America The Dead Book Two: The Road To Somewhere (10 page)

"I'm so happy," Janet Dove said. Her face
glowed. She couldn't have smiled wider if she tried.

"Thought you would be," Bob said.

"Go get some clean clothes and get cleaned up,"
Janet said. "I'll take these from here," she said indicating the
chickens.

When they reached the stream after stopping off
to pick up clothes, Tom was just getting there himself.

"How did it go?" Bob asked.

"Come out good. That Molly can work. We left
everything there. Didn't know what we'd do with most of those tools
anyway," Tom said.

"Yeah, best place for them," Bob
said.

"The rest of us have decided to go," Mike
said.

"With Bob?" Tom asked.

"Yep," Mike said.

Tom exhaled. "That's good news.
Everybody?"

"We don't know about Nell and Molly," Mike
said.

Tom nodded, "They want to go. It is all Molly
and I've been talking about as we worked. She's so enthusiastic. As
for Lilly and I, Lilly got me to look at it harder, she's... Well,
that will come later, I guess. But I was thinking about safety...
For her," Tom said.

"That's not fair, you can't almost spit it out
and then not say it," Ronnie said.

"What," Tom said.

"Like you were about to say something, but
decided not to," Jeff said.

"Yeah," Mike added.

"That's it exactly," Tom said. "That's me. It's
not a secret; we just haven't told anyone is all. Lilly is...
pregnant," Tom said.

"Wow," Ronnie said. "Fast work, Bro," he
clapped Tom on the back.

"Congratulations," Mike said.

"It's not mine," Tom said. "I'm only saying it
to say it. She was pregnant when this happened. She was afraid I
wouldn't want her, but I do. And the baby... well, I'm pretty
excited about it," he smiled hugely.

"All right then. Congratulations, Tom," Bob
said slapping him on the back.

"Hey, the first one," Mike said. "That's a big
deal."

"Awesome," Jeff said.

"Hey, it's our future," Ronnie said.

"That's why I wanna go... for Lilly and the
baby," Tom said.

~

The Dog showed up just before dinner with a
companion. She was every bit mutt as The Dog, and very nervous
around everyone.

Everyone ate with gusto, slipping bits of
chicken to the two dogs, and fussing over Angel, which somebody
immediately named her.

"It's not right," Mike said. "Angel here shows
up and gets a name immediately and The Dog is still The
Dog."

"Yeah, but he's
The Dog
," Janet said
laughing. Everybody joined in.

"The Dog probably wouldn't know
what to make of a new name," Tom said. "Probably thinks
The Dog
is his
name."

"Well, it is," Lilly said. "It is his name.
Angel and The Dog. Now The Dog has somebody too."

~

Dinner passed by quickly, and Mike broached the
subject that had been on their minds and that they had spoken of
earlier.

"Some of us talked today about
going with Bob and Janet. By some of us I mean, Ronnie, Patty, Kate
and myself, Tom and Jeff. We decided to go, Lilly," he looked at
Lilly, "had already told Tom she wanted to go. If I have it figured
right,
we
have it
figured right, the only ones who didn't say for sure yet are Nell
and Molly. But," he held his hands up, " this is for every one of
us," he looked to Jeff's group, "those of you who have been here,
those of you who just got here."

"We thought we'd ask everybody
where they stand right now. But, if you still haven't made up your
mind, that's fine. It's a ways away yet. We have some traveling to
do, which were going back to tomorrow, I'm told. So, I thought we'd
all answer, and there's an awful lot to discuss. And since it will
affect all of us, we should all talk about it. Bob will do that,
but
first,
w
e've got some other news. Tom...
Lilly?" Mike grinned hugely. It had been all he could do not to
tell Kate. Tom spoke to Lilly, and she had agreed to tell
everyone.

Lilly flushed. She seemed to think for a moment
and then spoke. "Tom and I are going to have a baby," she said.
Cheers went up everywhere. Everybody hugged Lilly and shook Tom's
hand. The Dog and Angel ran around between their legs, jumping up
and down and barking, joining in the general mayhem.

Lilly explained again how it was not Tom who
was the baby's father, but her boyfriend before everything had
happened. But it didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm.

Sandy made her promise to let her know if she
felt any way out of the ordinary, and then began to prescribe
vitamins and exercise, sounding exactly like a doctor. But, Mike
thought, in this world, she was a doctor.

The topic shifted to the forever wild area,
what they would need to take with them and what they would need to
do once they got there.

"We've got to figure out how to get cows,
horses, chickens and pigs there in reasonable numbers," Bob said.
"We talked a little about driving them in. Like a cattle drive, old
fashioned cowboy stuff, and we talked about trying to drive them
in, in cattle trucks, if we could find or build something that can
work."

"Bob?" It was Arlene. "I've done a little
ranching, worked on one for awhile out of college. I know a little
about it. You're talking some real work rounding up cattle and
horses, teaching some of the others to ride horses to keep them
moving. That's hard work for real cow hands. Really hard to imagine
regular folks getting it done easy." She smiled, clearly nervous
but also in familiar territory.

"Now, cattle trucks will work, so
will horse trailers. We just have to make a few trips is all. We
can catch them and turn them loose once we get close to where we
are going. There's no way to get the kind of fencing up that we
need," she said. "Not now, but late fall or next spring we can.
They'll winter fine on their own for the most part.
Oh,
and I definitely
want to go," she added with a surprised chuckle.

"Oh, stupid," Bob said. "First
things first.
Does
everybody want to go? Is there anyone that
doesn't
want to
go?"

Nell raised her hand. "We do want to go, we
talked it over last night and again this afternoon. We want to go."
Molly held Nell's hand as she spoke.

Another spontaneous cheer went up, and The Dog
and Angel went chasing around and barking once more.

"That is really it then," Bob said. "Well, I
liked what Arlene said. I didn't know we had an expert."

Arlene laughed. "I'm no expert," she
protested.

"To us you are. Hell, to
this
world
you
are," Bob said seriously. "So, go ahead. I didn't know about horse
trailers that would take more than two horses," he said.

"Oh no, they got horse trailers that will take
as many as 10 horses in safety. That is the key. Now, with a cow,
they crowd together and it makes them feel safe. With a horse, they
have to be separated or they'll just keep on pushing, maybe kicking
too. The cattle trucks are easy to find. Any truck dealer might
have a few, but we'll be coming into beef cow country soon, and I'm
sure we'll find more than a few. We could make a couple of trips,
although we'd have to get gas, or we could get us 8 to 10 of those
trucks, put the horses in and bring them in," Arlene
said.

"Are they a hard drive?" Tom asked.

"Not too," Arlene said. "Standard shift,
mostly, but a few automatics. I guess we'll be driving so slow it
won't matter much."

"You know, almost the whole of the north west
side is flat lands. Mountains to the south and to the east. Once we
get them past that, there isn't anyplace they can go. They can
winter, and next year when we have a place for them, we could round
them up. We might lose a few, and there are probably wild horses in
there to, so we could gain some. But it'll work," Bob
said.

"That's sounding good," Mike said.

"Easy even," Ronnie said.

"Oh, squash that. It ain't going to be easy at
all. We have to catch them first. Cows? Not a big a problem.
Horses? Oh brother. Thankfully it hasn't been long, and we
shouldn't have too tough of a time of it," Arlene
finished.

"That's good enough for me," Lilly
said.

"Yeah."

"Me too."

Several others spoke out loud while they were
nodding.

"Well, we'll need other things as well I guess.
Janet is going to start a list. We'll all add to it. I guess we'll
start now," Bob said. "What else can you think of that we need or
should take?"

"Books," Janet herself said.

"Medicines," Sandy said.

"Carpenter tools. Hammers. Levels, and saws.
Oh, and nails," Ronnie said.

"Hand plows, saddles, stuff like that," Arlene
said.

"Why not some solar panels?" Tim said. "We
could use them to keep a few lights running, maybe a 'fridge,
monitor a CB maybe. They're easy to hook up and use, and they work
pretty well," he finished.

"Good," Arlene said. "Good."

"Some cast iron wood and coal stoves. That is
if they still make them," Lilly said.

"We talked about hybrid seeds today, so trying
to find a store somewhere along the way would be a smart thing to
do," Mike said.

"Maybe one of those metal buildings on a truck.
There's nothing to them when they're apart," Ronnie
said.

"Maybe a few of them," Jeff said. "They might
have to do us for awhile."

"Pots and pans. The heavy duty stuff. Stuff
that will last," Patty said. “Cast iron.”

"And those steel laundry tubs." Kate
said.

"Maybe some..."

~

The conversation and suggestions went on and
on, some drifted away to take the first posts of the night. In the
end Janet had most of a spiral notebook filled with
notes.

The good feeling stayed with them, fueled by
the knowledge that tomorrow would see them back on the road and
heading for their destination some twelve hundred miles to the
southwest.

~Kate's journal~

I'm tired so this will be a short entry. This
is our last night of privacy in a real room, and a real bed, (me
with my candle so I can write).

We're going. We're all going. Bob's dream, and
Janet's as well really, is about to be realized. And Lilly is
pregnant. And I would say we can't top that, except, both Patty and
I missed our monthly. Stress? Maybe. But, wouldn't it be nice?
We're both only a little late, so we're not getting our hopes up.
Of course, we really are!

~Mike's journal~

It's early. We're going to go eat in just a few
minutes, but I wanted to write this down. We're all going to do
this wilderness thing with Bob and Janet. We must be nuts! I say
that, but I'm kidding. I can't imagine going back to the way things
were, even if we could. The other big news is Lilly is pregnant.
Wow. What can I say after that?

~Arlene's journal~

I was told about the journals, and I thought it
was a good idea. There are several keeping them here. I thought I'd
be another one. I've never had a child. All the girls here want to
have children. I can feel that, and I wish I could, but I've never
been able to. Maybe something is wrong inside, maybe it isn't. I
don't know.

It was something I was honest with David about.
That and our age difference I was sure would keep us part. But he
wouldn't have it. He loves me and to him that's enough. I want that
to be true. I want that to be the truth. And there are five
children here who need parents. I approached David about that, and
he thinks that's a good idea. So I guess we will have our
family.

We're joined to this other group now, hell or
high water as my mother used to say. We're heading out in the
morning. We're going towards a large tract of that Forever Wild
land, and we're going to settle there. Bob actually took my opinion
on horses, cows. How to get them there; how to keep them
there.

It has been a long time since someone cared
about my opinion, let alone asked for it. It felt good.

We made lists of things we need to take. I
remembered something a little while ago that I forgot to mention.
Music. Either instruments to make it on, or a medium to play it on.
Or both really. Would that be nice? Maybe from those solar panels
that were mentioned. Music is important to me.

We are in a room. A real room. Quiet and dry,
and who knows when we'll have that again.

~Janet Dove's diary~

I could write for an hour, a week, a month, and
still not be able to explain how I feel inside. I am so happy.
We're going to do it, Bob and I and all the rest. We're going to
the middle of this country, to the middle of the Forever Wild area,
and starting all over again. We are leaving in the
morning.