Back To Our Beginning (11 page)

“Just make sure you come back.”

“Of course I will,” Ricky said surprised. “No one would ever love me more than you do.”

Ethan kissed his wife and told her not to worry even though he knew she would. Aidan looked long and hard at the tiny woman; he silently vowed then and there he would watch over her family, even if it meant his life. They were a family more than worthy of his protection. Jail or not, he was still sworn to protect the innocent civilians; these people were about as innocent as any he had ever encountered.

Aidan knew his unit had stood by him, supported him; he determined he could still make them proud. The look he sent Sarah was returned, she understood and he thought perhaps she relaxed a little.

* * * *

They walked outside from the gloomy dark cavity of the earth floor into a cloudy and cold equally gloomy morning. They walked along in silence for a short while until Ricky asked Aidan what he was looking for.

“Lots of things.”

“Like what?”

“Rabbit burrows, fowl, or deer.”

A calm stealth washed over Aidan and he moved as a stalker, a predator, his attitude changed to match the hunter who was now on the prowl. His voice was hushed when he spoke and he moved without making a sound.

“Ricky, you’re not a boy anymore, you’re an animal, a smart one. You need food and you know it’s out there. You bite twigs, nibble grass, but you don’t notice how the twigs bend, you’re unaware your foraging gives your predator a map to your discovery. Now, become the hunter, Ricky. You see the disturbed vegetation, you look for tracks; by the height of the broken twigs you determine how large your prey is by the angle of a bite.”

Crouching low to the ground Ricky, caught up in Aidan’s quest, reached out a small tentative hand to some bent foliage. He thought for a moment knowing the prey was shorter than himself, Ricky declared, “A fawn?” his whispered.

“Smaller, Ricky, look at the tracks.”

Ricky had seen rabbit tracks. Disappointed the prey was so small Ricky let his breath out almost losing respect for their quarry.

“No,” Aidan admonished; he shot a fast look to Ethan who had joined them nearer to the ground. He had seen where Ricky’s thoughts had taken him.

“Even rabbits provide food, it doesn’t matter what the prey is or how big it is; it’s still the taking of a life. Her life or ours, Ricky. What will it be?”

Ricky thought for a moment;
her life
reverberated throughout his mind. They were going to hunt and kill something. His excitement returned, his breath quickened again and Ricky returned to the hunt.

After a few paces, Aidan stopped; he reached out and picked up little black pebbles in his right hand. He gave them to Ricky and made him feel them and their warmth. Ricky grimaced knowing he was holding feces; he dropped them with disgust. Aidan picked up more and turned to the child.

“They’re soft, not hard. That means they’re fresh,” Aidan whispered. “They’re also still warm and have an odor to them.” Aidan lifted the droppings and sniffed and bid Ricky do the same. Once again caught up in the hunt by Aidan’s intensity, Ricky did as he was told. The rabbit droppings smelled of hay and vegetation; it wasn’t as unpleasant as he first thought.

They continued on and Aidan explained along the way, “You need to smell the air, Ricky; you need the nose of a bloodhound and the eyes of a hawk. But remember if you can smell them, they can smell you; you don’t want them to know you’re coming. Animals smell fear but they smell danger as well.”

Ethan and Ricky were transfixed by Aidan and his way of hunting. No wonder he looked so fit and well fed, Ethan thought. Ethan remembered Aidan said he was part of a special team. Fate must have sent him to them in their time of need. Ethan needed help as much as Aidan needed acceptance. Ethan knew Sarah was going to die. He knew their supply of food wouldn’t last forever.

When Ethan realized the storms were moving out to sea, he’d had the foresight to stock the bomb shelter. An intuitive man, he wondered if the government and media were being truthful about their situation. He’d hoped their supplies would last until the worst was over and normalcy returned. It was an ominous feeling to turn on the radio and have every station silenced. Not even static broke through the dead air allowing them to hope they were not alone in the universe. He had changed the batteries twice, tried a different radio until awful realization dawned.

When he ventured out, opening their enclosure with trepidation, wondering if the river might have reached the door, his travels throughout town and the surrounding areas yielded grim discoveries. His neighbor’s homes were obliterated; his own home was less than rubble. Life as they’d known it was gone for good. The money he’d pulled from the bank and hidden within the bomb shelter was useless. Their supply of charcoal had run out, batteries were dead and their propane was exhausted. Their dwindling stack of bottled water would disappear soon enough. Ethan knew it was just a matter of time before their supply of canned food was gone.

Ethan could fish and do a little hunting, but it wouldn’t be enough. The fish in the river had always been sporadic, and now they were most likely diseased. His last bullet for the gun was gone, used to save Aidan’s life. They would die of starvation. Ethan, like most everyone else had depended on society; he made money, he spent money, and in return society rewarded his effort by providing him with what he could buy. But those days were over, only the people with intelligence to live off the land would survive. They were lucky to have found one.

Ethan watched Aidan pull a piece of barbed wire out of his backpack, he pointed to green shrubbery. Ethan could make out a clean bite mark. Aidan approached an opening in the ground. The burrow wasn’t well hidden and with a quick motion, Aidan shoved the wire down the hole then pulled. A rabbit emerged. The barbed wire had plunged into the rabbit and lodged against a bone or internal organ, snaring it. Once he removed the rabbit from its den, Aidan wrung the rabbit’s neck, ending its pain; it lay still between his hands.

Ricky’s face was a ghostly white and for one fearful moment Aidan thought he might vomit.

“Ricky?” The boy looked at him, then the rabbit and sobbed dramatically.

“You killed the Easter Bunny!” he threw himself into his father’s arms and wept uncontrollably. Ethan patted at his son’s head; he realized that Ricky’s innocence was a thing of the past. There would be no more Easter Bunny, no Santa Claus and most definitely Ethan would never spend another Valentine’s Day with his wife. That life was over, a new one was beginning—such as it was, but Ethan was at a loss.

Aidan came to his rescue. He sat back on his heels and put his hand on Ricky’s shoulder.

“Ricky, I would never hurt the Easter Bunny, especially in front of you. What I will do is teach you how to live. There’s an old saying that if you give a man a fish he’ll eat for the day. If you teach him to fish he’ll never go hungry. I hope you never go hungry.”

Aidan looked at Ethan who was watching his son. Aidan knew what Ricky was thinking, it was the same speech Ray had basically told him the first kill he had witnessed and been a part of. Aidan tried not to chuckle remembering his own mortification when Ray had downed a beaver.

“Let’s go,” Aidan said, rising to his feet. With twine he tied the rabbit to his backpack.

“Are we going back now?” Ricky asked; he swiped the remains of his tears from his face.

“Not yet, we need some vitamins, rabbits don’t have enough.”

Aidan led them to a pine tree; he dug down at the base of the tree and removed the outer bark. He peeled back the outer layer to expose the inner layer and took out a large chunk knowing pines were rich in vitamin C. Bark was best in spring when their sap was flowing but knew it would be fine when boiled, it could be ground into flour after boiling.

Aidan collected spruce needles for tea, also rich in vitamin C. Along with that, he found red spruce, the young shoots were edible raw if gathered earlier in the season and you could also boil the needles for tea as was his intent.

Last but not least Aidan collected worms. As Ethan and Ricky looked on in disgust Aidan explained as he turned over logs and rocks to pull forth the slimy creatures that they offered their own rewards. Worms were full of protein and large amounts of amino acid. He squished one through his fingers to eject the mucky substance and explained he would dry them and pound them to mush and mix with other foods.

The victorious hunters returned with their bounty. Aidan moved away to skin the rabbit. He had slit its throat earlier to let it bleed then made a ring cut around its legs just above the knee. Then cut around the forelegs in the same place, cutting down the inside of the rear leg he cut to the crotch of the rabbit. He showed Ethan and Ricky, taking time to explain the method.

Once the rabbit was ready to roast Aidan skewered it in chunks and placed it over their barbeque indoors. Remembering the tiger, he didn’t want the meat left out with its enticing aroma making them vulnerable. As it was, Aidan was contemplating a spear. His mind was working on how to use the sharp edges of the tin cans for a more lethal weapon. The roots and tubers he found had been soaked then roasted in ash under a tiny cooking fire directly outside the shelter. He mixed the ground worms with the boiled inner bark, a few seeds, crushed nuts, berries and a little rabbit fat for a protein mixture.

Ethan was amazed at the extent of Aidan’s knowledge; he’d thought all plant life dead this time of year. Aidan found what he needed with ease. Ethan’s eyes misted as Sarah ate more than he’d seen her eat in months. Ricky chewed with wide-eyed wonder and reached for another of the small round cakes Aidan had made. While stuffing it into his mouth, he asked Aidan if he would cook again tomorrow.

Chuckling, Aidan tousled the boy’s hair but refrained from answering, he glanced at Sarah who was pale and slight. Aidan urged another small cake at her.

She smiled but declined. Eating seemed to require too much energy and she looked tired. Ethan cleared the table and took the plates and utensils outside where he scoured them with sand and rinsed them in brownish-gray murky water. The river would remain a dirty color until spring. Usually it cleared by early summer. Ethan was hopeful it would do the same this summer. He had spent his share of time pulling what debris he could from the water, trying to keep it from flooding higher up.

Ethan’s thoughts had been warring within his mind for hours. Aidan’s bounty of food reminded Ethan winter was here. Feeding his family was a frightening thought; the animals were so scarce. The snow had been falling in small amounts, though the area had never experienced large amounts of accumulated snow, except on rare occasions. The area was also never prone to the horrendous tornadoes that had assaulted them, and the few tremors from earthquakes felt within their shelter were terrifying.

If he could persuade Aidan to stay and help, to teach him and Ricky how to survive off the land, they would be in a much better position to survive. He approached the subject timidly, afraid of Aidan’s response. Ethan turned and with resolve faced Aidan who had followed him outside to help.

“You plan on sticking around?”

Aidan could see the worry etched in Ethan’s eyes. At first Aidan was a bit shocked then thought somewhat bitterly, why would they be any different? Why would they want him around? He was a killer after all. They were a nice family who helped him out for the night, that was all.

“Your expertise is very handy; you’ve been very helpful,” Ethan rushed ahead noticing Aidan’s frown. Maybe he didn’t want to be stuck babysitting three people. Ethan had been doing his best but he had to admit he needed help, and truth be told he was terrified of being left all alone with Ricky after Sarah died. What would happen to his son if Ethan got sick, hurt or killed? Who would help him if Ricky became ill?

“What are you asking?” Aidan said, his voice tight, he waited almost too fearful to hope.

“I thought, hoped, maybe you might consider sticking around. I know Sarah would really appreciate it. I would as well and Ricky already thinks so highly of you. We wouldn’t be trouble; we’ll share what we have. I know it’s not much but...” Horrified, Ethan realized he was close to begging, he’d never begged another person for anything in his life, except the time he asked Sarah to marry him he’d come awfully close.

Looking around and nodding, his feet shuffling, Aidan was so grateful he could hardly speak.

“Sure, I’ll stay,” Aidan’s voice was a choked whisper; he didn’t trust himself to say more. He could stay. He had a family, friends, no more unbearable loneliness. No more walking through a sea of dead bodies bewildered.

Smiling with relief, Ethan draped a hand over Aidan’s shoulder. “So, are you cooking again tomorrow?”

Aidan laughed; then, filled with relieved happiness he roared with laughter, and the two of them continued home.

Making a decision, Clint lowered the sleeping child back into her mother’s waiting arms. Tansy clutched Michaela to her chest.

“You’re jist gonna have to trust I won’t hurt you none.”

He walked with hesitance back to his friends and sat down, still keeping his eyes trained on Tansy and Michaela.

Both camps slept in turns the remainder of the night. When daylight came, the winter storm still raged, gusts of determined wind slipped down the stairs to chill them to the bone, their pile of broken wooden chairs was running low. Clint approached their fire and offered more venison for breakfast. Tansy accepted it warily. She felt like an animal being bated for entrapment, but they needed to eat and the meat was welcome, something to help ease their hunger and warm their bellies. The only tense moment came when Michaela coughed. Clint sprung to his feet, followed by everyone else. All weapons were raised in agitation. Thankfully the child’s coughing subsided and Clint sat down again, his eyes never straying from their side of the room.

“Does he have to keep watching us like that?” Chris hissed between clenched teeth, he maintained a death grip on the rifle, refusing to part with it.