Solar Storm: Homeward Bound

by Vincent Keith

  “Do you really think—“ Rachael started to say

  “—Yes, I do,” Jack interrupted. “You’ve got the maps and the radio. Just don’t take any chances. With a little luck, I’ll be a half day behind you. If it’s over two, I’m not coming. At which point, hunker down and wait for reinforcements. And no fires. If they’re out looking, that’ll pull them in like moths to a flame. Although I’m not sure what you can do to cover your tracks in the snow.”

  It was the better part of an hour before Jack spotted a young man walking toward their location with a white flag on a stick. He signaled the camp to expect company and continued to scan the horizon. After each completed scan, Jack checked on the messenger’s progress toward their position. He was more interested in anyone that might be following. After a brief conversation, Lexi came up the hill leading Jack’s horse. Jack met her about halfway.

  “All good?”

  "He had the right code. He was pretty surprised to see all the horses. I hope he doesn't get any ideas about having horse meat for dinner."

  “Well, that’s not going to happen unless things at the camp are pretty bad. How did he look?”

  “Oh, he’s cute enough under the dirt, but he could use a bath.”

  Jack chuckled. “Yeah, not really what I meant Lexi. Does he look starved?”

  “Oh! No, not really. Thin, but not starved.” Her blush blended with the slight windburn, and if Jack hadn’t been paying attention, he might have missed it.

  “Right, well let’s just lead the horses in, and keep your eyes open.”

  They followed Scott Anderson, the messenger, as he led them into the campground. Jack had his 45-70 cradled in his arms. Rachael and Lexi carried their new MK-16 SCAR carbines slung from single point slings. Allan was carrying one of the M2 carbines that had been part of Aaron's collection. He'd also brought his Mossberg Patriot hunting rifle, just in case they had time to do some deer or elk hunting, but it was strapped to his horse.

  The residents had moved their trailers to surround the park office. The labyrinthine arrangement of RV's and trailers was making Jack nervous. It was like walking through a building with a mass of intersecting hallways, any of which could hold an ambush. Jack wondered if they had a functional truck or if the trailers had been moved by hand. They stepped past a converted school bus to see a large pole barn shelter with a good-sized fire-pit. A chimney rose through the makeshift roof. The entire place was put together from whatever scrap they could find. Sergeant Hernandez stood and waved them over, a steaming cup in his hand.

  Jack wasn’t sure if the sight of Hernandez or the sight of the steaming cup he was holding did more to relieve his nerves, maybe both. He smiled as he scanned the crowd of mostly retirement-aged people, a half-dozen younger couples, and maybe a dozen kids all busy at one thing or another.

  "Jack, this is Chris Epps and his wife, Eva. They managed the campground before the storm."

  "Pleasure. This is Rachael and Lexi. That fellow over there talking with Scott is Allan.”

  Chris looked to be in his mid-seventies and Eva was maybe a few years younger. Chris extended a well-calloused hand.

  “Pleasure’s ours. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to know the Army hasn’t completely disappeared. I wish your Captain friend had come with you.”

  “Oh?”

  “Let’s get you something hot to drink. I’ve bent the Sergeant’s ear about all our troubles, and I guess you probably have enough of your own.”

  "Still, I'd be interested in learning as much about the situation here as I can. I'm hoping to build up a trade route from my place up near Omak down as far as Adin. We’ve got pretty good relations in Adin, Burns and Pilot Rock, and by extension Pendleton. The army has been keeping order in Hermiston and Umatilla. There are a few spots south of here we avoided, but I suspect the Captain will scout thoroughly?” Jack quirked an eyebrow at Miguel.

  “That’s the plan.” Miguel nodded.

  "Once he gets done with eastern Oregon, he may want to scout some towns on the way. Walla Walla, Touchet, and maybe Prescott, then there's really only what—Lind, Odessa, Wilber, and Ritzville between here and Coulee? I guess Moses Lake to the west on I-90, and Ephrata, maybe a few other small towns, say under a thousand people, probably well under that by now.”

  Jack paused as Eva handed him a cup of tea.

  “It’s all we have, I’m sorry,” she said.

  “Eva, thank you very much, and never apologize for offering to share what you have with an outsider.”

  “Jack?”

  Jack took a sip as he turned to where Rachael was standing with a toddler on her hip. The poor child looked under the weather, her nose running and her head drooping against Rachael’s breast.

  “Hey, babe, who’s your new friend?”

  “This is Susie. Jack, can we afford a day or two?”

  Jack looked to the floor to cover a smile. When he saw the kids and the older folks, he knew Rachael would want to check on their health. He got his smile under control and replaced it with as stern a look as he could manage.

  “Rachael, we’ve got other obligations besides getting home. The Sergeant needs to hook up with the Guard unit at Coulee, so it’s not just our schedule.” He could just see her winding up her pitch when Miguel pulled the plug.

  “Oh no you don’t pal,” said Miguel. “You want to disappoint the Doc, that’s on you.”

  Jack snorted a laugh. “Some tough guy you are. Well, it’s not like we were ever going to do anything different.”

  A number of emotions had flashed across Rachael’s face before she settled at understanding. “You tease! You were just trying to get Miguel in trouble.”

  "Nah, I figured he would cave, besides, if I recall Brian's mission orders, this falls under ‘establish a friendly network of locals', wouldn't it Sergeant?"

  “Sir, are you sure you weren’t in the military?”

  “Pretty sure.” Jack smiled. “Okay, I think we can afford a couple of days as long as our Rangers can contact their higher ups. Or do you have enough discretion in your orders to delay?”

  “We're covered. We knew there would be issues along the way, so we've got a week's leeway. I have no idea what they might do. I think if the Colonel had more resources available he’d have sent them with us, so I don’t think we can plan on the arrival of the Calvary.”

  “Hmm, well I guess we’ll see if the Corporal and Lexi can get in contact with anyone.”

  “No problem,” said Lexi. “I’ve got a working antenna tuner so we can set up at least a quarter wave NVIS, that should reach Henry…oh, Henry can’t transmit on the right frequency. I guess I'll go find Doug. Maybe we can get Art or somebody to relay.” With that, Lexi disappeared like a kid hearing the ice cream truck coming down the street.

  Chris barked out a full belly laugh, “That’s a lot of energy to harness, I’m impressed.”

  “Harness is a bit of a stretch. Vaguely aim, might be more accurate. Lexi focuses all on her own, once she has a general direction,” Rachael quipped. “I think she’s grown up rather more than I’d like.”

  Eva gave her a gentle smile. “All the youngsters have grown up pretty fast in the last few months. I expect it’s that way all over, at least where folks haven’t just lost their way altogether.”

  “She’s doing great Rachael,” said Jack. “So, you’ve got at least the rest of today and all of tomorrow. We’ll have to see what happens after that.”

  Rachael nodded, turning away with little Susie on her left hip. She’d taken only one step before she spun around, grabbed Jack’s shirt with her right hand, pulled his head down and kissed him rather soundly and then winked.

  “I’m going to borrow Eva. Eva, why don’t we see if we can find a space for an impromptu clinic. I’ll want to go over what you have for food and medical supplies, then we’ll check on the kids.” Her voice faded as she led Eva off to the corner where the kids were playing.

  “She’s a doctor?” asked Chris.<
br />
  “Nurse Practitioner, and trauma nurse. So, technically no, but close enough for me.”

  “Good enough, we’ve got one EMT, and that’s it. He’s been doing his best to teach basic first aid, but without a real clinic, tests, and drugs, I’m not sure there’s a lot we can do.”

  “We’ll do what we can, that’s all anyone can ask. So, Miguel, what’s your thinking?”

  “We’ve got a problem, and I’d rather go deal with it that try to go around it.”

  Jack looked from Miguel to Chris, then back. “This sounds bad, anything to do with your willingness to hang for a few days?”

  “Yeah, we’d best sit down, this is going to take a bit.”

  The men moved into what had been the camp office. While they waited for Allen to arrive, Chris introduced a dark skinned young man from India.

  "This is Sameer Gupta. Sameer found us a few days after everything went dark and has been an enormous help in keeping the camp running. He was on his way back to Washington State University when his car died. Now he's stuck in the middle of nowhere with the rest of us."

  Sameer had come to the US to get degrees in engineering and agriculture. The young man had a lot of energy, a work-ethic hard to surpass and at present, no way home. He was returning from a friend’s wedding in Seattle and planned to visit Grand Coulee Dam and a WSU project site in Walla Walla. Sameer was about six miles north of the bridge on a lonely back road when the storm hit. He checked his map and concluded that the closest spot to get help was the KOA campground. When the situation became apparent, he applied his considerable intellect and work ethic to help the tiny community which had taken him in.

  Chris paced as he relayed the story of the last two days.

  "Two nights ago, two young girls, Lori Quigley and Katie Beals disappeared. The parents roused the whole camp near dinner time in their panicked search. We checked the marina, the boats, and buildings, the shoreline, everywhere. It was Scott who found a pair of small footprints in the snow and followed them to the very southern end of the campground. When he saw the tracks of large boots, he came running back into camp with the news.

  “The fathers ran off to begin their search before I could get things organized. Eva managed to talk their wives into staying put. It was getting dark, and the snow had been falling for hours at that point. She convinced them they couldn't leave their toddlers alone. The panic in the adults already had all the kids scared. I can barely imagine the anguish the conflicting needs must have created. On the one hand, they had to find their daughters, and on the other, they couldn't abandon little Mary and Todd."

  “They’re the younger siblings?”

  “Yeah. Geoff Beals and his wife Tina have two; Katie who’s about eight, and Todd who’s three. The Quigley’s, that’s Chet and Cathy have two girls, Lori who’s about seven and Mary who’s only two. The families were on vacation together.”

  “Okay, so the fathers take off to the south in search of the girls, then what?” asked Jack.

  “I sent Scott and David Bryan to join the search. Scott and David have the only firearms and I was very much afraid that if the girls were abducted, they might need them.”

  “Yeah, I can see that,” said Jack. “What about the rest of the men?”

  “Most of us are in our seventies, and without working flashlights, going out in the dark, in the snow felt like a pending disaster. Mike Cooper, Susie’s Dad, went with Scott and David. We talked it over and decided that if they didn’t find the girls by morning, I would stay with Jim Martin, Kevin Gilpin, and the wives who weren’t able to endure hours of hiking through the snow. The rest would start a second search party.”

  “I take it you’ve had no luck?”

  Chris pulled a map off the wall and laid it down on the table.

  “David and Scott got back well after midnight. They headed west, following what they thought were the freshest tracks. The trail branched; one set continued west and the other looped around and over the trestle that's just downstream from here. There's a trout hatchery just across the river, and the tracks go right past it. It was dark and snowing. They had to choose, so they headed across the trestle to the hatchery.”

  Chris pointed to a spot not more than a half mile away.

  “Did they check that out?”

  "Yes, it's empty except for the trout. We’ll try to figure out how to feed them, it looks like all the supplies are there but…"

  “But, nobody knows what’s what,” said Jack.

  "Yep. Anyway, by the time Scott and David got back, they were tired and near frozen. That's when I got really worried about Chet and Geoff. We sent out a second search party early this morning. They found Chet and Geoff passed out in the snow less than a half mile from here. They got them up and moving, but they were totally incoherent and could barely walk. They passed out again as soon as we got them into beds. I was getting ready to send another search party out when you showed up."

  The door opened and two men, drawn and haggard came through the door.

  “Why aren’t you out looking? Why did you let us sleep so long?” asked the taller one in a pleading voice.

  “Chet, we’ve got more help, we’re going back out soon, but we need a plan.”

  “I have a plan,” said Geoff. “I’m going out and this time I’m going south. And you’re not going to stop me. Come on Chet, let’s go.”

  “Geoff, wait for just a minute. This is Sergeant Hernandez with the US Army. I told you we’ve got help, just give us a few minutes to plan will you?”

  39

  CANNIBALS? ARE YOU SURE?

  Jack's initial reaction was disbelief. As he thought about it, he realized he shouldn't be surprised. He'd expected it to happen just not out in the country. But there was nothing to stop people outside the cities from running out of food and becoming desperate. Combine that with the loss of nearly every comfort, the ability to call for help, and whatever bit of control people had over their own lives, and it would be like pushing them into the abyss with no warning. Given that, there was no end to the depravity of which human beings were capable.

  "Cannibals? Are you sure?" asked Jack.

  Chet nodded. “I think so. I wasn’t dreaming it, the bones and blood were real.”

  Chet visibly shivered, but Jack didn't think it had anything to do with the temperature.

  “Take a breath and start from the beginning.”

  Chet nodded. “We'd walked for miles. I don't even know how far. We just kept following the tracks in the dark. By the time we got there we were freezing, my coat was damp all the way through. Geoff found an open garage that had a burn barrel in it. It was still hot, so we pulled the—the bones out to make room for wood. We got the fire going again. The stench was awful, but we were so cold it didn't matter."

  He covered his face with his hands, breathing hard as he struggled for control.

  “We only rested long enough to bring feeling back into our hands. Then we started searching the houses. The entire place was empty. Someone had set fire to more than half the homes. I don't know when we gave up searching. We'd been through all the houses that were still standing. Then we cleared piles of smoldering rubble, searching for—I don't know what we were searching for. Proof that the girls weren't there? We checked every place we could, but it was still dark, and we were exhausted, shivering, and everything was numb. We just couldn't keep going, so we curled up next to the burn barrel. When it got light enough to see, I—"

  Chet covered his mouth and struggled with is rising gorge.

  "There were pools of dry or drying blood. It was so dark when we got there we couldn't see it. When I first saw the bones I didn't understand—it just didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.

  "We walked around the streets and between the houses. It was horrible in the light of day. I don't know what happened, but there were bones, human bones, in piles. Some of them were charred, and some still had flesh—"

  “I thought about it as we headed back. There were sp
ots on the floor soaked in blood. The bones had—"

  Jack watched as the man visibly fought down his rising gorge. Chet took a deep breath then continued.

  "There were teeth marks on the bones. The bones--someone had gnawed on them. I'm…I'm a dentist, and I know what teeth marks look like when I see them. It was…" Chet's jaw clamped tight and swallowed, unable to continue.

  “It just came to me when Geoff woke me up, it all made a horrible kind of sense.”

  “Mary, Mother of God, protect us.” Miguel crossed himself.

  Jack nodded.

  “Did you find anything else?”

  Chet shook his head, jaw still clenched, willing himself to continue. "No. Well, there were tracks everywhere, but we couldn't tell which were new and which were old. We could barely tell our tracks from the ones we were following. The damn snow was burying every trace."

  “That’s why we have to go now!” Geoff stood so fast he knocked his chair over. He paced to the corner then back, like a caged animal.

  Chet nodded, exhausted, but restless and wanting to go back out and search for his daughter. "Geoff was sure they must have turned south back at the trestle. We walked for hours. Our feet and hands were numb. My ears were frozen, and I couldn't feel my nose. The others found us before we'd made it that far. They practically had to carry us back. When I woke up, the lady, um, the nurse said we have minor frostbite and hypothermia. She didn't want to let us go…I guess I'm not surprised. I've never been so wet and cold and numb and tired in my life. We just couldn’t walk any further.”

  Jack nodded. “Hypothermia will do that.”

  “But…we have to go. We've got to find them." Chet's voice cracked, and he began to sob quietly, shoulder shaking. His head rested on his arms as he leaned forward against the table.

  Jack patted him on the shoulder. "Hang in there. We're going to help you find your children. We just need to make a plan, and for that, we have to know where we should start looking."