“If what she says is true, we have very little time to worry about defenses anymore. They will be tested tonight, whether we like it or not.”
Just then, Sam arrived with a questioning, panicked look in his eyes. Taylor had informed him of the situation while relieving him. Sam was a smart guy with lots of mechanical knowledge, but this lack of emotional control explained why Jane was in charge and not him.
He came into the circle and sat down. “What did I miss?” he questioned. “What in the heck is going on?”
“Taylor must have told you what Erika told us, Sam. We need to decide what we are going to do and I was just asking Steve about our defenses,” Jane replied and looked at Steve again.
“As I was saying, the walls are stout and not made of sheet metal like those crazies think. If they attack they will be determined, and a grappler thrown over the wall may be able to hook it and pull it down.” Steve was cautiously calculating the possibilities involved with this attack. Erika had brought them vital information, but there were still many variables unaccounted for.
Erika interrupted the conversation, “Do you mind if I see to my horses and the girl? We have a long way to go still.”
“It is your plan to leave, then?” questioned a woman Erika had not heard from yet. She had blond hair that was starting to gray. It hung to her shoulders. Her blue-green eyes told a story of deep pain and many nights of crying herself to sleep.
“Yes, I am leaving. I know the situation here is critical, but I must get back to my family. I am not a member of this group, not that you aren’t all great people, but I am simply passing through. Plus, I heard those assholes saying that they plan on taking prisoners for their own use, just like slaves, or worse. I do not plan on being one of those women they are so short on,” Erika replied honestly.
She knew she was being cold for not staying to help them defend this place, but she also knew she could not afford further delay. She had been gone too long already. Who knew what horrors Vince was facing and how long he could wait for her. How long could he hold out and hope that she was out there, somewhere, alive?
“I’m with her,” the woman replied. “My kids may be alive, and I have to know. I am leaving too.”
“Jaclyn, we talked about this. There is no crossing the river towards Foresthill. The bridge is gone and they dredged the lake over there. It is deep and wide. The upper Auburn clan guards the few crossings that exist. It is certain death,” Jane replied.
“Don’t you see, Jane? It doesn’t matter anymore. If my kids are dead, then I am dead, or I might as well be. Who wants to live in this messed-up world anyway? What am I going to do? I have to go back. I have to know, and if it means my life to find out, then so be it. I am going.” Jaclyn said this with finality and got up to go and pack her things.
“I’m sorry,” Erika said. She felt like this sudden discord in the group had been her fault. She got up and walked towards her horses with Star following right behind her.
When she reached the horses, she got out the sitting blanket for Star. She knew it would be the only time they could rest before they must move on again. Erika dug deep into the food bag. They were running really low on food. There was a piece of beef jerky left and some raisins. She ripped the jerky in half and gave Star the bigger one. Then she divided the raisins. Erika figured it might be their last meal, so it might as well be a good one.
Erika gave Star’s share to her but put her own food aside for a minute. The horses were enjoying themselves so much that Erika unsaddled and unpacked them. They had not been unpacked since leaving Henry’s and they were thrilled. Erika scratched them and rubbed them down with water. In her head, she was thanking them for bringing her so far safely. She was also saying a prayer for their continued safety in this last step of their journey. The horses seemed to sense her emotions and nuzzled her gently with their heads. Finally, Erika got out some oats that she had left for them and put some in their feed bags. When she was satisfied that the horses were well cared for, she sat down to enjoy her meal with Star.
Erika glanced over toward the circle of people that was still in deep debate. Sam, Steve, and one of the young teenage boys named Randy had set off to start working on some unknown task. Jaclyn had never returned to the circle. Soon the discussion ended, and the rest of the people set off to take care of the tasks they had been given. Jane was walking toward Erika.
“Well, we have decided to leave as well. We have survived here well enough but what of the future? Those men are just going to keep coming until they have accomplished their goal, and we are all captured or dead. Plus, once the rainy season starts, this river is going to rise and our comfy home might not be so comfy then. So we are packing. We do not know where we will go but we will go, and hopefully, we will come to a better place,” Jane said halfheartedly. This was a no-win situation for her. Stay here and defend a walled mud hole that was eventually going to flood, or venture out into an unknown that might be worse than the situation here.
Erika could not believe what she was hearing. She thought she would just ride through and travel off again, just her and Star, but now everything had changed. The group was leaving too, and for some reason she trusted these people, and Erika wanted to reach out to them.
Erika almost jumped at Jane in her excitement. “Well, Jane, suddenly we find ourselves in the same predicament, heading in the same direction, so why don’t we travel together? My supplies are running low and Kit’s pack is light. We could build a cart and carry more of your group’s goods out.” Erika was thrilled that she would be able to help and still keep moving. Everything was going to be okay.
“That would be great! I do not know how we could thank you for that. Many people have wondered how they would carry out all their stuff. I want to let you know we do not plan on leaving here quietly. We have water cannons that Sam and Steve are rigging to go off automatically. Once the marauders have made it through the walls and the water cannons, we will rig our generator in the bridge to blow up and hopefully take some of those jerks with it. This will make it difficult to follow us and hopefully it will convince them to turn back.” Jane laid the plan out before Erika, and she was impressed. In just a few minutes of planning, Jane had composed a great defensive strategy. They would not stay here and let stubbornness kill them all in a useless defensive plan to keep their compound. They were survivors, and they knew moving on could keep them that way, surviving. But they were not sulking and dragging their heels out in defeat: they would provide these intruders with an unexpected surprise.
Chapter 14
During the next couple of hours, everyone was immersed in preparations. Jane went around supervising and making sure her belongings were ready to go, her loud mouth directing and answering questions. Sam, Steve, and the boy, Randy, had finished readying the defenses and they started packing their own belongings. When Randy was done, he went and relieved Taylor at the post so Taylor could pack. The small guy who was older, Jim was his name, used to work as an electrician. He had engineered the generator and was busy working on turning it into a bomb. The generator was built into the bridge and used the water flowing through turbines to generate electricity.
Jane went over and enlisted the help of Sam and a young teenage girl, Kim, for the building of the cart. They used an old car axle and quickly had a cart rigged up. It would be a challenge for Kit to pull this cart in the mud so it was decided that it would be loaded immediately. The group with this cart would leave as soon as possible, so they had a very good chance of making it to the top of the canyon without being followed or caught. A quiet couple that had survived with their four-year-old son was chosen to guide it. It would be dark, so Erika had given them some candles. The light from these candles would guide the groups to one another at the top.
This couple, Rich and Joan, had also found a three-year-old boy who was wandering around in their neighborhood. He was part of their family now and would accompany this group. Since they had most of the valuable supplies, it was decided
that Taylor, Randy, and Kim would travel with them as well. It turned out that Kim’s brother, who had died, was very involved in the restoration of classic automobiles, and since she had helped him often, she had considerable knowledge of mechanics. She could be instrumental if anything went wrong with the cart.
Sam and Kim also devised two carts that could be pulled up the hill by hand. Two more groups were composed to take these carts to the top. All of the groups would head up the canyon in different directions and meet at the top. This way, any marauders that decided to follow the group up the hill would only be able to find one group, and there was no way of catching the complete caravan with all the goods and people together. Erika had supplied them with some candles as well. She just knew she had lugged those things all over for something. They had come all the way from the restaurant. When she thought of the restaurant experience, it seemed like a lifetime ago.
One group was composed of Jim the electrician and Steve the contractor. The other group was composed of Jimmy, or Jimmy D as he was called, and Tom Jensen, a seventeen-year-old teenager who had been on the football team and was out running on the track when the big quake hit. It had saved him, but, unfortunately, his family had not been so lucky.
Erika had to pack her own pack back up quickly so Kit was ready to go. Erika was sending her supplies with him and Richard and Joan. This was a huge risk, but she wanted to be mobile if anyone needed help. She tried to convince Star to stay with Rich, Joan, and the other kids, but she absolutely refused to leave Erika’s side. Star had been so content to follow Erika’s direction, and this was the first time that she put her foot down and would not comply. She was not going to lose Erika too. Erika finally gave in and let Star stay with her and Artaz.
As Erika packed up her things, she took stock of what she had left. She packed up her three blankets, her sauce pans, the first aid kit, and her box of candles (even though there were only twenty left now, it was still enough to justify lugging them around). Erika fondled the soft fabric of the outfit that Carol had given her and then wrapped it up in one of the blankets and packed it away with the others. She still had a bag of rice that she hadn’t been able to eat because she didn’t want to risk building a fire or wasting the water. She also had three months worth of tampons, and she had been thankful that she was lugging them around as well. She had no idea what the other women were doing at that time of the month but was thankful she did not have to worry about that yet. She had a few packs of smokes left and decided that right now was as good a time as any to have one. This gave her a minute to relax and enjoy some sense of familiarity. When she was finished packing her belongings in as small a pack as possible, she led Kit over and got him hitched to the cart. She tried one more time to convince Star to travel with Richard and Joan but she would not budge and went over to stand with Artaz.
Kit and the main supply cart were fully loaded with supplies from the compound. After some hugs and promises of meeting at the top, the first party left. After crossing the bridge, they began to carefully ascend the hill. Erika watched Kit go. He was so strong, and he worked so hard to pull the cart up the hill. By the time dusk was setting in, the other two parties had left as well. They only had the three rifles and one had been given to Richard upon his departure. This left two rifles and two individuals behind to wait for the attack and trigger the bomb.
The two individuals staying behind were Sam and Jane. They were going to have to trigger the bomb, cross the bridge, and run for safety. They decided that Jane would trigger the bomb and Sam would cover her as she completed her task.
Jaclyn, the woman who was leaving, had kids in Foresthill. She was all packed up and ready to go. She was saying her goodbyes now and left Jane standing at the gate watching her go. Just as Sam was closing the gate behind her, Jane saw the marauders coming down the side of the mountain from the right-hand side.
The gate was still closing and only had an inch left to go then bang! It slammed shut. There was no way to get it open again in time to get Jaclyn safely inside before the marauders ascended upon them.
Jane screamed to Jaclyn, “Run Jaclyn, run and hide! They will catch you!”
“Jane, get that gate open again just enough for a horse to get through,” Erika barked the order while she was running toward Artaz.
Jane was frantically pulling the gate open. Jaclyn started to run along the edge of the river where the flowing water had pulled back the mud and left stone that was not as slippery. Erika lost sight of Jaclyn when she ran to Artaz. Star was already mounted and Erika jumped up in front of her.
“Whatever you do, do not let go!” Erika yelled while driving her legs into Artaz.
Artaz leaped forward, and in a flash, they were flying through the opening of the gate. She heard the water guns start blasting on the left as Artaz’s rump cleared the right-hand gate. The mud flew in the air as they pounded along the river bed. Then, she saw Jaclyn running in fear as fast as she could. Artaz was soaring now; his hoofs were clacking across the rocks but somehow, he found solid footing every time. Erika was a short distance from Jaclyn. They were going to make it. Then, all of a sudden, a truck came into her view from her left. The engine roared as the truck bounded across the mud. They were closing in on Jaclyn. Erika realized she would never make it before the truck and pulled back hard on Artaz causing him to come to a sliding stop.
As Artaz spun around on his heels to scamper back to the safety of the compound, Erika heard Star scream, "They have her!”
“There is nothing we can do now except get the heck out of here.” Erika was out of her head to be running after Jaclyn. All that would come of it was her and Star getting captured as well. Then she heard the men from the truck shouting.
“There it is! The horse, that girl is riding it. Get it!” They quickly turned and started chasing Erika down, but before they could get their truck rolling through the deep muck, Erika was through the gate and Sam was closing it behind her.
Erika turned back as the gate closed and saw Jaclyn tied up like an animal in the back of the truck. The men were laughing at her and hitting her. She screamed in horror for someone to help her, but again, there would be no help. She would just become another victim in a world that no longer had sympathy for the defenseless.
Erika could not help her now, and she had already lingered here too long. The walls were starting to get pulled down by the grapplers that had been thrown over the top of them. She saw Sam and Jane pulling back to the designated point for the final retreat. The marauders were shooting guns and throwing spears at Jane and Sam. Jane and Sam were firing back, but their ammo was very limited, and Erika knew it. Sam ran back to the cover point. Erika had been forgotten in the fray. The bridge would be blown and Erika was on the wrong side!
She dug her heels deep into Artaz and they galloped toward the bridge. She could see Jane getting ready to hit the switch, but in a second, Jane was standing there with a spear directly through her eye, and it was coming out the back of her head. Sam screamed for Jane and shot the spear-thrower dead in his tracks. Sam went to fire again and the only sound was click, click. He was out of bullets and the marauders were closing in. Erika jumped off a galloping Artaz and rolled over to the generator. Artaz hit the brakes quickly on the bridge as soon as he felt Erika jump. Star instinctually moved up and gripped the reins. Star yanked on one rein and Artaz wheeled back around toward Erika. Erika hit the switch, and as she looked back, there was Artaz with Star at the reins.
Erika leapt up in front of Star and they tore across the bridge that was blowing up almost underneath them. They turned to get Sam and saw a bullet rip through Sam’s chest. As the last of the bridge blew, the debris went flying along with ten men who had been on the bridge, following closely behind Erika, hoping to take her down as well.
Artaz was now in a wild gallop, completely freaked out from the guns and explosion. He barreled up the hill uncontrollably, but then bang! Star screamed out in pain as a bullet ripped through her calf and struck
Artaz in the guts. He flinched but the pain just fueled his wild scramble. He ran like never before, but as his life ran from his wound, he collapsed halfway up the canyon in a lifeless mass.
Erika and Star were thrown off Artaz as he fell. With that final crash, all that could be heard was the quiet of an unbelievable night. Star was knocked out, and Erika lay still, completely dazed from the experience. As Erika lay there somewhere between reality and unconsciousness, she thought again that this was all just some horrible nightmare and she had to wake up eventually. What was this life? Would everyday be like living in hell? There must be a nice normal life to be had somewhere. How fragile everything had been. People walked through life everyday taking it all for granted, their cars, cell phones and their lattes, their dramatic social issues and medical problems that spawned from obesity and laziness. Well, welcome to the real world, to life where you had to fight for survival with people who used to be neighbors, or at least civil.
Chapter 15
Erika sat up quickly. She wiped a tear from her eye when she saw Artaz sprawled out at her feet. The life was gone from his limp body. She continued scanning the broken terrain for Star. Then she saw her. She was curled into a ball, which must have been her natural reaction when Artaz started to go down because she was out cold.
Erika scrambled over to Star and checked her over. Her head looked okay; there were some new scratches but nothing of too much concern. Her chest was okay and she was breathing well. Her arms weren’t broken but when Erika began to scan her legs, she saw lots of blood on the back of her left calf. She quickly saw that it was a wound from the same bullet that had killed Artaz.
Oh no, oh no! that’s all Erika could keep thinking. Normally, the child would have been rushed to the hospital in Auburn, but now, what was she going to do? She had a little knowledge of treating minor cuts and scrapes, but not this. This was major. Erika could not take it anymore and screamed out, “Why, God, why?”
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