Now do not get the wrong idea about these two. They may be the religious leaders of the group but that does not mean that they will not take up arms against those who would harm us. They understand our situation as well as anyone and know that to survive sometimes things, unkind things must be done to preserve us. The wolf in the fold must be dealt with. After Margo and Delaney, Matt is still the best with a rifle and has on more than one occasion used it.
Got to go, we have a couple Zombies on the wire.
Nov 19th
I have to admit on one hand it is nice having a roommate again. It does offer some great opportunities for discussions, and expands upon things that can be done. But it is also a little weird, I have for much of my life lived alone. Asuna is a great roomie in the sense that she seems to know when to be close and when to give a little space. I hope that I am seen in the same light.
We are both kind of neat freaks and as a result the place is generally pretty much squared away as far as not being a mess. I think that Margo was right in describing us as peas and carrots.
We did the run this morning but we had to be careful because of the snow, it was a little on the slick side. We skipped sword drills for that very reason.
I am wondering how Ken and crew are making out. I figure with the new truck and all they are probably on their way south. I would still like to know if I was right in my gut feelings about Mike, but will probably never know.
Not much else to say.
Nov 20th
It was cold and crisp this morning, some extra cuddly time before we did our run this morning. Breakfast was a little on the sparse side with mostly cold cereal and some left over baked goods. Nick has a cold or bug of some kind and it was thought best to keep him out of the kitchen to avoid spreading it. But then Grace is still doing some stuff there, and well, they are roomies, so I think we are still going to see a round of the bug.
While Asuna and I had breakfast we talked about Ken and his crew. “I think we should take a run out that way and see what is going on with them.” I suggested.
“Do you think they are still there?”
“I am not sure, but it would be good to check it out, good to know if they were still around I think.”
“We can take a drive out that way later this morning if you like,” she suggested.
It was not what we expected. I feel bad, but I am glad we made the run. I just don’t know why it ended as it did.
When we got there the camp was intact, no movement, but everything was as it had been the day we left. The truck was still there, and loaded to go. But we were not greeted, which struck me as odd. While I looked around Asuna checked the yurt that Ken and his son had set up.
“Tom, better come here.”
“What?”
Asuna was standing in the doorway, I looked in. Ken and his son were both in their cots; there was a pool of blood underneath them. Both had been shot in the head. We exchanged glances and out came our sidearms.
“We better check the other tent.”
I nodded, and we moved toward it with heightened awareness.
Asuna pulled the flap back and I was first through the door. It was too late, they were dead too. Susan and Avalon were in their cots, Mike on the floor, he still had the gun in his hand.
We will never really know what the cause, or reason for it was. We found no note, Mike just snapped.
We burned the bodies; no sense in leaving them to rot, it was a somber task.
As we drove back we were mostly quiet, I think both of us were wondering “why”. I was just thinking of the waste. It was just a case of the limited resource that humanity could use to recover had just gotten a little more limited.
I did not even notice it but as we drove I had reached over and held Asuna’s hand.
We filled The Three in on what we found at the camp. For the most part we left it intact taking only the guns and bullets. The food and other supplies would be there if we needed them but there was something about taking dead man’s food, boots or money that had always seemed wrong to me.
Nov 21st
During the run this morning Asuna and I speculated about the murder-suicide. Delany and Margo were running with us for a bit.
“Ken was pretty much clueless as to what was in Mike’s head,” said Margo.
“Yeah, in talking to the girl’s while you were off getting a truck with the guys; Susan said that Mike was a little scary, he was jealous, he thought that Ken was trying to take Susan away from him,” added Delany.
“Really? Was his concern realistic?” asked Asuna.
“Not according to Susan, she had stuck with him for years, and Ken was nice and all but she was not giving up Mike I think she was afraid of him.”
Margo went on to say that Avalon told her that her dad was kind of a control freak, and since he ran out of his meds he had gotten worse of the last few weeks.
“Hmmm, I wonder what made him snap.” That was my question
We ran on a little further then the fleet footed huntresses picked up the pace and left us easily behind.
“Asuna, what do you think?”
“Don’t know, my best guess is that he felt he had lost control, and that Susan was going to dump him so he did what he could to regain control.”
“I guess, it is just a shame, another waste of lives. You ready to start back?”
We took some time after breakfast to check with the various sections (food, vehicle, medical, and The Three) to see if they need us to make a scavenging run. They were all pretty well set of the moment but would have a run list ready for us tomorrow.
After we prepped the truck and equipment for the run into town the balance of the day was spent reading and relaxing.
Nov 22nd
There was something significant about this day from the past. It was important then, now, not so much. I was in seventh grade, in Mr. Fagola’s English class. It was about 1 pm and we had just gotten back from lunch when the announcement came down that we were being dismissed from school due to the assassination of President Kennedy.
It makes one think about how things would have been had he survived, had this point in time not happened. I have considered this over the years and depending upon what was going on at the time, and what new information came forward, it is just unknowable. It has always been easy to consider or believe that “Camelot” existed and that the world would have been a better place but the details that have emerged over the years seem to take some of the shine off. In some ways it was really the beginning of the decline of America, we lost sight of the moon, and the stars and decided that it would be better to give away the fish instead of teaching people how to fish.
After the morning run, Asuna and I took a walk around to collect our “shopping” lists. It was kind of a short list for specifics, cranberry sauce, and candles. There was also the standard list which we would always look for, canned goods, water, medicine, weapons, books, and warm clothing.
It was a pretty un-eventful run. We added some items to the larder. I am guessing that Nick and Grace are working on a Thanksgiving meal which was why we needed the cranberry sauce. We were able to get both the kind of jellied type and the kind with the actual berries in it. The expiration dates were within the safe zone.
Expiration dates, now that is a topic for the end of the world. All foods that we find scavenging are canned or packaged. The canned stuff is generally considered to be safe for consumption even if the expiration day is well passed. The only time we dump or avoid the canned is if the ends are bulging or when we open it and the aroma is such that it screams “I will kill you”.
Boxed goods like cereal, pastas, packaged meals/snacks and such are also pretty much okay. A check for mold, holes in the boxes or bugs is the determiner there. The cereal might be a little chewy, but then it is the end of the world.
It was clouding up by the end of the day and there was the smell/feel of snow in the air.
Nov 23rd
Well, it is a
week to the wedding and plans are coming along. It is a big deal. This is one of those rites that will work to bring back normalcy to our little group and it will be a case of “official” pair bonding.
We do have strong bonds that have been in place for a while, like the Major and Charlene, and Frank and Teckla. We have some that have been in place for just a little while like Nick and Grace or Asuna and I. Then we have the new relationships, although in some cases not that new. Lance and Delaney, or Margo and Cody come to mind.
But then there are the broken bonds, and those are tough. The ones in which a half of the bond has gone on. Anne, Lauren, Arcelia, they were all part of bonds that because of the harshness of the new world been ended. I know that in Arcelia and Cyril’s case there is not much that could be done in finding someone to fill that void. Nick and I were lucky in that we had people come into our lives to fill that void that was left.
I have come to love Asuna very much and she is now the most important person in the world to me. But that does not mean that I have forgotten about Anne. That type of a bond does not just go away. The past was, and it is okay to reflect on it, but it should not trap you.
The weather today was nice, there is a little snow on the ground. It is a nice play outside day. Asuna and I did a little sword work, just to stay sharp….groan…..but while we did it we talked about how we were bored.
“I am tired of just the routine scavenging runs into town, I think we need an adventure,” I stammered between huffing and puffing from the drills.
“Like what did you have in mind?” asked Asuna, barely breathing hard.
“I think we need a road trip, I mean a real road trip, like a couple days, camping, something where we cover some distance.”
“And you thought of this now that there is snow on the ground, and it is getting cold?”
“Yeah, well, like I said, I am bored.”
“And where were you thinking of going?”
“Well, I had talked to a few of my cop buddies in the early days of all of this, and a number of them were heading up to the Burlington area. We could head that way and see what is shaking up there. Besides, we could take some equipment and get some radiation readings.”
“I like it, just the two of us?”
“Yep, and it will only be for about two or three days, so we will be back in time for the wedding.”
“When do we leave?”
Well, leaving was not as easy as I had thought it would be. We took a fair amount of heat from The Three who thought it was a risky thing to do but in the end, what could they say? By the end of the afternoon the Coyote was packed and we were ready to roll. We had talked about taking one of the Hummers, but felt the Coyote was a better fit.
Nov 24th
Up with the crack of ass this morning and after coffee and a little light breakfast we were on the road. We decided that we would circle around Pittsfield to the east and then head up toward North Adams. We had made a run up this way months ago and at the time it was a little on the hot side as far as Zoms went. It would be interesting to see what the place looked like now, particularly with the colder weather.
North Adams is now a ghost town. We found no one living, and very few of the dead standing about. While we were there we topped off the tanks with diesel fuel and kept our eyes open for the standard items that we always looked for on scavenger runs, meds, canned goods, and weapons/ammunition. There was not a lot that we found and we figured that if we found items we could pick them up on the way back.
From North Adams we turned west and headed to the airport just outside of town. It was more a case here where we were checking it out for possible landing zones and spares for the chance that we decided to move north. The landing strip was clear and could be used and there were a number of aircraft that appeared to be flight worthy. The fuel storage tanks were or appeared to be about half full, or would that be half empty….guess it depends on the day.
Right around lunch time we came upon the Big Cheshire Cheese Factory. It is a gold mine in a lot of ways. It was well stocked and the cheddar was aged nicely. We will be stopping here on the way back for sure. I would guess that there is several thousand pounds of edibles here in the form of assorted cheeses and hard sausages.
After lunch we continued up Vermont Route 7. We were picking up nothing on the am/fm radio scans nor did we hear any radio traffic on the CB or police/fire scanner. It was quiet.
We reached Bennington at about 2:30. Like North Adams and a number of the other towns and villages we passed through it was pretty much picked over for materials and scavangables (is that a word?). Again it was devoid of people and we only saw the occasional identifiable remains of a Zom.
As we left Bennington, we continued north but it was getting late and we had only about 45 minutes of daylight left. The plan was to find a place to hole up for the night.
“Hey, look at that?” exclaimed Asuna.
“What?” I said ready to slam on the brakes
“That sign, I know where we have to stay tonight!”
I looked at the sign, then looked at her, “Sodom?”
“Yeah, why not?”
“Ah, well?”
“Losing your sense of adventure Old Man?”
“Sodom….Really”
“Well?”
“Okay, it will be a campfire story for when we get back”
Sodom is actually a little village that has also been known as Adamant. For a 6th grade boy this could be a field day for toilet humor. It is an old granite quarry town that has been around for a long time. But there is not much there, a little store, an inn, and a post office. It appeared to be abandoned, which would make sense. It actually met the needs for our sleep over quite nicely.
We got a nice fire going in the main room of the inn and decided that it would be best to sleep there rather than try some of the rooms upstairs. After having a little dinner, which we heated over the fire and had by candle light in the dining room we returned to the main room. It was all of 7 PM and neither of us was ready for sleep.
We talked for a little bit and then I began to tell the story of Frieda Engleblocher, the murdering widow of Adamant, a tragic tale of the young woman who had lost her husband in a quarry accident which she blamed on the company.
“Why was it the companies fault?” asked Asuna.
“Work with me here.”
“No, I need to know why she felt it was their fault!”
“Okay. Well, ah, he had been driving a cart with a 10 ton block of stone on it and the axle snapped causing the block to shift and crush Shamus, her husband was Shamus, against the side of the cliff.”
“And the snapped axle was the companies fault how?”
“Damn it, okay, the cart had a load limit of 5 tons, but the company never told anyone that.”
“Better”
“My I continue?”
“Yes, please”
“So when Frieda, poor Frieda got the news she just lost it and kind of went into hiding in her house, devastated by the loss. She dressed in a black dress, long black dress with lots of ruffles.”
“Good, I see it”
“And then she would sneak out of the house at night, and one by one the company big wigs were killed, each with their heads smashed by a chunk of granite. Just like poor Shamus.”
“Nice twist, but I suspect Frieda!”
“A poor frail widow?”
“Yeah, good point”
“Well finally someone saw the shadow of the woman in the black ruffled dress slipping away from the house of one of the owners. The next morning when the found the owner dead they figured out it was Frieda. A mob headed to her home, which was here, at the inn to confront her. But when they broke into the house to get her they found her dead, she had hanged herself.”
“And?”
“And? Okay, ever since the ghost of Frieda is said to have haunted the inn and on a full moon she comes out to drop rocks on the heads of unwary travelers, like us…….”
>
“Not bad, actually a pretty good story, now I will have to work on one, but not tonight, I am scared.” she said with a smile.
“I think you will have to hold me tight tonight so I feel safe.” She giggled.
“I can do that.”
We drifted off to sleep eventually. Over the last year we have both become light sleepers, fortunately tonight, there were no ghosts, no noises and best of all, no Zoms waking us up.
The Event Trilogy (Book 1): Life After the Meteor Page 39
