Dangerous Shores: Book Three; The End of the Road

by Christine Conaway

  He squeaked his way down the driveway with the Karen at his side helping him push. Hannah had the leashed dog and held on to Barbie’s hand. Maggie had Joe on her back while Rosa and Jessie carried the younger kid’s packs. Dana had the pack with Holly cuddled to her chest. Ellen dropped back to walk beside her. “Are you okay? You’ve been pretty quiet.”

  “I’m fine. Is my Dad okay?”

  “Oh yes honey. He’s fine.” At one time she would have thought Dana was too young to hear it but in this new world she told Dana what they had found in the house.

  Dana sniffled. “He must have loved her a lot.”

  “Yes I believe he did. They left a letter for whoever found them. That’s why your Dad’s not with me. We put them in the grave and your Dad’s filling it in. Your Dad is a very good and caring man. You can be proud of him.”

  “I don’t know him very well because he’s always gone. I love him because he’s my Dad.”

  “Well you’re going to be getting the chance to know him a lot more once we get to the farm.”

  “Are we ever going to get there? All anyone talk’s about is the farm. I don’t understand why we didn’t stay at Nana’s. We had a farm there.”

  Ellen didn’t know what to say to her. Dana had a valid point. Ellen hoped her farm would live up to everything she had said about it. She prayed she remembered correctly what her Dad had always told her. She prayed there was a bunker as she had always believed there to be. She prayed it was more than an empty concrete fallout shelter that had been popular in the sixties. She prayed there was a good reason to have put all of these people through everything that had happened to them.

  Rob came walking around the corner of the house when he heard them walk up. He helped Alan move the cart close to the back porch and helped him out of the pack. The weight was more than he was ready for when Alan shrugged it off and almost let it hit the ground. Rob was surprised that Alan could pick it up let alone pack it into the house.

  They moved all of their gear into the house. The kids were quiet as if they were afraid to make any noise. The four of them stood looking around unsure what they were supposed to do. Dana sat on the edge of the sofa and lifted Holly out of her pack. She cuddled her close.

  “Can we talk yet?” Joe whispered. He was dancing from foot to foot and Maggie told him to go outside behind a tree. He looked afraid of going out alone. “Is there bad men out there?”

  “I’ll go out with you Joe,” Dana volunteered. “I need to take Holly out too.” She looked around, “Where’s Lucky?”

  “Who?” Ellen asked, puzzled.

  “Lucky…the dog.” Dana answered.

  “Oh. Maybe he’s outside with the guys.”

  Dana and Joe were only gone a few minutes and they came in with Lucky leading the way with Holly galloping at his heels. “Dad says he moved the barbeque up by the door so we can use it if we want to cook anything.”

  Brad backed through the door with Alan right behind him, their arms were full of glass jars. “We will eat good tonight,” Brad said as he set the jars on the counter. He picked one up, wiped the top with his sleeve and read, “This says it’s filled with beef and dated 2015.”

  Alan set his jars down. “These are peaches and applesauce.” He wiped his jars off. “They say 2015 too.”

  Hannah began to dig through the back packs. “I’m pretty sure there is something in here we can fix with the beef. My mouth is watering just thinking about having meat that hasn’t been dried or dehydrated.”

  “Wait a minute Hannah. I think I know where there’s something we can cook. These people have a root cellar.”

  Ellen dug through a kitchen drawer and found several books of matches. She threw all but one on the table and grabbed a candle off the window sill. As an afterthought, she pulled the roll up blind down. She didn’t know that they made rollup blinds anymore. The shade, yellowed and stained looked old but the hardware appeared new and there were still wood shavings on the sill so maybe it had been put up after the lights went out.

  Maggie started to get up from the chair she’d pulled out from the table. Her shoulders slumped and her eyes had lost their sparkle, Ellen couldn’t remember seeing her smile at all that day, but then there hadn’t been much to smile about either.

  They had only walked about six or seven miles but it seemed as if the short distance had taken its toll on her.

  “Maggie, sit for a bit and if you want to do something shut the drapes and light some of the candles. It’s getting hard to see in here.”

  She looked at Hannah, “Let’s see what they have in their cellar.”

  They left through the back door and soon found steps at the back of the house leading down to a door. It wasn’t locked nor did it have a hasp to lock it. A piece of wood turned on a nail to keep it closed.

  Ellen lit their candle and shielding the flame she went in, Hannah close behind. The smell of old vegetables and dirt filled their noses.

  The room was small maybe eight by ten with wooden bins along one earthen wall. They held carrots, potatoes and turnips. A gunnysack of onions sat in a corner. Garlic hung among the cobwebs from the overhead beams of the floor above them.

  Hannah squealed, “Oh my God…real potatoes.” She pulled her shirt out and picked out enough to fill it. “Grab some of those carrots and onions. We can use a head of garlic too. We’re going to eat good tonight.”

  An hour and a half later, Rob pushed himself away from the table. “What are we going to do about standing watch?”

  “Does anyone think it’s necessary? It’s apparent that no one has come out this way since this all began or the food would be gone. The house hasn’t been trashed or burned like the ones in town.” Margaret looked around the table. “I’ll leave it up to you guys. Myself…I need to sleep for a short while.”

  “Go ahead and find somewhere to sleep. There are three bedrooms on the right and the couch. The room on the left is off limits to everyone out of respect for the couple who gave us this food and a place to stay for the night.”

  Maggie slid her chair back. “I will just as soon as I help clean up.”

  Rosa told her, “Go ahead and sleep. Karen and I will clean the table. You and Hannah cooked this wonderful meal it is only right that we clean.”

  Brad rested his elbows on the table, “That didn’t answer the question about security. Myself I would sleep better if I knew that someone was awake.”

  “WWFD?” Alan said. He grinned as if he’d said something great.

  “What the heck does that mean?” Ellen asked. She looked at Alan and frowned. “WWFD?”

  “What would Frank do?”

  Ellen sighed and laughed softly. “Okay and he would be right. We’ve come too far to let our guard down now. And standing watch has saved our butts too many times not to. I’ll stand first watch.”

  “No you won’t. If I remember correctly, you were up all night last night. You sleep and I’ll take the first watch. You and Frank did most of our watches even though we were supposed to share.”

  “I think we should do two person watches because being alone is not good for any of us. With two people there is one to keep an eye on whatever is happening and one to wake the others.” Hannah said, “So pick someone to stand watch with. It’ll also give us a chance to know one another better if we stand it with different people.”

  “Now you sound like Frank. He favored two person watches, for the same reason.” Alan looked around the table and then to the coffee table where the younger people were sitting. “Hey Jesse. Want to stand watch with me.”

  Jesse looked up in surprise. He was used to being overlooked in the hierarchy of his family. “Heck yes. When do we start?” He jumped up ready to start right then.

  “In a couple minutes. First off, you need to dig through the bags and find something warm to wear. Layer your clothes if you can find enough. It’s going to be cold outside.”

  “I know these people have given us a lot already, but surely they
meant we were welcome to use everything. So I suggest we go through the closets and maybe find more suitable clothes?”

  “You’re right Rosa. That’s exactly what the letter indicated.” Rob stood and went to a closed door beside the outside door. He opened it and held a candle high for them all to see inside. They could see light jackets, yellow rain jackets and heavy coats. On the floor below a row of shoes and boots, both leather and rubber knee highs. On the top shelf a pile of wool knitted hats of different colors and gloves, garden and brown utility and were a mix of bright knitted and leather. In a holder fixed to the door were umbrellas and yellow rain hats much the same as the ones Ellen had on the boat.

  He stepped back to let them all see. Jesse came over and pulled out an old ski jacket. It was worn and obviously a favorite of someone. The zipper had been replaced in a different color from the body and it had patches. He hefted it in his hand testing the weight and put it on. He grinned up at them when his hands were lost in the long sleeves. He rolled a cuff in them and declared, “This will do for me and it’s warm.”

  Alan decided to find one for himself. A plaid flannel lined denim jacket went over his camouflaged shirt that he grabbed from the top shelf and pulled a crocheted hat on to his head. He threw one to Jesse. “Here, cover your ears.”

  The rifles were all leaning in the corner behind the back door. Jesse looked at Ellen and picked up her shotgun. “Can I?”

  “Jesse as long as it is okay with your folks you can consider it yours until we don’t need them anymore.”

  Brad and Rosa looked at each other and then they both nodded yes.

  “Just be careful. You remember what your father taught you?”

  “Don’t point it at anything or anyone that I don’t intend to shoot.”

  Alan and Jesse went out the back door.

  Rosa stood to clean the table. She filled a kettle with water and handed it to Brad. “Can you heat this on the barbeque?”

  He took the kettle and lighter and went outside.

  “While we’re waiting on the water does anyone else want to see what we could use from here?”

  Hannah looked up in interest. “Their kids were all grown but have you noticed how she kept and repaired everything? Maybe we should look and see what we can find.”

  “You guys go ahead. Alan was right. I think I’ll stretch out on the sofa for a while.” She yawned covering her open mouth with her hand.

  Maggie, Hannah and Rosa began in the first bedroom. It held a twin bed and a home office complete with a computer that they thought had to have been bought in the late 80’s long before the flat screen monitors had come out. When Rosa opened the closet door the scent of mothballs escaped. The closet was stacked to the ceiling with cardboard boxes. Someone had written in black felt pen the single word ‘CHURCH’ on the front side of each of the boxes.

  They spent the next two hours sorting, selecting and rejecting. They repacked each box and placed them all back in the closet. When they were finally finished they had a surprisingly small pile of good used clothes. They had as much fun looking through the things as a day shopping at Macy’s.

  Maggie wanted to take everything that would fit the kids but Hannah stopped her. “I know we need clothing for the children but whatever we take now, we have to carry. I think we should layer their clothing, pants included and they can carry their own. From what Ellen said, we can always make a trip back here. For that matter maybe there are abandoned houses closer than this one.”

  They agreed it was a great idea and selected two sets of clothing for each child and they found some, but not many for the older children.

  Finally, everyone found somewhere to sleep and the house grew silent except for the sounds of people sleeping.

  Alan and Jesse were cold and tired when they came inside to wake Rob and Jamie. They were easy to find among the sleeping people as they were asleep on the shag carpet in the living room.

  Alan and Jesse were happy to take the warm spots on the floor. While Jesse fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow, Alan had so many thoughts running through his mind he found sleep elusive.

  He lay on his back with his hands clenched under his head. Warm tears trickled from the corner of his closed eyes. He thought of all they had been through with Frank. Without doubt he knew Frank had saved his life more times than he cared to admit. He had also taught him many valuable lessons not only on firearms but on security, stealth and how to be a good man. It sickened him to think that a well-placed knife thrown by some second rate gangster had stolen so much from them. He wondered about Ellen’s lack of emotion. She had cried when it first happened but since then she carried on as if Frank hadn’t meant anything to her. He wondered if being raised the way she had been had changed her and maybe none of them meant as much to her as she did to them. Tomorrow he would remember to talk to Hannah or maybe even Maggie about her apparent lack of feelings. That is if he remembered or whether it would even be important by then.

  Ellen woke before the others. She was pleased to see that Alan and Jesse had actually come in and traded places with someone else. She thought it would have been like Alan to try to fill in for Frank. Knowing how tired they all were, Frank would have given it no thought and pulled an all night shift. Sometimes it had seemed like he could survive without sleep. He could grab fifteen minutes standing up and look and act well rested.

  She looked at the pile of clothing and shoes. “Damn, where are going to put all of it?”

  “I was wondering the same thing.” Alan had walked up behind her and she hadn’t heard him.

  “Dammit Alan…next time say something!” She whispered. “You scared the crap out of me.”

  Alan Chuckled because he thought he had. “I did. I was agreeing with you.”

  She faced him and put her face close, “You know I was talking to myself.”

  She realized how stupid she sounded and laughed softly with him. “Where did you leave the other cart?”

  “Jesse and I carried it to the shop out back. It was too dark to fix it. I thought that I’d take a look at it this morning.”

  “My thoughts too. Let’s go.”

  They dressed warmly and left through the back door. The ground was white with frost. Their breath fogged around their faces with every breath. Alan led the way out to the shop. It sat between the open garage and what looked like an old milking parlor.

  The dock cart lay on its side the side missing the wheel up. Ellen looked at what would be involved with replacing the wheel.

  “Well damn. All we need is another pin. Get that door open and let’s have a look. There has to be something we can use in there. If not a cotter pin, then a small nail would do.” Alan slid the door to the side.

  “Well hell!” Ellen exclaimed. It wasn’t a shop at all. It was a garden shed. Looking around Ellen could see where their dock carts had ended their travels. Inside the shed there was a three sided manure cart. And a green garden wagon. Alan pulled the manure cart from where it stood against the wall and pushed it outside into the morning light. Ellen pulled the wagon behind. Both had been well cared for as if the previous user had already prepared them for the coming garden season.

  Both rolled freely and easily. The larger tires on both would make them easy to move even loaded with their gear. Nothing they had weighed as much as a full load of dirt or compost.

  Alan went back into the shed and found an extra wheel for both of them hanging on a wall and a hand pump.

  He stopped walking and looked at the fresh mound of dirt piled by the tree. “I hope they know how much this simple find will help us. You think they’re up there smiling down on us?”

  Ellen looked at the dirt pile. “You know…I just don’t know. I am not sure where I stand on heaven or God. I keep wondering what kind of God would do this.”

  “He didn’t do this. People did this. God had nothing to do with it.”

  “He didn’t stop it from happening…same thing.”

  “This is
not an argument I can win right now. So let’s go ahead and take the good wheel of the dock cart and use it as a spare for the other and take all three?”

  “Where is the good one?” He was already threading the axle off of the dock cart. Alan pointed back to the house. “By the back door.”

  Ellen pushed it back to the shed and lay it on its side. “Good thing, because this one is ready to fall off too. She went inside and wished there was more light to see by. She picked up a rag from the workbench and scrubbed at the four pane window. There was a people sized side door and she propped it open.

  “There we go. That’s much better,” she mumbled. “Now let’s see what we can find.” She heard Alan chuckle from outside. “Oh shut up. When you get my age you’ll talk to yourself too.”

  “Never happen,” he laughed. “I’ll never be as old as you are.”

  Ellen had dumped a baby food jar of cotter pins out on the workbench. She stopped and looked at him. He had an oilcan and was lubing the wheels. “Why would you say something like that? Of course you’ll be as old as me someday.”

  He stopped and straightened up. “Ellen…I never will. Because you’ll keep getting older too. So I’ll never be the same age as you. You will always be older than me.”

  She walked up and slugged him. “You’re an asshole! You knew what I meant.”

  He grabbed her arms and held her away from him. He laughed at her meager effort to get free. “I know. I was playing with you.”

  She stopped struggling and looked at him. “You…you sounded just like Frank,” she sobbed and wrapped her arms around him. Alan held her and berated himself for thinking she hadn’t cared.

  Chapter Forty - Hell or high water.

  “We’re all going to miss him. Probably you most of all. Every time I think of him saying “We’ll get there come hell or high water or die trying,” He rested his chin on her head and cried too.

  “Hey are you guys alright? What’s going on?”

  Ellen sniffed, wipe her nose on her sleeve and stepped back. “Thanks I guess I needed that. You’re right. We’ll miss him every day. That’s why we have to make it and we have to thrive, not just hide out and survive. More than once he said you Hannah and the kids were the new beginning and he was right. It’s up to the rest of us to keep you safe and make sure you have a chance.”