Solar Storm: Homeward Bound

by Vincent Keith

  “I may never wear shorts again.”

  “Oh you will, it’s going to be too hot this summer for long pants unless you’re a glutton for punishment,” said Jack.

  “Sounds pretty nice, right now I’m freezing.”

  “Right let’s get you up off the snow.”

  Jack reached down a lifted her as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “Okay, lead on. I’m not sure how far we have to go.”

  Rachael took a few steps then turned. “I’m not sure this is going to work Jack. Can you carry her through this much snow?”

  Jack stopped. “I thought so, but no, probably not. We need a sled of some sort.”

  “Can you just get me up on a horse?” asked Lexi.

  “Maybe, but it’s going to be painful.”

  “More than getting dropped?”

  “I’m not going to drop you. I might set you down in a hurry.” After a few minutes of struggling through the snow, he stopped again. “Okay going down.”

  Jack lowered her back to the snow, stood up and stretched, then worked his way out of his duster.

  “Let’s see if this works,” said Jack.

  It took only a moment to get the duster laid out and to slide Lexi onto it. He helped her move her right leg, so the injury was off the ground, supported by her foot. He took the belt loop off his chest pack and hooked it to the pull-tab on her boot then hooked the clip on the other end to a loop on her jeans. He cinched it up to prevent her foot from slipping out and letting her injured calf hit the ground. With her settled in, he grabbed the sleeves behind his back and started moving. The coat slid well enough across the snow, her weight helping to smooth out the holes made by his steps. It was a bit of a struggle but much easier than the previous attempt.

  “How’s the ride?”

  “Cold. Better than walking.”

  “It shouldn’t take us too long. Rachael, can you go ahead and maybe get the Sawtooth set up, then start looking for some dead wood? I think we’re going to probably go through whatever firewood we have left on the pack horses, and we’ll need some for tomorrow.”

  “We need to get her warmed up pretty soon.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  Rachael pulled off her coat and covered Lexi with it.

  “Can we help?” asked Ross.

  “Sure. How are you guys doing?”

  “I think we’re good. Frazzled, but good.”

  “Okay, check with Allan, we need to get the big tent up, and get the stove going. I’m going to use the hot chocolate I’ve been hiding away since the lights went out. We need to get someone up on lookout. Sara, do you feel up to keeping an eye on the road?”

  Sara looked at her dad, who nodded.

  “Um, okay. Where do I go and…what if I see someone?”

  Jack stopped and let the sleeves drop. He dug into the chest pack and found his mini binoculars.

  “Here take these. Go on ahead until you find Allan. Tell him you’re supposed to watch the road. He’ll know where to put you. If you see someone heading our direction, just come back to the camp and find me or your dad or Allan.”

  “Okay,” she replied, taking the binoculars.

  She turned west and began following the trail left by the horses. Jack picked up the coat sleeves and started moving again, then stopped.

  “Hang on a sec, I just need to try something.”

  He dug back into the chest pack and found the small coil of paracord. He tied one end to each sleeve then stepped into the makeshift harness.

  “Right, once more unto the breach.”

  With the cord looped around his waist, and his arms free, Jack was able to move faster. By the time they reached the camp spot, Rachael, Allan, and Ross had things laid out and were starting to put up the tents. The horses were milling around the creek downstream from the camp, and Nicole and Andy Garrett were off collecting firewood. Jack got out his woobie and Lexi’s sleeping bag from the pile of packs and set about getting her warmed up.

  “What do you think, another sleeping bag under your leg?”

  “We can try it, maybe if it’s not rolled too tightly.”

  By the time Jack had her situated, Ross and Allan had the big tent up. Jack started working on the fire-pit first. The Garrett’s had collected enough wood to get a fire started and then went for more. They’d be at it for at least another hour, maybe longer. Jack repositioned Lexi closer to the fire, then turned to help Rachael with the Sawtooth shelter. He found her inside struggling with the stovepipe.

  “Want me to get that?”

  “Sure. How’s Lexi?”

  “Go check, it’ll be at least ten minutes before the first pot of water is ready. I’ll get this stove going, and we can use it to heat water while it’s warming up the tent.”

  “Do we need more water?”

  “We will. If it’s easy enough, we can get buckets from the creek. Just don’t fall in. If there’s not a safe spot, wait until Doug and Miguel get back.”

  Rachael set about checking on Lexi, then dealing with the water. They’d used all but two of the bottles. One of the collapsible buckets would fill two bottles. They now had twenty empties, and the last two would be empty shortly. She found the trip down to the creek was easy enough. There was a spot that provided a sturdy root for a handhold and no ice against the shore. As she filled the buckets, she considered the fastest way to get the job done. She was pretty sure she’d need at least four pots boiling once dinner was finished or the job would take all night. It would probably take until midnight anyway.

  Jack had given Lexi a cup of hot chocolate, then headed up the road to check on Sara and deliver her a large mug as well. On his way, he spotted Nicole and little Andy collecting more wood. He veered in their direction.

  “Hey, there’s hot chocolate in the big pot by the fire. Take a break when you get done with this load and have some. It’ll help.”

  Andy’s eyes lit up. “Real hot chocolate?”

  “Real enough, it’s hot though, so be careful. I’m going to check on Sara,” said Jack, tapping the thermos.

  Nicole smiled, “Thanks, Jack.”

  “Ross and Allan are done getting things set up. They’re down at the creek checking on the horses. Hey… Don’t be surprised if you hear a couple of gunshots from back down the road. That’ll be Doug and Miguel.”

  “What—“

  Jack shook his head and nodded toward Andy, who was busy picking up dead wood. He could see Nicole working through the meaning, then she nodded.

  Jack continued along the road, over the creek that flowed through a culvert. He spotted Sara tucked in behind a log carefully watching the road to the West. As he started up the slope, he spoke her name, just loud enough to be heard. Sara turned and spotted him, waved, then turned back to watching the road.

  Jack sat down next to the young girl and sighed. It took a moment to dig his camp mug out of his coat pocket and clean off the edge with fresh snow. He removed the top of the thermos and poured the steaming chocolate into the cup.

  “Hey, take this.”

  Sara turned and put the binoculars down on the log. She slipped out of her mittens and wrapped her fingers around the mug. Her eyes lit up as the aroma of the chocolate wafted up in a cloud of steam. Sara took a delicate sip and decided it was still too hot.

  “I think I’ll let it warm my fingers up before I drink it.”

  “Okay. Sorry, I didn’t think to bring something warmer for you to wrap up in. How are you doing up here?”

  “It’s quiet. I like it, I don’t even mind the cold so much.”

  Jack nodded and leaned back against the log to stretch his back muscles.

  “Mr. Donovan, is Lexi going to be okay?”

  “She’s fine. Her leg’s going to be pretty sore for a few days, but her mom doesn’t think it’ll keep her off her feet for more than a week, if that.”

  Sara let out a long sigh. “Good, that was really scary. Scarier than when those men came to the house
. Is it going to always be like that?”

  “Well, always is an awfully long time. It’s going to be dangerous for quite a while, maybe a year, maybe two or three. You’ll feel much better when we get to the monastery. There’s a lot of folks around to help keep everyone safe.”

  “We’re going to a church?”

  Jack chuckled, “No, sorry, it’s just a nickname. My friends all have houses next to each other, but the man who started it and keeps everything running is named Henry Monk. You know how the men in monasteries are called monks? Well, someone started calling it Monk’s place, then someone else got the bright idea to call it the Monastery. They were just trying to tease Henry, but it stuck the way nicknames do. So…”

  “Oh, I kinda wanted to see a real monk in a robe.”

  Jack laughed. “Well, you might catch Henry walking around in his bathrobe, but that’s about it.”

  Sara smiled and took another sip, a bigger one. She closed her eyes and sighed.

  “Pretty good, huh?”

  Sara nodded. “Mom used to make hot chocolate every time it snowed, sometimes when it was just really cold. But we ran out a long time ago.”

  “Yeah, that’s going to be a problem for a while. We’ve run out of a lot of things. Some of them we might get more of, others…I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

  “Why did all this happen?”

  Jack considered Sara’s question for a minute. “How much did your folks tell you?”

  “Just that the power was gone, and nobody thought it was going to turn on again. Oh, and it had something to do with the Sun.”

  “True. Did you ever play with magnets in school? Did you ever see the one with a magnet and iron filings?”

  “Sure, we did that experiment in science class.”

  “Okay, the Sun had a storm, which happens a lot, but this was a gigantic one, and it happened to be in just the wrong place. When that happens, it spits out a big glob of particles. Usually, they just fly off into space, and nothing happens. This time, we happened to be in the way. That big glob of particles hit the magnetic field around the Earth and pushed it all out of shape. That caused a big surge in electricity that blew out a lot of the power lines and transformers.”

  She considered the problem for a minute then shrugged. “So why haven’t they fixed it?”

  “You know how your dad has some tools that run on power, and he uses them to make things. If the power is out, he can’t make that stuff anymore. Our problem is that it takes power to make the things we need to fix the power.”

  “So it’s not ever going to come back on?”

  “No—I know this is hard to believe, but all the things we have that don’t work anymore—we didn’t have any of that stuff a hundred and fifty years ago. We know how to make a lot of it, and we have some power, it’s just going to take a lot longer than what we’re used to. We’ll make do, don’t worry.”

  Jack refilled her cup with the last of the thermos.

  “Look, Sara—Don’t be surprised if you hear some gun fire from back in that direction. Although, with the hills and trees, you might not hear anything or it might sound like it’s coming from someplace else. If you hear more than two or three shots, head back to camp, but stay off the road as much as you can. We’re not expecting any trouble, but just in case.”

  Sara looked back toward the camp, then at Jack. “Okay, I guess.”

  “Just keep an eye on the road, I’ll send someone up to relieve you in a couple of hours, will you be warm enough?”

  “The hot chocolate helped, but maybe someone could bring me something to sit on beside the snow?” She gave him a shy smile.

  “Okay. Hang in there.”

  Jack took the thermos and the empty mug and headed back to camp.

  49

  THE CAVALRY

  Allan stuffed a couple of strips of beef jerky in his rucksack along with his sleeping bag. He checked on the horses one more time, then started toward the campfire to pick up a thermos of hot chocolate. Hearing voices approaching from behind, Allan turned and faced down the road, hand reaching for his carbine. A moment later he spotted two men on horses stepping out of the trees and Miguel’s voice from down the road. Allan stopped to wait for the two Rangers.

  “How’s Lexi?” asked Doug.

  “She’s fine. The bullet tore open the back of her calf, but her mom doesn’t seem worried.

  “Allan, how many horses did we lose?” Miguel asked as they dismounted.

  “Just Gracie, Panda finally wandered back about five minutes ago. The bullet that hit Lexi—it went through the stirrup fender and hit the cinch ring. Most of it stuck in the leather. I’m not getting that saddle back on him anytime soon. I don’t think it cracked the rib, but it’s surely bruised.”

  “Better than I expected. I wonder if Jack knows how close he came to taking that round that hit Gracie. If Hoover hadn’t reacted…”

  Allan frowned as he considered the implications. “Well, anyway…Jack has coffee, and I think he’s figuring out what we have left to eat.”

  “Good. Doug, can you take the horses? I want to check on the kids.”

  “Roger that.”

  “Heading toward camp, Allan?” asked Miguel.

  “Yes, sir. Lexi’s by the fire warming up. I need coffee, then I’ll take Sara some more hot chocolate and something to wrap up in.”

  “Sara’s pulling watches?”

  “We’re kind of shorthanded, and it’s not dark yet.”

  “It’s fine,” Miguel said, waving off the unnecessary defense. “I’m...call it pleasantly surprised. I know she and Lexi are about the same age, but she seems so much younger.”

  “I imagine Lexi’s been through a lot more. More than me, for sure.”

  “I guess we should expect kids to grow up faster now.”

  “I suppose so,” Allan mumbled as he lifted the pot of hot chocolate and filled the thermos. “Probably not much different for those of us who had to work as we grew up…” Allan paused as he adjusted his carbine sling, then smiled shyly. “Well, I guess maybe it’s a little different.”

  Miguel slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Come on back when you’re done, we need to discuss a few things. I’ll find Jack, see if you can find Ross on the way back.”

  “Okay.”

  Allan stuffed the thermos into his bag and headed up the road to check on Sara. Miguel shifted around and sat on the ground next to Lexi.

  “Hey kiddo, good job out there today. I’m proud of you.”

  Lexi blushed, “Um, thanks, Sergeant.” She paused and looked around, but no one else was close. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure.”

  “I… How come… I mean…” she stopped and shook her head trying to get the words to come out right. “When I shot that guy…”

  Miguel waited.

  “When Jack rescued my Mom and me, he shot two guys who were trying to rape mom… and maybe me too, I guess…”

  Miguel nodded, “Yeah, Jack told me about that.”

  “He… How come it doesn’t bother me like it did him? I mean… I was… It…”

  “A thrill?” asked Miguel.

  She nodded, blushing. “Am I a bad person? I mean does that make me—”

  “No.” He held up a hand and paused, trying to find the words to explain.

  “No, it doesn’t make you a bad person. Everyone is different, we grow up with different beliefs, different training, and we’re not all wired the same way. I grew up Catholic, and to be honest, it’s never stopped me from shooting someone who needed shooting, which is weird in a way. It took a while to realize that it wasn’t either good or bad. That doesn’t make it easy for me, well… I don’t know maybe it does a little, but it still haunts me at times. Some folks take it really hard, some never get over it, I don’t much care for it myself, but sometimes it’s just necessary.”

  Miguel sipped his coffee and then stared at the steam rising from the cup for a minute.


  “Some folks get a bit of a thrill. Doug’s that way, but he doesn’t let it affect his decisions either. And that’s the point. It’s not how you feel in that instant, with all the adrenalin and shit running through your veins. It’s how you deal with it in the long run. Take Jack for instance. The first time he got sick, but not since then. I suspect that might have been the case even if those guys were shooting at him. I think he wishes it hadn’t been necessary, but he doesn’t let it affect his decisions. He carries the ghosts, and it probably ruins a few nights for him, same for me sometimes. It’s removed some of the hesitation, but he hates it. You can see it. Even those cannibals bothered him for a few nights. Doug, well it just doesn’t bother him at all, but he’d never do it just because he’s good at it. There has to be a need.”

  “I guess so. It just seems like I ought to feel bad about shooting them, and I don’t. I just don’t think my mom will understand.”

  “Hmm, maybe not. It’s not something you can understand unless you’ve been there I think. But, no, you shouldn’t feel bad. You were protecting yourself, and people you love. You didn’t start it, they did. That man and his friends came after us. They were told to kill the Garretts and anyone who was helping them.”

  “Oh.”

  “They were idiots. Vicious idiots. Now that the rules of civilization have changed, the bullies and thugs will attempt to force people to do what they want. It’s our job stop them. What those guys just learned is that being a bully with a gun doesn’t mean you’re going to win. It’s okay not to feel bad about it, or even to get a little thrill out of it as long as you don’t let that control your actions. Those are just feelings, like fear, anger or grief. If you let them run your life, you’ll be miserable, so don’t.”

  Lexi gazed into the fire, fingers wrapped around the mug of hot chocolate, noticing neither the warmth nor the scent, lost in thought. Miguel gave her hands a squeeze and then turned away to give her space to think. He caught sight of Jack coming back from the creek with a couple of collapsible buckets and went to give him a hand.