Beyond the New Horizon (Book 2): Desperate Times

by Conaway, Christine

  “It was when we went to Glacier that we met the guys from Libby. They had a theory that connected all the volcanoes. They were prepared for when the big one blew from Yellowstone all the way up through the Pacific Northwest. They believed that under the mountains were a labyrinth of interconnecting caverns, tunnels and lava tubes. I honestly wasn’t paying attention, but if they were right, maybe Yellowstone is the blame for this after all. For the most part, they sounded more like doomsayers than people who were prepared for survival, when whatever they thought was going to happen, happened. They did send Journey that book, though.”

  “Well Gina, if you still have it, I guess that could be a good thing. Journey might want to dig it out and do some reading.”

  “It does sound like they got their wish, or whatever you want to call it. With all of the changes we’ve seen here, I can only imagine what it would have been like to be in the middle of the bigger mountains when this went down. When I think that we could have been up there instead of here.” Gina shuddered with the thought.

  “There is that to be thankful for. I only wish we had some way of knowing how bad it is out there,” Sam said.

  “Something I can vouch for is that the creek that ran along side of the highway is now an open trench that has to be fifty feet across. There is no way to tell how deep it is, but the lava flow is a good thirty feet below the roadside. Or, I guess I should say, where the road used to be.”

  By the time Sam told John about the crevasse having hot water running down it and the glow they had seen when looking up the ravine, John wore a frown on his face and tapped the ends of his fingers in a tuneless rhythm on the wood table surface. He drummed his fingertips quickly and loudly until it ended with the climax. The palm of his hand smacked the table top, with finality.

  “That’s it then. We need to figure out where that goes to and where it starts from.”

  “Why? Does it matter in the long run if it doesn’t come this way?” Lucy’s face had grown pale as she listened to John.

  “It matters. If what Gina and Sam observed, we are cut off to the west. The lake we now have to the south of us presents its own set of problems. That river of boiling magma blocks off the north, leaving us with only one option.”

  “East,” Sam said, with a nod, having drawn his own conclusions. It was apparent he was already thinking ahead. “We can either choose to stay right here, or we can load up and head east.”

  “Who to say that it hasn’t split like it did up at the cabin? We could find ourselves in the same situation, no matter where we go.” Ben looked around at the faces beside and across from him. “At least here we know what we have.” He placed his hand on Lucy’s and gave hers a squeeze. She smiled at him, and her face flushed red when she caught Gina watching them.

  Gina pulled her eyebrows down and pretended to glare, but Lucy saw through her charade had pointed her chin in defiance.

  That’s great, Gina thought, their world was crumbling around them, and she and Lucy were having a face making contest. With a start, she realized this was them. This was exactly the way they had acted under normal circumstances.

  Sam slapped the table lightly in front of Gina, “You with us?”

  Eyes wide Gina sat up straighter, rolled her eyes, and turned her face away. Lucy saw her and laughed. She knew why Gina rolled her eyes rather than spoke. Gina felt either Lucy or Ben nudge her foot under the table. Ben was watching John intently, so it had to have been Lucy. Gina, stared at her, waiting for Lucy to say something. Usually, Lucy was quick to fill in the blanks.

  Gina had no idea what Sam was referring to, “I wasn’t listening,” she confessed and sighed. “Sorry, I guess I’m just tired.”

  “We all are. If you want to go take a nap, I can go up there by myself, or one of the others can go.”

  Gina blinked herself awake. “Where are we going?”

  Sam grinned, it appeared as if he knew Gina well enough that she couldn’t resist the challenge or the idea that someone would go in place of her no matter where it was.

  “Well, someone else and I will go ride the trench and see how far east it goes. We’ll probably be gone a couple of days. On our way back, we’re going to stop by Matts place and see if they still have the travel trailer and if we can salvage anything from the homestead. There are several other places we need to check out also.”

  “Should any of us be leaving here? What if something happens? The horses haven’t had time to rest up either.”

  John snickered, “In case you haven’t noticed we do have a plethora of horses. There are enough that can use the exercise standing around in the pasture. All you have to do is decide which one you feel like riding today.”

  “Hey…when did you guys get back?” Journey walked through the tent flap surprised to see them. “Did we sleep the clock around or what?”

  Lucy patted the bench beside herself and waited for Journey to fill her cup and sit down. In whispered words, she caught Journey up. Her mouth hung loose, and her eyes grew round while listening to Lucy speak.

  “Holy crap! Are we safe here?”

  “That’s what we are going to find out, just as soon as we grab a couple hours of sleep,” Sam told her with a yawn. When his jaw cracked, he broke the tension in the tent and everyone including Sam, laughed.

  “What did you figure out about our provisions? Can we make it through the winter?”

  Gina saw Journey’s face sadden and she looked at John. When he nodded, Journey cleared her throat.

  “No, we can’t. At least not with what we have right now. But, it’s as John said, we can hunt and fish. Carlos has some root vegetables, potatoes, turnips and carrots in the root house as well as some dried meats. If you guys managed to save anything, with a few adjustments, we would be thinner come planting time, but alive.”

  “But it’s not planting time we need. Don’t we still have to wait months for anything to be ready to harvest?”

  Journey, held up her hands, “Hold it…I am really not the one to ask about this. Mary is the gardener here. Maybe we should ask her. But, I do have a piece of good news. Carlos left behind his journal.”

  Journey glanced around expectantly. When all she saw were frowns, “His journal…the book, he wrote everything in. How to do this and how to do that. Heck, it even has recipes and techniques for tanning hides and building a smoke house. It’s a veritable treasury of useful information.”

  “A journal besides the farm journal?”

  Journey nodded at John with enthusiasm, “Yes. I stayed up most of the night trying to decipher his handwriting, not his handwriting, but translate some of his words. Some of them are in Spanish, but I think I have some of it figured out. Do you know that the Indians and later the trappers lived off pemmican?” Journey shook her head as if she still could believe it, “Sometimes that’s all they ate for months at a time!”

  Gina wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Do you know what that stuff is made out of? Remember the guys in Libby were making it, and we thought it smelled like rancid grease?”

  “Oh…yeah, I do. But once you make it, it can last for months without refrigeration, and it full of nutrition.”

  “It lasted for months because no one wanted to eat it,” Gina laughed.

  John looked at Sam, “While you and Gina are gone, the rest of us are going to add onto the smoke house and get it ready to smoke some meat. We need to have something easy to transport if we have to leave in a hurry.”

  “How’s Nathan doing?” Gina asked, wanting to change the subject. She knew the nanny had some milk but had wondered if there would be enough for both the babies and Nathan.

  Journey shook her head, “So far he seems to be handling the canned goat's milk that Carlos had, but we haven’t tried him on the fresh yet. Mary did milk her after you guys left and the nanny handled it fine. Mary thought she had been hand milked before, but she gave whatever she got to the babies. She says that’s how you get her to produce more, is to milk her out…you know, ki
nd of like supply and demand.”

  “That and good feed. Our mother always served goat milk when we were kids, but Sam wouldn’t drink it.”

  “I did too. I didn’t like it. But I drank it when I had to.”

  “You mean when there wasn’t a dog close enough you could give it to,” John added with a laugh.

  Sam shrugged, “Well, there was that,” he admitted, followed by a shudder. His face pulled into a grimace with the memory, and he made a gagging noise deep in his throat.

  Gina scooted away as if she thought he was going to throw up right there when he started laughing. “It won’t be so bad especially when I don’t have to drink it now.”

  “Gina, go pick yourself out a horse and point it out the Andy. He’ll have it tacked and ready to go in four hours. That will still leave you guys plenty of daylight, and who knows, maybe you won’t have that far to go.”

  On her way to the trailer, she saw Andy throwing hay to the goats and told him to pick any of the horses for her to ride. She didn’t really care as long as she had her own saddle. He waved his hand to show he’d heard her and continued with his work. On the way to the trailer, refused to look toward the highway. She didn’t want the picture her imagination was capable of dreaming up while she was asleep.

  She found her sleeping bag rolled up neatly at the side of the recliner, untied it and flipped it out. She didn’t bother to undress for such a short nap and was out before she could consider sleeping without a pillow.

  Gina woke when she felt someone watching her, while she knew she was safe, to her it still felt creepy, being scrutinized by some unknown eyes.

  Through the tiniest slit in her eyelids, she saw a shadow pass over her face. Without further thought, Gina latched on to the arm, she somehow knew was there. “I’m awake,” she said and opened her eyes to find she had a hold of Journey’s arm.

  “Sorry, I hated to wake you, but Sam says it’s time.”

  Gina wiped her hand over her face to rub away the wrinkles she knew were there from using her bent arm for her pillow. Her tongue reminded her she needed to do something about brushing her teeth and her mouth tasted sour. Wrinkling her lips in distaste, she remembered the toothbrush that Carlos had set out for her and wondered if it was still where she’d put it.

  Gina sighed and stood up, stretching the stiffness from her back. “It’s okay. I needed to get up. Can you tell him I’ll be right out? I want to wash my face and maybe brush my teeth.”

  Journey covered her nose with her hand and nodded, “Yes, you do, and I’ll tell him.”

  Gina grinned at her friend and blew her morning breath right in Journey’s face.

  Journey shrunk back, her face wrinkled in mock distaste, “That’s gross…I should have expected it, though.”

  Gina stopped outside the bathroom door when she realized that Journey was right behind her. She turned and looked at her friend. “What?”

  “Nothing really. I guess I just haven’t gotten to talk to you much lately. Lucy and I are worried that you’re trying to do too much. I mean, maybe putting yourself in danger…maybe you should let one of the guys go instead.”

  Gina found her toothbrush exactly where she’d put it and squeezed a small dab of paste on it. Her eyes met and held Journey’s in the mirror above the sink, only losing contact when she bent over to spit. She used a minuscule amount of water to rinse her brush and laid it back on the shelf and rested her hands on the counter.

  In the mirror, she asked, “And just who do you think should go? John? Nope, he has a family to look out for. There is Lucas, but John may treat him like a man, and give him a man’s responsibilities, but he’s still a boy.” She sighed and turned to face Journey who took a step back. “Ben? He has Abby and now Lucy to watch over. That leaves Matt or Andy.”

  “Why does anyone…”

  Gina cut her off, “We have to. Someone has to. Not only to find out about that monster out there, but maybe to see what’s left. We need more information, in case we need to move. So, that still leaves Andy, Matt, or me.”

  She saw Journey flush when for the second time she mentioned Andy as someone who could go in her place. Gina nodded, “That’s what I thought. That only leaves Matt, and I can’t let him go. Sam says we are going to Matt’s place and John’s worried what we’ll find there. Besides that Journey, I want to go.”

  Journey nodded, accepting Gina’s reasoning. “I wish we could all just stay here and not worry about what's out there, but I know that’s being unreasonable.”

  “And selfish,” Gina said, raising her eyebrows in question. She saw the embarrassment that crossed Journey’s face, followed by sadness. “It’s okay. I would rather go, knowing you have someone to watch over you too. If it matters, I think he’s a great guy. A little young for you, but great,” She said and ducked away from Journey’s fist. She grabbed it and pulled her into a quick hug. “I meant it. He is a great guy. Now, I’ll go tell Sam myself, that I’m ready to go.”

  Someone knocked loudly on the door, and both women jumped. “Guess that must be my ride.”

  Journey shook her head and pushed Gina toward the door. “Wait…you might need this.” She threw Gina her jacket. Journey pointed at the sleeping bag, still spread out on the floor, “I’ll roll it up and bring it out.”

  “Thanks,” and Gina stepped out the door. Cold air slapped her in the face, taking her breath away.

  “Well, crap,” she exclaimed and buttoned up her coat. She pulled the collar up around her ears and saw Mary coming toward her. At least she thought it had to be Mary by the size of the person. She was buried in clothing.

  The identity was confirmed when she spoke, “I’ve brought you some warmer clothes. Between the guys, we came up with these.” Her arms were full of winter clothing, and a pair of boots hung from one hand. Gina hoped some of it would fit her because she wasn’t going to make it far without freezing to death.

  “Go back to the trailer and put on whatever fits you.” Mary pushed her back to the trailer.

  When Gina was finally ready to go, she wore a pair of quilted coveralls belonging to Andy, Matt’s overshoes, on over her boots, insulated gloves from Lucas, and once again, John’s big heavy coat.

  Mary named of the benefactor of each piece as Gina put it on. When Gina was dressed, Mary nodded in approval. “That’s better. Now at least you’ll be warm. John says it’s going to snow and he’s never wrong.”

  Gina looked down at herself, “I may not look pretty, but I’m sure I’ll stay warm.”

  “Oh, and this too,” Mary exclaimed, and pulled the woolen hat from her own head and pulled it down over Gina’s ears.

  Outside, Sam stomped his feet, with impatience or because they were cold, Gina didn’t know and right then didn’t care. She didn’t see where five minutes one way or the other would matter. It was barely past noon, or so she hoped. With her gloves on and the extra coat, she couldn’t pull her cuff up to look.

  Someone had put her saddle on a tall, raw-boned bay gelding. She admired the large horse and saw Bess standing on the other side of him with Gus’s pack saddle on her back.

  She wondered at taking Bess the second day in a row, but realized she was better matched to the big gelding in size. Gina wouldn’t have to drag a shorter legged animal along. She was grateful for someone’s thoughtfulness.

  Gina swung up on the big horse and appreciated Andy for picking him out. As a taller woman, she liked to feel comfortable when she rode and comfortable for her was being able to see and have her feet not hang down to the horse's knees. She left Bess’s lead line dallied on her saddle horn and turned the horse to follow Sam. He was again riding Sham and leading the chestnut mare that belonged to Sherry.

  Approaching the wall of rock and dirt, they could see there was no way up the newly formed escarpment. Sam turned, and they rode east following the scree trail at the bottom. Rocks, set free from the loose soil continued to rain down startling the horses. When a large boulder fell right in front of Sham
, Sam reined right, turning away from the cliff.

  “Change of plan,” he said and headed south.

  Gina had wondered why they were sticking so close to the hillside earlier on. Between the rock debris and the base of the hill was a deeper trench that had been left when the portion of land had been forced up while the opposing land appeared to have sunk. She didn’t understand exactly what happened, but the idea that it could happen again had left her feeling unsafe riding so close to the gap. Occasionally, she would catch a whiff of the obnoxious odor of sulfur.

  They rode southeast for another hour having to change course as they came to natural barriers that had already been in existence before the quakes.

  Finally, Sam called a halt along the side of a stream. Gina wondered about the frown on his face. To her, he looked puzzled, as he stared up the length of running water.

  Both of Gina’s horses were eager to drink, but when Sam prevented Sham from drinking, Gina shortened her lead on Bess and held the gelding’s head up.

  “What’s the matter? Isn’t the water safe to drink?”

  Her horse was beginning to fight her, clearly wanting to dip his muzzle in the running water. Bess was straining against her lead to get down to the water.

  “Sam?” He looked at her in silence. It was evident he hadn't heard her question, “The water? Is it okay to let them drink?”

  Sam climbed off Sham and knelt on one knee. He scooped some water up in his hand and brought it to his nose and sniffed. He placed his hand to his mouth and sipped. His cheeks pumped in and out as he swished it around and then swallowed. He scooped another handful and let it run out from between his fingers. “It smells and tastes fine. In fact, it tastes wonderful, and it’s cold.”

  “Of course it’s cold. I’m damn near freezing here.”