Stranded Box Set

by Theresa Shaver

  April and her friends took an alarmed step back from the man. Mrs. Moore was shaking her head and looked at Juan in confusion.

  Juan held up his hand to intervene. “Whoa, Kevin, these folks aren’t moving into the camps. They’re just passing through on their way home!”

  Kevin looked over the two adult women and the teenage girls before zeroing in on Liam.

  “Um, okay, but how far is home to you folks? Do you know how dangerous travelling is now, especially for girls?”

  Mrs. Moore stepped forward.

  “Sir, we do understand just how dangerous the world is now. We thank you and are grateful for the transportation but we’ll travel on to our home in Alberta, Canada. We were informed that there was a train that would be able to take us almost to the border. Once there, we’d continue on our bikes so we’d need to transport them with us. Is that a problem?”

  Kevin just stared at the teacher with a blank face before he broke out in laughter. When no one else even smiled, he turned to look at Juan incredulously.

  “Are they for real? Do they seriously think they can travel all the way to Canada?”

  Juan stared back at him with a hard face making Kevin turn away and mumble, “Why not, what’re a few more dead people nowadays?” He stared at the group with a disgusted look before shaking his head.

  “So, what do you have to trade for passage on the train? It’s not a free ride so do you all plan to work in the fields? Do you know how long that will take to make enough for the ride?”

  Mrs. Moore glanced at her students with worry before taking a deep breath and asking, “Exactly how much does it cost per person and what form of currency are they accepting?”

  Kevin started to smirk and opened his mouth to answer when Juan stepped in and held up his hand to interrupt.

  “Camila has already spoken to your leaders and it is all arranged. Their passage will be paid all the way to the end of the line. They’ll not be working in the fields,” he said in a hard voice before turning to Mrs. Moore and holding out a set of keys. He pointed at the flatbed trailer they had travelled with.

  “The first three pallets are our trade goods. The last two are yours and the kids. These keys work on the padlocks strapping the chains down. There’s a pallet of sugar and one of vinegar. Those are very high-value items and worth a lot. It’ll get you all passage on the train as well as lodging and enough food for the trip and farther once you get off the train. Give these keys to Len Olsen and no one else. He will see to everything and make sure you’re not cheated.”

  Mrs. Moore stared down at the keys in her hand for a minute before looking up at Juan with tears in her eyes.

  “Juan, we can’t thank you and your people enough for this gift but you have already helped us so much. Why are you doing this?”

  Juan made eye contact with all the students before coming back to the teacher and answering her in an emotional voice.

  “We saw so many people die and so many of our friends and family just never came home. We’ll never know what happened to them. Helping you all get home, it was an easy decision. Maybe somewhere someone’s helping our family.” He sniffed back his emotions and leaned in closer to her and grinned. “Also, we have a whole warehouse full of this stuff! We secured a wholesale distribution center at the very start of the crash. Don’t tell them that, though,” he ended with a laugh.

  Mrs. Moore shook her head with a smile and leaned in to embrace him.

  “It’s people like you and your group that will make your country strong again. Thank you and please thank all of your people for us.”

  Juan gave her a wink and hardened his face before turning back to Kevin and waving him over.

  “We’ll help you and your men load all of the bikes onto the trailer. We brought extra straps to secure them. When you get to the camp, take them to Len, he will be expecting them.”

  Kevin rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders.

  “Whatever, man, I’m just the delivery guy.”

  Juan’s face hardened even more and he leaned in and gripped Kevin’s shoulder hard.

  “Yes, yes, you’re the delivery guy and you will deliver these people and our goods to Len. Do we understand each other?”

  Kevin winced at the pressure of Juan’s hand and started to nod quickly.

  “Hey, man, no problem!” He backed away and turned to his waiting men and waved them over. “Let’s get these bikes loaded pronto!”

  The girls and Liam pushed their bikes over to the transport and handed them off to the waiting men. April and Liam went to Juan and after a hug and a handshake followed Mrs. Moore to the old ice cream truck. Kevin had opened the back doors and the girls were climbing in with nervous looks. April looked inside and saw that the interior had been stripped of everything and replaced with benches along the sides. It was dim and hot with no windows but she just shrugged and climbed in. It was better than biking for the next four hours.

  The truck gave a lurch as it did a U-turn and started north. It quickly became stuffy and hot with barely a breeze making it back to them from the front seat windows. The group tried to get comfortable on the hard seats but every time the van swerved around a car or wreck in the road, everyone went sliding. After three hours, they had drained all the water they had brought with them, and April had decided that biking to the camp would’ve been better. It was a huge relief to everyone when the van started to slow down and they entered through some kind of gate. It was impossible to see where they were or what they were driving through from the back and everyone was getting anxious after two more stops and starts as they passed through checkpoints.

  When Kevin finally came to a stop and shut off the engine, April was ready to leap out of the back doors. After so long in the dim interior of the van, the bright afternoon sunlight seared into their eyes and blinded them when he opened the doors. They all needed to be helped down and April bumped into Liam as her eyes started to adjust. There was a strange sound all around them and it was a complete shock to them all when they could finally see what was causing it.

  All around them on every side were people, more people than April or her friends had seen since before the crash.

  Chapter Seventeen

  It was overwhelming and hard to take in all the noise, smells and motion that bustled around them. After travelling through the empty silent city and suburbs, even Juan’s small community couldn’t have prepared them for this camp. April clutched Liam’s arm as her head turned from one direction to another. As far as she could see there were campers, mobile trailers and tents in rows with a few permanent buildings thrown in. People were everywhere. They were walking and talking or pulling carts. Children ran around playing games while some women hung laundry on lines or tended small camp fires with pots hanging above them. Dogs barked and chased after kids with their tails wagging in joy while people called out to one another. The smells were just as overpowering. April could smell campfire smoke, food cooking, body odor and sewage.

  She was in a daze when Liam nudged her away from the van and ended up pulling her along as their group was led to a two-story building with a wide covered wraparound porch. She finally snapped out of it when she stumbled over the first flagstone rock that led up to the house. There was a man and woman waiting at the top of the stairs with their arms linked and welcome smiles on their faces. The man was tall and bean-pole thin with silver hair and a huge mustache. The woman was half his height and her hair was a faded blond color. They looked like they were in their fifties. When April’s group arrived at the bottom of the stairs the man called out to them.

  “You all must be the Disney Princesses that Camila told us about. Welcome to Camp Grapevine! I’m Len Olsen, and this is my better half, Kathleen. Come on in to the house and we’ll chat about how we can help you all.”

  The students climbed the stairs and shook their hosts’ hands before entering the house. They were led into a large family kitchen where they sat at a long, weathered-oak table that was li
ned with cushioned benches. Kathleen passed out glasses and filled them from pitchers of fruit juice. After the long hot ride in the back of the van the girls and Liam were parched and they all gulped down the juice. April savored the treat but wondered why these people were being so generous.

  Mrs. Moore made the introductions of her students and then filled the couple in on where they had been and what they had done to survive the crash. After she’d concluded the story of their journey, Len leaned back in his chair and shook his head in admiration. He had a deep gravelly voice when he spoke.

  “You all were very fortunate and smart. So many people just up and ran that day with no supplies or thoughts on where to go. Others just sat and waited, most just died either way. The people here in the valley were lucky. We moved pretty fast and got organized. It helped that we already had a lot of crops planted and food on hand but we knew we’d be flooded with refugees from the cities. There’s a lot of huge farms in the valley and we all had field hands and their families to help but without modern machinery working, we knew we’d need more help. The first month was insane and we came close to pure anarchy but we managed to hold it in check. We got checkpoints set up at almost all the roads leading into the valley and started to process the people coming in on foot. It was ugly and a lot of refugees expected us to just take care of them. It took a hard line to get through to some of them that they would have to work in order to eat. So many people came together to make it work. We had fields and fields just full of people sleeping on the dirt until we could get the logistics set up to move them to where they could stay permanently. There were eleven ham radios that made that possible. If we hadn’t been able to communicate up and down the valley, we’d have lost everything. What you saw outside is the first of a dozen camps that we managed to set up. There are smaller ones here and there throughout the valley but the main camps follow Highway ninety-nine and Interstate five.”

  He paused in his story to take a drink and they could all see the haunted look in his eyes as he remembered those early days. When his wife rubbed his shoulder, he cleared his throat and continued.

  “It was as close to hell on earth as you can get. We had to guard as many fields as possible or the refugees would’ve eaten them bare. Whole families would just lie down in the dirt and die before we could get to them. Food rationing was so strict and parents would give their portion to the kids and then starve themselves. I can’t tell you how many orphans we have in the valley but it’s in the thousands. I don’t remember when we turned the corner but the last three months have been a lot better. When the steam train guys came to us and laid out their plan to get the tracks operational again it seemed to lift every person in the valley up with hope. We had so many volunteers to help on the project that it seemed to happen overnight and when that first train came through there were celebrations everywhere.”

  He lost himself again in thought and Mrs. Moore leaned forward.

  “Mr. Olsen, what you and your people have done here is nothing short of amazing. It might take decades but you and other communities just like this one have taken the first step in putting your country back together again. You’ll go down in the history books as a hero. Thank you for welcoming us into your home and sharing your story. My students and I had no way of knowing what had happened to the rest of the world as we hid underground but your story has given me hope that our own homes and town might’ve come together and survived as well.”

  He nodded his head with a thoughtful expression before asking, “Central Alberta had a low population, didn’t it?” At the teacher’s nod, he went on. “Well, I’m not familiar with the entire province but I have been to the Calgary Stampede a few times. There’s a lot of agriculture and beef in that province and couple that with a lower population it stands to reason that they might’ve fared better than other places.

  “Now, we’d love to put you and your kids on the train and send you home out of the goodness in our hearts but there are a couple of issues. One, it only goes as far as Spokane and two, there are a lot of people who want passage on that train so there needs to be payment. If it was up to me and Kathleen, we’d just put you on it and send you on your way but it’s not. There’s a council that runs the Valley and we’re just two of them. If not for Camila contacting us first, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. We’ve developed a very good relationship with her and her people and they supply us with much-needed salvage from the cities.”

  Kathleen interrupted her husband with a question.

  “I spoke with Camila this morning and she told me you would have something to give us to convince the council to provide passage for all of you. What did you bring?”

  Mrs. Moore smiled and held up the keys Juan had given her.

  “Again, I would like to thank you both for speaking with us and helping with this arrangement but before I hand these over, I need assurances that we’ll be taken to at least Spokane. I was told that what we have to trade would be enough for passage the whole way as well as any lodging and food supplies for the journey. These students are my responsibility and I must do whatever I can to get them home safely.”

  Len scowled and was about to speak when his wife interrupted him with a fierce look and a raised hand.

  “I’m a mother of three daughters. I understand your concern and I want to thank YOU for what you have done to keep these girls safe. If my girls were lost, I would be insane with worry and I would pray that they had someone like you to guide them and help protect them. I’m going to ask you to trust me that I’ll do everything I can to make this trade work and get you and these girls and boy as close to home and their mothers as I can.”

  Mrs. Moore studied Kathleen’s face for a few seconds before nodding her head. She held up the keys again and said, “One pallet of refined sugar and one pallet of vinegar.”

  There was a beat of silence before Kathleen started to laugh. Mrs. Moore kept her face blank but all her students looked at each other with worry. Kathleen’s words had them all breaking out in smiles.

  “Would you like to go in the first-class cabin?”

  Len Olsen snorted a laugh and shook his head. “That Camilla must really like you guys! Sugar and vinegar are worth more than gold here. Even with all these people to feed and being able to move the fruit and produce by train, we still have a lot spoiling. We need those two things to preserve it. Two pallets aren’t going to go far but it’s more than enough to trade for what you and your students need. I’ll get on the radio and talk to the others in the council. We’ll have paperwork put together with your passage rights on it by the time the train leaves in two days.”

  He held out his hand for the keys and at a nod from his wife, Mrs. Moore handed them over. He got up from the table and left the room, leaving his wife to handle the other details. She smiled at the group and stood.

  “I’d like you all to stay here with us for the next couple of days until you leave. The camp is fairly safe; most of the savages from the early days have either died or been hunted down but I would feel better having you all here. My two oldest girls are married and live close by but my youngest was at the University when the lights went out. She was hurt by some men as she made her way home.” Kathleen swallowed hard before going on. “Thankfully, her father found her and got her home, but she’s not the same girl anymore. I’ve seen a lot of people die in the last six months and I’ve seen a lot of women abused. I couldn’t help very many of them but I can help all of you.”

  There were tears in the woman’s eyes as she waved them to follow her but her shoulders were back and her head was held high. She took them to the second floor and directed them to a bedroom and explained where they could get cleaned up before leaving them to settle in.

  April and Jessica shared a room and they both dropped their packs and flopped down on the bed they would be sharing and stared at the ceiling. April could only lay there for a few minutes before she rolled off and went to the window. She just couldn’t get over how m
any people there were at the encampment.

  “Can you imagine what it would’ve been like here at the beginning? How scary it would’ve been with all those thousands of terrified people?”

  Jessica scrubbed at her face in weariness and rolled off the bed to join April at the window. She took a long look at the rows of tents and campers before turning away and leaning against the wall.

  “What I can’t believe is how amazingly lucky we were. We should be dead. All of us should be dead.” At April’s confused look she explained, “Think about it. We were a bunch of teenage tourists in one of the biggest cities in North America when the crash happened, and somehow we’ve made it for six months. None of us really went hungry; we didn’t really have to fight anyone, and we managed to bathe pretty regularly. Stupid lucky, that’s what we’ve been and after all that, we have managed to stumble on to a bunch of amazingly good people that want to help send us home. Stupid lucky.”

  April chewed on her bottom lip as she thought about her friend’s words. She was right, so many people that were better prepared or smarter had died. She shook her head at the senselessness of it.

  “It’s like those clips you see on the Weather Network when they show the aftermath of a tornado swathing through a town. It’s destruction everywhere until that one house that’s perfectly fine except for a few shingles lost from the roof. There’s no explanation for why it wasn’t destroyed like the rest of the town, it just survived. I guess that’s us.”

  A voice from the doorway added, “And one very smart teacher!”

  The two girls looked over at Mrs. Hardsky, who was standing in the door. The woman gave them an understanding smile and came into the room and sat on the bed.

  “It’s natural for you to question why we lived when so many people died and yes, we were very lucky but it was more than that. Norma Moore is a strong woman and she didn’t let fear paralyze her when this all started. She knew exactly what was going to happen and she guided us all so we’d have the best chance. She did the exact right thing by making us hide for so long. None of us were ready to face what was happening during those first days and with a group as large as ours, we’d just have been more refugees to turn away if we had made it here. The people that have helped us so far had to turn a lot of people away at the start. Now that things are a bit more under control they want to try and make up for that a little. Norma knew this would happen and that’s why she made us wait so long before we left the city.”