That bull was one magnificent creature; I'll always remember the look in that big boy's eye when our eyes met.
Gus fell.
Get up!
When he turned to look at me it was a slow, curious movement, he didn't even sense any danger, at first.
Gus slipped.
Get up!
That changed in a millisecond. When his ears locked forward on me and his nostrils flared, I knew he knew.
Gus tripped.
Get up.
Seeing the muscles under his tawny hide start to ripple, watching him burst through that oak brush in one mighty lunge--damn, they're quick off the line those elk—what a privilege to see that.
Gus stumbled.
Get up.
Spanked his ass with that blunt! One hell of a shot! Then he just disappeared into that cloud . . . like a magician . . . a magical wapiti.
Gus collapsed.
Get up . . .
Ahh, fuck it. Just lay here for a minute; I gotta catch my breath. Too tired to think straight. Can't believe this is really happening to me. What a dumbass for getting caught in this shit.
GO . . . or die here.
Gotta make the top, so they can find my bones—probably just find my pack—coyotes’ll get my ones.
During a pause in the wind Gus discovered he could see off both sides of the ridge; he had finally made it to the top. He found a windbreak and took his pack off and dug out some food. An energy bar, some water and a few minutes to rest would be good, but he couldn't afford to waste any time. He estimated it was around noon or maybe later; it had taken a long time to climb that ridge. Now that the hard part was behind him, he had to do the long part on the ridgeline.
Con & Ela - Unaweep Canyon, CO
Con had spent much of the night waking up to see if maybe dawn had arrived. When she opened her eyes and discovered some light seeping in from the east her first thought was—Finally. Her second thought was about deep-freezer cold outside the sleeping bag, all the frost on the inside of the windows made the car's interior look like a freezer as well. She inched forward until she could reach the key and started the engine, then as quickly as possible scooted back to her warm spot next to Ela.
"Just throwing another log on the fire? Or, did we survive and it’s morning?" came Ela's muffled voice from somewhere beneath the bedding.
"There’s light outside, if that’s what you're asking. I’m not sure how bright it is because of all the frost on the inside of the windows," Con replied.
"That’s from your snoring," Ela replied.
"Well, there is that; and it being colder than a well-digger’s ass out there."
"How do you know how cold a well-digger’s ass is, pray tell?"
"It’s scientific, and elementary when you think about it. Being down in a hole, in the dark, with cold water dripping on you. It would chill your butt quickly, no?"
A muffled groan was heard. "The first lesson of the day; keep rhetorical questions to self. Check," Ela muttered.
"You’re welcome! Thinking about making an appearance today? It's hard for me to understand your muffled voice," Con said nicely, not having understood what Ela said.
A hand came out and waved around momentarily, then quickly retreated. "It’s cold out there! Is the heater working?" Ela asked.
"As well as an average politician on the hot-air scale," Con said trying to get a laugh from Ela.
"Well, turn it up to the Presidential level!" Ela said.
"We’d need to roll down a couple windows at that volume. Would Speaker of the House work, do you think?" Con was determined to get Ela to laugh and start the day with a smile.
"That’ll do it!" laughed Ela.
"Truth hurts sometimes." With her mission accomplished, Con changed the subject. "Okay, I’m gonna go spit and see if it freezes before it hits the ground, bye." The "thunk" of the car door shortly followed.
Ela started shedding her bedroll cocoon. By the time she had converted the car's interior for day-use, the heater was making progress and a couple of small, but growing, holes in the frost on the windshield let more light into the cave-like interior.
Con returned to the driver's seat saying, "I don’t think even a well-digger would work in these conditions, my cheeks are numb."
Never one to ignore an opening, Ela asked, "Which ones?"
"Both, Miss Smarty Pants," Con replied reaching over and turning on the radio. "Use some of that intellect to gather intelligence on the anticipated meteorological conditions of our AO, that's Area of Operations, for you civilian types."
Con shut off the engine and heater fan, so Ela had a better chance of understanding the news from the radio. Not too long after that Ela switched the radio off and turned to her mom.
"Because of some sort of interference I was barely able to make out what was said. Weather clearing, martial law, and stay home and off highways are the only news bits I'm sure I heard correctly. Gesh, if we could find and get on a road and then get arrested, maybe we could have a hot meal."
"We might be the meal, if the wrong people stop us. The weather is starting to improve, maybe tonight, and tomorrow we can start looking for a way across the stream. It should be smaller and iced over by then, now that the cold has set in," Con said.
"Are you surprised martial law has been declared?" Ela asked.
"Not a bit, but we both might be surprised how long it lasts," Con said.
"Under lockdown with my mom . . . I hope you have lots of stories saved up to help us do time together," Ela only half-joked. If her mother could keep a smile on her face and joke around in the face of danger, then she could too. She'd keep it to herself for now, but remained suspicious that some—or all—of the attacks were part of the plan the gray-eyed man had described. If so, they could be in even more trouble after the snowstorm. When the shepherd culls the herd from 7 billion down to 2 billion, or two people alive for every five that die, maybe being stuck in the wilderness with her only living family member wasn't such a bad thing.
Andy & Jennifer - East Texas
The doorbell rang a second before Jennifer opened the door to her father, and he did indeed carry a shotgun. He leaned it in a corner near the door and gave his daughter a hug. "I'm glad you're safe," Tye said.
He turned to Andy, "This is twice you've helped my daughter through bad situations and I appreciate it." He grabbed Andy's hand and shook with a firm grip and a steady gaze.
"Alright, you young'uns may have time to lounge around, but I don't; Bernie's waiting outside to give me a lift home. Here are the keys to the truck; you can use it as long as you can afford to put gas in it. It gets around ten miles to the gallon, so don't pass up any gas stations." Tye gave his daughter another hug and turned to leave.
"Give Bernie my thanks, would you Dad?"
"Yup."
As soon as the door shut Andy said, "Pretty funny. I about fainted when I saw your dad standing there with a shotgun."
"Think he was going to force you to make an honest woman out of me? A shotgun wedding on the spot?"
"Well . . . I hoped he'd give me that choice before finishing what Jeff started," Andy blurted just in the nick of time. As he said it he could feel his neck tingling, so he knew he was starting to blush. His logical mind filled with defenses against the emotional attack his heart chose to launch at this critical juncture. Evidently, waking up twice to her cooking breakfast had severely damaged his defenses.
Looking at him closely for a long moment Jennifer seemed to make sense of his embarrassment, and in the spirit of "catch and release" she let him off the hook, "I told him I lost mine with the truck last night, so he brought me a way to defend myself, just in case someone accosts me. He seemed friendly and happy to see you, don't you think?"
Andy found no words, but his ever-brighter, glowing appearance seemed enough of an answer when she rewarded him with a winning smile.
~~~
On the drive to the store, while detouring around the worst of the floo
ding where they'd been caught last night, each of them noticed and pointed out the standing water in every low spot. "All this in three days of rain. Imagine what forty days and forty nights would do," Andy said as he looked across sodden fields.
"Don’t even joke about stuff like that, the forecast we have is bad enough. The last forecast I heard said we'll have five days of rain, even that's hard to believe."
"Do you believe?" Andy asked.
"It’s happened before, so yeah, I do. However, I'm learning not to be surprised if the forecast and what actually takes place don’t agree. It is a tough balance between sensationalizing and giving ample warning. If the meteorologists are accurate this time, Abe will break records for causing widespread misery. Plus all this stuff in the news about cyber and physical attacks by radical environmentalists and unfriendly countries has everyone concerned."
Their conversation died as Jennifer pulled into the store’s parking lot and they let themselves in through the store's back door. Once the store was open for business there was little time for talking with the steady flow of customers buying up supplies for the coming storm. While Jennifer ran the cash register Andy restocked the cooler and dry goods shelves with any available stock.
Late in the afternoon Andy reported, "There's not much left to fill the shelves with in the cooler, all the ice is gone, and the store room is practically empty."
"This has been the busiest day I've ever seen. And I can't thank you enough for all your help; it would've been a madhouse without you. Good teamwork."
"We worked right through lunch time and I'm starving. How about you?"
"I'm waiting for the Chinese food to arrive," Jennifer licked her lips and looked at Andy. "Should be any minute now."
"You're joking?" Andy asked.
"No, I'm not. It’s time to change your diet. No telling what the lifetime limit is on those burritos, but I bet you're getting close to it," Jennifer kidded. "Since we didn't get any delivery trucks today, we're about sold out of everything; I'm turning out the sign and closing the place up. We'll eat in peace and leave when we're done. How does that sound?"
"Impeccable, as usual. I'll start cleaning and closing up while we wait."
~~~
Soon, a kid that looked too young to drive dashed from his vehicle to the store with the food, trying to keep from being drenched. Andy unlocked the door and let him in, when the young man carried the food past Andy the aromas made Andy’s stomach growl—audibly—to all three of them. The kid tried to stifle his giggle, but Jennifer let loose. "So, you like Chinese food?" she asked when she stopped laughing.
"It’s my all-time favorite, give me some chopsticks and I’ll prove it," said Andy handing over his credit card. "In fact, most of the apps available today were written by people at their computers late at night, fueled by Chinese take-out. This one is on me!" Andy said, relieved he could contribute in more ways than just helping Jennifer at the store.
"Sorry Andy, I forgot to tell you, the terminal for credit card transactions hasn't been working most of the day." The delivery boy verified what Jennifer said by stating that he too had not been able to process credit card transactions with his smart phone application since before noon.
After Andy dug a little deeper into his pockets and found cash to pay for the food, they locked up the store and dug in. During the ensuing meal he left no doubt in Jennifer's mind about his ability with chopsticks, though their friendly competition bordered on a food fight at times. He proved he could eat rice faster with chopsticks than she thought possible.
"Since we are about out of products to sell and limited to cash only, let's load up and get out of here before someone realizes how much cash we must have and comes to relieve us of it," Jennifer said when they were done eating.
"I'll follow your lead . . . so lead on."
"While I gather up proceeds and office stuff please grab some boxes and gather up some of the food that's left and get it loaded into the truck. We may not be able to get back here tomorrow, and from the way everyone else is stocking up, we better have some extra too."
"My pleasure and my choice. It's a one-ton truck right?"
"Back away from the burritos," Jennifer laughed. "Let's grab the nutritional stuff first."
A few minutes later they met by the back door. "I knew we were selling lots of stuff, but I'm shocked at how little inventory is left, we're dang near cleaned out. People in line were telling one another about stores they'd been to that were already stripped to bare shelves, nobody knows what's going on and it scares them."
"Jennifer, I think you got lucky to sell most of it before the storm hits, afterwards people may not be as willing to pay."
"You're probably right, let's get out of here."
~~~
Avoiding the low-lying areas as much as possible Jennifer got them safely to the house in the one-ton. Built higher off the ground, and weighing substantially more than her compact truck, the old flatbed truck took a foot of standing water in stride. The windows steamed up, the wipers smeared, but it kept moving.
"What a great old truck this is, even if it won’t fit in the garage," Andy said when they backed into her driveway.
"Ready to haul your goodies in through the rain?"
"I'm always ready for anything involving food."
"I'll run in and open the garage, wait here."
Andy watched Jen run to the front door and disappear inside. Moments later the garage door started coming up and they quickly transferred the food from the truck into the garage. Jennifer lowered the door as soon as they had finished.
Laughing and dripping wet they stood looking at each other until Jennifer said, "Hang on, I'll go grab some towels."
When Jennifer returned Andy could not help noticing how revealing a wet, white blouse could be. When he glanced up he noticed Jennifer had one eyebrow elevated in an unspoken question as she handed him a towel.
Andy took the towel and wrapped her up in it as he pulled her into a hug. "You look chilled, I don't want you to risk pneumonia."
She looked up at him, "Pneumonia is not my greatest risk, here."
"Dare I ask what is your greatest risk?"
"Doing something we'd regret later. Andy, you don't know anything about me other than I'm female."
"Oh really? I learned everything I needed to know about you on one dark night when it didn't matter if you were male or female. You figured out what needed to be done and did it; a call to 911 could have been too little, too late. When the chips are down, everyday facades don't conceal any better than wet, white blouses. I admire you for who you are."
She pulled his face down and kissed him. "And I admire you too. I want the same things you want, Andy. But, we've been thrown together by extraordinary events happening faster than normal. Don't you see that?"
"Speed is everything."
"Not if it is building a relationship meant to stand the test of time. We didn't know the other existed a week ago, it's been barely five days since you rode in."
"I meant slow speed is everything," Andy smiled. "But it has been an intense five days; you and what has happened are both beyond my wildest imagination. What a dull life I led before coming to Texas."
"Life here was predictably the same until you arrived, so from my perspective normal rode out when you rode in."
"That sounded like a line from a cowboy movie."
"More movie-like than normal around here, lately."
"It might be just good timing on my part since normal failed to catch your eye, so to speak. Abnormal times like these make one more aware."
"Oh I'm aware of you, Andy. Now I wonder if you are just a flash or an enduring light. Before I decide you are the latter we both need to really know each other. My family and my friends are my litmus test; if they judge you to be a man of character then I'll feel more secure in our relationship. It takes longer than a few days."
"I can understand that, and I certainly don't mean to make you uncomfortable. How about I w
arm up the left over pasta while you put on dry clothes?"
"We just had Chinese a couple hours ago, you hungry already?"
"I'm usually thinking about the next meal. But I have to admit, this time food just seems like a safe diversion for my wandering mind," and he reluctantly released her from his embrace.
Con & Ela - Unaweep Canyon, CO
"It’s your turn today. I hope you were thinking about the question," Con stated.
"Ah . . . what question?"
"You know what question, the one you slept on overnight. I’ll repeat it. If you absolutely, under penalty of death of a loved one, had to choose between two entities to be with for the rest of your life," Con took a breath and continued with her query, "knowing that one entity is stronger than you in every way, while the other is weaker than you in every way. Which would you choose?"
Ela, clarification being her nature, asked, "You’re asking if I’m a leader or a follower?"
"Not exactly."
"Are the entities people?" Ela asked.
"Could be," Con didn’t want to skew the research.
"Either a man or a machine?" Ela ran through scenarios in her head with each entity for a few moments. "Alright, I choose the weaker entity."
"Why?"
"Because I could change my mind with the weaker one. With the stronger entity I couldn’t," Ela said.
"What if you need protection?"
Ela considered what bit of wisdom her mother was offering this morning.
"Gee, Mom! If you lead me to a conclusion I'll take it better than if you come right out with it, right? Child psychology became habit forming for you." Ela took a breath, but kept a firm grip on her mother’s attention. "May I paraphrase your message?"
"Please do, I too need all the help I can get," Con offered her most empathetic smile.
SURVIVING ABE: A Climate-Fiction Novel Page 15
