Rob knew that cleaning up this mess of a camp would take time. First, they had to take care of the dead. No one in the camp was happy with the amount of death surrounding it, and they all knew the right thing had to be done for those poor souls. The old rotting bodies scattered out behind the camp and the heads hung as trophies around it were to be piled and burned. The casualties from the battle would receive a proper burial. Next, they needed to take stock of the supplies that were here and this compound was loaded with them. All of these supplies would have to be organized and readied for transport. All this work meant the timeline they were supposed to maintain would be utterly blown.
The group that came in on the attack was very concerned that their friends and families would be worried about them not arriving at the Lotus camp in the timeframe they had planned on. The Auburn group had been capturing and rounding up horses, since they saw how versatile the horses had been in this harsh new landscape. They had a dozen of them so Rob had Randy, Michelle, and Steve eat some food, take a little rest, and then ride immediately to tell the group that had already left for Lotus what had happened and that they would be delayed.
Then Rob met with the new leader of the Auburn refugees, Gloria. She was a nice lady with dark eyes and black hair that was going grey. Her Mexican heritage was obvious, and she took charge with a Latin flare of authority. She had rallied the people of the camp to rise up and take down the monstrous individuals that were holding them under their thumbs. She was fed up with living in fear. Her husband Jose and her son Jose Jr. were fighting with the Auburn gang, but they were just following orders to keep themselves and Gloria safe. In actuality, they were just waiting for the right moment to get away from the compound. When they saw it, they took it, but Jose had died in the struggle. Gloria focused her pain on saving all the people she could and now those people looked to her for leadership.
Gloria knew all the ins and outs of the food preparation and domestic needs of the camp so she immediately directed her people to cooking, cleaning the soiled clothing, and supply organization. All the people who had any carpentry skills were sent to task building carts for horses and carts that people could pull as well. Everyone would have to do their share in order to maximize the amount of the valuable supplies they could carry. Anyone whose clothes had been destroyed in the fight and the people who had been living as slaves were given new clothes. These clothes had been raided from the surrounding clothing stores and there was no way to carry all the supplies they had stocked up. Food and medicine would receive the highest priority.
Erika was extremely happy about this abundance of clothing. The trauma center had been set up outdoors because of the limited indoor space. A cool September wind swept across her bare shoulders as she sat up, holding the blanket to her chest to keep herself covered. She saw a pile of clothes next to her. New, clean jeans and a new T-shirt that was black. There was a new sports bra that was just her size, fresh, clean underwear, and a new camouflage hoodie. Plus, there were even new socks and a pair of boots next to her moccasins. To Erika’s surprise, all the items even had the tags on them still.
She began to reach for them when she heard a voice in a German accent. “You may want to clean yourself up before you get dressed.”
“Who are you?” Erika had been near exhaustion when she was taken to the trauma center and had not remembered much from then. She was hoping their victory had been real, not some sick dream she had conjured in an unconscious state. “We won, right? Doug is dead, right?” Erika said a little panicky.
“Yes, yes, don’t you worry," he reassured her in his thick German accent. “We won and Doug, thankfully, is dead. My name is Stan and I am a doctor,” he explained.
“Oh.” Erika was still a little light-headed.
“Still feeling dizzy are we? Don’t worry, it will subside, but your ribs are going to hurt for a while. Look… there’s a shower over there.” He pointed to an area that had a water tank perched above a blanket surrounded box.
“A shower? Really?” Erika loved showers and it had been months since the last one she had taken, at home in her cozy house.
“Yes, a real shower. But it’s going to get well used today. You better get to it, and then we’ll put some fresh bandages on those wrists and wrap those ribs tight to minimize the pain,” Stan said in his smooth comforting accent.
Erika looked down and saw the vibrant bruising along her rib cage. She looked at her wrists and saw the burned skin with dried blood on her hands. “Well, that’s some more scars to add to the list.”
“I would ask about those, but I’ll wait till you’re ready to share.” As a doctor, Stan had seen many things and knew how sensitive talking about her amount of excessive scarring could be.
“Thanks.” Erika got up, sleepily wrapping her blanket around herself. Her ribs surged pain through her body as she moved her arms. She winced but remained quiet. This was not the first time she had dealt with the pain of broken ribs. Her martial arts practice had caused a couple in the past.
“Here, take this.” Stan had seen her movements and knew the pain would be excruciating. He was taken aback by her lack of reaction to it and knew she must have endured a lot of pain in her life.
“Is there enough? I can handle the pain.” Erika was now used to the extreme rationing of pain killers.
“I know you can. You look like a very tough girl. It is just a couple aspirins and we have plenty. Take it,” he insisted.
Erika took the pills with a drink of water that Stan had brought her. She continued drinking the water. It was so refreshing. She had no idea how thirsty she was, and then her stomach growled as she smelled the delicious smell of food cooking.
“Mmmm, that smells good,” she murmured to herself.
“I want you to take it easy on water and food, sport. Your ribs are broken and with no x-ray, I can’t tell if they spurred in toward your stomach or your lungs for that matter. So, we need to keep that stomach small, and I wouldn’t recommend any fighting or physical activity for a while,” continued Stan. “Anyway, shower first, now go,” he ordered.
“Okay,” said Erika. She immediately liked this man; no one had called her sport except her grandfather and it conjured fond memories of him in her head. She projected these loving feelings onto Stan and he deserved it. He was very kind and had an excellent bedside manner.
Stan had stooped down and picked up her pile of clothes. He knew if she attempted this motion, it would be very painful for her. “And here’s a backpack for your old ones if you want them. But, you will need the pack later anyway, and all your weapons are piled over there.” He pointed to an organized assortment of weapons, all waiting for their owners to recover.
“Thank you,” said Erika, “for everything.”
She took the clothes from him and headed toward the shower. The shower was ingenious. A big plastic tank was stacked on top of a wooden box. The tank was heated from the sun. Besides the arduous task of getting water up there, its design was pretty simple. The wooden box was surrounded by rugs. They were probably raided from the department store. They were the same rugs Doug had lined his den with. Erika shuddered at the thought. Inside the wooden box was a tube that let water out of the tank on top. All you had to do was pull a rope to uncap the hose and unleash the water.
Erika stepped in and removed her towel. She looked down at her body and rolled her eyes. Her body was an absolute wreck. Old scars from the steaming hot plastic were now covered in bruises that came to a vibrant peak of color around her left ribs. She pulled on the handle to start the water flowing and began to rinse away the dried blood that clung to her skin. She thought about just how much blood she had cleaned off her body since the beginning of all this madness as she let the water run through her hair. Reaching for a bar of soap, she noticed there was real shampoo and conditioner too. Erika was thrilled. It had been so long since she had anything other than soap to wash her hair with. The shampoo smelled like coconut and she washed her hair vigorously. The
n she conditioned her hair thickly and gave it extra time to work its magic as she lathered the soap all over her body. She remembered that she had absolutely loved the feeling of her soft hair as she rinsed for a final time. It was smooth and silky and she could run her fingers right through it without hitting one snarl. The luscious smells of the soaps filled her nostrils and she was feeling very refreshed.
The pain medicine was kicking in and Erika felt wonderful as she reached for her clean clothes. She smelt the familiar smell of new clothes fresh from the store and it was wonderful. She remembered back to how her husband had always insisted they wash any new clothes before they wore them. He had been right. There was a flame retardant chemical they had used on new clothes that could be dangerous but maybe that additive would be a benefit now. She chuckled to herself. She savored the smell and the crisp feeling as she put on each new article of clothing. There was a bench outside the shower for dressing. She approached it and sat down to put on her boots and pack up her old things. Her shirt had already been trashed. Doug had torn it apart anyway. When she looked up from her bag, Vince was standing there with a pile of clothes.
She jumped up in a joyful bounce and without words they embraced and held one another tightly. The pain of the hug was intense but Erika didn’t back away. The pain was entirely worth it. Both of them had tears rolling down their faces, completely enraptured in one another’s love.
“I thought I lost you… again!” Vince sighed.
“You should know by now you’re not getting rid of me that easily, silly,” Erika jested back.
“I love you, Erika,” he said very seriously, completely ignoring her sarcasm. Rarely did Vince use her actual name and it amplified the power of his statement.
“I love you too, Vince.” Erika looked deep into his eyes. They could feel the love swirling around them like a ball of fire.
“So, you’re done? I missed all the good stuff ?” Vince broke the seriousness and teased playfully, with a longing look in his eyes. “Oh yeah, little miss bruise, scar body,” Erika teased back but deep down she wondered how anyone could long for this body of hers.
“Now you better knock that shit off. You are still my beautiful woman.” Vince knew her too well and knew what she had been thinking. “Did that shower make you feel better?” He quickly changed the subject.
“I feel freaking awesome. They have coconut shampoo and conditioner in there, babe. Real shampoo and conditioner! Here, smell.” Erika put her head toward him and shoved a handful of hair under his nose.
Vince inhaled deeply. She smelled so good to him. He wrapped his arms around her again and squeezed her.
“Ow, ow, ow,” Erika yelped. One giant hug had been quite enough for her body to handle.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Vince quickly let go and backed away a little. “You’re just so beautiful. I could just eat you up.”
“Look at this,” Erika said and lifted up her shirt to expose her ribs.
“Ouch... that looks horribly painful, babe.” Vince wished he had been able to keep her away from that asshole.
“I’ll heal. God knows, I’ll heal.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, you better get your stinky butt in that shower. You need it bad,” Erika said with a teasing look. She was waving her hand in front of her nose.
“All right, all right, don’t get your panties all wrinkled up,” Vince said with a wink. “That’s my job.” He quickly stepped into the shower stall to avoid a smack to his bottom from Erika.
Erika sat back down on the bench to put on her new socks and boots. New boots, she had always hated new boots because they were so stiff and took so long to break in. But, with the feeling of coolness in the air, she assumed the waterproof boots would serve her better than moccasins. She knew the feel of this weather. She was from the Midwest and they have warm summer rains. In California though, it had to get cold to rain. She had always hated that.
When she was done lacing up her boots, Erika went to meet with Stan to get all bandaged up. Even though Erika protested having him wrap her ribs in an Ace bandage, it did feel much better to have them wrapped. Plus, it limited her movement so she didn’t accidentally bend at a painful angle. Stan had insisted because he knew that soon they would be on the move and Erika would not shy away from work.
Before too long, the camp came alive. Everyone was awake and well rested. They were all on the move. Most were grabbing some food before they went over to assist their assigned team. There were many more people than Erika had previously assumed. The smell of food was in the air and spirits were high. There was another smell in the air too. Outside of the camp, in the old graveyard, a fire was still burning. It was a big pile of bodies, and it was taking a long time to burn. Erika shook her head in disgust. It was unbelievable to think that people who had acted so civilized could turn to this level of horribleness in less than a few months. No one had any idea how fragile the world was. It was just taken for granted.
By the time Stan was done working on Erika, Vince had rejoined her fresh from his shower. They went to visit with Greg before they left for the food area. Greg was in a particularly bad mood. The combination of the condition of his knee and the broken collarbone prevented him from moving very much. He couldn’t even use crutches to get up and move around because the crutch had to sit in his armpit and it messed with his broken collarbone. He would have to make the journey to Lotus in a pull cart with the supplies, and he did not like that prospect one bit. Vince and Erika left him pouting like a baby. They assured him he was going to be fine, but he just sat there and watched them go.
They walked to the food area, feeling jovial. When they got there, Rob found them and proceeded to fill them in on all the plans while Erika and Vince ate. They were thrilled that a message had been sent back to the Lotus camp so that the children would not worry about them being dead. Rob told them that they were currently packing up all the supplies, and they were properly taking care of all of the dead. Erika noted the smoldering smell coming from that direction. He explained that it was taking a long time to dig all the graves so some of the graves had to hold multiple bodies, and they were burning a lot more bodies than they thought they were going to have to. But, at least they would be laid to rest in a respectable manner.
Rob had decided that as soon as all the carts were finished being built, they were going to leave. He was trying to get as many carts built as possible from the available building supplies. They needed to bring as much as they could. It felt completely wrong to leave behind anything that could be of some use in the future because who knows when you would find it again. Rob explained that there were lots of people that wanted to come with them to the Lotus camp. There was nothing left for them here. He had considered the implications and saw it in two ways. It was good because there would be plenty of hands and horses to move the goods. But it was also bad, because the group in Lotus might not want to take the people in. At least the amount of supplies they were bringing might make the Lotus Group much more welcoming.
He had also surveyed all of the power making equipment that the Auburn group had scavenged. They had gathered a lot. Generators were stacked on one side of the room. Some were being used for parts and others were in great shape. They had gasoline stocked in just about every kind of container imaginable. Solar panels were in use on the roofs of any of the building that were still standing. The gang had been raiding them from just about everywhere they found them so there was a stack of panels inside that weren’t even in use yet. They had rolls of wire to run the electricity stocked up as well. It was a gold mine of power goodies, and he wanted to take as much of that as he could as well. It made sense but it would be heavy. That was why he wanted to leave as soon as they could. The going would be very slow.
Chapter 28
It was a crisp morning when the caravan set out. Rob had as much inventory as possible organized and strategically packed into all the carts they had built. The group lined up like a human and horse train. They left that sad place b
ehind and no one looked back. Jaclyn, the lady from the Auburn River camp who had been held captive, was only going to travel with them down to the river and then she was headed back up towards Foresthill, a town on the same side of the river as Auburn but further upstream. She was going to finish the mission she had started before those monsters had altered her plans. She wanted to find out what had happened to her kids. The carts slipped and slid but everyone made it down to the river in good shape. Jaclyn hugged Erika tightly and said good-bye to everyone. Her blue eyes had tears in them as she took her heavy pack and began to carefully make her way along the river bed.
The main group had to stop there at the bottom of the canyon and rebuild a makeshift bridge. The carts were too big and heavy to make it across the river without one. They were already having a hard enough time making it though the muddy mess by the river. While they were stopped, fires were built and everyone ate another meal. Building the bridge ended up taking longer than they thought because supplies were scarce. People had to be sent back up the hill to gather materials and then come all the way back down to build. In the meantime, camp was pitched for the evening. Going uphill with the carts would be much harder than it was going down and that had been difficult enough. No one wanted to attempt the climb in the middle of the night.
This whole attack had been a way bigger production than anyone would have thought it would be. Erika was in awe as she looked out over the group. There had to be at least forty people in all. Each pair of two had a cart to pull, except for those who were injured. They were being towed behind the horses. It was a sight to see. Makeshift gear had been constructed so that the horses could be put into teams of two and pull a much larger cart. This in itself was a feat.
Day After Disaster, The Changing Earth Series, Uncut Edition Page 24
