Earth's Survivors Box Set [Books 1-7]

by Wendell G. Sweet

  “Hello,” a strikingly beautiful woman said as she hobbled up. She was leaning on a stick. Her black hair was straight and long, hanging well below her shoulders. She was no more than five feet tall. Her face unlined, concealing her age, a smile resting on her full mouth. Her skin a light brown.

  “Oh, Jess, you shouldn't be up,” Conner said, turning to her as she walked up.

  “I gave myself permission,” Jessie told him.

  “Jessie,” Conner said as he turned and looked from Katie to Amy. “Jess, my woman, Kate. And my friend Amy, Aaron's woman. Ladies this is Doctor Jessie Stone.”

  Sandy over heard the introduction from just a few feet away and hurried over with Susan.

  “This is Sandy and her woman Susan. Sandy is our nurse. She's been doing all of our Doctor stuff,” Conner said.

  Everyone said their hellos and Jessie turned to Katie.

  “I wanted to meet you, Katie. I have heard so much about you. You're a very lucky woman, you know... Your Conner, he saved my life. Truly and completely,” Jessie said.

  Katie sensed that several things were being said at the same time. It made her slightly uncomfortable, but she took Jessie’s hand and clasped it in her own. “It's nice to meet you, Jessie. Conner told me all about you,” she said. She was suddenly disconcerted. She felt she had missed something. Something simple, yet serious

  Jessie's eyes lifted and settled on Conner for a moment. It was brief, but it told Katie everything she needed to know. This woman had some sort of feelings for her man. Something that obviously wasn't returned, or there would be no need for her to tell her how lucky she was.

  She smiled again as Jessie's eyes left Conner and rested on her briefly on their way to Sandy. She would have to ask Conner about it later, because the thing was, he had told her almost nothing at all about Doctor Jessie Stone. And nothing at all about the woman he seemed comfortable calling Jess. She pushed it from her mind.

  “Sandy,” Jessie said. “Maybe you could show me around? ... You too Susan, of course.”

  “A doctor,” Sandy said. She seemed flustered.

  Jessie laughed. “From what I have heard, you are the doctor here. Believe me. I've heard only good things about you, Sandy,” Jessie said. She turned to Susan. “And you. I heard you are learning... Have learned a great deal.” She smiled at the tall, beautiful black woman and Susan smiled back.

  “What do you want to see first,” Sandy asked? She was still flustered.

  “Well, the golf course first, I guess. I hope it's a good one,” She said dead pan.

  Susan laughed aloud and took the smaller woman’s hand in her own. Sandy's face froze between a laugh and surprise.

  Jessie patted Sandy's arm. “Kidding... I thought you would expect the golf course joke,” Jessie said. All three of them laughed and Jessie turned back to Katie and Amy. “It was good to meet both of you,” She said. “Conner.” She nodded at him and then turned and walked slowly away with Sandy and Susan, up the ledge toward the main cave area and the clinic Sandy and Susan had set up.

  Amy's eyes slid to Katie. She knew that Katie knew. She missed nothing. Amy widened her eyes slightly and blinked. Katie shrugged her shoulders, just enough to send Amy an - it will be okay message. Conner and Aaron had turned and were looking down into the valley where James and Josh were making their way toward the first of the barns, oblivious to the small drama playing out right next to them.

  A few feet away, Rain and Alicia stood staring at one another. Alicia was a year older, but smaller than Rain.

  “I'm a girl,” Rain told her.

  “Well, so am I,” Alicia said.

  “I have a little brother,” Rain told her. “Well, he's not my really brother. He's a orphoon.”

  Alicia nodded “What's a orphoon?”

  “It's a boy nobody wants, I guess,” Rain told her. “But I'm not for sure.”

  “I got a brother too,” Alicia said. “He's my for real brother, but he's really old and he don't like girls at all.” She told her.

  “How old,” Rain asked?

  “I don't know,” Alicia said. “A lot.” She looked at her fingers and then held up all ten, fanned out. “Maybe this many... Maybe even more.”

  “Wow,” Rain said. “That's crazy! ... We got a school. They teach us to count there and then you can know how many for sure.”

  Alicia nodded and then scrunched up her eyes. “You play with dolls?”

  “Yep,” Rain assured her. “And I got a lot of them too... Wanna see them?”

  Alicia smiled. “We could play,” she said.

  Rain smiled back, stuck her hand out, and Alicia took it. “Come on,” she said. “I'll show you, only you got to be careful and stay away from the ledge.” She had been pulling Alicia away, but she stopped and looked back at her seriously, still holding her hand. “We could fall down a long way... Auntie Janna said so,” she whispered.

  “Okay,” Alicia whispered back. She followed Rain up the ledge, holding her hand as they went, looking respectfully over the rock wall at the long valley below.

  ~

  Cindy and Chloe walked through the field. The sheep were scattered throughout the high grasses, grazing.

  “I just want a place where I can live,” Chloe said.

  “I can see that,” Cindy answered. “Chloe... Chloe, I don't hold anything against you. I went along to stay alive too. And I think that is the truth of the situation. If we hadn't,” she shrugged. “We would have been dead... They would have killed us, Chloe, we both know it.” Her voice had dropped to a whisper when she finished.

  “I thought maybe you'd hate me,” Chloe said. She choked back a sob.

  Cindy stopped, put her hands on Chloe's shoulders and touched her forehead to her own. “Chloe, I don't. I couldn't. I'd have to hate myself too, and for a while... For a while I did, but only myself. I'm glad you're here.” Chloe put her arms around her and hugged her. Her eyes were leaking. She sniffled, swiped at her eyes with two fingers. The two women stood in silence for a few moments just holding each other.

  Chloe drew back slowly. “Come on, Cindy. I want you to meet someone,” Chloe told her.

  “Okay,” Cindy said huskily. “Then I want you to meet someone.

  The two young women turned and walked back through the field toward the cave, leaving the sheep and the dogs to the field.

  ~

  They decided to eat outside in the small area that surrounded the pool at the bottom of the running falls, below the cave. There were a half dozen large trees that provided shade for the area. Conner, Aaron, James and Jake left and then returned with several rough wooden tables on the back of a wagon. A second trip bought all the chairs that they could scrounge up, but they were still far short. Quilts spread under the trees fixed that problem. Several of the chairs were left empty as many decided the quilts spread under the trees were a better bet.

  Lunch was a whole roasted pig, mashed potatoes and canned peas. Zucchini bread made with the sourdough mix they had managed to get going and sustain. And several loaves of sourdough bread.

  They had begun picking berries to make pies two days before, and there was not a single bush in the valley that still held wild berries. What hadn't gone into the pies had gone into storage in the cool reaches of the cave. Fresh cream, butter and three kinds of cheese were on the table.

  Craig and Jake carried the pig away from the fire and sat it on a huge wooden platter on one of the tables. It hung over both ends. Two additional platters began to fill up with meat as the two men carved from opposite sides of the pig.

  People tended to form small groups, sitting together and talking as they ate. Getting to know each other.

  “I was in my second year of residency,” Steve Choi told Sandy in answer to her question. “I was beginning to like that fast pace of the emergency room in a big hospital. I was leaning more and more towards trauma surgery, maybe a position right there where I worked.”

  “I worked in a small Northern New York town.
No drama, no trauma, at least not very often. We were next to a huge military base. They had their own hospital, but we got the serious stuff they couldn't handle, which pretty much meant a lot of that was stuff we couldn't handle either. Most of the time it was tough staying awake for the shift,” she said truthfully.

  “Half the time I had that problem too, I just couldn't find my way to a bed to make it happen. In a larger hospital if you aren't dealing with the trauma you're dealing with the paperwork from it. Keeps you on your toes,” Steve told her.

  Sandy nodded. “I've been teaching Susan what I know. She helps me a lot. We've been trying to identify plants that have medicinal properties. Herbs too. Next spring we'll have a pretty good garden area to plant so we'll have what we need on hand,” she told him.

  “Do you like nursing? Well, more like doctoring, I guess,” Steve asked Susan.

  “I do. I had never done anything like this. I was a legal secretary, you know, do all the work so the lawyer can take the credit and look good. It was a rut, but I couldn't find my way out of it. I probably didn't try too hard though... Until I met Sandy: Until the world changed, I just didn't think of other possibilities,” Susan told him.

  Steve nodded. “I have Joe. If not for what happened I... I don't know what I would have been doing. Still trying to be me on the sly. The hospital frowned on gay doctors, not on the record of course. But gay doctors made less, got skipped over for promotions, that kind of thing that is there, but you really can't prove. Still, there were more than a few of us. The world was almost there, becoming more and more intolerant of hate, and the ones that weren’t were on the way out. It looked like it could be a good place in the near future. Even so, like you said, I didn't think of other possibilities until I met Joe: Once we met... Once the world was done controlling my life, I opened my eyes and really looked.” He reached over and squeezed Joe's hand and his eyes followed, smiling.

  He lifted his eyes back up to Susan. “I guess I asked because I can teach you what I know. The more of us that have the knowledge, the better... I guess I'm thinking long term. Pass it down to our children even... Would that interest you? Either of you? Both of you?” He asked.

  “Are you kidding? Yes!” Susan said.

  “Yes, yes and yes! Absolutely. We have been trying to learn on our own as best we can... Yes... We would really like that,” Sandy said.

  Steve nodded and smiled broadly. “You could teach me about herbs... Medicinal plants. I don't know anything about that part of it. It's the way we'll have to go once the medicine stocks run out, or expire, and become worthless. We bought a lot back with us, but it won't last forever.” He smiled and nodded as much to Sandy as to himself. “Yeah. That way we can exchange information and knowledge. Be on the same page.”

  ~

  A large group sat under the shade of a spreading oak. Violet Hidecki, Roberta Teals, Pam Glass, Darren John, George Dell and Edward Horton.

  “I would have never thought to live in a cave,” Roberta said.

  “I know. I would have thought, sleeping bears... Bats. That kind of thing,” Violet said.

  “Well this whole area is probably riddled with caves. You can see the limestone, and that's what formed this cave too. I've read a little about this area,” Edward said.

  “Really?” Pam asked.

  “Really,” Edward agreed. “It, the limestone, dissolves over time leaving these huge caves behind.” He was in awe of Pam Glass. She was older. So sophisticated. But the truth was that he probably would have been enamored with any woman here who spoke to him the way she did, included him, smiled at him. It just happened that Edward was not used to women paying him much attention. Pam favored him with a big smile and he flushed red.

  “Do you suppose we'll live in the cave?” George Dell asked.

  “I think we'll live where we want to live. Maybe in the cave at first, but I think I'm going to look for a spot and build a house,” Pam said. Her eyes drifted to Edward once more.

  “Just like that?” Roberta Teals asked.

  “Sure. What else is there? I mean we're here. This is home. I'm not going back out there, that's for sure. So this is it. I'm going to make the most of it.” She looked back at Edward once again.

  “I guess that's exactly what I'll do. The people I was traveling with had talked about the same thing... I think it would have gone bad had we done it out there. It's bad out there, and who knows for how long... But here we can live... We can live here... It's a good plan, Pam,” he colored a little at using her name like he had a right to, but the way she lit up told him it had been the right thing to do.

  Violet set her empty plate aside. She had watched the play between Pam and Edward. She had known where her own thoughts lay for a few days now. The old Vi would have done nothing. Too shy. Too work orientated to make the time too, but she was not the old Vi. She wasn't exactly a brand new Vi, but she was most definitely a changed Vi. She lifted her eyes.

  “Darren,” she began. He heart began beating harder in her chest. He looked over at her. He had been looking at her for the last two days. His eyes asking plainly. The attraction was there, and it wasn't one way, she was interested too. “I was wondering... I'd like to see the upper field where they took the sheep... I was wondering...” She locked eyes with him.

  “Yeah... Yeah, I want to see that too,” Darren said. His face went a little pale around his eyes. He seemed instantly tongue tied, more frightened than she was. He swallowed hard as he rose to his feet. Stopping in a half crouch before he realized he had stopped and then rising to his full height and clearing his throat. “You want to see it with me?” he asked. He stepped forward.

  Violet lifted one hand and Darren easily pulled her to her feet. “I'd like that,” she told him as she stood and brushed at the seat of her jeans. They made their goodbyes to the small group and then walked of toward a path that left the ledge above and then wound its way up to the ridge and the field.

  ~

  “I don't got a girlfriend or a wife,” Mark said to Alicia.

  “I don't neither.” Alicia told him seriously.

  “I might marry Janelle when I grow up,” he said. “She's really smart.”

  “I'm smart too,” Alicia told him. “See?” She held out both hands, fingers spread and counted to ten. She smiled at him.

  “You really are smart,” Mark said. “Do you think you would marry me when you get older?” he asked.

  “Maybe,” she told him. She looked him over seriously. “You wanna play Mommy and Daddy?” She asked.

  “Okay,” Mark decided after a brief pause.

  ~

  “I've never seen silage made that way,” Josh said.

  “Works,” James agreed.

  “Works well,” Josh countered. “He took a bite of cheese from the piece on his plate. “This is made from deer milk?”

  “Yeah,” James agreed a little sheepishly. He smiled crookedly. “I thought why not. The deer, like the moose in the valley just fell in with our cows and followed us here. They tamed up pretty quick too: Once they were eating better the milk began to taste better too. I thought, well, what the hell.” He smiled, shrugged and then changed the subject. “Do you really think we can hook that harvester up to a team of oxen?”

  “Yeah I do, don't you?” Josh asked.

  “Yeah... Yeah, I do, but I just can't see any way to do it: Can't work it out in my head,” James said.

  “Oh. Well don't worry about that. I haven't worked it out in my head either, but we'll just put Dustin on it. I've paid attention to the boy. He's smart. He'll work it out,” Josh said.

  James laughed. “I believe he will. And probably expend less energy that we would to get it to work.” They both laughed.

  ~

  After lunch they spent the better part of the day settling in: They decided that for the time being the main area of the cave would be used for a huge communal sleeping area. With some blankets, a few quilts and some stones to use as boundary lines they worked it
out quickly with plenty of leftover space.

  Before nightfall there were three new couples: Edward Horton and Pam Glass. Violet Hidecki and Darren John, and it only took about ten minutes of Sharon and Josh talking to one another and they were inseparable.

  Later in the evening after a much more subdued evening meal, Katie, Lilly, Cindy and Dustin played some music. They were all surprised when Bonnie picked up a guitar and coached Amy, who she had been teaching a little, to follow along. They played along, laughing and enjoying themselves.

  Eventually the evening wore down and everyone drifted off. Conner and Katie said their good nights and then walked off down the valley to their little stone house with Aaron and Amy. They split up, wished each other good night, and then Conner and Katie made their way to their front porch and sat on the small swing Conner had made with James's help, looking out at the moonlit valley.

  “She's in love with you, Conner,” Katie said.

  “I know... She told me she'll get over it,“ Conner said.

  Katie frowned. “Maybe... Maybe not.”

  “Conner looked over at her and caught her eyes with his own. “I told her I love you... I told her what that means to me... I left no room for doubt, Baby. No way would I let any...”

  She stopped him with a kiss that went on and on. “I know.” She rested her head against his own. “She'll have to get over it then,” she said breathlessly.

  Her lips came back down to Conner's own and he kissed her passionately, his hands tracing the sides of her breasts. “Can we?” He asked her.

  “Oh yeah. Yeah we can.” She took his hand and led him into the house.

  ~

  Jessie's Diary:

  I am on my feet. This is a beautiful place. I loved it from the first I saw it. I can't stay though. I love Conner and I can't be here and not have him. It would drive me crazy. It would make this perfect place a perfect hell.

  How, speaking of hell, how in hell do you fall into love with someone that fast? I have never fallen that fast: Never, not ever. I have always been the one in control. I'll tell you, I don't like it at all.

  I have to stay for a while. I can't leave the way I am. I have to figure out what to do, make the right decision, not just run away like some heartsick little girl. And I have The Fold to think of, keep foremost in my decisions. I miss everyone back at Snoqualmie: Joe, Becky, so many others, but Conner pulls at me.