Dangerous Shores: Book Three; The End of the Road

by Christine Conaway

  “It’s those kids in there sleeping who are the beginning and that beanpole right there.” He pointed at Jamie, “Course I don’t know where we’re going to find a girl who’s going put up with his ugly face.”

  Jamie walked closer. “Jeez, I don’t even want one.” His red face and embarrassed look told them he was lying.

  Ellen finished putting the new cotter pin in and declared it ready to go. “Now we have three carts and you can bet your ass they’ll come in handy for a long time to come.”

  She took a tool bag off the counter and dumped it out. She replaced the rusted tools that fell out with the jar of pins, a wrench, pliers and a small hammer. The oil can she propped in the corner, threw in a couple of rags from the pile of clean rags and zipped it closed.

  The three extra wheels and hand pump they put in the nose of the manure wagon and tied them upright.

  “Let’s get them to the house and load them up. I want to be as close to home as we can get before nightfall. That means ten hours of walking.”

  “We didn’t do so well yesterday did we?” Jamie asked.

  “We did fine. A lot happened yesterday and we all needed this good night’s sleep. Today will be better.” Ellen looked at the three carts. “Only a suggestion, but what do you guys think about leaving the wagon empty. It’s pretty big and we could put Olivia, Joe and Barbie in it when they get tired. And even Dana for that matter. We would not have to walk as slow as they do and we’d make better time.”

  “That’s a good plan. Sometimes I forget Dana is still a little girl in years. She’s almost as tall as you are Ellen. It confuses the mind. She’s so mature for her age too.” Alan agreed.

  They parked their new transportation outside the backdoor. “Let’s grab some more fruit for breakfast and wake the others.”

  They were surprised when they went in and found the rest of them already awake and sitting around the kitchen table. Rosa and Hannah were dishing up fried potatoes and some kind of meat hash.

  If a person was listening outside the door they would have heard the sounds of a family getting ready to start their day. Children’s laughter mingled with the adult voices. Normal sounds from a large family. Had they opened that door they would have seen White, Black, Tongan, Hispanic, Cuban and mixed races, a combination of people pulling the same direction to survive. A group of people pulling together.

  With the carts finally loaded after much discussion they were ready to leave. The kids’ pack’s went into the empty wagon which Rosa had been elected to pull. Holly was hanging off of Dana’s chest in her pack. The younger kids would walk until the they were tired or the adults decided they were slowing them down. Lucky jumped and ran around gathering them together. He licked anyone who would let him and Holly. He loved that little dog. He planted himself beside Dana looking up at her.

  The clothing and guns they weren’t carrying went into the dock cart. Brad had been impressed by the previous occupant’s selection of rifles and hand guns in their gun safe. He had selected a Springfield 308 with a ten round magazine for himself allowing Jamie and Jessie to pick out their choice. Jesse had declined to choose one of the new guns. He liked the shotgun that had belonged to Ellen. There were still four unclaimed rifles and four hand guns. Rosa had not had much experience with guns at all so she elected to not carry one. They agreed it was probably safer for all of them.

  Everyone had layered their clothing to alleviate the necessity of packing them. With the chill in the air they were happy to have the added warmth. The sun had disappeared by the time they made it out to the road. Low hanging gray clouds looked close enough to reach up and touch. With the drop in the nighttime temperature it felt like snow.

  Ellen lead the way out H street. In less than two miles they would make a turn south on the Guide Meridian, for only a short way and then they would turn east on Badger road.

  The Guide Meridian or hwy. 539 led directly to the Canadian border crossing. They had no idea how badly Canada had been hit with the sickness or how many had died. As close as they were to finally getting home, they didn’t want to find out. Just before they made the turn to the south Jamie stopped and pointed. He had been setting the pace for the little ones.

  In silence they watched as two adults and a child herded a cow and two horses into a barn. They saw the man glance in their direction and Ellen and Rob both waved. They saw he had a rifle hanging off his shoulder but had not brought it up to use. With another wave he followed the child and woman into the barn. Within seconds they saw the barrel of the rifle in the gap between the hayloft doors. It was apparent the man didn’t trust anyone. Ellen waved and continued walking. She knew the man would watch them until they were out of sight, it’s exactly what she would have done in his place.

  However, she would never have done it from his farm. She felt he was far too close to the road. A small show of force could move in, burn the barn with him and his family in it and take the over his farm. If anyone was left to want it.

  They walked on past to the turn. There were no choices other than right or left. They went right. The temperature began to fall with the wind. She thought that as soon as they turned to head east their walking conditions would worsen. It hadn’t happened often when she was living there but occasionally they had gotten north-easterly winds. All their water tanks had frozen solid and they’d lost calves.

  Rob had changed out from pushing the manure cart with Jamie. He came up beside her. “This isn’t going to get any easier is it?”

  “I don’t think so. I’m beginning to think we should have stayed back there for another day.”

  She looked off to the east. The hills she knew were in the distance were invisible and she was pretty sure it would be snowing before long.

  “There are hills over there and it’s where we’re heading. The farm is tucked in the valley behind the first hill.”

  Rob looked and couldn’t see anything but low hanging clouds. “I’ll take your word the hills are there because I can’t see them. Brad and I were talking and we wonder if we shouldn’t find somewhere to lay up. He thinks it’s going to snow and with this wind it won’t be easy.”

  “I completely forgot he’s from up here. Maybe he knows the area as well as or maybe better than I do.”

  They stopped and waited for Brad to catch up. They turned their backs to the wind and waited.

  “Any ideas?” Ellen asked. She pulled her collar up to shield her chin.

  “This is the border crossing we always used when we came down to shop. We’re not very far from Lynden, but something tells me that even if there are survivors they won’t be very receptive to our being here. They were a pretty closed community even before this started.”

  “I remember. I don’t know what options we have other than to keep going. We have to pass the town no matter which way we go unless we cut across country and that would mean ditching the carts. There just too many creeks and ditches. I don’t think the kids could handle it and we sure can’t carry them and all our gear.”

  Their group had caught up and they turned to walk on. Three abreast they walked up the middle of the road. Flakes of white began to fall and blow off to the west side of the road.

  “As soon as we make the turn we are going to really feel the weather. Before we get there I’m going to get the kids in the wagon and cover them up.” Rob said. “I can’t see how we can stop anywhere around here and there’s no point in them freezing too.”

  Ellen and Brad stopped with their back to the wind. The temperature was dropping quickly and the flurries had turned into continuous snow. They could see the turn was a quarter mile ahead. At the junction they could see empty hay sheds but they wouldn’t offer any protection against the snow or wind.

  There best bet was to continue on and hope they came across another empty farm or building. Ellen felt that getting past the town would be safer if they could find the stamina to continue.

  It was still early and they had only gone a couple of miles, but E
llen was beginning to see the error of their ways. They should have stayed at the farm. At least they would have had relative safety from the storm and they would have been warm.

  Rob had dug the survival blankets out from their packs and had used them to cover up the three smaller kids. Dana had wrapped one of them around her shoulders but declined riding in the wagon. She had given up her possession of Holly. After a brief run on the cold pavement and a squat at the side of the road, Holly was put into the wagon with Olivia, Joe and Barbie.

  “I haven’t had a turn pulling anything. I’ll pull the kids, Rosa and you can take a break.” Rosa looked grateful and handed the handle to Ellen. Rob took over the manure cart while Alan took the dock cart. They started off three abreast with Rosa, Maggie, Dana, Karen and Jesse walking bunched together behind the carts. Jamie and Brad followed watching their back. Heads down they turned onto Bagger road.

  The wind hit them head on. They adjusted clothing to best protect themselves from snow getting inside their clothes and continued on.

  Ellen lost track of time and began to hum under her breath. It seemed like the others timed their steps with hers. The farther she walked the heavier the wagon became. She couldn’t imagine how Rosa had pulled it for so long without saying anything.

  When they reached the first side street going into town they were surprised to see someone had blocked the street off with cars and sheets of plywood. Three cars were parked or pushed one behind the other with plywood standing on edge and another row of cars. There was no way to get by them. The snow had started to fill in around the blockade and they saw tracks in the snow.

  “Keep your heads down and keep walking. We don’t want to give anyone the impression we are stopping. If they think we are only passing through, we may not have any trouble.” They saw one of the windows of the end car roll down and a gun barrel stuck out. At the angle it was sitting they thought it was only a warning. The three of them held their respective rifles ready just in case.

  They continued and saw the same type of blockade for the next two intersections. In each case they knew they were being watched.

  The houses began to thin out and no one had shot at them or tried to stop them. Their lack of contact was clear to each of them. “Keep on moving and we’ll let you pass.”

  They did know there were people watching them. They saw smoke from several different sources along the road. Not house fires but probably fireplaces or cooking fires. They thought they heard a motor at one point and circled their wagons prepared to defend themselves. The sound of the motor died away as it left them behind.

  Ellen looked behind and she saw that Dana and Maggie had dropped behind. She wasn’t sure if it was Dana who had slowed down for her Grandmother or Maggie who had slowed for Dana. It didn’t matter; she saw that all of them wore some degree of exhaustion and cold.

  She had to admit that her feet were beyond being cold. She no longer felt them and her arms ached. She wanted to get as far down the road as they could before they stopped. The snow was beginning to build up and if not for the dry grass showing them were the roadbed was they would have trouble seeing it soon.

  Nothing in the way of a safe place to stay came to mind for Ellen. The area had changed in so many ways since she had left. She thought about the school but she didn’t know how far it was or how far they’d already travelled. She began humming again to take her mind off of how miserable she was. She could only imagine how cold Alan, Hannah and Olivia were. She at least had been mentally prepared for the cold temperature and the others were all from the area and knew the cold weather was possible. It didn’t make them any more prepared but it had to be easier on them.

  Rob tapped her on her arm startling her. “We need to find somewhere to stop. Mom and Rosa can’t go on much farther.” He was hollering right in front of her face and she realized she could barely hear him. The wind moaned and whistled all around. Visibility was down to a few feet. She realized she had been walking in a trance. One foot in front of the other and had no idea where they were.

  “Did you see the last road sign?” She had to holler and the cold air stung her throat.

  Rob cupped his ear and leaned forward. “The last road sign. Did you see what it was?”

  “Trapline? Something like that.”

  They had come much farther than she thought. She knew the next road was Van Buren. She didn’t remember much there. But she used to pick strawberries off Van Buren and the owner did have a barn and a house.

  “How long ago did we pass it?”

  “Forty-five minutes, maybe an hour at the most.”

  “Okay, it’s the next road we come to. There’s a house on the left. I knew the owner. We’ll try there.”

  “How far?”

  “A half mile maybe.”

  He nodded and went back to tell the others. Ellen took a better grip on the wagon handle and began to walk. Her face was numb and she wondered how she could have missed the last mile or two.”

  She only walked a few feet when something caught her eye. She saw an image of a house. It stood back of the road with the shadow of another building behind it. As she got closer to the driveway she realized the house was only half there. Snow collected hiding the blackened timbers. She waited on the others at the head of the drive.

  “Rob, come with me. We’ll see if the barn is useable.” She handed the wagon handle to Rosa.

  They went up the drive to the barn bypassing the house. Closer it was easy to see that it had been burned and the top floor was nothing but a shell. The snow covered their tracks as quick as they made them and it also masked the sounds of their feet on the gravel drive.

  In front of the barn door, Ellen indicated with hand signals that Rob should slide it and she would go in first. He nodded gripped the edge of the door and slid it to the side enough for her to enter. Ellen rushed in shotgun ready.

  She was hit from the side and fell trying to roll with the hit she ended up on her hands and knees. Another body landed on top of her pressing her to the floor. Fists pummeled her and she covered up trying to get her wind back and protect herself. Rob must have made it through the door because one of her attackers was pulled away leaving only one person on her back. She realized whoever it was weighed hardly nothing and she reached around and flipped them on to their back in front of her and straddled them. Her fist raised to strike her attacker she let fly and pulled it to the side at the last instant hitting the ground beside their head. “Angie?”

  The girl had her eyes squeezed shut prepared for the blow. She slowly opened them at hearing her name. She looked wildly around and stopped when she saw her sister being held by her coat collar.

  “Don’t hurt her! She’s only a kid.”

  “Rob! It’s just a kid.”

  He held her with her feet barely touching the ground. Small fists continued to windmill in his direction.

  “Shoot you better tell her not to hurt me. She’s like a little Tasmanian Devil.” He shook her to get her attention. “Stop right now or get paddled!”

  Ellen shook the girl she was sitting on. “Who is it? What’s her name?”

  “Liza…her name is Liza.”

  “I’m going to let you up.” She saw Angie nod climbed to her feet and went to where Rob was still holding the girl. Only her toes were touching the ground.

  “Liza, you quit fighting and he’ll let you down.”

  She dropped her hands and looked at Ellen. “I know you. Don’t I?”

  Rob interrupted, “I’m bringing the others in.”

  Ellen nodded okay and turned back to the two girls. Angie was down on her knees beside Liza who was sitting where Rob had dropped her.

  “Where is the rest of your family?”

  Angie looked at Ellen meeting her eyes. “They’re gone.”

  “What happened to the house?” Ellen thought they would tell her about their family when they were ready. Angie had the opportunity to say what had happened but chose to only say they were gone.


  The door slid open and both of the girls shrank back and Liza prepared to flee. Ellen put her hand on her, “It’s okay. They’re my friends.”

  Rob had to open the door wide to pull the wagon inside. Brad and Alan pulled the carts in followed by the rest. When they were all inside Rob slid the door shut.

  The barn was open inside with a dirt floor. They were going to have to do something about getting some kind of fire going. The barn was not airtight so a fire would be okay. He could feel the wind and in places the snow had left ridges of white.

  In the far corner someone had made an attempt at walling off a section of the building. They had strung blankets alongside and in front of a stall area. They had a fire ring in front of it but the fire was out. A stack of boards sat piled alongside the dead fire.

  Rob knelt down and began to build a fire. Liza watched everything Rob did and as soon as she saw a flame, she rushed over and through herself on her knees with her hands held out.

  Rob looked at the little hellion who had tackled him. She was dirty, skinny and smelled bad. Her hair was a mess of snarls and mats. Her face was nothing but eyes and cheekbones. Her fingernails had been chewed past the quick.

  Rob’s heart melted watching her rub her hands together in an effort to warm them up. He could not picture Dana in the same circumstances. She hadn’t been raised strongly or ever had to fend for herself as these girls obviously had been doing. He hadn’t noticed when Olivia, Barbie and Joe came to crowd around the fire. Karen and Dana were standing behind them as if they didn’t want to get close to the new girl. He felt someone watching him and looked up to find Olivia watching them. She gave up her place at the fire and came around and sat by the girl. She smiled at her and put her hands out beside the girls. It took a minute for the girl to look back at Olivia. She finally did and the change in her was notable. She scooted just a fraction closer to Olivia as if drawing warmth from her.