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402 Posts
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost
Where to begin I wasn’t a wander by choice I just ended up this way when law and order collapsed we held on for a while society that it is. Why it happened you ask? Not important anymore it’s all gone anyway. I had once been a man who believed in civil society who am I kidding I still do. I was a somewhat average American man then she was taken from me the bastards. They also took who I once was but it changed me made me stronger. I search for her now still when I can but now by word of mouth. I will find her it may be six years but I will find her I promised but time was limited was she gone already I would ask myself. I was left with scars physically after healing. I was never a violent man just had strong sense of what was right and what was wrong. There were still good people out here one had healed me and taught me the skills to survive in this new world. I will never forget this person for what they did for me. I honor there memory by living a life worth living. The only belongings that I owned I carried or wore procuring what I needed on this road.
I look ahead vultures in the distance I have also heard coyotes and smell smoke in the distance. I keep my same pace it will still be there when I get there. As I arrive I find a burned out homestead with some bodies outside left to rot. I go in a shed and find a shovel I spent the rest of the day digging three graves. The last grave is the hardest a four year old boy inside the house I found a teddy bear I bury it with the boy. This raid had been recent in the last two days by the state of decay. I spent the night in the home of the people I buried. The smokehouse had been completely emptied the stable empty as well. I found a five pound sack of flour, a bottle of multi vitamins and an unopened tube of toothpaste. No sense in these items going to waste they go in my pack. Somebody else will find this homestead and occupy it I think. No looking back just going forward I can’t return until I finish my journey.
These were amateurs up ahead I could hear them a mile off I get off the road. I thought well I should see what type of people they are but its all male voices probably an ambush. I get two hundred yards from them and hide behind a piece of rusted out farm equipment. I take out my binoculars careful not to have light bounce of the lenses. I was right all males two bearded men I there forties and looked like a teenager doing his best trying to grow peach fuzz. They had a pack mule with them the burden on it removed. They were drinking from a big jug the teenager doing his best to look like a man there was a familial resemblance between two. Father and son maybe I thought? That’s when I heard one say you did a good job Dodge killing that man made your Uncle proud becoming a man. It’s just too bad she was shooting at us so we couldn’t take her with us and then you would have been a real man. Hand me that crock of mustard for my ham and I stopped listening to the conversation. I couldn’t just loop around them and leave them behind after I saw what they did to the homestead. Law and order why do I keep getting myself mixed up with these things.
How best to do this I thought up close and personal or from a distance. I had done it both ways before. The first time I had taken a life I was sick for a longtime and finally accepted it but never gotten over it. We were leaving the city by bike since cars weren’t working anymore loaded with food water and some spare clothing and a few personal affects. A lot of people were leaving the cities in those early days. A good many on bikes others with rolling luggage some pushing shopping carts. Whole families with kid’s or friends young and old alike the road was a full place then. None prepared for the road or what had happened to cause them to get on the road. We had stopped for the night at a state rest area it was busy but we found our little area to set up camp we were going to sleep under the stars that night. I had light a small fire to cook a can of baked beans for the both of us to share. The beans hadn’t even been opened yet or placed on the fire.
When out of nowhere this wannabe gangster thug came up and said you got some eats for me. I said no we don’t just enough for us. I guess he saw as weak because we were just us and the other groups were larger. That’s when he pulled up his way to baggy t-shirt showing his piece and said my piece says I gonna eat and you ain’t. I said no it doesn’t and stood up I had no weapon the only thing close to it was my pocket knife. At this point a crowd started to gather noticing what was happening. He pulled the gun and put it to my head for some reason I wasn’t scared just foolish I guess. I pushed him to get him away from me thinking this would be enough. As he stumbled over his feet and fell he pulled me down with him. He was on me and started punching. I knew my life or his and I noticed that he lost the grip on the gun. I reached for it and he noticed and started the same a struggle started and then it fired he was dead. I said we need to get out of here as the crowd was still in shock I grabbed my pack and the bike. Then this old man came up and said spoils of war son and handed me the gun and two spare magazines he had taken from the thug’s pockets.
I rode about fifteen minutes when I said we needed to stop. It had all caught up with me I had taken a life. I retched and vomited for a couple minutes I took a sip of water rinsed out my mouth and without saying a thing mounted up and started riding she joined me. The memory was still fresh in mind even thought it had been years ago. Anyway what to do with these three in front of me. How best to handle this situation. They were sloppy I hadn’t found any sentries just these three. They probably were on the move and didn’t live nearby. They were out on a hunting/raiding party and live far from this area. Well distance was the way to do it today no sense in putting it off any longer. I took out my M1 Garand a gift from the old man who taught me put them in my sights and shot three times they never knew it was coming. I put my things away shouldered my pack and started walking towards the now quiet camp. I took out the pistol just in case as I walked. Always a good thing when you can ambush an ambush. I went over and looked after the mule it was ambivalent towards me. I thought well I have a mule now; I looked at him and said well how about Fred for a name you’re not going to replace her.
I started going through the bodies lying around found a good belt knife and BIC lighter on one. On the younger one I found a pair of boots that matched my sized and were in new out of box condition and some Para cord. On the one who was his uncle I suppose I found some gold coins, silver dimes and an ink pen with a little notebook with only a few pages filled on one side. I would keep it all spoils of war I suppose. Now I took the rest of it in the weapons were simple a compound hunting bow with sixteen arrows, a crossbow with bolts and a 22 rifle and seventy rounds of bullets. I also found the things they had pilfered from the homestead. A couple slabs of bacon some hams and miscellaneous items. I loaded up Fred trying to balance the items on him and still wore my pack and led him on to find a better camp for the night. I really needed to find a good winter camp and get a few deer for the winter.
I heard water the water before I saw it I followed the sound. Both Fred and I needed to drink. As I was following the sound to the source through the forest when I saw it a cave entrance I’d come back to it. I was in what was once in a national park. To think people once came here for picnics and lazy weekends. It then had become a place of refuge I had seen it before people thinking they could live off the land. The trash they left behind was still around maybe I would find something useful. I hadn’t been that foolish I was no expert woodsman when we left but an Eagle Scout it gave me a slight edge over some. The last time I had spent an extended period in a cave was after I had been left for dead and she was taken. The cave when I entered it was dry after you got back a few feet from the entrance. The cave I was presently in went back about twenty five feet then made an L bend going about eight feet around ten feet wide. This would be home for the next couple months and with a little work would suit its purpose. I found remnants of an old fire at very old. Nobody’s home in a long time it had a few items left behind mostly trash then pay dirt an old folding metal chair and hammock that was tangled but could be untangled and an old rusty bow saw.
First thing first was to build a gate for Fred and make sure he had a place separate from my own. After this I made a wall that covered most of the entrance to keep the elements out. This was an area of the country where it had more of a rainy season then snowfall. Thank god I was in lower elevations this winter. I went to the visitor center to see if I could find anything of use for my new temporary home. People had been here many times before me. Display cases were broken pamphlet rack turned over but no broken windows that was a small miracle. I found some things that would be useful for the winter and beyond. I found an old iron fire poker a spare blade for the saw and the register was empty except for a set of keys. I took the keys and tried the superintendent’s office it was locked easily opened with the keys. I found a skeleton in a chair covered by a ranger’s uniform. The skull had a hole through the head a revolver was on the floor and a note on the desk read forever alone. I would bury the bones under a pine tree. In the office other than the revolver with a box of ammo I found a thermos for hot liquids and a flask with Jameson with a mostly full bottle, edible plant identification guide plus a pair of sunglasses. From the paperwork that I found he had tried his best to keep order here but people got fed up and left. He did his best to provide but before they left they ransacked the place thinking he was keeping resources for himself. That’s when he killed himself they were banging at his door. I wonder if that’s what caused the exodus from this place.
I was back on the road again the winter had come and gone. I had some new equipment and some buckskin items I fashioned from the deer I took during the hunts. I also had several rabbit pelts put away for trade or uses later on down the road. I plodded along keeping my pace knowing I would catch up or find new leads which direction that they headed. I started seeing fields that had been turned over and planted I was nearing a settlement of some type. Sometimes they were built from the ground up other times small towns that had put a wall up to protect themselves. I would probably come across somebody soon. I kept my guard up as I approached the settlement then I heard it church bells and hooves coming towards me. Then I heard a strong female voice stop right there stranger, I stopped and kept my hands where they could be seen. I must have looked strange I was wearing a felt broad brimmed hat old jeans that I had strengthened with buckskin on the knees and rear. I also wore the pistol on my belt with knife and the revolver on my chest with a sleeveless t-shirt and old leather work gloves. I was a sight to be seen with burns on both of my arms and a bullet scar on my right shoulder. My M1 was on Fred in scabbard so they had no worries. As the five riders approached I noticed they were all women the youngest a teenage the oldest in her early thirties around my age with streaks of grey in her auburn hair.
What kind of man are you? Said a woman with auburn hair asked I took off my sunglasses looked at her and said a good man still I hoped and yes I have killed my fellow man. She said well looking at your eyes I can see that your being honest stranger. We don’t tolerate drunkenness or fighting here but somehow I don’t think that will be a problem with you. I looked at her and said you’re right about that on both accounts I only fight if it’s warranted. She sent the others ahead and dismounted her horse and said ill walk in with you. She said to me how long on the road I replied since it happened. We were around three quarters of a mile from town when I noticed alpacas and llamas being watched over by Sheppard’s as we got closer. The questions she asked were well thought out and I answered honestly. I asked if they had an inn where I could rent a room. She said no but you can stay with my daughters and me. We reached the gate and she said welcome to Milford. As we were walking the street I then noticed it was all women of every age and old or very young men. I was the youngest man to be seen at thirty years even though I felt older. I saw looms being operated and yarn being spun being made everywhere I went. I saw a group young girls and a few boys being taught there alphabet outside a building by a teacher on a chalk board. I asked where all the rest of the men were as I only saw almost all women some who were pregnant. She said well we were always a small community to begin with. When the change hit the boys and their fathers were on a hunting trip and never made it back. Others who had stayed assumed they were in charge and were kicked out of the community.
Why am I invited in then? She laughed and said well just because you have a Y chromosome doesn’t mean you’re not allowed in. I laughed she had a gentle easy laugh and it was contagious and said okay. We have a communal dinner in two hours as a girl about thirteen walked up she said you can leave your mule with her she’ll see to him and bring your belongings in to my guest room. I told her his name was Fred and like being scratched behind his right ear. Now you have been on the road a long time I suggest a bath before dinner. We have some clean clothing you can put on when you’re finished. We arrived at her home and she led me to a spare room that had a hot bath waiting in the bathroom. On the ledge was washcloth with soap a small pair of scissors, small mirror with razor. I rubbed my beard and realized I hadn’t shaved in four years trimmed yes shave no the same with a haircut. I stripped down and slipped in to the bath enveloped by warmth this was luxury. My bathing on the road had consisted of cold ponds and streams. I dunked my head and started the process of removing my beard. I looked older and had lost the roundness my cheeks once had. I looked like pictures I had seen of my Great Grandfather. I woke up and realized I had fallen asleep in the water I pulled the plug and saw a dirt ring form as the water drained away I felt bad for that. I noticed my clothes and guns were gone in their place a pile of clothes. A note read that they were being cleaned and repaired and would be returned to me the guns were on a chest on the edge of the bed. The clothes left for me were a pair of baggy brown pants with buttons and a baggy green shirt with a black sash used to cinch the shirt I assumed made from alpaca and a pair of flip flops.
I stepped out of the room and she said to me you clean up nice, how was the bath? I said well thank you I haven’t felt this way in a long time. I noticed she had cleaned up and looked absolutely radiant in a dark green skirt and dark orange v neck shirt. I then realized she was around my height and curves in all the places I liked. Escort a girl to dinner I said of course and she looped her arm to mine with a sparkle in her eye. My girls have are already on the way asked how old and if their father had been hunting when it happened? She said oh no they’re adopted after I was never married but my daughters none the less but fourteen, ten and seven. I said indeed I can understand that I had once considered adoption. We approached an old auto shop with its bay doors open and tables stretching in to all the bays three deep. I saw there was a cooking fire and pits with meat roasting over the fire on spits and crocks full of who knows what. I couldn’t believe the bounty we were walking up too. She whispered in my ear her warm breath tickling my neck with her breath you don’t need to be bashful eat as much as you would like.
There were around ninety people here most hadn’t left this isolated hamlet since around the time it had happened. More were on the wall and out hunting for deer or fishing and were one hundred and thirty total in the community. I was telling stories of what I had come across and leaving stuff less graphic at times but adults could piece it together. I was invited to stay and help with the apple harvest and gladly accepted. I also offered my carpentry skills I had been a hobbyist with hand tools before the change. I had specialized in cabinets and bird houses and dabbled in furniture. As the night wore on children were taken away to bed and the very old departed. I looked around and realized the only two people left were myself and the redheaded woman I was staying with. I hadn’t talked this much in a long time or been up this late do to lantern light. She said you must be exhausted let’s go home shall we. I said we need to be quiet so not to wake your girls. She said its okay they’re staying with a neighbor. I was unaware what was happening I hadn’t been around people in a long time. She showed me to my bed room. I was finishing brushing my teeth when she walked in I was frozen I was naked as a jaybird. She had a light quilt around her shoulders and her hair was down and brushed out falling down to her mid back. She removed the quilt and it slipped off and we were embracing one another. There was no sleep for several hours that night I woke with her asleep head buried in my chest. This had to be a dream and I would wake up anytime. She woke up a moment or two after me stretched and said morning I replied good morning.
Well don’t you think we should get dressed I said and help with the apples. No you don’t she said and no way lover and was on top of me effectively I was immobile. Sometime later we were on the orchard helping and we caught ourselves acting like teenagers stealing looks. She threw an apple at me and stuck out her tongue out. I took chase and well we were in a secluded spot acting like teenagers all over again. I’m sure we were being talked about. It was confirmed when we entered dinner that night. My life was changing just a couple days ago I had been alone on the road and now I think I was falling in love it sure felt that way.
Love I hadn’t been in love in a long time I knew the feeling it had been a long while since I felt it. Heartbreak had replaced love one year before the change before that excitement. Their death had affected me it still effected me. I had lost before maybe that was why I was able to adjust after. We were scared and excited at the same time for what was coming. We had prepared for everything even bought a puppy before I knew. This was purposeful on her part to choose a girl pup. A month after we had the pup she told me she was pregnant and with a son. I was stunned then it clicked with me even side’s two girls and two men in the house. We were preparing for the arrival for our first child. I put together the nursery precisely how she wanted. The thing I had most fun with was breaking in a baseball mitt for when he was of an age to use it. All we had to do was let him decided to come and her water broke that was the scariest moment of my life so far. I lost both of them in child birth I thought the doctor was lying when he told me. The dog kept me going she was a good girl and had to be taken care of by extension she took care of me. One year after I lost them the world turned upside down I was already feeling that way so to me this was normal when we pedaled past our neighbors leaving the community then city.
It was now six months after we had hit the road and after the rest stop incident. I had decided to switch to back roads. The highways were filling up and dangerous but not very full of vehicles. It had taken place at three in the morning. Not many people are on the road then trucker, police and night owls that had kept the road fairly open with few blockages. Some draw bridges through the country would be permanently up do to being raised when it occurred. This was across all internal combustion engines ceased to work as well as electricity, means of transportation and communication. I had picked up odd jobs here and there in towns and farms along the way. I had a few invitations to stay but had to keep moving I don’t know why. The road was therapeutic to me after my loss I kept her picture with me one in my pack and one in my pocket. Highwaymen were on the roads again and I kept the pistol close and had picked up more ammunition for it along the way as well as some instruction. I had to use it again on a few occasions.
I was resting one day with not a care in the world well as close as it could be in this new world. I had stopped to rest and do a little hunting with my sling hoping to get a rabbit or two for the spit. I was in the habit of hiding my pack while hunting to be quieter and faster. They surprised me and came out of nowhere. I was jumped they got the jump on me and just as I raised my pistol my world went black. I woke up hurting all over but mostly my right leg and both my arms felt like they were on fire. That’s when I realized I was laying down and moving I was strapped down I blacked out again. I woke again this time I wasn’t moving I felt like I was in a bed and in a cave then I passed out again. I woke to the sound of singing the song was I walk the Line by Johnny Cash. Ah your awake I heard and a man in his fifties walked over. How you doing young man my names Hugh no need to move or talk yet here have some water. He put a mason jar to my lips and told me to take small sips. He filled me in saying he found me beaten up and my pack where I had hidden it. I asked how I thought I hid it well he said you did well for someone with novice woodcraft skills. I said where is she? Why he replied my dog. I didn’t see her but I did see dog tracks with the tracks leading away from you. Those bastards took her I thought I looked at him and said I need to go get her. Whoa there bud you’re not going anywhere you have a broken leg. I set it and the bones should heal just fine rest in the meanwhile.
He and I were playing another game of checkers and I said to him. I’m a novice in the woods yup was his only reply. Can you teach me to be like you an expert in the woods your skills, that is. As soon as your legs are healed your arms look like they had healed just fine. They had also had someone demented who had burned my arms the skin had burned slightly but otherwise healed. He looked at me and said your leg will be finished healing soon then you have to build the strength back after that yes I will teach you. The physical therapy progressed well and with Hugh’s job setting the bone I was good as new. When he felt I was ready the training began. I ended up spending ten months with him healing and learning. I could think of no way how to repay him for his kindness and tutelage. As I was getting ready to leave and get back on the road he handed me an M1 and said I have two more you can use this well. Also included were a few hundred rounds and a skinning knife. I went to give him a hand shake and he gave me a fatherly hug and said make me proud. I shouldered my pack and M1 and started my pursuit of those bastards who left me for dead.
They had at least half a year on me and any physical would be ice cold. None the less I felt compelled I had to get her back that’s what mattered most. She had saved my life by me taking care of her after they died. I also had come to life when she wanted to throw a ball those were the happy times after losing them. I had to get her back and I knew she was old for a dog but that didn’t matter to me. I hadn’t felt this alone in a long time and it didn’t make me sad just angry. She was my family and they took her from me for no good reason. They did one thing wrong and that was to leave me alive. I never saw their faces but it didn’t matter I would find them and I would get her back.
I was hunched over helping harvest the crop that this farmer and his family had planted. It was one and half years since the change happened. In exchange from the work I was doing I would leave here with flour, salt, honey, vinegar and a few candles. On top of that I had roof over my head in the barn and ate with the family. At this rate I was getting spoiled by the easy life and she was loving life playing with the farmers young grandchildren. The day before I was to leave the farmer came to me and said, son you have done a good job here and I thank you for it. Let’s sit down and have some lemonade on the porch. As you can probably tell we are a good lot here and we all like you my Granddaughter here needs a fellow. She has a bit of a crush on you and well I’m offering you a place to stay if you wish to marry her. I looked at him and said sir I wish I could but I’m not ready for that just yet and maybe never will be. I explained what had happened to me before and he said I understand. I thanked him for the offer and offered my hand. He said as long as my family is on this land you’re always welcome on our land and in our home. When it was time to leave the farmer’s wife who reminded me of my grandmother gave me a big hug handed me a sack full of cookies and a spare bike tube. As I mounted the bike she said I hope you find the peace you’re looking for. I thought to myself what that meant and hoped one day maybe.
I was settling in to life in Milford and life was good heck it was great I think I finally found what I had been looking for. I still missed the family I lost as well as her and for the first time was able to feel sadness and not just anger. I was feeling guilty not being on the invisible trail I had been following for ten months now. I only spent about two days in the guest room and moved in with her in to her bed. Her girls took a liking to me and I to them. I was set up with a workshop in the backyard in an old boat barn and tools that had been put away but now being used by someone who knew how. Old habits of the road die hard I still keep my gun on my side. I was away from the town I now call home felling wood for fuel as well as for my woodshop. I had some of the pre teen buys with me showing them how when we heard gun shots. They hadn’t closed the gate to the wall that day I realized. I told the boys to stay put they began to say but my look silenced them. I jumped on one of the horses and was off in a flash my hat flying off behind me.
As I approached I saw some of the girls running out of the gate. I yelled at them to get lost in the fields older ones were helping younger ones in to the fields. I jumped off the horse as I got in town knowing I could do better on foot drawing my pistol. I had a calm about me that I got when it was time for law and order. I saw one of the old men Casper with a couple crude arrows in him and his old single barrel shotgun in his hand. There was blood leading away from good at least one wounded that would help. I would mourn Casper later he told me about his time in Korea as I worked in my workshop and he sat and smoked his pipe. I spotted a flash running toward me it was a wild looking man with big thick beard and long tangled hair. He was raising a crude bow and only had one arrow that wasn’t fletched I noticed. Let’s end this partner I took aim and shot twice in the chest and he fell later ill see if he fell. Still need to find more of this scum I thought as I heard screams. I noticed a scrawny underfed teenager holding on to four horses and a donkey. He was armed with a belt knife I would come back later for him and learn his history. By the number of horses three left one wounded I hoped at the most I prayed only one more that was wounded. I heard John no coming from the school house where the kids came for lessons. It was an old seven eleven convenience store that had been gutted and replaced with folding tables I had been replacing with wood tables. The window was no longer in the frame replaced with shutters to regulate temperature. As I came around there was a man sitting upfront holding a rifle bleeding from his side.
The wounded one he was just as wild looking as the other man had been, Ms. Ruth who was Casper’s wife. Mom why can’t I come back home? You thought you could just run things and do nothing here remember you drank too much and never worked with the rest. It was the fault of your father and I we always spoiled you as a later in life baby. Where’s little Stevie Peters who went off with ya‘ll? He’s watching our horses don’t bring up Dad he’s the one who did this to me pointing to his wound. I walked out of the shadows and made my presence known he turned holding his rifle toward me shaking he was bleeding dark blood fatal. Who are you? That’s not important John. How do you know my name? Your mother called you by that name and you’re already dead by your wound. No I’m not he said I just want to come home. This is how you come about it? What do you mean? Come in shooting and except a warm welcome. Shoot him end it were Ms. Ruth’s words he turned his head towards his mother. I took aim and shot him in the chest and he dropped.
I walked outside making haste to little Stevie before he took off with the horses. As I approached him he was surrounded by the women of town all yelling. All except for one woman in front of him, saying he’s my boy. I looked at the crowd and fired my pistol in to the ground and the crowd hushed and stared at me. I took the moment and walked in front of the circled women. I looked at the women and said to him anymore boy? His mother answered for him he’s my boy? That doesn’t negate the fact he has information. How many boy were with you? He stuttered and answered me with the just John and Earl and me mister. There were more when you left what happened to them? Jimmy and Frank died the first winter bad bacon and Ed broke his leg and died this spring. I looked at his mother and said did he go willingly? He ran off in the night after they were banished he looked up to his Uncle Ed he was the leader. I looked at the women and said we have a funeral to plan and I started off I had a grave to dig.
It was decided after the funeral that Stevie was welcomed back home. He would go to school to learn to read write and basic math. After that he would learn from me what it was to be a real man they said with the older folks helping. I got this idea from Grand Torino lending him out to the community to help with the drudge work other than community harvests that everyone helped with. His mother had helped fatten him up and the work was doing him right. He was becoming a normal teenager well as normal as a teenager raised in the wilds could be. I was working in the shop one day finishing the last of the wood tables for the school when I was surprised by a gaggle of women.
I asked what was going on and they said you’ll find out soon enough. I was being taken to the house next door occupied by three widows from before the change. I had nicknamed them the weird sisters from Macbeth by William Shakespeare. They were nice enough and I did my best to help them where they would allow me too. I was ushered inside to a bath tub and told to clean up by the group god I missed showers. I heard a knock on the door and one of the ladies placed a pile of neatly folded clothes and a towel and said get dressed don’t want to be late. I put on a pair of buckskin pants and a white alpaca shirt and a buckskin vest with my standard boots. I was ushered to the community dining facility it was decorated with flowers something was going on. That’s when she walked up with the girls and it hit me. She was wearing a simple green dress and had her hair combed out wearing flowers in her hair. It was a simple affair and suddenly I was married the only thing different the girls called me Dad oh and she was pregnant too. I had a lot of hugs and whispers saying the road is no longer your home now Gordon.
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost
Where to begin I wasn’t a wander by choice I just ended up this way when law and order collapsed we held on for a while society that it is. Why it happened you ask? Not important anymore it’s all gone anyway. I had once been a man who believed in civil society who am I kidding I still do. I was a somewhat average American man then she was taken from me the bastards. They also took who I once was but it changed me made me stronger. I search for her now still when I can but now by word of mouth. I will find her it may be six years but I will find her I promised but time was limited was she gone already I would ask myself. I was left with scars physically after healing. I was never a violent man just had strong sense of what was right and what was wrong. There were still good people out here one had healed me and taught me the skills to survive in this new world. I will never forget this person for what they did for me. I honor there memory by living a life worth living. The only belongings that I owned I carried or wore procuring what I needed on this road.
I look ahead vultures in the distance I have also heard coyotes and smell smoke in the distance. I keep my same pace it will still be there when I get there. As I arrive I find a burned out homestead with some bodies outside left to rot. I go in a shed and find a shovel I spent the rest of the day digging three graves. The last grave is the hardest a four year old boy inside the house I found a teddy bear I bury it with the boy. This raid had been recent in the last two days by the state of decay. I spent the night in the home of the people I buried. The smokehouse had been completely emptied the stable empty as well. I found a five pound sack of flour, a bottle of multi vitamins and an unopened tube of toothpaste. No sense in these items going to waste they go in my pack. Somebody else will find this homestead and occupy it I think. No looking back just going forward I can’t return until I finish my journey.
These were amateurs up ahead I could hear them a mile off I get off the road. I thought well I should see what type of people they are but its all male voices probably an ambush. I get two hundred yards from them and hide behind a piece of rusted out farm equipment. I take out my binoculars careful not to have light bounce of the lenses. I was right all males two bearded men I there forties and looked like a teenager doing his best trying to grow peach fuzz. They had a pack mule with them the burden on it removed. They were drinking from a big jug the teenager doing his best to look like a man there was a familial resemblance between two. Father and son maybe I thought? That’s when I heard one say you did a good job Dodge killing that man made your Uncle proud becoming a man. It’s just too bad she was shooting at us so we couldn’t take her with us and then you would have been a real man. Hand me that crock of mustard for my ham and I stopped listening to the conversation. I couldn’t just loop around them and leave them behind after I saw what they did to the homestead. Law and order why do I keep getting myself mixed up with these things.
How best to do this I thought up close and personal or from a distance. I had done it both ways before. The first time I had taken a life I was sick for a longtime and finally accepted it but never gotten over it. We were leaving the city by bike since cars weren’t working anymore loaded with food water and some spare clothing and a few personal affects. A lot of people were leaving the cities in those early days. A good many on bikes others with rolling luggage some pushing shopping carts. Whole families with kid’s or friends young and old alike the road was a full place then. None prepared for the road or what had happened to cause them to get on the road. We had stopped for the night at a state rest area it was busy but we found our little area to set up camp we were going to sleep under the stars that night. I had light a small fire to cook a can of baked beans for the both of us to share. The beans hadn’t even been opened yet or placed on the fire.
When out of nowhere this wannabe gangster thug came up and said you got some eats for me. I said no we don’t just enough for us. I guess he saw as weak because we were just us and the other groups were larger. That’s when he pulled up his way to baggy t-shirt showing his piece and said my piece says I gonna eat and you ain’t. I said no it doesn’t and stood up I had no weapon the only thing close to it was my pocket knife. At this point a crowd started to gather noticing what was happening. He pulled the gun and put it to my head for some reason I wasn’t scared just foolish I guess. I pushed him to get him away from me thinking this would be enough. As he stumbled over his feet and fell he pulled me down with him. He was on me and started punching. I knew my life or his and I noticed that he lost the grip on the gun. I reached for it and he noticed and started the same a struggle started and then it fired he was dead. I said we need to get out of here as the crowd was still in shock I grabbed my pack and the bike. Then this old man came up and said spoils of war son and handed me the gun and two spare magazines he had taken from the thug’s pockets.
I rode about fifteen minutes when I said we needed to stop. It had all caught up with me I had taken a life. I retched and vomited for a couple minutes I took a sip of water rinsed out my mouth and without saying a thing mounted up and started riding she joined me. The memory was still fresh in mind even thought it had been years ago. Anyway what to do with these three in front of me. How best to handle this situation. They were sloppy I hadn’t found any sentries just these three. They probably were on the move and didn’t live nearby. They were out on a hunting/raiding party and live far from this area. Well distance was the way to do it today no sense in putting it off any longer. I took out my M1 Garand a gift from the old man who taught me put them in my sights and shot three times they never knew it was coming. I put my things away shouldered my pack and started walking towards the now quiet camp. I took out the pistol just in case as I walked. Always a good thing when you can ambush an ambush. I went over and looked after the mule it was ambivalent towards me. I thought well I have a mule now; I looked at him and said well how about Fred for a name you’re not going to replace her.
I started going through the bodies lying around found a good belt knife and BIC lighter on one. On the younger one I found a pair of boots that matched my sized and were in new out of box condition and some Para cord. On the one who was his uncle I suppose I found some gold coins, silver dimes and an ink pen with a little notebook with only a few pages filled on one side. I would keep it all spoils of war I suppose. Now I took the rest of it in the weapons were simple a compound hunting bow with sixteen arrows, a crossbow with bolts and a 22 rifle and seventy rounds of bullets. I also found the things they had pilfered from the homestead. A couple slabs of bacon some hams and miscellaneous items. I loaded up Fred trying to balance the items on him and still wore my pack and led him on to find a better camp for the night. I really needed to find a good winter camp and get a few deer for the winter.
I heard water the water before I saw it I followed the sound. Both Fred and I needed to drink. As I was following the sound to the source through the forest when I saw it a cave entrance I’d come back to it. I was in what was once in a national park. To think people once came here for picnics and lazy weekends. It then had become a place of refuge I had seen it before people thinking they could live off the land. The trash they left behind was still around maybe I would find something useful. I hadn’t been that foolish I was no expert woodsman when we left but an Eagle Scout it gave me a slight edge over some. The last time I had spent an extended period in a cave was after I had been left for dead and she was taken. The cave when I entered it was dry after you got back a few feet from the entrance. The cave I was presently in went back about twenty five feet then made an L bend going about eight feet around ten feet wide. This would be home for the next couple months and with a little work would suit its purpose. I found remnants of an old fire at very old. Nobody’s home in a long time it had a few items left behind mostly trash then pay dirt an old folding metal chair and hammock that was tangled but could be untangled and an old rusty bow saw.
First thing first was to build a gate for Fred and make sure he had a place separate from my own. After this I made a wall that covered most of the entrance to keep the elements out. This was an area of the country where it had more of a rainy season then snowfall. Thank god I was in lower elevations this winter. I went to the visitor center to see if I could find anything of use for my new temporary home. People had been here many times before me. Display cases were broken pamphlet rack turned over but no broken windows that was a small miracle. I found some things that would be useful for the winter and beyond. I found an old iron fire poker a spare blade for the saw and the register was empty except for a set of keys. I took the keys and tried the superintendent’s office it was locked easily opened with the keys. I found a skeleton in a chair covered by a ranger’s uniform. The skull had a hole through the head a revolver was on the floor and a note on the desk read forever alone. I would bury the bones under a pine tree. In the office other than the revolver with a box of ammo I found a thermos for hot liquids and a flask with Jameson with a mostly full bottle, edible plant identification guide plus a pair of sunglasses. From the paperwork that I found he had tried his best to keep order here but people got fed up and left. He did his best to provide but before they left they ransacked the place thinking he was keeping resources for himself. That’s when he killed himself they were banging at his door. I wonder if that’s what caused the exodus from this place.
I was back on the road again the winter had come and gone. I had some new equipment and some buckskin items I fashioned from the deer I took during the hunts. I also had several rabbit pelts put away for trade or uses later on down the road. I plodded along keeping my pace knowing I would catch up or find new leads which direction that they headed. I started seeing fields that had been turned over and planted I was nearing a settlement of some type. Sometimes they were built from the ground up other times small towns that had put a wall up to protect themselves. I would probably come across somebody soon. I kept my guard up as I approached the settlement then I heard it church bells and hooves coming towards me. Then I heard a strong female voice stop right there stranger, I stopped and kept my hands where they could be seen. I must have looked strange I was wearing a felt broad brimmed hat old jeans that I had strengthened with buckskin on the knees and rear. I also wore the pistol on my belt with knife and the revolver on my chest with a sleeveless t-shirt and old leather work gloves. I was a sight to be seen with burns on both of my arms and a bullet scar on my right shoulder. My M1 was on Fred in scabbard so they had no worries. As the five riders approached I noticed they were all women the youngest a teenage the oldest in her early thirties around my age with streaks of grey in her auburn hair.
What kind of man are you? Said a woman with auburn hair asked I took off my sunglasses looked at her and said a good man still I hoped and yes I have killed my fellow man. She said well looking at your eyes I can see that your being honest stranger. We don’t tolerate drunkenness or fighting here but somehow I don’t think that will be a problem with you. I looked at her and said you’re right about that on both accounts I only fight if it’s warranted. She sent the others ahead and dismounted her horse and said ill walk in with you. She said to me how long on the road I replied since it happened. We were around three quarters of a mile from town when I noticed alpacas and llamas being watched over by Sheppard’s as we got closer. The questions she asked were well thought out and I answered honestly. I asked if they had an inn where I could rent a room. She said no but you can stay with my daughters and me. We reached the gate and she said welcome to Milford. As we were walking the street I then noticed it was all women of every age and old or very young men. I was the youngest man to be seen at thirty years even though I felt older. I saw looms being operated and yarn being spun being made everywhere I went. I saw a group young girls and a few boys being taught there alphabet outside a building by a teacher on a chalk board. I asked where all the rest of the men were as I only saw almost all women some who were pregnant. She said well we were always a small community to begin with. When the change hit the boys and their fathers were on a hunting trip and never made it back. Others who had stayed assumed they were in charge and were kicked out of the community.
Why am I invited in then? She laughed and said well just because you have a Y chromosome doesn’t mean you’re not allowed in. I laughed she had a gentle easy laugh and it was contagious and said okay. We have a communal dinner in two hours as a girl about thirteen walked up she said you can leave your mule with her she’ll see to him and bring your belongings in to my guest room. I told her his name was Fred and like being scratched behind his right ear. Now you have been on the road a long time I suggest a bath before dinner. We have some clean clothing you can put on when you’re finished. We arrived at her home and she led me to a spare room that had a hot bath waiting in the bathroom. On the ledge was washcloth with soap a small pair of scissors, small mirror with razor. I rubbed my beard and realized I hadn’t shaved in four years trimmed yes shave no the same with a haircut. I stripped down and slipped in to the bath enveloped by warmth this was luxury. My bathing on the road had consisted of cold ponds and streams. I dunked my head and started the process of removing my beard. I looked older and had lost the roundness my cheeks once had. I looked like pictures I had seen of my Great Grandfather. I woke up and realized I had fallen asleep in the water I pulled the plug and saw a dirt ring form as the water drained away I felt bad for that. I noticed my clothes and guns were gone in their place a pile of clothes. A note read that they were being cleaned and repaired and would be returned to me the guns were on a chest on the edge of the bed. The clothes left for me were a pair of baggy brown pants with buttons and a baggy green shirt with a black sash used to cinch the shirt I assumed made from alpaca and a pair of flip flops.
I stepped out of the room and she said to me you clean up nice, how was the bath? I said well thank you I haven’t felt this way in a long time. I noticed she had cleaned up and looked absolutely radiant in a dark green skirt and dark orange v neck shirt. I then realized she was around my height and curves in all the places I liked. Escort a girl to dinner I said of course and she looped her arm to mine with a sparkle in her eye. My girls have are already on the way asked how old and if their father had been hunting when it happened? She said oh no they’re adopted after I was never married but my daughters none the less but fourteen, ten and seven. I said indeed I can understand that I had once considered adoption. We approached an old auto shop with its bay doors open and tables stretching in to all the bays three deep. I saw there was a cooking fire and pits with meat roasting over the fire on spits and crocks full of who knows what. I couldn’t believe the bounty we were walking up too. She whispered in my ear her warm breath tickling my neck with her breath you don’t need to be bashful eat as much as you would like.
There were around ninety people here most hadn’t left this isolated hamlet since around the time it had happened. More were on the wall and out hunting for deer or fishing and were one hundred and thirty total in the community. I was telling stories of what I had come across and leaving stuff less graphic at times but adults could piece it together. I was invited to stay and help with the apple harvest and gladly accepted. I also offered my carpentry skills I had been a hobbyist with hand tools before the change. I had specialized in cabinets and bird houses and dabbled in furniture. As the night wore on children were taken away to bed and the very old departed. I looked around and realized the only two people left were myself and the redheaded woman I was staying with. I hadn’t talked this much in a long time or been up this late do to lantern light. She said you must be exhausted let’s go home shall we. I said we need to be quiet so not to wake your girls. She said its okay they’re staying with a neighbor. I was unaware what was happening I hadn’t been around people in a long time. She showed me to my bed room. I was finishing brushing my teeth when she walked in I was frozen I was naked as a jaybird. She had a light quilt around her shoulders and her hair was down and brushed out falling down to her mid back. She removed the quilt and it slipped off and we were embracing one another. There was no sleep for several hours that night I woke with her asleep head buried in my chest. This had to be a dream and I would wake up anytime. She woke up a moment or two after me stretched and said morning I replied good morning.
Well don’t you think we should get dressed I said and help with the apples. No you don’t she said and no way lover and was on top of me effectively I was immobile. Sometime later we were on the orchard helping and we caught ourselves acting like teenagers stealing looks. She threw an apple at me and stuck out her tongue out. I took chase and well we were in a secluded spot acting like teenagers all over again. I’m sure we were being talked about. It was confirmed when we entered dinner that night. My life was changing just a couple days ago I had been alone on the road and now I think I was falling in love it sure felt that way.
Love I hadn’t been in love in a long time I knew the feeling it had been a long while since I felt it. Heartbreak had replaced love one year before the change before that excitement. Their death had affected me it still effected me. I had lost before maybe that was why I was able to adjust after. We were scared and excited at the same time for what was coming. We had prepared for everything even bought a puppy before I knew. This was purposeful on her part to choose a girl pup. A month after we had the pup she told me she was pregnant and with a son. I was stunned then it clicked with me even side’s two girls and two men in the house. We were preparing for the arrival for our first child. I put together the nursery precisely how she wanted. The thing I had most fun with was breaking in a baseball mitt for when he was of an age to use it. All we had to do was let him decided to come and her water broke that was the scariest moment of my life so far. I lost both of them in child birth I thought the doctor was lying when he told me. The dog kept me going she was a good girl and had to be taken care of by extension she took care of me. One year after I lost them the world turned upside down I was already feeling that way so to me this was normal when we pedaled past our neighbors leaving the community then city.
It was now six months after we had hit the road and after the rest stop incident. I had decided to switch to back roads. The highways were filling up and dangerous but not very full of vehicles. It had taken place at three in the morning. Not many people are on the road then trucker, police and night owls that had kept the road fairly open with few blockages. Some draw bridges through the country would be permanently up do to being raised when it occurred. This was across all internal combustion engines ceased to work as well as electricity, means of transportation and communication. I had picked up odd jobs here and there in towns and farms along the way. I had a few invitations to stay but had to keep moving I don’t know why. The road was therapeutic to me after my loss I kept her picture with me one in my pack and one in my pocket. Highwaymen were on the roads again and I kept the pistol close and had picked up more ammunition for it along the way as well as some instruction. I had to use it again on a few occasions.
I was resting one day with not a care in the world well as close as it could be in this new world. I had stopped to rest and do a little hunting with my sling hoping to get a rabbit or two for the spit. I was in the habit of hiding my pack while hunting to be quieter and faster. They surprised me and came out of nowhere. I was jumped they got the jump on me and just as I raised my pistol my world went black. I woke up hurting all over but mostly my right leg and both my arms felt like they were on fire. That’s when I realized I was laying down and moving I was strapped down I blacked out again. I woke again this time I wasn’t moving I felt like I was in a bed and in a cave then I passed out again. I woke to the sound of singing the song was I walk the Line by Johnny Cash. Ah your awake I heard and a man in his fifties walked over. How you doing young man my names Hugh no need to move or talk yet here have some water. He put a mason jar to my lips and told me to take small sips. He filled me in saying he found me beaten up and my pack where I had hidden it. I asked how I thought I hid it well he said you did well for someone with novice woodcraft skills. I said where is she? Why he replied my dog. I didn’t see her but I did see dog tracks with the tracks leading away from you. Those bastards took her I thought I looked at him and said I need to go get her. Whoa there bud you’re not going anywhere you have a broken leg. I set it and the bones should heal just fine rest in the meanwhile.
He and I were playing another game of checkers and I said to him. I’m a novice in the woods yup was his only reply. Can you teach me to be like you an expert in the woods your skills, that is. As soon as your legs are healed your arms look like they had healed just fine. They had also had someone demented who had burned my arms the skin had burned slightly but otherwise healed. He looked at me and said your leg will be finished healing soon then you have to build the strength back after that yes I will teach you. The physical therapy progressed well and with Hugh’s job setting the bone I was good as new. When he felt I was ready the training began. I ended up spending ten months with him healing and learning. I could think of no way how to repay him for his kindness and tutelage. As I was getting ready to leave and get back on the road he handed me an M1 and said I have two more you can use this well. Also included were a few hundred rounds and a skinning knife. I went to give him a hand shake and he gave me a fatherly hug and said make me proud. I shouldered my pack and M1 and started my pursuit of those bastards who left me for dead.
They had at least half a year on me and any physical would be ice cold. None the less I felt compelled I had to get her back that’s what mattered most. She had saved my life by me taking care of her after they died. I also had come to life when she wanted to throw a ball those were the happy times after losing them. I had to get her back and I knew she was old for a dog but that didn’t matter to me. I hadn’t felt this alone in a long time and it didn’t make me sad just angry. She was my family and they took her from me for no good reason. They did one thing wrong and that was to leave me alive. I never saw their faces but it didn’t matter I would find them and I would get her back.
I was hunched over helping harvest the crop that this farmer and his family had planted. It was one and half years since the change happened. In exchange from the work I was doing I would leave here with flour, salt, honey, vinegar and a few candles. On top of that I had roof over my head in the barn and ate with the family. At this rate I was getting spoiled by the easy life and she was loving life playing with the farmers young grandchildren. The day before I was to leave the farmer came to me and said, son you have done a good job here and I thank you for it. Let’s sit down and have some lemonade on the porch. As you can probably tell we are a good lot here and we all like you my Granddaughter here needs a fellow. She has a bit of a crush on you and well I’m offering you a place to stay if you wish to marry her. I looked at him and said sir I wish I could but I’m not ready for that just yet and maybe never will be. I explained what had happened to me before and he said I understand. I thanked him for the offer and offered my hand. He said as long as my family is on this land you’re always welcome on our land and in our home. When it was time to leave the farmer’s wife who reminded me of my grandmother gave me a big hug handed me a sack full of cookies and a spare bike tube. As I mounted the bike she said I hope you find the peace you’re looking for. I thought to myself what that meant and hoped one day maybe.
I was settling in to life in Milford and life was good heck it was great I think I finally found what I had been looking for. I still missed the family I lost as well as her and for the first time was able to feel sadness and not just anger. I was feeling guilty not being on the invisible trail I had been following for ten months now. I only spent about two days in the guest room and moved in with her in to her bed. Her girls took a liking to me and I to them. I was set up with a workshop in the backyard in an old boat barn and tools that had been put away but now being used by someone who knew how. Old habits of the road die hard I still keep my gun on my side. I was away from the town I now call home felling wood for fuel as well as for my woodshop. I had some of the pre teen buys with me showing them how when we heard gun shots. They hadn’t closed the gate to the wall that day I realized. I told the boys to stay put they began to say but my look silenced them. I jumped on one of the horses and was off in a flash my hat flying off behind me.
As I approached I saw some of the girls running out of the gate. I yelled at them to get lost in the fields older ones were helping younger ones in to the fields. I jumped off the horse as I got in town knowing I could do better on foot drawing my pistol. I had a calm about me that I got when it was time for law and order. I saw one of the old men Casper with a couple crude arrows in him and his old single barrel shotgun in his hand. There was blood leading away from good at least one wounded that would help. I would mourn Casper later he told me about his time in Korea as I worked in my workshop and he sat and smoked his pipe. I spotted a flash running toward me it was a wild looking man with big thick beard and long tangled hair. He was raising a crude bow and only had one arrow that wasn’t fletched I noticed. Let’s end this partner I took aim and shot twice in the chest and he fell later ill see if he fell. Still need to find more of this scum I thought as I heard screams. I noticed a scrawny underfed teenager holding on to four horses and a donkey. He was armed with a belt knife I would come back later for him and learn his history. By the number of horses three left one wounded I hoped at the most I prayed only one more that was wounded. I heard John no coming from the school house where the kids came for lessons. It was an old seven eleven convenience store that had been gutted and replaced with folding tables I had been replacing with wood tables. The window was no longer in the frame replaced with shutters to regulate temperature. As I came around there was a man sitting upfront holding a rifle bleeding from his side.
The wounded one he was just as wild looking as the other man had been, Ms. Ruth who was Casper’s wife. Mom why can’t I come back home? You thought you could just run things and do nothing here remember you drank too much and never worked with the rest. It was the fault of your father and I we always spoiled you as a later in life baby. Where’s little Stevie Peters who went off with ya‘ll? He’s watching our horses don’t bring up Dad he’s the one who did this to me pointing to his wound. I walked out of the shadows and made my presence known he turned holding his rifle toward me shaking he was bleeding dark blood fatal. Who are you? That’s not important John. How do you know my name? Your mother called you by that name and you’re already dead by your wound. No I’m not he said I just want to come home. This is how you come about it? What do you mean? Come in shooting and except a warm welcome. Shoot him end it were Ms. Ruth’s words he turned his head towards his mother. I took aim and shot him in the chest and he dropped.
I walked outside making haste to little Stevie before he took off with the horses. As I approached him he was surrounded by the women of town all yelling. All except for one woman in front of him, saying he’s my boy. I looked at the crowd and fired my pistol in to the ground and the crowd hushed and stared at me. I took the moment and walked in front of the circled women. I looked at the women and said to him anymore boy? His mother answered for him he’s my boy? That doesn’t negate the fact he has information. How many boy were with you? He stuttered and answered me with the just John and Earl and me mister. There were more when you left what happened to them? Jimmy and Frank died the first winter bad bacon and Ed broke his leg and died this spring. I looked at his mother and said did he go willingly? He ran off in the night after they were banished he looked up to his Uncle Ed he was the leader. I looked at the women and said we have a funeral to plan and I started off I had a grave to dig.
It was decided after the funeral that Stevie was welcomed back home. He would go to school to learn to read write and basic math. After that he would learn from me what it was to be a real man they said with the older folks helping. I got this idea from Grand Torino lending him out to the community to help with the drudge work other than community harvests that everyone helped with. His mother had helped fatten him up and the work was doing him right. He was becoming a normal teenager well as normal as a teenager raised in the wilds could be. I was working in the shop one day finishing the last of the wood tables for the school when I was surprised by a gaggle of women.
I asked what was going on and they said you’ll find out soon enough. I was being taken to the house next door occupied by three widows from before the change. I had nicknamed them the weird sisters from Macbeth by William Shakespeare. They were nice enough and I did my best to help them where they would allow me too. I was ushered inside to a bath tub and told to clean up by the group god I missed showers. I heard a knock on the door and one of the ladies placed a pile of neatly folded clothes and a towel and said get dressed don’t want to be late. I put on a pair of buckskin pants and a white alpaca shirt and a buckskin vest with my standard boots. I was ushered to the community dining facility it was decorated with flowers something was going on. That’s when she walked up with the girls and it hit me. She was wearing a simple green dress and had her hair combed out wearing flowers in her hair. It was a simple affair and suddenly I was married the only thing different the girls called me Dad oh and she was pregnant too. I had a lot of hugs and whispers saying the road is no longer your home now Gordon.
