Len reached over and picked up the map and studied it. He looked at it for a couple of minutes and traced his finger over an imaginary line he drew on it.
“Do you think it’s still there?” he asked. “I don’t see anything on this map that indicates anything’s there.”
“God, I hope it is,” she replied, making eye contact with him. “There’s no place else for us to go. In a few days, we’ll be out of food and I don’t think many of them will make it without food. I don’t even know what we’ll do when we get there if there’s nothing to hunt, but we have to focus on one problem at a time.”
She looked over at the woman and some of the smaller kids around her, and Len just nodded. She was right of course; few of them would make it. It was amazing to him they had made it this far.
In a half hour they were packed and ready to walk some more. There was no more trouble except for one small inconvenience. While they were walking toward Fitch, one of the children was playing with a kitty cat, except it wasn’t a kitty at all. It was a skunk and it seemed happy to be trotting along with the group and especially the children. She smelled it but didn’t realize it was actually traveling with them until she saw it.
One of the boys eventually enticed the smelly creature away with some canned meat and as it ate, they moved away in double time, putting distance between themselves and the smelly little animal.
They walked until nearly all of them were exhausted and needed to rest. The skies were clear and sunny and she prayed it didn’t snow or anything else to make their journey harder. In another hour, when everyone was complaining loudly, they found a spot to camp. There was a small stream dancing and playing on the rocks as it hurried away to some far off destination.
She saw a fish jump and thought they sure could use some fresh fish. It would do them a lot of good if they could catch a few and eat them. When she looked closer, there were several of them slowly swimming along unconcerned that they were about to become food.
“I learned an old Indian trick in survival school,” Len said, as he approached her side. “I think I can catch a few. Want me to try?”
She nodded so he went about making a fish trap in the stream bed by piling rocks up on two sides with an opening that was nearly as large as it was wide. It narrowed and made a couple of 90 degree turns and then opened into a large area again where he elevated the rocks, which made an enclosed pool that was higher than the water level. They stood back and watched the fish swim into the trap.
First it was one, then two, and then five; the kids were squealing with delight and made a game of it. Fifteen fish swam into the trap in twenty or so minutes and the kids began to catch them with their hands, which brought on another series of howls and laughter.
Beth decided that they would chance it and build a smokeless fire. They gathered stones, brought them to a spot where the fire would be, and placed them in a circle. The children gathered small dried sticks that would burn rapidly and wouldn’t make smoke. They got the fire burning fiercely and several children continued to gather and add more sticks to the fire.
They built a small inverted “U” brace with sticks to hold the fish. Then they found two branches, limbed them, and sharpened the bottoms. One of the children brought an empty tin can and as one person poured water on one side of the fire pit onto the ground, another rammed one of the pointed sticks up and down in the wet spot, burying it until it was down in the dirt about a foot and a half.
They did the other side the same way until that branch was buried as well, and they piled several rocks around the base of each branch to support them. A brace was formed off each one, coming down at a forty-five degree angle opposite the direction where the weight was going to be placed against the top piece. It was finished off with a cross piece from one fork to the other that made a brace across the top.
They gutted the fish and stuck them on a sharpened stick laid against the top brace at an angle near enough to the fire but not right over it. The fish began to cook and in fifteen minutes they were dripping juices while everyone gathered around the fire and stared at them.
No one said anything, but the smell nearly had some of them drooling as they thought about how good the fish was going to taste. In the meantime there were more fish in the trap, which took care of the problem of having enough to go around. Everybody was hungry, and Beth was happy there was going to be enough fish to go around. She felt like she could eat five or six of them herself.
They posted watch from the four cardinal positions on a clock, one at twelve o’clock, three o’clock, six o’clock, and nine o’clock out and away from the camp, which left plenty of space for the rest of them to defend themselves, if necessary.
When the meal was done, most of the children gathered around the silent woman and fell fast asleep. Beth nodded off and in her dream she was talking to her dad. He was saying,
“You’re a smart girl Beth, just like your mom, and if she was still alive, she would be so proud of you for what you’ve done with your life. You are what makes a man proud. You made my life complete and you filled the emptiness that was there after your mom died. You will make some man a lifelong companion someday and he will be as proud of you as I am. I hope you choose well and support him when that time comes. I hope I am alive to see it when it happens.”
He would not be.
He died when she was sixteen and left her determined to be all that she could be; she was still working on doing that.
She only had a couple of serious relationships over the years. Most of the men she had met and liked were flawed in some way but with serious introspection she decided it wasn’t just them, it was her too. She wanted a career.
The baby thing might be in the cards later, but right now she was building a life for herself that suited her and there was little that got in the way of that. In reality, she didn’t have the time required to build a relationship, so she stayed focused and solo. There was talk that she was a Lesbian and she scoffed at those little digs, but only to herself. She liked men almost too much, but she remained in control.
Occasionally, when the need was there, she could always get one for the night. “If there’s an itch,” she often said to herself, “Scratch it.”
It was a pleasant enough morning but cold, colder than usual. Looking off into the distance, she saw the mountain tops had snow on them. After all it was December something or other, so they were lucky it wasn’t colder. All of them had warm clothing now thanks to the dead Slavers and the weather seemed to be in some sort of a high with incredibly mild days lately. The evenings were cold and so were the mornings, but the days were great. She hoped the weather held together for another week.
They finished eating and began to walk after she checked her compass again. They were on the correct bearing to get to the southern end of Fitch, probably tomorrow afternoon. There were no signs of the Slavers so far and she felt grateful for that.
The food was getting low.
They had several fish packed away that they could nibble on between meals. She had left the bulk of the distribution of the food for the children. They walked and stopped and did it again until the last campout before they reached Fitch. It might be possible that they could do a little exploring and come away with some food. It was hard to tell what was what anymore.
They never knew if someone was going to take a potshot at them or not. There was that time before she headed toward the High Desert. She was approaching a motor home sitting in what looked to be a vacant RV Park and out of nowhere someone started shooting at her for no reason. She yelled at the shooter, “Federal Agent, put your weapon down!” and was met with, “Blow it out your ass, Federal Agent!”
It was the times they lived in. Maybe they would get lucky at Fitch and be welcomed. They would know the answer very soon.
“Let’s camp here for the night and set the watch!”
Tomorrow, they would walk a little longer. She wanted to go into Fitch and check it out.
Chapter 29 The Smell of Death
The walk was grueling. On the third hour of the march toward the big ranch, on this day and less than four or five days from the refuge, the quiet, simple woman fell over dead. They never knew her name or where she was from. They knew nothing at all about a human being who lived, loved, and suffered horribly and then died.
No one was sure of the date, but she had mourners and that was fitting; they laid her to rest in a shallow grave and stacked rocks on her final resting place. The only thing any of them knew was that she suffered at the hands of the Slavers and was never able to put it out of her mind or whatever was left of it. Many of the children had become attached to her in a way that children bond with certain people. Glory cried the rest of the day.
When the ceremony was over, they had to leave the dead behind and push on toward Fitch. Glory wanted to stay, but Beth explained to her that it was impossible to leave her because none of them were coming back this way, maybe ever. That did it and she fell into line with the others.
The funeral put them behind an hour and as they pushed on, it began to grind away on Beth. The final legs began to eat at her with indecision. She kept asking herself the “what ifs.” What if the ranch was no longer there? What if it was already taken over by Slavers? What if this and what if that; it nearly caused her to lose her resolve.
“It will be there,” she stopped herself, “And we will be safe.”
That solved the issue for her and she hurried a bit to catch up with the others. About another hour from Fitch, they stopped and ate one last time. They topped off the water and there was plenty for a week or so, but the food was gone with this meal. She didn’t say anything but some of them knew. When everyone had rested and eaten, they began to march again.
In another forty minutes, a large fly landed on her face and as she went to shoo it off, it stayed there and she had to physically remove it. Then another one landed and that one was swiped off her cheek. She noticed the others were shooing flies away from their faces and that was when she heard it… a low hum. The flies were getting thicker as they traveled toward Fitch. Once they rose to the top of a small hill and came out of the thick fir trees, she saw the fires. Half the town was on fire and the hum was louder from the flies. There were big shiny green flies, big shiny blue ones, and others; they were everywhere.
“Put something over your mouth and face,” she yelled to the others.
A fly flew into her mouth, and she spit it out and nearly puked. It was only with a massive effort that she didn’t lose her stomach contents. The flies were trying to get into everyone’s mouths, eyes, and ears. The children were screaming and everyone ran back into the woods and collapsed in a group pile for about fifteen minutes. They were all breathing hard from the effort. Beth felt like she hit a brick wall; what were they going to do now?
“What’s the matter, Mike?” Dan was standing in front of him, talking to him as he sat there, lost in thought. “You look bothered about something.”
“Wha… what was that?” Mike was caught off guard. “Sorry ‘bout that. What’d you say, Dan?”
“You looked like you were in a pretty deep thought. You look a little worried, too. What’s up?”
Mike stared off into the nothingness, although he looked as if he was looking at something specific.
“Dan,” he said, “When we were coming back from the Roach Hotel with the rest of the group, as I was coming to that really great vista of the valley below, you know the one where it is nearly straight down and curves around the mountain and the river looks like a silver ribbon…?”
“Yes,” Dan nodded in recognition. It had nearly taken his breath away every time he passed the area. “I know the place.”
“I saw something strange that day,” Mike was still staring at nothing, yet appeared to be looking at the scene he described. “There were an awful lot of fires down there, but it was so far away that I couldn’t tell what was going on and I am curious enough that I want to go back down and check it out again. Even at that distance, it’s close enough that it could one day affect us if we don’t have situational awareness of it.”
“You really think it matters?”
“It does to me.”
“Who will you take with you?”
Mike thought about it for a moment. “I’ll have to ask,” he finally responded, “But I think Roger will go, maybe Sam or Gregg, I’m not sure.”
“When? You got a time line?”
“As soon as possible. I don’t know why, but I have this feeling about something that I can’t put my finger on and the only way to know is to go down there and check it out. It’s more than just curiosity killing me. It just feels like something I have to do.”
“You still don’t know, do you? Caroline’s going to have a baby and she won’t like you going.”
“A baby? Caroline? I’m going to be a… me and Caroline?”
“That’s right my friend, you’re going to be a dad and I’m going to be in trouble for not keeping my big mouth shut. But I think you need to know before you go running off on some wild goose chase.”
Mike leaped to his feet and was out the door and headed for the clinic.
She was looking down the throat of a child when he came in, grabbed her by the waist, and lifted her into the air as the lozenge went flying across the room. She started to laugh and he stopped her with a kiss.
“What in the world has gotten in to you Michael?” she asked, breaking for air.
He kissed her again and she pressed against him a little, but then pushed him away and said, “Michael?”
“I just found out,” he said, the sound of slight disbelief still in his voice. “I’m gonna have a baby.”
“Now that’s going to be some trick Michael.”
“No, no, I mean you’re going to, we’re going to, you know what I mean.”
She was laughing and he had a look on his face of total non-understanding, and she laughed some more.
Special Agent Beth Kelly, Doctor Len, Davey, and Tom were on their stomachs crawling toward the small crest of the hill. From here, they were able to look into the town of Fitch with the field glasses.
They stopped, arms propped up on elbows and Beth swept the main street with the glasses. There were no lights on in any of the buildings, but the glow from various fires lit the place up. There didn’t appear to be anything moving down there, and the fires looked to be in their last stages.
There was a car in the street with the hood up and a bicycle lying on the sidewalk. Fire reflected in the window of a small shop and she could see the window was broken in a corner and glass was lying on the sidewalk; the pieces flickered as they reflected the fire in unison. It was a ghost town of sorts.
“We have to go down there,” she finally said, handing the glasses to Len and turning to Davey, “Go get Jasper and have him come back here with a rifle and tell him to bring lots of bullets.”
The boy took off running back to the others.
“It looks like something radical happened down there Len; what do you think?”
“Uh huh,” he was looking through the glasses. “Sure does.”
He handed the glasses back to her while motioning, “Look at the passenger side of that car.”
She looked and saw it too; someone was sitting there slumped against the window but low, almost slumped all the way down in the seat. The head was tilted up and turned away from them. All you could see was a dark shadow instead of hair. It was a person alright.
She swept the area several more times and could not see anything in the shadows. The flickering fires were almost all they could see from here. Jasper laid down next to her.
“Jasper,” she turned to look at him as she spoke, “We’re all going to go down there and have a look around. When we get there, I want you to climb up to a spot where you can cover us. If you need some help to climb up, someone will give you a boost. We need you to watch our backs; so keep your eyes moving from left to right all the time. Unde
rstand?”
“Uh huh.”
They moved out toward the town.
“Mike, about twenty years ago a small town by the name of Fitch was situated down there in that little valley.” Doctor Dan was speaking in a low voice as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear, “It only had about five or six hundred people living there. It was settled a little before Eli started the ranch. They had an assayer’s office to determine the value of a claim and a claims office where people could file a claim on their stake in the mountains and hills all around here. It was important to make a legal claim to the land in case they struck it rich. There was a jail and a public gallows, and they also had a doctor down there. There was a lawyer, three or four houses, a saloon, and a whorehouse. Later, the town grew to about five hundred and stayed that way until about twenty years ago.”
“People who grew tired of the rat race in the big cities moved there about then and then another family came, and so on. One man built a factory that made computer chips and then a gas station went in followed by a school and a few more houses. Word got out about the clean mountain air and water and the town swelled to about fifteen thousand in five years. The main highway from Bishop went right down the middle of the town, which made the land values skyrocket and all that property along the highway was like gold.”
“They were sheltered down there until the war started. After that there was no word coming out of there and the rest of the world more or less lost touch with the residents. It could still be there in one piece, but the bikers started moving this way so who knows what happened to the town or the people. You boys be careful down there. To be honest, I wish you weren’t going!”
Avalon: The Retreat Page 23
