No Normal Day III (West)

by Richardson, J.

  Cody thought, If this is our pace, it will not be six weeks or two months on the road. It will be four months getting to Colorado. Much longer than we had hoped. The wagon was once again creaking along at a smooth pace and the four friends rode out the day.

  Chapter Five

  SOLDIERING ON

  The riders and the wagon had traveled for two more days, always moving north along the country road. They had studied Jack's map and today they should reach a very small town. From the town they would need to take a road that angled off and would eventually lead them to a more major east and west highway. They would be on that highway heading west for a long time, about four hundred miles.

  By the afternoon they were rolling into the small town. They saw no immediate signs of life. They were on alert, moving slowly and cautiously, their weapons ready. Ashley was driving the wagon on this day. There was the typical decaying and overgrown remains of what had once been a bustling little town at a crossroads. A large farm and feed store, a couple of gas stations, a Cafe sign and a drive up fast food where you parked and ordered at your car.

  Without warning, a large German Shepard dog lunged forward from the door of a building, barking furiously. The horses reared and whinnied. Shawna's horse bolted forward and she had to pull up hard to get it to slow. Ashley, thinking of all the rabid dogs they had dealt with, reached for the rifle behind the seat of the wagon, she raised it and aimed. A figure stepped from the building, an AR leveled and a voice blasted out, “Stand down! That's my dog.” And then to the dog, “Bull, stay.” The agitated dog instantly sat and was silent. The figure was clothed in pale tan camouflage pants and top, tan combat boots and a faded fatigue cap, sunglasses covered the eyes. The common military apparel from the wars in the far eastern deserts, the battles that were being fought before the big event.

  With the dog shut up, the riders had the horses calmed down. Cody dismounted and stuck out his hand. “We are traveling through, heading west. My name is Cody.”

  The person lowered the AR and took the extended hand, “Glad to meet ya. I am PFC Pat,” said a surprisingly feminine voice.

  Cody stared a moment and then said, “This is David...Shawna...and Ashley.”

  The three nodded and the woman said, “Hey.” She turned to the dog who was still obediently sitting, “This is Bull. He's a bit hard headed but he is company and a good watch dog.”

  Cody squatted down and reached his hand out to the dog. The dog looked at PFC Pat for permission and she nodded. He moved up, his tail wagging and let Cody pet him. Cody said, “You live here? Do you know of any water nearby?”

  “No, I am not from here. I am actually just heading west myself, me and Bull. I saw a little pond at a trailer park on the edge of town. I was thinking it would do for camping for the night. I was just exploring the town a little. You don't ever know what you might find.”

  “Would you mind some company for the night?” said David.

  The woman shrugged and said, “Sure, whatever.” A slight smile curved her lips. She wanted to do some more scavenging and they agreed to meet at the pond later.

  The four friends had already set up camp and got the horses watered when the PFC Pat came ambling up. A huge backpack was on her back and Bull followed right at her heels. She plopped down on the ground, back from the fire they had built. She was pulling things out of the pack and placing them on the grass. Bull was right in the middle, sniffing around. She said, “Bull, sit.” He backed up and sat down, she pulled out a dog chew and gave it to him. She took out three large cans, the labels were gone but they were not bent or puffed out. “They would be too much for me but we can check out what is inside and share if you want. Found 'em in the cafe pantry. Oh yeah, in the feed store there are some big barrels with lids. There are some feeds, might be something for the horses.”

  She took off the cap and ran her hands through very short straight brown hair. Her eyes were big and brown, she had a pretty smile and a few freckles scattered across her nose. Her ears were pierced with small silver studs. A beaded chain with “dog tags” hung around her neck and there was a small tattoo of a bird with wings spread, on the top of her wrist.

  The big cans turned out to be stew, peaches and corn. They all laughed, “S—t, that is a lot of corn,” said Pat. The peaches were pretty dark on the top, as you got deeper they looked and tasted still good. The stew seemed fine and they decided to put what they could of the corn in it. As they warmed up the stew on the fire, Pat told them her story.

  She had joined the army right before she graduated high school. She had been sent to Afghanistan and was back waiting to be deployed a second time, when the event happened. She stayed with her unit, even when most started going AWOL. She was at one of the government camps in central Texas for about five years. The camp was rough and they had no food, it was getting worse by the day. Finally, she took Bull and hit the road. She started traveling around Texas, always moving north. “I found some nice folks still surviving. I found a lot more nasty folks. I decided that I wanted to try to get to my hometown. It is a small town not far from Amarillo. I don't expect any of my family to be alive but I want to try.”

  Cody told their story and that they were headed for Colorado. They finished the meal and sat around the fire, exchanging stories of the road. The friends had their mountain lion story and the close call with the Interstate group. PFC Pat had lots of stories. She had tried a traveling companion or two but it never worked out, she was best on her own. She said, “Damn, a mountain lion? I did see one when I was down near the government camp but I sure haven't seen one up in this part of Texas.”

  Shawna said, “Well, we are all going towards Amarillo. You could travel along with us for a while.” She looked at the others, “That is, if everyone agrees. We all make the decisions.”

  David said it was fine with him. After a moment, Ashley said, “I think that would be okay.” And Cody put in his positive vote.

  Pat cleared her throat and said, “Well, that is real nice of you. Here's the problem, I don't know a thing about horses, never even been on one. I might just slow you down.”

  Cody laughed, “Well, the wagon sets our pace. As a matter of fact, if you think that you could guide the wagon it would be a big help. Someone could drive with you for a few days until you get the hang of it.”

  She still looked doubtful, “What about Bull?” All of the friends looked over at him. The big dog's tongue was hanging out and his tail was wagging. They all just chuckled.

  “We can make room for Bull,” said Shawna.

  Pat ran her hand through her hair some more and then looked up and grinned, “I guess if I can drive a Bradley tank, I can handle a wagon and a couple of mules.”

  “Okay, its settled then. Let's hang around here tomorrow and get re-organized and let Pat have a little time with the wagon. We will go to that feed store and check it out. Who's got first watch?”

  ***

  On the morning of the second day, the caravan pulled away from the small town. It had only taken PFC Pat a day to get the hang of driving the wagon. They had moved around the town with one of the friends riding beside her and gathered up the horse feed and what small items they could find. She was smart and capable and the mules seemed to respond to her guidance. By the end of the day, Bull was sitting on the seat beside her. Every time she clicked out a gidd-y-up mule, Bull barked the order right after her. The dog enjoyed being the boss of the big animals. With the four riders leading out, Pat and Bull driving the wagon and the mules pulling, the town faded behind them. A sky of dark clouds spread over them and they were following the road that would wind it's way up to the western highway.

  It was not unusual at all to have turbulent weather in this part of Texas in the Spring. It could be light to pouring rain, it could be booming thunderstorms and it could even be swirling destructive tornadoes. The clouds were heavy and the air was still and humid. They were keeping an eye on the weather because you did not want to be caught out in a li
ghtening storm. There was a peek through of blue sky every once in a while but mostly the heavy dark clouds were not breaking. They had managed to progress about five hours when the first drops of rain started falling.

  This was a stretch of rural road where the houses had been sparse. They had not seen a house or building, other than one old frame that had fell completely to the ground, in an hour. Cody had seen these spring storms. He knew that they better look for shelter. The wind was coming up now and the drops were falling harder. The grasses and other vegetation were grown up tall and thick, sometimes you did not see a structure until you were right up on it. What got his attention was the sound of the rain hitting a metal roof. Out in a field, he saw a long metal roof standing tall on poles. In one end of it square bales of hay were stacked and rotting away, they pretty much were one big mound of straw.

  He pointed to the hay shed and spoke above the wind, “Let's move towards that shed. I will walk ahead of the horses, anything could be hidden in the grass.” The fence was laid down next to the road. Cody dismounted and started walking. The others eased their horses across the slack barb wire and Pat drove the wagon behind them. Cody nearly fell on an old piece of farm equipment, he pointed down and yelled back to the others, “Watch out..,” he steered them around the rusty obstacle. By the time they reached the shed, the wind was howling, bending the surrounding trees over and the rain was coming down in cold hard pellets. Lightening flashed across the sky, followed by rolling thunder, causing the horses to dance around. They pulled up under the shed.

  As long as the wind was blowing hard the tall shed was not much protection. Still, it was better than no roof. They unsaddled and unharnessed the horses and mules and got them tied off. The hay would not be good but they could graze just a bit, in the grass at the edges of the shed. The five travelers were soaked to the bone. Pat was popping her soggy cap against the side of the wagon. “Well, this is a frog strangler, isn't it?” Bull was running around under the cover, sniffing and smelling all the trails of long gone animals. The rain was blowing in hard from the north but the area under the shed was large enough to move away from it some.

  Ashley and Shawna pulled the tarp off of the wagon supplies. They pulled out a small shovel, Pat took it and was cleaning off a spot to have a fire. Ashley drug a five gallon metal bucket out of the wagon. The bucket had an “L” shaped piece of pipe with it and a grid that sat on top. Shawna took the shovel and dumped some dirt in the bottom of the bucket, she set the pipe down on the dirt and the short part of the “L” stuck out a hole cut in the side. She dumped a little more dirt in to steady the pipe and placed the grid on top. Ashley had dug around in the mounds of hay and found some dry pieces. She stuffed that in the bend of the pipe and lit it, they picked up more twigs and small limbs that had blown into the shed and fed them into the pipe until a nice fire was going. They placed a big kettle of water on the grid.

  Pat stood looking at the make do stove and said, “Pretty smart.”

  David was shaking out his wet hat, he said, “Yeah, my grandfather Jack taught us how to make it. He called them rocket stoves.”

  The wind had settled some but the rain was coming down in sheets. Puddles snaked across the ground under the shed. Cody said, “Let's throw some of the hay around, keep it from being so muddy. Then maybe we can rig up one of those tarps so we can all get out of these wet clothes. The rain continued steady. They all got into dry clothes and made a line to hang out the wet ones. After tending the animals and preparing some supper, the night came early in the dreariness. They were all exhausted and spread out the sleeping bags shortly after dark. With it storming and Bull around to hear any approaching animals they actually felt like they could all sleep. Cody, by habit, slept with one eye open.

  Morning came and the rain had not stopped. Cody stood at the edge of the shed and looked at solid gray skies. The coffee smelled good and he took a warm drink. He had seen it rain like this before, days of Spring storms without a break. They would have to hold in here until the weather broke. They spent the day, cleaning up around the horses, walking them and drying them off the best they could. It was obvious that they had forgotten something important, some kind of rain gear. They had brought jackets and coats but nothing water repellent. Pat was a bit smarter, she had a two piece army green rain suit. They took turns wearing it, if they had to leave the shed. They couldn't afford to cut up one of the tarps and make some ponchos. As soon as they were mobile again they would have to search for something that would protect them from the rain. They fed the fire and fixed some meals. They alternated their slow drying clothes around the fire and made sure that nothing in the wagon was wet, that could mildew or ruin.

  Still raining by the second evening under the shed. Around the stove, they had found five “somethings” to sit on. A couple of buckets, the two spare tires for the wagon and a hard plastic foot locker. The ground was so wet, they would have to climb up on the hay mound and put their sleeping bags out on the decaying straw. At least, it would be mostly dry. They had kept some coffee going all day. Cody brought out a small bottle of the whiskey and they all splashed a bit into their cups. David dug around in the trailer and brought out a battery radio and CD player. There were about four CDs with it. He stuck one in the player and some nasal notes floated out, whis-skey-riv-er- take-ma-mind...don't let her mem-ry torture me...

  Pat said, “Hey, I remember that guy. One of the officers in my unit, old guy, played that stuff all the time.” They sipped their coffee laced with bourbon and a softer Willie Nelson played.

  “Yeah,” said Cody, “Jack and Beth loved old Willie Nelson music.” He had a brief memory of Beth pulling him up to dance on the back porch patio of the compound. That had been a fun family night. He looked over at Ashley. It would be nice to dance with her. Second thought, a mud hole wouldn't be the best dancing floor. They put on a pop rock CD that they all remembered from the first of the century 2000. Cody asked Pat about her tour of duty in the desert war.

  “It's not something that you want to recall much of,” said Pat. “We, most of us, were fighting for America, for what we thought was necessary to keep our freedom. Some said it was just for oil. Don't much matter what it was for now, does it?”

  “I guess not,” said Cody, “My Uncle Lee was making a career of the Army. His injury took care of that. He was older than you and I. Just like Jack and Beth and all of their friends, he believed in America. I really think that their values were the reason that the family and lots of others survived.”

  Pat said, “Well, I found a couple of places like that Unity you talk about. I guess a new America could possibly grow up one day.”

  “You know, we heard that there are a few cities that even have built some utilities and are starting to be like real cities again,” said David.

  Ashley said, “It's kind of strange, though. We had some real smart people in Unity. We had cars, until they didn't seem very important anymore. Even then, we had cars that ran on fuel other than gasoline. We had some solar and battery set ups that ran small things at the compound. There was some talk of building a bigger energy system that would give power to all. The knowledge was there, stored in the young one's minds. But for some reason, the citizens of Unity just didn't seem to want to go back to the more modern world.”

  The stove crackled and Bull walked over, poking around the base of the stove, pulling his nose back from the heat. Shawna spoke, “You're right, I think. I even remember thinking that I didn't care whether they built an energy system or not. We all worked hard, we protected each other and we shared. I felt safe and I was happy.”

  Cody said, “Well, maybe that's good, because my goal was not to find a shining new city out here. I just wanted to find Jack's cabin in the cool mountains, I just wanted to make a life there.” He looked over and caught Ashley listening intently. He gave her a smile but looked away as a thought flashed through his mind of holding her close to him. Jack would say, Stay focused son, you took on a job of protecting the
se people. He drained the last of the cup, he would think about himself and her later.

  It was the third day that they had taken shelter in the hay shed. It looked hopeful that the rain would finally stop but not bright and early. They would need to stay one more day. They hoped there would be at least a half a day of sunshine to dry out things and they could move out the next morning. The sun came out about one o'clock. It did a good job of drying out supplies and clothing. They saddled the horses and rode them towards the road, checking the soggy ground. There were some deep muddy places, they thought the tall grasses pushed down would help the wagon get out to the paved road.

  The next morning the riders and loaded wagon rolled away. They had to return, get some sheaves of hay a couple of times to throw in front of the wagon. They caravan pulled up on the road shortly after dawn when the sun rose in the clear sky. Finally, they were heading towards the western highway again. It was nearing the end of the first week of May.

  They were all glad to be on the move again. Pat, clicked to the mules and Bull woof-woof- woof-ed. They noticed that any pond or low place, even the gulleys beside the road were over full of water. No more than two hours on the narrow country lane and the riders pulled up to a roaring obstacle. What had probably been just a gurgling creek was a raging river blocking their way. The top six inches of concrete walls on each side of a bridge were visible, the water was running so fast that it tumbled over the walls and kept rushing along. The riders dismounted.

  Shawna said, “How deep do you think it is?”