Big John went to liaison with the people there. Big groups could be rather intimidating and Big John had already met up with the people here just a few days before. It was not long before Big John returned to the group.
“So what’s up?” Vince asked John.
“We are not going over there, Vince,” John answered with a weird look in his eyes.
“Why not?” Vince wondered. “We have plenty of meat to share.”
“They are dead, Vince,” John choked the words out. “Someone killed them all. They must have been really desperate too because it was all done with clubs and axes. They must have come in the night, just like those guys who attacked us. The people here must have got drunk and lazy and let their guard down. It’s a horrific scene, though. We don’t want the women and children to see that. Let’s just keep going and put some distance in between us and that.”
Without any argument, the group pushed on. It was a very long evening trek and they made it all the way to where the only two roads in this area merged. While the camp was pitched, the older folks who had rode in the carts for most of the trip prepared dinner. Big John had sent Taylor and Tom back to make sure that no one was following them. He was scared that the group of stragglers would tail them all the way over the mountains. There was really nothing they could do about it, except keep their eyes open and stay ready. The exhausted travelers ate and relaxed, watching the fire, and listening to Mitchell fiddle with his newfound skills on the guitar. Taylor and Tom returned to camp and told Big John that they hadn’t seen anyone, but more people were put on watch that night anyway.
The threat of the stragglers was the least of their worries because during the night, the quakes returned. In the darkness, the earth awoke and shook the very gates of hell. Whole chunks of the mountain slid down the hillsides and huge gaping cracks opened. The camp awoke in a frenzied panic. The horses were frantic and people scurried about trying to ready themselves as fast as possible. The camp was packed in the blink of an eye. Big John was a true leader, driving his herd of people on towards the mountain peaks. The line weaved through the black morning like a snake.
The horses snuffed, shuttered, and blew their smoke-filled breath into the air. Every horse trainer was worth their weight in gold that day, and they stepped up into their roles with ease. Erika had Kit in the lead. He was always calm and helped to calm the rest. The other trainers, Jen, Dan, and Val, were dancing from horse to horse instructing its leader on how to proceed and keep the animal calm. Taylor and Tom had been training to use the horses in a military fashion and weren’t much help with handling the carts, but they knew the horses and provided a calm shoulder for the horses to nuzzle up to. It was quite a sight to see; the trainers calming the spirits of the animals while their own danced wildly in their hearts. They hid it well from the animals.
Quake after quake struck and shook, trees fell, and the very rocks under their feet melted away to quicksand. There was nothing to do but continue on as best they could. The sun slowly rose over the mountains they were trying so desperately to conquer. Amazingly, they had made fairly good time in the early morning. It would have eased all their worries to stop for breakfast but the quakes were relentless and no one knew what to do. Ripper was freaked and stuck to Erika’s side like a tick. Big John, driven by an unending sense of responsibility, drove them fearlessly forward. Until his worst fear was realized. They had just passed a little lake called Loon Lake. It was a beautiful mountain lake, clear blue straight to the bottom. Erika had loved swimming in it when it was hot even though the water was freezing. The party had to halt during a fierce shaking, simply to stay on their feet, when swoosh! A huge crevasse opened like a can of tuna and half of their party was swallowed like plankton into a whale’s mouth. The screams of people and horses were deafening. Children and babies were instantly lost into the deep abyss. The people on the edge clung to the dirt and roots. Erika and Vince had been at the front of the line, chatting with Big John, Greg, Nancy, and Brett about the route they were going to take when the chaos struck.
“Keep going, Vince, do not stop, do not look back, just keep going!” Big John screamed as he saw the disaster behind them unfolding.
“But we can help!” Vince was not a man to turn tail and not assist where he could.
“Look, Vince, you need to think about your family, get them to safety. Just go!” John was direct and there would be no argument. He was afraid it would be like breaking ice. Once someone fell in, any attempt to save them would just break the ice more, and more people would end up in the water.
“Vince, what are we going to do?” Erika was wild-eyed.
Looking into his wife’s eyes, full of fear for her children in the cart, he knew he had but one choice. “We are going on, Erika. We have to get over the mountain. Let’s go!” he yelled back to the people behind him.
They were totally distressed and took his direction eagerly. They were happy to follow any order in this chaos. There would always be time later to count the remaining folks and mourn the losses, but if they never made it over the mountain, that time might never come. The horses screamed and scrambled up the edge of the mountain. The carts were pulling them back into the ground that had now turned to a substance more like quicksand than rock.
“We have to leave the carts!” The voice came from down the line. It was Jen. She had been caring for these animals long enough to know their needs inside and out.
“We cannot leave the supplies!” It was her father, Harold, speaking out against her. His concern for his family’s future outweighed his concern for the safety of the horses.
Father and daughter were now in a heated argument that no one had time for.
“Quickly, unpack the carts and load as much as you can onto the horses and our backs,” Vince had gone back and stepped in. “Jen is right; the horses will die if we ask them to continue on under this strain. Plus, we will move more efficiently without the carts. Just let them go.”
The order was followed immediately and everyone was rushing to get the supplies packed onto their backs.
“Did you see Big John?” Erika questioned when Vince returned to her side.
“No, but we must unpack the cart and carry as much as we can on the horse. Give the kids their packs.” Vince was straight to the point. There was no time to worry who had made it and who hadn’t.
“I wondered how long it would take to come to that realization,” Erika replied under her breath. She had watched Kit struggle under the heavy load for far too long. She quickly packed up the kids while Vince loaded the essentials onto the horse.
“I will walk the horse, you walk with the kids, let’s go!” Vince was completely driven. He would not stop until they were safely over the mountains.
Erika fell in behind Vince and Kit with the kids in tow and Ripper still stuck to her side. She looked back for a moment to see who she could. Nancy and Brett were right behind them. Penni and her two girls were behind them. Greg and Penni’s son, Mitchell, had gone back to the end of the line to make sure everyone was keeping up and check for any stragglers that may have survived the chasm. This worried Penni greatly, given the tragic past they were outrunning. Harold’s family was behind Penni and they had put Carol on one of the horses. Jen danced between the remaining horses making sure they were still all right and staying as calm as possible. But the trees were so thick and strewn about that Erika could not see farther beyond that. She thought of her friends and wondered who was still with them.
They were now passing the high mountain lake. It was empty. The cracking was relentless. They trudged on and on. They took very short breaks now and again to rest the children, elderly, and horses, but the constant shaking was like a whip at their backs driving them on and on. There was no time to count the remaining folks. When they stopped, everyone just stood in line, panting, and gathering their strength. Each time they did stop, Vince was hopeful that Big John would catch up with some survivors, but it never happened. Then Vince’s fear fo
r his family and the remaining people would get the better of him, so he got the train moving again. Erika was quiet. The strength in her husband’s eyes was reassuring and she watched the children and carried Dexter when his feet could no longer carry him along.
Night fell and they still kept moving. A compass ensured they were still moving east and the slope of the mountain intensified. The people and animals were so tired and the endless shaking had rattled them to the bone.
Erika was startled by a hand touching her back. “Are you doing all right?” It was her mom. “Brett said he could carry Dex for a while if you want.”
“That would be great, Mom. I see Star is starting to falter a little and I can’t carry them both,” Erika admitted.
“Let’s get Vince’s attention and stop for a second so we can regroup.” Nancy knew they had to keep going, but the whole group needed a chance to reposition their kids and supplies if they were going to keep up this pace.
Erika passed Dexter to her mom and rushed up next to Vince to relay the message. He was not pleased with the request but he didn’t protest either. They were getting close to Tahoe now and he needed to make sure everyone was prepared to make the final push. Plus, he was holding tight to the thought that Big John was going to catch up.
The kids were asleep on their feet, so most of the supplies were unloaded off the horses and onto people. The kids were loaded onto the horses. The shaking wasn’t stopping and it worried everyone fiercely. They took a much-needed breath and pushed on for the final climb up the side of the mountain. People stumbled and slipped over a massacred landscape. In the dark, they just kept walking. The sound of trees cracking and falling was deafening, but they continued on. They climbed over the debris and prayed that no trees would fall on them and no falling rocks would crush them. Many prayers were said that night and by some miracle they stayed safe, for now. As they cleared the last ridge of the mountain, the shaking became so vigorous no one could stay on their feet. Even the horses laid down and hugged the earth, hoping it would not give out underneath them.
“Is that water?” Erika yelled to Vince.
The sound of gigantic waves crashing was overwhelming and drowning out all other sounds.
“No, it’s Big John!” Vince yelled back.
There was a faint cry of a man screaming over the sounds of the gigantic wave that was chasing him. The shaking continued and the edge of the mountain was about to go. The remaining group scrambled with their horses to the eastern side of a huge crack that was forming along the ridge. Vince and Greg took a look at one another and ran for the edge of the crack as one side began to break away from the other. Big John leapt into the air as the mountain began to sheer in half. He flew in slow motion through the air with his arms extended and bam! Vince and Greg each caught one of his hands and hoisted him to safety.
The shaking suddenly stopped. Everyone made one final effort to get away from the newly formed edge and then they collapsed. No one bothered to pitch camp, no one spoke; they just collapsed into little family heaps of people. Even the horses laid back down and silently fell asleep. Slight aftershocks shook them during the night on a few occasions, but no one noticed. Compared to the shaking they had endured, it was insignificant. Their escape had been so extreme that adrenaline had been the only factor pushing them forward. But now their bodies were toast and they had nothing left to give.
Chapter 35
The morning sun rose crisp and clean. The remaining horses had found an area of grass and were munching away, enjoying the calm that had finally come over them. The elderly were up, keeping the children—who had slept through the final panic—busy and quiet. That way, the adults and teenagers, who had carried the bulk of the load, could rejuvenate their bodies. Slowly but surely each individual started to awake, Erika and Vince had fallen asleep in each other’s arms and there was not a more welcome sight than opening their eyes and staring into the others.
“We made it,” Erika said in a sigh of relief.
“Oh my God!” Vince gasped as he stared out over the cliff.
“Holy shit!” Erika agreed.
The whole side of the mountain had sheared off and the Pacific Ocean had filled the void. The surf crashed into the mountain about fifty feet below the top of the cliff and ocean mist flew in the air.
“I wouldn’t stand so close if I was you,” Big John said as he, Greg, and Penni walked up to them.
“All those people,” Penni said with tears in her eyes.
“We made it, girl. The kids are safe. That’s all we can think about now,” Greg said trying to reassure her. In reality, they all felt the pain.
“I’m serious, though, guys. We made it safely and let’s keep it that way. I don’t know how the mountain will hold up to the ocean,” Big John said as he turned his back to the new coastline and walked away.
“He’s right, come on, guys, let’s go,” Vince agreed as he held Erika’s hand and went to follow John.
The group was alive and kicking when they returned. Everyone was talking about how lucky they had been and thanking Big John and Vince for being the slave drivers that had kept them moving and alive. Jen and Mitchell had gone out to check on the horses. Besides some scrapes and bruises, they too had made it safely.
Erika began to take stock of who had not survived the trip. Three of the ten horses had not survived. The group now numbered thirty-two individuals. That meant eighteen had died. Susan, who she had just met, had lost her husband and first born daughter, Zoey. Edward had tried to save her and fell in the abyss along with her. Dan and Val Winslow had been helping with the horses in the back and had died as well. The loss that saddened her the most was the loss of Randy and Michelle. They had fallen back because Michelle was pregnant and the fast pace was hard on her. Erika began to cry when she thought of them and their unborn child that would never know life on this earth. Maybe it was for the better. What were they supposed to do now?
Once the group was counted and back on their feet, they decided it would be best to leave the new coastline as far behind as possible and set up a more permanent camp where they could recoup and stay for a couple of nights before heading out again. They needed to figure out what direction they were headed.
They hiked through the day to the east side of Lake Tahoe. The ocean had flowed into the lake but the lake had stayed for the most part within its boundaries. There were dead fish everywhere around the edges. Some were dead from the surge of the lake boundaries when the ocean and lake had combined, and some were dead from the new salinity level of the lake. The group collected and gutted all they could carry. They would make an awesome feast and the extras could be dried for the future.
They found a gorgeous area, free from any other survivors. The people here in Tahoe had all fled down the mountain toward Nevada in the shaking, leaving behind plenty of goods for this group to pillage. The camp was set and food was prepared. Everyone stuffed themselves so full they could hardly keep their eyes open after a meal like that.
Vince, Erika, Nancy, Brett, Big John, Greg, and Penni went to sit high on a hill where they could watch the children playing in the meadow below. They sat and talked. The smell of fish drying wafted through the air. From their vantage point, the conversation from the camp could just barely be heard. The horses played and ate in the grass. Off to the side of the hill, Mitchell and Jen were quietly snuggling and talking. It was so peaceful and beautiful. Erika thought back to a life she had once known. Everyone so busy they had no time for one another. Technology so intrusive, it occupied the few extra seconds of life they did have. Having been through so much and looking out over this beautiful scene, Erika realized maybe this was not the beginning of the end, but a return to innocence, a finding of oneself.
The End
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Day After Disaster, The Changing Earth Series, Uncut Edition Page 32
