electro-magnetic pulse. It comes from a nuclear device that can be detonated and affect anything electronic—anything with circuits. That’s why all the cars have died. They all have computers. I bet though, that if you can find a classic car from, probably before the seventies, it would still run. They don’t have the computers. Of course, finding gas would be a problem since all the gas pumps run on electricity. An EMP would affect so many things that you wouldn’t think of—even the flow of water through taps and toilets, because it’s all controlled electronically somewhere up the line.”
He continued. “The threat of EMPs has been around for a long time, and there have been lots of articles and books—both nonfiction and fiction—written about them. But what I was reading last year was something different. The rumor was that some lab in the U.S. had come up with a new bomb that would emit an EMP more powerful than any before it. One that could potentially affect much of the earth. That, of course, had the conspiracy theorists yakking, and people who had
heard about it were up in arms. Then any mention of it disappeared completely. I bet if I went online right now—if I could, of course—there would be no report of it at all.”
“So,” he concluded, “If I had to guess, I would say that somehow it was used on the world.”
“Are you saying we—the United States—might have done this ourselves? Not terrorists?” asked Ben.
“Who knows,” said Phil. “Another country could have stolen it, but why they would use it is beyond me. Terrorists could have stolen it. But remember, we had a lot of terrorists in our own country. They weren’t all from the Middle East and Europe. It could have been a total accident. I just don’t know.”
“But from what you describe,” interrupted Lila, “an EMP wouldn’t kill people. Only electrical circuits. So what caused the deaths, and why only people, not animals?”
“Good question,” answered the priest. “I’m of the opinion that this EMP was powerful enough to affect human circuitry—our own electrical system. After all, our brains are made up of electrical impulses. In a sense, it fried people’s brains. If I had to guess, my bet would be on that.”
“The other thing,” he added. “I’m not so sure the animals—the larger mammals anyway—weren’t affected by all this. I’ve seen some strange animal behavior of late—animals that normally wouldn’t be aggressive, suddenly attacking out of the blue. Because their make-up is a bit different from ours, I would guess that their brains were affected, just not to the extent of the human brain.”
Ben immediately flashed back to the attack by the coyotes, who were normally shy.
They talked for awhile longer, then weariness overcame them. They promised Phil they would stay at least one more day. That would also allow them to find some books on hunting and fishing—light ones, preferably—as well as some fishing equipment. They retired to their mattresses, which they pushed together. They talked for a few minutes about Phil.
Eden Rising (Eden Rising Trilogy Book 1) Page 5
