by Brad Manuel
Todd hunched forward in his chair to think. “If we are going to move from this location, which is a certainty after Matt’s points.” He smiled at his nephew, “We should open our prospects to anywhere. Moving what we have a few miles is just as difficult as moving it 100 miles or even 1,000 miles.”
“It should be an established farm. There is no reason for us to dig up grass and prep soil. I understand that we’ll have to clean up last year’s crops, probably left un-reaped, but that is easier than burrowing under grass.” John considered locations in and around Hanover that would work. “Matt, you know that farm your mother used to drag us to each year? The one with the cows? It was owned by some wealthy family or something like that? That spot would fit the bill for this year.”
“John,” Todd started. “The gasoline is going to be bad by the end of the summer. We have to be where we want to live, permanently, by the end of the year. If we set up crops at that farm in New Hampshire, it’s with the long range plans of living up there, forever. If we want to move after this summer, it’s probably by horse and buggy, or by foot.”
There was silence in the room, only the crackling fire’s pops cut through the air. Hubba, enjoying a post dinner nap in the corner, rolled over and farted. The adults laughed at the dog.
“This isn’t something we are going to solve tonight or need to solve tonight. It’s probably not a decision we are going to make without Paul and Hank.” Todd stood and stretched. “I don’t know if tonight is the night we want to discuss our departure date for Hanover either. If it is, I’m okay, but if it isn’t, we should discuss some short term goals.” Todd sat back down.
“We, and when I say ‘we’ I mean Emily, have been home schooling the kids. We don’t teach them every day, we alternate lesson days.”
John cut him off before he could continue. “We do the same with Craig. Matt is an excellent teacher.”
“They can be a little rambunctious, but as long as they are learning to read and write, well, I’m not worried about history and literature as much.” Emily turned to speak directly to Matt.
“I work on reading and writing with Craig, but he’s got both of those down well. I need him to learn math so he can help with farming and cooking. He doesn’t need calculus as much as he needs basic survival math skills.” Matt explained his teaching strategies to Emily.
“Good,” Todd said. “We can continue their education for the short term. John and I will figure out and acquire our necessary supplies. To be honest, we might leave here in two weeks and find that we cannot get to Hanover by road for another three months.”
Emily, sensing a turn to the serious topics, steered the conversation back to the day. “What a fantastic day this was. Matt, you and Craig are a welcome breath of fresh air for our kids. Craig particularly, being the right age to play. Thank you for being so patient and kind to your cousins.”
Matt grinned. “They are fun kids. A little energetic, but that’s okay. It’s not like I have texts to return or posts to make to all my friends. The last six months have been weird, focusing on the people in front of me, rather than making sure people who aren’t with me get messages. Weird, huh?”
“Not weird at all.” Emily replied, “Not weird at all.”
The families merged effortlessly, settling into routines over the next weeks. Craig, Jay, and Brian studied in the mornings and played until dinner. Matt and Emily traded off teaching and entertaining. John and Todd tended to the animals, hunted, and fished for fresh meals.
Despite their comfortable lifestyle in Raleigh, there was constant discussion and preparation for their departure.
“I know we’ve been over this a hundred times, but let’s walk through our trip one more time.” Todd and John ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in their newly acquired SUV. It was cool and raining outside, the temperature dropped to 53. A steady downpour of rain added dampness to the cold air.
“Let’s take two vehicles, a motor home and a truck towing an animal trailer. We can use the truck to store fuel and food. We can stock the motor home with food. We have to assume we can scavenge the rest of our needs along the way and when we get up to Hanover.” It was almost as if John was reading off a script he replied so quickly.
“We tow a flatbed behind the motor home with a small SUV in case we run into trouble with the other vehicles. We can get 400-500 miles on its fuel tank alone, which is a nice safety net. We would set the animals free. And hopefully, albeit a bit cramped, get somewhere safe or to another vehicle in 400 miles of driving.”
“We’ll take turns driving the RV and the truck.” John took a bite of sandwich.
“When do we leave?” Todd and John knew what to take to New Hampshire. They struggled with when to leave.
“I say we leave on April 1st. We may catch an early spring thaw and get through on the roads. We have to decide which way to go. Do we hit the major cities, or do we use a rural path and risk going through the New York and Pennsylvania mountains?”
The men debated their route over and over, never settling on a decision. The mountains could bring snow and potentially strand the vehicles or cause them to crash. Washington DC and New York had potential bridge outages and confrontation with survivors. Do they take the rural route and avoid survivors, or do they embrace the idea of engaging other people by driving through major metropolitan areas?
Emily wanted to find people and other ‘tribes’ as she called them. She pointed out severe weaknesses of their current tribe. They had no doctor. If any injuries, something as minor as appendicitis, befell the group, they did not have the skill set to survive. Their group was missing women. Emily was spoken for and Todd had a vasectomy. Perpetuating the species was not going to happen in their current make up. They needed children and laborers to help sustain their families. She cried at night while talking to Todd, “will the world end up being Jay and Brian, and then the one of them left? Wandering the earth as the sole human survivor? How pathetic and sad a fate we could be leaving our two children. We have to find all the other people in the world and start a village. We need to maximize what’s left of the human potential to create a better place to live and a better future for our boys.”
Emily wanted grandchildren, and hope for a future. She talked about finding engineers and inventors that could create a village with electricity, lights, and technology.
John and Todd were wary of finding other people, particularly an evil person who might kill or hurt a member of the family. They were afraid of picking up a lazy freeloader who would not carry their weight, yet use resources. What could they do after a person was part of their village? Kick the person out in the cold to die? They had few options once they found people, so it was best not find people at all. Who would be in control of a village? Would there be a person who suddenly had control over the water? The food? Could the Dixons be subjugated to workers? John and Todd’s outcomes were negative and bleak, but they were not unrealistic. Having a doctor would be nice, and finding women and children would be great, but at what risk?
The adults, including Matt, debated until late into the evenings. What future did they hope to bring to the world? What future did they hope to bring to themselves? Matt sided with Emily, and was vocal about finding other people. He wanted people his own age, if possible, or at least within a decade of his own age. He wanted people with different skills, and different abilities, and he knew he needed more hands to work. As his father, aunt, and uncles grew older, providing for the family would fall on him and the younger kids.
John was steadfast. He did not want outsiders in their group. He did not want to cede power to anyone. He wanted to live his life his own way. If he had to yield to a vote by his brothers and Emily, he could live with that decision, but yielding to a group of outsiders was not part of his plan. Outsiders meant the creation of laws, and laws had to be enforced. John raged endlessly against this new ‘tribe’ Emily wanted, and ranted about the perils of creating a new society.
Todd was
the deciding vote. He understood Emily’s logic about wanting a physician in the group. A healer was a necessary function in any working society. If they could find a doctor, the doctor could train one of the kids, handing down knowledge for the future. Todd understood Matt’s argument about his future, his society. He could empathize with John’s fears, but Todd felt the fears were overridden by the needs of the group. The benefits outweighed the risks.
Todd and John sat in the truck, rain streaming down the windshield.
“I vote for going up through Washington D.C. and New York. We’ll bring the Suburban to tow the animals, not a flatbed truck. If we find people, we’ll let them ride in the RV.” This was the first time Todd voiced his new opinion to John. “There are probably 30-40 million people between us and New Hampshire. I bet we find, at most, ten survivors, maybe less. If we find 50, well, we find 50. They can join us or stay where they are, but we need to grow our group, John. I know you are against it, and I get your reasons, but I’m voting with Emily and Matt. I’m voting for Jay, Craig, and Brian’s future, for wives for them, for lives for them past our deaths, for grandchildren for you and me. I’m voting with hope” Todd was overly dramatic in his speech, and he knew it, but he wanted to make John comfortable with the decision, a decision which was now final.
“I get it. I understand, and I support the group.” John cleared his throat. He understood the decision, and wanted to make it himself, but he was afraid of who they were going to find on their travels. “If we find 50 people, and even 40 of them are like us, we’re making the right call. I want this new society we are creating, this new tribe.” He cleared his throat again, turned and looked at Todd. “I will say this to you, and I’ll say it to Paul and Hank. If we take on new people and they’re good, hard working, decent people, I will be the happiest man left on earth. If my boys can find partners for their lives, and have children of their own, well, it’s worth it.” John looked down at his feet, and then back up at Todd. “If any of the people we hook up with are bad, and they do anything bad, I’ll kill them.” John let it sink in. “I’ll kill them if they even have the smell of doing something wrong to my family. Play time ended when the world died. Anyone who enters our group earns their keep. If they don’t, I take care of it.”
“Jesus, John, you don’t have to go crazy on me here.” Todd was taken aback.
“No, don’t get squeamish on me. Know the decision you have made. I think it’s the right decision, but understand I have your back, and Emily’s back, and Matt’s, Jay’s, Craig’s, Hank’s, Greg’s, and Paul’s backs. I will take out any problem we have, and I will do it without hesitation. We don’t live in a world of hesitation any longer. We hesitate on where we should live? We die. We hesitate on when to plant? When to harvest? What to plant? We die. I won’t hesitate on eliminating threats.”
They sat in the truck, listening to the rain coming down on the roof. They stared at the lot of RV’s, deciding which one they wanted to take, waiting for the rain to stop so they could see which ones had fuel and would get back to the house.
“If we find any New Yorkers, they better god damn not be Jets fans. This is a New England tribe, and I’ll be goddamned if I will hear stories about the Jets. If someone stands up and has a green football jersey on? We keep rolling, doctor or not.” John used the same tone, but was obviously joking, at least Todd thought he was joking.
“John, it’s a good idea, stopping for people. I know you focus on the negative scenarios, but think of the upside. If we find a mechanical engineer, an electrical engineer, a person who can get some of the power working? A doctor who can save the kids, set a broken leg, I think there is tremendous upside.”
John held up his hand to stop his brother. “Todd, I know, it’s the right call. You’re making the right decision. I agree with you 100%. I just want you to know, you don’t have to worry about the negative aspects of this decision. I will take care of it. I hope I don’t, but I will, and I won’t lose sleep and I won’t bat and eye.”
They sat for another half hour, eating their sandwiches and talking about where to live. Neither of them brought up the conversation again. When the rain did not stop, they decided to find an RV regardless of how wet they got. They tried four different ‘homes on wheels’ before settling on a giant $400,000 diesel with every bell and whistle available. It boasted the most horsepower, and could tow a small SUV without a problem or additional loss of miles per gallon.
They attached a car platform and John drove the behemoth back to the house. Todd followed in their SUV.
Emily was ecstatic about the new RV. It was beautiful, and provided all the comforts they needed for a potentially long trip north. She also agreed with the April 1st departure. She began to move supplies into the RV immediately, taking stock of its storage capacity.
The RV was incredible. There was a bedroom in the back with a king bed, perfect for sleeping three to four at once, as long as two of the people were Jay and Brian. There was a sleeper sofa and another full sofa in the living room area. If they brought blow up mattresses, they could sleep seven comfortably in the giant rolling house. There was a kitchen with burners for purifying water and cooking meals, and an oven for baking. There was a large television with a DVD player. The RV had the potential of being more comfortable and entertaining with more utilities than their current house.
“We should have moved into one of these months ago.” Emily said after inspecting the vehicle from top to bottom. “I’ve got a month’s worth of food in there already, and we still have tons of storage. Jay and Brian are filling the water tanks with bottled water, and Matt is taking care of the non-potable tanks with the water from the rain barrels. We’ll be ready to go by March 15th, and definitely ready on April 1st.”
“Aye, aye captain.” Todd replied in a sailor voice.
Emily gave him a look, “You might find yourself sleeping out here sooner than April 1st if you keep that attitude.”
“I’ll just keep the current home humming along, you get the rolling house prepped.” He gave her a wink and a smile.
At the end of another long day Craig, Jay, and Brian were in bed, Matt, Emily, Todd, and John sat in the living room next to a fire. The days were warmer, but the nights still had a chill. The fire was necessary and created a nice ambiance.
“I have a few requests, which might alter our timetable a bit.” Emily started, catching the three men off guard. “I’d like to make a few stops on the way up to New Hampshire, sight-seeing if you will. I think it’s important for the kids, Craig included, to see some of our nation’s history. This might be our last opportunity.”
The men were silent before John spoke. “What did you have in mind?” John looked over at Todd with a, ‘really? You couldn’t have brought this up sooner?’ look.
“Don’t blame Todd, he had nothing to do with this. You two are concerned about routes and snow, I think about the kids. I want to tour the White House. I want to see the Lincoln Memorial and a few other highlights. We can even sleep in the White House. That would be pretty neat, don’t you think?”
“You realize we are bringing the chickens and goats, right? You want to spend a few days in D.C. with livestock in tow?” John told her.
“Yes, to both questions.” Emily did not back down. She seldom did. “This is it, our last time in Washington D.C. You want to take the Declaration of Independence? The Constitution? Keep them as souvenirs? We can. We can grab any art you want when we get to New York, drop by the Metropolitan and take Monets and Van Goghs, line our walls with them, but after this trip, we’re done. We have no way to show our kids the Washington Memorial except through pictures. No way to show them New York City except in movies. This is not a joke from the crazy lady who likes to tour homes, this is a request from a mother who isn’t going to have another opportunity to give her kids memories.” Emily’s tone was serious.
“I’d like to see that stuff again. I haven’t been since I was like 7.” Matt chimed in.
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��I haven’t been since I was 21. I’m in too.” Todd said in support. “Hey, John, we can stop at the Meadowlands, pick up some Jet’s paraphernalia, whatever you want.”
“You’re hilarious, Todd, just hilarious.” John waited a second before responding. “I have to admit, you make a great point. I doubt we can get up to Hanover this early anyway. Making some stops, grabbing some memorabilia is an interesting idea. We want to find survivors, and driving into the heart of D.C. and New York is part of the plan anyway. We might as well take the kids to the sailboat pond in Central Park.”
“Now you’re getting into the spirit. I mean, let’s not go crazy, make this a three week tour of the east coast, but let’s not pass up the opportunities we have during the trip.” Emily was excited by the acceptance of her plan. She thought about it months before, but was afraid to bring it up. Now that they had a house on wheels, stopping a few times on the way to New Hampshire was not a problem.
“Are we going through Philly?” She asked. Their route was fluid at the moment, changing with each conversation.
“Let me guess, you want to see the Liberty Bell?” Matt joked.
They all laughed. John put it back to the group. “If we want to hit cities, our current route takes us through Richmond, D.C., Baltimore, Philly, New York City, and going a little out of our way to hit Boston and specifically Hightower to see if Greg is there. That is just about every major city on the east coast north of Charleston.”
Todd nodded, “I don’t feel like we need to go out of our way to engage any more metro areas. My question is no longer how we are getting to Hanover, but rather how long are we staying in each city? Are we buzzing through Baltimore? Are we slowing down and blasting music or something? What efforts are we making to find other people?”
They thought about the question. Matt answered, “I say we leave a week earlier than planned and we make strategic camps in each city. I don’t know how big Richmond is, maybe we spend one night there, but we get up there, we light a fire, a big fire, we blast some air horns, maybe every hour, then we pack up and leave the next day. Maybe D.C. is three days instead of one, and we move the camper each night to a different part of the city. Obviously we could spend weeks doing this up and down the coast, but we don’t want to delay getting to Greg, Uncle Paul, and Uncle Hank. We make sure we can get to Hanover by mid to late April, and we make a strong effort to find people.”
