by Lynn Lamb
“Absolutely,” I said.
We were trying to switch over from the MREs back to real food, but it wasn’t easy. Luckily, for the next few days we have some of the fruits and vegetables harvested from Audrey’s greenhouse.
As soon as I walked into RV one and smelled the stew I knew I wasn’t going to make it. Why did our main staple have to be a trigger for my morning sickness?
Luckily, I was called for a MT meeting before it got too bad.
The big tent had been set up already. As I took my seat, Fitz gave me a knowing smile, and I tried to return it without anyone noticing.
“So, Laura, in your honor we are having a post-mortem on today’s movement,” began Fitz. “We would like to cut down the hour and a half it takes from breaking down the camp to foot on the gas pedal. It needs to happen in half an hour instead. And we would like to be on the road by zero five thirty.”
“That sounds ambitious. Maybe we could make it in forty five minutes and tack an extra forty five minutes onto the end of the day,” I suggested. “I taped it this morning, and I will review it tomorrow to see if I can find a way to get everyone moving a little faster in the morning.”
“I think that we need to implement a lights out by twenty-one hundred hours,” said Mason.
I swear that man only wants to argue with me.
∞
Everyone was in really good spirits during supper. We all came together in the big tent, but with the smell of all of that stew, I stole away to RV one to find a baguette.
“So, you, Jackson and Bailey are one big, happy family now?” said Mark from behind me. I hadn’t heard him coming, and I jumped and held my chest to regain my breath. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s okay, but you know how much I have always hated to be sneaked up on.”
“Yeah, I do. There’s something you keep forgetting; I’m still your husband,” he said. “But that’s not why I wanted to talk to you. I am feeling better, and I want to drive my truck again, at least part time.”
“Isn’t that something you should be taking up with the Doc and the MT?” I asked him. “You are one of them now, and they will need to sign off on that.”
“You have more pull than any of them,” he said.
“I’ll talk to the Doc, but I am not going to push him. He told me this morning that you are still on bed rest. Mark, you were shot twice only a week ago. I want you to have a successful recovery.”
He glared at me and walked away.
I need to find a way to make things better between us. I owe him at least that.
∞
I tried to wait up for Jackson to get back from his midnight security shift, but this pregnancy is already kicking my butt. I have no idea how I am going to do this for nine months.
I looked up at the alarm clock’s day-glow hands when I was awakened by shouting. It was ten minutes past twelve when I looked out the sliding door to see Mark and Jackson obviously ready to duke it out. I pulled on a coat and boots and stomped outside to break it up.
“What are you two fools doing?” I asked.
“He attacked me,” said Jackson.
“No, he attacked me,” retorted Mark.
“What are you two, kindergarteners? Cut it out before you wake everyone up,” I said.
“No, we need to do this,” replied Mark.
“Do what? Mark, you just had surgery and Jackson, use your common sense,” I said in a harsh whisper.
“Laura, you need to get inside in your condition,” said one of the idiots.
“What condition?” asked Mark.
“She’s going to have my baby,” Jackson said, mimicking my whisper.
Mark looked devastated as he stood motionlessly for several seconds. “How do you know it’s yours?”
“I can count, Mark,” I answered for Jackson. “You know how long it’s been since we… no. You know what? I’m not doing this. And I am not having a baby.”
Jackson looked like he was going to burst.
“I am pregnant. I have a bunch of glued together cells, and that is it. If, in nine months, I am holding a little Jackson or Jacksonette in my arms, then I am having a baby, or I had a baby. Guess what? I don’t care anymore. You two morons just stay out here and beat each other into oblivion if you want to. I am going to bed.” I stomped off. Jackson followed me.
“Hey, she finally gave us permission. Let’s do this,” said idiot number two.
Jackson slid the door back in place and threw on the lock as I pushed off my shoes and jacket.
He climbed in bed next to me, but I refused to turn towards him. “I’m sorry.”
“Fine, go to sleep,” I told him.
“Not until you forgive me,” he said.
“Fine, I forgive you. Go to sleep.”
I felt his warm breath on my neck. “But I’m not tired. My adrenaline is…”
“You must be kidding,” I said just before I felt a nibble on my neck and my body respond. “That’s not fair.”
“All is fair in love,” he told me.
“That’s not the saying. It’s ‘all is fair in love and war.’ ” His soft tongue drew a line from my neck to my ear. “Whatever, you win.”
“Nope, we both win,” he said softly.
January 27
Today, miracles happened.
But I will get to that after I catch up on the last few days. Being back on the road has made for long and frustratingly slow days, but due to my friends in the tiny cabin, I actually look forward to driving time now.
Charlotte asked if Audrey could come and work with her in the cabin. She made an energetic addition to our group. We were our own equivalent to an old-fashioned quilting bee. Except, instead of stitching together a blanket to proclaim our sorrowful history, we were figuring out our own sustainable survival. I guess that we were making a beautiful quilt in our own way.
The tiny cabin is now packed during the day. I have been fascinated watching Audrey with her baby. She can be sitting there figuring out how to grow chia seeds that usually only grow at fifteen degrees south of the equator in Australia, here on California’s now frozen land, and she is still able to nurse her infant at the same time.
I have decided to videotape the work of all of these ladies so that it won’t be lost. During the breaks, Charlotte still goes out to the trucks holding our precious seed and plants, and continues to experiment with different hybrids in the hopes of coming up with combinations that will grow in this harsh weather. Thankfully, the greenhouse-like structures over the plant beds in the trucks have held up fairly well. They took some hits during the sleet, but Charlotte would go out, no matter the time of the day or night, and make sure they stayed secured to the trucks. She is such a determined soul.
The Council meeting tonight was eventful in more ways than one.
“I have an idea,” said Holly when we had completed everything on the agenda. “If you think this is a good time to implement a new structure to our school time, I would like to work on something different.”
“I think I speak for everyone when I say that we trust you. You have been making amazing progress with the kids, so far be it from us to question your methods. Tell us what you have in mind and how we can help you make it happen,” I told my old friend.
“I have been thinking about how to integrate our present situation into our curriculum. I would like to expand upon Laura’s present radio classes. We have such a variety of age groups in the school, but there are things that they can all comprehend on their own levels. I would like to add several hours a day that would be dedicated to gardening and permaculture, elementary engineering for wind and solar sustainability, and diet and nutrition in the new world. I thought that we could get your leaders to teach in the RV, and ultimately in our classrooms when we reach the compound. I drew up this preliminary proposal,” said Holly as she handed me several handwritten pages.
I took a minute in silence to pull my thoughts together. This was exactly what
I have been hoping for, nay, praying for in my own non-religious way. Someone had taken the seeds of my rudimentary ideas and put them into focus for the future, and not just for us, but for future generations, and maybe even my descendants. Now we can plant those seeds and watch them grow. We won’t lose what we already know. We can now pass down our knowledge as a legacy of heirlooms that have more than material value, like the family silver. These heirlooms will allow future generations to take what we know now and expound upon that information, creating a world that will not look anything like the one we have left behind. The power of forthcoming generations will be limitless.
I wanted to cry, but I knew that would only confuse Holly and the rest of the council. I felt a huge amount of unburdening in this. The expectation of me coming up with most of the new ideas will hopefully be a thing of the past now. I could feel my body, my shoulders and the tension I always carried in my stomach, beginning to release.
But I couldn’t hide the emotion in my voice as I spoke. “All I can say is this is a gift sent from heaven, Holly.” She was sitting next to me, and I gave her a hearty sideways hug. “Thank you.”
Fitzpatrick and Mark interrupted our meeting before we could get any further. They were not in attendance this evening, but I didn’t know why until they brought their radio into the tent and began to set it up.
“What’s going on?” I asked. Everyone was looking just as baffled by their mysterious actions.
“We need to speak with Laura and Holly, if the rest of you will excuse us,” said the General.
“Sure,” I said, dismissing everyone else. Jackson stayed, of course, and Fitz did not protest his presence.
“What’s going on?” asked Holly, no longer willing to succumb to the men’s silence.
“We have been contacted by Major Newsome. He has met a group in Salinas who claim to know both you and Laura,” he told us.
Holly looked at me in complete shock. “Who?” she asked.
“Do either of you know someone by the last name of Waters?” he asked.
Every hair on my body stood and my skin prickled in disbelief. Holly grasped my hand, and we went over to the area where they set up the radio. Jackson followed closely behind us. I looked at Mark.
“It’s Penny,” he said. “At least it sounds like her to me. You two will have to verify that you recognize her voice.”
It’s difficult to describe the feelings I was having. They were similar to when my brother and the girls drove up to the Village walls, all of those months ago. But after all of this time, I had given up any hope that Penny and her family were alive.
I nodded at the two men to encourage them to begin the verification, and they did.
“This is Major Balous calling for Major Newsome,” he said.
“I’m here,” said Gary’s voice over the radio’s speakers.
“Go ahead and put her on,” said Mark.
“Holly, Laura,” said the voice. “Are you there?”
Holly’s fingernails bit into my hand. It was hard to tell by just those words, but I was pretty sure.
I took the mic and said, “We are here. Who is this?”
“Laura?” asked the tentative voice. “It’s really me, Penny. Tuck, Dillon and Olivia are with me. We were trying to find you and Holly. Is she with you? They won’t tell me anything.”
I knew; we both knew. Holly let go of my other hand, and it looked like her knees were giving way. Jackson caught her poor little body before it could hit the floor. She hadn’t fainted, but she had collapsed. I sat at the table next to the radio and began to sob. “It’s her,” I finally said, handing Holly the mic and sliding over on the bench so she could sit.
“Someone say something, please,” begged Penny from her mic in Salinas.
“It’s me, it’s Holly,” she said through her shock. “Laura and I are both here.”
“I need to know that you are both alright,” said Penny, her voice breaking like she was about to crack.
Holly could no longer speak, so I pulled myself together so that I could answer her questions. “We are alright, are you and your family okay, too?”
“We are,” she said. “We made it. We are going to find a way to get to you.” I could hear her tears in her voice.
Gary’s voice was the next to speak. “We will help you all reunite in the Valley, but for now, just catch up.”
I kept thinking that I was inside one of my dreams, that none of this was happening in real life.
“Holly, Laura, I need to tell you both something,” said Penny.
I closed my eyes and waited for my dream to turn into a nightmare.
“We made our way from Utah to Truckee. That was the last time we spoke on the phone, remember Holly?” she asked and then continued without waiting for an answer. “That’s where we were during the bombings. We hid the camper in the forest; just outside of the town, and we waited there. We filled the camper with tons of supplies from the store.”
Penny’s husband, Tuck, had owned his own outdoor store before the Last War. I hadn’t thought about it until now, but that was about the biggest advantage anyone could have to survive a nuclear war and its aftermath. And since they were used to the blizzard conditions in their home in Riverton, Utah, they had another huge advantage.
Penny continued, “It took us forever to make it to Sacramento, and when we got there it was hard to make out where any streets had been.” I braced myself for what I knew was coming, and took Holly’s hand again and gripped it tightly. “It took over a week, but we finally found Mom and Dad’s house. It was just like the other piles of rubble, but do you remember that pink lawn flamingo that we used to make fun of? The one that you, Holly, drew glasses on with a permanent marker? It was right there in front of their house, standing upright in the dirt, like it was saying, ‘Look, this is what you have been searching for.’ We knew that they couldn’t have lived if they stayed in their house during the attacks, and they didn’t have a basement.”
There was a long pause, and I looked at Holly. We locked eyes and wouldn’t break the connection until we heard it.
“We found their bodies. Dad was still holding onto Mom. Mom’s head was resting on Dad’s chest. We decided that it would be fitting not to pull them away from each other, but to bury them just like that. It had always been true love with them. Holly, I believe that they made the decision to go on to the next world just that way.”
Holly’s face was grief-stricken. Her body was trembling. She stood. I’m not sure what she was going to do, but she fainted this time. Jackson was there, like he always was, and he caught her before she hit the ground. She was only out for a few seconds, but her face was completely white.
“Holly,” I said. “Mark will take you to Doc Malcom. I promise that I will tell you every word of what was said tomorrow. But please remember, Penny and her family are alive, and we are going to see them real soon.”
She started to object, but Mark instinctively got between her and the radio and held her shoulders as he led her out of the tent. She was too overwhelmed to fight it.
“I am going, too, since it is obvious that these people are who they say they are,” said Fitz.
“Penny,” I said into the mic. “Holly’s alright, but I sent her to the doctor. She is just overcome with all sorts of emotions.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if it would be too much for her. I thought that knowing how we found them would somehow make it a little easier.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I promise that I will take really good care of her until we are together. Gary, you are to bring these people to the Village. You should be getting there before we do if you are still on or near the Grade. Make sure that they are given any food and medicine that they need. These people are special to me, Gary.”
“No, worries, Laura. I will make sure that they arrive there alive and well,” said Gary.
“Is it true that you are some sort of leader for a community?” asked Penny.
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“Yeah, it is,” I said. “It’s a long story.”
“I should’ve known that you would find Holly and keep her safe. I am not surprised that you, of all people, are alive and thriving. You always had problems with your confidence, but I always knew that you had so much strength in you.”
“Thanks. I still doubt myself occasionally, but I learned to ignore those voices and do what I have to do,” I told her. “And look at you. I know how bad it is out there. It would take nothing less than the warrior that you are to make it all the way here. Penny, I can’t wait to be with you again. I have missed you so much. Just hearing your voice makes me feel like another piece of me just clicked into place; like I am becoming whole again.”
I looked over at Jackson, and there was a tear rolling down his face. I lifted my finger to catch it. When I did, I rubbed it between my fingers to absorb it into my skin. He has been changing through all of this too, becoming stronger, and if I might say, more human.
“I have so much to tell you. So much has gone down,” I told her.
“I heard about you and Mark. I’m sorry you couldn’t make it work,” she said.
“Yeah, the Village grapevine seems to stretch way past the boundaries of our little campground here,” I told her.
Penny and I talked for at least a half an hour more, until Mark came to reclaim his radio. When I had to say good-bye, I promised that I would find a way to talk as we both made the rest of the journey to reunite.
I am even more determined than ever to get out of this damn forest and to the end of this unmarked trail.
∞
I was emotionally overwrought by the time Jackson escorted me out of the big tent. We went directly to Audrey’s tent to pick up Bailey, who volunteered to watch her while I was in the Council meeting.
She and her family were avid campers, and their tent proved it. It was huge, with two side rooms. Bailey and Reese were laughing and playing when I went inside.
“Time to go, Bailey Bug” I told her. When she saw my red and swollen eyes her whole demeanor changed.
As we walked back to the cabin, she took my hand and Jackson’s, as well. She looked up at me and said, “Why are you so sad, Laura?”
