Dystopia: The Long Road (13 page)

              John looked at Ray and said, “I think we shouldn’t risk it, if we go over that hill we can cold camp for the night.”

              Roger volunteered to scout the area for an acceptable camp while everyone else repositioned the supplies they salvaged from the cars before abandoning them.  Afterwards, they sat behind the trucks and waited for Roger’s return.

After about fifteen minutes Roger returned with good news.  He said there was a gully between two hills about five hundred yards to the west of where they were.

              Ray asked, “Terrain acceptable for vehicular travel?”

              Roger replied, “Roger that.”

              Ray shouted, “Ok everyone, let’s move out and make camp.”

              Moving the vehicles around behind some low bushes and covering them on the road side worked out well hiding them even further from view.  Lined up at the top of the gully they also made good cover from the road.  Below the vehicles tents were set up in the flat area with a makeshift latrine across the gully.  Smoke was already in the air so a small fire was started to cook on and Mandy and Melinda began to make the evening meal.

John came walking to the cooking area and practically pleading he asked, “Coffee?”

              Melinda turned with coffee pot in hand and smiling said, “Quick as I can get this pot on.”

              John smiled, thanking her and turned to chat with Dickie about the last thirty miles to Fallen Timber.  They checked the map and determined they were in the Black Moshannon State Park and why they had seen so few people.  Getting to Fallen Timber meant they would have to pass very close to Osceola Mills and while it wasn’t a city it was not like the small towns they had been passing.

Roger said, “I think we should try for Fallen Timber in the morning but stop short of Osceola Mills so we can scout it before trying to pass.”

John said, “I agree, it may be that it is like most of the smaller towns we’ve passed and be deserted, but this one is big enough to worry me.”

              Ray said, “Agreed.”

              Mark and Dickie nodded in agreement and they adjourned to go see what was for dinner. John smelled something wonderful and hurried over to ask what they were cooking.  He was sure it wasn’t spam again, it smelled too good.

              Approaching, he inhaled deeply, trying to decipher what that delicious odor was.  Looking to the ladies practically pleading with his eyes for it not to be spam, hesitantly he asked,

              “What’s cooking?”

              Melinda grinned at Laurie, who said, “Stew.”

              John said, “It smells divine, for once not spam.”

              Melinda giggled a little as Laurie shook her head saying, “Why are you always hating on the spam?  You’re the one who stored it all?”

              John replied, “I didn’t think I would be eating it for every meal.”

              Laurie shaking her head said, “Well, I guess the old hindsight adage is appropriate here. “ 

Turning to walk away, she added, “It’s not easy on those of us trying to keep
spam
interesting you know
.”

             
John nodded and said, “I know and you do a wonderful job, I’m sorry to complain.”

              Brightening up his look he said, “But hey, it’s not spam at least.”

              Laurie looked at him laughing out loud saying, “Who said it isn’t spam?  I said it wasn’t easy keeping it interesting.  I feel like I have succeeded in that task as even you did not know it had spam in it from the smell.  I guess the taste test will be the judge, you might as well start things off and give us your unbiased opinion,”

              Melinda snorted, “Ha, Unbiased.”

              Laurie handed John a bowl of the stew and he went off to sulk with his spam stew while she continued to dish it up. Sitting on the hillside he dipped his spoon into the stew and drew up a nice bite with both a potato and carrot. He paused to blow on it to cool it off and took a bite.  He was amazed at how tasteful it was, although he could still tell it was spam; he thought it was very good.

He held up his spoon calling out, “Well done ladies.”

Waving the spoon like sceptre, while the ladies all bowed.  Mandy was the one who used some of the spices and bouillon cubes to give it a more beef stew like taste.  Everyone was very grateful for the effort they put into making it feel like beef stew.  As he looked at this raggedy bunch he felt a warm sense of gratitude he had their company.

“In the concentration camps, we discovered this whole universe where everyone had his place.  The killer came to kill, and the victims came to die.”

-Elie Wiesel

The morning was warm with a slight breeze, fall was the only way John could describe the smell in the air.  It was both a pleasurable scent and yet disturbing because it meant winter was closing in on them.

It took them almost two weeks to go the roughly four hundred miles to where they were now.  John thought it was about half way and if it took them another two weeks it would be the first week of November before they would arrive in Kentucky.

November in Kentucky wasn’t what it was in Massachusetts, but it was still getting quite cold especially in the evenings.  He hoped Mandy’s parents would have some warm clothes or blankets they could spare.  Mostly for the women and kids.  Matty and Georgia were generally dressed pretty warmly, but he also knew Rita did not grab any winter wear for him.

“John…. Earth to John.” Amy shouted

John looked up, “Hua?”

              Amy said, “You with us?”

              John replied, “Yea, sorry was just thinking about our travel time and trying to figure out how long it will be till we get there.”

              Amy stood, hands on her hips and said, “Mhmm, well can you take a break from your calculations to help us with the fire?”  Winking she cooed, “I promise there is coffee in it for you.”

John nodded and got up, walking toward the fire pit, looking at it, he could see the fire going nicely.  Confused, he looked at Amy, and suddenly everyone jumped out shouting,

“Happy Birthday!”

He’d forgotten it was his birthday.  After shooting Amy a death look, he told everyone, “Thank you.”

Matty came running up to him, saying, “But we have pancakes with frosting on them.”

He said, “Oh well that is different, I guess we better eat them.”

Matty seemed a little brighter for the first time in days, although he didn’t smile he did hop up on a rock and jumped off, then went and sat near Georgia and Aaron.   They were close to own age and he seemed to be more at ease around them.

John approached Amy and said with raised eyebrows, “Pancakes and frosting?”

“Yeah.” She said, “Get it? PanCAKE?”

He replied, “That’s just wrong.”

Amy said, “Chill out grumpy pants, I have syrup for you.  They are even blueberry pancakes, Matty found some blueberries over the other hill and picked them for your birthday pancakes.”

This choked John up, that after all he had been through to be so thoughtful, he went over to Matty and thanked him for the blueberries saying,

“Those blueberries made it the most extra special birthday pancakes I ever had.”

Matty smiled a real smile and hugged John saying, “Happy Birthday Uncle John.”

John enjoyed the pancakes, maybe more than any he had ever eaten before.  He sat eating his pancakes, thinking about the journey that lay ahead and found himself again worried about the time it took them thus far.

After breakfast John grabbed a second cup of coffee and sat down with Roger and Dickie to discuss moving forward.  They planned to try and make the thirty miles before noon by moving quickly down the main road until they reached Osceola Mills.  Being a slightly larger town they thought it best to go around it.

With the plan all set and the camp packed up they packed into the three vehicles.  The loss of the cars made the seating space cramped.  Danny’s leg was healing, but it was still difficult for him to use it.  He sat in the Jeep with Roger with Melinda and Laurie in the back seat.  John’s truck had a full back seat so he and Amy had Mandy and Aaron come with them, Matty liked having Aaron to hang out with and it kept his mind off things.  Ray rode in the back of John’s truck as lookout and since Dickie would be in the back of Mark’s truck Jules and Georgia also rode with them.

This left Mark’s truck, which had space in the back for seating, but not full seats.  He and Renee sat up front while Kimmie and Jenny sat on the jump seats facing each other.

Driving for a little over an hour and so far the day was uneventful and even peaceful.  The air was crisp with the sights and smells of fall.  It was hard to think of all that was wrong with the world when leaves of red, orange and yellow were lazily falling in the breeze.

Roger turned down a dirt road that was not on the route they previously mapped out.  John wished for the communications they were looking for that night they went into the warehouse area.  The vehicles followed down the long dirt road to a cell tower site.  Parking they all got out and clamored for information about why they stopped.

Roger said, “We need to take a break and I need Amy to come up here and take a look at Danny’s leg.”

John waved Amy over and said, “Can you go have a look at Danny’s leg?”

Amy said, “Sure, what’s up?”

Roger said, “I’m not sure, but I think there is something wrong and he isn’t saying.”

Amy let out a heavy sigh, saying, “Men, needing to be all tough and shit.  More like stupid.”

Amy knew as soon as she approached him that something was very wrong.  Danny was sweating and looked to have a greyish or ashen colour about him.  Amy knew instantly that he was in critical shape.

Wearing sweat pants to fit over his bandages she quickly stripped them off of him.  She wasn’t expecting the sight she saw.  The leg around the bandage was bright red and as she touched it he winced in pain.  It was swollen and hot to the touch.  Already knowing what she would find she gently cut the bandages off.  She lifted the bandaging and turning her head to the side as the odor of the infection assaulted her.

Looking at Laurie she said, “Laurie why didn’t you tell us?”

Laurie was crying as she said, “He didn’t want to slow us down.”

Amy scolded her, “Well, it is definitely going to do so now.”

Calling out for John and barking out orders for boiling water and some clean bandages she had everyone hopping and jumping double time.

She had them set up an area where he could be stretched out and under a cover.  Jules came over to help her as Dickie and Roger got a fire going.  John approached her with apprehension knowing she would be demanding something bigger from him.

Amy looked at him with pleading eyes, saying, “Let’s talk a minute over there.” She pointed to an area away from the others.

She began, “John we need antibiotics and a good amount of them.”

John said, “I have a few with us, but I’m not sure if it is enough for something like this.”

Amy shook her head saying we need something strong and preferably something I can inject.  I’m no doctor and my limited medical training in the nursing homes doesn’t even come close to medical training, but I have seen what infections like this can turn into in a hurry.”

John nodded in agreement saying, “It wouldn’t hurt Jules to get a round of them as well.”

Do you think a couple of you guys can scout around for a hospital or a veterinary clinic for some?  I doubt at this point anything would be left in the pharmacies, after what most of the towns we passed looked like.”

John agreed and said, “I’ll get Dickie and Ray and we will go right away.  It will be good to get an idea of what our location is anyway.”

Amy looked at him and said, “John, hurry please.  I am going to open the wound and try and drain it, but he is already starting to show signs of sepsis.  We need a broad spectrum antibiotic because I don’t know what kind of bug caused the infection.”

John’s eyes widened, “What does broad spectrum mean?”

Amy said, “Just that it kills a bunch of stuff.”

John asked her, “Do you know what we should look for?”

Amy sighed, “Not a full list, but, most cillins, as in penicillin.  A really good one might be Cipro or Tetracycline but get anything you can get would help.”

Laurie and Melinda made Danny comfortable while Amy prepared to lance the wound.  She put a sharp knife in the boiling pot along with some strips of cloth to be used as hot compresses.  Gathering all the sterile gauze she could find she organized herself and checked on Danny a number of times.

Roger opted to just set up camp and had the others doing chores like gathering wood and setting up tents. Nearly dragging Laurie and Melinda away, he put them to work as well he left Jules to attend to Danny till it was time to do the draining.

Matty and Aaron decided they would be lookouts by climbing the cell tower.  A shrill screech alerted Roger and Mark that something was wrong and they ran to the cell tower.  Mandy was shouting at the boys to climb down that instant.

They had gone too high and were now afraid to climb down.  Growling as he began to climb Roger quickly reached the height that the boys were waiting.  As he climbed he noticed something that didn’t look right about the city in the distance.  It was Osceola Mills but just outside of the city was a huge complex with what looked like tents or barracks.

After hurrying the boys down the tower, he went for the binoculars and headed back up.  Only going high enough to be able to see the camp, he began to scan it from his perch.  Looking down, he could see Matty still standing at the base of it.

He called down to him, “Matty do you think you can go grab the small satchel from the jeep and bring it to me?”

Matty yelled back, “What’s a satchel?”

Roger shouted back, “It looks like a purse for an army man.  It has the same pattern as my shirt.”

Matty turned and sprinted into the woods in the area of the camp.  In only a few minutes he returned with it and began climbing the tower again.  He handed it to Roger and turned to leave when Roger said,

“How about a helping hand?’

Matty nodded agreement and sat waiting for instructions.

Roger handed him back the satchel and said, “I have one pad there is another in there, can you write about it some things for me?”

Matty said, “Yes sir.” Sitting up straighter and saluting him.

Roger said, “I’m going to make a map of the camp and I need you to write down things I tell you, Ok?”

Matty nodded and got his own pad and pencil ready.

Roger busily created his map, looking at the camp with the binoculars then drawing things.

He looked at Matty and said, “Armed guards.”

Matty quickly wrote it on his pad. Roger and Matty mapped out this camp and gathered intel on it for the next forty five minutes before taking a break to go to eat.

Once back in the camp, Roger wanted to discuss with Mark the layout and the information they already gathered on the camp. 

Mandy came walking up to them and said, “I know Osceola Mills well, maybe I should come and have a look when you go back up.”

Mark said, “Little lady we can handle this.”

Mandy was furious, saying, “Don’t start that I’m just a girl bull shit.  I can climb a tower as well as you.”

Mark laughed, saying, “And put an old man in his place too.”

During lunch, they sat and went over the map that Roger drew and the list that Matty made.  Looking it over closely, they saw that it had guard towers and barbed wire on the top of the fence.  Roger explained that there were big tents set up with smaller ones intermingled.

Mark said, “I wish John were here, he had some stuff about these things he was looking up all the time.”

Roger said, “I have seen a few and these are not refugee aid stations, they are more like internment camps.”

Roger paused and looked up at the sky saying, “Where the hell are those guys anyway?  I bet they don’t even know what is out there.  Damn, once again we could have used some kind of coms to warn them.”

Mark looked at him and said, “Do you think they are gonna run into any trouble?”

Roger knowing he was nervous about it shook his head saying, “Nahhh, they ain’t that dumb.  It’ll be ok.”

Jules came over and asked if Roger would help with Danny because she was feeling faint and needed to lay down and Amy didn’t want Laurie or Melinda to help with this.  Roger agreed it was best and got up to go help her.  Matty jumped up to help too.

Roger said, “Not for this mister, sit tight for now.”

Matty sat back down looking dejected and folded his arms.  Mark seeing this began to tell him how he was too young and needed to go play.

Matty was angered and said, “I’m helping with the soldier work.”

Mark began to object when Roger stepped up and touched him on the shoulder saying, “Yes, he is, and a very big help he has been.”

Looking at Matty he said, “Soldier, its chow time.  Go get your grub and report back in thirty.”

Matty cocked his head to the side and looked at him confused.  Roger whispered to him, “Time to eat, go get some food and meet me back here in half an hour.”

He jumped up running over to where Renee and Jenny were passing out the food. Grabbing a plate as he darted by to go sit with Georgia and Aaron and tell about the soldier work.