Survivors of the Sun

by Kingslie, Mia

  She looked up at Josh. ‘Then how?’

  Josh did not have an immediate answer but between them they found a system. The towing bar had to be bent upwards (no small feat), and slotted into a metal harness between the two bikes. Then a wooden seat was run between the bikes, above the towing bar.

  This was the most important part of the design, as it was vital that someone sat there, using their feet to push the bar downwards in order to stop, releasing pressure if necessary. In effect allowing them to pump the brakes, and enabling them to slow down without coming to an abrupt halt.

  The last addition was the swing seat (and the only thing taken from her original design), which they took down from the porch of the Jenkins house. Once they had removed the chains they firmly bolted it across the low sides of the trailer, towards the very back. Once all their worldly possessions were stacked up, there wouldn’t be much leg room but the alternative of putting it at the front seemed far too precarious. Even so, it would beat walking.

  With mounting excitement they wheeled it out of the workshop and placed a couple of blocks behind the wheels.

  That done, Josh straightened up. ‘I’ll go check if Jamie is back, so we can give it a test run.’ Though Jamie didn’t know it yet, they had volunteered him to be the controller of brakes. They both agreed he was the most level headed of them all, plus he never complained. And that seat was not going to be comfortable over any length of time.

  ‘Looks like a shop bought one,’ Lola said, coming up behind her. Georgia jumped, she had been so engrossed in checking over their handiwork she had not heard her coming.

  ‘Oh sorry, didn’t mean to give you a fright.’

  ‘No, just didn’t hear you. So what do you think?’

  ‘I think it’s amazing. I love how you put the swing seat on the trailer, it’s not quite how I imagined though.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Just that when you said yesterday you were thinking of using the swing seat, I imagined you would be setting it up like a swing. Installing cross bars and all. I didn’t like to say anything but I was kind of concerned that we were all going to suffer from motion sickness.’

  Georgia couldn’t help but laugh, ‘only you could think something like that,’ she said. ‘So how did your search go for water containers go?

  Lola grinned, giving her a double thumbs up. ‘Really well, first house we came to, that one just over the road and down the hill a ways, we found a whole lot of empty soda bottles, and three two gallon water containers. You know the spring water ones and one of them is still sealed.’

  Georgia uncapped her water bottle and took a sip, ‘Excellent, so once they have been cleaned out and filled with boiled water, we are practically ready to go, just waiting on the canning.’

  ‘Oh Ruby’s finished that, and I have already cleaned the bottles out. We’ve filled one of the two gallon containers with boiled water, it’s still a bit warm but the others…,’ she shrugged her shoulders, ‘well there’s a small problem.’

  ‘A problem?’ Georgia asked, her water bottle frozen midway, speaking a little more sharply than she had intended.

  Lola grimaced apologetically. ‘Yeah, we seem to have run out of gas.’

  Georgia almost choked with relief. That was hardly what she would have called a problem. ‘Then make a campfire.’

  ‘Yeah, just thought I should check with you first. Where do you think we should light it?’

  Georgia looked around, her eyes settling on the stand of trees a little lower down the hill, just to right of the workshop. ‘How about under those trees, not too close to the trunks, but that way the branches might help make the smoke less obvious from a distance.’

  ‘Sounds perfect, we will do that.’ Lola ran her fingers along the armrest of the swing seat. ‘So how much longer before this is ready to hit the road?’

  ‘It’s ready,’ Georgia said.

  ‘Completely ready?’ Lola sounded uncertain.

  ‘Yes,’ Georgia said quietly, belying the fact that she actually wanted to scream for joy and shout and whoop and holler and do a little victory war dance. Instead staying perfectly still, she added, ‘shall we get the others and load her up?

  ‘For sure,’ Lola said, ‘I want to see this babe in action!’

  Sometime later, with nervous anticipation they slowly rode from the workshop up onto the back road, Georgia and Josh peddling, and Jamie on the brake seat. Ruby, who had taken some convincing to get up onto the contraption, as she called it, sat on the swing seat between Lola and Rebecca. While Deedee, the smallest of them all, nestled with the dogs amongst their possessions. They still had to load up the water, and the last of the food boxed up from the Jenkins house, but all of them were far too excited to wait for the water to be cool enough to bottle.

  They lumbered up onto the road, the Spyder looking like more like a huge beetle than a spider, and stopped for a moment.

  ‘We need to sort out the gears,’ Josh said. ‘Going uphill or down, we need to be in a lower gear, and it would be better if we were synchronized, so one of us has to be in charge.’

  ‘That had better be you, then,’ Georgia said,

  ‘I agree, so if I call out change down, then do it, okay?’

  ‘What about braking,’ Jamie asked, ‘who’s in charge of when we brake?’

  ‘The three of us,’ Georgia said, ‘if you see us braking, do the same, just remember to be gentle!’

  Josh gave her an excited smile. ‘Let’s do this.’

  They took off cautiously down the hill, then becoming more confident they picked up speed, the others shrieking with joy behind them. Millie, Badger and Ant barking excitedly as the scenery rushed by. It was much easier than Georgia had imagined it would be. There was no feared of wobble, and all her welding joins held.

  Josh and Jamie were grinning from ear to ear.

  ‘So how’s it holding up back there,’ Georgia called out, not daring to look round.

  ‘All good,’ Lola called back. ‘Everything is staying together.’

  They practiced braking, and changing gears, and finally, not wanting to go too far, they turned the Spyder round and headed back.

  ‘Oh my God, how fast do you think we went,’ Georgia asked, as they dismounted outside the barn.

  ‘Really, really, fast,’ Rebecca exclaimed.

  ‘Yeah,’ Deedee said, jumping up and down with exuberance. ‘Faster than a train.’

  ‘We did not,’ Jamie said.

  ‘Yeah, we did,’

  ‘Did not.’

  Lola and Georgia exchanged a look then burst out laughing.

  ‘Well, I couldn’t say for sure,’ Josh said, coming round to lift Ruby down. ‘But I would say that we were definitely doing more than five miles an hour, maybe seven or eight on the flats.

  Suddenly Georgia felt weak at the knees. ‘Seven or eight,’ she whispered, ‘you’re kidding.’

  ‘Nope, I would reckon that.’

  ‘Oh my God,’ she said slowly, ‘that means we could be home in uh…, in uh, wow, just over a week.’

  Lola stared at her. ‘No way.’

  ‘Yes way,’ Georgia grinned.

  Lola threw herself into Georgia’s arms, hugging her close. ‘You are the best’ she exclaimed.

  ‘We all are,’ Georgia said, hugging her back.

  This calls for a celebratory dinner,’ Lola said as they disentangled themselves. ‘And it just so happens that we have something special planned.’

  ‘We do?’ Georgia asked.

  Rebecca and Deedee nodded. ‘We found something, we know you will like.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘You will just have to wait and see,’ Lola said, plus there’s plenty of stew. We didn’t have enough jars for all of it.’

  Earlier they had carried out chairs and now sat around the glowing ashes of the fire enjoying their last evening on the Jenkins property. All of the water and food had been loaded onto the Spyder and now the only thing they needed t
o load up the next morning before leaving, was the bedding.

  The air was still hazy from the heat of the day and the first of the lightening bugs were beginning to make their appearance. Georgia watched them dart back and forth as she polished off the last mouthful of the thick stew.

  ‘That was really good Ruby,’ she said, as she put down her bowl.

  ‘Do you think so dear,’ Ruby said, ‘I was worried because we were lacking some of the ingredients.’ She glanced over at Rebecca as she spoke. ‘It seems someone forgot their shopping list.’

  Rebecca shrugged her shoulders, looking somewhat sheepish, even though it really wasn’t her fault.

  ‘No it was perfect just as it was,’ Georgia reassured her, as the others chorused in agreement.

  ‘So are you ready for your surprise?’ Lola asked.

  ‘There’s more?’

  ‘Yeah, Josh, are you going to do the honors?’ Lola said, ‘before it gets too dark.’

  ‘Be happy to,’ Josh said, as he reached behind him and then stood up, holding something behind his back. He came over to where Georgia was sitting.

  He looked around at everyone and then cleared his throat. ‘We all decided that this is in honor of your brilliant idea.’ He spoke in a deep formal voice, as though he were on a stage acting a part. ‘Therefore we hereby present you with the highly acclaimed Spyder Making award.’

  Georgia felt her cheeks grow pink, suddenly feeling embarrassed at all the attention.

  ‘An honor,’ Josh went on, ‘only presented to those who have proven above all others, their dedication and excellence in the field of lumpy welding and extreme bad language in the heat of the moment!’

  ‘Oh, I only swore once,’ Georgia exclaimed.

  Josh raised his eyebrows theatrically and Deedee began giggling as Georgia tried hard to remain solemn herself. Jamie shushed her with a quick jab of the elbow.

  ‘But most of all, we present you with this award because we love you!’

  Georgia felt unexpected tears prick at the corners of her eyes. Then Josh leaned forward and held out a piece of folded card. It was a homemade greeting card. On the cover was a cartoon drawing of the Spyder with all of them aboard, their hair streaming back in the wind and Ant sitting on what she gathered was her lap as she peddled, dust streaked behind them.

  It was really good. ‘Wow, who drew this,’ she asked, as she flipped it open and looked inside. Though she suspected she knew.

  ‘Josh and Rebecca did it together,’ Deedee said, ‘I wanted to color it in, but Rebecca said I would ruin it.’

  ‘I did not say that.’

  ‘You did.’

  ‘I did not, I…,’

  ‘Well it is lovely, and I thank all of you,’ Georgia said as she read the card. ‘To the best Spyder making mum in the world,’ it began. And beneath those words, which would always remain precious to her, were all of their names, amidst a scattering of circles and crosses.

  ‘Oh,’ Georgia said, as she closed the card again. Then she found she couldn’t speak.

  ‘Don’t you like it?’ Deedee asked.

  A tear escaped from the corner of Georgia’s eye. ‘Yes I love it, thank you guys so much.’

  ‘But wait there’s more,’ Josh said.

  ‘Yeah,’ Lola joked, ‘six Ginsu steak knives.’ They all laughed at this.

  ‘No,’ Josh said, as the laughter died down, ‘mind you I reckon they would come in handy. But no, that’s not all.’

  ‘There is this!’ And with a flourish he withdrew what he had been hiding, from behind his back and presented her with an unopened carton of camel cigarettes.

  She stared at it, momentarily speechless, then she managed to croak out, ‘how?’, I mean where…?’

  ‘Yeah well,’ Lola said, as Georgia began tearing the paper of the cartoon, ‘I reckon Jamie should have left them right there in the hall cupboard of that house. Now you will have to go through withdrawals all over again.’

  ‘I am really glad he didn’t,’ Georgia said, finally able to speak properly.

  ‘Hopefully we will all be in Bethel by then,’ Jamie said. ‘Then it won’t matter.’

  ‘Thank you so much, all of you,’ Georgia said, as she reached for her lighter. She hadn’t even had a chance to light a smoke, when Millie gave out a low warning growl, and almost immediately Josh said in a very tight voice, ‘We’ve got company!’ They all fell silent, looking in the direction Josh was pointing.

  All the merriment was gone from their group. Georgia dropped the card and the smokes to the ground in her horror, for scattered across a hundred yards, coming up the hill towards them, almost invisible in the twilight, was a large group of men.

  Chapter Seventy

  They hadn’t seen them coming and now it was too late. There were, she estimated, about thirty men in total. All of them dressed in camouflage, with black berets and heavy boots and all carrying an assortment of weapons. Holstered hand guns, and what looked to her to be Uzis, and all the while they were moving silently nearer.

  It was too late to run. Her shotgun, which was slung over the back of the chair was about as much use as tits on bull, against what they carried with them. ‘Stay here,’ she said hoarsely as she stood up, her legs threatening to fold up beneath her.

  ‘What do we do?’ whispered Lola, her face ashen in the fading light.

  ‘There’s nothing we can do,’ Georgia rasped, her throat suddenly as dry as a creek bed in the outback. ‘I’ll go down to meet them. If they attack me, then grab the weapons, and get the hell out of here. If you can’t get to the Spyder, then split up and run like hell.’

  The men were now half way up the hill, only moments away. Heart thudding she forced her legs to move her forwards, reasoning that that if the men were planning to kill them, they could already have done so. She hoped she was right, as she unsteadily made her way down the path. But killing them wasn’t necessarily what these men had in mind.

  Maybe they should just have run, but she had been scared that the sight of them fleeing might make the situation worse.

  She had never felt so afraid in her life. Her heart was now thudding against her chest so hard that she was sure something inside would rupture, and she would drop dead at the feet of these terrifying silent men.

  Her legs refused to take her any closer and she stopped a couple of yards away from the man that seemed to be in charge.

  He touched his beret. ‘Ma’am,’ he said. As he spoke he raised his arm and then dropped it. A signal to the other men to stop, she realized, as they instantly froze in place.

  Georgia nodded, unable to speak, while absorbing the fact that he had addressed her as Ma’am. He hadn’t beaten her to the ground with the butt of his weapon. That was something.

  ‘Sorry Ma’am, didn’t mean to startle you but we are looking for someone.’ He was an older man, his neatly trimmed goatee sprinkled with grey. His hard expression contradicting the laughter lines that gathered like so many sparrows feet along the outer corner of his eyes.

  ‘Looking for someone,’ she repeated, her voice quavering with fear, and the small relief his words had brought her. They were looking for someone, and she knew it wasn’t one of them, there was no way anyone was looking for them. She felt a little courage come back into her bones.

  ‘Who are you?’ she asked, her tone cautious.

  ‘I am First Lieutenant Wilson of the Ozark Free Army.’

  ‘Oh,’ Georgia said, ‘I have never heard of them.’ Then she winced inwardly. Had that sounded rude?

  ‘Not surprising ma’am. We are newly formed, and at present have more than three hundred troops on standby. General Wilkinson has declared Marshall Law in the Ozark region. Presently my men and I are on a twofold mission. Firstly we are creating a census of residents in the area and secondly we are conducting a house to house search for two young men. So we will be searching this area and then I will get Officer Rankin to take down all the details of your party members.’

  ‘I�
�m sure that is not necessary, we are not staying in the area. My family and I are just passing through and…,’

  ‘That is for us to decide,’ he said.

  Georgia felt fear clutching at her heart at his words. That was for him to decide? What did that mean? That they were going to hold them here against their will?

  ‘Meanwhile, I need you to look at a photo.’

  ‘Sure,’ she said.

  He motioned to a man standing a little to the left of them. ‘Corporal Stevens, show the lady the identity card.’

  The man came scurrying over and handed her the card, then snapped to attention.

  ‘Thank you Corporal Stevens, you can stand down.’

  Georgia stared down at the card, and even though the light was nearly gone she could clearly make out the picture and the text below it. He was a couple of years younger in the photo and fuller in the face, but her hands began to shake for she was holding Joshua Hennessey’s student card.

  She shook her head. ‘No,’ she said slowly, carefully, ‘never seen this boy before.’

  ‘You sure now? You kind of looked as though you recognized him.’

  ‘No, I didn’t. I am just real jumpy these days. We’ve travelled down from Kansas City, and it has been really frightening. We are trying to get to my husband in Marion.’ she said. The first of her lies rolling easily of her tongue. ‘And to be very honest, the sight of you and your men scared the hell out of us. My youngest daughter wet herself.’

  ‘I am very sorry to hear that,’ he said, ‘you’re not American,’ he added suddenly, ‘I detect a bit of an accent there.’

  Oh shit, was that going to be a problem? Was he going to take his gun and shoot her for being a foreigner?

  ‘No,’ she said, ‘I’m Australian, by birth. Naturalized American,’ she added, ‘two years now.’

  ‘Congratulations,’ he said.

  ‘So what did this boy do?’ she asked, unable to stop herself. Really wanting to know, because it was obviously something really bad, and she had taken Josh into their group, taking him at his word.