The Second Intelligent Species: The Cyclical Earth (19 page)

Marcos ran up to the entrance. “Is this enough?” He dropped a small armful near the fire. There was more snow than wood.

“We’re going to need a whole bunch more than that. Here take the torch now, I’m through with it.”

Marcos gladly took the torch and said, “The batteries are almost dead in the flashlight anyways.” We only had one flashlight left, and we were saving that. He took the torch and headed out on his mission.

I took the batteries out of the flashlight and placed the plastic strategically in the fire. The plastic would melt and continue to burn for a long period of time, giving the fire all the help it could get. I placed other pieces of wood near the fire to dry. Once it was going on its own, I could go check on Adam and Megan.

I walked around the others towards the back of the culvert. I needed to know if it was safe to spend the night. We couldn’t afford to have the water rise and flush us out. The pitch was noticeably going down the further I went into the pipe. The tunnel was long enough that I couldn’t see. The light of the fire didn’t reach the back.

“Your fire’s going out,” Beth yelled to me as I walked by.

She was busy making a splint for Megan’s leg out of whatever she could find.

I looked back to see that she was right. Investigating my fire, I found that the snow from the outside was melting and running down into the coals at the bottom, putting it out. “Damn it,” I said, scrambling to save my fire. I carefully placed every piece of burning wood next to another one, up and away from the trickle of water now starting to find its way down to the others. The culvert was working just as it was designed. It was moving water from a high point to a low point, however not in the direction the engineers planned.

We could position ourselves to remain dry, but this would put each of us in an uncomfortable position, lying, or sitting at an angle, always leaning.

I kept the fire going thanks to the melted plastic of the flashlight. It took a while before I could leave the fire untended, since the mist from the other culvert kept everything damp.

Marcos continued to gather wood. He didn’t whimper or whine once, even after four or five trips.

Once the fire climbed beyond the point it was before the water trickled in, it began to throw off some heat. Some of the wood had started to
dry out. Everyone came over to the warmth—everyone except Beth, Maria, and Adam.

“You better bring him over to the fire and keep him warm. I’m going back in here to look things over,” I said as I straddled Maria’s feet to get around, heading to the back again to inspect.

“We’re going with you.” Beth held the torch up. Her eyes looked at me, then at Adam, then back up to me.

I knew Adam was dead. Without saying a word, Maria, Beth and I took Adam, if that was even his name, to the back of the tunnel. We laid him down and put some cloth over his little face to keep the dirt off. Maria took a small toy car out of his pocket and put it in his hand. We all took the fresh dirt that had fallen from the opening at the top of the culvert and covered him so rats wouldn’t devour his body, at least not while we were there.

While I was inspecting the opening above Adam’s shameful resting place, Maria built drying racks out of the wood Marcos had been delivering. The racks would dry our clothing while we had wood enough for a big fire.

Sarah didn’t know about Adam, she had been busy taking the wet clothing off the other children to dry them. They were cold and crying. She barked at Beth, “Better give me another one of those, for Megan.”

Beth had already given Megan a five-hundred milligram painkiller.

“Give her one so she can sleep.” Sarah held out her hand.

Beth lashed out, “Forever… just what did you do in pediatrics for Dr. Stone? Are you sure you worked with children? There’s already one dead, let’s not shoot for two.” Her bottom lip quivered.

Sarah took Beth’s tirade with all the blame intended to go with it, now that she realized that Adam was dead. She began to weep.

“Let’s try and get everyone dried out while we have enough wood for the fire.” I didn’t want to get involved. I was as mad as Beth was at Sarah for rushing down that embankment.

Marcos had hauled enough wood to keep the fire going for an hour or two. I knew we would need more than he could carry alone. I was going to have to help.

“Marcos, come on up here and get dried off. Stand next to the fire a while. I’ll go get some too. While I’m gone, you’re the man. Keep the fire going, put some wood beside it to dry, and don’t play with it. I’ll be right back.”

I made my way down the slippery rocks then back up to the road. I walked a distance before gathering any wood. Marcos had cleaned up most of it near the culvert.

I walked further than I intended. I started flipping over steel roofing, hoping to find wood Marcos had missed. The weather didn’t help matters. Anything I found was soaked with wet snow.

I was surprised that Marcos had found any wood at all. The cellars that usually had some wood left over along their edges were just pits of ash and rusting metal. Normally one would have to be careful not to step on nails. It almost looked like it had been picked over, though we hadn’t come across any other people.

I made several trips, returning with less wood each time. I had contributed far less than Marcos had. I didn’t have the stamina anymore, but then he was forty-two years younger than me.

I wasn’t comfortable quitting. I wanted to be with Beth. I knew the accident with Adam wasn’t setting well with her.

I ventured out into the snow one more time to gather as much wood as my old bones could carry. The tracks Marcos had made earlier were almost filled in from all the snow that was now coming down. I took a course that led me away from where Marcos or I had been. I didn’t dare stray too far. My torch was getting low, and my tracks were filling in fast too.

I came to a truck that had been on an exit ramp. Like any other vehicle we’d found, most of it had burned, except for the box and its cargo. It
had been one of those refrigerated home delivery trucks, the ones with the good ice cream. Apparently the temperature of the refrigerated food, and type of insulation the box was built from, helped prevent its total destruction. The back half of the truck was still intact, minus the tires. What struck me was the fact that all the doors to the frozen food compartments were open.

Nobody would have opened those doors during the chaos of that day. People were doing everything not to catch on fire. Nobody wanted to loot tutti-frutti ice cream.

I hurried back with the few charred boards I’d found. No longer looking for wood, but anxious to find other survivors and tell Beth the news, I tossed the three planks, and began to run back to the culvert.

I approached the opening to the emergency shelter with the same caution I had used when I left, even though my adrenaline was much higher coming in than it had been going out. Carefully taking one step at a time, I heard yelling over the din of the rushing water from the other culvert. I continued my cautious rate of navigation, picking each rock I would step on and how I would plan my step to the next. My heart said run, my instinct said slow down, survive.

Looking up over the fire I saw that Beth and Maria were arguing with Sarah. All three were crying and yelling at the same time.

I stepped around the fire, and over the kids warming themselves, down to the women. “Stop it,” I barked. “This isn’t going to change anything. Adam is gone. We’re still alive, and I’m going to keep it that way.” I didn’t raise my voice often, but when I did, it caught people’s attention.

All three went silent.

“Listen, I think there are some more survivors. I found signs of activity after the fire. There was a truck that somebody had opened the doors on. We all need to go out and look for wood and signs of people. Sarah, are you able to walk and help us?”

She struggled to get up. “Yes I can still walk…I think.”

“Even if we don’t find anybody we can stay undercover here until the snow lets up, but we’ll need more wood. No more arguing. We need to work as a team. What’s done is done. Let’s go.” I wasn’t waiting for a response. “Marcos you stay here and watch the little ones. Get dried out and try to get them to sleep. We’ll be back before the wood runs out.” It would be futile to tell him an hour or two.

“Where’s Adam?” Marcos asked. He was old enough to know the truth, but I didn’t want to take the time to deal with that now.

“Listen to me.” I looked him right in the eye and said, “Adam was hurt very bad. He died and is in the back of the tunnel. I don’t want any of you going back there. Do you understand? I’ll talk to you about it when we get back. Now I expect you to be in charge here. I know I can count on you, right?”

“Yes.” He had a solemn look on his face while he held Tara and Eve, both staring into the fire. Megan was asleep. The pill had taken effect.

The four of us left the entrance in single file. The tension was thicker than the snow, but I knew it would quit snowing.

Chapter 27

New Hope Leads to
Tragedy.

We split up and fanned out to cover more area. Beth and Sarah needed to talk to each other. Constant communication was the only way to insure we wouldn’t get separated.

The open doors of the truck were the only sign there were any survivors. No tracks in the snow or signs of fires could be found.

Snow covered the ground, obscuring any wood. Small pieces were scattered. There was little under the steel roofing, like there was in other towns. The trees that were left were just stumps lacking any limbs within reach.

The snow was still falling heavily. Our tracks had all but filled in and were difficult to recognize. Dragging a piece of metal roofing, piled with wet wood, we made it back to the culvert.

It took us longer than I’d expected. Looking down at the culvert, no glow from the fire could be seen. It had either gone out because Marcos ran out of wood, or because it was too wet.

Forming a type of bucket brigade, we carefully moved the fuel from our sleigh to the culvert.

A few coals glowed in the smoldering fire. Water bubbled out of each piece. Steam rose above the charred wood to the round ceiling and then out into the night.

Night
, I’m so tired of that word. I laughed to myself while watching the steam mix with the snowflakes falling almost out of nowhere.

With the dim light of the fire at my back, I looked out to where a city once stood. I stepped to the edge of the culvert away from the steam, smoke, and snow into an ultimate blackness. I imagined this was what it was like to be blind. I could hear the rushing water. A vision of city lights popped into my mind’s eye. I could almost imagine car lights traveling along the interstate, forming a never ending snake of white and red lights. Then I realized this view would never be seen again, except in visions.

I turned my attention back to the fire. It took a long time to get to the point that a person could warm himself. I spent most of my time drying out the wood, clothes, shoes, and manning the fire.

The others were huddled together under some beaver pelts. We only had four, so not everyone had something to cover up with. To make matters worse, they were stiff, not pliable, and didn’t have much of an R-value.

We gathered enough wood this time to warm the whole tunnel.

Beth and Sarah hadn’t talked since we returned, until now.

“Let Megan under the fur!” Beth yelled in a tone that I hadn’t heard since I learned not to do the things that made her yell that way. “I don’t care if you freeze to death. We’ll drag you back there with Adam. And where’s the rest of the pills? You better not have given her more!”

“Fuck you, you fat bitch. I didn’t have any…”

“Hey, enough!” I attacked Sarah, even though Beth was just as out of line.

Both screamed obscenities at each other while I thought about what Sarah had said. “Fat bitch.” Beth was not fat anymore; none of us were.

Beth started getting up, and then so did Sarah. The beaver pelts flew like Frisbees as the women jumped to their feet. Both were holding children. Both were fuming. As rage burned in each of their hearts, the discipline of their art again showed itself. Each of them laid down the child they were holding with the utmost care.

This break in the tension gave me enough time to intervene. I stepped between the two hotheads in time to stop Sarah from getting her ass kicked. Beth is a better friend than an enemy.

Sarah could hardly walk let alone take on Beth. “Nick, get to fuck out of my way! You’re
always taking her side on everything. This is between her and me.”

“Everybody sit down and calm down,” I said. “We need to work as a team now more than ever. This fighting isn’t going to bring Adam back.”

There wasn’t enough room for either to pass. After a few more verbal insults, they both sat down in their original positions.

The adults hadn’t slept for an extended period. Caring for the children, gathering wood, and the stress of the day took its toll. Beth, Tara, Maria, Eve, and Marcos were all huddled together under two pelts. Sarah and Megan were on the other side, curled up under the two smallest of the furs.