The Event Series (Book 3): The Archive and Beyond

by Thomas Larson

  I suggested that Del and I move into the radar room, that would open up a space in the other rooms in the hallways and it would also have someone manning the Sat-Comm systems most of the time.

  We have been so busy with the Archive I have not had a chance to check out things with any of the other bases, the Pittsburgh, Cheyenne, or Fort Knox. But then, they have not ‘called’ us either. I may try that tonight where we get back.

  Margo talked to Del and they are planning to do a little scouting on the horses tomorrow, which should be good for her, she has been kind of bored playing cleaning girl at the mountain.

  (Matt) Lot of food prep and canning today, we have been able to put together a lot of tomatoes and beans. There is also a fair amount of summer squash set up. Mark and Tanya are really doing a great job at it. I am just the extra set of hands slicing and dicing.

  I had another dream last night. In the dream the Raven was sitting on my shoulder looking west. It was dark, night time, and there was no moon, but the stars were just awesome. The Northern Lights were glowing, stronger than I have ever seen them. What is my little friend trying to tell me?

  Tanya and I talked today about something I had not really thought much about, children. With Augustus and maybe with Mark and Michelle, maybe we should think about it. It caught me a little off guard, but I kind of like the idea. I think that we still could, we are only in the early 30s.

  (Tom) Another sluggish morning, what is wrong with me. I am really struggling to drag my butt out of bed. Just tired, I should probably talk to Doc Barkley, maybe I have a vitamin thing going or something. I thought as we got older we needed less sleep.

  Asuna and I got out and did some fly fishing today, we brought back half a dozen trout. Not enough for everyone, but then there are some who are not into the fish. I remember Anne loved trout. We talked about her a little, actually, Asuna pointed out that I seemed a little melancholy and asked why. I explained to her the year thing, and told her that the memories were still there. She took it well, I think.

  “Tom, I understand the memories, I have them too, about someone from my past. Sometimes I think about Kyoto.” She said.

  “Asuna, I’m sorry, I have been selfish, I forget that we all suffered through this, lost people close to us,” I said, I felt bad.

  We were flicked out lines for a few minutes in silence and finally I asked, “What was he like?”

  “Kyoto? I, how do I describe him, he started out like a big brother too me when I was a little girl, it was after my parents were killed and I was living with my Grandmother. He was the boy next door.”

  I just listened in silence, looking at her.

  “He was about 8, I was 4 or 5. We just grew up together, he was always there. If I was being bullied or teased, he stood up for me.” She smiled, it was a pleasant memory.

  “We went through school together, he took me to our senior dance, and he was so handsome in his tuxedo, and my gown, oh, it was the most wonderful shade of blue,” her eyes were sparkling as she remembered it.

  “When we were old enough, we left home and went to university. He was going to be a submarine officer; we did what was the Defense Force’s version of your ROTC. I studied business logistics; he was a nuclear power unit engineer. We were close and shared an apartment. Hell, I was in love with the guy since I was 5 years old.”

  “You two sounded like peas and carrots.” I said, smiling.

  “Yes, I guess that would be a good description, when we were good, we were really good. And it worked so well, we rarely fought, kind of like you and me. But in the second year of university he changed, he was edgy, and stand-offish. At first I thought it was another girl.” I could see sadness creeping into her eyes. “I wish it was, in a way.”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “He was sick, he was dying. He had radiation sickness, he didn’t want to tell me, he hid it from me,” tears welled up in her eyes. “His unit was exposed to radiation during a training accident. He and a classmate saved 4 first years from a radiation containment failure. He, they were proud of what they did, but it cost him, and me.”

  I stood in silence, I, all this time, and I never knew.

  “In the end, he was in the hospital, and there was nothing anyone could do. I hated it, but I visited every day. I was there at the end. When he died, some of me left too. So I can understand you and Anne.”

  She looked up at me and with tears in her eyes said, “Tom, please, please promise me that you won’t die.” She was sobbing now.

  I knew that sooner or later, we all die, but now was not the time to point that out. I looked at her, tears in my eyes also, and just muttered, “We go out, together, deal?”

  She looked at me and brushed away her tears, and then gave a weak smile, “I can live with that, I promise, together!”

  It kind of killed the fishing trip.

  I got called in to talk with The Three; they wanted my thoughts on moving to the military base. I told them I was all for it. I think that it will be a good, safe place, easily defended, great against the weather, and if we could work a deal with the farm we could be good with food for years.

  Asuna and I hit the fire pit tonight; I think we both needed to be with people tonight. It was nice, most of us were there, and even Taylor and Teckla had come over from the horse stable. Sgt. Gilbert was kind of hanging with Taylor and Teckla, I guess the country boy was connecting with the horse folks; it makes sense, country toward country.

  I was talking to Teckla after the get together and she said that she was planning to ride over to the oxbow to visit with the people there, the Pelletier’s. She wanted to talk to them about some mutual aid things like food and protection over the long term. The idea of moving is pretty much decided on, and now it was about the details.

  August 30th

  (Lance) Washa and I talked this morning and we decided that it would be a good day to just kick back and skip going up top side. The place is secure, so it is not something we need to worry about. Instead, she is going to hang out for the day, and I am going out with Del, Margo and Code to do a little scouting around.

  It has been too long since I rode. Samurai has missed me. Even before I had the chance to think about it he was up against me and rubbing. It was all I could do not to be pushed over.

  “It’s good to see you again too big guy, I’m sorry I’ve been so busy with the new digs, but today, it is just you and me!” I told him.

  I heard a snort behind me; then a chuckle, it was Del. “We’ll talk about that a little later.”

  I didn’t even saddle him up, just jumped up on his back. He was like Shadowfax from Lord of the Rings, he carried you willingly, and made sure you stayed on his back. It should be no big deal today; it was a scout ride, not a war ride.

  Once everyone else was saddled up and ready we were off to the east, we figured we could make Middlefield and back by the end of the day. It was supposedly where Sgt. McManus had seen the flashing reflections. We shall see.

  We took Skyline Trail, the main road that was right near the horse farm and followed it toward Middlefield. It was a warm day, sunny, and other than a few birds and the buzz of the horse flies, we heard nothing. We didn’t make Middlefield until about noon time. It was pretty much what we expected, just a small town with no signs of life that I saw. If there were people there they were gone now, and had not left any signs of recently being there.

  “Hey Del, so this was a bust, right?” I said as she rode beside me.

  “Shut up and get your head out of your ass, look around, and keep looking,” she hissed.

  Margo was also in tense mode, sitting a little higher in the saddle than earlier. Cody was looking around warily, what did I miss?

  When we got to the center of town, Margo dismounted. Her AR was ready, Cody was also locked and loaded, something was going on.

  A door slammed behind me and as I spun around, I saw someone running into the woods, it was a blur, and they were gone. I started to tur
n to chase them but Del whispered, “Wait!”

  We did, we expected an attack, and yet Shinigami and Samurai were both calm, they sensed nothing. We waited. Finally, Margo and Cody signaled us to give them cover as they moved toward the door that the runner had come from.

  After a minute or so of listening they entered, it was only a small convenience store so it took very little time to clear the building, and they came back out. Margo had a confused and disgusted look on her face.

  “It’s clear, looks like there was only one person living in there.” She said shaking her head, “If you want to call it living.”

  Del and I checked out the place, it stunk, smelled like shit, urine and unbathed people. There was a little Indian blanket fort in the corner. Empty food cans were strewn about. Whoever was in here was not having a good time of it. This was survival mode and not much more.

  As we walked back out of the building, I looked at Del. She shrugged.

  “Margo, what do you think?” asked Del.

  Margo was quiet; this scene seemed to bother her. Finally, “I think that if this was the source of the reflections, we don’t have much to worry about.”

  “Yeah,” said Cody.

  “I think that this poor guy has lost it. He is barely coping and alive.” She added.

  “Maybe, but he was pretty quick,” I said.

  “Yeah,” said Cody.

  “What should we do?” I asked.

  Everyone kind of looked at me, it was a legitimate question and these were the huntresses and hunter.

  “Nothing, we do nothing, leave him in peace’” said Del.

  “Yeah, I agree,” said Margo, “he has nothing to offer us, except maybe lice or fleas. Let’s just let him be.”

  We walked back toward the horses and began to mount up. But Margo took a minute, went into her saddle bag and took out a couple cans of food, emergency rations. She walked over and set them by the door.

  The trip back was quiet; I was wrapped up in the plight of this stranger, what it must be like for him. I think the others were of a like mind.

  (Tom) Still feeling sluggish getting going in the morning. The real coffee is helping getting the blood moving though.

  The kids are all off scouting today, heading out toward where the reflections had been seen. They are taking the horses.

  Lance is going with them, he and Sgt. Brown are going to skip going up to the mountain today. A day off will probably do them good.

  Our LT Mills has been keeping a low profile since the incident the other day. I don’t think I have seen him once, in the past week except today over by a couple of the cabins.

  The Three are still considering the timing to move to the mountain. I am thinking that we should be settled in by the beginning of October, which gives us time to get all the food in, and make the move without rushing. We could be all settled before the snow flies.

  At Fire Pit tonight Del and Margo told us about the lost soul that was out there in Middlefield. I feel bad for him, but what can we do.

  Asuna and I offered to try to go out and ‘capture” him, actually just make contact, see if he wants to come in from the cold, sort of. That idea is on hold.

  (Matt) Food work again today, Tanya, Mark, Michelle all worked at it. I was surprised when Sgt. Brown, Washa, came over and began to help us. She had the day off sort of, but was bored. She is a funny woman, I really like her, and she and Tanya had hit it off on day one.

  It is a slow process. I am thinking that next week we will be ahead on the veggie side and will start with the smoking of meats, and making sausages. I will talk to Delany and Margo about getting some deer and turkey to work with.

  At Vespers tonight Margo and Del told us the story of the man in Middlefield. It is sad, and I am not sure that we can help him. It could very well be that this is what he wants, how he wants to live. But Tanya and I both agreed we need to try to find out, to get him to a better place if we can. I cannot imagine living like that. Maybe tomorrow she and I will head out that way and see what we can do.

  Hearing about this guy also made me think about those people up in Canada and how they have survived, and really, kind of thrived. It shows that a group, working together, like we have is an important key to surviving; we need to offer him that option.

  (Margo) We took a scout mission out toward Middlefield today; it was to see if we could find the lights / flashes that Sgt. McManus has seen. We decided that horseback was the best way to go, it gave us more range and also would be less noisy than if we tried to do it with trucks. And it would be good to be back in the saddle.

  We reached the place, the town at noon, but even as we neared the city I felt we were being watched, I think that Del and Code had the vibe too. We were all alert, Lance, well, not so much. As we got to the middle of town, somebody took off out a back door and headed into the woods. I could have shot at him, but why? He was running away.

  Code and I checked out the building that he had run out of. It was a shithole. I can’t tell you how bad it smelled. It was filled with empty cans, small animal bones, and waste, human waste.

  Whoever it was lived in a little closed off area in the far corner. I looked over at Code, he had just puked, the smell was that bad. I felt like it too but was able to hold on.

  We talked it over and decided that we had little chance of catching whoever it was, and that really, he did not seem to offer much threat to us. We figure that he must have been the one that was causing the flashes. It was about the right place for them, and he has been the only living person we have seen out here.

  Before we left to head back I pulled a couple of cans of beans from my saddlebags. With the mountain, we had a little extra food now, and …well if the situation was reversed I would be happy with the gift.

  We told everyone what we found when we got back tonight. It was the topic of Vespers. After the fire died down and everyone headed back to their cabins Code and I sat out and talked a little.

  “I think we should try to catch him,” I said.

  “I’m not sure catch him is the right term, but yeah, we should at least make contact with him, tell him what we have, and maybe get him to come back with us.” Code replied.

  “Yeah, that is what I meant. Code, can you imagine living like that?”

  “No, but, if things had gone different for us, one of us could have been him.” he said.

  I thought about it for a minute, “yeah, you’re right.”

  We headed back to our cabin and as we crawled into bed I kissed him, “Code, can you hold me for a little while.”

  August 31

  (Tom) I was awake early, but I didn’t rush to get up. I just lay there looking at Asuna as she slept, listening to her soft breathing. I just smiled, and felt good.

  At breakfast this morning the announcement was made, most of us were in the dining hall. The Major told us that The Three had come to the decision that moving to the underground complex would begin in a couple of weeks, and the plan was to be completely moved by October 1st. I don’t think anyone was shocked by it. But it did open some questions about a few things like what would happen with our livestock and horses.

  Half of us will take a ride up there tomorrow, by truck to scope the place out. Many of the people have not seen it yet and should get an idea of what the place looks like and what they will have for rooms and such. I am sure that Mark, for example, will be interested in not only his quarters, but also the galley.

  Asuna and I headed out to do some more fly fishing today, there is not much else going on at the moment. But before we did we looked around our cabin. We had stuff, clothes, books, and knick-knacks, but it should not be too bad a move for us on the personal side. The food, and other equipment, that will be a little more complex.

  Today, the fish were running, Flies 14, Trout 1, we lost one fly in the battle.

  At Vespers tonight it was buzzing about the move. All seem excited about it.

  (Lance) well, the word came down, October 1st we
are all moved in. We can start soon, in a week or so. That means I need to figure out the Sat-Comm set up. Being underground will require a dish to be set up outside, and how to update the internal computer system. I will hold off on that until like the last week of September. Del and I can get our room set up, and Washa and I will need to work with the others to get their quarters, and the specialty rooms, like the kitchen, and dining room and heck, we will even have a separate game room to work with. Gonna be busy.

  I tried to contact Cheyenne, no luck. I talked to the Pittsburgh a little bit, they are all well, and currently in the Indian Ocean on their way to deliver the cure to a base in southern India. I tried Fort Knox, but again no answer. That is odd with the land bases; one would think that they were covered 24 for Sat-Comm.

  We sat out and watched the Aurora tonight, actually, watched from the water, in the lake. Just floating like a couple of otters, holding hands.

  (Margo) The news came down; we are bugging out, going to head up to the mountain, live in the underground base. Part of me is good with it, it will be warm, and in a way like a mountain lion den, I am definitely good with that. But I will be away from Momma and the cubs. Silly, I know, but, even though I don’t see her often, I still have that connection, weird isn’t it?

  I went out and hung in the area of the ledge, where Momma lives, soaking up the energy, the lion energy. I just sat. I closed my eyes and just inhaled, and exhaled, kind of meditating. I fell asleep I think, and then I was startled away by a swat to the face. It was one of the cubs, Elizabeth, the female. I named them after a couple of characters in my favorite anime, Black Butler. Elizabeth was an annoying pushy character in the story and with that smack, she was filling the role.

  Momma was sitting, staring at me as the little one played. Ceil, the male was standing next to her.

  “Momma, we are moving” I told her. I am not sure if she understood, and yet, I think she did. Maybe I am just being nuts, thinking, what is the term, anthropomorphizing, giving human traits to animals.