Stranded (Book 4): City Escape

by Shaver, Theresa

  Mrs. Moore shook her head with a smile and leaned in to embrace him.

  “It’s people like you and your group that will make your country strong again. Thank you and please thank all of your people for us.”

  Juan gave her a wink and hardened his face before turning back to Kevin and waving him over.

  “We’ll help you and your men load all of the bikes on to the trailer. We brought extra straps to secure them. When you get to the camp, take them to Len, he will be expecting them.”

  Kevin rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders.

  “Whatever, man, I’m just the delivery guy.”

  Juan’s face hardened even more and he leaned in and gripped Kevin’s shoulder hard.

  “Yes, yes, you’re the delivery guy and you will deliver these people and our goods to Len. Do we understand each other?”

  Kevin winced at the pressure of Juan’s hand and started to nod quickly.

  “Hey, man, no problem!” He backed away and turned to his waiting men and waved them over. “Let’s get these bikes loaded pronto!”

  The girls and Liam pushed their bikes over to the transport and handed them off to the waiting men. April and Liam went to Juan and after a hug and a handshake followed Mrs. Moore to the old ice cream truck. Kevin had opened the back doors and the girls were climbing in with nervous looks. April looked inside and saw that the interior had been stripped of everything and replaced with benches along the sides. It was dim and hot with no windows but she just shrugged and climbed in. It was better than biking for the next four hours.

  The truck gave a lurch as it did a U-turn and started north. It quickly became stuffy and hot with barely a breeze making it back to them from the front seat windows. The group tried to get comfortable on the hard seats but every time the van swerved around a car or wreck in the road, everyone went sliding. After three hours, they had drained all the water they had brought with them, and April had decided that biking to the camp would’ve been better. It was a huge relief to everyone when the van started to slow down and they entered through some kind of gate. It was impossible to see where they were or what they were driving through from the back and everyone was getting anxious after two more stops and starts as they passed through checkpoints.

  When Kevin finally came to a stop and shut off the engine, April was ready to leap out of the back doors. After so long in the dim interior of the van, the bright afternoon sunlight seared into their eyes and blinded them when he opened the doors. They all needed to be helped down and April bumped into Liam as her eyes started to adjust. There was a strange sound all around them and it was a complete shock to them all when they could finally see what was causing it.

  All around them on every side were people, more people than April or her friends had seen since before the crash.

  Chapter 17

  It was overwhelming and hard to take in all the noise, smells and motion that bustled around them. After traveling through the empty silent city and suburbs, even Juan’s small community couldn’t have prepared them for this camp. April clutched Liam’s arm as her head swiveled from one direction to another. As far as she could see there were campers, mobile trailers and tents in rows with a few permanent buildings thrown in. People were everywhere. They were walking and talking or pulling carts. Children ran around playing games while some women hung laundry on lines or tended small camp fires with pots hanging above them. Dogs barked and chased after kids with their tails wagging in joy while people called out to one another. The smells were just as overpowering. April could smell campfire smoke, food cooking, body odor and sewage.

  She was in a daze when Liam nudged her away from the van and ended up pulling her along as their group was led to a two story building with a wide covered wraparound porch. She finally snapped out of it when she stumbled over the first flagstone rock that led up to the house. There was a man and woman waiting at the top of the stairs with their arms linked and welcome smiles on their faces. The man was tall and bean-pole thin with silver hair and a huge mustache. The woman was half his height and her hair was faded blond. They looked like they were in their fifties. When April’s group arrived at the bottom of the stairs the man called out to them.

  “You all must be the Disney Princesses that Camila told us about. Welcome to Camp Grapevine! I’m Len Olsen, and this is my better half, Kathleen. Come on in to the house and we’ll chat about how we can help you all.”

  The students climbed the stairs and shook their host’s hands before entering the house. They were led into a large family kitchen where they sat at a long weathered oak table that was lined with cushioned benches. Kathleen passed out glasses and filled them from pitchers of fruit juice. After the long hot ride in the back of the van the girls and Liam were parched and they all gulped down the juice. April savored the treat but wondered why these people were being so generous.

  Mrs. Moore made the introductions of her students and then filled the couple in on where they had been and what they had done to survive the crash. After she’d concluded the story of their journey, Les leaned back in his chair and shook his head in admiration. He had a deep gravelly voice when he spoke.

  “You all were very fortunate and smart. So many people just up and ran that day with no supplies or thoughts on where to go. Others just sat and waited, most just died either way. The people here in the valley were lucky. We moved pretty fast and got organized. It helped that we already had a lot of crops planted and food on hand but we knew we’d be flooded with refugees from the cities. There’s a lot of huge farms in the valley and we all had field hands and their families to help but without modern machinery working we knew we’d need more help. The first month was insane and we came close to pure anarchy but we managed to hold it in check. We got checkpoints set up at almost all the roads leading into the valley and started to process the people coming in on foot. It was ugly and a lot of refugees expected us to just take care of them. It took a hard line to get through to some of them that they would have to work in order to eat. So many people came together to make it work. We had fields and fields just full of people sleeping on the dirt until we could get the logistics set up to move them to where they could stay permanently. There were eleven Ham radios that made that possible. If we hadn’t have been able to communicate up and down the valley we’d have lost everything. What you saw outside is the first of a dozen camps that we managed to set up. There are smaller ones here and there throughout the valley but the main camps follow Highway ninety nine and Interstate five.”

  He paused in his story to take a drink and they could all see the haunted look in his eyes as he remembered those early days. When his wife rubbed his shoulder, he cleared his throat and continued.

  “It was as close to Hell on earth as you can get. We had to guard as many fields as possible or the refugees would’ve eaten them bare. Whole families would just lie down in the dirt and die before we could get to them. Food rationing was so strict and parents would give their portion to the kids and then starve themselves. I can’t tell you how many orphans we have in the valley but it’s in the thousands. I don’t remember when we turned the corner but the last three months has been a lot better. When the steam train guys came to us and laid out their plan to get the tracks operational again it seemed to lift every person in the valley up with hope. We had so many volunteers to help on the project that it seemed to happen overnight and when that first train came through there were celebrations everywhere.”

  He lost himself again in thought and Mrs. Moore leaned forward.

  “Mr. Olsen, what you and your people have done here is nothing short of amazing. It might take decades but you and other communities just like this one have taken the first step in putting your country back together again. You’ll go down in the History books as a hero. Thank you for welcoming us into your home and sharing your story. My students and myself had no way of knowing what had happened to the rest of the world as we hid underground but your story has given me hope that
our own homes and town might’ve come together and survived as well.”

  He nodded his head with a thoughtful expression before asking,

  “Central Alberta had a low population, didn’t it?” At the teachers’ nod he went on. “Well, I’m not familiar with the entire province but I have been to the Calgary Stampede a few times. There’s a lot of agriculture and beef in that province and couple that with a lower population it stands to reason that they might’ve fared better than other places.

  Now, we’d love to put you and your kids on the train and send you home out of the goodness in our hearts but one, it only goes as far as Spokane and two, there are a lot of people who want passage on that train so there needs to be payment. If it was up to me and Kathleen we’d just put you on it and send you on your way but it’s not. There’s a council that runs the Valley and we’re just two of them. If not for Camila contacting us first we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. We’ve developed a very good relationship with her and her people and they supply us with much needed salvage from the cities.”

  Kathleen interrupted her husband with a question.

  “I spoke with Camila this morning and she told me you would have something to give us to convince the council to provide passage for all of you. What did you bring?”

  Mrs. Moore smiled and held up the keys Juan had given her.

  “Again, I would like to thank you both for speaking with us and helping with this arrangement but before I hand these over I need assurances that we’ll be taken to at least Spokane. I was told that what we have to trade would be enough for passage the whole way as well as any lodging and food supplies for the journey. These students are my responsibility and I must do whatever I can to get them home safely.”

  Len scowled and was about to speak when his wife interrupted him with a fierce look and raised hand.

  “I’m a mother of three daughters. I understand your concern and I want to thank YOU for what you have done to keep these girls safe. If my girls were lost I would be insane with worry and I would pray that they had someone like you to guide them and help protect them. I’m going to ask you to trust me that I’ll do everything I can to make this trade work and get you and these girls and boy as close to home and their mothers as I can.”

  Mrs. Moore studied Kathleen’s face for a few seconds before nodding her head. She held up the keys again and said, “One pallet of refined sugar and one pallet of vinegar.”

  There was a beat of silence before Kathleen started to laugh. Mrs. Moore kept her face blank but all her students looked to each other with worry. Kathleen’s words had them all breaking out in smiles.

  “Would you like to go in the first class cabin?”

  Len Olsen snorted a laugh and shook his head.

  “That Camilla must really like you guys! Sugar and vinegar are worth more than gold here. Even with all these people to feed and being able to move the fruit and produce by train, we still have a lot spoiling. We need those two things to preserve it. Two pallets aren’t going to go far but it’s more than enough to trade for what you and your students need. I’ll get on the radio and talk to the others in the council. We’ll have paperwork put together with your passage rights on it by the time the train leaves in two days.”

  He held out his hand for the keys and at a nod from his wife, Mrs. Moore handed them over. He got up from the table and left the room leaving his wife to handle the other details. She smiled at the group and stood.

  “I’d like you all to stay here with us for the next couple of days until you leave. The camp is fairly safe; most of the savages from the early days have either died or been hunted down but I would feel better having you all here. My two oldest girls are married and live close by but my youngest was at the University when the lights went out. She was hurt by some men as she made her way home.” Kathleen swallowed hard before going on. “Her father found her thankfully and got her home but she’s not the same girl anymore. I’ve seen a lot of people die in the last six months and I’ve seen a lot of women abused. I couldn’t help very many of them but I can help all of you.”

  There were tears in the woman’s eyes as she waved them to follow her but her shoulders were back and her head was held high. She took them to the second floor and directed them to a bedroom and explained where they could get cleaned up before leaving them to settle in.

  April and Jessica shared a room and they both dropped their packs and flopped down on the bed they would be sharing and stared at the ceiling. April could only lay there for a few minutes before she rolled off and went to the window. She just couldn’t get over how many people there were at the encampment.

  “Can you imagine what it would’ve been like here at the beginning? How scary it would’ve been with all those thousands of terrified people.”

  Jessica scrubbed at her face in weariness and rolled off the bed to join April at the window. She took a long look at the rows of tents and campers before turning away and leaning against the wall.

  “What I can’t believe is how amazingly lucky we were. We should be dead. All of us should be dead.” At April’s confused look she explained, “Think about it. We were a bunch of teenage tourists in one of the biggest cities in North America when the crash happened, and somehow we’ve made it for six months. None of us really went hungry; we didn’t really have to fight anyone, and we managed to bathe pretty regularly. Stupid lucky, that’s what we’ve been and after all that, we have managed to stumble on to a bunch of amazingly good people that want to help send us home. Stupid lucky.”

  April chewed on her bottom lip as she thought about her friend’s words. She was right, so many people that were better prepared or smarter had died. She shook her head at the senselessness of it.

  “It’s like those clips you see on the Weather Network when they show the aftermath of a tornado swathing through a town. It’s destruction everywhere until that one house that’s perfectly fine except for a few shingles lost from the roof. There’s no explanation for why it wasn’t destroyed like the rest of the town, it just survived. I guess that’s us.”

  A voice from the doorway added, “And one very smart teacher!”

  The two girls looked over at Mrs. Hardsky who was standing in the door. The woman gave them an understanding smile and came in to the room and sat on the bed.

  “It’s natural for you to question why we lived when so many people died and yes, we were very lucky but it was more than that. Norma Moore is a strong woman and she didn’t let fear paralyze her when this all started. She knew exactly what was going to happen and she guided us all so we’d have the best chance. She did the exact right thing by making us hide for so long. None of us were ready to face what was happening during those first days and with a group as large as ours, we’d just have been more refugees to turn away if we had of made it here. The people that have helped us so far had to turn a lot of people away at the start. Now that things are a bit more under control they want to try and make up for that a little. Norma knew this would happen and that’s why she made us wait so long before we left the city.”

  Jessica nodded but her expression was uncertain.

  “Then why did she tell the other kids to leave? Do you think they’re all dead?” she said the last word on a whisper.

  Jan thought about it before answering.

  “I don’t know and we won’t know until we get home but no, I don’t think they’re dead. Those kids had different personalities than you guys. They were used to being more independent and they had different skills that would’ve helped them survive. I think they got out of the city before it went totally mad and made it to the rural areas where they had a better chance. I honestly think that most of them will be waiting at home for us when we get there.” She stood up from the bed and took one of both girls’ hands. “Now, I don’t want either one of you to feel guilty about surviving. You both had horrible things happen to you and it was you who decided to keep going. You have nothing to feel guilty about. Feel gratef
ul and hopeful and happy because we made it this far and we have a plan to go farther safely.”

  April and Jessica stepped into her arms when Jan pulled them close and enjoyed the hug. It was the closest they were going to get to having a mom hold them. After a minute, Jan pulled back and looked them over.

  “Okay, let’s go get cleaned up and see if we can lend a hand around here. We might’ve traded for passage on the train but that doesn’t mean we can’t show our gratitude.”

  The girls nodded and grabbed clean clothes and toiletries before following Jan out of the room.

  Chapter 18

  April, Liam and the other girls followed Mrs. Moore and Jan through the crowds as they walked to the camp’s market place. Kathleen had shooed them out of the house when they had asked for any work they could help with telling them that she had more than enough hands around for chores. She’d suggested they go out for a walk and gave them directions to the market that had been set up.

  The market was similar to a flea market with tables filled with clothes, toys and personal items. The busiest tables by far were the ones that were covered in books. With no TV or internet, reading was the main form of entertainment. They maneuvered around the lineups and came to an interesting sight.

  A long table had been set up with cut-outs of every state taped in place and a clipboard and shoe box on each one. A homemade sign proclaimed it the post office. April and Liam walked up to the table to see how it worked and a young woman with tired eyes greeted them and gave them an explanation.

  “If you’re from a different state then write your names on the clipboard for that state. If you’re looking for someone then check the names. If you want to write a letter then put it in the box. If you’re planning to travel out of state then let me know where and I’ll give you the letters that people want sent there. You carry them with you and hand them over to locals in that area with the hope that they will pass them on.” She had obviously said the same speech many times by her automated delivery and waited with raised eyebrows for them to tell her what they wanted.