by Mark Gordon
Chapter 40
Return to 'Two Hills'
They reached 'Two Hills' in the early afternoon.
After they had carried their bags in from the car, Matt took the girls to his parents' old room and gave them time to unpack and clean up. He did a quick tour of the area around the house to make sure there had been no intruders, and then they went outside into the sunshine where the girls watched Matt replace the dying flowers on his father’s grave. He was touched when Gabby ran over to the garden and pulled a daisy from one of his mother’s shrubs and returned, before placing it beside Matt’s posy on the rocky mound. He hugged her fiercely and then held her soft little hand as they walked back to the house for a late lunch and to discuss their plans for the afternoon.
As they ate their sandwiches, made with bread from the freezer, Matt explained the advantages of staying at the farm. Not only were they isolated from the feeders in town, they could also live self-sufficiently almost indefinitely. The generator in the shed and the solar panels on the roof would provide them with electricity, and there would be plenty of fresh food from the vegetable garden and his mother’s chickens, which could be supplemented by canned and dried food. If they needed more protein, Matt could slaughter a cow, but he didn’t think that would be necessary for a long time. When he told the girls that they would need to pitch in and help with chores around the farm, they nodded dutifully, understanding how important it would be to work as a team from now on. He also told Gabby that she would need to spend some time each day doing schoolwork, which Montana volunteered to be responsible for. Matt told them that the next time he went to Millfield he would go to his old junior school and get some books for her to work from. He told her that it was still important for people to be able to read and write so they could tell future children how beautiful and amazing the world had been before the feeders had risen.
Matt felt he needed to be honest with both girls so told them he didn’t know what to expect when the sun went down later in the day. He looked at Gabby and said as gently as possible, “I don’t think we’ll see feeders tonight, but Montana and I will need to take turns staying awake just in case. If you wake up and Montana’s not in bed next to you, don’t panic okay?”
“Okay Matt. Will you stay with me when Montana’s not there?” she asked hopefully.
“Do you want me to sleep on the floor in your room?”
“Yes please,” she answered.
“Okay then, but just for tonight. I need my own bed otherwise I get grumpy,” he said, pulling a face, and making Gabby giggle.
Matt told Montana that he would go to town tomorrow and try to find some heavy-duty equipment to help fortify the farm. If the feeders left them alone, the next few weeks would be spent making serious modifications to keep them safe at night. The most urgent requirement would be fencing materials, because the farm's barbed-wire fences were designed to keep cattle in, not feeders out. For that task Matt would need a large truck to transport the items he needed – long metal posts, concreting supplies and rolls of fencing wire and barbed wire. He also hoped to find a couple of portable arc lights with built-in generators to throw light on the fences at night once they were erected. He didn’t know if the feeders would be discouraged by the light or not, but it would certainly improve their chances if Matt and Montana were forced to defend themselves with firepower. The changes to the farm would not be attractive, but Matt knew if they wanted to stay here, it was essential to build and maintain a small fortress.
He finished outlining his plans, and invited Montana and Gabby to familiarise themselves with the house and the immediate surroundings. He told them where to find the chicken coop (“follow the squawks”) and the vegetable garden, but Montana looked totally confused when Matt asked her to pick any ripe vegetables and collect the eggs.
“How will I know if they’re ready?” she asked.
Gabby chimed in. “It’s alright I know what to do. We used to have a vegetable garden and chickens in our backyard. I’ll teach you.”
Montana’s face was blushing as she replied, “Thanks honey.”
“You’ll be fine,” Matt said. “It’s a very instinctive thing. If it looks, smells and feels ready, then it’s ready. Especially keep an eye on tomatoes, lettuce and zucchini. They can over-ripen or go to seed really easily.”
“No problem,” Montana replied. “Let’s go Gabby. This might actually be fun.”
“Oh, and watch out for snakes,” Matt said, winking at Gabby, who had to put her hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle.
As Matt walked away from a dumbfounded Montana, he yelled out, “I’m going to check on the cattle. I’ll see you in a little while.”
He grabbed his shotgun from the house, and went to the big shed where the all-terrain vehicle was kept. He threw a bale of hay into the back of the vehicle, and thought about how his feelings for Montana had changed since he first saw her. Was he becoming attracted to her simply because she was the only girl he knew, or was there something else? Was he just imagining a connection between them, or was it genuine? He didn’t know, but he did know that he had developed an enormous amount of respect for her in the last couple of days. Some girls at her age would be freaked out by the situation they were in, but Montana had adapted to each fresh shock with flexibility and even grace – and she had a sense of humour. Maybe it had been a little mean to scare her with the “snake” comment, he thought, but she really needed to be aware of the dangers that existed everywhere now. With no doctors or hospitals, it would be a cruel trick of fate if you survived the feeders only to be killed by a spider bite, an infection, or a bad fall. Thinking about these things made him realise that he would need to stock up on medical supplies tomorrow if he had time. It was going to be a very busy day, he thought, as he swung his shotgun around onto his back and headed up the hill to feed the cattle.
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Matt stopped the vehicle and turned off the ignition, as the cows came trotting over to the gate. He threw the bale of hay over the fence and watched with concern as they started feeding enthusiastically. He wondered if he would ever need to protect his small herd from the feeders. Their food supply in town (whatever that might be) wouldn’t last forever, and so he would need to be vigilant and eventually think about protection for his cattle. Perhaps flocks of animals would need shepherds from now on, he thought sadly. He knew that if it became a necessity; it would be a duty he could never fulfil. Maybe the cattle would just need to get lucky to survive.
He was sitting on a log watching the cattle eat, when unmistakable sounds of screaming down at the farm jolted him. He didn’t think it sounded like screams of people who had just seen a snake either. It sounded exactly like the desperate shrieking of people whose lives were under immediate threat. He ran to the quad-bike, jumped on and raced down the trail towards the farm as fast as he could, while the shouts continued from the valley below.
