America The Dead Book Two: The Road To Somewhere (3 page)

Mike nodded. “Could be something, but you're
probably right. Most likely it's nothing. I imagine the smell of
the meat will draw every carnivore in the area. That's okay as long
as they don't try to bother us. There will be plenty of scraps when
we're gone.”

Susan nodded this time. “Mike,” she hesitated
and Mike nodded for her to continue. “Well, I wondered what you
thought about Jan and Bob's idea of settling in the wilderness. You
know, deep in the middle of nowhere... a new Nation.”

Mike nodded slowly. “I think they
really want to do it. I think they really
believe
in it, Susan,” he shrugged.
Her eyes questioned him. “Okay...
and...
And I wish I could believe in
it they way they do. Not that I believe it won't work. I think
anything we do will take hard work,
a good
deal
of hard work,” he shrugged again.
“And I think they'll put the work in, I really do. Maybe you're
asking me what I want to do, and I can't tell you that. I don't
know... I haven't decided. It's something Kate and I would have to
take the time to sit down and decide, and we just haven't had the
time to do that.”

“
You know, in my
head the old world was selfish. It was all about selfish.
The Me generation?
Something like that. And I'm not saying I was any better. I
wasn’t. Oh, I had my friends, and I helped them when I could, but
when it came down to push or shove, it was me. It was me, and a lot
of the people I knew, worked for,
with,
associated with, were the same
way. Social on the surface, but scratch that surface and it's a
different story. Push or shove... and not an overly hard push or
shove either.” He looked at her and Susan nodded.

“
At least for me
it's been that way. I guess I sound cynical. But it's not that way
anymore.
I'm
not
that way anymore. It's not about me. It's about me and Kate. And it
really isn't about us either. It's deeper. There are people here
I've really come to care about. I mean
really
care about. Do you realize
that I haven't watched T.V. Since the night this all started?
Sounds ridiculous, right? None of us have, but I did computer work.
Scripting, C, C plus plus, graphics, more. I used to turn my
computer on, turn on the T.V. for company and go to work. Eighteen
hours sometimes, even longer on occasion. It...
that
...
was
my life. No relationships. No one to really care about. No time for
it. And everyone I knew was the same way. Superficial. Shallow?
Yeah, that too. Well... I don't do that anymore; I don't want
to.”

Susan nodded. “Everyone I knew was
too busy living to think about
how
they were living,” she said.

“
That I do understand,” Mike said.
“But not now, you know, somewhere, in some secure building, on some
secure server I have a couple of bank accounts that were well over
a million dollars each.” He laughed. “All means nothing now, Susan,
nothing. I am happy with what I have. I don't want what I used to
have.” He sighed.

“
The Nation?
Probably a great idea. I can think of only a few things that I
could do that would matter as much to me as that does to them.
Kids... love... Kate, you know? Do it right, not like the old
world. And that's the rub. It depends on Kate... and the baby.
She's trying to get pregnant. It seems like almost everyone is.” He
rubbed the flat of his palm along his jaw feeling the stubble that
was softening into a beard. “If she wanted to do it, yes. If she
wanted to travel to Alaska, yes. When the time comes, and it's
probably not all that far away in the scheme of things,
but
when the time comes
for Bob and those that have committed to go with them, and those
that will -
I know there will be
more
- when that time comes, if Kate wants
to go with them, I'll jump in with both feet. That's the truth of
it.”

Susan's eyes were misted. “Thank you,” she
said.

“
Thank you for being long winded
and entirely too personal on short notice?” Mike asked.

Susan laughed. “No, for being honest. I think
I'm going to go have a talk with a young lady. I'll see you later,
Mike,” she said. She smiled and then walked off into the shadows of
the night.

Mike watched her go. Apparently everyone was
more appreciative of people now, not just himself, he thought. He
turned his attention to the field and the highway. After his eyes
became accustomed to the darkness, he could see the dark shapes of
cattle grazing in the field, a few deer mixed in with
them.

He thought about what he had just said, how
much he felt for Kate. How for the next few nights they would have
a real bed. His mind filled with thoughts of her. He almost missed
the radio call, almost wrote it off as one of their own, until he
realized it wasn't.

~

“
Hello the
camp,”
the voice
repeated.

Mike unclasped the radio from his belt and
raised it to his mouth and spoke. “I guess you mean us,” he said
more calmly than he felt.

“
I do,”
the voice answered.
“We've been traveling. Saw your fires from about five miles
back. I guess the question is, are you okay? If you've been living
in the same world that we've been living in, I guess you'll
understand that question.”

Mike keyed the mic. and let the smooth static
play out for a few seconds before he spoke. “You must have stopped
quite a way back. We didn't hear the sound of your
vehicles.”

“
We did. Like I
said, it's a funny world. Listen... we kind of wanted to feel you
out. I'm Jeff... Jeff Simmons,”
he
finished.

“
Mike... Mike Collins,” Mike told
him. “I understand your point. We've been through a few things too.
Do you want to come in?”

“
Well... we do but we're stopped
now for the night. In the morning? Would the morning be okay with
you?”

“
That will work. I... I guess
breakfast will be on us,” Mike told him. “You know where we're
at?”

“
Yeah, we
do,”
Jeff told him.
“I sent a couple of scouts down. It looks like a little build
up off the interstate... No actual town or anything. We're a couple
of miles back. But we can see the light of the fires from
here.”

“
I would've sent scouts too,” Mike
allowed. “It's about like you imagine, a wide place in the road.
Garage... Motel... A few chain stores. It looks like it all built
up around the truck stop diner that's also here. There's plenty of
gas here, plenty of supplies also,” Mike finished.

“
That's good to
hear, Mike. We swung down from Vermont. We're all from there. We've
been avoiding the cities as best we can, trying to get out West...
somewhere where we don't have to worry about winters,”
he said.

“
I hear that. We're in the same
boat here, only heading South. Or at least right now we are. I
guess we're still undecided where we'll end up. We're pretty
heavily armed, Jeff. I guess you'll see that when you come in
tomorrow. We've been through some stuff as well. I won't apologize
for the weapons,” Mike finished.

“
Don't need to. We're loaded too.
I don't exactly like it, but it's the way life is now. I... Well...
I couldn't come in unarmed, Mike. I couldn't. I'm sure you see
that.”

“
I understand
that,” Mike told him. “And I'm sure you know we'll be on the
defensive for the first little while ourselves. I don't like it
either, but same as you, I do what I have to...
we
do. We've got some good people
here, Jeff, good people, and we're careful.”

“
Us too. Well... there's eight of
us, Mike. I don't like to give away numbers, but you'll know soon
enough anyway. We'll be eight in the morning.”

“
Sixteen of us here, Jeff.” Mike
told him.

“
Wow. No wonder you got so many
fires going. We wondered about that.”

“
Yeah, well, some of it is the
people, but we're smoking meat to take with us. There are cows and
deer everywhere. We figured we might as well get some fresh meat
while we can. Beats the hell out of stuff from a can.”

“
You'll have to
show us how to do that. We don't have anyone who knows how to do
that. I don't think we even have a hunter of any kind
either,”
Jeff said.
“I can shoot, but I've never hunted.”

Mike laughed. “We're all learning to do new
things,” He said. “And we're lucky to have some people with us that
do know how to do those things.”

The radio hissed silence for awhile.

“
Well, Mike, it
was good to talk to you, and we'll see you in the morning,”
Jeff said.

“
Okay, Jeff. Same here. And I
meant that about breakfast, so come hungry,” Mike said.

“
Will
do,”
Jeff said.
“Out.”

“
We're out too,”
Mike said. He clipped the radio back to his belt. He thought about
making love to Kate. How she had swapped time with Patty to make it
all work out so Patty and Ronnie would have time together too. He
thought about how he was going to have to wake Bob, Tom and
Ronnie... Patty as well. Well, he realized,
most of the camp
. Hell
all
of the camp except
the two kids. The V.H.F. Squawked as he was thinking. Kate calling
for him.

“
Yeah,” he said.

“
I'll help you
get them all up,”
she told
him.

“
Thank you, Babe. Tell them it
won't be overly long. They can go back to sleep after we
talk.”

“
Okay, Babe.
Out,”
Kate said and
giggled.

Mike's face broke into a grin.

“
Uh,
Babe
. You need anymore
help?” Lilly's voice came through.

“
Okay,” Mike laughed. “You can go
wake up a few as well. And, Lilly?”

“
Yeah?” she asked.

“
I'll want you there too,” Mike
said.

“
Um... okay, Mike. I'll go help
Kate,” she told him, sounding flustered.

~

As it turned out Mike was able to keep the
meeting short. In the end, there was not a lot to say or to
discuss. They asked a few questions, made plans to be up early in
the morning and then everyone went back to bed.

~Sandy's Diary - March
26
^th~

I should start calling this a diary not a
journal. It's funny, but we started these to leave at the cave but
then we brought them with us to keep for the children. Now it's
becoming something more, although still for the children, so they
can see who we were or are... or both.

I was about to write when I found out we'll
have visitors in the morning. I hadn't expected it so soon. I
wonder if they are people we can make a part of us? I guess we'll
all see tomorrow. I'm excited, but I was already.

Susan and I, well we're together. As in living,
as in sleeping together. I can not believe I took the step. I
didn't know I could. I didn't really believe there could be someone
out there for me. But she made it clear to me how she felt and that
she will go with me where ever I want to go. You know, up until
right then, all I wanted to do was go and help Bob and Jan start
this Nation. I thought that was all I had in my mind. It wasn't
though. If she asked me not to go, I wouldn't.

I've never known an emotion that
could effect such change inside of me so quickly. I'm not sure I've
even known this emotion before... not like this. People are coming,
and that is exciting. I'm with Susan, and that is life. Do you know
what I mean? And that means I'm a lesbian. I guess I knew that. It
is important to me to know who I am though. To say it, to own it.
In our so called enlightened society it wasn't universally
accepted. Oh, on the surface, sure. But not really. And where is
that world now? Gone. I guess it's just us now. We don't have time
to be so judgmental, or for me, to care if I
am
judged. I'm happy!!!

~ In the Dark ~

The cow turned her head towards the woods,
nervous. Her large eyes reflecting silver glints from the
moonlight.

The smell of death and corruption was nothing
new, and that was the smell that came to her now. But there was
something wrong with it, something not right with this smell...
something different. Her calf nuzzled her and began to nurse. The
smell of humans came to her along with smoke and mumbled snatches
of conversation, and she stopped thinking about the dead smell,
turned away from the woods and stared at the firelight across the
fields.

~In the Trees~

The eyes watched her and the other cows from
the cover of the trees. The hunger was terrible, all consuming, and
it came in crashing waves. The impulse to feed seemed to be the
only coherent thought she had. It was hard to think around, hard to
think past.